"And with respect, my lord, I must add the observation that if your One God uses plagues only as punishments, then he has a very peculiar notion of who the wicked are, and what degree of guilt they bear. I have seen plague and pestilence in action, and I, like Harmis Detz, can hardly bear to look at the hollow eyes of the little children, who are entirely innocent of the violence and evil which are rife in all the nations of the earth."
The victim of a plague who seeks to cover beneath her bandages the disfiguring consequences of her illness.
Plagues are virulent, usually epidemic infectious diseases whose outbreaks are a constant in the world of Mallus. They have decimated citizens of all the realms of Men. But some are deadlier than others.[3a]
Plague is a common problem in the Old World, and lacking the means to combat it adequately, it spreads quickly, carried by merchants and other travellers. Worse, the fabled Skaven are blamed for the sudden outbreaks of pestilence when they occur in Human cities, especially in Tilea.[2a]
To fight such diseases, physicians use leeches, stoke hot fires and confine the ill to rooms to sweat out the bad humours, splash lime on the streets, or whatever else they can think of to stop its spread. A few turn to the old ways, brewing draughts from mixtures of herbs and other things to fight a specific disease. Unfortunately, such cure-alls rarely work with any consistency. Even worse, some diseases are supernatural in origin, spread through the magical corruption of Chaos and the will of the Chaos God of despair and disease Nurgle. Such plagues are more spiritual than physical in origin, though their effects on the infected are real enough, and such plagues are not so easily cured.[3a]
Skaven Plagues[]
Black Death and the Red Pox are but two of the plagues that, unknown to their sufferers, trace their origins to the researches of the Skaven, particularly Clan Pestilens.[2a]
Also well known is the Boil Lurgy, which causes fluid-filled sacs to grow all over the body and causes death in 13 days.[2a]
The Rot Worms are the larval form of a rat-spread parasite that lays its eggs in Human flesh. The larvae hatch and literally eat their way to the surface.[2a]
Estalian Fever causes the blood to slow and the patient to lose all mobility until he lacks the strength even to eat, the Vermillion Curse covers the skin in purple lines before the victim chokes on his own blood, and Saint Ehrlich's Fire makes the patient burn with fever while hallucinating of hellish torments. Only the last is typically not fatal, but many sufferers kill themselves, convinced that they are already damned by their own sins.[2a]
Nehekharan Plagues[]
Horrors, traps, and curses are not the only things that safeguard a tomb of ancient Nehekhara; there are far more insidious guardians to ensure those who disturb the dead pay the price. Since tombs are often sealed at the time of the body's interment, everything in the air and contaminating the treasures is kept intact.[1a]
So when a tomb robber breaches the seals, they inadvertently release the ancient, stagnant air and everything it contains. Most times, this air is musty and maybe a little toxic. But sometimes, the air holds a far worse danger: an accursed plague.[1a]
Notable Nehekharan Plagues[]
Sources[]
- 1: Warhammer Fantasy Roleplay 2nd Edition: Lure of the Liche Lord (RPG)
- 1a: pg. 118
- 2: Warhammer Fantasy Roleplay 2nd Edition: Children of the Horned Rat (RPG)
- 2a: pg. 32
- 3: Warhammer Fantasy Roleplay 2nd Edition: Armoury of the Old World (RPG)
- 3a: pg. 69
- 4: Plague Daemon (Novel) by Brian Craig
- 4a: "Epilogue"