Lore24 Jan 10: The Red Plague

 The Red Plague is a terrible, virulent disease that has destroyed entire communities, and wiped out armies. It starts with small red spots on the skin, kind of like a rash. These first grow and spread all over the skin, then they start swelling and soon develop into huge red lesions. Simultaneously the patient becomes weak and develops high fever, which is then followed by nausea and vomiting. In the final stage the patient becomes delirious and sometimes even violent.

There is no natural cure for the disease, with almost 90% of the afflicted dying. Surviving the disease doesn’t always confer immunity either. Magical methods of healing the plague get mixed results, which is usually attributed to it being a punishment from the gods. Outbreaks are usually dealt with by quarantining the settlement, and either burning the corpses or burying them in quicklime.

Some say that those who died in the Red Plague come back as zombies intent to infect the living. This is false, but many necromancers do follow the outbreaks and raise the plague dead as undead servants. The sometimes violent delirium in the final stage of the disease may also be mistaken for ravenous undeath by those less familiar with magic.

 From Elden Ring

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