... you see, even before the industry started a century ago, the World Government had done research into the ore. They well knew the truth about Amber Lead. While in the ground it was fine, once dug up and worked with, it acted like poison. Seeped into the body slowly and utterly ruined it.
With all the mining, there were fine particles of it constantly in the air.
[His voice softens as he stares at the wall.]
It was an insidious substance. It wasn't even that poisonous - it slowly built up and up in the body over decades, and the victim would notice nothing amiss. It was practically invisible, even to a skilled doctor. Until a threshold was reached and the symptoms exploded outward with a fury. The skin and hair would bleach white as the lead, an ever spreading vitiligo over the body. With it, would come agony. It would just build and build, until it couldn't be borne. That's when the fever would set in, and organ failure follow. Some would be dead in months after that. Some would have lingered for years.
[I lingered for years.]
The first living generation of children exposed to it, hit that mark at around age 70. But the next generation, due to the metal concentrating in the womb, would hit the mark at 50. The next generation - 30s. Mine? Ten.
Each successive generation had their lifespan reduced by about 20 years. There was a little variance there, but that was how it generally went.
[His fingers dig into the flesh of his arms.]
They knew all of this. The World Government, the King. But the promise of wealth was too great, so they suppressed all the knowledge of the danger. Continued to suppress it - other people learned the truth over the years, I would imagine, and they would have had to be dealt with. They knew one day a day of reckoning would come. But until then...
[Gold would flow like blood.]
It came. Thanks to the generational shift, everyone began to go down. No one was spared. You can imagine what it looked to the outside world.
no subject
With all the mining, there were fine particles of it constantly in the air.
[His voice softens as he stares at the wall.]
It was an insidious substance. It wasn't even that poisonous - it slowly built up and up in the body over decades, and the victim would notice nothing amiss. It was practically invisible, even to a skilled doctor. Until a threshold was reached and the symptoms exploded outward with a fury. The skin and hair would bleach white as the lead, an ever spreading vitiligo over the body. With it, would come agony. It would just build and build, until it couldn't be borne. That's when the fever would set in, and organ failure follow. Some would be dead in months after that. Some would have lingered for years.
[I lingered for years.]
The first living generation of children exposed to it, hit that mark at around age 70. But the next generation, due to the metal concentrating in the womb, would hit the mark at 50. The next generation - 30s. Mine? Ten.
Each successive generation had their lifespan reduced by about 20 years. There was a little variance there, but that was how it generally went.
[His fingers dig into the flesh of his arms.]
They knew all of this. The World Government, the King. But the promise of wealth was too great, so they suppressed all the knowledge of the danger. Continued to suppress it - other people learned the truth over the years, I would imagine, and they would have had to be dealt with. They knew one day a day of reckoning would come. But until then...
[Gold would flow like blood.]
It came. Thanks to the generational shift, everyone began to go down. No one was spared. You can imagine what it looked to the outside world.
[A plague.]
And that was the start of everything.