Wasting Sickness
The Wasting Sickness infests corpses, especially those left long undisturbed. Scholars and surgeons theorize this disease is the result of the stale air found in crypts combined with the unwholesomeness of a decaying body not properly prepared for burial. Cases of the disease can be found recorded in the history of Kislev and Sylvania. One of the most deadly instances swept Erengrad ages ago, killing thousands. It was only stopped through the intercession of the Grand Theogonist, Lothar the Healer, who feared it would spread to the Empire. No one is certain what he did to halt the spread, but stories tell of the divine intercession of Sigmar himself with the more far-fetched ones describing a purging fire from heaven that was given to Lothar by Sigmar himself to cure the sickness.[1a]
This disease eats away at the flesh, increasing the subject’s metabolism to a point where it is almost impossible for them to intake enough food to stay alive. Victims become furtive and stressed to the point of insanity, eventually wasting away to nothing, even after gorging themselves for weeks. Many are mistaken for ghouls and are killed in the late stages of the disease by superstitious common folk or misinformed Witch Hunters.[1a]