Apotheosis
This page contains spoilers. Do not read it if you wish to remain in bliss.
(If you are a potential player for a DND campaign in the setting of Faun and would rather learn things organically, this information is not something you would know.)
Apotheosis is a parasitic cosmological infection with effects similar to rabies. Its origin is unknown.
Apotheosis typically only affects those with cosmological reverence, as its spores can only survive in cosmological space. No mortal has been a host to apotheosis as a result of the erratic behavior exhibited by deities that are host to the infection resulting in the death or disappearance of any mortal close to the deity.
Infection
Apotheosis is spread via spores that drift through cosmological space. Once a spore makes physical contact with a host, the infection process begins. This process has three main stages: incipience, conflagration, and putrefaction.
Incipience
The incipience stage begins once a spore makes contact with a host. The spore will take root within minutes and will disappear beneath the skin of the host as the roots of the infection quickly grow deeper. Once the roots reach the spine, the growth slows greatly and incipience has been completed. The host feels no pain during this process, and their mental state and physical ability remain completely intact.
Incipience can take anywhere from 5 to 30 minutes, depending on the initial contact point of the apotheosis spore.
Conflagration
Once incipience is complete, the roots of apotheosis begin slowly spreading along the host's spine and central nervous system. The host may begin to experience a numbing feeling or lose their senses entirely as the infection spreads.
As the infection begins to overtake the central nervous system and spread towards the brain, the host may become completely dissociated from reality as their entire body is numbed and slowly begins to cease functioning. They may lose some or all of their senses, and can lose mobility throughout their body. The host's sense of time may become warped, and memories as well as thoughts will become hazy and then incomprehensible.
Once the apotheosis infection senses the host's body shutting down, it will begin reviving organs in order to keep the host alive.
The infection will slowly overtake the host's brain. The host will slowly become increasingly animalistic, irritable, and avoidant. The host will also gradually lose their personality, and as conflagration progresses, will become completely unrecognizable.
Conflagration will typically last anywhere from 6 days to 6 months before the apotheosis infection has completely overtaken the host's body.
Putrefaction
Once conflagration is complete, the apotheosis roots will begin to grow more spores. Over time, spore growths will break through the host's skin and release spores into cosmological space. The host will remain alive, at this stage typically exhibiting behavior like that of a nearly-mindless wild animal. The apotheosis will continue releasing spores for as long as the host remains alive.
Treatment
If an apotheosis spore is removed before it can take root, the infection is avoided entirely. This must be done within minutes of the spore making contact with the host.
Once a spore has begun disappearing into the skin of the host, the only method of preventing full infection is to cut out the roots. This usually means amputation, but if the roots have only just begun traveling, it may be possible to simply cut the spore and roots out of the skin.
Once conflagration has begun, it is impossible to remove from the host. The only method of preventing or ending complete infection from this stage onward is for the host to undergo shattering or death.