The Havelockian Plague

Despite the large number of wise and well trained healers along with powerful clerics that both LakePass and Brittleburgh share this plague seemed to come out of nowhere in Springtime of the year 482. This disease often referred to as The Havelockian Plague, The Havelockian Virus, or The Plague of Amr ravaged through the town of Brittleburgh and dug its teeth in deep refusing to go quickly. So worrisome was this virus that for the first and only time in history the Gate/Portal were heavily monitored and travel through was highly restricted save for healers and priests who were thoroughly checked and confirmed to be contagion free.

Transmission & Vectors

One of the largest issues with this plague is that it did not seem limited to only one transmission means. The main spread of the plague was most certainly through both blood and contact in the early stages of its spread but it also seemed to mutate a few weeks in to be fully airborne and even passed on through the animals they ate. Worse yet about a month into the virus it seemed the incubation period before symptoms had increased from a few hours to a week which meant narrowing down carriers was next to impossible. It was also extremely devastating given the already small populations.

Causes

This plague took way too long to identify a cause to as it seemed to have an intelligence of its own and would shift or mutate any time someone thought they were close to an understanding or a cure. In the final days when they finally got a handle on the situation everyone was absolutely certain it was magical in nature and quite possibly a powerful curse.

Symptoms

Once symptoms set in they were quite swift until the final stage in which the plague seemed to slow down but by then it was either too late or required a mass variety of spells to help the person recover. The symptoms would start with a swift and severe fever which almost instantly resulted in extreme muscle weakness/malfunction.

Treatment

Single spells were never enough as they only seemed to ease the pain or only one symptom while the others worsened. In the end the cure was a ritual involving a minimum of three clerics each casting different spells simultaneously. The spells cast and the length of the ritual all depended on the stage of the plague in the victim.

Prognosis

Once symptoms set in they were quite swift until the final stage in which the plague seemed to slow down but by then it was either too late or required a mass variety of spells to help the person recover. The symptoms would start with a swift and severe fever which almost instantly resulted in extreme muscle weakness/malfunction. After the muscles gave out and the person bedridden they would slowly become blind and simultaneously hallucinate and see the most horrible of nightmares. From that point the muscles and the body would begin to atrophy at an accelerated rate over the next week until the body began to look mummified. After the mummification the person would still be alive but in a state of pain that the common language has no words for. Beyond that ... over the next few months the remaining flesh and muscle would slowly seem to disappear as if under a lethargic and torturous disintegration spell designed to last a year ... if the victim survived that long.

The victims of this plague either died before it could occur as the intelligence figured itself out or didn't last long enough to reach its final conclusion but the elders of both LakePass and Brittleburgh believe the end goal was to turn all life it came into contact with into the undead.

Sequela

After the plague was eradicated there did not seem to be any pathological conditions resulting from the condition of its own making, however some of those who went through it did often have a form of PTSD to illness afterward.

Affected Groups

The plague seemed to affect everyone of every age, race, sex, religious belief, sexual orientation, etc. However, when all the medical logs were gone over extremely carefully it did seem to affect a far larger portion of human and half-human species more and quicker.

Prevention

Given the origin of this plague there is no true prevention of it in the future save for alertness to catch it quickly and remove it from the population early.

History

This plague seemed to come out of nowhere in Springtime of the year 482 and was at first thought natural then believed to be magical or a curse. Altogether only 123 people died but in a small population that is devastating. The solution to this plague was finally discovered and mastered in the Springtime of the year 483.

Type

Magical

Origin

Magical

Cycle

Short-term

Rarity

Unique