Yersinia pestis are one of the most ancient scourges to haunt the globe, and have been responsible for the deaths of countless other worlds in the deep past, starting even before the Apothecary Healers began offering protection to Soma and other lands. In fact, these Pestilence agents were only discovered centuries after some of their most horrific killing sprees, and over the last several decades, the breath of their wrath was slowly revealed. When Soman scouts visited a string of barrier islands that had fallen victim to a mysterious villain some 600 years ago, for example, they found the remains of some Y. pestis beasts preserved in the rocks surrounding the islands’ entry bays, leaving little doubt as to the cause of the unthinkable natural tragedy. Y. pestis can be so devastating that some lands have gone so far as to purposefully release the Pestilence agents on enemy territories as a form of biological weaponry.

The beasts still lurk around Soma’s perimeter, feasting on giant marine rodents and breaking through the boundary wall whenever the vermin come ashore to nest on the beaches. The Pestilence agents synthesize a sticky excretion that allows them to scale the wall and enter Soma’s border towns. They also produce a potion that eliminates blockages from Soma’s water ways to speed the rate at which they infiltrate the rest of the land, where they are skilled at evading raids by Soma’s Noble Sentry and can cause widespread damage. Thankfully, however, now that Y. pestis have been identified, the appropriate Apothecary counterattack can usually protect Soma from extensive damage from the Lords’ attacks.

Haemophilus influenzae are some of Soma’s most ancient demons, first described over 100 years ago. But despite a century of experience fighting these foes and research on their destructive habits—including the detailing of their entire genome—their attacks are still poorly understood, and they still pose a significant threat to the life on Soma, wreaking havoc on the land’s rivers, Respiro Forest, the Skeleton Mountains, and even Sententia. While there are preventive measures that can brace the land for an attack by one particular strain of H. influenzae, there are many varieties of the Lord that are not deterred by such additional armaments.

There are two different classes of H. influenzae armies—those that possess the slimy capsules, and those that don’t. The capsules protect those predators from the attacks of the Apothecaries, and are thus almost always more invasive than H. influenzae that lack such capsules. But even these so-called unencapsulated Pestilence agents are capable of causing significant damage to Soma, firing into action Soma’s Noble Sentry, whose defensive stands themselves can damage the land and harm its inhabitants.

Many H. influenzae armies are known to live quietly in Soma before springing their attacks. They lie in wait for the attack of another Lord of Pestilence or other invader to weaken Soma’s defenses, then quickly disperse to numerous towns and cities. There, they can inflict widespread damage, choking Soma’s oxygen supply by attacking the Respiro Forest, causing significant pain and suffering in the Skeleton Mountains, or destroying the Oculos, inhibiting Soma’s ability to detect incoming vessels.

Don’t let the name fool you. Streptococcus pneumoniae attack more than just the Respiro Forest. These villains can wreak havoc on a wide range of systems in Soma, including the land surrounding Buccal Bay, the Aural Canals, and even Sententia. They are similar to those of other cocco-demons by their sensitive to bile and the chemical optochin. These sensitivities are one of the few things the more than 90 different armies of S. pneuomonia have in common, however. Each army differs in the intensities and frequency of its attacks, and its vulnerability to various Apothecary defenses, and each attack on Soma must be carefully considered in preparation of an Apothecary counterattack.

S. pneumoniae are an ancient menace to Soma, having plagued the country for more than 100 years. They are relatively well studied, having been the subject of experiments that determined DNA, and not proteins, is the vector of virulence-sharing among Pestilence agents. But that doesn’t make them any less threatening. Like many Lords of Pestilence, they can live peacefully in the canopy of the Respiro forest, but will strike as soon as the opportunity presents itself.

An interesting antagonistic relationship exists between S. pneumoniae and fellow Pestilence agent Haemophilus influenzae. While either group of Lords can list in the Respiro Forest on its own, the two cannot seem to peacefully coexist, and Soma’s Noble Sentry seems to recognize some interesting interactions between the two. Though the details remain murky, it is clear that these two Pestilence agents do not get along, and Soma’s natural defenses are often able to take advantage of their quarrels to extinguish the invaders before they can inflict widespread damage to Soma.

