Burning Undeath
The plague of burning undeath spread across the continent of Yonder and all three kingdoms for a total of 115 days and resulted in hundreds of thousands losing their lives, the complete destruction of hundreds of towns and several large cities.
It is known by some that the plague spread by a small cult of mages with the motto of "burn all so that we may rise" and there are some reports that link their origins to demonic influence specifically that of the chained oblivion Tharizdun. A key figure within that organization is the assumed leader, an elven mage known as Valindra. The whereabouts and status of Valindra is unknown at this time and is the subject of much concern for the leadership of all three kingdoms.
It is known by some that the plague spread by a small cult of mages with the motto of "burn all so that we may rise" and there are some reports that link their origins to demonic influence specifically that of the chained oblivion Tharizdun. A key figure within that organization is the assumed leader, an elven mage known as Valindra. The whereabouts and status of Valindra is unknown at this time and is the subject of much concern for the leadership of all three kingdoms.
Transmission & Vectors
Creatures are infected via contact, and blood. The primary vector method is physical wounds delivered by an individual who has been fully corrupted by the sickness, which has turned them into one of the burning undead. Wounds created this way have the potential to allow the contaminated blood and flesh of the burning undead to infect the system of the target creature, and if untreated will kill the newly contaminated creature and reanimate them as one of the burning undead.
Symptoms
A creature who has been infected by the poison will be very obvious. The injury site that would be the origin of the infection will be inflamed and possibly already secreting more of the poisonous material as it slowly corrupts the bloodstream. Along with this the infected creature will have a dangerously high fever, muscle aches, spasms, in some cases seizures and paralysis have occurred.
The symptoms will continue to worsen the longer the poison is allowed to remain in the bloodstream. The fever getting higher and higher. Some spots of necrosis and flesh charring in the extremities. Losing consciousness, full paralysis becomes more and more likely as time goes on. Also in some cases it was reported that potentially as a side effect of the fever individuals reported having hallucinations.
The symptoms will continue to worsen the longer the poison is allowed to remain in the bloodstream. The fever getting higher and higher. Some spots of necrosis and flesh charring in the extremities. Losing consciousness, full paralysis becomes more and more likely as time goes on. Also in some cases it was reported that potentially as a side effect of the fever individuals reported having hallucinations.
Treatment
The only known treatment for an individual infected is the use of restoration magic, but for a creature who has been fully overtaken and become one of the burning undead there is no cure.
Prognosis
There are three stages of this condition, infection, death and finally reanimation.
The infection stage has different degrees of severity determined by how extensive the contact with the burning undead was. If the poisonous material has been given time to spread through the victim's system, or if the victim suffered multiple injuries from contact with the burning undead it can run its course far quicker, but unless it is treated with restoration magic even the most mild infection will eventually become deadly.
If a creature is infected by the poisonous agent and they are killed by the agent or even if they die via completely unrelated causes this allows the second stage of the sickness to begin. The death of an infected creature is not the same as other causes of death. Normally a creature who dies has their soul separate from their body, and the soul can linger nearby allowing for the use of magic to bring a creature back to life. Reports state that every single individual killed by the burning undead poison has been impossible to resurrect.
Once a creature dies with the poison in their system there is an incredibly short time before the reanimation stage occurs. This can be as long as 30 seconds in some cases, and under 1 second in other cases.
The final stage is reanimation, an individual will begin burning from the insides, the mouth and eyes being the first place where this is noticeable as they begin to look like pits of burning coals. As a creature is reanimated they will attack any living creature nearby and will follow the moaning screeches that are emitted by other reanimated undead causing them to join into herds. As a creature exists as a burning undead the excess flesh of their body slowly burns away leaving eventually a much faster stronger and therefore more dangerous charred skeletal creature who's entire body is covered with a burning and dripping poisonous tar like substance that is lethal to all lifeforms.
The infection stage has different degrees of severity determined by how extensive the contact with the burning undead was. If the poisonous material has been given time to spread through the victim's system, or if the victim suffered multiple injuries from contact with the burning undead it can run its course far quicker, but unless it is treated with restoration magic even the most mild infection will eventually become deadly.
If a creature is infected by the poisonous agent and they are killed by the agent or even if they die via completely unrelated causes this allows the second stage of the sickness to begin. The death of an infected creature is not the same as other causes of death. Normally a creature who dies has their soul separate from their body, and the soul can linger nearby allowing for the use of magic to bring a creature back to life. Reports state that every single individual killed by the burning undead poison has been impossible to resurrect.
