The White Plague

The White Plague, also known as Pox Populi or the Pox Alba, or simply the Plague, was a pandemic of the Varicosia bacterium across the Continents of Benth, Altuma and Pediania, originally in the late First Era. The Plague continued into the 2e400s in the form of various outbreaks. An estimated 190 million people died because of the pandemic, with an estimated 220 million overall cases.

The Plague originated in the South of Graecia, in the marshlands around the city of Therum (modern-day Macaedia). The virus was primarily carried by mites that made their home in the down feathers of the Lesser Plains Heron. When one of these birds would die in a village or city, and it was removed, the mites would transfer to the person handling the bird and the disease would transmit to them.

The original outbreak was crippling to the First Divine Empire of Graecia, where the Plague originated. Later outbreaks had widespread repercussions across Benthic cultures and economies, with impacts as far-reaching as the Alkan subcontinent and into Edobrin with the Alkan slave trade carrying the disease across the Rift sea. Outbreaks in Edobrin were small, as the climate of the inland Edobrinese steppes was far too dry for the bacterium to thrive. The Alkan basin, however, was devastated. The Plague spread faster than ever in the damp rainforests of the subcontinent, and around 85 million deaths were caused by the Plague in the region.