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I see the contestants are making their way out onto the starting grid. This article was originally created as an entry for a Horizons competition and is not official DJB canon content. It is preserved here for historical purposes only.
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IN PROGRESS
Summary
Horizon Plague
Origin
All indications suggest that the virus, code named "Horizon", was an engineered agent. Exact origins are still being determined, but signs point to the weapon having being created millenia ago.
Infection And Transmission
Micrograph of Horizon Spores
While it is still not clear exactly how the virus was introduced, all signs point to the Shadow Academy as the original point of infection within Brotherhood space. Thus, the Brotherhood's Journeymen were the first to be infected. One particular student, a future Plagueian named Enaias, is thought to be the outbreak's "Patient Zero". From him, the infection spread rapidly to other Journeymen at the Academy, who then passed the disease, which came to be known as Horizon, on to others when they returned to their Clans and Houses. It was only a matter of time before the virus had spread throughout Brotherhood space.
The first signs of something amiss were certain Journeymen exhibiting unusual levels of power for their training. For example, a pair of young Arconan Journeymen manifested Force Lightning, a power typically only wielded by Elders. Another managed to completely drain the energy out of an Equite's lightsaber. The next phase of the disease mimicked the symptoms of diseases common to the various species of the infected individuals. Fevers, nausea, vomiting, muscle spasms, and general soreness and fatigue were the most commonly reported.
When the infection spread far enough through the body, the infected individuals lost their ability to call upon the Force entirely. As a bizarre side effect, the infected gained enhanced speed, strength, and resilience as well as resistance to pain. As the infection spread further, these physical enhancements continued to grow though at the cost of the victim's mental faculties. Though initially only Journeymen were affected, the disease eventually grew in strength and spread throughout the Brotherhood, leaving only the Elders as the only ones not expressing symptoms.
Panic
The loss of their Force Powers caused an instant panic among those infected. Mixed with the increased aggression symptomatic of the infection, many Brotherhood-held areas were pushed into chaos. Some appeared to believe that their betters had somehow stolen their powers. While this notion was probably planted by Zoraan's agents, it still caused unrest or a massive scale among the infected Journeymen. This went so far as to include riots in Ohmen City and other acts of destruction throughout Brotherhood space.
In other locations, the virus caused different problems. At the Shadow Academy, infected students were blinded by rage and swept up by the sheer terror of losing all they had hoped to gain. As a result, they assaulted their teachers, Academy staff, and even other students. Well-armed after penetrating the Academy armory, they roamed the halls killing anyone who crossed their path. Despite rapid attempts to quarantine and contain the infected students, the Academy quickly descended into total chaos.
The Invasion
Zoraan's forces attacking a Brotherhood world
Once the Horizon plague had spread throughout Brotherhood space, the true danger emerged. As the Brotherhood ravaged it self with infighting, a force that the enemy had harnessed to devastating effect, the second part of Zoraan's plan came to light. Massive fleets assaulted the possessions of all the houses and clans simultaneously. All but House Odan-Urr were attacked and as a result the already reeling forces of the Brotherhood were thrown into disarray. While the Brotherhood as a whole was in great peril, what was occurring in the Plagueis home system of Jusadih was far more dire.
Shroud over Plagueis
Zoraan's assault on Jusadih was particularly intense and deadly. Landing on Kaspina they immediately targeted one particular individual, former Grand Master Chi Long. After drawing him out specifically, enemy troops shot him dead in a location where a ritual was to be performed to transfer his essence. The ritual failed, but this would not be the end of the enemy assault on the planet. Shortly thereafter, Zoraan's forces deployed a second biological weapon on Kaspina via aerial aerosol dispersion. This agent targeted all life on Kaspina and turned the world into an uninhabitable rock.
Aftermath
Kapsina remained as a graveyard, ravaged by Zoraan's fleet and the bio-weapons unleashed on the planet. Its population eliminated, the planet stood as the tombstone for the Jusadih System as the few refugees who managed to escape the planet carried nascent spores and corrupted other nearby planets.
Antei, assaulted by Zoraan's fleet after the annihilation of Kapsina, withstood much of the assault as the fragmented remains of House and Clan fleets rallied alongside the Dark Council, Academy, and Iron Throne forces. Orbital bombing scarred large patches of the planet's surface, including Codei Prison, which was spared the brunt of the attack by its existing repulsor field generators.
With little left of the Plagueian home system, numerous scouting groups began hunting for colonizable systems.
Team Members