Malsanis

Welcome to Malsanis. It is an endless swamp under a drab grey sky. The world is dotted with cities, miserable places inhabited by miserable, pale people. Life for them is a constant battle against the countless and varied diseases that bubble up from the depths of the mire. They drink filthy water, eat filthy food and are harrassed by filthy animals, not because of any fault of their own but because of the inherent filthy nature of Malsanis. Abiogenesis will make sure that organic material will quickly rot and produce living creatures.
Bridges to Malsanis are filthy too. Dust and grime heaps up in places no regularly cleaned, from these places diseased vermin may spawn.

Traveler:
Gateways to Malsanis are rare, forming over existing bridges for reasons unknown. Stupid or suicidal travelers can find these gateways by scouting the bridges and by taking the plunge may gain entry to Malsanis. Once there you must survive on your own wit but are beholden to little. Travelers start with 2 ♦ for their audacity and drive, as well as knowing the location of a gateway back to earth.

Conduit:
Malsanis called to you, something within you resonates with Malsanis and helped forge the link through wich your Conduit powers manifest. Perhaps it's the instinct to help people and remedy ills wherever you see them, or a fascination with the fading of life itself. Maybe you were infected and lost sight of where you ended and your parasites began.
Whatever the reason, Malsanis has identified you as part of itself and made you a Doctor. With time and effort spend Mastering this world you will gain the yellow fingernails and teeth denoting your title as Spook.

Infected:
You were infected. Malsanis has seen you and invaded you with its poison. The bile can't be detected physically or psychologically, you are connected spiritually to the mire of death. Wise men would be wise to avoid you, as you are now an ambassador of filth. Infected start with 8 ♦ as Malsanis claims them but are now permanently expunging the bridge effect of Malsanis wherever they go.
Bridges to Malsanis manifest as hotbeds of infection for almost five miles across. Dust and grease heaps up in place not regularly cleaned, from these things diseased vermin can spawn.

♦ Plague mask
You equal Malsanis' doctors in skill by learning the secret to fashioning their beaked masks. Every type of disease has a herb or parfume that prevents its infection when put into your beak, this allows you to venture into quarantined areas safely. Conduits with mastery of any other world will be able to create a mask that protects against all harmful substances within it.

♦ ♦ Brewing pot, requires plague mask
Careful that the orthodox puritans of Malsanis' medical world don't find out you better find a room to put your experimental setup. You are now able to brew and instill diseases in a controlled environment, combining and fine-tuning their effects. Darker minds would use this for biological weapons but for others it's an opportunity to develop cures.
♦ ♦ Infest, requires brewing pot
With enough research you gain an understanding of the darkest type of disease in Malsanis; the fungal infestations that puppeteer the body of their host long after he has passed. By carefully designing your own infestations you can turn the bodies of the diseased into loyal minions.
♦ Lord of Flies, requires brewing pot
By experimenting with your herbs and parfumes you develop a deeper knowledge on the nature of Malsanis and the process behind abiogenesis. You can create parfumes that finely control the speed of vitiation in the surrounding room. This way you can make things rot as quickly as they do on Malsanis, as on Earth or not at all and prevent creatures from spawning.

♦ ♦ Surgeon Tools, requires plague mask
You surpass Malsanis' doctors in skill by completely mastering the art of surgery. You can instantly sterilize any tool and perform any kind of operation without preparation. Hearttransplants can be executed in the middle of the street and broken bones can be reset in a few seconds.
♦ ♦ Stitches, requires Surgeon Tools
Silver wiring will speed up the healing process and, if never removed, allow for dead tissue to be used. Pathwork creatures made from all manner of bodyparts and synthetic materials can be created but the scars remain glaring and obvious.
♦ Throne of Blood, requires Stitches
Use your silver wiring to create moving objects, powered by alchemical processes. Powered by a heartbeat this leather wrapped furniture can 'live' indefinitely until it is destroyed. When not moving they can go in hibernation mode and waive the need for sustenance.
♦ ♦ Phrenology, requires Stitches
You develop such control and understanding of the nervous system that you can easily perform a brain transplant on two similar creatures. Putting a brain in a jar is child's play and you can connect multiple brains so the resulting mind doesn't know which one it is. If you have Throne of Blood you can use brains as computers, eyes as cameras and other such things by using nerves as wiring.

♦ ♦ Regeneration, requires Lord of Flies and Stitches -cheating death-
With your understanding of abiogenesis and the soul you set aside a large brewing pot containing the mixture of life. Upon your destruction the froth will condense and a new you will burst from the heap, already infused with whatever you saw fit to add to the mix.

