Blight - Bane of Man and Beast

Blight - Bane of Man and Beast is a book discovered within the library of the Guild of the Lilac Vine.

## Description

Plagues, moulds and other diseases have long proved troublesome for civilisations large and small alike. This tome details the so-called Year of the Creeping Blight in 792AG.

## Research

### Completed by Ronan

*The Blight appeared with an urgent haste, consuming the hardworn yields of a fruitful and long-lived period of Highreign and Amberlight. Whiterose had been brief the cycle before and so the fields had flourished - until blotches of dull-green and black rot sprawled from the earth itself and turned leaf, stem and root to little more than mulch and rot. It spread uncontrolled for months, and with the arrival of the Whiterose once more, the Realms of Ahlus faced a winter chill without provisions aplenty. While the rich could rise to the inflated prices, those less fortunate struggled. With ample months of fattening starting to falter, the culling of a great number of beasts came too, attempting to save on the burden of their feed and stave off the loss of what was gained. Leatherworkers, bonecarvers and butchers alike found themselves flush with work, but even that proved for not. Despite treating, the hides tore and spoiled, the bones first fragmented and then crumbled to dust and the meat was acrid and foul. When storehouses filled with the harvests of years prior started to suffer the same All started to feel the strain now that it grew apparent crop and herd alike were afflicated, and so the peoples turned to prayer.*

*Prayers that were answered.*

*On the 2nd day of Otealt, the third month into 792AG, Buwello appeared, corporeal. As he walked the lands, he plucked his hairs and cast them to the soil - springing new waters to flow wherever they fell and revitalise the dirt. From each footstep sprouted crops that welled with heady grains in a matter of minutes, and with each laugh he brought forth waves of bees, butterflies, songbirds and honeyeaters to aid in pollination. From the mulch created by the Blight he spurned new growth, fertilising the new with the old - and in doing so averting any further death and demise. But his greatest gift was his last one, for it was at this time that his current Exarch Ambrose was brought to this Plane of Existence, revelling with those that now feasted to regain their strength, while all the time continuing the work of his Master. With song and story he entertained as he walked the fields, regalling them with epic conquests, unifying anthems and tales of camaraderie - said to have all been originally learned to try and woe the favour of The Herald, the Exarch of Theamera and his unrequited love.*

*While the hardships in the early months of the year were quickly forgotten by most, others instead sought answers. The Guilds took samples of what little rot remained, as did the High College of Claxinns, but what in truth the follow-up research entailed or yielded was never published and thus assumed to be for naught. Others instead proclaimed of divine punishment, afflictions granted by malign presences in the world - most fingers pointed to the Master of Malice, but others instead suggested alternate culprits. Some blamed the witches in service to Sister Soilhands, attempts by wizards to travel to the Scarlet Jungle Cathrys - the second layer of Carceri, or, perhaps most sinister but unlikely of all, a ritual by cultists attempt to convene with the Darkbringer.*