Eorzean Epidemic [Idea]

[Shae'ra]

[align=center]Eorzean Epidemic[/align]

 

 

The topic of being sick or having an epidemic break was brought up in the "How do you RP crafting" thread so I figured, out of curiosity, I would drag it here.

 

 

[align=left]

And I have never ever seen anyone in all my years of RP, play being sick.

 

Haha, this is a little off-topic, but I helped run a server event in TERA recently that revolved around a disease outbreak. One of my own characters got sick and very nearly died (only a single dice roll saved her ). That said, it was horrifically difficult to find people who were willing to RP as infected. I don't understand why, though. This was an amazingly life-changing experience for my own character!

 

I'm a bit surprised people would not take up that, in GW2 there was the Blacklung Plague run by a player as an epidemic that went world wide, bombings of the disease in different places. There were four levels of it ranging from minor symptoms to laying on your death bed and many among the community were roleplaying being infected/sick from it and spreading the disease accidentally to friends or family. Eventually, a cure was released.

 

 

 

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I am curious to ask, as apparently there are mixed results of caring for such a thing, what the roleplayers here are in favor of. If there were an epidemic break out (not now, let the realm of hardcore leveling and getting used to settle in, but later down the road) would people be interested in such a thing or would you personally not like/want it? 

 

 

This is meant as an honest question: it wouldn't hurt anyone's feelings to say that someone would be uninterested in seeing this so I welcome any constructive input and thoughts.

 

 

If you do like the idea:

♦ If you have any suggestions on how to make it more enjoyable, please share or just any constructive comments at all.

 

 

[align=left]If you don't like the idea:

♦ What about it is undesirable? Any constructive comments are welcomed.[/align]

[Havoc Snow]

I would not only get behind this idea, I could totally see my character provoking some kind of outbreak as a method to test his own alchemical workings and to give himself the challenge of finding a cure for t.

[Dieuvont]

I would eagerly take part in this role play concept should it come to fruition. I believe it would do well to further unite the server not only through in character interaction but through out of character communication as well. I have witnessed such vast role play occur and have seen the vast amount of positives it brings forth when various members of the community are functioning together to make it a success. With that said, I greatly encourage the further development and conceptualisation of this idea.

[LeCard]

I get the feeling that if such a thing did occur, Rogier would likely spend the weeks/months(that's real time not in game time) hold up in his lab(aka house) working on some sort of cure. Though samples and the like would have to be taken by others and delivered in secure packaging, left on the porch. Money would be delivered in a similar fashion. Basically he would cut himself off from chance of infection, but still try to learn (profit?) from it.

So I guess it would greatly limit RP potential for him, but at the same time it could be an interesting event if done over a brief enough time(and of course well enough after everyone has settled in.)

[Roda]

Large-scale, long-term, community-building, RP events?

How could anyone say no?!

(Also, this could be more than an event for JUST the RPers. Infection meta-games are quite popular, and I think we could get the entire server in on it if we wanted to try. Hell, with the duty finder, we could probably have this spread to other servers as well!)

[Dubs]

The Echo taint......aetherial pathogen byproduct of accessing Echo too frequently and harnessing it via reverse alchemical engineering the afflicted making it more communicable to those who've tapped into it.

 

Or you could treat it like an alchemical induced contagion that attempts to replicate Primal temperance. Sorry just spewing random junk from my bone box.:dazed:

[Roda]

The Echo taint......aetherial pathogen byproduct of accessing Echo too frequently and harnessing it via reverse alchemical engineering the afflicted making it more communicable to those who've tapped into it.

 

Or you could treat it like an alchemical induced contagion that attempts to replicate Primal temperance. Sorry just spewing random junk from my bone box.:dazed:

Personally, I'd like to see it not be echo-related, due to a lot of RPers choosing not to have the echo ICly.

(Also I find the mad-science alchemy accident a bit cliche. What's wrong with good ol' Mr. Virus?)

