Quisquilitis Plague of 1812

The Quisquilitis Plague of 1812 was a devastating event in the early Second Republic. Quisquilitis has its first recorded cases in the native ponies of the Yasbish Basin, but very quickly it spread throughout all of Bemton. The plague struck quickly and without warning, and would have succeeded in destroying the entirety of the Second Republic, if it were not for the selfless actions of the legendary Zithromax Zebra.

Effects
Quisquilitis is a deadly and highly contagious disease that effects equestrian animals. The effects of the Quisquilitis virus on the animal are many, but the characteristic affect is the complete disablement of the afflicted skeletal systems. Those with the virus find themselves lacking any and all skeletal support, and collapse almost immediately. Curiously enough, Quisquilitis appears to leave the skeletal system intact, as numerous autospies have shown, but the afflicted simply lose control of their skeletal system. While most commonly this manifests as the skeletal system being unable to support itself or anything, in a few rare instances the sketal system moves independently of the creature itself, and manages to escape the animal itself. The skeletal horses that remain have not been confirmed by any scholarly sources, but those who claim to have seen them all claim that the horses immediately galloped away in the direction of the Yasbish Basin. Later investigations of the region have not verified any claims of skeletal horses, but a thorough search of the region is impossible due to its infamously erratic weather.

Little is known about the Quisquilitis Plague beyond that. One thing that is known, however, is that the aftermath of the Quisquilitis Plague of 1812 destablized the Second Republic, and directly let to the tyrannical rule of the Haberdasher Daygloth Shezzar. This has led some to believe that Shezzar was indeed the one who brought about the blight, in a calculated attempt to rise to power. This allegation has been thoroughly denied by Shezzar's political staff, but due to both Shezzar's and the disease's bizarre association with the Yasbish Basin, many are still convinced that he was involved.

-Ezern Pactile, Professor of Bemton Studies, University of Teomia