The Grey Plague

The Grey Plague, known as the Taint or the Grave Crawl, was a pandemic that spread across the entirety of Kaleidos, mostly affecting northern continents. Lasting three years from 1829 to 1831, the Plague is infamous for being completely incurable by healing magics. It was finally halted due to progressions in non-magical medicine, but not before it claimed the life of the Queen's husband, Gallus of Dawnsrest.

Causes

The cause was a particularly virulent and persistent virus that entered the bloodstream and attacked any and all cells it came into contact with. Although this cause was eventually identified and a vaccine engineered, to this day nobody knows the true origin of the virus or who Patient Zero of the pandemic was.

Symptoms

Symptoms began as light-headedness or fever, dizziness or mild nausea. These minor symptoms were visible as early as 48 hours after contact with the disease. This then rapidly progressed to necrosis of the skin, flesh and vital organs. The mass cellular die-off took on the appearance of a mottled gray colour, earning the disease its name. The necrosis progressed quickly, and killed the victim in a matter of days via total organ failure.
Most alarmingly of all, victims of the plague could never be resurrected via ritual or magic-- they were dead forever. Clerics who contacted their deities found that they received little or no response, a possible sign that plague victims' souls were completely eradicated from the cycle of reincarnation.

Treatment

The pandemic spread as far as it did due to the disease being completely immune to prayers of healing, magical potions or items, or any form of magical aid. Treatment came in the form of a mundane medicine, an antiviral drug developed by medical scientists. The drug was delivered through injection, which quickly eradicated the virus from the body. Dead organs would be replaced by donors, and necrotic flesh could be cut off with surgery. However, affected areas could not be restored even after the virus was cleared-- regenerative spells to regrow lost flesh or limbs failed.

Prevention

The mundane vaccine was developed by taking samples of necrotic flesh, extracting the virus from within and crating a vaccine from the sample. Vaccines had only been developed a decade prior and even so, only applied to less virulent diseases that could be cured by magic. Since the virus did not adapt or mutate in any way, the vaccine has effectively wiped out the Plague from the face of Kaleidos.

Cultural Reception

For the years the Plague was active, it almost shut down the Alliance through widespread panic and quarantine. The plague's immunity to healing magic and the death of Lord Gallus only exacerbated the public's fear of the disease-- if gods and royalty fell to the Plague, who was safe?
Priests, healers and faithful citizens flocked to places of worship and begged the Gods for a cure, but received none. They effectively quarantined themselves and died in prayer, their corpses cleared out of churches in carts. To many, this was seen as a sign of the Gods failing or abandoning mortal life and led to a rapid spike in atheist movements.

Type

Supernatural