Magic has influenced the growth of every area of science and technology, including biological warfare. Over the years, mad wizards (or disciples of Tallakath, Klepnos, or some other daedra) have succeeded in bringing to life magical creatures on the micro-scale. These creatures are a little like minor faeries, except that they're the size of a bacterium and thus are invisible to the naked eye. (Many of them are naturally invisible, as well, and won't even appear in a microscope — they're visible only by their magical aura, and then only if you know what to look for.) Like mundane bacteria, they multiply in a host's body (usually feeding off the host's internal mana reserves) and then pass out into the world by various means, depending on the type of bug being considered. These magical pathogens have been given the whimsical name nanopixies, often abbreviated NPs or nips. Those who wish to use a more serious-sounding name call them nanotech viruses, though they are not true viruses in any biological sense of the word.
In the last twenty years doctors and medical researchers have found more constructive uses for NPs, "re-training" them for use in gene therapy, cancer treatment, and high-precision body modification. The military has experimented with them as weapons, but results have often been less than promising — if you make a strain of NPs that eats tank treads, for instance, you might find your own armored columns breaking down when the wind shifts. One other area where NPs have found great success is in cleaning up industrial toxins; be it an oil spill or radioactive waste, a properly-trained pack of nanopixies can leave the place spotless within hours, days, or weeks (depending on the size of the mess).
Much of the world's nanopixie development is done at research labs in Algra, where lax ethical standards and sponsorship from various megacorps allow for rapid scientific progress. Majestic Industries and Talia's Vampire Syndicate have funded most of the recent Algran research programs.
