Imperial bioweapons Project I71A

"Mine is the face of blood and fire."

- The Sickness, as experienced by Dail'Liss

The Sickness, later officially known as Imperial bioweapons Project I71A, was an infectious viral agent created through the powers of Sith alchemy that attacked biological tissue and transformed its victims into undead monstrosities. The disease was originally created by the Sith Lord Darth Drear on Odacer-Faustin sometime prior to 4,645 BBY, and was intended to grant immortality to its crafter. Drear's initial experiments resulted in failure, and the Sith Lord himself fell victim to his creation. Over one thousand years later, during the period of unrest following the Great Galactic War, the Sith Lord Darth Scabrous attempted to recreate Drear's disease in the hope that he would be able to succeed where his predecessor had failed. Scabrous likewise failed to create a path to immortality, and in the process unleashed the virus upon the unsuspecting students and staff of the Odacer-Faustin Sith Academy. Before long, all of the Sith Acolytes and Masters on the planet died and were born anew as cannibalistic monstrosities motivated only by the will to eat.

Knowledge of the Sickness, as it had been known during the Odacer-Faustin outbreak, survived several millenia and eventually fell into the hands of Darth Vader, a Dark Lord of the Sith alive during the reign of the Galactic Empire. Around 1 BBY, Vader commissioned a scientific team from the Imperial Biological Weapons Division aboard the Imperial I-class Star Destroyer Vector to re-engineer the virus and turn it into a weapon that could be used to further Imperial interests. Operating in secrecy, the scientists were able to recreate the disease under the codename "Blackwing" and prepare it for deployment. However, in that year, an accident aboard the Vector unleashed the Sickness once more, turning almost all of the personnel aboard the vessel into savages not unlike those on Odacer-Faustin. The infected took control of the ship and used it to cripple the Imperial prison barge Purge, thereby forcing the barge's occupants to enter the Star Destroyer and become prey for the Sickness.

The disease itself was created through the usage of Sith Alchemy and activated by the Murakami orchid&mdash;a highly-Force-sensitive black flower. Victims of the plague suffered numerous, extremely painful side-effects prior to death, and became mindless monstrosities postmortem. The virus itself was fully self-aware, and utilized the undead to spread the pathogen and either transform or eat any who were able to avoid infection. Due to the extremely quick rate of transmission and the difficulty of isolation, successful treatment of the disease was very rare; although one could be prevented from contracting the virus by injecting an anti-virus intravenously, those who were already infected had little chance of survival. The fluid that coagulated within the bodies of the infected and carried the virus throughout their anatomy bore many similarities with the entity known as Mnggal-Mnggal, leading some to believe that the two were in some way related.

Synthesis
"Darth Drear wrote that he had found an elixir for staving off death itself, the ingredients of which he recorded in the Holocron&mdash;including, of course, your beloved orchid. The mixture was complete in and of itself, with a single flaw&mdash;the inevitable dissolution of the tissue."

- Darth Scabrous, to Hestizo Trace

The Sickness was a disease that was synthesized through the use of alchemical techniques practiced by members of the Sith Order. The pathogen itself was not the original goal of alchemical experimentation, but was instead created during attempts at concocting an elixir for the purposes of achieving immortality. The mixture that generated the virus required several ingredients, the most crucial of which was the rare Murakami black orchid. The orchid was a fully self-aware and highly Force-sensitive plant that could communicate telepathically with other Force-sensitives and, when added to the other components of the immortality elixir, would create a potent and deadly viral infection.

For synthesis to be successful, the mixture had to be enriched within a living being. Through the use of mechanical pumps and surgical tubing, the alchemist would create a circuit between the organic host and a fluid reservoir into which additional ingredients could be added. The final product was a yellowish-red liquid that would run throughout the body of the organic host, through the tubes, and into a pump before being cycled back through into the body. When the fluid was completed and ready to be collected, the circuit could be broken in order for the viral fluid to be siphoned into storage. Other methods of production and experimentation included the use of Human lungs as a biological host in which the virus could be enriched and studied. When created for the purposes of immortality, the finalized mixture was to be ingested by the alchemist; conversely, when the mixture was crafted specifically for the creation of the virus itself, a highly-refined fluid version of the Sickness could be collected from the living hosts and stored within air-tight tanks.

