What the Heck is the Rash, anyway?

[Mariiii]

And the Dream World could be some kind of "shared conscience" of humanity (imagine that all humans have telepathic capabilities that work on a subconscious level, but those with magical powers can access that space...). So, more fuel for stories!

As for a totally natural way, It could be, why not? Earth could just happened to enter a interstellar cloud of magical energy as the galaxy rotated. If those clouds had different densities it would explain variations on magical presence in the world along centuries. (and even more fuel for stories, yeah!)
But what I meant was more a natural (accidental) trigger to supernatural events, like that example of a flood that exposes a powerful artifact.

Well I never thought about the Dream World as something else, what did you think about it ? For me it always was kind of place where every mages can meet in spirit during their dreams (if they are close in reality, because it seems like the more distant they are in reality, harder it is for them to contact each other if they can't travel safely through the sea like Reynir). And the troll spirits seems to have access to this place as well (for example the dog in the first adventure). I also wonder if the big aquatic serpents who tried to drown Lalli are trolls or something else because we never meet them in the reality...

I really like the idea of interstellar clouds of magic energy, these could also explain why the magic "disappeared" from the world, and they could also be at the origin of the illness!

About the artifact theory, did you imagine that a bunch of people found it, got infected and became the first ones to contract the rash ?

But yes, there is so many stories or theories we could write about it ! I really hope we will get answers to theses questions as the story goes on...

[thegreyarea]

Well I never thought about the Dream World as something else, what did you think about it ? For me it always was kind of place where every mages can meet in spirit during their dreams (if they are close in reality, because it seems like the more distant they are in reality, harder it is for them to contact each other if they can't travel safely through the sea like Reynir). And the troll spirits seems to have access to this place as well (for example the dog in the first adventure). I also wonder if the big aquatic serpents who tried to drown Lalli are trolls or something else because we never meet them in the reality...

I really like the idea of interstellar clouds of magic energy, these could also explain why the magic "disappeared" from the world, and they could also be at the origin of the illness!

About the artifact theory, did you imagine that a bunch of people found it, got infected and became the first ones to contract the rash ?

But yes, there is so many stories or theories we could write about it ! I really hope we will get answers to theses questions as the story goes on...

I see two possibilities for the Dream World (with many variations...):
a) The Dream World is that, a Dream, but a shared dream, accessible by telepathic power.
b) The Dream World is that, a World, but in another dimension, accessible by magic power.

In both options we need to switch off from the real world to gain access.

In a) the mind connects with the "dream internet", but all "data processing" happens inside the minds of those connected. If everybody was simultaneously awaken you would not be able to connect and will remain on your dream inside your mind.
In b) the conscience, while still attached to the body, enters another world/dimension, that exists by itself. Keeping with the computer analogy, the "processing" happens, mostly, in a big server. Even if everybody else in the world is awaken you can still go inside.

That last option is somehow supported by that moment when Reynir (someone gave him admin powers but forgot to tell ) enters on Lalli dream world while Lalli is trapped in Emil's mind.

The big serpent can be something that inhabits just that world, or the projection of the mind of something very big (it seems that minds retain a large similarity with their real world bodies, we never saw someone turning in an animal or changing size, except for the children versions on Lalli's island dream/memory). So it could be the mind of a sea-serpent? Minna already draw big sea serpents a few times. I recall the ones under the ship on page 55 (adv 1) and on page 31 (adv 2). So maybe that's it?

I also love the interstellar cloud theory and will, with time, try to write something using it.

On the artifact hypothesis it could be either your approach (the artifact contains the infectious agent) or the artifact unlocks a connection with another dimension, a gate through which one, or several, evil entities access our world and their actions cause the disease.

As you said, many stories could be made. I'm also very curious about Minna's answers to all (or part of) that, if we ever get some. Will Minna ever write her "Silmarillion"?

[LilG]

The big serpent can be something that inhabits just that world, or the projection of the mind of something very big (it seems that minds retain a large similarity with their real world bodies, we never saw someone turning in an animal or changing size, except for the children versions on Lalli's island dream/memory). So it could be the mind of a sea-serpent? Minna already draw big sea serpents a few times. I recall the ones under the ship on page 55 (adv 1) and on page 31 (adv 2). So maybe that's it?

