However, they did mark a turning point in the work for the cure.  Study of them gave some of the researchers new ideas about things to look for in comparative studies of the mushroom spores and segments of the so-called Elder Mushrooms that had been retrieved.  Eventually, they were able to identify a mechanism by which some of the fungus’ effects could be stopped.  Efforts to distill it into a proper formula struggled - especially as different versions of it went into trials.  Eventually, however, Silvius, who had been the longest standing researcher of necrosis, found an option deemed the best by the medical community of Aerius after rounds of rigorous trials.  Although it required daily use after a week’s time to take effect - during which patients became violently ill - it rendered the necrosis in their body inert, and after a time, it was no longer present within bodily fluids.  Unfortunately, it still remained present in their tissues, and the damage done to reproductive organs was judged irreparable by both science and magic’s current abilities.  The cure was less a true cure than a suppressor - but it was relief to many dextroluma afflicted with necrosis.

The Eternal Depths received the first shipments of the new medicine, but to the surprise of many, the Great Sea of Sand received the second shipments.  It was made clear why, when, several weeks later, Queen Kebechet was seen in public for the first time in forty-five years - her eyes now the grey of the cured.

As many had suspected, before King Aten's death at the hands of Queen Serket, he had managed to corrupt his wife, and she had spent a lonely four decades in isolation to avoid spreading it.  Her recovery was greeted with a mix of emotions - excitement at the proof the cure worked, eagerness that if it had worked for a royal that would surely induce others to take it, worries that the cure would fail and she would become violent like the corrupt, worries that the cure was only a mask for what she would do as the isolation and necrosis must have surely broken her mind, and anger that Queen Serket had lied to the public.  (Some were mollified that, at least, she seemed to not have lied to Queen Iola, who was seen to visit the Queens after Queen Kebechet had been cured and was even seen embracing her).

Some of the concerns faded with time and evidence, some faded with both Queens' assurance that, should Queen Kebechet ever follow King Aten's path, Queen Serket would end her life as well.

Unfortunately, rather than salvation, many of the growing populace of the Blighted Wilds viewed the cure as an affront.  They had their different reasons for it - some had come to see the infection as a gift, believing it to be an ‘evolution’ of the species.  Others resented that in all the effort to create a cure, there had been no effort put forth to rescue them from the growing threat of Morgana and Muramasa, no effort put forth to stop them.

There were efforts, really, at least in the Eternal Depths and the Realm of Tides.  However, those nations tended to be minimized in media coverage around Aerius - especially the Eternal Depths, who were described as having displayed a ‘dangerous level of tolerance to the corrupt’ when they were spoken of at all.  Rescue efforts were also difficult to publicize, as that could put both would-be rescuers and those they intended to help at risk.  Additionally, another issue began to crop up when researchers - still hoping to find a ‘true cure’ - discovered that not all stages of necrosis responded to the current cure.

Not all nations wanted to continue trying to solve the problem, simply wanting to move forward.  Some of them decided the easiest way to move forward was to force the cure on corrupted dextroluma - and if they refused it or stopped taking it or were too far along for it to help, then they simply drugged them, loaded them aboard a ship, and had them deposited on the beaches of the Blighted Wilds.

It didn’t immediately seem a problem that the corrupt had their own society.  Some dextroluma thought it might be best for them, to not be surrounded by reminders of the lives they could no longer lead.

This was not how the corrupt saw it - and they began to embrace the name they had been given.  It was what Morgana and Muramasa had wanted, a group who would see and comprehend the betrayal of not only their son and his bride, but the rest of Aerius at large.