The Great Plague
The Great Plague was a disease, previously unknown, that swept across the entire planet, killing about half of the world's population. It was resistant to both mundane and magical cures, and it did not present symptoms for nearly a week after a victim was infected and contagious. Additionally, its specific symptoms made treatment problematic.
The Disease
Known by many names, including The Madness Rash, Brainmelt, Red Rage, Rustcheek, Corral gill, copper scale, Frenzy and The Great Plague, this illness still is without a known cause. It was transitable by touch and bodily fluid, though other vectors are theorized, including rodent, insect, breath, odor, or even mere proximity. Even wilder rumors propagated among common folk, that it could spread by thinking about it, through written word, or by offending a nature spirit for example. In truth, no one is certain where it started or how it spread. The effects of the disease are functionally identical regardless of race. One day after infection, the victim is contagious but show no symptoms. After roughly one week, they will experience slight personality changes, including feeling more aggressive, less patient, having difficulty recognizing familiar faces, and lower empathy. After another day or two, they will break out in a red rash around their neck, cheeks and ears, and become violent. The redness spreads and intensifies, as do the violent impulses, until, most commonly, the victim is on a violent rampage (often having slain their care takers and those closest to them), and their face and eyes are red and spasming. This continues until they die either from incidental injuries or from brain damage caused by the disease. Doctors and priests reported that the brain seemed to have softened or even partly liquified in places in the victims who died but did not present with external injuries. This disease is difficult to treat and contain for all of these reasons: Late display of symptoms, early contagiousness, uncooperative victims, and late stage, highly contagious victims attacking those closest to them and their doctors. Additionally, for unknown reasons, the disease was difficult to cure, and only the most experienced medics and most powerful clerics treated it with any success.Lasting Consequences
The plague has had a pervasive effect throughout the world. The population has been halved, and barely had time to recover. Ghost towns, either wiped out by the Plague itself or abandoned by the few who survived, are as common as populated villages. Trade and diplomatic relationships, both foreign and domestic are a fraction of what they were. Many less organized or unified nations have shattered as a result of the lowered population and the abandoned territory. Much of what was once civilized has been retaken by nature, or by more sinister elements. War efforts, by and large, have either been slowed or halted by the loss of soldiers, who now also have their hands full keeping the peace (and unity) within their borders. Hostile nations and scheming individuals race to build their forces before others to strike while their enemies are recovering. Some of the more established and advanced cities have established new orders of doctors, healers and clerics to be more prepared in the future, while others have developed strategies to quarantine people and locations that have shown signs of an outbreak. Some isolated towns may still have closed their gates and shut their ports to outsiders, fearing that the outbreak may not truly be over. Many individuals exhibit paranoia or fear of those showing signs of illness. The effects of the plague on each person and family are as numerous as the families themselves. Some were torn apart by relocations or quarantine, others traumatized as they watched beloved family member kill one another. Some may seek desperately to find a way to continue their lineage, while others proselytize that this was an omen of the end times or angry gods. Scholars argue that they must research the deceased to find a method of prevention, or that it is hubris to play with something so dangerous, and a thousand positions in between. Philosophers and historians debate whether this was a calamity avoided, a sign of one to come, or merely an unrelated pandemic. Conspiracy theorists blame governments, churches, cosmic entities, other races, cults, singular powerful individuals, industry, and hundreds of other entities as being behind the outbreak and spread.
Type
Viral
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