Verdance Syndrome

Verdance Syndrome is non-contagious in a traditional biological sense, but spreads through prolonged exposure to raw leyline surges—particularly those from:

• Collapsing, fractured, or newly awakened leylines
• Areas of magical experimentation (especially ritual overflow)
• Ancient relics storing unstable ley energy

There is no known "infectious" phase, but an afflicted individual in a late stage can cause leyline anomalies to spike, potentially exposing others to hazardous surges

The condition begins when a living being absorbs more ley-energy than their body or spirit can process, resulting in wild magical feedback. Dryads, druids, plantfolk, arcane scholars, and magical creatures are particularly vulnerable.

Early Stage (Euphoric):

• Glowing veins or leaf-tips (chloromagical fluorescence)
• Heightened senses and reflexes
• Mild telepathy with flora and fauna
• Euphoria or trance-like calm

Middle Stage (Instability):

• Bark growth over skin (in dryads or other plantfolk)
• Hallucinations involving ancestral spirits or elemental voices
• Uncontrolled magic surges
• Rooting during sleep or rest periods
• Cravings for raw magic or sunlight

Late Stage (Collapse or Transcendence):

• Full body transformation into a sentient magical tree (90% fatal)
• Psychic dissociation (soul partially “floating” in the leyline)
• Spontaneous bursts of nature magic affecting nearby terrain
• Permanent fusion with leyline nodes, creating new arcane anomalie

Treatment is extremely difficult, especially in late stages.

• Mild to Moderate Cases:
• Grounding rituals led by a Circle of Wildshape elder
• Amber-root tea (rare fungus used to metabolize ley residue)
• Temporary relocation to an area free of ley currents
• Runebinding the afflicted with calming glyphs
• Severe Cases:
• Only reversible with ley-cleansing magic performed during a lunar eclipse or at a major leyline convergence site
• Risky soul-tether rituals involving a spirit-walker
• Most become caretakers of sacred groves or "join the land" permanently
• Cost: Amber-root and qualified ley-menders are rare and sacred. Treatments often require favors, druidic trials, or relic donations.

Stage 1: Beneficial and sometimes permanent if regulated
Stage 2: Risk of permanent transformation or magical instability
Stage 3: High mortality or metaphysical absorption

Some who survive Stage 3 exist as half-material forest avatars, eternally bound to one grove or region.

• Increased sensitivity to ley magic
• Involuntary magic casting in times of stress
• Memory loss (common in dryads)
• Vulnerability to enchantments or dreams sent through ley currents
• Sporetail affinity or root-dreaming syndrome (plantfolk only)

• Wearing a Ley-anchoring circlet or rootsteel bracers
• Avoiding ritual casting during leyflare seasons (recorded by druids)
• Meditation in stone circles before and after leyline work
• Small doses of willow ash salve to block ley-spore receptors in the skin

• First Case: Believed to be a plantfolk apprentice named Elarin Thistlebloom .
• Major Outbreak: Following the Staggrasp Convergence Collapse , twenty druids transformed into wildgrove guardians within hours.
• Notable Victim: A half-elven scholar named Calen Vas'tor became a ley-sunken being and now exists as an incorporeal voice guiding others away from surge site

• Dryads & Plantfolk: Treated as a sacred but tragic phenomenon—"The Green Sleep"
• Druids: Viewed with solemn awe, often marks one as “touched by Fenros”
• Arcane Orders: Feared and studied; some consider it a cautionary tale about unchecked magic
• Superstition: Some villagers wear root-twined charms during leyline bloom to avoid “leaf-madness”