Stela Ond

After the Jordbani of Eryia, wizards were concerned at trends that became immediately apparent in the shortened life expectancy of humans . Initially, this trend was unobserved. Many individuals were killed in the Jordbani when the leyline magic was released, and the shortened lifespan was believed to be an initial result of the magic release from the breaking of the earth leyline, particularly as it was most acute in the region closest to the leyline breach. After several generations had passed however, it became apparent that the shortening of the human lifespan was a widespread phenomena and it was not fading as time passed, but was getting worse.

This grim fact was not a political football initially, and wizards who tried to sound the alarm were generally accused of being sources of dis-information and alarmist. The data was a temporary blip it was said, and the problem would soon pass.

It did not.

Hope for a Cure

As people started to die earlier, each succeeding generation losing 2-3 years of life expectancy over the previous generation, the common people bagan to notice. The focus of the government became razor sharp on solving the problem and a frantic, if ineffective, campaign to manage the public perception, then try to find something that might address the issue. First the cause of the issue - Magichem Poisoning was identified and then the search for cures began. One of those cures was the stela ond.

The stela ond was a tiny, virtually invisible life form that inhabited the Miorskrípi - thrived in it to be exact. It had the ability to break down the magical components that were so toxic to humans and use them as food. Wizards became extremely excited when the creature was found, and experiments were conducted seeding the creature into the digestive tracks and bloodstreams of small animals. The response was encouraging. The creatures broke down and consumed the toxic magic in the animals into whom they had been introduced.

Unfortunately, these effects were temporary, and after a period of recession of symptoms, the identifiable effects of Magichem Poisoning re-appeared. The bile of the animals who died of it was filled with high counts of dead Stela Ond leading researchers to conclude that the Stela Ond had died after a time of exposure in the guts of the animals. Oddly, there were no Stela Ond bodies at all in the bloodstreams of the animals leading researchers to conclude that the body of the animals was either incapable of sustaining them or was actively rejecting the Stela Ond.

Not to be dissuaded, the wizards went to work. They cast permanent spells of enhancement on a community of the Stela Ond, and injected them into a new set of animals. This time, they had success. The symptoms of magitech poisoning disappeared and stayed gone. The experiment was declared a success and people rushed to get injections of the new Stela Ond. New life had been found, the problem of magitech poisoning had been conquered by this new symbiotic relationship with a tiny unseeable partner in life. People had their first truly good news since the wizards screwed up the earth leyline. Hope ran amok.

The Other Shoe Drops

It took about five years for the first signs of trouble to show up. It was subtle at first. People had no idea what was happening, but a wasting illness seemed to sweep through the communities followed quickly by the re-appearance of the magitech poisoning symptoms. At first, the concern was that the colonies of Stela Ond in effected individuals had died, but this did not appear to be the case. The colonies remained healthy and strong. They simply had stopped doing their symbiotic job of breaking down and eliminating the magic toxins in people's bodies. Worse yet, they seemed to actually be harming their hosts, sapping their life force. People were dying even more quickly than before.

The riots started. Political upheaval. The people had had enough. Trust in the central authorities was completely broken when they tried to cover up the problem in order to keep the populace calm while wizards searched for a cure. The central government of Eryia toppled when Phillion’s Proclamation was made. Wizards who had enjoyed a temporary resurgence in popularity and trust since the Miorskrípi were forced to flee their communities and hide their identities and the tools of their trade. The society was in upheaval, economic collapse began.

All because of symbiotic species turned parasite.