Written in a firm hand on a vellum scroll capped with Agafari wood:

Let none in the city-states doubt this truth: beneath the light of the crimson sun and the twin moons, life flourishes on Athas. Kank and cactus, dew fronds and heathers; hard life, tenacious life, but life nonetheless. What traveler could forget the patient lichens, staking an irrevocable claim to bare rocks none would contest them for? Such creatures bring hope and sustenance to our world, but amid this fecundity are some that seem to revel in causing a myriad of afflictions and torments to survive. This record describes a sample of such parasites as have I encountered on many long and instructive journeys in my earlier years.

Voice-Stealer

A rare psionics-enhancing crustacean that can be found in the remote forest reaches around Gulg. These plump black and indigo-shelled parasites sneak into the mouths of sleeping reptiles or mammals and use an anesthetizing secretion to slowly devour their host’s tongue over the course of the next night or two. It thereafter attaches itself to the stump and survives solely on a ration of blood and any scraps of food left behind from the host’s meals. Some, especially wild psionic practitioners, consider this a worthwhile trade and endure the loss of speech in exchange for the increased mental fortitude granted by these strange creatures. After several months or when exposed to excess humidity, the parasite attempts to leave the host and find a mate, which can be prevented by habitually imbibing spirits of kank nectar.

Blisterwings

A miniature flying amphibian adapted to desert life, blisterwings are only individually as long as a finger and possess a needle-like ovipositor at the end of their tail. These vermin aestivate for most of the year, hibernating beneath the soil in burrows beneath water-retaining plants. When disturbed by the activity of a creature above or by a rare rainfall, however, they emerge in a flurry of bright and translucent red eye-spotted wings. When active, blisterwings attempt to sting exposed soft tissues, typically on the neck, belly, or flanks, and then retreat, often perishing in the fight. Within a few days, the unsuspecting host will develop hexagonal clusters of sensitive blisters that will incubate for a fortnight before a new generation of these vile pests burst forth while their host is asleep. Blisterwings pose a special threat to pasture animals and to travelers stopping to resupply from hardy plants, but their tadpoles can be smothered if the wounds are quickly treated with a salve of kestrekel oil mixed with aromatic plant waxes.

Thirstworms

Thirstworms are long, black, glassy worms that enter the body as microscopic larvae and survive by burrowing out of the host’s stomach to form cysts in their fatty tissues. Those infected are initially asymptomatic, aside from a slight nutritional deficiency. By the time the worms are mature, the host feels an overwhelming compulsion to approach the nearest water source - one as strong as any mental domination achieved by magical means. Once they reach a water source, the host drowns themselves and the mature thirstworms burst from their abdomen to spawn and die, perpetuating their wretched affliction. If the hostr is restrained and given water to drink as well as sprayed with mist, the worms will exit as well, though this requires a significant amount of water and causes the host great pain. Water sources contaminated by thristworms can be cleansed with a sprinkling of natron to kill the worms’ larval form.

Nightworms

The nightworm takes advantage of the space afforded by the spiracles and other breathing orifices of Athas’ larger arthropods. Adult nightworms resemble spoiled and desiccated prickly-pears, with a wrinkled, knobbed exterior shell out of which emerges a sinuous tail and a small head with multiple eyes and a single spiked proboscis. Despite their repulsive appearance, adult nightworms are flightless and harmless to travelers - it is the immature form that causes harm. In this stage, nightworms are smaller and smoother, with backwards-facing spines on their shells and a pair of robust yet clumsy wings. Immature nightworms find their way inside a host’s airways and feed on their fluids until they are mature, at which point they pupate and emerge to feed on cactus nectar and breed. Beyond the considerable inconvenience of weakened livestock and mounts, nightworms can extremely troublesome if they become confused and attempt to embed themselves in mammalian airways or other less savory locations - particularly individuals who consume products derived from chitinous beasts or who are extensively clad in shell-plate. It is only amusing to see someone rip half their nose off trying to remove a nightworm once. Nightworms can be warded off with certain strongly-scented herbs applied to an animal’s chitin, or be convinced to relax their hold on a host using the smoke of such herbs.