The Hist’s Disease

Let’s start off as straightforward and informative as we can, skip the whole narratively written slow introduction that I’m so used to doing:

The Knahaten Flu is a Hist engineered RNA Virus resembling in basic behavior and physicality as the real life influenza virus. The Knahaten Flu, which will in the rest of this post be referred to as "KF", was created to isolate Black Marsh biologically so that everything alive within the Marsh is under the influence of the Hist. The Flu in its basic state causes an array of common symptoms that may lead eventually to death; however the specific goal of the Hist was to sterilize every un-influenced life form by manually Hist-Evolving young men, mer, and un-influenced creatures to death using the virus as a way to access the DNA of Men and Mer specimen. The Hist spread the disease through infecting influenced wildlife and using it to attack and infect Men, Mer, and uninfluenced creatures. Infected fish biologically manufactured to survive in waters of any condition were used to infect beyond Black Marsh and remain in many parts of Tamriel after the 2^nd Era despite not being able to infect anymore. The Hist’s goal ended up failing as Altmer were able to research the disease by examining discarded infants.

There you go, I just summarized it all for you. If you’re uninterested feel free to stop reading now, however below is further analysis and an explanation of my reasoning for every one of the above points.

Origin

Before becoming KF, the Flu was one of many viruses circulating around species of Black Marsh. The Hist only noticed it when a particular strain of the disease managed to infect some Argonians and mess up the flow of hormones and as such screw up the Hist’s normal way of operating on a few young Argonians that caught the disease and were unable to resist it. The Hist quickly and naturally analyzed the disease to both its core logic and its infinite possibilities, and through its calculations found that the disease is an acceptable agent for achieving, or at least progressing towards one of the Hist’s top priorities, being the creation of an ultimate stronghold in which the last of the Hist can survive. By learning from errors done in attempting to combat the Ehlnofey’s destruction over the course of the Ehlnofey wars and the Dwemer’s destruction of the Hist, the Hist have reached a conclusion that a practical way of creating a safe environment for the Hist’s survival is by biologically isolating the safezone (Black Marsh) to a point where only species influenced or controlled by the Hist can survive, as any uncontrolled specimen may inhibit traits allowing for destruction of the Hist, such as the Old and Wandering Ehlnofey.

When the Hist analyzed the Flu, it found that with a few biological manipulations it can be made into the perfect agent for the Hist’s isolation of the safezone, as the Flu and its properties allows for easy access to another creature’s DNA, which further allows the Hist to easily manipulate and exterminate creatures not immediately within its influence. This calculation was made by the Hist, and the Hist quickly made changes to the sap given to those Argonians that were infected with the disease so that when an Argonian ingests the sap, the sap not only morphs the Argonian into an Ehlnofey-like stature and sentience, but is also included in the cells that are manipulated by and reproduced in by the Flu, so that the new Flu virii are influenced and controlled by the Hist’s Forced Evolution powers. The Hist then Force-evolved the Virii so that they are more easily spread and have harsher symptoms, as well as transmit the influence of the Hist’s forced evolution powers to any host the virus infects. The Hist also made it so that the sap given to any young Argonian contains biological instructions for the Argonian’s cells to be able to prevent the Flu from infecting the Argonians, making it so that Argonians are completely immune to the disease while all other creatures are not only easily infected but can be Forced Evolved at the Hist’s influence as long as the host is infected. The newly engineered disease is now the Knahaten Flu. Neat.

