Description (Healing Blade Lore)
Many Escherichia coli are common inhabitants of the lower aqueduct, where they can live harmoniously among other commensal Lords and Soma citizens. They stick to the aqueduct banks, where they even contribute to the overall health of Soma, producing key vitamins and helping to prevent invasions by less peaceful wanderers. Some worlds even invite these creatures into their waterways to help maintain the equilibrium of the fragile aqueduct ecosystem.
But not E. coli are alike. In fact, the group is so diverse that only 20 percent of the genome is shared across all strains. And a handful of E. coli are not satisfied to live quietly in the lower aqueduct. Those that have acquired weaponry from other Lords take pleasure in wielding those tools of destruction against the creatures of Soma.
These nasty relatives usually enter through Buccal Bay through unclean water channels. They make their way down the aqueduct, causing unrest along the way. They can cause sudden floods beyond the Southern Dam, causing a rush of water out the end of the aqueduct and leaving the land and its inhabitants unable to quench their thirst. Such floods can even be fatal if the aqueduct’s flow is not quickly restored.
Once such violent E. coli strains are eventually ejected from the aqueduct, the beasts can reinvade just a little ways to the east along the boundary wall, where outflow from the Golden streams occurs. These reinvasions can then backtrack through the streams to the Cavern of Bladdara and cause further unrest.