Within two months the effects of this virulent plague had begun to be felt in Sús as the administration of the northeastern territories collapsed as the governors began to die like flies. From having once been the primary source of wealth in the empire, with the wealth of the far east traveling through it to reach the west, it quickly became the most unenviable of places to rule over. Trade had stopped as cities dared not take in any merchants, or if they did the population quickly succumbed to the plague. Still not fully recovered from having suffered first some of the largest peasant revolts in the empire and then the Mongol invasions many of the once prosperous Silk Road cities now died completely, as food shortages quickly grew and entire cities could be wiped out by this new disease. But not to worry, soon the region will be back to having the same quality of living as the rest of the empire...
... One way or another. Even as quarantines were prepared in advance and Kamran II made sure that none may enter the castle itself it was of no use, city after city succumbed to this most horrifying of disease, the very skin of its people pulsating by the curse that had been cast upon the empire. When it reached Sús none of the precautions seemed enough to stop the people from falling down dead, and while the court itself had remained unscathed so far it was unknown for how long it would last, as the gluttons, not realising the direness of the situation, feasted and stole more than their share, and people (including the crown prince himself) tried sneaking out of the castle to rescue their loved ones down in the city. It seemed a matter of time until plague or starvation would do its toll on it. Those who had once feasted on fine lambs now had to make do with the rats of the castle.
Even as the gluttonous thieves were thrown out of the castle, to die with the people of the city down below, starvation seemed dangerously close. As the capital of the world's largest empire stayed closed and isolated it would seem that Ahriman had finally achieved his goal. While the chosen of Ohmazd could not been brought down by weapons alone against this new threat there was no defense. Sús, home of the world's best doctors, the jewel of Iran, a city that had stood strong even as the rest of the empire succumbed to chaos and revolts, was dying. The streets, once home of goods from across the world, were now littered with bodies. The houses, stretching as far as the eye can see, were now desolate abodes, their owners having died as enitre quarters of the grand city had become ghost towns. The once proud inhabitants shuffled from house to house in search for food, desperately trying to avoid contact with anyone else. In the high castle even the Shahanshah ate like the poorest of men, having lived a long and ardous life he had now lost his final spark, trying to eat as little as possible so that his children may live through it. But the old body could not maintain him on the lack of nutrition and finally he succumbed. He may have saved Iran from two crisises, but the third did him in. And it would take a while before the empire was even aware of the fact that they had a new ruler on the throne.
Shirvamdai II had always been quick to speak of his mind, and quick of action. When the plague were soon to hit the city he took his lover up to the castle, much to his father's displeasure. He was not one much for the concept of rationing, and had been placed in house arrest for trying to eat the food of the castle when not allowed. With himself in charge he quickly gathered in more food for the castle. An action that would surely save the people within it, even if he did start to feel unwell...
At soon became appparant that he had catched the plague, and even as people began worrying that they would loose the new Shahanshah almost immideatly after the death of the old one, and some even whispering that they should throw out their own ruler to the city to save themselves, as desperation followed no law, the court physician set upon himself to try and save his liege. He had, at the risk of his own life, studied the plague victims intensely and hoped that by doing this he may find the cure that could save Shirvamdai's life. As he began using plagued skin as part of his cure many wondered if he had gone mad, but miraculously it worked and the Shahanshah had already begun to feel better.
Just as well, for soon thereafter the old physician died. Even so, the invigoration of the succes boldened Shirvamdai further and through the useage of birds he begun gathering information about the world. It was just as bad as people had imagined it. Across the empire people, both high and low, succumbed and the very social structure seemed close to unraveling. Persia proper had fallen completely and while curiously it had countinued to abstain from spreading east to India, China or Tibet, even places as far west as Rome had succumbed. Truly this must be the End of Times.
Even so the doors to the castle remained closed, and the food had begun to run out again. The years of confinement had begun to take their toll on the man who had never set his foot outside of Sús since he became Shahanshah and even as he tried to feast on what little remained he dared not open the doors again, even as the people outside shouted their angry cries at him to do so. As the empire succumbed and entire regions began to dwindle in people until there were only but a few left it countinued to spread across the world, with plague ships having helped spread it as far away as Brittania.
However, good news, if one could call them that, had come. In Khotan the plague had begun to loose its grip on the land, as the plague bearers had died at this point, and the few remaining survivors were either immune to it or able to keep away from any victims of the plague. It would take a while until it was completely gone from there but the fact that in a few years there would be nothing left of it there, if only by the virtue of there beign none left to infect, was as close to good news as one could reasonably hope for, giving the circumstances. This did not stop the plague from countinuing to spread as far north as Denmark but that did not really concern his imperial majesty too much, the important thing was that it may in a few years have abandoned his empire. Closer to home he had come to spend as much of his remaining wealth (it is difficult to gather taxes from the dead) on trying to find a cure to the plague, the rising population of cats in the city being key to this he thought. While others had gotten the idea that cats were responsible for the plague he had decided that their presence may be helping to limit its influence, even if they did provide competition when it came to eating rats. He even got one for himself and soon cats came to be an accepted presence in Sús, making it known for many years to come as "The City of Cats", as they had come to outnumber the human population.
