Scourge
The name given to the plague of Sallowing that occurred in the early years of Refuge.
When Thulaya led the survivors of Destruction into Refuge, the people there were immediately grappled by a grief so profound that none could foresee its true impact. The immediate relief for their survival from the catacysm was followed by the urgency of their immediate needs as they struggeld to adapt within the confines of Refuge.
Refuge was the largest Scuraspheres ever created, but its creators: Zurghasta and Reina Del Krona had not made it into Refuge before Thulaya had been forced to close its doors. Much of its workings were poorly understood, and despite its size, the thousands of refugees within could not help but feel cramped within the warrens of its halls.
The population was beset by famines in the early years as they struggled to find ways to produce enough food to sustain themselves.
it was the food shortages, combined with the over-riding grief of what they had lost that resulted in a pandemic of Sallowing that threatened to obliterate the struggling community.
This event became known as the Scourge.
Causes
Normal sallowing is the result of the depletion of magical uhd reserves in the afflicted person. The most common treatment is replenishment through food. Unfortunately, within Refuge, the early famines exacerbated the normal experiences of sallowing, and prevented the replenishment.
The impact of such large scale sallowing in the population saw epsiodes of spontaneous thralldom as starving people unconsciously siphoned the magical energies from others, who would then attempt the same. This resulted in tragic chain reactions of thralldoms and Soul husking of hundreds of people within the already small population before action could be taken.
Symptoms
In individuals, the Sallowing behaved the same as normal sallowing. However at scale, the sallowed population became lethargic and irrational to dangerous levels. Even beyond the direct impacts of sallowing, people fell into violent conflict with each other, and the resutling chaos, dissent and upheaval nearly toppled the struggling community.
Treatment
it was Thulaya herself that managed to bring the crisis under control. First, she instigated strict quarantine measures, and the policing of the limited food available to the most needy.
The most critical element was the formation of the Order of Salvitas by Thulaya and the invention of the technologies that would eventually evolve into the Greendomes still in use by the Cobswains of the Order in the modern age. The early examples worked similarly, but required the voluntary sallowing of the strongest people in Refuge, under strict controls, in order to power the growing of emergency foodstuffs.
It took generations to perfect, and many of these early Cobswains died in order to feed their brethren. But their sacrifice made it possible for those in Refuge to survive the Scourge and has served as a critical inspiration for the later Doctrine of Requital and the Choosing that would come to define the Protectorates after the Return.
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