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‘An understatement if ever there was one,’ said Garovel. ‘Having witnessed it first hand, words can’t really express how awful it was. For a while, there was a widely prevailing belief that humanity was just... done. Hell, even I was starting to think so. It genuinely felt like the end of the world, at times.’

‘Really? Even though servants couldn’t be killed by it?’

‘I never said my belief was entirely rational. You have to understand--it was like being in a nightmare. Literally, it felt like that. Surreal. Because, just, everywhere I went, people were suffering and dying. And I went to a LOT of a places. The Great Green Sickness ravaged all of Eloa and Ardora and most of Qenghis. Eventually, though, I did find out that Luugh had made it through untouched.’

‘Damn. What about the Undercrust?’

‘Untouched as well. But that’s not so surprising, I guess. Anyway, the point I was getting at, was that possibly the worst pandemic that humanity has ever known occurred while the Sandlords were widely practicing incest.’

‘Ah... that means... what does that mean?’

‘It means that genetic variation within their ranks was at an all-time low. None of them were immune--or even mildly resistant, for that matter. So the plague simply DECIMATED them. Every single non-servant among the Sandlords was dead in under six months.’

‘Holy fuck...’

‘Holy fuck, indeed,’ said Garovel.

Another question occurred to Hector, and he figured he should ask it before Garovel started blabbering on about something else. ‘When was Rasalased in relation to all this? I mean, when did he... er, happen?’

‘Oh, he was born right before all this shit went down.’

‘Really? Does that mean he’s... uh...?’

‘A product of incest? Possibly. I don’t know. I bet Qorvass would, but let’s avoid bringing it up, shall we? He might not appreciate us asking that kind of question about one of his most beloved ancestors.’