On the topic of what the things in the water are:

(screenshot taken from a post on Key posts by Minna through the comments and on Twitch, though I don't remember the exact post)

She doesn't specifically say what they are, but she does compare them to native spirits of the Spirit/ Dream World.
So... I guess mystery somewhat solved?

Though, as I've stated previously in my first post here, she might be lying so as to not spoil the story. I don't really see that being the case here because her answer, while vague, sounds quite well put together, but maybe I'm just biased because it wouldn't fit my theory about magic as a whole for it to not be true ¯\_(ツ)_/¯.

[Mariiii]

She doesn't specifically say what they are, but she does compare them to native spirits of the Spirit/ Dream World.
So... I guess mystery somewhat solved?

Though, as I've stated previously in my first post here, she might be lying so as to not spoil the story. I don't really see that being the case here because her answer, while vague, sounds quite well put together, but maybe I'm just biased because it wouldn't fit my theory about magic as a whole for it to not be true ¯\_(ツ)_/¯.

Yes it seems like the mystery is solved, thank you !

[thegreyarea]

On the topic of what the things in the water are:
She doesn't specifically say what they are, but she does compare them to native spirits of the Spirit/ Dream World.
So... I guess mystery somewhat solved?

Thanks! I didn't knew about that. (looks like I haven't did enough digging in the Forum yet...)

Yes it seems like the mystery is solved, thank you !

So, yes, mystery solved! But also her answer strongly points to the Dream World having an existence of it own, like Tuonela. (hypothesis b) from my previous post)

[Mariiii]

Thanks! I didn't knew about that. (looks like I haven't did enough digging in the Forum yet...)

So, yes, mystery solved! But also her answer strongly points to the Dream World having an existence of it own, like Tuonela. (hypothesis b) from my previous post)

Me too, there are so many different topics, it will take a lot of time to see everything 

Yes that's true, it is also the hypothesis that seems the most realistic to me. I still like the idea of it being created by the imagination and beliefs of humanity, and only mages are able to conscioulsy access or interact with this world. We saw that normal people also have their own spaces in this "dimension" since Lalli has been able to go in Emil space...But they seem to be underwater instead of being on the surface, so maybe it is linked to the magic ablity ?

[Queen Yoko]

I’m sorry if someone has brought this up before but.........RASH INFECTED BATS WOULD BE TERRIFYING!!!!!
🦇🦇🦇🦇🦇🦇🦇🦇🦇🦇🦇🦇🦇🦇

I mean flying infected beasts would be a threat to everyone and every thing near them. ( I mean the rash is an airborne pathogen so....yeah)

 I’m kind of hopping Mina talks about the world’s only flying mammal family at some point, because I can’t get the thought out of my head now.

[muidole]

I think the idea might have been brought up before and a proposed answer was that any rash infected bats would be too horribly mutated to fly? So they would all basically be grounded and unable to get airborne? I don't really remember where I heard this idea from though (can't remember if I read it somewhere in the forum or if I heard it in a stream... or maybe I'm mixing it up with a completely different animal 😅)

In any case, that's what I'm choosing to believe regarding rash infected bats haha

[Jitter]

CeilingFan is right, we have Word of Minna that the Rash mutations would ground the bats. This info has been around before, but was just recently also repeated in a stream.

I think this is a good call by her, since flying animals with the Rash would seriously push the believability of the survival as presented, possibly over the edge into “there is No Way they could have survived”.

