Compression Sickness

The slow curse on Hump Town's changelings, and on Quetzalcoatlus's people before them. Neither race is native to this world, and their bodies adapted to it but never fully; with each generation defects multiply, worsened by the parents' lack of proper nutrition after arriving on this world. One birth in four now comes out sick, deformed like the armless, sunken-headed changeling girl Ruby, and every sick child is born sterile. The Principal cult's whole purpose is a cure: capture the ghost Quetzalcoatlus's plant-altering spell and grow a food source rich in the vitamins that stave off the defects. Henrik's desperation over it is what drives the hunt for the Gate as a last, dreaded backup.

Book 4 appearances

• Chapter 15 — Juice Box explains the degeneration, and the cult’s search for a cure, to a sympathetic Carl.

Related entries

• Juice Box (Character)
• Henrik (Character)
• Quetzalcoatlus (Creature)
• Changelings (Creature)
• The Gate of the Feral Gods (Item)

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