Lilac Famine, the

The first known case of lilac famine appeared after the conquest of the north was completed, three years after the fall of Eschrimae to the Empire, on the day. Little was thought of it at the time; a farmer had eaten the grain that he was meant to sell, purple pustules appearing around his mouth and down his chin and neck. The body was burnt upon discovery, and that was thought to be that. The day after, the soldier who had handled the body all awoke with their stomachs rumbling, and proceeded to spend their wages on food throughout the day. The next day, lilac bumps began to show along their lips, and although they were quickly separated from their fellows, many in the camp had already begun to show symptoms of hunger… as had a number of scouts sent to carry reports all across the newborn Empire.
Almost overnight, the plague spread across the north. While some who came in contact with the disease received only minor symptoms, an increase in hunger and itching pustules across their lower face, others were driven truly mad by the lilac famine. Their hunger grew so intense that they would grow violent in search of food, breaking into and consuming the whole winter supply of many towns, causing a shortage across the Empire as the disease proved highly infectious. Quarantines were put in place to little effect as those driven mad with hunger did all they could to nourish themselves - reports of cannibalism were not unheard of, although efforts were made to quiet them.
So violent was the outbreak that it spilled across the land to the west and east as well, although the west was hit harder than any other. Something about their climate seems to have inflamed the plague, causing many more to grow sick, and higher percentages to be driven insane by their craving. While estimates believe that around half of every Imperial and easterner at some point were infected with the lilac famine, it is thought that it reached the height of three of four westerners. It crippled the west to such an extent that it would not truly recover until after the Imperial conquest of their lands - some believe that the tics may have been behind the spreading of the disease in those lands, to soften it to the war, but given that the Empire was itself suffering under the plague many find this story unlikely.
Beyond the symptoms of hunger and purple pustules, the lilac famine also came with a fever that would occasionally prove deadly, although the lethality of the gluttony it encouraged was much worse. Often, those infected with the disease would eat spoiled or raw food in such quantity that it would mark their end - not to mention those that were killed by those driven crazy by their state. A pattern emerged where the disease would break out within a settlement, those crazed by it would band together and attack those that still had food, before finally succumbing to infighting. Those places that could outlast this cycle were those that would still stand by the time the famine came to an end.
And eventually, it did end. While no scholar in any part of the world managed to find a cure, the Questioneers devised a balm that could be applied to the pustule infected skin to lessen the symptoms to a manageable extent - which for some reason seemed to lessen the hunger as well. It did not eradicate the disease, but made it so that those infected by it had a much greater chance of survival. Those that had had the disease in turn developed an immunity, and soon, the Empire began to recover from the terrible experience. Fearing another outbreak, the formula for the balm was sold to Khaluhmn, which in turn sold it to the rest of the world, guaranteeing a halt in the plague’s rampart.
Past the Unification, the lilac famine still exists, yet is considered no more than an ordinary disease. Those infected, as well as their families, are put under house quarantine, provided with balm and daily supplies of food, until the pustules disappear. Most Imperial citizens contract it at some point in their lives, usually in their childhood, and are then immune. Yet the plague has put its scars in the Continent’s subconscious, and is still viewed with some superstition, especially if contracted in adulthood, which is taken as a sign of bad luck or a curse. It appears often in Imperial speech, with someone who eats more than their share being said to have a ‘mouth of lilac’.

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