The Cauldron of Nurgle: A Compendium of Diseases

[DatsVatSheSaid]

The Cauldron of Nurgle

Death's Grasp:
Victim’s unfortunate to contract Death’s Grasp live a pathetic life at the very edge of death. Sapped of all energy, any task they perform might be their last. A character infected with this Disease cannot remove Levels of Fatigue. Whenever he gains a level of Fatigue, each other character within 1d10 metres is also exposed to the Disease (and must make a TN 15 Constitution Test to resist it). If a character slips into Unconsciousness due to excessive levels of Fatigue while infected with this Disease, he perishes.

Enfeeble:
Enfeeble is a brutal malady that slowly corrodes the victim’s bones into dust. Many of Nurgle’s most dedicated devotees inject themselves with the virulent plague, seeing death as the ultimate expression of devotion. A character infected by Enfeeble suffers 1d4 Checks to Physical Tests they make each time they take a Full-Action or Half-Action during one of his Turns during Structured Time, or whenever he takes strenuous action during Narrative Time.

Festering Shroud:
Festering Shroud is an insidious blight first encountered by voidship crews entering the Lower Vortex. Exceptionally contagious, those that contract the disease find their bodies converted into chimneys of pestilence, spreading a vile miasma wherever they go. A character infected by Festering Shroud constantly emits an unnatural green fog that spreads around him in a 7-metre diameter cloud. At the end of each 24-hour period for which he has the disease, a character must make a TN 15 Constitution Test if he fails, his flesh putrefies, collapsing in on itself in a vile torrent taking suffer from Blood Loss. Whenever another character enters or starts their turn in the cloud, he must make a TN 15 Constitution Test or Contract this disease.

Nurgle's Breath
Sometimes seen as a boon, Nurgle’s Breath is popular among many Plague Cults for its ability to propagate quickly. However, those who understand the infection know that death lurks around the corner each time the afflicted use this most contagious “gift.” A character infected by Nurgle’s Breath gains a new attack with the following profile: (Pistol; 10m; S/–; 2k2 E; Pen 2; Spray, Toxic). This attack cannot Jam, but if the character ever rolls two results of 7 on the Damage dice, he immediately explodes in a disgusting shower of pus and slimy gore. Obviously, he dies, and each character within 3d10 metres suffers an immediate hit from the weapon. Any character who fails a Toughness Test to resist the Toxic Quality from Nurgle’s Breath contracts the Disease.

[DatsVatSheSaid]

1st batch released, next batch.... "Coming Soon".

[Marr965]

Haemolytic Haemovore Transformation Virus (HHTV)
Commonly called "Vamp-Virus" by those who don't understand how vampires are made, HHTV is a particularly virulent disease which seems to be able to infect any sapient being with blood or a blood-analogue. It causes its victims to undergo several radical changes, as their teeth become viciously sharp and their skin pales. They become dependent upon consuming blood to survive, whether by consumption by mouth or perfusion directly into their veins.
Every day a victim of HHTV goes without consuming at least one level of fatigue's-worth of blood from a sapient being, they suffer an automatic I wound to the Gizzards which cannot be reduced or regenerated except by magical means. They gain a Bite natural weapon with the following profile: [Melee; 1k1 R; Pen 1; Brawling], and may elect to substitute the normal fatigue caused by causing wounds with a brawling weapon for consumption of their daily blood (if the bitten victim has blood, or a blood-analogue, of course). In addition, their pale skin causes them significant problems in environments which would normally cause harm to vampires, although they merely suffer one level of fatigue per hour, and they won't die if rendered unconscious by this fatigue. Use of this Bite weapon can cause infection on a failed TN 15 Constitution test, unless the bitten victim is Undead, a Construct or otherwise lacks blood or a blood-analogue.
Of particular note: infection with HHTV is not a means of becoming a true vampire. HHTV-infection can potentially linger if the victim becomes Undead, although it ceases to cause automatic wounds.

HHTV-K strain
In the aftermath of the first HHTV outbreaks, a nasty mutation of the disease began to be reported. Rather than the consumption of blood, sufferers need to intake raw meat from a sapient species. Rather than merely paling, their skin erupts in lesions and their eyes cloud over with cataracts. The teeth still sharpen, but so too do the nails.
Sufferers of the so-called Krieger-strain of HHTV must consume the raw flesh of sapient beings to survive. In fact, this becomes their only viable long-term food source, although consumption of the flesh of "lesser" species can potentially keep them from suffering the effects of starvation for a day or two. They also gain a Bite natural weapon with the following profile: [Melee; 0k1 R; Pen 1; Brawling] and a Claw natural weapon with the following profile: [Melee; 1k1 R; Pen 0; Brawling]. They have the same sunlight problem that sufferers of the regular strain have and become Blind. Survivors of attacks made using the natural weapons of the Krieger strain can become infected if they fail to pass a TN 15 Constitution test.
As per the regular strain, infection with the Kreiger strain of HHTV does not make the victim Undead.

