Crag Moss

As the Incarceri Beetle infested the mountain villages along the northeastern border of The Far Reaches transforming people into what the villagers saw as heretical abominations, village leaders and healers grew desperate for a way to cure the afflicted before it was too late. Their solution: Crag Moss.

Discovery

We'd never seen the moss as anything but a blight. Now, its the most important substance both for the wellbeing of our people and the trade that it brings in.

— -Vask, Skyholme Elder

Crag Moss had been known throughout the region for decades before the Incarceri infestation, but it had known benefits, so it was avoided or even destroyed as a danger. Its beneficial properties were discovered by a pair of villagers from Skyholme when they snuck off to be alone and ended up inside some nearby Steam Caves. The pair was bitten and infected by a beetle. In the resulting scuffle, they fell into a patch of moss, spewing its spores into the air.

Certain that they would be transformed within the next twenty-four hours, something that had always happened after a bite, the pair elected to remain in the caves far from the village. When the requisite time passed, and they did not transform, they became determined to understand why not. Eventually, they discovered that the moss is responsible.

Cultivation and Benefits

Since the discovery, farmers from Skyholme have worked tirelessly to cultivate and refine the Crag Moss. The crop has created an economic boon for the village while simultaneously making it a leader in a region particularly hostile to anything considered to be unnatural. The moss is certainly difficult to grow: it is native only to small Steam Caves in remote parts of the Stormcrag Peaks and cannot survive in the harsh climate of the surface or in any normal cave. This means that there is only a minute amount of space that can be set aside to propagate it. Furthermore, once an Incarceri infection has begun, the moss must be consumed daily to stave off the transformation. This has made the moss a rare and valuable commodity, and the elders of Skyholme have created harsh laws to protect the continued harvest.

The Crag Moss itself is actually not the cure; rather, it is a micro-biotic symbiote that lives on it, kept alive by the relative heat of the moss's native habitat. When inhaled, the symbiote enters the bloodstream, where it seeks out and feeds on the poison injected by the Incarceri Beetle's bite. The human body, however, is a hostile environment for the symbiote, which dies after about thirty hours, and the poison is self-replicating. As a result, each dose of spores only staves off the transformation for about a day. Once someone is bitten, they must inhale the spores within the first day of infection and must continue doing so every day if they wish to avoid the transformation.

Side Effects and Extended Use

Who knew that something our kids took to get high and avoid work would end up becoming such an essential part of our lives?

— -Vask, Skyholme Elder

Originally, more responsible members of the community avoided Crag Moss or actively destroyed it, because of the other effects the symbiote has on the human body. The less responsible sought the moss as a way to find reprieve from their often harsh lives. They called the feeling "Flat Panning," and it produced a state in which the imbiber could dampen emotions while experiencing an expansiveness that made them feel like they could see beyond reality.

With the discovery that the moss can help fight the infection, the flat panning has become a side effect to a crucial cure. The infected tend to wander in a haze, showing little emotion. Worse, long-term use exacerbates the effect. Everyone on the moss eventually becomes emotionally catatonic. They can still function and go about daily life, but after a long enough time, they lose the ability to feel anything ever again.

Of course I wish this didn't happen. I wish the infection had never come at all, but a little emotional fallout is absolutely preferable to transforming into a monster!

— -Vask, Skyholme Elder