Loerdzhim and Loerdzhim poisoning

LOERDZHIM POISONING, AND LOERDZHIM-COPPER VEIN:

• As theorised by miners and Elders, and believed by the general populace in Mule's Trail.

Deep below the surface of Armagada is the dark, abysmal land of Loerdzhim, the very atmosphere of which is poisonous to surface dwellers. Miner’s know of this place. When a mineshaft is sunk too deep and breaks into Loerdzhim it has to be sealed, and damned quickly. Even if the vicious inhabitants of Loerdzhim don’t come spilling out to mash miners to pieces, they will soon die of the toxic air.

The usual symptom of this poisoning is rapid ageing. The victim simply grows old and dies within days or weeks. Months or years if they are particularly lucky. The longer lived the race, the more rapidly they age if exposed to this poison. The miner’s of Mule’s Trail, after much experience of accidentally breaking through into Loerdzhim, developed something of a preventative measure. They employ a rather make-shift gasmask, usually consisting of something that can easily be worn covering the nose and mouth such as a neckerchief. Wrapped, or preferably sewn within such a neckerchief would be crumbled bits of processed copper. Wearing this improvised mask tightly on the face does not actually prevent the wearer from inhaling Loerdzhim ‘air’ however, when the gas comes in contact with the crumbled copper pieces in the make-shift mask they react together forming a copper-Loerdzhim vapour. The normal poisoning effect (ageing) is diluted somewhat, but the concoction is still poisonous. Once inhaled the copper-Loerdzhim vapour condenses in the blood stream, and a high enough dose can visibly turn veins copper-green. There is only one known case where a sufferer’s hair has also been similarly affected. Longer exposure or subsequent new exposures to this gas mixture will show in larger areas of vein colouration. Mule’s Trail currently contains roughly a dozen sufferers with varying degrees of exposure. Standard mining procedure dictates that if an individual is diagnosed with ‘Loerdzhim-Copper Vein’ they can no longer work the mines in any meaningful capacity, as to risk further exposure poses a greater chance of being no less fatal than exposure to pure Loerdzhim ‘air’.

Whereas Loerdzhim poisoning clearly physically ages a victim rapidly, it is believed that inhaling copper-Loerdzhim vapour rapidly ages a sufferer internally. From the visible symptoms some suggest the effect is localised to just the blood. Each breath of the mixture inhaled makes the blood several years older than the sufferer otherwise would be; effectively each breath taken knocks half a dozen years off your life. It is not an ongoing effect however. If you stop breathing the compound gas your blood doesn’t age any further, unlike with pure Loerdzhim ‘air’ exposure.

Mule’s Trail is a predominantly Gnomish town, but there are many Dwarven run mines, and any Dwarven miner knows if you are exposed at a breakthrough, you die an old dwarf very soon. There is a tradition in many Dwarven mines that it is the duty of those exposed to stay to close the gap before they die.

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