Blighted Hendrix

The blighted guardian is a mockery of the human body, a twisted shadow of the person that it once was. Sickly green liquid oozes from its orifices, each drop sizzling when it hits the ground. The blighted guardian was originally thought to be a creature native to Elenia. When travelers first encountered these monsters in the southern wilderness, they simply noted them down on the long list of menaces that made founding cities there impractical and dangerous.

It wasn’t until people wounded by blighted guardians began to develop the same symptoms, that it became apparent that the blighted guardians were not native monsters to Middara, but the result of a parasite. They were humans who were unlucky enough to be infected by other blighted guardians.

The blood of a blighted guardian is highly acidic. When struck, their blood can melt steel, and they are covered in weeping sores that coat their bodies with corrosive fluids, making even their touch dangerous.

Some people are resistant to the parasite. Unfortunately, there is no way to predict who will be immune and who will not without being potentially infected by a blighted guardian. It is unknown whether or not the host actually dies from the blight, or if the parasite just takes control of the body, leaving the mind captive in a withering, rampaging husk. This has difficult and unpleasant implications in regards to the disposal of these creatures. Many of those who lose loved ones to the blight, argue that a cure might one day be found, and those infected should be locked up until that time. Others argue that they are nothing but dead bodies under the control of a dangerous parasite.

Researchers have found that infected individuals kept in captivity occasionally become lucid, screaming the names of people they once knew, or even begging for death. This lends some weight to the idea that these creatures are still truly human inside, and so perhaps could still be saved. Unfortunately, there is no known cure. The Kingdom of Elenia is most effected by the blight, and has many financial incentives to find some sort of remedy. They have even tasked specialized groups with developing a cure, though there have still been no successes.