Virally-Induced Toxic Allergy Syndrome (VITAS)
During the early days of the Human expansion into the Great Wheel, the population of one of their major Crystal Spheres fell victim to a strange new viral infection, that seems to induce a particularly horrifying symptom: violently anaphylactic allergies to pretty much everything. Those who fell ill with the new disease almost universally died within very short order, as their airways closed up and they suffocated to death.
The Thean government, upon hearing the news, immediately put a quarantine order in place on the Sphere in question, but it was too late. VITAS had begun spreading through the Wheel. In its insidious, asymptomatic form, it causes no harm to its carrier, although anything that's both unprotected and biological they interact with must pass a TN 10 Constitution test to avoid catching it. However, upon exposure to some fairly rare condition, set by the SM, the virus is activated, causing rapid anaphylaxis, normally followed by death unless prompt intubation or tracheotomy is carried out. In its symptomatic form, VITAS causes Suffocation. Biological organisms can still catch VITAS through unprotected interactions with a symptomatic carrier.

[Amanojyaku]

Enfeeble should be calling for a d5 roll. We don't use d4s here.

Faceless Hate
Not a disease so much as a virulent curse, brought on by obsessive hatred left to fester for years at a time. It mainly spreads via the Hatred feat; at the end of a scene in which an infected individual attacked a target of their Hatred, the victim must make a Willpower test (TN 10 + the total wounds inflicted by the infected attacker + any critical damage inflicted by the infected attacker) or contract the disease, gaining the Hatred feat targeting their attacker's race. At the end of each 24-hour period, the victim loses 1 dot of Constitution and gains a new instance of the Hatred feat, typically aimed at family and friends, but otherwise randomly determining the target group. During this period, the Heal spell will restore lost Constitution when used to cure the victim of this disease, but will also remove all instances of the Hatred feat obtained from it.

When a victim of this disease loses enough Constitution to be reduced to 0, the infection disappears, making it impossible to restore the victim using Heal. Their Constitution is immediately reset to however many dots they had before contracting the disease, and their face sloughs off, leaving behind a perfectly smooth absence of facial features. At this point, the victim becomes blind (but gains the Blind Fighting feat if they didn't already have it), incapable of breathing (but no longer needs to), and can no longer speak (but casts all spells as if they lacked the Verbal component), and gains the Mark of Malal asset as well as Hatred for anything and everything. They also become Mindless, drawn through unknown means to prioritize family members and others who would produce Mark of Malal's bonus before attacking anyone else. Killing the victim to use Resurrection restores them to this faceless state, but without any of the listed benefits: They cannot see and do not gain Blind Fighting; they cannot speak and must still provide Verbal components; they have no extra feats or the Mark of Malal asset; and they cannot breathe, and thus suffocate.

Life Blindness
Usually seen as a symptom of other, more immediately fatal disorders, life blindness causes the victim to become unable to perceive living things in any way... plants, animals, anything that lacks the Machine or Undead traits, they're all invisible, silent, and odorless. The victim can be made aware of their presence (such as when attacked by them), but may otherwise perceive themself to be the only living thing to exist.

[GuardianTempest]

Endokinetic Crystalitis
Kinetic Crystal (sometimes called Crack-Glass) is actually self-replicating crystalline bacteria. Bacteria. Microbes. Pathogens. They're normally found in the ocean floor and handled by professionals who put them in rocket engines and weapons. This particular strain however infests hosts to rapidly proliferate, causing painful crystalline formations to emerge all over the body. These crystals react violently to outside stimuli so those infected must move carefully. The patient treats all incoming damage as Explosive as they are shredded from the inside out. The infection causes them to deal 4k3 X to themselves and anyone within 2m upon being hit by an attack, receiving a strong impact, or when moving more than their Dexterity when taking movement actions. Any limbs that would be severed explode with the profile of a Frag Grenade instead. If the patient dies from being dealt wounds (either from external sources or from this disease), they explode with the profile of a Frag Missile. Anyone else dealt wounds by this disease must pass a TN 20 Constitution test to avoid getting infected unless they become critically damaged, in which case they become infected automatically from the bacteria infesting their Gizzards.