Transmission
"Otherwise, the pathogen has already spread throughout the Purge. I'm following several reports of symptoms from all over General Population&mdash;inmates, guards, support staff. Rate of infection is nearly one hundred percent. Our medication and supplies will hold out for another week if nothing changes."

- Waste

Imperial bioweapons Project I71A was an extremely persistent and audacious pathogen. The disease easily crossed species barriers and transmitted itself within a population quickly and in a myriad of different ways. Humanoid species susceptible to the Sickness included Delphanians, Devaronians, Humans, Rodians, Sullustans, Whipids, Wookiees, and Zabrak. The virus was also able to infect plant life, such as the sentient Neti and the Murakami orchid itself. Additionally, non-sentient creatures, like the reptomammalian tauntaun, were susceptible to infection. Even dead tissue could become infected, as was the case with the Human Von Longo, who was killed two weeks prior to an outbreak. The transmission rate within a contained population was nearly one hundred percent, when excluding those naturally immune to the pathogen.

The first individual to fall victim to the virus during an outbreak was always the organic host within the fluid circuit that synthesized the viral mixture. After that initial carrier fell victim to the disease, there were a number of ways by which the Sickness could spread in a population. The most direct method of transmission was a bite from an infected subject. Bite wounds would produce the most drastic symptoms and deposit the highest number of viral agents into a new victim. Another way by which transmission could be achieved was through contact with the bodily fluids of the infected. The virus could be carried by saliva, blood, or a gelatinous coagulation of fluids that ran through the bodies of the victims. If any of these liquids came in contact with the fluids of an uninfected subject through an open wound or a mucous membrane such as an eye, the Sickness could enter the body and begin replication. A method of conveyance that was exclusive to weaponized version of the virus was airborne transmission. When stored within airtight tanks, the virus could be released into an atmosphere by allowing for the tanks to be subjected to a leak. In its airborne strain, the virus could transcend all quarantine and containment efforts to reach new hosts and accumulate more victims. In this form, the disease could even infect individuals within bio-hazard gear or stormtrooper armor, both of which were specifically designed to prevent chemical or biological attacks.

Symptoms
"[The disease] struck immediately upon exposure, spreading first through the brain, where it drove the victim into a state of homicidal madness, and then through the rest of the body, shutting it down. The flesh would remain animate, but insensate&mdash;living only to hunger, to feed and kill."

- Darth Scabrous

The effects of Imperial bioweapons Project I71A on organic tissue were drastic and overwhelming. The disease worked quickly to destroy a body, but the severity of its symptoms varied greatly, depending on the method of transmission that resulted in infection and the species of the victim. The most direct form of transmission&mdash;a bite sustained from an infected victim&mdash;caused the swiftest bodily reaction. Immediately after the virus entered the subject's system, their skin would adopt a pale gray pallor and begin to perspire profusely. The flesh around the transmission site would begin necrosis within minutes and a gelatinous gray fluid would begin to develop beneath the wound. The victim's vision would quickly become impaired, and their breathing would be labored. Mere minutes after being bitten, the Human Mnah Ra'at began to suffer from all of these symptoms, in addition to a shooting pain in his left arm and violent hallucinations of a skeletal black fist seizing his heart. Others experienced mental symptoms ranging from vividly reproduced emotional memories to visions of a mouth opening from within their torso. Some, like Ra'at and Rance Lussk, found the final moments of life to be a relieving and empowering experience.

