History Main / ThePlague

* In ''[[{{Ptitle7hpv9q0i}} Nth Man: The Ultimate Ninja]]'', after the Soviets and the United States launch biological warheads at each other, a powerful RealityWarper tries to neutralize them. Instead, he turns the lethal virus into a nonlethal mutagen that turns infected humans into disfigured "moots" with a taste for flesh.

** The disease from "[[Recap/StarTrekS1E4TheNakedTime The Naked Time]]" (and its sequel "[[Recap/StarTrekTheNextGenerationS1E2TheNakedNow The Naked Now]]") is non-fatal, but highly contagious and, in both episodes, adversely affects the crew in the midst of a disaster which could destroy the ship.

* {{Prototype}} deals with a SyntheticPlague infecting Manhattan and turning everyone in the city into mutated monsters under the control of [[{{Plaguemaster}} Elizabeth Greene]]. It turns out that the protagonist, Alex Mercer, is the result of the [[spoiler: ''original'' Doctor Alex Mercer]]'s enhancing of the original "Redlight" plague virus into the current "Blacklight" virus, up until the point where he [[spoiler: was shot and killed and the virus infected his corpse, resulting in the entity that would become the avatar of the Blacklight virus that thinks it is Alex Mercer.]]

Sometimes, ThePlague overlaps with TheVirus and turns its victims into horrible degenerate mutants. The difference is that TheVirus tends to be a sentient entity with a Hivemind, while ThePlague is simply a spread of disease acting without malice (although it might have been released maliciously initially). It's also a common cause of the ZombieApocalypse, if the story wants to empty the world and them fill it with monsters.

** People like Jared Diamond argue on the supposed cleanliness of the pre-Columbian American civilizations. It was more like the Europeans and Asians had evolved throughout millenia as farmers and animal breeders always in contact with farm animals, from which most bacteria had passed to humans, while the Mesoamerican civilizations did not. It takes a lucky human life to provide immunity to childhood diseases, it takes centuries for evolution even for a simple organism as a bacterium.

* {{Earth:Final Conflict}} had some sort of plague on humans that was caused by the Taelons after their arrival on Earth.

* The Omega virus from ''TheOmegaMan''. It kills most of the human race, and turns most of the rest into psychopathic albinos.

* [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Plague_of_Justinian Justinian's Plague,]] almost certainly the bubonic plague, absolutely devastated the Roman and Persian empires, and was probably one of the reasons Islam spread as far as it did.

* [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Antonine_Plague The Antonine Plague]] left Rome's legions undermanned, setting up a century of nearly fatal external threats. In addition, the plague may have caused the death of Marcus Aurelius, the last of the "Five Good Emperors".

* ThePlague, referred to by name, is present in both {{Infamous}} games, but is a significantly larger threat in the second. [[spoiler: It's caused by ray sphere radiation, a contagious plague that's 100% lethal, but conduits are immune to it, choosing to ease nature along and create a world of superhumans or sacrificing yourself and every other superhuman to cure it is the penultimate karmic choice of the game.]]

* Buliod's disease plays this role in ''StationeryVoyagers''. Although it doesn't ''kill'', it ''does'' [[PopulationControl cause infertility]]. Especially when Astrabolo wants to unleash this STD [[CompleteMonster on schoolchildren]] - and then hijack Sex Ed to - [[YouFailSexEdForever you can probably guess what he'll make them do next]].

* Gray Death from ''DeusEx''. [[spoiler: Later revealed to be a nano-mechanical virus formed by [[AncientConspiracy MJ12]] to take control of the world.]]

* ''{{Jeremiah}}'' had the Big Death, which was OnlyFatalToAdults.

* The Spanish flu epidemic of 1918, which may have had an even higher death toll. Modern estimates peg the death toll at 100 million people, or what was at the time ''five percent of the world population''. (By contrast, the death toll for WorldWarOne (which was raging at the same time) was "only" about 10-15 million.) Unusually, this strain of flu hit young adults and adults the hardest--children and older people did OK. It's thought that it killed by causing a cytokine storm, a fatal overreaction of the immune system.

Sometimes, ThePlague overlaps with TheVirus and turns its victims into horrible degenerate mutants. The difference is that TheVirus tends to be a sentient entity with a Hivemind, while ThePlague is simply a spread of disease acting without malice (although it might have been released maliciously initially).

