"The Sickness in the Sand" or Compendium of Diseases of Great Desert

[Karwelas]

"The Sickness in the Sand" or Compendium of Diseases on Great Desert



by Alexander Hlidgaard

This work is a compilation of various diseases and ailments - both curious and serious - that I have managed to learn about during my time in the Great Desert. It should by no means be regarded as a complete compendium of them. However, it is my hope that these notes will be of use to future generations of healers of Well and beyond. May Mother bless you with Her Water. Live and drink, friends.

Always yours,
Alexander



Stone Rot/Rock Rot

The Rot is a truly curious disease of a species called Groknak. These animals are used by the Stonefolk as pets, herds and pack animals, and can grow to truly enormous sizes. They are usually docile, but an enraged groknak can be more dangerous than a war party of desert trolls! They use their powerful heads as living battering rams, usually with far worse results, as their natural armour is as hard as stone. Unfortunately for these beasts, death by decay is a punishment they rarely survive, and only a handful of desert sages know how to treat them and are not overly eager to share this method with anyone but their apprentices. Without assistance of such an individual, their fate is sealed. Thankfully, it is incredibly rare for one of these animals to suffer from it - albeit in recent years it became worringly more active. A symbol of days to come or a challange to face?

The Rot itself is, as I suspect, caused by some sort of erosion of their powerful armor - the species I saw was a  youngling, yet despite being almost on edge of succumbing to it, it was fully of fervor and rather annoying amount of curiosity about the world. It was still powerful enough to almost kill a man in one fast strike - let me share a wisdom I gained by being a witness of such an event. Do NOT pull Groknak tail - and only a fast reaction saved us from suffering possibly lethal confrontation with enraged, young male. That said, I did not have an opportunity to examine it as closely as I would wish to and my knowledge about this subject is one of a layman at best.

Danger to humanoids: Unknown, possibly none.
Treatments: Unknown, a secret cure method, used by handful of people.
Further notes: None... I hope that little one will enjoy his years.

Sand Blindness and Ash Blindness

Yet another curious affliciton possibly given by the Great Desert is Sand Blindness. Exposure to too much light is, as you probably realize, not too good for our eyes and the merciless rays of Pra'raj are not a thing which would agree with them either. Still, dangers of going blind, even temporality, are something to consider while going out for a desert trek. One should always carry some sort of eye or face wear to cover your eyes - especially in parts of the Great Desert, where as I heard, sand and salt work like gigantic mirrors, empowering the effects of sunlight even tenfold!

The vision of such individual will slowly become more blurry and reveal less and less of world that is surrounding you. In some cases, there were relations of powerful, blinding light, even when someone closed their eyes. Sandstorm may also cause similiar effects, if it somehow is enlighted by rays or hit your eyes with such force.

In case these safety measures prove to not be enough, one MUST NOT touch their eyes, despite the urge to do it! Doing so will only make effect worse and possibly even cause lasting damage to your eyesight. One must shield their eyes and keep them in total darkness - blindfold or really dark room will work. Cover your eyes in healing substances - Water of the Well will work as well as medicine in this case. Keeping your eyes moisured is incredibly important. If lucky, the symptoms should slowly abate over next few hours, or in worse cases, days. When Sand Blindness catches the lone, unwary traveller, their fate is usually sealed - better to die by their own blade, than to overheating or being eaten by wild beasts. This is yet another reason to never travel Great Desert alone.

There is also a rumor about something much worse - some people claim, that one may suffer similiar fate in strong Ash Storm. However, I do not know what can be possible cause of such affiliction in that case nor I can offer any solution if it happens to you, for one, simple reason. It would mean that you were caught in situation which I never suffered myself nor care to suffer, if I can avoid it. There is however, one advice I can offer.

Pray.