Volcanic Pinworm

**Volcanic Pinworms** are a type of parasitic worm found in the hot springs of the far north, most commonly in Barland and western Skjol.

## Biology

Volcanic Pinworms are incredibly thin and small, with them often being the size of a pinhead or hair. The largest and longest specimens may be mistaken for thread. Their color is light red to pinkish. Volcanic Pinworms live in large clusters, though without any kind of social structure. They live within the hot waters of volcanic springs which are common in the far north near mountains and sulfur fields.

Volcanic Pinworms feed off the blood of other organisms, which they enter through the skin. The worms burrow into the flesh of the entire animal, attaching their mouths to the capillaries and veins from which they extract blood. When the worm is reaching the end of its life, it leaves the host when temperatures are high enough to release fertilized eggs into the warm waters. The worm then dies. Usually, the prefered hosts are mammals which drink from the hot pools.

While not common, some cases of Volcanic Pinworms in humans have been recorded in medical records throughout the ages.

## History

Folk stories of the Barlandic regions tell of animals being plagued by tiny worms, sometimes called "devil's hairs". Usually, these stories follow a hunter who enters the Bear King's Forest, poached a particularly impressive game, then found it covered in worms upon inspection. Rarer, the stories tell of the hunter eating the game only to become tormented by tiny hairs that burned across his body. These stories are indicitave of early encounters with Volcanic Pinworms.

The first recorded infection in humans was written by an anonymous surgeon in 23 CE and submitted to the newspaper *Bar Volmen.* It described how a veiled woman would visit the surgeon for sulpher baths, to which his assistants would complain of the worms leaving her body in great quantities. The physician, thinking them liars, eventually gained permission to view this woman, who with much embarrassment eventually removed her veil, revealing her entire body to be covered in tiny red dots. Upon stepping into the sulpher bath, these dots would burrow out of her skin as tiny worms which the physician measured the longest to be four inches. The worms would swim about in the water and if removed, die. If left out of water and in the cold, they would quickly putrify into a red liquid. Upon questioning, the woman revealed the ailment began after she had bathed in a hot spring in the wilderness near Porsvik while on pilgrimage to a remote monestary. She said the worms did not cause pain but a light burning sensation. She had been living with the ailment for several months. Upon successive sulpher baths, the physician successfully treated the infestation.

After this account, several more of a similar nature would be recorded every few years. Only one ended in death, that of the infection of a young boy aged six who contracted the worms after falling into a sulpher pool in northern Korevna.

## Treatment

For animals infected, it is best to slaughter them while wearing heavy clothing to protect the skin. The animals should not be eaten or eaten by other livestock. For infection in humans, the school of Northern Modern Medicine suggests regular sulpher baths with added drouts of quicksilver, to better kill the worms upon exit. Folk medicine suggests a type of paste made of Lionsbane be applied before and after a hot bath to remove them, a similar cure to other insect infections.