The Plague
The Fall of Society
This article would've been impossible without Adrian Smith and his firsthand experience, thank you for your contribution Librarian.
No other event in human history has ever lead to death on the level of "The Plague" (Sometimes referred to at "The Great Plague" or "The Fall").
By the time the disease had run its course, 95% of the human population died, and society had collapsed.
Combined with a cold-like pace of adaptation, it became a very difficult disease to contain.
Upon infection, the Plague spreads to the brain with little more than a slight fever. The incubation period lasts between 5 days to 2 weeks. This enabled the initial spread to be so rapid and devastating, as air travel was still active before the disease was recognized.
The Plague's infection infects the brain and steadily eats away at the frontal lobe, causing disorientation, hysteria, and violent outbursts. Victims typically die within a 4 month period, but can live much longer if sustained with fluids and food.
No other event in human history has ever lead to death on the level of "The Plague" (Sometimes referred to at "The Great Plague" or "The Fall").
By the time the disease had run its course, 95% of the human population died, and society had collapsed.
The Disease
The Plague is a bacterial disease with symptoms similar to rabies, but with a much longer incubation period. It is spread through coughing, saliva, and other bodily fluids, and can survive in water for extended periods of time.Combined with a cold-like pace of adaptation, it became a very difficult disease to contain.
Upon infection, the Plague spreads to the brain with little more than a slight fever. The incubation period lasts between 5 days to 2 weeks. This enabled the initial spread to be so rapid and devastating, as air travel was still active before the disease was recognized.
The Plague's infection infects the brain and steadily eats away at the frontal lobe, causing disorientation, hysteria, and violent outbursts. Victims typically die within a 4 month period, but can live much longer if sustained with fluids and food.
We saw a great deal of this in the pandemic stage of the plague. Some patients were even sustained for as long as 2 years, as the damage done to the brain eventually plateaus. Unfortunately by then the damage is too severe for any real recovery, and the patient could not survive without being fed through a tube.
History
The first recorded case of the Plague happened in Albany, New York, United States of America in 2150, with businessman Raymond Godfrey collapsing after fighting with flight staff at Albany International Airport. The autopsy had to be revised weeks later after the cause of death being misinterpreted as an existing disease, and the entire medical team becoming infected.
The early days of the disease saw a rapid spread to every continent before it was even recognized, and even then it was believed to be a flu virus and was treated as such for the first few weeks.
Containment of infected individuals began after 3 months, when the disease started to claim large numbers of victims. While initially successful, the plague had already infected millions.
By 2152, Plague-immune individuals were being gathered in an attempt to develop a vaccine. At this stage the initial hysteria over the disease was quelled to an extent.
2155 saw the beginning of the loss of control of the government in third world countries, as no vaccine that lasted for longer than 6 months could be developed due to the rate of adaptation of the disease. Ethics restrictions on research and experimentation begin to be loosened across the world.
2160 marks the first hybridization experiments, splicing human DNA with that of everything from plants to animals in an attempt to create disease immune individuals. Those who survived fetal development and birth were found to be incompatible with the disease, and another round of vaccination attempts began.
Unfortunately, resources began dwindling to extreme low levels. Personnel, food, water, and materials became more difficult to acquire as more and more people became infected and water supplies became contaminated.
This reaches a boiling point in 2164 as The Great Mechanized War spread across the world. This would be the final nail in the coffin for a cure, as research resources were diverted to military purposes and countless research facilities were destroyed by open warfrare.
Hybrids would disperse across the world as refugees of the war, in progress vaccines are destroyed in the chaos, and nations are reduced to warring city-states.
In the final months of 2175, the Yellowstone Caldera becomes visibly active, causing mass panic and a large exodus from North America into Europe and South America, giving the Plague one last push to infect what little of the non-immune population remained.
Combined with the eruption of the caldera in the coming months, humanity was nearly erased from the planet in just a few decades.
The total kill count for the disease exceeded 11 billion dead.
The early days of the disease saw a rapid spread to every continent before it was even recognized, and even then it was believed to be a flu virus and was treated as such for the first few weeks.
Containment of infected individuals began after 3 months, when the disease started to claim large numbers of victims. While initially successful, the plague had already infected millions.
By 2152, Plague-immune individuals were being gathered in an attempt to develop a vaccine. At this stage the initial hysteria over the disease was quelled to an extent.
2155 saw the beginning of the loss of control of the government in third world countries, as no vaccine that lasted for longer than 6 months could be developed due to the rate of adaptation of the disease. Ethics restrictions on research and experimentation begin to be loosened across the world.
2160 marks the first hybridization experiments, splicing human DNA with that of everything from plants to animals in an attempt to create disease immune individuals. Those who survived fetal development and birth were found to be incompatible with the disease, and another round of vaccination attempts began.
Unfortunately, resources began dwindling to extreme low levels. Personnel, food, water, and materials became more difficult to acquire as more and more people became infected and water supplies became contaminated.
This reaches a boiling point in 2164 as The Great Mechanized War spread across the world. This would be the final nail in the coffin for a cure, as research resources were diverted to military purposes and countless research facilities were destroyed by open warfrare.
Hybrids would disperse across the world as refugees of the war, in progress vaccines are destroyed in the chaos, and nations are reduced to warring city-states.
In the final months of 2175, the Yellowstone Caldera becomes visibly active, causing mass panic and a large exodus from North America into Europe and South America, giving the Plague one last push to infect what little of the non-immune population remained.
Combined with the eruption of the caldera in the coming months, humanity was nearly erased from the planet in just a few decades.
The total kill count for the disease exceeded 11 billion dead.
Type
Bacterial
Origin
Mutated
Cycle
Chronic, Acquired
Rarity
Common
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