So, I'm making a magic-based plague. If gotten some details together, but I'm still missing some details like the mortality rate and other prevention methods. Regarding the mortality rate, I'm trying to make it urgent that there be a cure found for this disease. So, maybe not a 1 in 3 mortality rate, but not 1 in 100. Additionally, there are other specifics like the specific population that would be more suseptible to the plague. Overall, I'm open to any suggestions and critiques like a better name for the sickness. Some context that needs to be known is that Aithne is the god of fire, healing, and so on in my world. Two fragments of his powers were seperated from him in the midst of battle, the other of which will be significant to finding the cure. But, let me know if you need any other information. The Fragment of Plague (the Corrupted Fragment): The Fragment of Plague was created as a result of a fragment of Aithne merging with a dying, diseased tree. Prior to our story, the Fragment, rather than feeding off of the life surrounding the tree, fed off of itself in anticipation for Aithne to return to reclaim it. However, when Aithne never came, the Fragment had to survive on its own. It first began to feed off of the tree it had fallen into, causing it to further merge with it and to become corrupted. When there was no life left within it, it began to feed off of the flora around it. Eventually, the Fragment had the idea to develop a plague that would allow it to feed on things with more lifeforce. Initially, the plague was only supposed to affect things with high levels of life energy so that it only had to feed once in a while. Yet, maybe its form became increasingly difficult to maintain as it had already fed off of the majority of itself and needed more lifeforce to survive. That was when the plague spread more rapidly and began to sweep the land, wiping out entire settlements. And, that’s where our story begins. Physical Symptoms: The plague spreads through direct contact to the ashes fallings from the afflicted. The ashes directly attack and corrupt the soul of its victims. It infects anything living (people, animals, plants, etc.) and gradually drains the life out of them, feeding it to the source of the plague. Physical symptoms include an increasingly shrivelled-up appearance that results in patches of dry, wrinkled, grey skin. These patches grow over the body until they finally reach the victim’s chest and head. The victim then dies upon which they crumble into a pile of ash. This is what also gave the plague its name, the Ashen Sickness. Other physical symptoms include foaming at the mouth, dryness of mouth and skin, high fever, and acute pain around the area of the initial infection. These symptoms are found in all subjects, excluding plants. The symptoms for plants instead include a greying and wrinkling of leaves and roots despite there being no changes in water and food. However, their roots and vines will attempt to grab anything living in an attempt to feed, which then transfers the plague. All symptoms are seen within 4 days of the initial infection. Behavioral Symptoms: As the sickness spreads, the subject experiences a heightened sense of paranoia, aggression, and audio & visual hallucinations. This makes the afflicted more likely to attack others, despite whom they might be. Stages: The plague kills in around 3 weeks. During those weeks, there are 3 stages that the afflicted undergo. The first is when the afflicted begins to feel more thirsty than usual due to the life being drained from them. Additionally, a physical sign during this time is for patches of grey skin to emerge. This can go on for 5 days to a week. The next stage is abnormal changes in behavior such as paranoia, aggression, and hallucinations. It is also common to have afflicted scratching at the patches of grey on their skin, resulting in bits of skin falling and becoming dust. This skin also starts expanding and growing over the body. Overall, the afflicted are the most dangerous at this stage. This stage lasts for a week and a half. Finally, after having been drained to the point of near collapse and the grey patches now covering their head and chest, the afflicted can hardly bring themselves to move or even to speak. During this final stage, their bodies gradually dissolve until only dust is left behind. This will occur throughout 3-4 days. Cure & Prevention Methods: Due to its association with Aithne, all afflicted have a deep fear of fire. Therefore, a common prevention method is to use fire to keep the afflicted away from settlements. Additionally, burning the bodies of the afflicted purifies their ashes and lessens the chance of those around them catching the plague. Furthermore, there are also methods to prolong the life of an afflicted at certain stages. One such method is the use of fire lilies in a balm that is spread across emerging patches of ashen skin. This then slows the progression of the growth of the patches by a week. However, this method is only effective during the first stage and the beginnings of the second stage. There is no known cure to this disease.
Ugh, how awful. But great storytelling. Well, my first thought is that you're going to have to make a certain type of people immune. Obviously fire mages come to mind, but maybe certain people are just plain immune. At least, that's what would happen if this were a normal disease. Hm, and there should be doctors who attempt to death with this, like plague doctors. Consider maybe people putting lotion on their skin to keep the dust from flying in the air. It might not actually prevent them from dying, but it will make the dust particles heavier and not able to be carried by the wind.
I have been debating about this. It would make sense seeing as Aithne is the god of fire, and this whole mess is based around him. To add on to that, what if the immune persons were specifically healers who were given their powers by Aithne? Wow, I actually haven't thought of something like this. This lotion idea sounds great. Now, I just need to research ancient forms of lotion and what not.
