The Grave Rot Plague

The Grave Rot Plague was a virulent plague that swept over Aellorah, originating in central Arak. The plague was unique in that it only affected Humans, though early on in the spread of the plague, this was not known, and the other races, particularly the Letheni, attempted to forcibly quarantine the Humans. This led to a series of violent riots as the Humans attempted to reclaim their freedom that has destroyed relations between the Human and Letheni peoples for centuries, and led to many racially-driven conflicts and crimes. The plague was so deadly that it killed 90% of Humans on Aellorah.

The plague itself was characterized by chills and seizures, followed by blackening of the veins. Once the blackening of the veins began, it was a certainty that you would die. The final symptom before death was necrosis, resulting in your skin rotting rapidly. Those that did die from the Grave Rot Plague would return as undead 8 days later. Very few that were infected with this plague managed to survive it, and the ones that did found themselves extremely resilient to further infections of any kind. Whether this was due to fighting off the plague, or something pre-existing that helped them survive the plague to begin with, is unknown.

The origin of the plague is unknown to the public, though it is believed to have been magical in nature. Many wanted to ascribe its arrival to a Wellspring eruption, but none had occurred in more than 50 years when the outbreak happened. Those that studied the disease believe it was some form of curse, which explained why it only affected Humans. There was a lot of speculation as to where the curse came from, with many of the Humans blaming the Letheni. However, the only people alive on Aellorah who know of the origin of the plague are within the Sorcerer's Cabal.

The plague originated from a Lich named Andozar, who resides in the lost city of Thalassarion on a large island landmass off the southwestern coast of Arak. An adventuring party consisting of several Humans had made their way to the ruins of the city looking for an artifact called "Lod'exenter" that could be used to destroy a portal made between Myr and the city of Laresos on the planet Proxon, and encountered the then owner of the artifact, Andozar. The party was narrowly able to escape, but as they traveled through southern Arak to reach one of the Cabal's towers to return to Myr, the Humans of the group unknowingly spread the plague to Humans in large cities like Vardanorr, which led to it traveling trade routes until it had claimed 90% of Human life on the planet. Archmage Kyran, and several other members of the Cabal, know of the origin of the plague, as they were involved in sending the group to Thalassarion to retrieve the artifact in the first place. This has haunted Archmage Kyran for centuries.