Taint

The **taint** is a corruption spread by fiends that ultimately makes the victim hear the call of the Deceivers. It can be transmitted through contact with fiend blood and fluids, or through objects imbued with the taint. Contact does not automatically make one sick, but there is a great chance of it.

Taint also manifests as spidery tendrils of black rot, along with a dry shiny film covering underground passages used by fiends. As the corruption progresses, it gathers into black sacs the size of a man lining the floor or hanging from the ceiling.

## History

Races of Morgaea had no knowledge of the taint prior to **-395D** when the Golden City blackened and first fiends appeared underground. The Ministry teaches that the magisters who entered the city "brought sin to heaven" and were "corrupted by their crime".

## The Infected

The taint spread by fiends corrupts the living. Many who have contracted the Scourge sickness die within hours. Others wither away slowly from a "wasting illness". In its more contagious form, the disease is often referred to as "a plague". It is spread by Scourge-touched rats far beyond the areas directly affected by the Scourge and can be sporadically seen centuries after it. An entire species of animals can die out from the plague.

The infected are often segregated and/or locked up. In some areas, doors of their homes are marked with a yellow circle. Many are killed as a precaution or an act of mercy, or abandoned to their fate.

The taint that emanates from the body of an Archfiend is especially strong compared with that of other fiends, and many would-be slayers have died on the spot simply attempting to penetrate the foul malaise that surrounds such creatures.

## The Tainted

### Fiends

*Main Article: Fiend*

The fiendish horde is connected through the taint, functioning as a hive-mind. While high ranking fiends like emissaries or alphas have a limited influence upon small groups, only an Archfiend can command the entire horde.

### Ghouls

Some people and animals exposed to the taint are transformed into ghouls, who pay for a prolonged existence with their sanity. The longer an infected creature lives, the more it will manifest aggressive or even rabid behavior, hair loss and numerous deformities, protrusions, boils and sores. Once the taint progresses enough, the fiends recognize ghouls as their own kind, and ghouls can sense fiends, and hear the call of an Archfiend. Even ghouls will ultimately be killed by the disease, leaving whole areas completely lifeless.

### Other

When the taint comes into contact with the local flora it usually poisons and kills the plants and trees making the area infertile for many years. However deep mushrooms often grow close to fiend bodies and tend to carry the taint even though they can't transmit it, while the nearly extinct felicius aria is the only plant growing in the scourged Silent Steppes.

The Tainted City taints spirits foolish enough to draw too close.

## Scourge Magic

The taint carries magical power that allows fiend emissaries to cast spells.

## Resistance

Sylvan Keepers can combine herbal tinctures and a magic ritual to slow down the taint in recently infected victims, but only for a time. Rangers of the Grey are also aware of the existence of such herbs, and have helped to disseminate this knowledge across Morgaea.