However, while the plague may not be spreading as much as it once did it is still there, still causing the population to plummet as the once important cities of Tunis or Alexandria layed silent and still, no ships entering or exiting their harbours. Furthermore, as if the current situation was not apocalyptic enough a new threat had arisen. Mongol tribesmen, dissatisfied with the "soft" and "weak" rulership of the Han, who had been beaten by a weaker foe and were now focused more on maintaining their Chinese wealth than anything, had united under one leader, who promised that they would sweep across the steppes and unite them under their banner, to then take down the civilized world and create the largest empire known to mankind. One Khan by the name of Temujin.
Normally this would be of no concern to Iran, after all they had beaten China when it was at the height of its power, and ruled over by these very Mongols who now seek to take it over. Surely these nomadic tribesmen could not stand against the might of the Sharasids. But a feeling of apocalypse was upon the empire, and people claimed that Angra Maynu whispered in this man's ear. Even those less superstitious were pessimistic in their assesment of the empire's capabilities to fight this new foe, who was sweeping through the lands of the Saka Rauka, the great nomadic confederation founded by Sharasa himself, and governed by the Hinazas ever since he left them, like a firebrand. Many were thinking both of the ancient Turkic conquests of the steppes and of the Sakas themselves, who had united under Sharasa and conquered the steppes for themselves, as well as lands as far away as Mesopotamia. Even as the plague was claiming its due, leaving many of the cities of the empire after having killed everyone within them, thoughts about fortifying the northern border from the new threat had come up, and soldiers, mainly from India, were sent to guard it for now.
But as the doors to the Castle in Sús finally opened, and the now skitterish Shahanshah went out to his domain it truly was The City of Cats, for little but them remained. As he breathed in the air he took it upon himself to do the things that he had neglected when he had been locked in. First he gave his father the traditional burial, which everyone can agree was highly necessary considering how much he had begun sitnking up the castle, and great celebrations were to be held, with the remaining lords across the empire to gather there with him. This was the first time he met many of them and as the great fires were lit there was one thing that he prayed to Ahura Mazda for: strength in battle. For it was clear that the Mongols were winning the war and would soon turn upon him.
And as they were winning, this Temujin, this scourge of Ahura Mazda as he had begun to be called, showed that his ambition truly was to encompass the world, diverting many of his troops to depose the weak emperors of the Han dynasty and make himself the emperor of China. The calls for mobilization had become even greater, for if he would succeed in defeating both the Sakas and the Chinese, then it was only a matter of time before he would turn on the Persians. But the empire could not be mobilized, at least not for now. The harvests had been neglected and the available population to recruit greatly diminished. None could be spared as they tried to rebuild what was lost and for now the Sakas would have to do on their own. It was lucky that India seemed to have been spared, for the great subcontinent, whose Aryan part was under the control of Iran, now had to use its massive population to help fill out the army, and many Indians were made to immigrate to the lands devastated by the plague, forever altering the ethnic composition of the empire.
Immigrants also came form China, once again putting the silk road to use. The Mongol infighting had made many Chinese flee the realm and now joined one of the clearest alternatives, nobles and peasants, soldiers and merchants gathered to use their expertise to rebuild the empire, and help preparing for its defense against future invasions. In the north the Sakas were loosing badly, and their tactics had mostly evolved into hitting the Mongols where they weren't present, turning the whole thing into a large cat and mouse game. The plague had also begun to spread to the steppes from Eastern Europe and even as the Hinazas were desperatly defending against the superior foe they and their people had fallen to the disease, a final chapter on the history of the Hinazas perhaps.
The plague had been receding for a while now, and at this point had few places left to expand to, even as the horsemen of the west began to suffer form it other places had emerged from its shadow, albeit much diminished. As Northern and Eastern Europe began to feel its full effects in the West it was loosing ground. the plague may have killed much of the world in only a few years but that may have been its own undoing, as it removed much of its staying power. Poor concilation to those who had watched their entire village die before their eyes but at least there was an end to this.
What did not look like it would end soon however was the presence of this Temujin, who had finally driven back the Sakas to the west as he consolidated his forces to bring a final end to the Han dynasty. It may very well be that the world has only lost one horror in exchange for another.