Anti-Caarite virus

The anti-Caarite virus was a deadly, bio-engineered viral plague that was developed to target members of the Caarite species. The infection was artificially designed and at a sub-atomic level, the cellular structure of the virus bore a squiggle that served as a signature of the genetic scientist who had developed the disease. Various different versions of the plague existed and it took the infection's creator a matter of weeks to refine a new version. The virus was prone to mutation and the Cularin Militia, a paramilitary force active in the Cularin system, suspected that these mutations were deliberately controlled by the virus' creator.

The virus could be killed by freezing it, for example through exposure to liquid nitrogen or an equivalent substance, or alternatively via carbon-freezing. The contagion was difficult to treat and while feasible to develop, without a sample of the original viral agent refining an antivirus required took around a week, even in a properly stocked laboratory. A counteragent to the plague was eventually developed, which neutralized the threat of the use of the contagion as a viral weapon. Afflicted individuals could also be treated via healing from a user of the Force, an energy field that bound the galaxy together, though doing so was only effective for treating non-Caarites affected by the contagion and was achievable only by the healer permanently sacrificing some of their Force strength.

An early version of the virus tested on the moon Tilnes in about 21 BBY could be contracted through respiratory inhalation but was not strictly airborne. The use of a respirator therefore allowed an individual protection from catching this version of the virus. However, the virus was easily capable of modification to become transmissible through airborne means or via physical contact and a later version of the virus intended for release on the planet Caarimon was fully airborne and capable of being distributed via release in a planetary atmosphere. Other possible means of spreading the virus were through release in a ventilation system or through the use of explosives to distribute the infection.

A viral agent was developed to facilitate the spread of the infection by allowing it to be transported within gel-packs, and the virus was green in color when carried in a liquid form. The infection could also be manifested in a gaseous form and transported in a vial. It was possible through the use of a specific combination of chemicals to change virus to a form where would go dormant when exposed to water. However, one sample of the virus that was studied by the Cularin Militia included a mutagen that periodically altered the infection's vulnerabilities to other chemicals. It was therefore unclear whether that particular version of the virus would be neutralized when exposed to water.

The virus was designed to be fatal for Caarites, but could also cause seriously illness in other species. Caarites infected with the plague would experience severe pain and suffer convulsions before dying within fifteen minutes of exposure. An early version of the virus released on the moon Tilnes had the unplanned effect of causing a small minority of afflicted Caarites become severely mutated instead of being killed. Those Caarites such affected were transformed into raging, cannibalistic beings with a grotesque appearance. These mutated Caarites were increased in height to stand at a 2.5 meters, far taller than the average 1 meter size of their species, and elongated heads and widened mouths. They also gained longer arms, improved upper body strength, increased speed, sharp teeth and claws similar to those of a rancor, a species of predatory reptomammal. These mutations could not be treated or reversed.

Though not fatal to non-Caarites, the virus could make infected individuals of other species severely ill, though symptoms normally alleviated after breathing clean air for 30 minutes. Individuals developed immunity to the infection once they had recovered and some experienced permanent non-harmful mutagenic changes that left them stronger and more durable.

The plague affected non-Caarite species in a variety of ways. Humans exposed to the virus would feel nauseous but did not experience significant pain, while Sullustans and Trandoshans developed a feeling that their skin was unclean and experienced a strong desire to cleanse themselves, but no amount of washing could alleviate the sensation. In Wookiees, the virus caused individuals to feel as if their fur was itchy, to the point that they were tempted to pull their hair out. Their lungs also felt irritable and they developed a cough.

Tarasin infected with the virus became yellow in color and developed spots that would pulse in time with their heartbeats and which would get brighter when the afflicted individuals were agitated. Rodians and Duros who contracted the plague felt congested and as if their eyes were cold, while the virus caused Twi'leks and Zabraks to produce a significant amount of saliva, to the point that the amount of liquid in their mouths made it difficult for them to speak. In Cereans, the virus led to individuals alternating between feeling fine and feeling ill, as if a low level fever was affecting one lobe of their brain. The virus also caused Cereans to develop a feeling of thirst.

Other species experienced behavioral changes when afflicted by the virus. Bothans developed a strong desire to share secrets, while Gungans were caused to feel paranoid and Ithorians were left feeling spry and full of energy.

