The Demon Dictionary: Nosphorus
by redmoon
Nosphorus

The Nosphorus is the result of a vampire becoming infected with the Nosphoric Plague. The Plague was created in ancient Macedonia as a way of destroying Greek city states from the inside out. The method was particularly effective because of high population density and poor hygene which allowed the spread of the Plague from vampire to vampire and from vampire to human.

Once infected, a vampire's "game face" becomes similar to classic Nosferatu: rat-like and generally very ugly, even by demon standards. The virus which has been enhanced by dark magic is passed as easily as a common cold among vampires. The rat-like appearance eventually fades back to that of an ordinary vampire as the Nosphorus feeds, spreading the virus to humans.

The virus begins to alter a human sufferer's brain chemistry, making them strong and heedless of pain. Controlling their higher reasoning centers, the virus forces the human sufferers to bend to the will of the Nosphorus who infected them or to the one who spawned the Nosphorus. In this way, the Macedonians could call upon armies loyal to them inside their enemies' cities - armies which lay dormant and appeared normal until it was too late.

There is no known cure for a vampire infected with the Nosphoric Plague, though barbaric means have been developped to rid the human system of the virus.

There is one known book, The Book of the Nosphorus, which details the methods of creating the virus and of curing a human of it. This book was written several hundred years after the Macedonian campaigns, copied from scrolls and hidden for centuries.

Since both Nosphorus and humans infected with the Plague can live perfectly normal lives until the virus is awoken by a simple command (often as simple as a word ot image which forces them to recall the instance of their infection), there is no telling how many still carry the virus or when they will again be activated.

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This demon plague was created for the series Reckless - though of course you can use it if you want!

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