MancerMumps

MancerMumps appear to be transmitted through skin-to-skin contact. A number of Tome Knights acquired the infection through shaking hands or giving each other a hug. Although there was a brief scare that transmission might also have occurred through mutual contact with Literomantic Batteries or literomantic artefacts, this was later disproven through the research of the Lapin Royal Hospital and the work of Dr. Georgina Mamby-Pamby.

MancerMumps appears to be a magical mutation of the rubeola, or measels, virus. Fortunately, while it causes a not dissimilar rash, and has similar effects on the body's immune system, it is not an airborne contagion.   Exhaustion, fatigue, and conditions that cause the wearing down of the body's defenses, such as Magic Drain or even Magical Backlash can contribute to susceptibility to MancerMumps. Likely, it was the endemic exhaustion among the Tome Knights during The Third Word War that led to the illness becoming so widespread.

While MancerMumps only has an incubation period of about 24-48 hours, the initial symptom that presents is a significant increase in fatigue. Patients describe feeling "under the weather," "like they have the flu," or simply wanting to sleep a lot and wearing out easily. This initial infection period lasts between a couple of days to a couple of weeks.   It is the characteristic purpura, or purple spots, that usually leads to the diagnosis of MancerMumps. Bright purple spots may appear in only small patches on the body, or in proliferation, and range in size from tiny speckles to raised blotches roughly an inch across. Spots may appear in different shades of purple, depending on skin colour and pigmentation and severity of infection.   These spots may appear on any of the mucus membranes of the body, including tear ducts and pulmonary tissue. This may lead to difficulty breathing, blurred vision, extreme fatigue, sore throat, occassional loss of voice, and in some cases, blindness. These all have a significant effect on a literomancer's ability to invoke Literomancy.  

Your Majesty! Your Majesty! Do you believe that an undiagnosed case of MancerMumps might have led to the loss of the Badger King's voice in Word War 4?

— A reporter with OneWorld News

I really couldn't tell you. All I know is that I didn't see any purple spots.

— Queen Sable's reply

  The infection also attacks the immune system, just like measels, and can result in a 20% to 70% loss of previously-existing antibodies, making the patient more susceptible to other infections.   If the infection is untreated, it may continue to assault nerve tissue. For the most part, this has an effect similar to fibromyalgia, primarily resulting in additional fatigue, pain, and brain fog, but there are some cases in which nerve damage has been considerably more severe, leading to tremours, loss of vision or hearing, neuropathy, or loss of fine motor control.

Because the MancerMumps virus is related to the measels virus, treatment with experimental anti-virals intended for measels was tried with the outbreak in Word War 3 as part of the ongoing field study by the Lapin Royal Hospital. This seemed to have some effect, limiting the progress of the disease, and in some cases, even helping the body to reverse its course. Symptoms may also be treated with medicated creams, chicken soup, decongestants, painkillers and nerve medications, and plenty of rest.

MancerMumps runs its course within a few weeks, and while it certainly has proven delibilatating, it is rarely fatal. There have been two deaths directly connected to MancerMumps; one as a war casualty, the other as a result of a secondary pneumonic infection.   However, since the first modern appearance of MancerMumps corresponded with the strangeness of the Third Word War, including the disappearance of The Missing, it has been postulated that there may be another stage of the infection that simply erases the patient from existence. This belief is connected to records that suggest that the unknown leader of The Missing House was suffering from the illness at the time of their disappearance. There is, of course, no scientific proof of this, and likely, no way to determine its truth.  

No, there is no evidence that MancerMumps has anything to do with The Missing! Bah, people will believe any internet conspiracy theory, won't they?

— Dr. Georgina Mamby-Pamby, from an appearance on WLA News, January 13, 2023

If the condition progresses to its third, or degenerative nerve stage, the nerve damage may become long-term or even permanent. Affected literomancers may be less resistant to Magic Drain in the future, or even Magical Backlash. A severe infection may also cause long term damage to delicate tear ducts and pulmonary tissue, resulting in numerous long-term health consequences, such as permanently blurred vision, asthma, or COPD. Infections that have done significant damage to the body's immune system may lead to the patient becoming immunocompromised.

MancerMumps appears to affect only literomancers, and not all literomancers necessarily, either. To date, no completely non-human literomancer (ie. Bunnykin) has developed the illness. However, the measels virus, morbillivirus, can be carried by, and cause illnesses in, humans, dogs, cats, cattle, seals, and cetaceans, so it seems likely that anthromorphic beings related to any of these groups who are also literomancers may become infected with MancerMumps.

Literomancers who may have been exposed to the virus, or who exhibit its symptoms, are quarantined. Dr. Mamby-Pamby recommends all literomancers keep their measels vaccines up-to-date, as the vaccine may also help to increase resistance to MancerMumps. Managing one's fatigue levels may also be important in increasing resistance.

Any event among literomancers that includes a lot of physical contact may potentially become a superspreader event. As a result, it has become common procedure to screen regularly for MancerMumps at the two yearly Tourneys of Tales, training exercises, and in cramped living quarters, such as military barracks. Many Protectorates now mandate that their Tome Knights keep up with their measels shots in the hope of improving future resistance.

MancerMumps first came into the public awareness during the Third Word War, when the leader of the Missing House, as well as famous Tome Knight WriterGreg, were diagnosed with the infection. Their contact was traced back to a negotiation for WriterGreg's mercenary services in October of 2021. From there, it quickly spread through the literomantic community, finding a near-virgin field, ripe with exhausted and stressed Tome Knights who were often in close contact. It is unclear whether the Missing House's leader was Patient Zero, or WriterGreg.   There was, however, some indication that the Missing House had a member who had been around in the Golden Age of Literomancy, though the details of those connections have been lost, and this person may have been the carrier. With the new disease spreading through the populace, the Tome Knights consulted their House Libraries for any relevant information, and found an illness that met the symptom criteria had been written about by other literomancers in the past, as well as those who opposed them. Some of the names it was known by included just its most notable symptom "purpura," "the speckled plague," and "witchpox."   This gave the Lapin Royal Hospital, the first literomantic hospital to be created in the modern era, a place to start. Literomancers showing symptoms were immediately isolated, limiting further spread, especially among the leadership of The Great Houses. One minor literomancer, Janine Landry, who worked in sanitation in the Lapin Protectorate, died of a secondary pulmonary infection. She was 64.   But at the Battle of Mount Mitchell, the situation became so dire that WriterGreg came out of quarantine, and his sickbed, to fight the The Undead Horde. With his literomancy hampered by the illness, he was killed, turned, and then died on the spot from his wounds, this time permanently, in the lesser Resurrection effect that was evoked by filking, rather than writing in The Iron Tome.   Over the course of the next few months, with sick literomancers receiving treatment, and possibly aided by the disappearance of The Missing, the epidemic died down. Now, isolated cases pop up from time to time among extremely exhausted literomancers or those who have not been vaccinated against measels. While the numbers of unvaccinated literomancers have not changed, it is possible that the literomancers have now developed something of a herd immunity that prevents a repeat of epidemic conditions.  

But we can't be sure, so get your measels vaccine!

— Dr. Georgina Mamby-Pamby admonishing the public on WLA News

MancerMumps was extremely concerning at its outbreak to literomancers, who feared catching it and risking their literomantic capability; as well as society at large, who feared the same thing, especially since the modern world depended so much on the literomancers to keep them safe from the Horde. This sense of panic has somewhat subsided now that the epidemic has died down.