Metronidazole may be most well known for her swift action against the increasingly common attacks of C. difficile, but she is also widely effective against other Pestilence agents, particularly those that live without oxygen. She can be called into action for attacks on the boundary wall, the Skeleton Mountains, Respiro Forest, the aqueduct, and other areas of Soma. She kills her opponents from the inside out, generating a potent substance, which susceptible Pestilence agents absorb into their bodies. There, the potion is converted into toxins that deactivate more than 100 different enzymes that are necessary for the organisms’ survival. The toxins also affect the Lords’ DNA, disrupting the genomic stability of Soma’s worst enemies.

Metronidazole’s counterattacks do take their toll on the land and its inhabitants, however. She can disrupt the flow of the aqueduct, irritate the Oculos, generally disrupt Soma’s sense of balance and structure, and cause a sense of unrest among Soma’s loyal inhabitants. Her visits to Soma are also suspected to cause more serious ailments even after she has left the land, including tumorous outgrowths. Finally, she has been known to affect the essential functioning of Sententia, destroying key control centers in the city. These effects can filter down to nearly all of Soma’s systems, disrupting function of the land as a whole. These more serious offenses are most commonly seen when Metronidazole stays in Soma too long, and are often exacerbated during nationwide celebrations that often see widespread consumption of alcoholic tinctures brewed from fermented wildflowers.

Francisella tularensis are nasty Lords that have terrorized Soma for nearly a century. Known as rabbit demons, they can tear apart the boundary wall as well wreak havoc on the interior towns and cities. The damage they cause depends on which of the four F. tularensis armies are attacking, and where they strike first, and without the help of the Apothecaries, even threaten to kill the land and its inhabitants.

They most commonly enter Soma by scaling the boundary wall, but have also been known to descend on the Respiro Forest or occasionally through Buccal Bay and the Oculos. Unlike some Lords, F. tularensis does not need Soma or another land to survive, and can lurk in the waters surrounding the island country, striking without warning. They are also quick to move from one land to another, often stirred up when its burrows are disturbed during land maintenance work, making their threat widespread and unpredictable.

Not only are F. tularensis capable of avoiding the defensive maneuvers of Soma’s Noble Sentry, they actually use the Defenders’ camps to multiply their armies. Once sequestered by the Sentry, the rabbit demons break out of their holding cells, thriving on the camps’ resources while creating countless new, young demons that burst from the site and spread around the land. The details of F. tularensis’s tricks are not well understood, but they are suspected to contain potions that help them break free of the Sentry jails and infiltrate the camps. Soma’s best bet is to deploy one of the few Apothecaries that can defeat the evil Lords before their numbers become too great to overcome.

Treponema pallidum are crafty Lords who penetrate Soma’s boundary by charming their way onto boats heading for the Southern Harbor adjacent to Fecal Outlet. They uses their feminine wiles to stow away on cargo ships, full of unsuspecting and impressionable young workers, then spread their terror across Soma once inside the Wall. Like mermaids at sea, they spiral their way swiftly upstream from the Harbor to Uterine Bay searching for imperfections along the shore through which they can infiltrate Soma’s natural waterways and travel to the far corners of the world.

No one knows exactly how T. pallidum devastate the lands they infect, but the results are far from subtle. The wily temptresses can wreak havoc on Soma’s filtration systems, the camps of the valiant Sentry, even making their way to the Skeleton Mountains. If T. pallidum are not eliminated quickly by the Apothecaries, damage begins to appear along the length of the Boundary Wall, with notable deterioration around Buccal Bay and the Southern Harbor. Their presence can also cause harmful rises in temperature and decreases in the nutrients that come in through Buccal Bay to supply the land. Eventually, T. pallidum will even permeate the Twin Cities and Sententia, where they can disrupt the overall rhythm of life in Soma and affect drastic alterations in Soma’s typically warm and inviting persona. While a handful of Apothecaries can successfully eradicate T. pallidum from the land, the Lords cannot be captured, and thus much remains unknown about how they inflict such destruction, making it nearly impossible for Soma to prepare for such attacks.

