Soaring Plague

The soaring plague is a viral infection that attacks the inner ear, causing severe problems with coordination, balance and motion, with most people experiencing feeling similar to free falling or moving through the sky, once the condition becomes severe. As the condition escalates, the afflicted ten to end up unable to move in a controlled manner at all and usually can't stand up from the ground where they eventually die of thirst, starvation and exhaustion, or even a brain hemorrhage, when the virus gets far enough the attack the brain directly.

Transmission & Vectors

As virology was unknown at the time, the origins of the soaring plague were a mystery to the people of the Continent. The only correct assessment they could make is that it came from the Tiplands and spread quickly once it was introduced to society. The disease was often believed to be a magical malady introduced by some mysterious guardians of the Tipland wilds, as a measure to keep invaders out or even to be a punishment of the gods for various sins and mortal follies.
The virus is transmitted through spit and breath once it reaches the afflicted's throat through the eustachian tube and is highly infectious, being able to survive for a whole day outside of an organism, as well as being easily carried by winds and remain very potent even when dispersed.

Causes

The actual cause of the disease is a virus that attacks the inner ear and damages the nerves responsible for it innervation and eventually makes its way into the throat and brain.

Symptoms

In the initial stages, the afflicted experience lowered spacial awareness and balance and slight nausea and headaches caused by this disruption.
Later, usually within a few days or a week at most, the already existing symptoms become much worse, severely inhibiting the person's ability to be productive and causing frequent falls that often end in head trauma as the person is often unable to tell whether they are falling or not or to react accordingly. This is the stage where the actual "soaring" happens, when the sight of the effected often turns upwards and their bodies experience a flight or free fall like sensation. Vomiting and even brain strokes are common at this stage due to the extreme stress experienced by the brain and the digestive track of the afflicted person.
The final stage, generally reached within two weeks of the middle stage, is so severe that the afflicted can no longer function as a human being, unable to get up from the ground and chaotically moving on the floor without any real control over their body. The connection between the mind and the body is severed nearly completely and there is a high risk of systemic failure of organs and the nervous system, being suffocated by their own vomit, having a fatal stroke or heart attack or simply dying of exhaustion or thirst. Most people are losing and regaining consciousness constantly and are unable to properly speak or think complexly and are often killed as a mercy provided there is someone in their vicinity that is healthy enough to carry out the execution.

Treatment

Plague doctors initially used a cap that covered the ears with reinforced padding called a telpa, and later, when they realized that the disease can be transmitted through other head openings, they added a full mask covering the mouth and nose known as a rentha and glass goggles covering the eyes. While these measures did help somewhat, medical staff casualties during these pandemics were still high and would remain so until a magus at the Academy of Magical Arts in the Court of Stars by the name of Ikonius and his staff would develop a tincture made of mixed cathelera leaves, arcanized water, veletrian salts and alcohol that would be able to kill the virus when applied to the ear, mouth and nasal cavity at the initial stage of infection.
Although the tincture, called Ikonia, is very effective against the virus, it is also quite aggressive and can itself cause damage to the inner ear, throat and nose, however, this was seen as an acceptable trade-off for stopping the disease.
Thanks to this medicine, the plagues would eventually mellow and become less severe and far-reaching, but they would only be truly gone two centuries later, during the Age of Novelty, when a sarnian doctor named Peleas would create a much safer and fully effective medicine that would be refined into one of the first vaccines, using antibodies from the tissue of the diseased themselves.

Origin

Natural

Cycle

Chronic, Acquired

Rarity

Rare