[Dravus]

Perhaps as a twist it could be something that can't be cured? I believe there's references to such a disease in Gridania, though I can't recall where. I know people don't want to have their character(s) killed off, but it could easily be an event geared towards disposable characters.

[Dubs]

Perhaps as a twist it could be something that can't be cured? I believe there's references to such a disease in Gridania, though I can't recall where. I know people don't want to have their character(s) killed off, but it could easily be an event geared towards disposable characters.

Sounds like your're talking about Greenwrath

 

Definition:

 

Also known as woodsin. Greenwrath is a form of bad karma that non-Gridanians tend to accumulate due to act of living in a style that is non harmonious and respectful of nature. People afflicted by Greenwrath tend to draw nature's wrath upon themselves and are considered a danger to others. Before anyone is welcome in Gridania they must undergo a ritual that will appease the forces of nature and purge them of Greenwrath. Lately there has been a rise in the amount of people entering Gridania that are afflicted by it and concerns are rising.

 

 

Source

 

Old School reference.

 

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[Mooncalling]

In the years I played WoW on Wyrmrest Accord, I believe I saw two epidemic style server wide RPs.

 

While people were very enthusiastic for both at first, only one ended positively.  

 

The reason behind this was one was very well organized, had pre-defined rules (such as for infection rates, stages of the disease, etc) and had an over arching story line that fell within the realms of established lore.

 

Unfortunately, the other failed because it lacked everything the first had. There was no organization, and in the end the story only served to further the goals of the guild that staged the event.  The other participants were merely background characters.

 

I suppose what one can take away from this is for a server wide event to be successful (epidemic or otherwise) the host must be very organized and there must be pre-determined rules that everyone understands and can abide by.  Also, all participants should have the ability to effect the outcome of the event. 

 

Personally, I think an epidemic event would be interesting and would be an excellent way to introduce the newer members of the community to the more established.

[Clover]

Large-scale, long-term, community-building, RP events?

How could anyone say no?!

My thoughts, exactly! This is the kind of event I've been hoping for anyone to make: anything that would serve as a common point for everyone.

 

I'm up for it! I don't even know if my characters will be affected by it, but they'll be aware that it's spreading and will react accordingly.

 

Edit: It occurs to me that Clover would offer help to the ones affected by it (?). Anything that encourages RP is welcome in my book.

[Shae'ra]

I definitely agree that in order to do this it would be required to be very organized and have details laid out so that there is no confusion. I know the one on GW2 that went around went fairly well due to the fact that it was very laid out and all the information was available: how it is contracted as well as the stages, etc. If nobody understands what is going on..well..I would expect it to fail.

 

I thank you all for the input, so far very encouraging, while I will wait for things to get much more settled before attempting such a thing: I am glad to hear people are interested and I would love to keep building upon the idea and developing it along the way until it is ready to be put into place.

[Boo]

An interesting idea but I'll have to ask, how is aether affected by sicknesses? How soes aether affect sicknesses?

I know for one that too much aether is deadly for non monster character (which explains the timer in dungeons and against primals, the aetheric concentration is very high in these locations).

 

But aether is also something similar to a life force if I'm correct, thus it affects every single living being. I've also never seen a monster being sick, is it because they live in areas with a lot of aether?

 

tl;dr: How does aether and sicknesses interact with each others?

[Chisae]

I would very much like to be a part of this... taijha could even be patient zero, or typhoid mary! She could be running helping out tending the sick and going out for herbs and spreading the disease without knowing it. I think it would be kinda be interesting to have the source of the epidemic in the midst of the community helping out trying to save everyone.

 

It doesn't have to be her of course... but it would be interesting. I would be just as happy to play one of the infected, or stay healthy and help find a cure.

[Shae'ra]

An interesting idea but I'll have to ask, how is aether affected by sicknesses? How soes aether affect sicknesses?

I know for one that too much aether is deadly for non monster character (which explains the timer in dungeons and against primals, the aetheric concentration is very high in these locations).

 

But aether is also something similar to a life force if I'm correct, thus it affects every single living being. I've also never seen a monster being sick, is it because they live in areas with a lot of aether?