♦ Poison Blood
You inject the slimy water of the canals into your veins and survive. You develop an immunity to the simpler diseases of Malsanis, although still a carrier you can no longer be harmed by the rudimentary infections bubbling up from the depth. With a well-aimed spit you can weaponize your own disease.
♦ ♦ Poison Swamp, requires Poison Blood
By spilling your blood on the ground you inject the terrain with your presence. Athough it is only a few yards across this little piece of Malsanis does your bidding. Parfumes or diseases of your choice bubble up from the depths and the mud coagulates or dilutes beneath your feet. You can inject the surrounding area to expand your swamp but large swamps tend to spawn half-formed biological curiosities.
♦ ♦ ♦ Filth, requires Lord of Flies and Poison Swamp
Your swamp, your domain, within your swamp you can control the vitiation of anything within sight to an extrem degree. You can melt people's faces or desintegrate objects made from organic material. This power can be infinitely focused and localized.
♦ ♦ Hamelin
You control the skitterers, the small creatures, the vermin. Your understanding of abiogenesis connects you with the life that spawns from it, you can see through the eyes and control all vermin within 4 miles from you. This isn't without risk though, the more you time you spend in the mind of a creature the more you start thinking like it.
♦ ♦ Swarming, requires Hamelin
By risking your sanity and deeply familiarizing yourself with a certain type of creature you gain the ability to split your body into a swarm. Dissapating as a swarm would mean death but the odd lost individual can be be replaced by other members of the smae species. As long as the swarm has enough mass you can return to your normal self again.
♦ ♦ Final Operation, requires Stitches and Hamelin
You learn of a method to absolve anyone of the need for any medical attention for the rest of their life. By reworking their body into that of a man-beast you give them near limitless regenerative ability as well as an immunity to all of Malsanis' diseases. Man-beasts often gain extra physical abilities from their union but the operation rarely keeps their sanity in tact.

♦ ♦ ♦ Sacrifice, reguires Regeneration and Swarming -cheating death-
It can be said the lives you control are one and the same, your soul moves freely between the different bodies you posses. Upon your death you can spawn from any swarm of your favoured creature within four miles or in any swamp you control.

Alignment: Life and death are merely two sides of the same coin, the end of one life is the beginning of another and every life eats away at another. This is the inherent truth of Malsanis. The aligned must spread it, inject it in other worlds like a disease. Every world they are connected to or are planning to spend more than a few minutes in they must make a swamp, an outpost if possible, so Malsanis can infect a tiny part of it with its being.
In return the conduit is rewarded with a high standing in Malsanis, the orthodox medical universities have to tolerate their experiments and the rulers of the cities will gladly accept their patronage. Only the peasantry is left to revolt should the conduit be particularly cruel. Plague mask no longer requires full mastery of a world to create, only a connection and some general knowledge, infusion now lets the conduit be immune to all diseases he or she chooses to be immune to and Hamelin works on any non-sapient creature.
Lastly, the conduit may craft viral diseases so fine-tuned that they make exact edits to the host's genetic code with brewing pot and can switch the patients of Final Operation between human and beast form at-will.

Outpost, requires Lord of Flies: The true essence of Malsanis is vitiation, by parfuming an area the size of a small village to make it decay faster you synch it up with Malsanis. The increased rotting is now self-sustaining, even when the parfumes are removed Malsanis stays. The crawling life and death in this area eventually forms a stable bridge. Note that the poison swamp perk can make this very easy to achieve.

Gateway, requires Poison Swamp: Malsanis lies below, by supplying your swamp with flowing water you can create a sinkhole to the source of sickness. Anyone taking the plunge will find themselves dragged under and resurface in Malsanis.

Atlas:
Geography:
Cities: Walled off urban areas, elegant rustic quarters split by deep muddy channels with long drawbridges. Here people live in constant fear of the outside. Travel between cities is rare and travellers are distrusted, even killed, just to be certain. That doesn't always stop the sickness from coming in though. Plague doctors eliminate diseases by eliminating sources of infection, which often means quarantining whole areas and amputating diseased limbs.
Universities: Ancient and decripit cathedrals. The home of plague doctors. Orthodox folk that don't want to hear about new ways and other techniques. The plague doctors will take anyone in to study their ways as long as they have a strong stomach and are not to afraid of having a short lifespan. Those that have studied at a university are welcomed anywhere.
The Wetlands: So far as the eye can see are variations of mire and swamp, once in a while a city can be seen, not all of them inhabited by living people. Abandoned cities tend to be consumed by the swamp from year after year of accumulating mud. a tower sticking out of the ground is a sign of ancient rooms, forming pockets of air in their sickly prison. Treasure found in these dungeons belongs to the finder but anything living down there is bound to not be very nice.

Bestiary:
Diseases: Bubbling up from the ground are pockets of microbes and virii, at first they're rather simple, like earth diseases, but in the giant brewing pot of the wetlands they quickly evolve into absolute horrorshows. The diseases that survive the longest are the most successful and spread, becoming infamous over all of Malsanis.
Vermin: Abiogenesis mostly brings forth rats and flies. Plagues that spread diseases even faster. Often the things will carry diseases from the moment they are born. Other such vermin are the bloodsucking vampire bats, parasitic millipedes and carnivorous giant leeches.
Fungus: Fungal infections can be seen as a type of disease. Malsanis sports a particularly nasty strain that feasts on the bodies of the dead and puppeteers the rotting corpse to find or create more corpses to inhabit. Some variations begin their infection when the victim is still alive, affecting the brain and driving them to suicidal madness.

Phenomena:
Abiogenesis: Death on Malsanis brings forth life, all dead matter will eventually spawn new living things without the need of a parent. Every type of dead matter has a favourite spawn, rotting meat tends to turn into rats and rotting fruit turns into flies.
Death storm: When vermin becomes to plentiful it tends to migrate in large numbers, great storms of flies can melt your face off your body while a horde of rats might only gnaw off your toes. There are some signs that point to an oncoming death storm but anyone unprepared for the onslaught is sure to die.
Pits: The flow of sludge in Malsanis is hard to predict, sometimes unseen forces can suddenly collide and open large pits leading to the depths. Here one might find the really antediluvian architecture and things that can't be explained even by conduits.