Ocher Outbreak

Ender of Lines

With our leaders suffering on their deathbeds and the people perishing en masse, we had no hopes of defending ourselves, had a foreign threat landed upon our shores. Yet despite our fragility, the fear of the outbreak must have wiped away every thought of conquest from those would dare set their sights upon us. Even years later, when the loss of our empire had become apparent, fear kept us safe from outsiders. The only spears we feared were those of our own neighbours.

— History of the Interregnum

The Ocher Outbreak was a severe epidemic that ravaged throughout southern Lethea, especially the Empire of Pallernen. Lasting from around 1270 AA until its eventual end roughly six years later, the gruesome disease had left the land desolate. The exact scale of its impact on the region's populations was difficult to measure, however, as the plague had also claimed the life of Ianichel II, the Emperor of Pallernen, plunging the realm into the chaos of the Interregnum.

Characteristics

Remembered for the cruelty and malice that it wrought upon the unsuspecting people of Pallernen and its neighbouring lands, the Ocher Outbreak struck with haste. Symptoms of the vicious virus began to present themselves mere days after coming into contact with one of the infected, even if the bearer of the disease seemed utterly unphased and unaware of their own condition. The first foreboding signs came as a dry cough, but the victim’s condition would rapidly decline from there. Their throat would begin to feel constricted as if an unseen presence were actively strangling the life from them, leaving them with just enough air to survive, assuming they weren’t afflicted by other conditions that might impact their breathing.

Faces of Anguish

The sweating followed a day or two later, bringing the sufferer to the stage in which their skin felt as if it were melting from their flesh. At first it was a mere feeling, a trick of the mind from the ravaging fever, but what came a few days later was much more frightful and anguishing.
Men, women and children would wake with the skin on their faces stained yellow, the flesh beneath sagging and drooping as if it had truly been melting from their skulls. With each gruelling hour, their skin would tear open, oozing with ocher yellow liquid and blood. This nightmare lasted for around five to ten days before freeing those fortunate enough to endure the pain and suffering.
Victims of the Ocher Outbreak were never the same. Their faces bore the repugnant scars of their affliction and they would never again feel comfort in their own skin and flesh.

Aftermath of the Outbreak and the Interregnum by Midjourney

Consequences

The young monarch had barely any time grow accustomed to the feel of his throne before disaster had struck. Those in merchant harbours were first to fall and, as the imperial court argued over which measures to take and the severity of the approaching plague, the emperor noticed a strange tingle in his throat. Death had arrived far sooner than they could have ever imagined.

— History of the Interregnum

Emperor Ianichel II of the House of Pentiwichen, a young man who had held his throne for less than half a year following his father's untimely demise, caught the Ocher Outbreak before anyone had even considered raising the idea of isolating the imperial court from the outside world. When the first signs of his affliction had presented themselves, fear claimed the palace, but little was known of the disease and many hoped that all would be well in due time.

Chaos at Court

All initial hopes were swept aside as more and more courtiers, including members of the imperial family, fell to the illness. The young and unprepared monarch had clung on to life with all his will, but that too had perished after his wife had died. Fearful for the future of the realm, he ordered the Hartilian Guard to take his one-year-old son, Âldal, to a remote location, along with their finest physicians.
Mere days later, as the crown prince and his entourage were still on their way to safety, Emperor Ianichel had drawn his last breath. With the bulk of the emperor’s bodyguards assisting Âldal and the palace in chaos, Âldiwel, the brother of the deceased emperor, claimed the throne for his own. He had called for the return of his nephew, but discontent courtiers had struck him down a week after the coup.

Start of the Interregnum

The imperial palace was devoid of Pentiwichen blood. Every last one of them had either died one way or another, either from the outbreak or the chaos of the coup. A few surviving councillors clung to the remnants of imperial power, pretending that they were expecting the return of Crown Prince Âldal while in reality the heir to the throne had vanished without a trace along with the rest of his companions.
When reality had finally struck, and the realm learned of the depth of their downfall, everything shattered. Centuries of conquest and unification unraveled itself as various lords across the realm asserted their sovereignty one after another. The capital of the empire, Aûrkustel, stayed in the hands of the Final Council as they had already been governing the area in the crown prince’s absence.

Type

Viral

Origin

Natural

Cycle

Short-term

Rarity

Extremely Rare

Affected Species

• Human

Origins

When the Ocher Outbreak reached the shores of Pallernen, it had arrived without warning. No other realm in Lethea had encountered the same plague, yet the first of its victims were found at the merchant harbour of the empire’s largest settlements.
Some claim that shortly before the beginning of the outbreak, a strange empty ship with tattered black sails had washed up on the shores of the capital, Aûrkustel. Sailors had boarded the decaying ship, investigating the whereabouts of its crew and searching for goods or contraband.
They had all thought that they had returned home empty-handed, but the true hidden contents of the vessel revealed themselves but a few days later as the sailors realised the horrors that they had stumbled upon. None of those who had boarded the ship survived and the ship itself had vanished in the night.
Scholars have dismissed such tales as legends born from a desperation to explain their misfortune. Others, of course, have attributed the disease to divine punishment, claiming that the empire was inherently evil for conquering so much land for its own greedy ambitions or that its people were decadent and blasphemous.