If we're talking about specifically medical technology, I'd say (at least, for now) it's on the level of ancient technology. Like, there is an understanding of sanitation, different forms of surgery, and the like. But, lobotomy might still be seen as a viable procedure. Additionally, I'm still trying to consider how magic would change society, including medical knowledge.
So like Rome, then? Well, this all ties in neatly to the ancient theory of disease as miasma. Folk wisdom would be avoid areas with "bad air", which would actually have some merit here. The Chinese were all about elixirs. One emperor even died drinking mercury in the hopes it would make him immortal. Charlatans doing more harm than good could add another layer of drama. Folk in the Middle East viewed pestilence as demonic in nature, which is also kinda true here. A religious moral panic is likely to ensue here. Do the gods take a hands off or on approach to mortal affairs?
I think people used to use perfumed oils rather than lotions. I think, I don't know. At least, that's what Merlin asked for in That Hideous Strength. Huh, if everyone smelled like oil, then it would warn others not to approach. Definitely mages should be granted immunity...except it looks weird that Aithne wouldn't just cure everybody, and you'd have to have a reason why he doesn't do that.
Since this plague is magical in nature, I'm not sure it would be something people could survive without treatment. Mortality rates of diseases (without treatment) rely a lot on how well the immune system can handle the disease on its own. If the disease is magic based, like a curse, I would think that there wouldn't be any natural resistance to it. The best course (without medical treatment) would be to increase the infected's life force with lots of food, water, and rest. If they could match the disease's appetite they could potentially stave off the escalation of its symptoms. Though depending on how much it requires that could easily be a losing battle. It wouldn't rid the person of the plague either. Though you mentioned that increasing food and water doesn't have any noticeable effect of halting its spread, so I guess that is out. Depending on how the plague spreads could affect treatment. If it slowly grows from the source of infection, amputation could help save lives. Though if it doesn't display any symptoms until after it roots itself into their whole being, that is obviously not viable. How long does the plague survive without a host? This will affect infection rates. You also mention that it infects plant-life and animals this mean it will bring about an even worse famine than normal, which will kill even more people. Ultimately it sounds, based just on your description here, that without a cure the plague would be a death sentence, and then a likely outcome is anyone who gets infected, is burned alive before they reach the more infectious stages to stop its spread. Or at least there will be a push to do that.
Most of the research I've done has brought up Roman physicians and other medical practitioners. So, yes. Each of these examples do bring up some interesting angles I could work with. I have been thinking about the miasma theory for some time now, so I might even have people wear masks filled with herbs and flowers like with the plague doctors. So, like the snake-oil salesmen? I can see this becoming more of a problem as the mass hysteria becomes worse. Additionally, the main protagonist would definitely have a few words about them since he's a physician. Since this story is mainly being told from the perspective of the kaji (a group of people created by a specific god who's seen as an outcast amongst the other gods), I imagine that they would view the other gods as being more uncaring of mortal affairs if they would allow for this plague to go on for so long. However, the gods have actually been trying to find a cure to this disease for quite awhile now.
That is a good point. I'll definitely have to use that strong scent of oil at least in a few scenes. No doubt that he would, if he actually had to power to do that now. But, I guess with no mortals knowing why Aithne wouldn't just cure them, they could think of themselves as forsaken and cursed. Either that, or he's been angered. Wow, this is giving me great ideas.
This entire time, I've been trying to find a way to make this disease a serious problem when the answers have been there all along. This story is turning out to be more of a dark fantasy than I originally intended. However, there is absolutely no problem with that. Since the plague absolutely needs lifeforce in order to survive, maybe it would only survive for a day or two at most without a host. Therefore, by this logic, I could say that amputation would actually be a good prevention method if the amputed limb is either burned afterwards or left on something like a rock. Additionally, your suggestion on increasing one's diet being a prevention method might be able to work if there are certain foods and water sources that are immune. I'd have to think about this one a bit more though.
This might just be one of my own personal things, but you might want to look into fasting. For whatever reason nobody seems to know about it today except for yuppies doing juice fasts etc, but it's always been well known as a cure for disease until modern times. Today people seem to think if they don't eat for a day they're going to die, but animals know better. If a dog gets sick it'll refuse to eat until it's better. Fasting was well known in ancient times, and in fact is a major component in all religions I believe. People in any ancient setting would be well aware of its benefits. For a really amazing book written in like the 20's I think, check out The Hygienic System Vol III Fasting and Sun Bathing by Herbert M. Shelton. There's a free PDF out there of it. I'm not sure of all his claims, he believes that after consuming all stored fat, the body will begin digesting any growths and tumors. But viewed from the perspective of ancient attempts at medicine, it's extremely intriguing.
I never would have thought of this. This also makes sense considering the famine that would result out of this disease. I'll definitely have to look into this as another prevention method. Thank you for the suggestion.