[Maglor]

I think it's a fungal infection.
1. Lowered/absent need in food may be explained by ability to feed via mycelium, that mutants can grow, when not moving.
2. Mutations may be explained by fusing an infected body and a fungi. So those are not mutations, it's rather a deformations.
3. Sun (UV) and cold might be just a unwanted conditions for a fungi.
4. Pandemic character of the Rush may also be explained by it's fungal nature. The fact that we don't see mutated plants means we're dealing with an animal-specialized fungi. Cats might just happend to be immnune to this.
5. Obvious parralels with The Last Of Us, lol.
6. "Trapped soul" may be explained by the presumption that the fungi needs it's victim neural system still operating in order to control the infected body and percept the world around. But this is where weird things starts. If there is such thing as a "soul" it is most certainly contained in the same place with consciousness - the neocortex, which for any worthy parasitic fungi is the first thing to kill. However we know that trolls are still aware.
7. The following theory is buit on idea I used to build my own LORe for the story that have nothing to do with 4S. But this idea might still work.
So. Carl Gustav Jung. The collective unconsciousness. You heard of it, right? What if the Rush was a manmade GM-fungi meant to amplify and alter human neural system in a way that would allow the collective unconsciousness aka "The dream world" to become a real thing? Imagine the possibilities! Things gone terribly wrong, but because of it we also have magic and gods.

[Róisín]

Interesting theory. My own guess was a mycobacterium, an organism that is not exactly a fungus and sort of like a bacterium, such as the ones that cause tuberculosis, leprosy and Buruli ulcers. If just a fungus, maybe a more advanced version of the zombie ant fungus, which controls its dying host through the host’s nervous system, causing the unfortunate ant to climb to a high point and fasten itself so that the parasite has a good spot from which to spread by spores. Nature already has some interesting horrors!

I do imagine the rash as having some sort of linked hive-mind among its victims, with the return of magic being a last effort of the human collective unconscious to survive.

[Queen Yoko]

I think the idea might have been brought up before and a proposed answer was that any rash infected bats would be too horribly mutated to fly? So they would all basically be grounded and unable to get airborne?
............

In any case, that's what I'm choosing to believe regarding rash infected bats haha

Yeah that makes sense. Flight involves a lot of different factors being just right. (weight, thrust, air displacement , that sort of stuff) And all the trolls we’ve seen are bloated or distorted far from third original forms. So yeah that explanation FLYS.

I apologize, that pun was horrible.  ;P

[Queen Yoko]

Personally I like the Theory that the rash is a virus but with some sort of magical component.

I like the idea that the rash somehow arose naturally. There’s a kind of poetry in story’s where Mother Nature kicks mankind in the teeth and proves that we aren’t as in control as we think we are.

I also like the idea that magic was something that was just naturally around in the pre-pelage days, and mankind, just wrote it off as superstition or psychosis, or whatever .

(By the way I’m not trying to be judgmental here or anything if you believe in magic, AWSOME! You do you. I for one am unwilling to close the door on the possibility of magic.) 
 
Also I’m thinking virus because viruses have been know to cause mutations on a genetic level. And they tend to spend really fast, which would explain why things went downhill so fast in the prolog.
 
Although the fungal idea is pretty cool too. Especially since it offers an explanation as to why infected creatures seem to be clinically immortal and don’t seem to need food or water.

For my part I’m thinking it’s a virus that turns it’s host organisms tissues in to something like cancer cells.

And I haven’t fully thought out the magic component, but there’s definitely a magical component to all this somewhere........... 🤔

[Queen Yoko]

CeilingFan is right, we have Word of Minna that the Rash mutations would ground the bats.

I think this is a good call by her, since flying animals with the Rash would seriously push the believability of the survival as presented, possibly over the edge into “there is No Way they could have survived”.

😅 I’m with you. Flightless infected bats is a good call on Minna’s part.
I was thinking of the “Scorch Beasts” from “Fallout 76” when I wrote my first post here.  God, those things look terrifying!

[GMantis]

I think it's a fungal infection.
1. Lowered/absent need in food may be explained by ability to feed via mycelium, that mutants can grow, when not moving.

Feeding via mycellum still requires some food source. Since no infected creature has been shown to have roots, the only possible source is for the fungi to use the bodies of the infected, which after 90 years would make them more fungi than animal. And this hardly seems to be the case, starting with the fact that they're alive - rather unlikely in an organism that's been eaten through by fungi.

The rest of your post has some interesting ideas, but if the disease is supposed to be based on biology - at least partly - this seems to me an insurmountable obstacle.