The Neti species experienced a longer-term incubation period when infected via a bite wound. As the virus spread through their body, the bark that served as their skin would turn a dark brown or black and begin to molt. Their branch-limbs would begin to atrophy and clump together, and the victim would begin to emit a musty odor that later intensified into a boggy, diseased stench. As the bark molted, it would expose open sores and reveal the pulpy heartwood within the body, from which sap and other bodily fluids leaked. All bite-wound victims, regardless of species, were eventually driven mad by the Sickness's progression into their brain, resulting in a loss of self-awareness and bodily control. This led the infected into fits of homicidal rage before the virus ultimately shut down their body.

The symptoms experienced by those who contracted the virus through airborne contagion were drawn out over a longer period than those experienced by bite victims. When the virus activated within a subject, they would immediately begin to suffer from a light cough and draining sinuses. The respiratory difficulties would gradually worsen, leading to labored breathing and deep, rattling sounds of mucus buildup in the lungs. The patient would quickly begin to experience gastrointestinal abnormalities including vomiting and nausea. The skin would turn a pale green or gray and would break into heavy perspiration, similar to a bite victim. Unlike bite victims, these symptoms continually worsened over the course of several hours, and included conditions like fever and internal bleeding. Vomiting blood, seizures, respiratory arrest, and cardiac arrest soon followed, as well as general lethargy and pain. Other patients suffered from internal and external hemorrhaging and even comatose. Those who avoided comatose usually fell into a state of delirium, experiencing vivid hallucinations that ultimately led to aggressive madness. This would cause the victims to turn on one another or commit suicide. Others died from their seizures, cardiac arrest, or blood loss..

The airborne virus interacted differently with the physiology of the Wookiee species. Wookiees who became infected suffered from a swelling of the tongue that restricted their airways. A thick gray fluid collected in their throats, eventually causing them to rupture and expose the musculature within. Prior to death, Wookiees were susceptible to horrific hallucinations; the smuggler Chewbacca saw visions of his family and of dead Wookiee younglings during a Life Day celebration. As the Sickness progressed through their body, the Wookiees would become violent and emit a feral stench, similar to the effects of an activated aggression gland. Rodians also had a unique reaction&mdash;the virus caused them to suffer from violent vomiting that caused them to expel their own organs through their mouths. Due to a biological predisposition, Sullustans were particularly susceptible to Imperial bioweapons Project I71A. As the virus took hold of their anatomy, infected Sullustans displayed severe mood swings, cold sweats, and whitened eyes. All of these unique symptoms ultimately culminated in death for all of these species.

Post-mortem
"An amazing thing. They're miracles, really. Marvelous. They woke up! They just&hellip;eat."

- Waste

Regardless of the transmission method, all who were infected by the virus eventually died. Immediately after their death, their bodies would begin to decay at an abnormally fast rate, emitting a foul odor of death and rot. It was at this point that each of the bodies went through a transformation: the collective conscious that governed the virus directed its agents to take control of the corpse and reanimate the flesh and musculature. The bodies of the dead rose once more, this time as undead monstrosities. These newly-reborn victims had no will of their own, and existed only to eat, kill, or transform any survivors of the initial plague. In the case of bite victims, this transformation happened almost immediately after death or, in some cases, as the victim died. For victims of the airborne contagion however, the dead did not rise once more until the virus had killed a sufficient number of the living. For Force-sensitives, the transformation was accelerated and intensified through usage of the dark side.

There were several key characteristics that were symptomatic of a patient's resurrection. The undead typically suffered from heavy flesh and muscular decay, and therefore had difficulty walking. They instead shuffled about slowly until they were met with potential prey, in which case they entered into a staggering half-run. In their search for food, the infected victims often inflicted bodily harm upon themselves. Many chewed through their own lips, while others broke their own jaws in the act of unhinging them to eat. These oral wounds, in addition to other facial decay, often caused the dead to appear as if they were displaying a perpetually sinister grin that stretched from ear to ear. Other common conditions included lazy, dead eyes, sagging skin, and an aggressive, hungered appearance. They tended to salivate heavily, and made shallow, rasping noises that were akin to attempts at breath or speech.