Once a creature dies with the poison in their system there is an incredibly short time before the reanimation stage occurs. This can be as long as 30 seconds in some cases, and under 1 second in other cases.
The final stage is reanimation, an individual will begin burning from the insides, the mouth and eyes being the first place where this is noticeable as they begin to look like pits of burning coals. As a creature is reanimated they will attack any living creature nearby and will follow the moaning screeches that are emitted by other reanimated undead causing them to join into herds. As a creature exists as a burning undead the excess flesh of their body slowly burns away leaving eventually a much faster stronger and therefore more dangerous charred skeletal creature who's entire body is covered with a burning and dripping poisonous tar like substance that is lethal to all lifeforms.
Prevention
The only known methods that have been effective are ones that prevent the poison from entering the bloodstream and avoid contact with skin. Therefore the use of more protective armors when engaging in combat with the carriers has been effective.
There has been limited success with cleaning the injury sites after infection, if possible flushing the wounded area with strong alcohol or consecrated oil or water may be an effective solution if the poison hasnt had time to spread into the bloodstream.
Another method that is far more extreme and has shown very limited success is immediate amputation of an infected limb or extremity. This can work if the infection has not spread beyond the removed limb, but it will be difficult to tell if it was immediately effective and the potential risks of such an extreme procedure especially on a battlefield means that the individual will be at risk for far more health risks as a result.
There has been limited success with cleaning the injury sites after infection, if possible flushing the wounded area with strong alcohol or consecrated oil or water may be an effective solution if the poison hasnt had time to spread into the bloodstream.
Another method that is far more extreme and has shown very limited success is immediate amputation of an infected limb or extremity. This can work if the infection has not spread beyond the removed limb, but it will be difficult to tell if it was immediately effective and the potential risks of such an extreme procedure especially on a battlefield means that the individual will be at risk for far more health risks as a result.
Epidemiology
The information known on how an outbreak is started is somewhat limited as there are no living individuals that are able to report upon how they did so.
What is known however is it has something to do with a profane ritual spellcasting that results in a meteor strike that is called down upon a location, this meteor strike creates a desecration effect upon an area around its impact site and creatures who are killed by this meteor and die within the desecrated area are some of the first individuals who reanimate into the burning undead. From there on the individuals killed by the strike spread the sickness through any they come in contact with, additionally the impact site remains a desecrated area and any who die within its effect even if they are not infected with the poison of the burning undead have the potential to reanimate.
History
The first recorded incident of the existence of the burning undead was in the year 3478 on the 5th of Eleasias. A coordinated attack that took place all across Yonder, a total of sixteen meteor strikes happened simultaneously.
Kordsmark - 1 meteor strike, was contained quickly by forces within the city
Yodenheim - 2 meteor strikes, resulted in an entire quarter of the city burning and being quarantined
Barak Mor - 2 meteor strikes, caused the loss of an entire district layer of the underground city
Uuthra - 2 meteor strikes, resulted in the loss of several neighborhoods
Shen Ion - 1 meteor strike, complete and total loss of the city and surrounding towns
Ebonmire - 1 meteor strike, entire town lost
Iron Bluff - 1 meteor strike, contained to one district of the city
Forestfall - 1 meteor strike, complete and total loss of town and surrounding area
Kilead - 1 meteor strike, landed outside of city resulted in loss of nearby smaller towns, city held out for several months, but was eventually abandoned by the Valdian army and was therefor a total loss.
Clearwatch - 1 meteor strike, half of the city burned to the ground all nearby towns and population centers lost
Naerncaladra - 1 meteor strike, smaller portion of the city damaged and lost, all nearby towns lost
Grimval - 1 meteor strike, quarter of the town lost
Chainmane’s Hall - 1 meteor strike, little damage to the overall city, complete loss of smaller towns to the east of the mountains
After the meteor strikes the swarms of burning undead spread across the continent of Yonder and all three kingdoms, those sites that were not contained spreading to hundreds of surrounding towns gathering into larger and larger swarms.
The eastern swarm burned a swath through the southern parts of Aravandor and the foothills of the Lang Karag mountains, all towns and population centers from the city of Shen Ion to the eastern walls of Uuthra were wiped out. Similarly north of there a wide swath of the land was burned and ruined between the city Naerncaladra and Grimval, nearly all towns in the eastern foothills of the mountains were wiped out or abandoned.
In the west the destruction was focused in the southern part of Valdia, spreading from Goldstone, to Forestfall wiping out Kilead and Salt Cairn in the process. This was once the most densely populated section of Valdia and is where the majority of farmland is located as well, this attack and resulting death of hundreds of thousands is a devastating blow.
