Wermspittle: Orlando Syndrome

We may take advantage of this pause in the narrative to make certain statements. Orlando had become a woman — there is no denying it. But in every other respect, Orlando remained precisely as he had been. The change of sex, though it altered their future, did nothing whatever to alter their identity. Their faces remained, as their portraits prove, practically the same. His memory — but in future we must, for convention's sake, say 'her' for 'his,' and 'she' for 'he' — her memory then, went back through all the events of her past life without encountering any obstacle. Some slight haziness there may have been, as if a few dark drops had fallen into the clear pool of memory; certain things had become a little dimmed; but that was all. The change seemed to have been accomplished painlessly and completely and in such a way that Orlando herself showed no surprise at it. Many people, taking this into account, and holding that such a change of sex is against nature, have been at great pains to prove (1) that Orlando had always been a woman, (2) that Orlando is at this moment a man. Let biologists and psychologists determine. It is enough for us to state the simple fact; Orlando was a man till the age of thirty; when he became a woman and has remained so ever since...

Orlando

Virginia Woolf

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Perhaps there is something in the water. There could easily be some sort of chemical taint, some bizarre pollutant or low-grade toxin at work. One cistern is overgrown with Red Weeds, another is polluted by Spectral Brine from the Corruption Trade and a third is known to be so foul that a mere few drops are deadly poison. And who knows what twisted things the Murkim or the Tsugrin, let alone the Vinkin or those despicable Pruztian Scientists have done in the course of their brutal experiments and mad interrogations.

It remains to be determined if it is some sort of sexually-transmitted disease, or it might prove to be yet another effect brought on by the lingering taint in the Low Lands. So far the Physicians and pharmacists, surgeons and charlatans alike have not been able to arrive at a conclusive or convincing answer. There are dozens of earnest, thoughtful, even deeply considered hypotheses currently being tested and explored, but few reliable results that lead anywhere.

It could be a curse of some sort, of course. Wermspittle has been accursed, anathematized, and damned by a host of religious authorities ranging from the Ecclesiastic Masters of the Achuin Empire on down to myriads of cranky, creepy cults exiled to the Near Deeps or clustered about tiny make-shift shrines off in some alley. But the lingering maledictions of the Achuinites and the muttered imprecations of starving prophets and raving madmen tend to cancel themselves out, more or less, if you believe what the Midwives and Minstrels whisper or rhyme in the dark. Fools and poets debate the morality of such things and drunkards rail against an unnatural violation of their rights, but opinions are cheap and none of it matters.

No one really knows the root cause, but everyone is aware of the inevitable effect.

Upon reaching puberty the people of Wermspittle run the risk of spontaneously switching genders overnight. Apparently, according to the Midwives, there's only a 20-30% chance of the change actually happening, though there are numerous mitigating and complicating factors, all of which they will discuss with those concerned for a suitable fee. It is also believed that the older one gets, the lower the chances of the change happening and if it hasn't taken place by the time you've reached thirty or thereabouts it might not happen at all...but as with all such things there are numerous caveats and considerations...

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Source of Inspiration: Orlando by Virginia Woolf, which you can read about at Wikipedia, or actually read the thing yourself for free via Project Gutenberg Australia, or purchase a copy via Amazon or watch the movie with Tilda Swinton. There's nothing to be afraid of...it isn't contagious, that we know...