One of the many strange phenomena seen over the Northwest during the worst years of the Blight.
The Eye Blight refers to a group of related bizarre and generally harmful phenomena which first broke out in E6Y422, and persist to this day at some level (though the worst effects were contained as of E6Y450). Eye Blight may also be more narrowly defined as one of the vile diseases associated with the overall Blight disaster.
Origin and Causes[]
It is generally supposed that the Eye Blight was the result of an unspecified Phlogistonian experiment gone awry. However, there is little evidence to support this beyond the mere circumstance that the Blight originated in a laboratory known as the Phlogistonian Core, located on the island of Svalbard. I would like to point out that there are other possible explanations, including an attempted alien invasion and spiritual warfare. The original name of the phenomenon, Nomad Blight, is even associated with a legend that a wandering visitor from some other world was responsible. Unfortunately, the records in the Core and the laboratories in the Northwest are inaccessible, as Svalbard and the Northwest islands were completely overwhelmed and given up to the Blight. The most dangerous effects were contained there, but a few lesser evils (including the dreaded disease) crossed the ocean barrier with fleeing survivors. These had gone completely mad by the time they reached the mainland, and were no help in discovering the disaster's cause. In E6Y435, after distance observation of the islands suggested that transifacient clouds and spatio-temporal vortices were no longer forming, the Jessamine Expedition visited Baffin Island in hope of recovering useful knowledge about the Blight. The only significant result of this ill-fated project was the accidental introduction of Blightweed to the Phlogistonian mainland.
Impact[]
A patient showing signs of early-stage Eye Blight.
The majority of those serving in the island laboratories when the Blight struck never returned to the mainland, and were presumed dead. Happily, these laboratories were always staffed in small numbers to avoid attention from Baptiste enforcers. The Blight's characteristic disease ultimately caused far more damage than the alarming phenomena in the Northwest. It spread across the globe and reached pandemic proportions between E6Y423 and E6Y425. Only the development of an effective vaccination in E6Y426 enabled the eradication of the infection. Blightweed caused many additional deaths when it escaped the islands, but did not spread beyond Phlogistonia and the northern parts of the Baptiste Empire. All told, the number of human fatalities due to the Blight is estimated at more than 700 million.
Eye Blight attacks humans and other mammals through the eyes, causing deterioration of the retina and optic nerves, but eventually spreads to the brain. Death or permanent insanity is inevitable unless the eyes are swiftly amputated. For reasons still not fully understood, myopia is protective against the disease, and individuals with vision below 20/50 are practically immune. Blight insanity typically causes the afflicted to wander in a circuitous path, hence another possible source of the term “Nomad Blight.”
Legacy[]
The Eye Blight's presumed origins in a failed experiment led to a dramatic increase in technophobia, even within Phlogistonia. A number of previous incidents had created a stir, but their aftermath was nothing compared to the paranoia wrought by the Blight. In the short term, this resulted in the cancellation of a number of research projects and redirection of funds to sporting events and other frivolities. Of greater interest is the emergence of a new variant of the Ascendancy Doctrine, which held that the ascension of humans could be accomplished by mental and spiritual means only, without any technical methods. Francois Baptiste supposedly became the first person to ascend without the assistance of machinery in E7Y63. (Due to a lack of substantiated public demonstrations and the fact that anyone with knowledge of consciousness physics would find the proposed mechanisms absurd, this author believes all claims of ascension without a Quintessential Harmonizer to be farcical.) Finally, the disease had the rather obvious effect of increasing the percentage of near-sighted people and animals in the population. It is surprising to some that there was a time when spectacles for dogs were not commonplace, but I can vouch for this as a historical fact.
-- Ariane Vulpinia