Appearing in the year 1111 IC, the Black Death, so named for the spreading black spots it caused on the skin as the victim was consumed, was first seen in the southern areas of the Old World, causing many to believe that it had been spread by Tilean tradesmen. Communication at the time was limited, and it was only when the disease decimated the streets of Nuln and Talabheim that the true extent of the epidemic became known.[1a][1b]
Known also as the Black Plague, the Great Plague, or simply the Plague, the disease was fast-spreading and fast-acting, killing its victims in days if not hours after the symptoms presented. No known medicine could help, and the speed of the disease provided no time to study it. The disease was soon thought to be unstoppable, with supplication to the Gods thought to be the only way to be spared. Both the low and high born suffered, and in 1115 Emperor Goldgather himself was declared a victim of the sickness (although in truth he was killed by the shuriken of a Clan Eshin Assassin). By then, the Empire’s population had been reduced to less than half the size of the generation before.[1b]