Local Disease: Tyrant’s Lash
Overview
Rumors of this disease date back at least a generation. Thought to have been produced by a warlord who sought not to kill her populace, but to control them with their very own fear. A region under her thumb and she would never even have to swing her blade. That was the idea, anyway. As with all warlords, she was slain and her name lost to history, but the disease she created outlived her. Thought extinct, this disease is recorded as a reminder that sometimes the worst plagues break the mind first. Tyrant's Lash cripples the victims ability to rationally see the truth in their surroundings. Heightening the brains Cortisol and Adrenaline production while shutting out the ‘fight’ in ‘fight or flight’. Tyrant's Lash was thought to be similar to lead poisoning in this regard.
Everything below this point is Out of character knowledge.
This is provided so there are no out-of-character ‘gotcha’ moments and one can roleplay the disease and its progressions properly.
In-character, this information can be gained through word-of-mouth or research.
Causes & Transmissions
Tyrant’s Lash spreads one of two ways. The more common way was in infected soil or ingesting infected foods as the bacteria that is responsible for the disease can enter the bloodstream easier. Cannibalising someone or consuming any part of them who has any stage of the disease is also a known vector. This also includes things made from their organs such as Crystal Candy or other, often illegal, drugs. The other, by far less common way is when a strain has at least stage four of Tyrant’s Lash, their death causes the bacteria to momentarily go airborne and infect everyone around them.
Vegasians are naturally immune to this disease due to their heightened ‘fight or flight’ response.
Symptoms & Progression
Early stages begin with feelings of being watched, bouts of paranoia, and small term headaches.
Mid-stage symptoms include more intense feelings of imminent betrayal, the inflicted begins to distrust those who they may have known for years, and aversion to conflict both physical, emotional, and verbal. This is caused by the disease beginning to re-wire the brain of the lineage to favor the ‘flight’ in ‘fight or flight’.
Advanced stages have the host's body entering a total self-preservation mode in an attempt to fight off the infection caused by Tyrant’s Lash. Normally steely front-liners will refuse to draw their blades. Any source of conflict causes the host to become entrenched in a wall of fear and terror of their own making. Friend and foe alike will cause this as the inflicted rejects all forms of rationality. While not lethal by itself, those who reach this stage often are literally scared to death.
Five Stages of the Disease
ALL STAGES INCLUDE THE MECHANICS FROM PRIOR STAGES UNLESS NOTED OTHERWISE.
Stage 1 (Onset): Paranoia that someone is watching you, This causes you to check your surroundings often and makes performing continuous tasks challenging. Maximum Mind pool is reduced by 5 points.
Stage 2 (Mild): You develop an ever-present fear that someone is plotting to kill you. You develop the Wasteland Nomad disadvantage due to the intense need to watch your own back.
Stage 3 (Moderate): Conflict becomes hard to watch as you begin to see yourself on the wrong end of every fight. Watching someone finish a killing blow on a target gives you a fear effect from the killer. Additionally, you develop the Wasteland Townie disadvantage as you begin to shut out anyone not in your inner most circle.
Stage 4 (Severe): Your self-preservation has now kicked into overdrive at the smallest occurrences. When combat is initiated, you gain a fear effect from ALL members of that combat. Watching someone finish a killing blow causes a terror effect from the killer to you. Should you die from any cause, call ‘Area of Effect: gain stage one Tyrant’s Lash”.
Stage 5 (Terminal): The brain of the host has now been re-wired to preserve itself at all costs. Adrenaline and Cortisal flood the brain at the smallest sign of trouble. All fear and terror effects cost twice as much to resist. Failure to resist a fear or terror effect results in instant death as the body of the strain just gives out. The afflicted returns to play from the Mortis with stage 2 Tyrant’s lash.
Duration Between Stages
The disease will progress on its own at the end of each attended event, or the first time that the character fails to resist a fear or terror effect during an event (not both).
Treatment & Recovery
Stage 1 Treatment: 10 minutes of flushing the disease out of the body with clean water and food. Requires Basic Medical, the expenditure of 1 Mind point and a generic meal and brew.
Stage 2 Treatment: 10 minutes of Active Role-play of flushing the disease with a Lineage specific Brew and Meal. Requires lost knowledge of how to implement this cure and Basic Medical and 1 Mind point.
Stage 3 Treatment: 15 minutes of a blood transfusion from a healthy donor of the same Lineage. This causes 10 irreducible damage to the donor. This also requires the doctor to have Proficient Medical, 5 mind points, and the lost knowledge of how to perform the procedure without severely harming anyone.
Stage 4 Treatment: 15 minutes of a brutal and agonizing bone marrow transplant from a healthy donor of the same Strain. This procedure is so agonizing that it requires both targets to be tied down or subdued. This causes 10 irreducible damage to the donor. Requires Master Medical, expenditure of 5 Mind Points, and the lost knowledge of how to perform the procedure without killing anyone.
Stage 5 Treatment: Most people opt for a bullet at this stage, but treatment is theoretically possible. Requires The Living Experiment, the “Helscape Infection Transfer” of a healthy target’s Infection to the infected. This procedure also requires the expenditure of a Grave Flesh and the lost knowledge of how to perform it.
Death prior to the onset of stage 5 will revert the disease to stage 1.
Roleplay and Costume Notes
Early portrayal should focus on looking for signs of trouble, even in safe spaces. Be unable to focus 100% of your attention onto any one thing due to you constantly looking over your shoulder and the small headaches that won’t seem to go away.
Middle stages can be roleplayed by beginning to show slow distrust to close friends and active abhorrence to anyone your character doesn’t know. Using makeup, you should show that your character is beginning to sleep poorly with dark circles under their eyes.
In the end stages, begin to create wild conspiracy theories about other characters (remember to keep this in good fun) about them plotting to kill your character. Find one person who can be your “anchor point” and use them to try and hang onto your grasp of reality. Avoid all conflicts physical and emotional under the fear that is eating away at your brain.
Guide’s Notes
Tyrant’s Lash is a disease built on control. There’s no reason for a warlord to have to dedicate resources into controlling a populace when they could simply do it themselves. Tyrant’s Lash should be used when an evil entity wants to control a population with as little bloodshed as possible. This disease will lead to CvC scenarios where once good friends may turn on each other. It is important to allow the players to control the narrative with how this goes and to remind everyone that this is only a game and that we are all still good friends. This will never go out without plot relevance and will most likely be wiped out of the narrative by the end of summer 2026.
