Voelgre Fever

Transmission: Animal Based

• Rats: Spread well in urban areas

• Insects: Spread well in humid areas and deserts

• Birds: Spread well across the remainder of the continents

  From there, human contact via coughing and decomposing bodies helped spread the bacteria. Once a human was infected and progressed to Stage 2, nearly the entire community was wiped out.

Bacteria that came through the rifts in the Voelgrevold during the Cataclysm. Essentially, touching another world.

This disease came in three stages that impacted its spread considerably.  

Stage 1

Subjects would develop a rash, sweating and fever, as well as insomnia. This would last for approximately a week.  

Stage 2

At this point, the disease became considerably more conspicuous.

• Sneezing and coughing

• Rashes would begin to become massive skin lesions and necrosis would begin to spread from these sites.

• Pneumonia would eventually follow, as well as pulmonary oedema and pulmonary fibrosis.

  When subjects were in this stage, their disease became much more airborne and spread like wildfire.  

Stage 3

At this point, anyone infected was doomed to die, as their symptoms turned more deadly. If the disease did not kill you, the dehydration and paranoia would.  

• Nausea and Vomiting

• Diarrhea and Dysentery

• Paranoia

• Total Organ Failure

There was no cure or treatment that officially worked, but these are several of the ideas tried:  

• Prayer

• Removal of necrotic flesh

• Bleeding

• Nightshade

• Saunas (to sweat the disease out)

Once infected, there was no expected recovery. Nearly everyone infected was killed quickly thereafter.

While there was no evidence that any of these preventive measures led to any form of protection, many people utilized these methods during the worst of the disease:  

• Incense and perfumes

• Pre-emptive blood-letting

• Healthy infusions of some poisonous substances, such as belladonna and arsenic

  However, the bacteria was less likely to thrive in the colder reaches of the nation. At higher altitudes and in the northern tundras, very few people were infected.

Upon entering Stage 2, humans are much more likely to spread the disease across their communities. Can also be infected from fleas, birds and livestock at any time.

While the disease was a quick spreading danger that wiped out the majority of the population, it did take some time to spread. Stage 1 was the only apparent stage for around 150 days, as it first manifested in the winter. When the weather warmed for the next 270 days, the disease started to spread more rampantly and Stage 2 and 3 began to develop more apparently. Winter returned around day 420, and due to so many hosts being killed during the warmer months and the sudden colder temperatures, the Voelgre Fever began to lose its effectiveness. By day 550, the disease had vanished, but did manage to crop back up at odd times during the spring and summer months throughout the Daerklin Aeon until about the year 345. However, with more and more rifts appearing, there will be several more outbreaks again in the future.   Because it is believed to have started due to exposure to swamp miasma, Voelgra Fever creates a stigma for those who travel through swamps. It is also known as the Swamp Plague.

Anyone who happened to survive after necrosis set in were considered akin to lepers and the Immanika magic users.