The swarms were stopped all at once on the 1st of Nightal after an attack on the walls of Yodenheim was stopped and the mage seemingly responsible for the origins of the plague was destroyed, this resulted in a massive shockwave and ripples of magical energy across the entire continent that immediately put out the burning fires within the undead.
Kordsmark - 1 meteor strike, was contained quickly by forces within the city
Yodenheim - 2 meteor strikes, resulted in an entire quarter of the city burning and being quarantined
Barak Mor - 2 meteor strikes, caused the loss of an entire district layer of the underground city
Uuthra - 2 meteor strikes, resulted in the loss of several neighborhoods
Shen Ion - 1 meteor strike, complete and total loss of the city and surrounding towns
Ebonmire - 1 meteor strike, entire town lost
Iron Bluff - 1 meteor strike, contained to one district of the city
Forestfall - 1 meteor strike, complete and total loss of town and surrounding area
Kilead - 1 meteor strike, landed outside of city resulted in loss of nearby smaller towns, city held out for several months, but was eventually abandoned by the Valdian army and was therefor a total loss.
Clearwatch - 1 meteor strike, half of the city burned to the ground all nearby towns and population centers lost
Naerncaladra - 1 meteor strike, smaller portion of the city damaged and lost, all nearby towns lost
Grimval - 1 meteor strike, quarter of the town lost
Chainmane’s Hall - 1 meteor strike, little damage to the overall city, complete loss of smaller towns to the east of the mountains
After the meteor strikes the swarms of burning undead spread across the continent of Yonder and all three kingdoms, those sites that were not contained spreading to hundreds of surrounding towns gathering into larger and larger swarms.
The eastern swarm burned a swath through the southern parts of Aravandor and the foothills of the Lang Karag mountains, all towns and population centers from the city of Shen Ion to the eastern walls of Uuthra were wiped out. Similarly north of there a wide swath of the land was burned and ruined between the city Naerncaladra and Grimval, nearly all towns in the eastern foothills of the mountains were wiped out or abandoned.
In the west the destruction was focused in the southern part of Valdia, spreading from Goldstone, to Forestfall wiping out Kilead and Salt Cairn in the process. This was once the most densely populated section of Valdia and is where the majority of farmland is located as well, this attack and resulting death of hundreds of thousands is a devastating blow.
The swarms were stopped all at once on the 1st of Nightal after an attack on the walls of Yodenheim was stopped and the mage seemingly responsible for the origins of the plague was destroyed, this resulted in a massive shockwave and ripples of magical energy across the entire continent that immediately put out the burning fires within the undead.
Cultural Reception
There has been a shift in peoples thoughts about the sickness after the end of the battle with the burning undead swarms on the 1st of Nightal in the year 3478.
Before this date the common people of the land saw the burning undead plague as an apocalyptic event that marked the end of days for everyone, and saw any sign of the sickness or any mention of it as terrifying, and something to be run from.
Now with the swarms of burning undead vanquished the people see it as a tragedy and mourn the hundreds of thousands who died, there are few people in Yonder who didn't lose someone to the plague, and many who lost everything and everyone.
Along with that those who fought the burning undead are seen as heroes, individuals who defended the world from a seemingly unstoppable tide of undead. Individuals who received wounds in battle with the undead are incredibly rare and individuals who can show scars of wounds from actual burning undead even rarer still, ones who can are often looked at with some degree of caution and in some cases hero worship, though many of the scars on the individuals who fought the burning undead are not visible but mental. The effects on the survivors of the battles with the burning undead will be felt across the land for generations of all peoples.
Before this date the common people of the land saw the burning undead plague as an apocalyptic event that marked the end of days for everyone, and saw any sign of the sickness or any mention of it as terrifying, and something to be run from.
Now with the swarms of burning undead vanquished the people see it as a tragedy and mourn the hundreds of thousands who died, there are few people in Yonder who didn't lose someone to the plague, and many who lost everything and everyone.
Along with that those who fought the burning undead are seen as heroes, individuals who defended the world from a seemingly unstoppable tide of undead. Individuals who received wounds in battle with the undead are incredibly rare and individuals who can show scars of wounds from actual burning undead even rarer still, ones who can are often looked at with some degree of caution and in some cases hero worship, though many of the scars on the individuals who fought the burning undead are not visible but mental. The effects on the survivors of the battles with the burning undead will be felt across the land for generations of all peoples.
Type
Magical
Cycle
Chronic, Acquired
Rarity
Unique
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