Spread

Alright, so now we have an easily spreadable agent that lets the Hist play around with a host’s DNA and physicality at will, now the Hist need the disease to spread. Since the original Hosts of the disease are Argonians, and Argonians are easily manipulative servants, the Hist’s uses Argonian agents to begin the disease’s spread. The Hist begin shedding great amounts of sap and give Argonian Treespeakers and Shamans visions and desires of bestowing the Hist’s gifts to the animals of the Marsh, smearing sap on Fleshfly hives and putting sap in ponds and streams with fish for the Hist to infect while performing bodily rituals with the sap to infect it with the disease (See Argonian Copulation Manual). The disease is spread via bodily exertion, sneezing, coughing, and ritualistic spread of Hist sap to many a creature and Argonian. Particularly noteworthy hosts are flying insects and fish, two types of creatures that the Hist would later use a lot in spreading the disease. Flying insects such as Fleshflies, mosquitoes, and various others are infected with the disease and made so that almost any contact they make with another creature would spread the disease further. The Hist also makes it so that sap ingested by insects makes them a lot more aggressive and basically make it so that swarms of insects will attack any non-Argonian with seemingly no reason other than pure aggression. Insects begin biting, eating, and swarming non-Argonian creatures in the marsh, particularly Kothringi villages. Kothringi villages are swarmed with fleshflies and wasps and traders, explorers, and pirates of any race are attacked immediately by any hive that finds them. The Hist is very quickly transmitted to almost every creature in the Marsh and many beyond it. To reach areas that insects native to Black Marsh would not normally reach, however, the Hist begin utilizing waterways. The Hist infect many fish, however choose a particular breed of carp as major host for infection. The Hist Force Evolves the carp so that they are able to survive and thrive in almost any water conditions, and adds certain alchemical ingredients and rich taste to them to make them more appealing and productive. These fish begin spreading and swimming up streams and coasts into many Tamrielic provinces and can now be found in waters as cold as Skyrim’s and as far away as the Abacean. Argonian slaves and dock workers see these fish as a gift from the Hist and name them Histcarp. However, these fish are eaten by certain animals Men and Mer hunt, as well as the Men and Mer themselves, and when they do the disease finds its way into faraway Ehlnofeyic beings and begins spreading even further. Quickly enough, the KF becomes a pandemic and spreads to every part of Tamriel.

Symptoms and Effects

Now that the disease is widely spread, its effects kick in. First come the Flu’s normal yet strengthened symptoms. The KF’s infected cells create massive amounts of Cytokines and basically bugger up the Host’s body’s natural processes resulting in sever lack of health and an array of different uncomfortable symptoms from inflammation to aches to constant coughing, fever, fatigue, and many more. These can and do kill many hosts, however they are not the primary symptom that is created and used by the Hist. After all, many or perhaps most Hosts may be far away from the safezone and as such the Hist may have difficulty influencing them, not that the Hist have no need to manually kill all un-influenced creatures but rather render them sterile. In order to do so, the Hist must infect and target the most physically weak and easily adaptable specimen. The disease spreads to many young men and Mer both originally and from their parents. Then, instead of attempting to find and do new, difficult physical adaptations, the Hist simply does to young Men and Mer the opposite of what it does to young Argonians. It de-humanizes them, literally. The Hist make it so that fetuses are completely unable to evolve and remain in a semi-living and inhuman form, as well as deforms and kills young hosts in visually atrocious and painful ways. This results in a plague absolutely horrifying and seemingly unstoppable, killing many and causing extinction to some.

Failure and Treatment

The plague spreads and the Hist have created a disease so atrocious it is remembered throughout history and causes massive hate for the Argonians who are blamed by many for the disease. The Hist believe that their calculations were perfect and the plan is working, however they make one error and fail to recognize the ingenuity and unpredictability of Men and Mer. The Altmer, who are repulsed by impurity and are thought to discard infants before even the arrival of the plague, quickly make point of discarding infected infants and immediately set to study the disease and how to combat it. Psijics and scholars of the Crystal Tower examine infants and research magic that can combat the disease, and manage to create spells capable of neutralizing the disease. The Altmer quickly set to treat any that are infected, and in doing so gain the trust of other races and spread ideas of purity and prevention that improve the hygiene of the Tamrielic races. Meanwhile the Hist is astounded and unable to respond to the change of events due to it still thinking that its calculations are correct. The Hist attempts to go around the Altmer’s magic by making an array of corrections and evolutions to the virus, however in doing so disables certain previous symptoms and renders the disease useless. Outside of Black Marsh the plague comes to a halt and within it different strains with radically different symptoms can be found and the Hist loses control of the disease. The remaining strains of the disease make up many of the diseases that can be found in Black Marsh and are feared all the way up to the 4^th era, and while the pandemic is stopped, the Knahaten Flu is remembered in history as the greatest plague and one of the most terrible catastrophes in Tamriel’s history.