Sickness has always killed more people in a war than were killed in the actual battles, and has caused greater devastation than the most terrible armies of history. Disease knows no allegiance and has a tendency to strike when and where it will.

Bubonic Plague: Disease strikes suddenly (24 hours). Victim has chills, fever, headache, and body pains. The lymph glands begin to swell, and open sores appear over the body. One form (25%) attacks the lungs as well as the rest of the body. Death occurs 35% of the time; incapacitation 10%; and recovery (3 - 4 weeks) 55% of the time. Generally the disease is spread by the fleas on rats infecting all who come in contact with the victim 90% of the time. These will, in turn, infect 90% of all the people with which they come in contact. Of all the people exposed, 5% will be carriers (not have the disease themselves), while the rest will show symptoms within 24 hours to seven days. An average person will contact 20 others in a single day, while Shopkeepers and Entertainers may contact hundreds. Bubonic Plague is most commonly spread by ship; cross-country infection is caused mostly by the victim’s fleeing an infected area. If survived, the victims will not contract it again.

Dysentery: Caused by bad water and food exposed to filthy conditions (prevalent in a medieval world). Symptoms are severe diarrhea and abscess in the liver or brain. Amoebic Dysentery is common in warm (Summer) tropical areas, and has an incubation period of about a week (roll eight-sided die). It is brought about by eating the local food and drinking the local water. It will last for 1 - 4 weeks; fatal 1 - 4% of the time. Once survived, it is no longer fatal but will recur if bad food or water is consumed again. There is normally a 5% chance you will pick it up in an area where you already live; a 30% chance of contracting it in another area. It is common in all climates, especially in summer. There is 10% chance that the Dysentery picked up is Amoebic Dysentery; which is fatal 2 - 12% of the time, incapacitating 1 - 6% of the time, and recovered from (in 1 - 4 weeks) the rest of the time. You will also gain a limited immunity, reducing the effects of the disease by half each time you con-tract it (ignore results of less than 1%). During Winter and Fall you need not roll for contracting the disease at all.

Cholera: Transmitted by food and water infected by other victims, and also by flies (all sizes). Symptoms are diarrhea and vomiting, causing severe loss of body fluids extending to tissue and blood fluids. After 3 - 5 days this severe dehydration causes changes in the body chemistry. The patient will go into shock and die. 60% of all those contacted will catch the disease. Since sanitary measures and other preventive actions are unknown in this period, the following guidelines should be used. Note that you are never immune to Cholera. In any group of people, 4% will catch the disease each day (assuming maximum precautions); otherwise, it will spread 4/8/l 2/24/48/All each day with an incubation period of 1 - 6 days. It will be fatal 20 - 30% of the time, and recovery will take 2 - 12 months. The rate of spread and death will each increase 1% for: inadequate food and water, presence of swamp, confinement (ship, cell, siege), general inactivity (Garrison duty, isolation), existing infection of local population. Thus, if all of the above factors exist, the disease will spread at 9% a day with a death rate of 25 - 35%. Note that the spread of the disease is based on the remaining unaffected population. There will be some who never get Cholera.

Malaria: Occurs in tropical, sub-tropical (adj. to tropical areas), and during the Summer months in temperate areas. Symptoms are chills, fever, sweats, and great weakness. There are three types of Malaria with slightly differing symptoms:

1. Falciparun: (estivo-autumnal) (20%) Most dangerous with fever and chills recurring at irregular intervals.

2. Quartan: Fever occurs every seventy-two hours.

3. Vivax (Tertain): (60% of all Malaria) has a fever recurring every other day. This Malaria will also cause chronic relapses with fever at random intervals; a very mild sickness. Quinine, along with liquids and rest, is used to combat this disease. It is spread by mosquitoes that carry infected blood from one victim to another. After an incubation period of 1 - 8 days (roll die) the victim will be ill for 1 - 4 weeks. In the case of Falciparun Malaria, there is a 10% chance of the victim dying, 5% for Vivax Malaria, and 1% for the mild form of Malaria. Anemia in the blood is caused as the disease spreads similar to severe blood loss (recovery 1 - 4 weeks).

