WI: 90% of Europeans are wiped out in the early 15th century?

With the idea that it would essentially be a very similar result to the Black Death wouldn't the overall effects on society be a bit different since it isn't the same society as when the Black Death struck? As far as i know the population of the early 16th hadn't fully recovered to pre-black death populations so if a another terrible disease comes about isn't its effects going to be a bit different from a Black Death.2?

Philosophically? Yes, probably.

Scientifically and medically? Maybe.

Politically, demographically, economically, socially, and militarily? No, you're looking at a formula episode - same plot, new cast.

Unless you have a very, very weird disease, of course. Jared's LoRaG Marnitja has delayed unpredictable lethality after an apparent return to health. Perhaps you could have a disease that keeps the victims ill for upwards of a year or something. Even then it's more "monster of the week" than fundamental change.
 
Unless you have a very, very weird disease, of course. Jared's LoRaG Marnitja has delayed unpredictable lethality after an apparent return to health. Perhaps you could have a disease that keeps the victims ill for upwards of a year or something. Even then it's more "monster of the week" than fundamental change.

As an aside, it's worth mentioning that the disease Marnitja is based on two real-world equivalents (Hendra virus and Nipah virus).

Nipah virus is a disease which actually scares me - it's already proven capable of evolving as far as person-to-person transmission. If it made the jump during the early 15th century, it would have some rather ugly effects. Perhaps not quite what you're looking for, but not far off, either.
 
I meant to ask you about that. You also had a great deal of volkswanderung going on. What was your thinking on why that would happen?

My thinking was they were fleeing the infected areas due to not only the sickness, but all the war and famine that would result in such a population lost. In some areas it wouldn't be such massive population shifts, like Europe, where most of the continent is pretty settled, even with such a demographic drop (if anyone's wondering, it wasn't a 90% mortality rate, it was, overall, a little over a 3rd of humanity at the time of the POD). On the other hand, like Africa, there's large areas with little population that refugees would be able to flee into enmasse (not all would survive because there's reasons that they aren't populated, such as the Sahara).

I just studied the Black Plague, the pandemics of the Americas, and other times where massive contagions struck, along with general civilization collapse.

As an aside, it's worth mentioning that the disease Marnitja is based on two real-world equivalents (Hendra virus and Nipah virus).

Nipah virus is a disease which actually scares me - it's already proven capable of evolving as far as person-to-person transmission. If it made the jump during the early 15th century, it would have some rather ugly effects. Perhaps not quite what you're looking for, but not far off, either.

After reading about your TLs plagues, it made me think to make something less supernatural seeming. But the creepiness of it had grown on me, and when you factor in my weird way of narrating it, it just convinced me even more to stick with my original idea.
 
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My thinking was they were fleeing the infected areas due to not only the sickness, but all the war and famine that would result in such a population lost. In some areas it wouldn't be such massive population shifts, like Europe, where most of the continent is pretty settled, even with such a demographic drop (if anyone's wondering, it wasn't a 90% mortality rate, it was, overall, a little over a 3rd of humanity at the time of the POD). On the other hand, like Africa, there's large areas with little population that refugees would be able to flee into enmasse (not all would survive because there's reasons that they aren't populated, such as the Sahara).

I just studied the Black Plague, the pandemics of the Americas, and other times where massive contagions struck, along with general civilization collapse.

Okay. What did you turn up along those lines from OTL?
 
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