Trainwright’s Purpleguts

Created by Adam Tingley // Wreckerdwarf

The Short History of the Disease

Following Frobious Grav’Nak’s discovery of gravity quartz, a bright new industry was born. The potential uses for this new material could benefit all dwarfkind and the issue closest to Frobious’ heart was transport. When his mining crews came across the material for the first time, it didn’t take long to get integrated into large scale plans to revolutionise the stag transport network. Initially the illness was coined as “Trainwright’s Splutter” but over time it has unfortunately become known as “Trainwright’s Purpleguts”.

Symptoms

It took a few years before the first known cases of illness emerged within the mining crews that carried out the extraction of gravity quartz from the quarries. It presented itself at first as a spotting of blood from the lungs, a loss of appetite, fatigue and rashes. If the illness is left untreated, it can advance into more severe ailments such as seizures, spasms and even the coughing or vomiting of a purple tinted mucus.

The Probable Cause

It is hypothesized that the fine dust generated when extracting, machining and shaping the quartz is able to be inhaled or consumed. Although the dust appears inert on a large scale, when viewing under magnification it is clear that the dust still holds some of its properties. The particulates seem to attack the innards of a sufferer and the dust is very hard to extract once it has taken hold.

Expected Outcomes

Approximately one-in-three will survive the disease. Being younger (Under one hundred and fifty years of age) and living a healthier lifestyle appear to increase odds. Tiny fragments of the crystal slowly work their way out of the system in any way possible, damaging cells around them as they’re progressing through the body. A survivor of the illness is often left with permanent damage throughout their body and especially within their digestive tracts. Permanent scarring is also present across the skin and most commonly is predominant around the midriff.

A Post-Mortem Review

For those that have unfortunately succumbed to the illness, their bodies are carefully inspected and explored in an attempt to prevent future infections. A characteristic trait of the disease is its ability to seemingly change the composition of the innards. It is thought that if the dust is ingested and a high enough quantity reaches the intestines, it essentially gets trapped. Continually working its way out of one section only to cut through into another. The perpetual scarring to the outer lining and blood vessels results in a discoloured, dark purple hue.