During time of the Clone Wars, the Believers Sith cult established themselves as a major force of the criminal underworld of the Cularin system in the Expansion Region. The cultists sought to eliminate other competing power groups on Cularin and, around 21 BBY, selected the Metatheran Cartel trading concern as their first target. From a secret Believer research facility in the sub-city S-Ipsus on the world Genarius, a genetic scientist began development of a virus to aid the cultists in their scheme. The resulting plague was designed to be fatal to Caarites, a porcine species who dominated the Metatheran Cartel, and the Believers plotted to use the infection to wipe out the Caarites and curtail the Cartel's influence.

The Believers sought to trial the new virus and selected a Metatheran Cartel base deep beneath the surface Tilnes, the moon of Cularin, as an appropriate testing ground. The Cartel's operation on Tilnes was not publicly acknowledged to avert any bad publicity, because of significant ill-feeling was felt towards the Cartel by the people of Cularin. The Believers therefore reasoned that even if the virus was successful in wiping out the inhabitants of the base, the Cartel would not let this information become widely known so as to maintain the veneer of secrecy surrounding their operations on the moon.

The cultists detonated inside the office of Ko Bas, the Cartel base's overseer, an explosive device containing a chemical agent that carried the virus. From there, the plague entered the facility's ventilation system and spread throughout the base. The explosion triggered an emergency mechanism that sealed the facility's doors, trapping inside the bases's inhabitants, between 100 and 150 Caarite Metatheran Cartel employees. All of the facility's occupants were infected and almost all of them died shortly thereafter, some spending their last moments scratching on the base's door to try to escape. Three of the Cartel employees, Ko Bas, U and G survived, transformed by the virus into monstrous mutated beings that bore little semblance to their old selves.

After two weeks had elapsed since the release of the virus, a band of six Believers were assigned to survey the results of the dispersal. In preparation for their mission, the Believer team assembled at a bar in Tolea Biqua, a floating city on Genarius. There, they were provided with an explosive device containing gel-packs that held a new batch of the plague. The Believers planned to detonate the bomb the Cartel base in the event that the initial release of the infection had not been successful. The device was programmed to sent a coded signal to the Believer facility on Genarius in the event that the bomb failed to detonate after a predetermined period of time, which would order the Believes to evacuate the base and destroy all evidence of the virus. When the cultists arrived at the Cartel facility, an electromagnetic pulse emitted from the core of Tilnes caused the entrance to the base to seal again, trapping the Believers inside with the mutant Caarites.

The electromagnetic pulse caused the safety valves that had been containing the virus within the Cartel base to deactivate, allowing the contagion to permeate through the tunnels beneath the surface of Tilnes. Over the next few hours the viral agent spread into the ventilation system of Tilnes' groundport. The contaminant were detected by the Verga Mer Mining Company, a corporation that operated on the moon, and Tilnes was placed under quarantine by the VMMC until the cause and nature of the contagion could be identified.

The heroes of Cularin, a team of renowned freelance agents, were hired by the VMMC supervisor Nevan Khash to investigate the contamination and made their way to the Cartel facility. On entering the base, the operatives contracted the anti-Caarite virus and began to display non-fatal symptoms. The agents recovered the bomb brought by the cultists to the facility to spread the fresh batch of the virus and were attacked by the Believers Aris and Osia, who sought to prevent the agents from sharing knowledge of the virus from the outside world. The freelance operatives survived the attack and subsequently received medical treatment from the Verga Mer Mining Company for their exposure to the virus.

The heroes of Cularin were asked to keep quiet about their discovery of this viral release on Tilnes. However, news of the virus soon became known to the inhabitants of the Cularin system and caused great concern. The Metatheran Cartel had never been particularly well-liked by the people of Cularin and the reports of a strange new illness with links to the Cartel only heightened the Cartel's unpopularity in the Cularin system. A research station was established above S-Ipsus to study the virus so that it could be countered. At the same time, the Believers continued refining the plague from their own installation on S-Ipsus.

Having produced sufficient quantities of the virus for their campaign against the Caarites, the Believers loaded three starships with the plague at their facility on Genarius, each vessel carrying three tons of the virus inside a set of bacta tanks. The ships then departed for Caarimon, the Caarite homeworld, where the cultists planned to disperse the plague, traveling there via a circuitous route. Around this time, the bomb containing a sample of the virus recovered by the heroes of Cularin on Tilnes was taken to the research station orbiting S-Ipsus that setup to study the pathogen. Hours after the virus laden ships had departed Genarius, the bomb sent out its predetermined coded message to the Believer laboratory, ordering that the base should be evacuated and all evidence pertaining to the anti-Caarite virus destroyed. The cultists then set about closing down their base.