* The [[{{Series/Heroes}} Shanti Virus]], anyone?

* TruthInTelevision far, far more often than we'd like it to be. The most infamous case is TheBlackDeath, or bubonic plague, which killed approximately 75 million people (30-60% of Europe's population) in the 1300s.
** The Black Death's actual death toll was closer to 1/5 - 1/6 of Europe's population. Still a rather large number, and an even that left a visible mark on European society.
** It could also be noted that the death toll for The Black Death in China (where the disease is said to have originated) is much higher. In China before the Black Death, the population was 120 million people. After the Black Death, the population was only 85 million. As for Europe, their population was 80 million people and after the Black Death, it was down to 60 million people.
** Probably the next most famous is the Spanish flu, which may have had an even higher death toll.
*** Modern estimates peg the death toll at 100 million people, or what was at the time ''five percent of the world population''. It killed 22% of Fiji within ''two weeks''. One scientist at the time said "If the epidemic continues its mathematical rate of acceleration, civilization could easily disappear from the face of the Earth within a matter of a few more weeks." NightmareFuelUnleaded indeed.
**** By contrast, the death toll for WorldWarOne (which was raging at the same time) was "only" about 10-15 million.
*** Especially considering that it came centuries after the Black Plague, where hygienic and medical standards were much more advanced. Imagine what it could of done if it came during that period. Actually, don't.
**** Also, the Spanish flu began in 1918, when people in general had deficient immune systems due to stress, malnutrition, or having being exposed to other interesting germs after being shipped overseas.
**** Actually, the worse your immune system was, the better off you were. Frozen victims of the flu were found and experimented on, and it was concluded that the Spanish Flu killed by causing a Cytokine Storm (an overreaction of the immune system). Basically, using your immune system, ''[[HighOctaneNightmareFuel it made your body kill itself]]''. This is why the death toll was highest among young adults, and lower among older adults and children, because young adults had the strongest immune systems.
**** Given the state of infrastructure and long-range travel in the Black Plague period, the Spanish Flu might well have been a more localised threat. This is the flip side of our progress- sure, we can beat or at least alleviate practically all diseases, but we can also spread a disease from one end of the planet to the other within ''hours''.
*** Indeed WorldWarI was partly responsible for how far and how fast it spread: troops were being shipped all over the world, and while many of the military were told how dangerous it was, they [[TooDumbToLive ignored]] those warnings and turned the troopships into floating morgues.
** The smallpox, brought to Mexico by Spanish conquistadors with tough white cells formed in TheDungAges, which almost single-handedly wiped out the local, sparkling-clean civilizations.
*** Other European diseases, including some that are generally considered 'childhood diseases' like measles, also contributed to the disaster. It wasn't ''all'' smallpox.
*** Later a CrowningMomentOfAwesome for humanity as smallpox is to date the only human plague[[hottip:*:We've just recently destroyed [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rinderpest the cattle plague]] too, but that's it so far.]] to be ''defeated''. [[SealedEvilInACan Apart from a few samples in laboratories in countries with a rather record of weapons of mass destruction.]]
*** Actually it isn't really completely wiped out. All you have to do is go to Alaska/Siberia/north Finland or Norway and dig up the ground a bit. You're bound to find some smallpox bacteria preserved in the frozen soil. Plagues, like {{Eldritch Abomination}}s, are not dead if they can eternal lie.
*** A bit ironic really, the Amerindian version of childhood disease that was caught once, beaten and never bothered with again (like chickenpox) affected Europeans as a nasty sort of syphilis.
**** That's probably a myth; there are syphilitic remains from medieval England.

* [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Plague_of_Justinian Justinian's Plague]] absolutely devastated the Roman and Persian empires, and was probably one of the reasons Islam spread as far as it did.

* In ''Rise of the PlanetOfTheApes'', a virus created to combat Alzheimer's mutated to be fatal to humans, but give apes sentience.

* ''Literature/TheRomanMysteries'' features an historic pandemic that starts at the end of ''The Twelve Tasks of Flavia Gemina'' and becomes on of the main plot points of ''The Enemies of Jupitar''.