Dragon King Plague

[Codexgigas]

I'm looking for some ideas from my fellow forumites on both the crunch and fluff side of a Dragon King bio-weapon for a campaign I'm running! Brief background/context notes: a Bronze faction Sidereal antagonist is manufacturing crises in the South for the Realm to fix. Said Sidereal is chair and sole member of the Sub-Convention on Dragon Kings, and as such has access to sundry artifacts. The rough idea is she unleashes some kind of bottled anti-human plague on Chiaroscuro while warning the Realm satrap to stockpile drugs.

I'm having trouble coming up with an interesting physical description of the plague-in-a-bottle (there's a chance the circle will be able to intercept it) along with mechanics that make it a dire threat but not so dire that a sufficiently prepared Realm presence couldn't fix it.

[Eldagusto]

Damn misclick...


Maybe the plague is a presence, and as if spreads it’s acts like a hive mind collecting the memories and thoughts of those dying from it.

Maybe after the plague is released it’s hivemind is like a unique entity, like a spirit but not a god or elemental or Deva.

[Kanchou]

In the Dream of the First Age, there was thing mortal woman who had an obsession to become more Dragon King like. The text mentioned Dragon Kings were offended by such arrogant behavior and was going to punish her in someone. So maybe some Dragon King created a plague that grant her mutations(scales, teeth, claws, tail, etc.) that turn afflicted into Lizard beast man, but acted like savage unenlightened Dragon King?

You can fine-tune the plague transmission mechanism/vector/speed to make it just dire enough. So if the transmission vector is the bites, the victims may form egg-like cocoon unlike the transformation is complete. Do you want to set the hatch time for such egg-cocoon to be (10 seconds/10 minutes/10 hours/10 days/a season/a year/a decade)?

[Eldagusto]

Wasn’t she a Dragonblooded and not mortal? I may be mistaken.


But they hated her physiological modifications to look more draconic so I doubt they would make a plague to emulate what they hated.

[Baaldam]

Wasn’t she a Dragonblooded and not mortal? I may be mistaken.


But they hated her physiological modifications to look more draconic so I doubt they would make a plague to emulate what they hated.

Yeah, i remember that bit character, but i thinnk she was mortal indeed.
And i agree that someone offended by that kind of imitation probably wouldn't be the person to make a "Dragon King Copycat" plague.

I'm looking for some ideas from my fellow forumites on both the crunch and fluff side of a Dragon King bio-weapon for a campaign I'm running! Brief background/context notes: a Bronze faction Sidereal antagonist is manufacturing crises in the South for the Realm to fix. Said Sidereal is chair and sole member of the Sub-Convention on Dragon Kings, and as such has access to sundry artifacts. The rough idea is she unleashes some kind of bottled anti-human plague on Chiaroscuro while warning the Realm satrap to stockpile drugs.

Hmmm, how does stockpiling drugs helps the local satrap dealing with the plague - or is it just general underhandedness on the Sidereal's part, exploring potential economic complications springing from such a crisis?

On the plague itself, how about something that messes with a person's lower soul and makes it dominant, initially reducing people to a bestial state akin to unenlightened Dragon Kings, but that as it advances throws them into a sort of coma/trance, where the lower soul leaves to prowl at night like a hungry ghost?

Containable, but potentially very messy, as if no cure is found in time, eventually one must choose between killing lots of defenseless comatose people or letting their lower souls run rampant as a rabid mob of hungry ghosts, something messy even for exalts, i guess (and might hurt or outright kill the infected too).

[Accelerator]

Hmm... dragon kings specialize in plants. Let the plague in a bottle be a bunch of spores/ seeds that can at first, drift through the air. When it lands on a living body, it starts growing roots through it, extracting nutrients and pumping out toxins all the while. Then the person dies. The biomass left by the corpse is completely used up by the plant, which then flowers. Growing up to one meter a day, it reaches up into the heavens, stretching tall over the buildings. And then at the end, it creates a fruit containing seeds, which are then blown away by the wind, to land on more living creatures and repeat the cycle.

The spores can be killed by time, fire, long periods underwater, or herbicides. The problem is, is that it just takes one, and if it takes too long, the roots will have become far too entrenched, and the person will die when they do.

[Eldagusto]

Yeah, i remember that bit character, but i thinnk she was mortal indeed.
And i agree that someone offended by that kind of imitation probably wouldn't be the person to make a "Dragon King Copycat" plague.



Hmmm, how does stockpiling drugs helps the local satrap dealing with the plague - or is it just general underhandedness on the Sidereal's part, exploring potential economic complications springing from such a crisis?

On the plague itself, how about something that messes with a person's lower soul and makes it dominant, initially reducing people to a bestial state akin to unenlightened Dragon Kings, but that as it advances throws them into a sort of coma/trance, where the lower soul leaves to prowl at night like a hungry ghost?

Containable, but potentially very messy, as if no cure is found in time, eventually one must choose between killing lots of defenseless comatose people or letting their lower souls run rampant as a rabid mob of hungry ghosts, something messy even for exalts, i guess (and might hurt or outright kill the infected too).

This is interesting. If I use this I may have the Recovery/enlightenment process change them, so they are little more then human. With some sort of merits to reflect their powers. And I would have enlightening/“Curing” them actually maybe fuse their souls or maybe further change them so they are balanced with each other.