 

tl;dr: How does aether and sicknesses interact with each others?

 

This is a very good question. I haven't quite run across anyone who is sick yet (that I paid attention to) so I would have to do a bit of research. Since there is Espuna to cure poisons - there does seem the ability to have weakness of types that play a toll against the body/health of a person. As it was mentioned above there was a disease in Gridania - so I will try to look more up of that and see what I can dig up on it.

 

My first thought upon your first paragraph was a disease or virus in which caused aether to replicate within the body, thus creating an excess - however, I do not believe that would be quite possible since it is stated along the story line that all aether borrowed must be returned (cannot create or destroy essentially, merely borrow).

 

Since it is nearly 5:30am where I live, I will have to look into this more tomorrow and along the way and also search around weaknesses and diseases in FF. Thanks for bringing up this question, sadly is something I will have to look into before I can give a better answer.

 

I would very much like to be a part of this... taijha could even be patient zero, or typhoid mary! She could be running helping out tending the sick and going out for herbs and spreading the disease without knowing it. I think it would be kinda be interesting to have the source of the epidemic in the midst of the community helping out trying to save everyone.

 

It doesn't have to be her of course... but it would be interesting. I would be just as happy to play one of the infected, or stay healthy and help find a cure.

 

That could be quite interesting, having someone who is trying to help and fix things actually be the one spreading it by accident.

[Rinh Hallani]

Hmm, the greenwrath disease could be of particular relevance to Rinh. Either way, I'm interested!

[Therese Villefort]

Interested as well! Maybe even infected. Or if not, then super worried. Depending on the circumstances.

[Boo]

 

 

This is a very good question. I haven't quite run across anyone who is sick yet (that I paid attention to) so I would have to do a bit of research. Since there is Espuna to cure poisons - there does seem the ability to have weakness of types that play a toll against the body/health of a person. As it was mentioned above there was a disease in Gridania - so I will try to look more up of that and see what I can dig up on it.

 

My first thought upon your first paragraph was a disease or virus in which caused aether to replicate within the body, thus creating an excess - however, I do not believe that would be quite possible since it is stated along the story line that all aether borrowed must be returned (cannot create or destroy essentially, merely borrow).

 

Since it is nearly 5:30am where I live, I will have to look into this more tomorrow and along the way and also search around weaknesses and diseases in FF. Thanks for bringing up this question, sadly is something I will have to look into before I can give a better answer.

To me, that Greenwrath looks more like a curse than a disease (sure a disease could have the same effect but you wouldn't get it in that particular way by being rude to nature). Which brings me to this: Is there a deity/primal/divinitything that has sickness/curses as its speciality (similarly to how ifrit has fire as its speciality)? If so, a monster tribe would be able to call it into primal form and make it curse, I don't know, a city so that every citizen inside would attract more aether, therefore getting slowly overloaded with it (without having to worry about that no creation only borrow law of aether). Then we could just make it so that that curse can spread to others, thus spreading outside of the cities and to other cities/villages.

 

In the end it would pretty much become an all out war once people figure out a primal (or whatever it is) caused this, and the weakened armies would have to face the big bad monsters protecting the deity and then kill the deity. (And then lock the area to make sure the deity doesn't appear again).

 

Just what I think it could be.

[FreelanceWizard]

There's no effective way to permanently seal a Primal that's available to current residents of Hydaelyn -- other than, perhaps, executing everyone who worships said Primal. If there were, the Scions or the Garleans would have a solution to the Primal problem.

 

Various diseases are referenced in quest lore. It's entirely possible to take one of those and run with it through a variety of means, including Garlean or Allagan modifications (the Garleans intentionally release something; someone stumbles across something the Allagans did); accidental creation via magic of such a thing by arcanima researchers (looking for a cure for another disease, trying to improve Bio); or merely evolution taking its natural course.

 

I'm always rather wary of server-wide plots because they tend to be for the benefit of their organizers and lean towards powerposing, but that doesn't mean they have to be. It's just that, as Mooncalling said, the plot needs to be planned out in advance with a resolution that anyone can participate in, and one of the rules must be that no one who doesn't want to participate by being infected has to do so.