Measles: Victim suffers from headache, sniffles, runny eyes and nose, fever and exhaustion. About the fourth day, a rash appears on the face, then spreads to the neck, chest and other parts of the body. The red spots may range from pink to almost black depending on the seventy of the disease. After three to four days the rash disappears. The patient’s eyes become very sensitive to light, and there might be other serious complications (10% of the time). The incubation period is 8 - 12 days. Measles is spread by the coughing and sneezing of the victim. Most cases occur between ages six months to ten years. There is a 30% chance of someone not having had the disease by the time they mature. If he is then exposed to the disease, there is a 35% chance he will catch it; a 10% chance of complications. Complications will develop in the 5 - 7 weeks after the rash disappears, when the patient should stay inside and rest. If complications develop, there is a 10% chance of deafness, 5% chance of death from pneumonia after a period of 1 - 10 weeks.

Small Pox: The death rate runs from 1 – 30 per 100 infected by the disease. It is spread after an incubation period of one to three weeks. The symptoms are chills, headache, nausea, pains in the back and limbs, and fever. Vomiting is common. Red spots appear on the skin 3 - 4 days after the disease begins. After a few days the spots turn to blisters that fill with pus, reaching their largest size after fourteen days. The spots first appear on the face and arms, later on the trunk and legs. The location of the spots helps the physician tell it from other poxes. If the patient lives (after the 14th day), the blisters dry up, the fever drops, and improvements begin. The scars from the blisters may leave skin discoloration (80%) or severe pockmarks (20%). It is extremely infectious (7 - 90%), and takes six months to a year to fully recover.

Tuberculosis: Common to all areas, this infectious disease is least common in areas of light and heat (meaning the desert is safe). It is spread via food or dust, settling in the lungs. It begins with a dry cough and fever in the afternoon. Soon one has an almost constant fever, sweats a great deal at night, then weight loss and severe chest pains. Finally the coughing hemorrhages the lungs and death follows. In the Middle ages, rest and inactivity are the only cure. The patient will recover within a month. The chances of being infected by someone with the disease is 10%. The chance of encountering someone with it is only 2% per day in a crowded city (the only breeding ground outside of dungeons). Death rates vary, but without rest, it is 80%; with rest, about 40%.

Typhus: The disease spread by lice, fleas, ticks or mites that occur during time of war when there is excessive crowding, uncleanliness and food shortages. Siege conditions are great breeding grounds. Twenty-five out of every 100 persons who get the disease will die from it, or associated complications. Symptoms are headache, skin rash, and stupor or delirium. This will last for 3 - 4 days and cause excessively high temperatures. After this, assuming the patient lives, it will subside. The patient will recover in about a month. There is a 10% chance that the form of Typhus was Brill-Zinsser disease, and the patient will suffer another attack 3 or 4 years later. These attacks may recur every 5 years, and just as fatal as the first attack. There is no immunity. The incubation period is 3 - 4 days.

Typhoid Fever: Common among soldiers, and in populated regions which consume food or water contaminated by waste. These infected persons can pass on the disease to other persons. Ten percent are carriers who do not get the disease themselves. The symptoms begin one to two weeks after the infection occurs; headache, fever, pain in the back, arms and legs, nausea develops, patient loses his appetite, and red spots will appear on the lower body. The infection may enter the blood stream or the bone marrow (5%) causing severe complications. By the third week the disease reaches its height. By the end of the fourth week, healing will begin. Sponge baths, liquids, and rest are the most important forms or treatment. The patient will recover in 1 - 6 months. Without treatment, the patient will die about 10% of the time; recovery will be 2 - 12 months. With complications, the death rate is 40% without treatment and 10% with treatment.

Yellow Fever: Carried by mosquitoes (jungle and swamp areas), the victim will develop symptoms in 3 - 12 days. The shorter the time, the more sever the disease. The victim’s temperature rises swiftly, and he becomes restless. His joints ache. About the third day the fever drops and the skin looks yellow. In three to four days the person becomes violently ill and may (10%) go into a coma and die (50%). Otherwise, they will recover from the disease and have an immunity to it.