Great Plague

The Great Plague, also known as the Vilauristrean Scourge, the Punthite Plague or the Audonian Plague, was one of the most devastating pandemics in human history, resulting in the deaths of an estimated 75 to 200 million people in the Occidental world and Audonian world, peaking in Levantia from 1347 to 1351. The bacterium Yersinia pestis, which results in several forms of plague (septicemic, pneumonic and, the most common, bubonic) is believed to have been the cause. The plague created a number of religious, social and economic upheavals, with profound effects on the course of history. The Great Plague is thought to have originated in the dry plains of south central Punth, where it travelled along the Silk Road, reaching Puhktunkwa by 1336. From there, it was most likely carried by fleas living on the black rats that traveled on all Burgoignesc merchant ships, spreading throughout the Istroyan, Caneten, and Odonerun basins. From there is spread to the interiors of Levantia and Sarpedon.

Origins

The plague disease, caused by Yersinia pestis, is commonly present in populations of fleas carried by ground rodents, including in various areas of central Punth. Due to climate change in Punth, rodents began to flee the dried-out grasslands to more populated areas, spreading the disease. Nestorian graves dating to 1338–1339 in Pursat have inscriptions referring to plague and are thought by many epidemiologists to mark the outbreak of the epidemic, from which it could easily have spread to Corumm, Dhavastu, Kandara, and Xingkai'pei.

The disease may have travelled along the Silk Road with increased trading technologies and capabilities, particularly in the Kandaran basin. By the mid-1330s, the plague had reached the seaports of Audonia, which since the start of the Crusades, were lousy with Levantine merchants. Plague was reportedly first introduced to Levantia via Burgoignesc traders from the Deric city of Rufus Concordia in 1347. During a protracted siege of the city by the opposing army catapulted infected corpses over the city walls to infect the inhabitants. The Burgoignesc traders fled, taking the plague by ship into the Vilaristre Conference and the south of Levantia, whence it spread north.

In 1350 it was recorded to have spread to Venceia and from their ravaged Sarpedon.

Impacts

Holy Levantine Empire

The Holy Levantine Empire overall was hit the hardest by the Plague, suffering a loss of over a third of its total population which represented more than a half in some of the modern Deric States. The loss of life included the significant disruption of landowning classes, greatly affecting inheritance and political stability throughout the Empire. The Plague was so severe within the Empire that it is recorded not a single member of the Collegial Electorate in 1340 was still seated in the body by 1355. The turmoil lead to contested successions for decades to come. For some families, the Plague presented a golden opportunity. The relatively minor Jazonid dynasty, Dukes of Eagaria, managed to ascend to Emperor of the Levantines by the end of the century. Although the Jazonids managed to provide order by ruling until 1509, the considerable dynastic turmoil set in motion by the Plague would lead to the opening stages of The Anarchy.

Burgundie

Among the first, hardest, and recurrently hit parts of the Occidental world, modern Burgundie surffered four waves of the plague. At the time the country was part of the Kingdom of Gassavelia, Bishopric of Bonavix, Imperial Abbey of Costello, Vilauristre Conference, County of Bergendia, and the Bishopric of Mattiusvale. These disparate fiefdoms were still unparalleled in their connection to each other and their freedom of movement. When the trade cities of the Vilauristre Conference were infected it was only a matter of time before the remainder would soon fall. The spread of the plague turned many Levantines off to the concepts of international trade. This bankrupted the Vilauristre Conference and they soon lost most of their mainland Levantia holdings. Trade in the Sea of Istroya dried up for around 50 years.

Estimates are that like the Kingdom of Gassavelia, the principalities that make up modern Burgundie lost upward of half of their total population, estimated to be around 16 million people. It shook the very fabric of the merchantile coast of the Kingdom of Dericania, plunging its rich cities into poverty, and forcing a massive migration from the urban ports to the countryside. It was not until the Great Confessional War one hundred years later that the port towns returned to anywhere neat the numbers that had been prior to the plague.

It saw a resurgence of the Church in society. Fiery sermons on the evil excesses of urban-internationalism rang throughout the land. A call of the return to the communal poverty of the times of Christ could be heard from every pulpit. Those who remained in the cities died in greater numbers, seemingly evidence of the Church's teachings. Societally there was a return of strong fiefdoms as peasants returned from the cities. However, they were freemen and a rise in tenancy occured in the era. While not ubiquitous it was more prevalent in the southern Kingdom of Dericania than in the central and northern parts of the kingdom.

Gassavelia

The Great Plague is viewed as the pivotal event in the history of the Kingdom of Gassavelia, ending a century-and-a-half golden age which represented the height of power and prestige for the Kingdom. As a consequence of its proximity to Burgoignesc trade cities, Gassavelia was among the first places in Levantia for the plague to spread. With the first mass deaths being reported in 1347, by 1351 most modern historians estimate the Kingdom lost approximately a half of its total population.

The island of Isti was so devastated that the Kingdom of Gassavelia revoked its claim there and the island fell into the sphere of the also flagging Vilauristre Conference.

Urcea

The impact of the Great Plague was relatively limited in Urcea, the reasons of which have been a matter of contentious scholarly debate. Beginning in the 1940s, a twin-theory consensus emerged: that the ongoing Saint's War had depleted trade to the extent that travel from infected areas to Urcea was non-consequential, and; that Urcea's topographical features (as it was then contained by the Ionian Mountains) prevented fatal exposure to the rest of Levantia. Some demographic historians have posited that the lack of a significant Plague impact in Urcea is the single biggest historical factor for its emergence as the world's most populous country, though this theory is disputed.

Historical evidence suggests that Urcea was not totally isolated from the effect of the Plague, with 21st century scholarship demonstrating a 5-10% loss of population. The Saint's War and casualties of the Great Interregnum have complicated the picture due to the significant loss of life as a result of those conflicts.