Being a member of the undead granted the victim's bodies certain abilities that would not have been available prior to death. The infected were capable of enduring physically damaging and debilitating accidents and injuries with little difficulty, such as one hundred meter free-falls, decapitations, shootings, beatings, and stabbings. The resurrected were also capable of accumulating gastric juices and pulpy, partially-digested matter within their bellies and regurgitate the fluid to build barriers and obstacles, similar to the nesting techniques of cosm-wasps. Among the characteristics that were essential to the group-think of the undead was the ability to communicate via oscillating screams. These screams were of a pitch and wave-length that only the resurrected could accomplish or understand.

Diagnosis
"What in the name&hellip;What's wrong with him?''" "What's wrong? What's right''?"

- Sith students Hartwig and Maggs, upon seeing an infected classmate

Viral behavior and characteristics
"It seems as though the individual organisms are using quorum sensing to communicate with one another inside the host[&hellip;] Individual cells don't activate to full virulence until they've reproduced to such numbers that the host can't combat them."

- The 2-1B surgical droid known as "Waste"

As noted by its creators and studiers, the virus itself had a level of self-awareness and deliberation that was uncommon among pathogenic diseases. This sentience originated from the addition of the Murakami orchid, but existed as an entirely separate entity than that of the individual orchid that was added to the viral mixture. The mind that governed the individual viruses had drives and motives of its own, and worked outside the will of the alchemist that created it. Upon entering an organism, the individual viral agents remained benign, but replicated within the cells of the host so as to bolster their numbers and strength. By using quorum sensing, the viral particles could tell when their numbers had reached a point at which the host organism would be unable to combat them with their own immune system defenses. When this threshold was reached, the disease particles would activate to full virulence and attack the body of its carrier. This behavior affected the victims on more than a microbiological level alone&mdash;when the Sickness was introduced into a new population, the infection would kill off and replicate within all carriers until only those who were immune to or vaccinated against the disease were left. Using the same quorum sensing techniques, the Sickness would then reanimate the deceased hosts and use their overwhelming numbers to hunt down and kill the survivors of the initial plague. To coordinate the actions of different groups of the undead, the infection would cause its puppet victims to emanate rhythmic waveform screams. These screams alerted the various groups of undead to the locations of others, and served as a system of communication through call-and-response screaming.

The disease also possessed the extraordinary ability to learn and develop new skills based on the experiences of its infected puppets. Although newly-transformed populations of zombies began their existence as primitive stalkers, they were capable of quickly learning how to avoid danger and how to utilize machines and technology. Because of the collective sentience that governed each of the victims, they were even able to move as if they were a single living organism reacting and adapting to the environment around it. Depending on the situation at hand, the undead could equip themselves with weapons ranging from blasters to lightsabers, and even starfighters. One group of the infected were even able to arrange a communications blackout and activate and operate a tractor beam in order to prevent survivors from leaving their immediate vicinity and to trap any unwary passersby. Their rate of behavioral adaptation was extremely swift, and happened simultaneously throughout a cluster of cooperating undead.

The Sickness's drive and will to kill and devour any living creatures was the only motivation within the mind that governed the viral particles, and so drove it to make attempts to purposely spread the infection to new populations. The consciousness of the disease also spoke directly to the infected prior to their death, sometimes mimicking the presence of the Force or even reasoning with its victim. When the virus finally activated itself within an infected organism, it congealed various bodily fluids into a gray oozing substance that was capable of independent locomotion. This ooze carried the Sickness throughout the body, and had emitted viral agents into the atmosphere when exposed to open air. Upon coming into contact with living flesh, the fluid coagulated and crawled over the skin in search of an opening or wound by which to enter the body. Many of these characteristics&mdash;particularly the collective consciousness, the physical appearance of the gray fluid, and the postmortem symptoms of the infected&mdash;mirrored the effects and physical manifestations of Mnggal-Mnggal, a dangerous entity native to the galaxy's Unknown Regions.

