Geneial Miasma
The Substance of Life
This miasma forms all living creatures, from halflings to gods. It is present in the spark of life, the soul, and the animating will.
Properties:
- Its instability manifests as mutations, rapid evolution, disease, or strange growth
- Concentrations of geneial miasma can cause spontaneous eruptions of flora or fauna
- If corrupted, it becomes plague bearing and flesh warping
- Divine magic is based upon geneial magic and clerics tend to draw on it when spell casting, though not exclusively.
- Emergence of new species
- Monstrous birth rates in most species in the area - multiple births per pregnancy, increased egg clutch counts, and shortened gestation.
- Manifestation of swarms can become commonplace
- Emotion heavy zones alter typical behavior in fauna
History
A Journal Entry from Master Edran of the Cloistered Scribes
Tonight I witnessed a birth of human stock. Old Marwen’s daughter collapsed early in the evening, and the midwife begged me to attend, thinking my learning might serve where skill faltered. The child did not cry when born. It regarded us with an unsettling calm, its eyes too large, its limbs too slender, its skin pale as candle wax. The midwife whispered “fae-touched,” but I felt no such enchantment. Instead I sensed a wrongness in the very air around the infant, as though God Himself looked away.The mother insisted the babe was blessed, a miracle child, but the way the torchlight bent around it made the midwife clutch her holy symbol and flee. I advised they keep the child warm and pray for dawn. I dared no more.
I have traveled many lands and catalogued many puzzling ailments, yet never have I found a region where nature itself seems to forget its forms. Something here undoes the memory of the flesh, urging beasts and men alike toward shapes neither divine nor earthly. It is not the work of plague, nor blight, nor witchcraft—not any I have seen, in any case. It is a quiet distortion, subtle at first, then abhorrent in its culmination.
I fear the people of Greyhollow do not merely suffer corruption.
I fear they dwell upon its very source.
When I leave—and leave I must—I shall beseech the High Council to send priests, scholars, and wardens to cleanse this place. I pray they will believe me. I pray even more that I am wrong.
"Do let the others in the magic academy know I've deciphered the structure of life. They'll want to prepare their objections and alert the heresy police. Amazing what one can accomplish before lunch "
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