Listlessness Plague

The listlessness plague was a fungal infection of alien origin which afflicted the people of the Awakened World between 2648 AF and 2670 AF.

Transmission & Vectors

The listlessness plague spreads by direct contact between the spores of the fungus and exposed skin. It is not highly infectious and under most circumstances the immune system can defeat it before it takes hold, but a mild risk multipled over a long time allowed the slow rate of transmission to generate a pandemic. This is because, once the fungus has established a network of mycellium inside the host it is tenacious and long lasting and was almost never eradicated until Dr. Satya Pell developed her medicine.

Causes

The fungus responsible for this condition came from outside Earth and is now known to have originated on Ylbatys, a Geigamon colony, first visited by humans as long ago as 2039 AF on the 8th Friendship Mission.

Symptoms

Sufferers from the infection characteristically experience fatigue and an ill tempered depression. A variety of other, mainly mental symptoms, include confusion, loss of drive and purpose and in the more serious cases a form of hebephrenia.
Visible symptoms begin with a high coloured rash on the face that might at first be confused for a blush, although on closer inspection a threadlike pattern betrays the true nature of the pathogen.
Within two or three weeks, the spotting phase starts, with scattered deep red spots breaking out over the cheeks and nose.

Listlessness Plague Early Infection by DMFW with Midjourney

Listlessness Plague Spotting Phase 01 by DMFW with Midjourney

Listlessness Plague Spotting Phase 02 by DMFW with Midjourney

Over the course of several months, the spots spread and thicken to form crustose scabs which cover an increasing area of the face. In the late stages of infection, the fungus spreads down the neck and onto the upper body.

Listlessness Plague Custose Phase 01 by DMFW with Midjourney

Listlessness Plague Crustose Phase 02 by DMFW with Midjourney

Listlessness Plague Late Phase by DMFW with Midjourney

Treatment

Until the development of a cure, many years after the first fateful case, there was little that could be done. Attempts to physically purge the fungus, had limited success and often left the patient with permanent scars. External poisons were as damaging to the host as to the fungus.
In 2668 AF, Dr. Satya Pell, a neurologist working in Blyperrin, developed a cure which brought the condition under control in a very short time, exinguishing it from the world within two years. Her method was remarkably simple for the patient, a course of tablets taken over a week which suffused the blood stream with a carefully crafted molecular antigen. When taken up into the fungus, the drug attacked a key protein it used to bind its cells together. By the end of the week, the fungus was cleared from their system and patients began to feel much better.

Prognosis

Infection with the fungus causing the listnessless plague did not cause a rapid decline, rather it induced a chronic condition which could persist for several years. Until the development of a proper cure, the outcome was almost always an unhappy one for the unfortunate sufferer, as the growth of the fungus progressed over time.
In some rare cases, death was directly attributable to the parasitic leaching of nutriment from the host body, but it was far more common for the patient to succumb to the mental side effects. Many comitted suicide, whilst most became unable to feed themselves and without a support network, starved to death.

Prevention

It was realised at an early stage in the spread of the condition, that spores could be prevented from tramsmitting the fungus when the skin was mildly alkaline. A soapy solution applied to exposed areas was quite an effective barrier and relatively simple, but inevitably as the skin dried, the protection weakened. In 2655 AF, epidemiological observations established that there was an inverse link between the consumption of a mint flavoured form of brewer's yeast called Saltgreen and cases of infection. Prior to that point, Saltgreen had been a relatively unfashionable savory condiment, sold mostly only in Monrith and Entessaminia but the demand for it grew hugely in the aftermath of this discovery.
Masking the face completely is reliable but difficult to maintain in social situations. Hands also need to be covered to prevent transfer of spores onto the face.

History

The effects of this condition were debilitating to the whole civilization on Earth, and for a while it was thought possible that the plague might bring an end to the Cities of the Awakened World, forcing humans to abandon close communal living in favour of a much more isolated life style.
The image at the head of the article shows the Haltorath district of Blyperrin in the years after 2670 AF, once a thriving centre for agricultural trading, abandoned in only twenty years.
The fungus gained a rapid foothold and spread widely over the planet. In the image below we can see the debilitating effects on the formerly important Trade Exchange building in Bledlyme.

Listlessness Plague - Bledlyme by DMFW with Midjourney

By the time the condition was eliminated, almost twenty years after the first case, a great deal of damage had been done to the population and culture of Earth, from which it has arguably not completely recovered, five hundred years later.

Cultural Reception

Every city had their own policies to attempt to limit the spread of the plague and deal with its consequences. Most imposed some kind of quarantine for suffers and in Kingcardine there was a particularly brutal and rigorous attempt to protect the population by establishing "plague zones". Anyone found with symptoms was compelled to move into one of two suburbs to the north of the city centre. This further entrenched suspicion between the infected and the uninfected, but since the infected were usually rendered hopeless and increasingly helpless by their condition they usually acquiesced. The image below shows a "Plague Warden" from the dark days when the infection was at its height. He had the power to enter homes and evict anyone found to be carrying the disease. The Plague Wardens covered their faces in soapy flannels and were given daily rations of Saltgreen, but some of them still succumbed to the disease.

Listlessness Plague - Kingcardine by DMFW with Midjourney

Type

Fungal

Cycle

Chronic, Acquired

Rarity

Common

Dr. Satya Pell, who was able to develop a medicine which targeted and killed the fungus in 2668 AF, was the great heroine of the age of the Role Disputes.

Dr. Satya Pell by DMFW with Art Breeder