Anï-Eriimel
The Merientei people noticed soon after landing on the shores of Ullonwï that the local wildlife was not wholly untainted, though it took them years to understand just how deep the poison ran. Curiously, the local fauna seemed unaffected by anï-eriimel, at least for the most part.
Anï-Eriimel was a condition caused by the consumption of any part of a wild plant in Ullonwï, particularly over a lengthened period of time. The illness, caused by an unknown foulness within the earthitself, was not deadly as such, but caused changes in the mind and body of infected people to the point of them becoming completely unrecognizable compared to their old selves.
Symptoms
The mildest symptoms were difficult to recognize as such. Mild headaches, confusion and agitation sometimes accompanied a generally foul mood.
From agitation grew paranoia and aggression, from confusion forgetfulness and delusions. Over weeks, headaches turned into chronic migraines or faded into a constant numbness.
At any time were one to stop consuming the wild plants of Ullonwï, these symptoms lingered before slowly drifting away over the next years—provided no more of such gathered foods were consumed.
Memory, speech and other areas of cognition began to suffer soon after. As communication became increasingly more difficult, socialization lessened and most attempts at talking turned to fights. The infected seemed to find body language easier to understand and developed almost an entire language among themselves using not words, but their bodies as the main medium.
Physical changes were the last ones to happen before something in the wilds called to the infected and they disappeared completely from human sight. Their posture became lower, not akin to old age but rather more animalistic in nature, almost quadrupedal. Whatever madness had taken hold had by now fully consumed the infected, making them see, hear and otherwise sense things which were not there.
Some died in these last, painful stages of anï-eriimel, but not all. After finding themselves incapable and with a distaste toward communication with humans, the infected would in essence run into the wilds, and were very often never seen again.
Treatment
Merienti sages fought for many years to uncover the secrets and reason behind anï-eriimel in their efforts to hopefully treat and perhaps even cure the condition before it got too far. Magic did not obey them the way the sages were used to, however, making the war they waged all but hopeless.
The only real treatment, a way to lessen the effects of anï-eriimel, was to simply stop consuming plant life of Ullonwï. This the Merientei achieved by burning the forests and planting their own grain and other cleansed seeds of wild plants. Magic, they found, only made the poison seep in deeper and the effects of anï-eriimel to appear faster.
Berry-Born Madness
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