Shadow Plague

The Shadow Plague is the name given to a strange Plague that struck some of the Orcs of Azeroth (in 2014). The origin of the Plague is unknown, but it appeared in Orgrimmar shortly after several Orcs took a trip into Icecrown to search for some ancient artifacts.

The Shadow Plague, so named because of the strange, shadow-like bruises that appeared on the body, began hitting the Orcs that traveled through Orgrimmar, giving rise to the speculation it was first spread there. While some Orcs became sick swiftly and died, others seemed to be immune to the effects, giving rise to the rumor it was somehow engineered. While the "creators" of this Plague were believed to be either Warlocks, remnants of the Shadow Council, the Forsaken themselves, or even, at one point, punishment from the Old Gods, it was soon discovered it was unlikely the true source of the Plague would ever be discovered. Only one thing was certain - it began as a natural plague, and then somehow was twisted by a force or forces unknown after it took hold in Orgrimmar, to make it harder to heal.

When the number of ill became too difficult to heal in the city of Orgrimmar itself, and once it was discovered that the Plague was only contagious to Orcs, Rum'tai Lightningfist went to Thunderbluff and received permission to use Bloodhoof Village as a quarantine site, allowing only healers to pass through. The entire village was encircled by brave members of the Horde to ensure nothing leaked out. Cleansing spells were cast to keep surfaces clean by those who did enter and leave on healing business. Guards were set up around and within the buildings to keep out those who were not healers, as their presence was upsetting to the ill.

The many healers of the Horde were called into action, working day and night to keep the number of fatalities low. The Doctors Felsorrow, from the Legion of Veneance gave their time and knowledge to finding a cure. Dedicated healers, such as Zepsi from Bold Enterprises, Rosali of the Stormblades, and many others tirelessly gave their time and service to ensuring those stricken remained comfortable and peaceful. Unfortunately, lives were still lost to this illness.

Once the fel corruption was removed from the Plague, it was a somewhat easy illness to cure, and within days those stricken were able to return to their lives, albeit weakened. It was discovered that a simple childhood illness gave immunity to this Plague, explaining why some Orcs were not affected.

To this day, it is not known who corrupted the Plague with fel magics in order to make it uncurable. Several healers have asked Rum'tai Lightningfist for samples to attempt to find out who could have done this. To this date, no answers have been found.