 

EDIT: An additional problem with these kinds of plotlines is that I've seen them in past used to push a particular stance on RP. For instance, in CoH, one was used to push the "healing powers don't really heal people, only medicine does" RP stance, which naturally made those who were playing superpowered healers rather unhappy when they could literally do nothing in the plot. Part of the concept needs to be a balance between the eventual solution to the problem and giving both "General Hospital" RPers and "Cure III!" or "Have a potion!" RPers something to do. For instance, you could say, "Healing techniques merely suspend the symptoms of the disease, not its progress; while Esuna, potions, and non-magical healing can make someone feel better for a time, when the disease progresses to its 'coma' phase, the afflicted person drops unconscious. At the coma phase, regular use of healing techniques is required to stave off death." That way, both magical and non-magical healers can contribute equally to the RP.

 

Another key element, especially if the disease is very dire, is to get buy-in from FCs/LSs. If you can get these groups behind the idea, it'll increase the acceptance of the plot and bring more motivated characters in.

[Naunet]

For what it's worth, here are the guidelines Twinflame and I used when organizing the Blood Fever outbreak in TERA. Unfortunately, Celestial Hills' community is downright horrible and only a few actually followed some of the most important rules (such as letting us know if they got infected so we could better track the spread and organize folk interacting with one another, also the big one: no miracle cure). However, we ran it and are currently in the "distributing the cure" portion", winding down the RP cause ARR. It's something we had intended to serve as a "pilot" program of sorts in the hopes of drawing up an ARR-appropriate version to run here. ^^

 

Communication is absolutely key, as well as providing people things to do that doesn't involve getting sick. For the Blood Fever thing, we did this by providing a series of tasks people could complete that could contribute to discovering the extent of the outbreak as well as researching the cure. In an ideal world, folk would report back to the DCB (an IC entity that existed only for this Blood Fever thing) and we'd OOCly fill in the progress bar for the cure... unfortunately, CH is as it is, and most folk decided to just take things into their own hands. So we worked with what we had. It just so happened that the Blood Fever thing also paralleled a personal plot Twinflame, myself, and a couple others had been brewing, so we also got some good roleplay out of that at least.

 

As far as Eorzea goes, as in any world, there's likely no shortage of nasties that can serve as pathogen carriers and certainly no shortage of diseases. It's just a matter of coming up with one that facilitates the most RP. What we found was that the disease needed to be very easily transmissible but also not immediately debilitating, allowing for roleplayers who got infected to continue "as usual" for a while and infect other roleplayers.

 

It's also important to centralize the search for a cure, organizing players who want to be involved in such a thing around a single group. For the Blood Fever event, we actually created a temporary Disease Control Bureau that anyone could join (it wasn't a guild - folk just needed to contact us ICly or OOCly and we would involve them in DCB roleplay) and contribute to the cure's research and/or the treatment of patients. This helped us keep things on track and also served as a nice hub of information for the rest of the server.

 

Like all server-type events, however, it doesn't get very far if people don't actively participate and, perhaps more importantly, follow whatever rules are set forth.

 

Overall it was a very fun thing, however, and something I fully intend to explore in ARR a few months down the line once characters have been better established.

[Chisae]

My job is incredibly boring. So much so that I often space out and end up daydreaming for most of the day. lol ...I sit in a chair and inspect parts for defects if you're curious. If my imagination wasn't going full-tilt 90% of the time I think I would have died of boredom.

 

SO what that means is I spent all morning thinking about this future-plague event   (after lunch there was just a dialtone in my head ).

 

it occured to me that birds are extremely dirty. They carry all manner of diseases including Chlamydia (so dont kiss your parakeets). And what do we have in the Shroud that is avian, aggressive, and most likely full to the brim with communicable diseases?

