North

hmm, so I have not read the succeeding chapters yet but based on the contents of this one I am assuming that:
a.) With the corruption in the north being more integrated and older, it can be assumed that this came from when the barriers between life and death were breached before.
b.) The level of integration is similar to what was noted in Henry’s victims, the systems are too integrated wherein the removal of the external taint would destroy the host.
c.) The taint from the past is actually ancient magic or magic itself. It is an abnormality that superimposed itself into the current reality.
d.) The reason the barriers are so malleable as indicated by Adam is that magic has been draining its current host.
e.) Even if the latest taint can be resolved, magic has dug itself too deeply into the world that it is impossible to remove and is slowly destroying the host