Yellow Skull Fever is a disease created by the Skaven of Clan Pestilens during their war against the Lizardmen of Lustria and used by Nurglitch I to force the Council of Thirteen to grant his clan a seat among the Lords of Decay as one of their members during the First Skaven Civil War.[1a]
The disease affects the nervous system of its victims, causing intermittent, involuntary jerking movements of the limbs. Infrequently, these isolated limb movements escalate into full body convulsions. The disease was originally created by Clan Pestilens for the Lizardmen, and thus only afflicts cold-blooded creatures, a fact that the Council of Thirteen probably never knew, thus making Nurglich I's threat to use it against them simply a bluff to secure himself from harm.[1a][3b]
History[]
Realising that their position was becoming untenable during the last years of the First Skaven Civil War, the ruling plaguelords of Clan Pestilens requested a parlay with the Council of Thirteen and an end to the fighting. When Nurglitch I arrived at Skavenblight and tried to broker a peace treaty with the Under-Empire, the Lords of Decay denied his offer and demanded his immediate execution.[3b]
Nurglich had anticipated this, and to secure his life, he revealed to the Council of Thirteen a single, small vial. With fanatical eyes, he told them that he was carrying a vial of Yellow Skull Fever, one of Clan Pestilens' most virulent diseases and any further attempts on his life would leave him no other choice but to release the contagion there upon the very heart of Skavendom itself. The threat was enough to sway the Lords of Decay to accept Clan Pestilens' peace offer and allowed Nurglich the right to challenge one of the Lords of Decay, thereby usurping his seat and cementing his clan's prominence within the Under-Empire.[3b]
The death of Professor Andreas Cameras, a scholar at the Royal Academy of Altdorf who had unearthed the true existence of the Skaven in the Empire, was caused by Yellow Skull Fever.[3a][4a]