Miasma

***Miasma***, also known as the **Pollution of Sin**, is a type of malicious demonic energy that drains the natural spiritual and magical energy of its surrounding area.

## Overview

### Greek Mythology

In Greek mythology, a **miasma** (μίασμα) is "a contagious power ... that has an independent life of its own. Until purged by the sacrificial death of the wrongdoer, society would be chronically infected by catastrophe." Attempts to cleanse a city or a society from miasma may have the opposite effect of reinforcing it.

An example is Atreus who invited his brother Thyestes to a delicious stew containing the bodies of his own sons. A miasma contaminated the entire family of Atreus, where one violent crime led to another, providing fodder for many of the Greek heroic tales.

### Miasma Theory

The **miasma theory** (also called the **miasmatic theory**) is an obsolete medical theory that held that diseases - such as cholera, chlamydia, or the Black Death - were caused by a *miasma*, a noxious form of "bad air", also known as **night air**.

The theory held that epidemics were caused by miasma, emanating from rotting organic matter. Though miasma theory is typically associated with the spread of contagious diseases, some academics in the early nineteenth century suggested that the theory extended to other conditions as well, e.g. one could become obese by inhaling the odor of food.

The miasma theory was advanced by Hippocrates in the fourth century B.C. and accepted from ancient times in Europe and China. The theory was eventually abandoned by scientists and physicians after 1880, replaced by the germ theory of disease: specific germs, not miasma, caused specific diseases. However, cultural beliefs about getting rid of odor made the clean-up of waste a high priority for cities.

## Summary

*Miasma* is a type of malicious energy born from excessive usage of demonic energy within an area but isn't treated/purified in a certain amount of time. As a result, the cultimated demonic energy will gain a pseudo-consciousness and will actively drain the natural spiritual and/or magical energy in its surrounding area to grow further in terms of size and power.

Even since ancient times, from across the world and from various different cultures, people had already recognized the corruptive and destructive nature of *miasma*, and many rituals had been created to purify it. For the most part, it was the wizards and sorcerers who contributed to the research of the malicious energy, finding a method of understanding and cleansing it. The mundanes themselves, ignorant as they were toward matters of supernatural origins, also came to understand that there was "bad air" causing troubles, though due to their lack of understanding, came up with the ridiculous *miasma* theory, contributing mundane origins to a much demonic energy.

Eventually, the *miasma* theory became popular in the mundane world, something no moonlit citizen could definitively say to be a good thing or a bad thing, though most agreed that it did help the process of purifying *miasma* easier, not having to explain too much about the supernatural. Yet, as time went on, "miasma" began to become a catch-all reason for diseases for mundanes, and was used to explain plagues and diseases, straying away from its origins meaning as a source of demonic corruption.

As time went on, especially in the modern era when mundane science has begun to evolve to a level where low-level magical phenomena could be analyzed through scientific methods, *miasma* began to gain a reputation as a superstition born from ancient ignorance of "germs and bacteria". As such, treating *miasma* was seen as an outdated thing of the distant past.

### The *Miasmata*

In the supernatural world, the term **Miasmata** (瘴気の疫病ミアスマタ, *Miasumata*) means an large infestation of *miasma*, often born from centuries-worth of unpurified *miasma* capable of potentially causing tremendous consequences such as plagues, famines, or natural disasters.

While they are relatively rare in the modern era, largely due to the Netherworld and the Inferno actively keeping the *miasma* generated by their denizens in check, in the past, they were tremendous threats, not only to humans but to the world itself.

Some of the known cases of *miasmata* are:

* **Golden Square Outbreak** (ゴールデン・スクエアの発生, *Gōruden Sukuea no Hassei*): A severe outbreak of cholera caused by *miasmata* that occurred in 1854 near Broad Street of the City of Westminster, London. It was the result of the *miasma*-contaminated water, which led to severe cases of cholera that took the lives of 616 people. The *miasmata* was eventually dealt with, though it did gain a reputation by the hypothesis about germ theory written by John Snow, the wizard who led the purifying mission, which influenced public health and the construction of improved sanitation facilities in the middle of the 19th-century.
* **Black Death** (黒死病, *Kokushibyō*): The world's most infamous pandemic, supposedly caused by an outbreak of the bubonic plague due to flea-carrying rodents. However, as ironic as it may be for scientists, the pandemic's actual cause was due to a *miasmata* outbreak born from a combination of the Devil Civil War and the Third Holy War.
* **Great War** (黙示録の戦争グレート・ウォー, *Gurēto U~ō*): The infamous war between the Three Factions that supposed to mark the end of the war. Participating in the war were countless demons, devils, daemon, and numerous kinds of demonic creatures, and the *miasmata* born of the cultimated demonic power became a force of nature in its own right. In the aftermath of the Great War, the cursed force began to seep into the Earth, slowly drained and corrupted the planet from the core, and was only stopped by the sacrifices of several Mother Earth Goddesses.

## Appearance

While normally invisible to the mundane eyes, to magic practitioners and/or supernatural creatures, *miasma* takes the appearance of a mist or cloud, usually in different hues of purple.

## Abilities

Miasma is known for its corruptive and destructive nature, often called the "foul air of pestilence" by medieval physicians. It drains, devours, and eventually corrupts the natural spiritual and magical power of its surrounding area. It absorbs every kind of energy it can get its hands on until the energy source becomes an inevitably dried and dead husk.

Exposure to *miasma* can occur through a number of different manners. Skin contact and inhalation are the most common methods, though an individual's magic core is also a highly susceptible route of entry. It is for this reason that mundanes with innate magic cores can detect the presence of *miasma*, even if it isn't visible to their unaided eyes. Unfortunately, these same individuals are also more prone to its corruptive effects should they come into contact with the *miasma*.

This is especially true for those who cultivate spiritual energy as part of their magic system, such as the *xian*'s Daoist Arts or the *youkai*'s Onmyodo. This is due to them having to absorb the natural spiritual energy in their environment to perform their spells, and thus, more than likely accidentally drawing into their body an excess of *miasma* at an accelerated rate that their magic core couldn't process in time.

## Purification

Despite its malicious power, *miasma* can still be avoided and/or dispelled under certain circumstances. Due to its origins as demonic power, it is weak against techniques of religious nature or items with religious symbolism, and therefore can be easily dispelled by exorcists or those of religious importance, provided that they have basic training in exorcism.

In addition, there are also alternative methods in nature to defend oneself against the malicious effects of *miasma*, though the most effective one among them is by using water. In ancient times, people had already figured out the power of running water such as streams, rivers, and even waterfalls in purification, as the natural energy present in the water continually running over the infected individual will dilute and rinse away the *miasma*, though the process can take anywhere between several hours to several days depending on the extent of the exposure.

## Trivia

* The name, *miasma*, means "pollution" in Ancient Greek.
* Devils from the Resheph Clan of the Extra Demons have the power to control *miasma*.
* In eastern esotericism such as Feng Shui, *miasma* is believed to be *ki*/*qi* of malign influence.
* According to Thoth, the *miasma* created during a human's metamorphosis into a daimon is the most potent and dangerous.
	+ It's believed that this is the truth behind the Ancient Greeks' belief of *miasma* being a "pollution" born between sinful acts committed against the will of the gods.