Imipenem and Cilastatin are a commanding Pestilence-fighting duo. Imipenem is a powerful sorcerer that can kill a variety of Pestilence agents, while Cilastatin is an efficient body guard that protects Imipenem while he works his magic. Imipenem thwarts the Lords’ abilities to multiply their armies by preventing them from growing new skin. Without his guardian Cilastatin, however, the filtration system of Soma would quickly seize Imipenem’s powers and inhibit his spells. To be effective, Imipenem and Cilastatin are always released as a pair, and together, they can defend Soma against attacks in Respiro Forest, the boundary wall, the Southern Dam, and other vulnerable Soman cities and towns.

When called to action, Imipenem and Cilastatin appear in Soma’s main waterways, or in the countryside where they follow the streams and rivers to the site of attack. The duo is related to the great Penicillin clan, but they are less likely to damage the regions of the land that are sensitive to Penicillin’s attacks. On rare occasions, however, Imipenem’s spells and Cilastatin’s protective measures can result in potentially destructive earthquakes. They can also cause disturbances to the aqueduct’s normal ebb and flow, irritation to the inhabitants surrounding the land where they first appear, and unrest in Respiro Forest. As a result, the Apothecary duo are typically called in only as a last ditch effort when Soma’s Noble Sentry and other Apothecary efforts have failed to rid the land of an attacking Pestilence army.

Aztreonam is a member of the Beta Lactam Clan, and like others in the family, Aztreonam can take down a range of Lords. She is often sent into battle when the use of her great father Penicillin and his relatives risk more harm to the land than their protective efforts can justify. Thanks to the unique structure of her Beta Lactam, however, Aztreonam can fight alongside other Beta Lactam warriors without causing further damage to the land. She is most effective against Lords of the Gram Negative Legion, as she can is not fit to battle with Soma’s Gram Positive or anaerobic foes, who are usually better matched by Penicillin.

Unlike many of the Apothecaries, Aztreonam are not able to enter Soma via Buccal Bay, but instead must penetrate the world’s boundary aerially through the Respiro Forest, or hydraulically, appearing on the banks of Soma’s rivers and following their tributaries to the heart of the battle. Alternatively, she came spring from below, infiltrating the world in the vast stretches of countryside, then moving to the nearest waterway to travel to the site in need.  But once she reaches the Lords’ infestation, her quick strike is powerful and effective. By inhibiting the Lords’ ability to build their protective armor, Aztreonam renders Soma’s nemeses vulnerable to the attacks of the Defenders. On rare occasions, however, her attacks can cause collateral damage among Soma’s peaceful inhabitants, particularly at the Wall and along the aqueduct, which can disrupt its flow from Buccal Bay to Faex Inlet.

Nocardia asteroides are wicked foes that can wreak havoc on nearly every inch of Soma’s once serene habitat. They can live harmoniously around the rim of the Buccal Bay, but when they begin to meander inland, particularly to areas already under attack by other Lords, the consequences can be devastating. One of only two Lords in the Gram Positive Legion that can grow in both size and number, and armed with a handful of weapons, including the dreaded cord factor wielded by Mycobacterium tuberculosis that obstructs the activation of Soma’s valiant Defenders, N. asteroides can spread their wrath to each of Soma’s major cities. They commonly attack the Great Respiro Forest, leading to minor earthquakes and sudden wind storms in the region, and can choke the land’s supply of the Blood River’s life-giving magic. From there, N. asteroides often make their way to Left and Right Heart Cities, causing inflammation at the cities’ limits as Defenders gather to guard their inhabitants from the impending menace. The opportunistic Lords can also travel to the Sententia, where they ravage Soma’s Axonias and threaten the country’s harmonic alliance. And at the crater wall that surrounds the island, N. asteroides can cause lesions that expose the world to other fearsome intruders.

Protecting Soma from such a formidable enemy is no easy task. N. asteroides can thrive in a wide range of climates, and once they take hold throughout the land, are often a lasting presence. Though many Apothecaries are often called to the job, it can take up to a year of constant defensive fronts to finally defeat the persistent N. asteroides.

…To be continued