Curses & Magical Afflictions (Patreon)

Magic is a wonderous thing that can be used to heal the sick and injured to a miraculous degree. But it can be just as harmful as it is helpful. We’ve already discussed a few specific magical afflictions, Vampirism and Lycanthropy, but there are many, many others. Several of these can be caused by interacting with or ingesting magical flora or fauna, but some are cast by other people, or even set as traps.

Bad luck is possibly the most common curse to affect Terrans. Many people believe that it is caused by things like breaking mirrors or walking under ladders, which simply isn’t true. But if you happen to see a black cat? Well maybe a witch just sent their familiar to curse you. Bad luck curses are almost exclusively caused by a spellcaster, and as such, magic is also the only way to remove it.

Curses that affect the body’s senses are also very common. Rendering a person blind or deaf is an effective way of disabling your opponent in battle, and removing a person's ability to speak can leave them helpless. Outside of battle, if you wanted to say, drive someone mad, you could remove the ability to feel anything, or smell or taste it for that matter. Once again, as the cause of these types of curses are typically a spellcaster, a spellcaster is what you will need to reverse them.

Petrification curses people to turn to stone. This can happen in an instant, or develop slowly over time, forcing the afflicted to watch as their bodies slowly turn to stone, slowly creeping up their extremities. Once the curse reaches their heart, it overtakes them fully, leaving them nothing more than a statue. Several creatures are capable of petrifying their potential attackers, most famously the gorgons and basilisk. A cure can be made using the eye of a basilisk, but you will need a trusted potion maker, as if made wrong, it may only speed up the process.

Next we have the curse of undeath. That doesn't mean that afflicted cannot die - it means that when they do, their bodies will renamate without their soul inside of it. It can even be cast after death - all that is needed is a body. This spell is most often cast by necromancers looking to grow their armies, but can be spread through bites or blood of other undead - most specifically zombies.

Dragon pox is one of the sadder magical maladies. Despite its name, you don’t catch it from dragons, instead it originates with the plant antirrhinum maledictus, commonly found on the northern plains of Eastland, specifically through ingesting it, though it can also happen when coming into contact with someone who is already infected. Hard, stiff  scales develop all along the person’s skin, resembling dark dragon scales. These scales continue to appear and eventually overlap, making it increasingly more difficult to move one’s limbs and joins. If the disease is not cured, it will eventually lead to death as the person is essentially mummified inside of their own skin while still alive.

And one of the more dangerous infections is known as boiling blood fever. Caused by a bite from a fire spider (latrodectus infernus), those who are infected will feel their blood begin to boil over a period of ten hours. What begins as a slight tingling sensation slowly transforms into burning, searing pain coming from within. Though not always fatal (as the blood does not reach an actual  boiling temperature), the pain is not even the only potential risk. Some will injure themselves trying to seek relief, exposing their bodies to sources of extreme cold. Others will simply go mad, attacking themselves and everyone around them.

These are some of the more common or well-known curses in the world of Terra, but there are so many more. Some are deadly, rusting the iron in your blood or not allowing your body to absorb any of the water you drink. Others are sillier, like forcing a person to only turn left, or making them sing everything they speak, or causing them to laugh uncontrollably. More are being discovered every day - and thankfully, so are their cures.