Candorian plague

"The plague, an airborne virus, is extremely contagious to Humans, and death is speedy, certain, and painful."

The Candorian plague was a very contagious and deadly disease caused by the Blue Shadow Virus. It was known to have triggered epidemics that decimated entire planets.

Description[]

Blue shadow virus vial — A sample of Blue Shadow Virus.

"Allow me to present the return of the infamous Blue Shadow Virus."
"The Blue Shadow Virus?! I thought that deadly disease was extinct."

―Dr. Nuvo Vindi and Padmé Amidala —

Listen (file info)^[2]

The Candorian plague was caused by an airborne virus,^[1] known as the Blue Shadow Virus.^[3] It was extremely contagious to Humans, leading to a speedy, agonizing, certain death.^[1]

History[]

Republic Dark Age[]

"The final hundred years of the Draggulch period are sometimes called the Republic's "dark age." The Republic could no longer afford to maintain its communications network. At the same time, an outbreak of the Candorian plague killed off as much as two-thirds of the citizens of some major population centers."

―Voren Na'al^[4]

During the Draggulch Period, the Candorian plague depopulated Rimward colonies of The Slice.^[5] At the end of this period, during the Republic Dark Age, the Old Republic was moribund and an epidemic of the disease spread over the galaxy.^[6] The plague wiped out as much as two-thirds of the population of some cities.^[4] The disease was particularly present in the Grumani sector and it scourged the planet Sanrafsix and Alphoresis.^[7] By 1060 BBY, the planet Mandalore was another casualty of the Candorian plague and Mandalorians were all but decimated.^[8]

Recent history[]

"The last known strains are thought to have died out 46 years ago when the total loss of the Candorian colonies gave the virus no means of reproducing itself. There is no known antidote or cure."

―Imperial HoloVision^[1]

In 46 BBY,^[1] the total loss of Candoria^[3] and the Candorian colonies^[1]^[3] left the disease no way to propagate, and it was believed to be extinct.^[1]

During the Clone Wars, Separatist scientist Nuvo Vindi recovered a sample of the Blue Shadow Virus with the help of the mad genetic terrorist Zeta Magnus^[9] and tried to turn it into a bioweapon.^[3] The plot was eventually foiled by Obi-Wan Kenobi, Anakin Skywalker, Ahsoka Tano, Captain Rex, Padmé Amidala, and Jar Jar Binks.^[2]

However, the Candorian plague was later cultivated by the Galactic Empire for use against rebellious planets. It was used by the Empire against the planet Dentaal in 0 ABY, which had just expelled Governor Taliff and declared independence. It killed hundreds of thousands in the capital of Calif City within the first few hours of its appearance; within two days, it had killed ten billion people, sweeping over the entire Kindelian continent. The entire planet was depopulated within two months, and the Empire claimed that the plague was a Rebel plot.^[1] The storm commandos, led at the time by Crix Madine, were the ones directly responsible for unleashing the plague on the planet under the Emperor's orders, which acted as the final straw leading to Madine's defection shortly thereafter, although he was still wracked with guilt for his involvement.^[10]

Behind the scenes[]

The Candorian plague was created in the 1995 magazine Star Wars Adventure Journal 5 as the disease that was used by the Galactic Empire to decimate Dentaal,^[1] an event later mentioned in several books over the years.^[10] In 2005, the source book The New Essential Chronology developed a story about a plague outbreak during the Republic Dark Age,^[4] an idea later used in the Knight Errant series of comics and novels.^[7] Finally, the 2009 reference book The Essential Atlas retconed the Blue Shadow Virus from the The Clone Wars TV series as the Candorian plague virus.^[3] This retcon was conserved after the 2014 canon reboot as the RPG sourcebook Unlimited Power clearly associated the Blue Shadow Virus and the Candorian Scourge.^[11]