The Lingering Death

Plague / Epidemic

The Lingering Death was the worst plague that the people have Erothi have faced in all recorded history. While the death toll was uncountable, it is estimated that perhaps one half of all the denizens of Erothi died during the three year epidemic.

The scale of the population decline caused a dramtic shift in the culture and economy of all the kingdoms and empires of Erothi, most did not survive this period of cevastation and unrest.   In Carthia, the plague drastically set back the settlement efforts and there remains the scattered remains of villages in the outer stretches of the settled lands to this day.   The plague also significantly altered the political organisation of the Dominion of Carthia. The demand for labourers was dramatically increased, giving more power over to the peasantry and changing the power dynamic between the remnant theocratic senate and the ermerging aristocratic landowners, as the fuedal system of the outer countries were more flexible in accoutning for such shortages by offering common land and produce rather than a salary for working the vast senatorial estates.   Furthermore, the outbreak for far more significant in the cities where the senatorial class lived. Many more perished to the plague and those that did also had less of a clear succesion of power and land rights as the their apointment of a succesor was not possible and power vacuums opened up in the chaos. The simple heredity system adopted by the aristocratic class also avoided this disadvantage.   For the peasantry, the outcome was largely positive for those that survived due to their increased barganing power. In exchange for their labour they were given access to the land of the Lord to use for cultivation and pasture. They only owed a portion of their harvest to the lord in exhange.