The evacuation message was intercepted by both the Metatheran Cartel and the Oblee crime lord Nirama. Concerned that the Believers would destroy a Narscorcom thermal detonator production line beneath which the cultists' research laboratory was situated as cover for their evacuation, and worried also about the possibility of the factory's Ugnaught workers becoming infected with the illness, Nirama dispatched the heroes of Cularin to locate and destroy the laboratory. Meanwhile, the Cartel also sent a team of bio-suit clad soldiers to raid the Believer facility, hoping to prevent the use of the virus to commit genocide against the Caarites.

The Cartel strike team entered the base and killed all of the researchers working on the development of the virus. The soldiers then seized all evidence pertaining to the plague that they could lay their hands on, but were unable to locate an active sample of virus. The Believer Canduri, who was among the cultists present at the base, evaded the Cartel forces and fled the laboratory with a vial containing an active sample of the latest strain of the virus.

The heroes of Cularin apprehended Canduri and her sample of the anti-Caarite virus just as she fled the laboratory. The Thaereian military, an armed force that was enfranchised by the Galactic Republic to defend the Cularin system, also learned that something was being developed on S-Ipsus that put the entire Cularin system at risk. Shortly after the heroes of Cularin captured Canduri, a Thaereian navy patrol led by the Bothan Lieutenant Mish Paht accosted the freelance operatives in S-Ipsus and attempted to seize the sample of the virus recovered from Canduri. The heroes of Cularin evaded the Thaereians and subsequently handed Canduri and the virus specimen over to the Cularin Militia.

Over the next few days, the Militia studied the virus sample and worked with various scientific bodies in the Cularin system to learn more about the plague. Despite the threat posed by the virus, the Cularin Militia did not warn the Cularin Government or the Metatheran Cartel of the illness, to prevent any Believers within their ranks warning the cult and causing the to accelerate their plans.

The three Believer ships that had left Genarius with the plague arrived at Caarimon and the Believers hired the assassin Melo Centris to assist them with dispersing the virus on the world. The Believers carried with them equipment supplied by the Thaereian military, and Centris claimed that the Thaereians were providing financial and logistical support to the mission to release the virus, though the Thaereians refuted this allegation. The Cularin Militia learned that the Believers' plan to disperse the virus on Caarimon and Osten Dal'Nay, the leader of the Militia, assigned the heroes of Cularin to prevent the plague being released on the world.

A group of Believers led by the former Jedi Crymsin Ost attacked the Cartel research facility Creautaa-V, a space station orbiting Caarimon and released the virus, wiping out all the Caarites on board. From there, the cultists planned to dispatch escape pods containing the virus and detonate them in the planetary atmosphere. To maximise the devastation, the Believers also intended to crash escape pods into a seismically sensitive area and trigger a tectonic cataclysm. It was anticipated that the resulting devastation and viral pandemic would cause hundreds of thousands of deaths, wiping out more than half of the Caarite population of Caarimon. In preparation, the cultists hauled several bacta tanks filled with the virus to the lower level of the stations, next to where the escape pods were situated.

On of the Believer transports that had departed Genarius touched down in the city Joventusek on Caarimon, docking in the landing bay B-2 with 100 liters of the virus aboard. Upon the vessel's arrival, the local Cartel forces scanned the presence of a potentially hazardous substance aboard the ship and confiscated the bacta tank containing the virus. Unaware of the true nature of the the substance, the Cartel took the tank to a basement in the office complex Cartel Central to await analysis.

The heroes of Cularin arrived on Caarimon on their quest to thwart the release of the virus and discovered the bacta tank filled with the plague that had been seized by the Cartel. The operatives informed the Cartel forces of the danger posed by the infection and neutralized the virus by carbon freezing it in a facility in Cartel Central. Patla Soo, the manager of Cartel Central was outraged that her superiors in the Cartel had not informed her of the Believers' development of the viral threat and determined to demand an explanation.

The agents then landed on Creautaa-V just as the Believers were filling escape pods with the virus and prepping them for launch. The operatives subsequently defeated the cultists and prevented the virus from being dispersed. To thank the heroes of Cularin for saving their planet from the virus, a large party was held by the Caarites on Caarimon in honor of the the freelance agents' efforts.

As a further celebration, the Cartel also organised a party on Dorumaa, a Cularin system moon, to celebrate the preventing of the release of the virus. A counteragent to the plague was eventually developed from samples of the virus recovered from the contagion's first victims, frustrating the further use of the infection to wipe out the Caarites. With their scheme to counter the Metatheran Cartel in tatters, the Believers abandoned their hideout in the Sith fortress of the planet Almas and went underground.

