Created by: John <masque@bbic.com>
I walk abroad o' nights and kill sick people groaning under walls. Sometimes I go about and poison wells. --Christopher Marlowe, The Jew of Malta
"The world is sick, and there is no cure." [Austin Loomis]
Yersinia was a nondescript Calabite toiling in the service of Saminga,
Demon Prince of Death, during the first millennium and a half of his rule.
She would go out into Abaddon and harvest souls, following his strict orders
on how and when souls where to be brought in. She became bored quickly with
the constraints of her work and begged Saminga for a chance to work on living
mundanes. He acquiesced in the 6th century and sent her to the Middle East.
Her assignment was to infest a small village's food supply with an infection
that would poison the entire village. She almost balked at the ease of the
assignment but was desperate for a change.
When she arrived, a merchant caravan was in the town. This was part of Saminga's
plan. If this town were to be poisoned, the caravans would no longer be
able to rest here. Without this pit stop, the caravan trail that lead Europe
would fall into disuse and destroy Marc's ever so precariously balanced
trade route between the two continents.
Yersinia quickly surmised that this was indeed the plan and saw her chance.
Instead of poisoning the town, she poisoned some rats that were living in
a tub of grain. The rats were sure to make it to the end of the trip, and,
introduce the infection to Europe.
Her plan worked better than she could have ever hoped. What Yersinia didn't
know at the time was that the rodents had fleas. Those fleas drank the poisoned
blood and stored it until they would visit their next host, and upon feeding,
infect their host.
No sooner did she return to Abbadon, but she was yanked into Saminga bone
citadel. In the great hall, her Lord sat. He was livid that she would betray
him and not fulfill her duties. He had just started torturing her when Kronos
and Lucifer appeared before them.
They informed Saminga what his Servitor had in fact done and that he was
going to be very busy for the next few years. Kronos had finished calculating
the end result of her actions and realized that over 100 million people
would be killed by this disease that she visited upon the world, simply
by poisoning a single rat.
Lucifer elevated her on the spot to Demon Princess of the Plague. A new
domain was constructed especially for her. It is Pestis, a medieval village
located next to Abbadon, a river of bile and vomit separating the two Principalities.
The souls of Pestis are eternally plague ridden. They wander about the town
(those that can walk) in various stages of the disease. If a soul has any
Essence at all, it is forced to either vomit it up into the River, or have
it drawn from them in a tortuous blood-letting session that is attended
by Yersinia's Servitors.
Yersinia continued to gain in power throughout the Middle Ages, eventually
threatening Saminga's own reign when yet another plague was brought upon
Europe by Saminga in the 14th century, killing almost one half of the population
(roughly 75 million people). But, in the eyes of Lucifer, that was an old
trick and he would demand even more widespread death and disease if her
claim to the Princess of Death was to be secure. Her success continued to
be moderate all the way up until the 19th century. For some unknown reason,
(Yersinia suspects the intervention of Aquinas (Archangel of Healing)) when
mundanes took to the habit of cleaning themselves almost daily, and fully
cooking their meals.
For almost an entire century, Yersinia saw her power begin to dwindle, as
mundanes began investigating the methods that made them sick. When Louis
Pasteur came along, she suspected Vapula of giving secrets to the mundanes.
Yersinia was forced to adapt her methods to the growing sophistication of
the mundanes. Diseases that in the past she took for granted came to her
rescue. Syphillis, Gonorrhea, and Polio made new strides, and she started
to feel her strength return.
And then, in the late 1970's, Yersinia outdid herself. Using her old tricks
(this time on a monkey) she infected the human race one again, but this
time with a new virus, one that would literally attack a mundane body's
ability to defend itself. AIDS, along with other diseases have surfaced
that brought Yersinia back from the brink of destruction.
Yersinia is at least neutral with all other demons, with the exception of
a new alliance with Vapula and Nybbas. They are currently working together
on various forms of computer viruses that help make human's lives Hell.
Yersinia's Servitors gain dissonance whenever they either help someone (mundanes or celestials) get well, or do not act on a chance to poison, infect, or otherwise harm them through sickness and / or disease.
A Balseraph serving Yersinia can roll their resonance to convince someone that they are not feeling well. The victim can resist with a Will roll and, if failed, must stop whatever they are doing, and immediately rest for at least (check digit) hours. If they do not comply within the hour, their body will actually begin producing the results of the sickness that the Balseraph described, and they will be bedridden for (check digit) days. If their Will roll is successful, the Balseraph is unable to affect (and infect) that person for (check digit) hours, and will be unable to use the same symptoms when they can.
Any Djinn serving under Yersinia will able to sense any illness that their target once had and be able to recreate that illness on a successful resonance roll. This roll is additional to the attunement roll. If their target is an object or a place, they will know instantly if any illness ever came into contact with it. However they will not be able to recreate that illness unless they attune themselves to the actual person who initiated the contact with that object or place.
Yersinia dearly loves her Calabim and has given them the ability to actually affect the overall health of all creatures with a given area. Upon a successful resonance role, all creatures with (check digit) meters must role their Strength to resist the illness. If successful, they have no reaction. If failed, however, they lose (check digit) hits of Body immediately and are incapacitated for the following round. This affects ALL individuals (except, of course, the Calabite) in said area, friend and foe alike.
The Habbalah in Yersinia's employ specialize in all the mental traits of illness. They are unconcerned with the actual medical cause and effect. Instead, they delight in the mental state of the inflicted individual. On a successful resonance roll, they are able to make their target believe that they are inflicted with whatever disease that being has either had, or fears the most. This could be any kind of disease, either physical or mental. The target may resist on a Will roll, or be infected with said disease for (failed check digit) hours.
All Lilim in Yersinia's service can only work with those already inflicted.
Upon accepting a Geas from the Lilim, the target instantly feels better
and, for all intents and purposes, is well. However, this is, in fact, not
true. The Lilim has merely put the disease on hold. If the Geas is fulfilled,
the target has a chance at getting well. They must roll equal to or below
their strength once for each level of Geas that was imposed. A Geas/3 will
mean that the target must roll equal to or below their strength on three
consecutive rolls in order to get well.
If they fail, or the Geas is not fulfilled, the victim will be stricken
with the disease once again. Any attempt to cure must be successful and
with a check digit no less than the original Geas level.
Yersinia's Shedim may possess any creature that is suffering from an illness at will. They do not have the power to heal the vessel and will experience the drawbacks. However, they gain Essence if they leave the vessel in a more pronounced state of illness than when they entered it. They may also add their Corporal forces to any victim that they actually touch.
Any Impudite of Yersinia is immune to all forms of illness. They also
gain 1 Essence when in the company of sick people. Of course, any and all
sick people in the company of an Impudite (Impudite's Will in meters) lose
1 Essence a day. The Impudite does not absorb any extra Essence. It is instead
absorbed into the Symphony.