The Pale Plague

The pale plague is one of humanity's worst creations. It goes by many names such as The Pale Horse, The Pale Wind, Ares Virus, Wrathpox, The Last Plague, God's Wrath, and Beast's Sword. It's a member of the orthopoxvirus genus and its scientific name is pallidapox virus.

Origins

During the world's thawing period, diseases both new and old resurfaced from the ice. One disease found in ice that every nation wanted their hands on was smallpox. The constant warring of the 21st century had destroyed all remnants of the "eradicated" smallpox in fears that other nations were already planning to weaponize it, however this couldn't be stopped. As more samples came from thawing ice, many powerful nations sought to mutate it in order for it to be used in warfare. 

Many powerful elites sought to fund efforts to create this new disease because they could profit off of death, war, and pharmaceutical products. The elites funded the governments, which would give grants to their most loyal scientists for research on how to make smallpox even more deadly and destructive via genetic manipulation. Government agencies would then take the new disease and purposefully try and infect enemy nations in hopes that their economies would crash and their militaries would be weakened beyond functionality. If any news leaked about what they were doing, it would be covered up and the whistleblower would "disappear". The narrative was that it was unleashed by the ice, although that is partly true. The elites use the government in order to dish out more products via mandates and state-sponsored medication.

The pale plague is an amalgamation of RNA from both other viruses and bacteria. The genome consists mostly of smallpox genes, but it also contains genes from leprosy (M. Leprae), HIV, Influenza, HPV, Salmonella, and the bubonic plague (Y. Pestis). It mutates near constantly, preventing any treatment or vaccine being created because the pale plague will just mutate again and all of that treatment will be for nothing. Of course, a true cure that resists most variants of the pale plague exists for the rich and powerful, but it can only keep them safe for so long.

Symptoms and Epidemiology

The pale plague is dormant at first, with symptoms first being apparent within about a week of infection. During that time where someone is active while infected, it may spread to everyone and everything that the infected individual comes in contact with. Testing for the disease is only possible while symptoms show, so there would be no way of knowing whether or not someone has it. It primarily spreads through bodily fluids such as mucus, blood, saliva, and urine. It can also be transmitted sexually and in utero. 

The first symptoms of the pale plague, first appearing in a week of infection, are muscle aches, headaches, fever, coughing, and a runny nose. Within 9-10 days of infection, the symptoms now include vomiting, diarrhea, and a ghostly pale complexion. In 12-14 days of infection, symptoms will include skin rashes all over the body, hair loss, nerve damage, numbness, and poor eyesight. By about 16-18 days, symptoms will include infectious blisters, necrosis on extremities, and swollen lymph nodes. At about 3 weeks of infection, if an infected individual has lived this long without any sign of improvement, they will finally be granted the sweet release of death. 

The pale plague has a mortality rate of forty percent. It was engineered to disorganize and weaken, not wipe out completely. After all, the elites can't profit off of pharmaceuticals and medical care if everyone is dead. The pale plague is treated with antibiotic pills and creams, over the counter pain relievers, as well as rushed and mass produced vaccines. 

Survivors are left with intense scarring, no hair, large patches of pale skin, blindness, and detatched limbs and extremities due to gangrene. 

Carnage

It first appeared in East and South Asia and quickly spread across the globe through maritime trade. Oftentimes cramped housing and poor sanitation in cities led to high rates of transmission and high mortality rates. Governments instituted regional lockdowns to try and keep the illness at bay, but soon enough those regional lockdowns turned to national lockdowns. The economy crashed as most jobs couldn't benefit the effort to stop the virus, many workers dying didn't help the economy either. Death rates were so high that infected corpses had to be piled up and burned since standard burials or cremations would be too costly and dangerous. Many countries completely stopped trade and immigration due to large migrant waves fleeing the destruction caused by the illness. Closing the borders would not stop illegal immigration and smuggling from bringing the pale plague over the borders. Mosquitoes and rats also played a large part in getting the pale plague across borders.

Urban areas were completely decimated, whole cities were emptied in just a few months. Many people in rural areas were largely uneffected and infection rates were low, but the ripple effect of the pale plague's arrival still reached them too. Rises in temperature and other climate factors led to drought and crop failure, and people would have to go back to hunting and gathering for food. In the newly formed nomadic coalitions that wandered through the ruins of humanity, the pale plague was considered to be untreatable. Those found with the pale plague would be expelled from the group and left to die in the wild. Those who survived both the wilderness and disease would be known as spotmen. On certain occasions, spotmen would form nomadic clans and even nations.

The pale plague is not just exclusive to humans, but to all amniotes. Avian and reptilians varieties of the pale plague are responsible for wiping out many species  that would have otherwise been able to survive the holocene. Standard varieties of the pale plague that effect mammals are the most deadly. The pale plague has wiped out most non-human primates, the only ones to survive were the bush babies and rhesus macaques. Many species of rodent have been killed off by the pale plague as well. The pale plague led to a genetic mutation in smaller rodents that decreased the size of their litters and shortened fast they reproduced. This change in a rodent's genetic makeup prevented rodents from immediately taking over in the wake of large ungulates going extinct. Several other branches that would have survived were also decimated by the pale plague, such as camelids, pecorids, and macropodiformes.