Blinding Worm

Blinding worms are a type of small worm found inhabiting fresh water across Creation, most commonly in areas where such waters have become fetid or tainted with sewage. The worms reproduce by biting and spreading their larvae under the skin of other creatures, and while hale and healthy victims typically resist such encroachment, the sick and the weary are more vulnerable.

The larvae of the blinding worm circulate through the body of the victim, often accumulating in swollen pustules just under the skin where they grow and feed until bursting forth. The meal most desired by the worms are the eyes, and it is their eager devouring of victims' eyeballs that gives the worm their name.

There are many methods to combat the threat of the blinding worm. Ensuring water is clean is most effective, but few places can accomplish this. Locating and popping pustules to extract the worms is another method, and in the Threshold some will tie off and amputate limbs to prevent the worms spreading to the eyes. On the Blessed Isle, where such a Disenfranchising measure is seen as unacceptable, the Realm's Benevolent Stewards of Health and Utility instead treat blinding worms with the Tonic of the Roaring Moon, which drives the worms from the body before they can do severe harm.