Stripe Fever

"She's got that dancing flu. She stays up—god, she stays up all night—" The carpenter's arms wrap about his lonesome ribs before he restlessly pinches the fat of his lower lip. They watch him struggle in silence. "She—bangs 'er head against the sides of 'er crib—"
"It's Stripe Fever," Brinus abruptly interrupts, a subtle venom on his tongue. "You'll have to go to the capital yourself. We can't help you."
Yelrie's face contorts like hot iron as the carpenter's breath hitches and he begins to cry. Glancing over her shoulder, Yelrie sees Brinus waiting for the carpenter to recover. There's a stiffness to his lavender grimace and Yelrie sees the dragon's jaw working impatiently.
"Please," the carpenter begs. "Please, I—"
The carpenter cuts himself short as Brinus moves back and away. "Come, Yelrie," says the dragon. Yelrie's gaze whips back to the weeping man at Brinus' command. They stare at each other for a pregnant moment, the carpenter's head lifting up with shy hope. He looks so small against the solemn mountains, holding himself as a mother would and sweating in distress.
"Please!" the carpenter shouts when Yelrie tears her eyes away. "You must know something! Please, come back!" Yelrie doesn't waver, following Brinus with reluctant obedience until the carpenter's cries fade into the soundless wilds.
She hears his voice on the roof that night; cold, hollowed thunder. She stares, she breathes, then she cries.

Transmission & Vectors

With the landfall of the Traveling Wilds, Balbura did not recognize the dangers of foreign animals within their land. The Traveling Wilds, a group of immigrant nomads who declared to have sailed across the Glass Ocean to reach Balbura, brought with them a large number of sedated striped cats and assured locals that petting them was absolutely safe.
Unbeknownst to Balbura, the striped cats had been kept in inhospitable conditions during their voyage and had contracted an array of diseases. As the Traveling Wilds made their steady venture across the southern borders, numerous families saw the cats as an excuse to relieve their children from wartime stress. The cats became a short-lived favorite within the region and eventually, with the encouragement of her citizens, Ruuben invited the Traveling Wilds to entertain in the streets of the capital.
This would become one of the largest disasters to hit the southern coast for centuries, the regions most affected by the spread of the newly discovered Stripe Fever ranging from outside Balbura's borders to within the capital itself.

Causes

Presumably caused by foreign contaminants introduced to the striped cats throughout their arduous voyage across the Glass Ocean, Balbura was shocked by the devastating effects Stripe Fever had on their young children. The striped cats, though beloved by their new audience, eventually began to show signs of decomposition, internally and externally. Scattered stories were shared before the Traveling Wilds' acceptance into the capital reporting bloody mucus draining from the cats' orifices. This became a major complaint leading up to the outbreaks regrettably overlooked by Ruuben and her oracles.

Symptoms

Symptoms ranged in severity but remained isolated to infants and toddlers. Parents reported odd seizures and movements from their young children, leading farmers and peasants to call it dancing flu long before Stripe Fever infected the capital and became the present title. Early onset included flu-like fevers, chills, and vertigo. While the Traveling Wilds was still cutting its course toward the capital, most children infected by dancing flu suffered silently in their insignificance. Rural areas were the first to cry out for aid and would, unfortunately, be the last to receive any. Only a third of the children infected by Stripe Fever was able to recover before Ruuben's invitation even reached the Traveling Wilds' ears.
After the Traveling Wilds managed to share their striped cats with the people of the capital, secondary stages of the virus began cropping up more frequently. Infants were found banging their heads against the sides of their cribs during the night, horrfying parents and producing venomous rumors revolving around the striped cats. The rocking motions were first assumed to be the side effects of nightmares. Within a week of the onset of widespread fevers, a toddler disintegrated into hysterics in the street and could not be pacified. The child was described as acting possessed, compulsively banging his head against the street in a violent fit. He died two days later and sent a shockwave of panic across the empire.

Treatment

After the first rounds of the virus swept across Balbura, Ruuben immediately implemented and enforced hygienic practices within the capital and surrounding settlements. The use of artificial fire was prominent when disposing of corpses, Ruuben demanding deep-sea burial services to be provided for grieving families. This was both to maintain control over the spread of grief and to expunge any infected from the land. The members of the Traveling Wilds were the first living participants in Balbura's deep-sea burials.

Prognosis

After the Traveling Wilds was stopped, many of the children infected by Stripe Fever who did not advance into the secondary phase of the virus fully recovered. Children who entered the virus' final stage died more often than not. To many parents' relief, Stripe Fever was soon restricted to isolated cases before eventually fading into obscurity, the burial services offered by Ruuben seemingly successful at stemming its spread after the initial bout. Over the course of two months, the number of children in the capital alone had dropped a staggering 3.4% due to the virus.

Hosts & Carriers

While it is still unknown what the striped cats were initially infected by, it is presumed that something encountered during their travels across the Glass Ocean introduced a virus to the Traveling Wilds. Balburan officials reassured citizens that Stripe Fever was not an attack by neighboring empires but by the ocean itself and further proof that the Glass Ocean should not be entered. The decision was met with minimal criticism during the time it was made and would only resurface years later.

Cultural Reception

One of the few times the New God has been witnessed roaming the outskirts of the capital, Ruuben expressed an intense desire to track down the Traveling Wilds and began scouring the countryside herself. The Traveling Wilds—who had fled to the Oslav Mountains in an attempt to escape the New God—was eventually stopped by soldiers at the eastern border. Upon discovery, the soldiers were alarmed to find that the striped cats had been abandoned along the Oslav Mountains, having become too sickly to manage. The Traveling Wilds' deep-sea burials were of little concern to the public, most having lost a child and thirsting for justice. The empire rallied behind Ruuben's choice of punishment and even attended their burials as an event. This has recently become an unsettling memory in the minds of many citizens.
The Oslav Mountains, hated by most and loved by few, were once again avoided by the majority of travelers after word got out that the striped cats were abandoned. Despite Balburan soldiers combing the mountains for days, nearby towns refused to accept the striped cats' deaths. Rumors spread about the cats wandering the wilderness and eating livestock with sizes known only to giants.
Balbura adamantly denies the existence of any striped cats on or around the Oslav Mountains but citizens still hold a special disgust for striped cats, large or not. Tabby cats resembling the colors of their sea-voyaging ancestors are still feared as wicked omens and hated by communities.
A month has long since been dedicated each year to remembering the children lost to Stripe Fever. A feast is held weekly on the white beaches bordering the Lygos Sea and Ruuben's Temple where families of young children are offered personal meetings with Ruuben and her oracles.

Type

Viral