2025 Jul 18: The Basilisk Plague

 Alternatively known as Stone Sickness, or the Grey Plague, Basilisk plague is a slow-acting disease which gradually turns the infected into stone. The plague spreads by eye contact, and there is a small period of time where the infected don't show symptoms, but are already infectious. The infected are generally encouraged to blind themselves, and in most places are required by law to wear a blindfold at all times.

While the plague can spread incredibly quickly, most of the population is actually naturally immune to it, even if this fact is not generally recognized, and the infected are treated as incredibly dangerous, and are usually quarantined into a separate building or district, where only the clergy that try to treat them are allowed. Unfortunately the Basilisk plague shows an unusual resistance to magic, with only the most powerful sorcerers being able to cure it. 

Symptoms start with small gravel-like growths on the skin, usually on the arms, legs and neck, which then slowly grow to cover the body, leaving the face for last. When approximately 50% of the body is encased, joins will start to become more rigid, leading to total loss of mobility. When mobility is lost, the disease progresses very rapidly, completely encasing the infected in stone in less then 24 hours. The last thing to turn to stone are the eyes.

Aside from sufficiently powerful magic, there is no known cure for the disease. While the infected can usually live for a few years, almost all end up petrifying. Turning someone back from stone is a legendary feat of magic, something that nobody within living memory has done, although there is ample speculation on who might be able to do it.