Treatment and prevention
"My medical droid and I have no idea what type of infection we're dealing with, only that it's extremely aggressive and traditional treatment seems completely ineffective. Worse, our isolation and quarantine countermeasures have no effect. Although I haven't found any sign of contamination in myself yet, I can't help but think it may be inevitable."

- Dr. Zahara Cody, in a message to her father

Darth Drear's search for immortality
"Before he died, Darth Drear wrote of the final stage of the process&mdash;the step that he himself was never able to achieve."

- Darth Scabrous

Darth Scabrous and the Murakami orchid
"Her name is Hestizo Trace. She's the orchid's keeper. It needs her to&mdash;''" Survive. I know. That's how I knew you were bringing me the genuine article. It was the once piece of information I withheld about the orchid."

- Tulkh and Darth Scabrous

Infection released on Odacer-Faustin
"One of the ones who fell was Wim Nickter. After he hit the ground, he got up and attacked me. He was dead, but he was&hellip;still alive. I had to pin him under a pile of rocks to get away. That Sickness in the air that you're talking about&mdash;that's Scabrous's doing, up in the tower. I think&hellip;I think he's bringing the dead back to life."

- Mnah Ra'at

Project: "Blackwing"
"In a strictly scientific sense, I do know that my programmers were working on an easily conveyed chemical means of slowing the normal course of decay in living tissue. Ideally the virus would be able to take over nerve receptors and make the muscles fire even after even after clinical death has occurred."

- A 2-1B medical droid aboard the Vector

Infection aboard the Vector
"It started ten weeks ago, when the first tanks began leaking.''" "What tanks?" "''There were those conspiracy theorists among us who insisted it wasn't an accident, that we were all part of some larger experiment, which I suppose is possible."

- Commander Gorrister and Captain Sartoris

Horror aboard the Purge
"There is sickness and despair everywhere, confusion and complete breakdown of order on every level. I just saw a stormtrooper in the hallway take off his helmet and put his blaster to his head. He was crying when he did it."

- Dr. Zahara Cody

Survivor's plight
"I think we’re the only ones left. For a long time everybody was yelling, 'Let us out so we at least have a chance,' stuff like that. The Rodians in the cell across from ours died. Then the rest of them did too. Now it’s so quiet. I can smell the bodies locked up around us. They’re starting to rot. There are no guards left either. I don’t know why we didn’t get sick. Whatever it is Kale and I must be immune to it. If no one comes to let us out we’ll starve to death in here. I’m not hungry but I am thirsty and I don’t want to die in here."

- Trig Longo, in a letter to his father

The Dathomir quarantine
The Galactic Empire committed the Star Destroyer Vector to carrying containers of the disease. While somewhere on the edge of the Unknown Regions, the infectious agent broke containment and infected the crew.

When the engines of the Imperial prison barge Purge broke down nearby the destroyer, a team was sent to the derelict Vector to scavenge parts. When they returned, they had been contaminated with the disease. When they were questioned, the only thing the surviving Star Destroyer crew could tell them about the situation was the word "Blackwing." Databank searches of the term only resulted in obscure references. In short order, all but a handful of inmates and staff on the Purge were infected as well. Zahara Cody, Chief Medical Officer of the Purge had created an antivirus but was too late to save most of the people aboard the prison ship.

Surviving prisoners Han Solo, Chewbacca, Kale Longo and Trig Longo found containers full of a grayish liquid which seemingly caused the plague aboard the Vector. Damage was showing on more than one of the containers, which indicated the cause of the outbreak. Later, after Jareth Sartoris encountered Commander Gorrister, it was revealed that the disease had been released aboard the Star Destroyer by accident ten standard weeks previous to arrival of the Purge.

Behind the scenes
In the released texts of Warden Bissley Kloth's letter to Sergeant Hazar Yupcavage, the final sentence of the penultimate paragraph has two words redacted from it, relating to the obscure reference. The text reads "... no results except for one arcane reference to [REDACTED] in the [REDACTED]."

Appearances

 * Red Harvest
 * Death Troopers