The Rot

A corruption is spreading throughout Kerebra, a vile darkness that taints the vibrant beauty of the plane and infects living things with contagious darkness and evil. Dreamdivers have plumbed the depths of the Worldmind for answers, but their search has been fruitless and the people despair. There seems to be no cure or remedy for this spreading corruption, which the scholars among the Dreamdivers have named the Rot.
The Rot twists all it touches. It started in the outskirts, the deep forests that surround the inhabited lands of Kerebra, and few had heard of it except as rumors and scary tales of nightmares made flesh told around campfires and as cautionary bedside stories for children. But that was generations ago, and now the threat is very real.
Before the Rot, Kerebra knew no conflict or evil. The land was blessed with bountiful harvests, and war was completely unknown. The shardborn were simply peaceful and enigmatic emmisaries of the Worldmind in those days, and dreamlings frolicked carefree in the glens and clearings of the deep woods. People lived in peace.
This has all changed now. The deep woods are no longer safe, and only the bravest of the Purple Knights dare to enter those dark, tainted places. The tranquil peace of Kerebra has been shattered, and monsters stalk the night.
The influence of the Rot spreads every day, spreading like a contagion. For the first time, people come into open conflict with one another. Dark tempers flare, and where violence was once unknown it is now a part of everyday life for many. It seems as if the Rot has infected the collective human mind. Dark emotions have taken root in humanity, manifesting as dark deeds that shock and disturb the people of Kerebra to whom such things was completely unknown mere generations ago. Even the innocence of the dreamlings, so dependant on humanity and shaped by the human psyche, has been tarnished. Rotten dreamlings, spawned of corrupted human nightmares, have become more and more common with every passing year. There are even rumors of rotten shardborn, but no one can verify the truth of these stories.
What is true is this: The Rot is spreading faster and faster every year. The Purple Knights know this, and they are redoubling their efforts to curb the threat and find its source. The Executores Justitia are hard at work as well, but without unifying social structures or even real laws, their efforts are not as successful as they would claim. The Vigiles of the Executores try to patrol all human settlements in Kerebra, but their resources are stretched very thin and new Rot-influenced people surface and commit dark deeds every day. Even worse, the people are starting to push back against the iron hand of the Executores. Their methods are brutal and direct, and few appreciate yet another source of violence and fear in their lives.


Everything touched by the Rot falls to its corruption eventually. The deep woods have already been thoroughly corrupted, and the trees, plants and animals there are dangerous and threatening. Trees seep poison and grasp with claw-like branches at intruders, and animals half-dead and mad with unnatural hunger stalk the tall, black grass. The natural crystal formations of the forest, which once provided enchanting light and emanated the soothing energies of the Worldmind, have grown dark and dull, radiating only cold and void.
But not all Rot corruption is so conspicuous. The Rot takes hold of human minds as well, turning innocent people into violent degenerates, psychopaths and, eventually, killers and monsters. This corruption is slow at first. A dark thought, a wicked impulse or emotion. Perhaps an unkind word slips past friendly lips, or a moment of greed or envy leads to a minor act of theft or cruelty. But this is just the beginning; what is to come is much, much worse. As the Rot takes hold, people change. Jealousy, avarice, greed, hatred, these dark emotions grow and consume. The Rotten are driven to darker and more cruel acts, and their bodies slowly change. Their bodily fluids turn black and poisonous, their skin grows leasions and sores, eventually taking on a purplish hue resembling bruising. As they change physically, they seek out dark places where their true nature might go undetected, and from these shadowy corners they plot greater and greater malicious acts until they eventually grow so bestial that they lose all thought and become as bloodthirsty beasts. It's no wonder the Executores Justitia, who have studied the Rotten extensively, act so hastily and with such force to even the slightest hint of Rot influence among the people.


As the Rot spreads, the people grow desperate. Something must be done if Kerebra and her people are to survive, but no one seems to have any answers.