[Baaldam]

Hmm... dragon kings specialize in plants. Let the plague in a bottle be a bunch of spores/ seeds that can at first, drift through the air. When it lands on a living body, it starts growing roots through it, extracting nutrients and pumping out toxins all the while. Then the person dies. The biomass left by the corpse is completely used up by the plant, which then flowers. Growing up to one meter a day, it reaches up into the heavens, stretching tall over the buildings. And then at the end, it creates a fruit containing seeds, which are then blown away by the wind, to land on more living creatures and repeat the cycle.

The spores can be killed by time, fire, long periods underwater, or herbicides. The problem is, is that it just takes one, and if it takes too long, the roots will have become far too entrenched, and the person will die when they do.

Actually, plants and crystals, so weird bio/magical weapons based on either or mixing both for quite surreal threats might be doable, like a prysm whose refracted light makes people intestinal flora go into overclock, mix with one's lower soul and form a sort of wood elemental of sorts that sprouts from the victim.

Or crystal chimes that produce a sound that affects a person's mind and body, leading them to sing strange hauntingly beautiful songs that attract people, while the infected's unwittingly exhales peculiar spores that infect who come close to the singer and leave them in something like a drug addled stupor, addicted to the song and acting like desperate, angry junkies if separated from the singer.

If separated for a number of days from the singer, they eventually recover from the state themselves - but will have hauntingly beautiful dreams, that will eventually to them turning into singers themselves.

[goddessgood]

The only thing I can come up with at the moment us the Medusoid Mycelium from A Series of Unfortunate Events. In the Netflix series, it lives in dark, damp areas and randomly goes into reproductive mode which releases airborne spores. If inhaled, the spores choke and kill the victim in less than an hour unless they are fed horseradish (though substitutions seemed to be allowed, i.e. wasabi). The cure seems to be common enough and stockpiling it would be a kind of weird tip off ("Why do none of the sushi houses in Chiaroscuro have any wasabi?"). The thing "randomly" going into reproduction could be something the Siddie can control, timing-wise.

[Codexgigas]

Hmmm, how does stockpiling drugs helps the local satrap dealing with the plague - or is it just general underhandedness on the Sidereal's part, exploring potential economic complications springing from such a crisis?

The Sidereal wants to bolster the Realm's image, so she tips off the satrap before manufacturing a crisis, giving him time to stockpile enough drugs to effectively handle the epidemic. The Realm will generously provide the drugs necessary to combat the plague.

The only thing I can come up with at the moment us the Medusoid Mycelium from A Series of Unfortunate Events. In the Netflix series, it lives in dark, damp areas and randomly goes into reproductive mode which releases airborne spores. If inhaled, the spores choke and kill the victim in less than an hour unless they are fed horseradish (though substitutions seemed to be allowed, i.e. wasabi). The cure seems to be common enough and stockpiling it would be a kind of weird tip off ("Why do none of the sushi houses in Chiaroscuro have any wasabi?"). The thing "randomly" going into reproduction could be something the Siddie can control, timing-wise.

I really like this. Lots of angles for hooking the players. Thanks!

[Isator Levi]

I'm feeling an inspiration from how reptiles are a significant reservoir of salmonella to imagine supernaturally potent forms of the diseases caused by that bacterium.

Since one of those diseases is typhoid, you could include a bit of a Typhoid Mary thing in there; the disease capable of assessing a carrier that could more efficiently transmit it due to their profession, and thus go asymptomatic. That way, one can add an investigative element of trying to establish the link between cases, ala The Knick.

[BrilliantRain]

All editions of Exalted have disease rules and a set of very nasty diseases in the core book. Why not just have a bottle of typhoid, hemorrhagic fever, or the black plague? Isn't dying via blood pouring out of every orifice dramatic enough?

[Accelerator]

All editions of Exalted have disease rules and a set of very nasty diseases in the core book. Why not just have a bottle of typhoid, hemorrhagic fever, or the black plague? Isn't dying via blood pouring out of every orifice dramatic enough?

No. This is exalted.

Even the diseases are over the top

[TheCountAlucard]

No. This is exalted.

Even the diseases are over the top

On the one hand, the Great Contagion and Puppeteer Plague exist, sure; but really, your average Creationite is a lot more likely to die to an infected wound, rabies, syphilis, or cholera than he is a hopped-up super-disease.

[Codexgigas]

All editions of Exalted have disease rules and a set of very nasty diseases in the core book. Why not just have a bottle of typhoid, hemorrhagic fever, or the black plague? Isn't dying via blood pouring out of every orifice dramatic enough?

I initially toyed with the idea of using a mundane disease from the book (and that's about the level of difficulty in treatment I'm looking for), but I wanted something with a bit more dramatic flair if the players intercept the plague in a bottle. More along the lines of finding a portable thermonuclear device in a suitcase in a modern action movie. With an investigation-oriented circle, I'm pretty sure they'll find the plague and stash it somewhere safe, but that will feel more rewarding if it's an ancient superweapon seething with unnatural light rather than a plain glass bottle that the characters think looks suspicious.

I'd use something like a soul-breaker orb to inspire the "oh crap" moment I'm looking for, but it needs to be a threat the Realm can prepare for.