Tamriel Data:Artificial Diseases, Vol. 1

Book Information Artificial Diseases, Vol. 1
Added by	Tamriel Data
ID	T_Bk_ArtificialDiseasesPC_v1
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Artificial Diseases, Vol. 1

by Mar Bekorithi

Vol. I: Slug-Famine

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Diseases are worldly things, to be abjured or endured by worldly means. Some consider the existence of sickness a test of the gods. If this is true, then those who test us also give us the means of overcoming these trials.

The same cannot be said of those diseases of an artificial nature, devised by mortal sorcerers as weapons of war. An exquisitely delicate form of magic, the creation of plague is considered by some to be the alchemical Cala, the black fulcrum of their arcane school.

The most well-known of such diseases was the Thrassian Plague, a curse of Sloadic origin which struck the western continent during the waning years of the First Empire. Little is known of its creation, symptoms, or vectors of infection. The pandemic began on the Abecean shores and was carried inwards along the trade routes, suggesting a long refractory period. Some called it the slug-famine, as it was said to interfere with the body's ability to derive nutrients from food. Folklore claims those infected were ravenous with hunger and thirst, wasting away even as they gorged themselves.

The plague spread across most of Tamriel, claiming over half of the known population before a cure was devised in Alinor. Even then, the disease lingered with what some argued was a sapient intent, flaring up unpredictably during the troubled periods of war and chaos that followed.

What moved the Sload to create this pestilence? Bendu Olo and his All-Flags Navy regrettably did not bother with interrogations. Many assume that the Sload were guided by greed, and longed to plunder the riches of vacant empires and enslave their surviving populations. Those Sload who, despite Imperial censure, continue to dwell in the ports of Tear, Senchal, and Argonia claim that their ancestors' motivations are as obscured to them as to us, given that the sinking of Thras destroyed almost all of their First Era culture.

The recent validation of historical theories on the "Middle Dawn" has led to a new theory on the origins of the Thrassian Plague: that the Sload saw their actions as retaliation against the peoples of Tamriel. The Dragon Break was no doubt traumatic for a race known for their pathological caution. Rather than risk another artificial breach of Time, the Sload may have released their disease in the hopes of toppling the civilizations responsible.

The First Era was not the last time that the Sload have been associated with brewing unnatural plagues. Rumors in the Iliac Bay claim that the Sload are capable of producing many such "bespoke diseases" -- plagues that target only a certain bloodline, or even a specific individual. Despite investigations by provincial and Imperial authorities, no example of such alchemy has ever been uncovered.