The anti-Caarite virus was created by Morrie Mullins and featured in all three instalments of the Metatheran Caution trilogy—Caaried Away, Open Aarms and Belly of the Beaast—released in 2003 as part of RPGA's Living Force roleplaying campaign. The efforts by the heroes of Cularin to thwart the release of the virus served as the main plot arc of the trilogy. The virus was first mentioned in the Wizards.com article Living Force 2003 Preview, which was published in November 2002 and provided details of upcoming arcs of the Living Force campaign. It was first identified as the "anti-Caarite virus" in the second instalment of the Metatheran Caution trilogy, Open Aarms.

The virus later received a mention in the 2009 roleplaying sourcebook The Clone Wars Campaign Guide, which provided new information on the plague and contradicted Belly of the Beaast on the means through which the virus was foiled. Whereas in Belly of the Beaast the virus is prevented from being dispersed on Caarimon by the heroes of Cularin defeating the cultists who sought to release the plague, the Campaign Guide states that the dispersal of their virus was foiled by the development of a counteragent that nullified it. This article presents both explanations for the means through which the release of the virus was foiled.

There is a possible mention of the virus in the Wizards.com article Tilnes Falling. The article served as a tie-in to Caaried Away and mentions that around the same time as the events of the Metatheran Caution trilogy a couple of workers of the Verga Mer Mining Company contracted a strange mine fever. The article does not provide any further corroboration on whether this is a reference to the anti-Caarite virus, which was released on Tilnes during the events depicted in Caaried Away.

In the Metatheran Caution trilogy, the player characters roleplay as the Heroes of Cularin and the actions and decisions of the players can influence some of the events that occur. In Caaried Away, it is possible for the player characters to contract the virus upon entering the Metatheran Cartel on Tilnes. The adventure lists the symptoms that different species experience when infected with the virus and advises gamemasters—those directing the flow of the roleplay session—to be creative if players of species not listed catch the illness, suggesting as an example that Ortolans could develop a craving for diet pills.

While the player characters are investigating the Metatheran Cartel base on Tilnes, it is possible for the bomb rigged with the viral agent that was brought to the facility by the Believers to be detonated. In such a scenario, the virus remains present in the containment tubes in what remains of the bomb and a sample can be recovered by the player characters for further study. If the player characters do not recover the bomb or its remains, they can also provide a sample of the virus for further study via the infections existing inside any of the player characters whom contracted the plague. If the Believers Aris and Osia defeat the heroes of Cularin, the two cultists take the bomb containing the viral agent and leave.

Those player characters afflicted by the virus during the events of Caaried Away can be left with beneficial mutations arising from their exposure to the pathogen that leave them stronger, faster and hardier, providing them improved roleplaying statistics. It is also possible for the player characters to express an interest to the Verga Mer Mining Company in assisting the development of an antivirus to counter the plague, in which case the VMMC grants them a Naescorcom P7 trauma kit and Nilar Med/Tech Corporation field cauterizer to assist their studies into the virus.

In Open Aarms it is possible for the player characters to choose to handover the sample of the anti-Caarite that they capture from the Believer Canduri to various different parties, including the Metatheran Cartel, the Thaereian military, the Cularin Militia or alternatively to the Jedi Order. The player can also opt to hand the virus over the the research team studying the virus over S-Ipsus, who are very grateful to receive the sample, or to Nirama, who then has the virus sample sent on to someplace more appropriate.

During Belly of the Beaast, it is possible for the player characters to fail to learn of or deal with the bacta tank containing the anti-Caarite virus that was confiscated by the Metatheran Cartel in Joventusek. If so, when the heroes of Cularin conform the Believers on the space station Creautaa-V during, it is possible for Melo Centris to use the threat of the virus impounded at Cartel Central as a bargaining chip to facilitate her escape. It is also possible that after the player characters prevent the release of the virus from Creautaa-V, a group of Believers break in Cartel Central and make off with the virus-filled bacta tank stored there. A speeder chase then ensures across Caarimon as the heroes of Cularin attempted to apprehend the cultists and capture the tank.

After the player characters prevent the release of the virus from Creautaa-V, the players have the option of neutralizing the escape pods containing the anti-Caarite virus either by dumping the virus into space and firing on it, by carbon freezing it or by turning the virus over to the Jedi Council, the ruling body of the Jedi Order, for them to dispose of. The players can also choose to hand over the virus to another party for further analysis. After the Believers are defeated, it is possible for the people of Caarimon to stage a grand party to celebrate the aversion of the viral threat.

• The Clone Wars Campaign Guide