Rakghoul plague

"You said the rakghouls were caused by a plague—do you mean a disease?" "Magic is the vector, but a rakghoul bite or scratch carries a disease, like a virus. It doesn't matter. There is no cure."

- Cade Skywalker and Celeste Morne

The rakghoul plague was a disease engineered by the ancient Sith Lord Karness Muur. Muur, seeking a means to escape death and achieve galactic conquest, forged a Sith amulet that came to be known as the Muur Talisman, an item into which Muur poured his mind, will, and Sith magic. The Muur Talisman's power could almost instantaneously turn any nearby sentient being into a mindless rakghoul, a Sith-spawned mutant subservient to Muur's will. But the talisman's power was not perfect, and it could not transform Force-sensitives or beings belonging to certain non-Human species into rakghouls, and thus Muur designed the rakghoul plague to compensate for this weakness. The virus-like plague, carried by every rakghoul in existence at the time, could be spread to another being by a bite or a scratch from a rakghoul's claw. The victim would then suffer through an incubation period lasting approximately six to forty-eight hours before being transformed into a rakghoul, one fully capable of spreading the Sith-made disease on to further victims. In the years before, during, and after the Mandalorian Wars, the rakghoul plague spread nearly unchecked through the Undercity of the planet Taris, and well over a million Mandalorians fell victim to the plague's effects on the ice-covered world of Jebble. Though the rakghouls were widely thought to have become extinct at a time prior to the rise of the Galactic Empire in 19 BBY, the rakghoul plague—and by extension, the rakghouls—would continue to exist in the galaxy until at least 137 ABY, when the Muur Talisman was finally destroyed by the Jedi Cade Skywalker.

Characteristics
"Rakghouls. In my time, they were a plague on Taris. I created the ones outside by willing it so. The talisman gives me that ability except in some nonhuman species...and individuals strong in the Force. The rakghouls began as creations of Karness Muur's Sith magic, but scratches or bites spread the plague—even to Force users like you."

- Celeste Morne explains the rakghoul plague to Cade Skywalker

The primary means for the spread of the Sith-spawned rakghouls was through the Sith magic of the Muur Talisman, a Sith amulet forged by the ancient Sith Lord, Karness Muur. In the hands of Muur, or in the possession of another Force-user following Muur's death, the talisman's power transformed any sentient being without a connection to the Force into a rakghoul. But the rakghoul plague in its most infamous form existed as a virus-like disease, which Muur engineered as a means of circumventing the talisman's weakness: Force-sensitives and a number of non-Human species were immune to the effects of the talisman. This disease, as its name implied, was a plague that could be spread from an existing rakghoul by means of a bite or scratch from its claw, infecting the victim from even the smallest wound. Following contact with a rakghoul, the progression of the infection was a rapid and painful experience. Incubation periods for the disease differed between species, but a period of six to forty-eight hours was typical. A victim's body would become twisted, and the pigmentation of the skin became paled to a whitened, corpse-like state, and bleeding from the eyes, mouth, and skin were not uncommon. Not long after this point, the victim transformed into a rakghoul, similar to the creature that infected him or her, and capable to spreading the rakghoul plague to another.

Aside from the physical effects of the rakghoul plague, the mental and psychological effects the disease had upon its victims was significant. Once transformed into a rakghoul, the original being's intelligence was seemingly lost, and most thought so little of the mental capacity of the common rakghoul as to denote them as "mindless". In truth, however, the plague destroyed only the personality of the infected, leaving behind the being's knowledge and skills they had accumulated in their former lives. Left on their own, rakghouls behaved as beasts, serving their base instincts and existing as slaves to their own hunger. But if a being skilled in the powers of the Force were to wield the Muur Talisman, the rakghouls would be able to draw upon those latent skills and abilities to be used in service to the talisman's possessor, even utilizing weapons and operating equipment. Unfortunately for the transformed beings, though, their original personalities could not be restored once they became rakghouls, and these seemingly more intelligent creatures operated only on an imprint left behind of their former lives.

The rakghoul plague was often thought to be without a cure, but two known methods did indeed exist with the capability to halt the rakghoul transformation in a victim infected with the plague. A serum had been found during the Jedi Civil War by Darth Revan and Malak's Sith Empire, and their Sith troopers often carried viles of the curative serum on their person during trips into the Undercity of the planet Taris, where the number of rakghouls was highest. Another means was discovered by a Jedi by the name of Cade Skywalker, in the year 137 ABY. After he and his companion, Azlyn Rae, had been infected with the rakghoul plague, Skywalker used his radical healing ability to purge them of the plague, healing them both.

History
In 3,963 BBY the excavation team of Mandalorian Neo-Crusaders, lead by Pulsipher, located the Talisman in the Undercity and took it to Jebble, where, unfortunately, the Rakghoul Plague was also throughout the base. But since the Talisman now had a host these rakghouls were different, they could tap into their learned skills to use weapons and vehicles. Fugitive Padawan Zayne Carrick was able to warn the approaching Mandalorian force prepared to make an attack on Alderaan. After he escaped the planet Cassus Fett ordered a nuclear bombardment of Jebble, wiping the rakghouls from the face of the planet.

Now, when the original source of the Rakghoul Plague was removed from Taris, it was further spread only by those already transformed into rakghouls. This, however didn't make it any less dangerous. By the time of the the Jedi Civil War it was estimated that up to 60 million people of Taris had been infected.

When the Sith forces occupied the planet in 3,956 BBY they brought with them a serum that could heal those infected but not yet transformed into rakghouls. However the Sith restricted access to the serum to the Sith troopers sent down to the Undercity sent to look for crashed escape pods.

Revan later found a vial of the serum on the body of a dead trooper, and took it to the Upper City doctor, Zelka Forn, so he could be able to mass produce the serum and sell it for a very low price.

Shortly after that Taris was subjected to an orbital bombardment by the Sith forces of Darth Malak and the eventual effects of the serum on combating the disease, as well as the fates of the rakghouls and Outcasts, are unknown. But the rakghouls on Taris were eventually wiped out by an undisclosed time before 19 BBY.

On the rise once more
Then, on an Unidentified desert moon, the rakghouls thrived again. There they infected many stormtroopers, along with a former clone trooper named BL-1707.

Appearances

 * Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic: Vector
 * Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic
 * Star Wars: Dark Times 11: Vector, Part 5
 * Star Wars: Dark Times 12: Vector, Part 6
 * Star Wars Rebellion: Vector
 * Star Wars: Legacy: Vector

Notes and references
Rakghoul-Seuche