 

The Ixal. Our Typhoid Mary or Patient Zero could have been infected by one of the Ixal, cut, bit, spit up, drank some tainted river water near an Ixal home... The poor wretch could have even gotten bit by one of the vermin that's most likely living on one of the beast-folk. Fleas, lice, mites, chiggers, the eggs of such vermin  hatching and infesting the victim. All of these are potential ways of spreading a virulent disease.

 

The disease itself I thought up a long time ago for my own fantasy setting. We don't have to use it, but it could be a springboard for something else. It's called Stripping Fever, or Whipping Fever, because it leaves bright red welt-like rashes on the body like the sufferer had been whipped repeatedly. It's like an aggressive and potentially fatal form of poison ivy. It's spread by mites and fleas who carry a bacteria that *loves* human skin.

It spreads rapidly because it's insanely itchy, but it takes 1 to 2 days for it to start itching (incubation time). When it does start spreading, it leaves the stripe marks and causes a high fever, delirium, dehydration, and if it get's severe it can cause blindness or deafness. If left unchecked for more than a week it kills the patient.

Disease is spread only by touch, it can be airborne, but without a host it dies really fast, so it's not a concern. If the patient dies of the disease they have to be burned and buried or the bacteria will just turn to spores and set up camp elsewhere.

 

The bacteria is killed by the use of a salve made from a plant I made up called the Phoenix Lily. It basically cooks it, and probly more to it, but I never thought much about it. After that is taken care of, the fever is just a normal fever unless it's progressed into severe stage, then it needs more intense medical care than just feeding the person food and liquids.

[S'demyx Tia]

I am definitely for such a thing. My character is extremely cocky/arrogant, and getting severely infected with such an illness would probably knock him down to size and appreciate life more (Hopefully if he didn't die from it!), or if he didn't get infected, but say, loved ones did, ... Just man. The ideas!

 

I'm totally behind it, also curious as to how such a thing could come about. 8-)

[E'irawen]

I like this idea. I would gladly take part in it.

[Draheim]

I would be absolutely for this. Kira would see it as a reason to really embrace her her magical talents to try to help fix it.

[Rio Rike]

9/20 12:15 PM:

Patient Zero is eradicating Opo's for a local forest dweller in the Central region of the Black shroud when he receives a gash on his forearm from an Opo claw. Patient slays Opo and retreats to his camp.

 

9/20 2:30 PM:

Patient's gash becomes infected. Veins around infected area begin to turn black, spreading outward from the area. Patient begins trekking back to Gridania.

 

9/20 4:15 PM:

Patients travel has slowed almost to a crawl due to weakness and exhaustion from infection, black veins further extending from infected area. In an act of desperation, patient uses his atherial teleport to travel quickly to Gridania.

 

9/20 4:16 PM:

Patient arrives at center of New Gridania. Feeling uplifted being within arm's reach of help, patient begins stumbling towards Adventurer's Guild. Eyewitness reports confirm that patient broke into coughing fit near the end of the Aertherial crystal platform. As the first citizens were able to reach him, patient slumped over and proceeded to erupt into convulsions. Crowd gathered as citizens begin lifting and carrying patient to AG. Eyewitness' report that 4 citizens were confirmed to be carrying Patient Zero. These 4 are the first confirmed cases of Secondary Infection past Patient Zero. Patient is taken into room with healer and secluded from public.

 

9/20 5:30 PM:

Healer emmerages from room. Patient is pronounced dead.

 

Side Note: Much confusion followed in the next two weeks, making it nearly impossible for investigators to track down what happened to the first 4 cases of Secondary Infection before it was too late.

 

9/27 11:00 AM:

Market spectators observe a vacant stall.

 

9/29 8:00AM:

Two Wood Wailers fail to report for roll call.

 

10/01 2:15 PM:

Neighbors complain about stench coming from stall workers residence. Door is broken down after no answer. Stall worker found dead, neighbors inspect body. Black veins run outward from areas of major organs including eyes, mouth, heart, and liver. Infection begins.

 

(If you guys like this and want more, or for a full breakdown of how an epidemic in Eorzea would go with this infection, let me know. I'd love to script out a whole RP event.)