The Draconic Plague

The Draconic Plague, most commonly known as Dragonrot, has existed in accounts stretching back centuries, and has now come to inflict France. The name Dragonrot stems from the belief that the plague is caused by dragonkind, with the rot referring to the later stages of the disease.

## History and Speculation

Scholars who have studied the plague theorise that the Dragonrot itself is a curse passed on from the Ancient Dragons, a plague to affect humanity for their transgressions against the superior lifeforms.

The first records of Dragonrot have been found in texts dating back to before the Norman Conquest of midland Europe. A large portion of the population in a small Andalusian village became infected, showing signs of the mark and later, the fever. With no medical treatments seeming to take effect on the victims, the village was quarantined. Until the first recorded Frenzied came to be. The village was soon after condemned, and burned to the ground, along with everyone in it, whether infected or not.

It has seen resurgences several times since throughout Europe, and was particularly difficult to combat during the years of the Bubonic Plague known as the 'Black Death' that tore through the continent in the 13th and 14th centuries, having similar symptoms to start with at least.

France, luckily, has been spared over the centuries from the Dragonrot epidemic, but it has recently seen an increase in the number of sufferers, although how many there are in actuality is impossible to know, with many trying to hide symptoms of the disease in fear of prejudice against them, or worse.

## Stages and Symptoms

The Dragonrot is a cruel and debilitating affliction, but even more so as there is universal rule as to when one will suffer from it, and for how long at different stages. Many factors seem to come into play, such as age, health, diet and so on, but even those are not a guarantee, as a fit young man of the King's musketeers could fall victim faster to the illness than an elderly crone with a myriad of health complications.

### **Stage One - The Mark**

An unexplained purple mark forms on the body, usually on the limbs but sometimes on the chest or back, or even on the face.

The mark does not feel unlike common bruising, and while it can hurt to the touch, it is not particularly painful otherwise. While it can be hard to distinguish from a bruise, the mark tends to be of a deeper and more intense purple than that of a wound from a fall or an impact.

In some cases, the mark will remain but stay the same, while in others it can even disappear completely. However, if the mark begins to grow in size, the second symptoms are sure to follow at some stage.

### **Stage Two - The Fever**

Upon the mark spreading across the body, the afflicted will experience a terrible cough and fever. This has been recognised by medical practitioners as the most vital stage to identify the illness at as a patient cannot pass on the infection whilst still in this early phase. They must however be removed from their place of rest at once and isolated to stop the further spread of the disease.

As with the first stage, this step can pass quickly or last for any extended period of time. This is the last stage that if symptoms disappear, the affected is relieved from the plague.

### **Stage Three - The Scaling**

If the cough and fever persists and does not subside, the spread mark across the body will develop into a series of dragon-like scales, which are incredibly painful even when not touched, and cause fatigue aside from the consisting prior symptoms.

Attempts have been made to alleviate sufferers of their symptoms before, but all have resulted in failure, or even worse, quickening the patient's death. A practice recently banned by medical practitioners involved physically removing the scales, but it was found to be akin to peeling off the patient's very skin and tissue.

'Scalers' as they have been labelled, are now regarded as no better, and sometimes worse than lepers, and are largely shunned by society, with all knowing that they have reached a level of the Dragonrot that is beyond salvage. Victims of the scaling can be targeted by radicals and killed to prevent their disease from spreading, or even take their own lives to not suffer what comes next.

### **Final Stage - The Frenzy**

If one who has the scaling has survived for a period of time, they become what has been dubbed as one of the 'Frenzied'.

Characterised by their sickly grey skin, lifeless eyes and exaggerated veins, the large scales that clung to their body molt, leaving a smooth scale-like scarring . But worse than these physical marks, is that the victim has now lost their intelligence and capability for rationality. They have become little more than a walking husk, thriving on primal instinct to feed and spread their affliction to others. Targeting anything living, be it man or animal, they will attack without prejudice or mercy.

As a result of the dangers posed by the Frenzied, victims with stage three symptoms are often culled or take their own lives, if they do not go into hiding in remote places to live out the rest of their lives before succumbing to their fate.

## Cure

Perhaps the cruelest aspect of the plague, is that there is no known cure. Symptoms, especially of the first two stages, can be soothed through medical means, but any methods will not halt the spread. Whether a victim's symptoms disappear or not is down to multiple factors of their makeup, and often times, sheer luck.

Methods have been deployed in the past to reverse the third stage of the disease, but have resulted in absolute failure, with the practice having been outlawed as of two years past. It is now accepted that once the plague has reached the third stage, any victim is beyond medical help and should not even be delivered medical treatment, for fear of the infection spreading.

It is also noted that the Dragonrot seems to have no effect on dragonkind, inflicting humanity and non-draconic fauna only.