HISTORY: The Markab had legends about the Shadows and their forces of darkness. Presumably they were a part of the alliance of worlds that put down the Shadows one-thousand years ago. In the year 2259 C.E., a lethal virus destroyed the Markab civilization. Centuries ago, the disease first appeared on the island of Drafa. The island Drafa was noted among the general Markab population for its "excesses." The island was isolated by weather for nearly a year. By the time anyone from the mainland could arrive on the island, the population was dead. It was believed that the disease ceased to exist at that time, since no one was left alive to spread it to the new arrivals. Everyone believed that the island's peoples were struck down by the gods for their lack of morality. The disease became a legend to scare little children ("Be good, or the Dark Angel will give you the Curse of Drafa!"). It became widespread belief that upright, moral people would not be touched by it. The first recorded case of the new Drafa Plague occurred in 2258 on the Markab homeworld. The family was scandalized by its appearance in one of their number. To counter the rumors that they were immoral, they lied about the disease and walked among the population although they were contaminated. Each new case was denied by the government and its carriers. Some Markab, wishing to avoid the Drafa Plague, chartered ships to other Markab colonies, taking the disease with them. Fearing everything, the Markab politicians forbid physicians to talk about Drafa or perform research on it. The politicians feared that the population would take the Plague as a sign from the gods that they had fallen from grace and that they would be ousted for admitting there was a disease. Some doctors, with limited resources and funding, tried to study the disease against the government's wishes, but to no avail. Eventually the disease spread to the Markab population (around 4,000) on Babylon 5 in 2259. There, with adequate funding and medical facilities a cure was found by Dr. Stephen Franklin. The cure was found too late. Earth Alliance medical ships landed on the Markab homeworld to find the planetary population of two billion dead. Other ships landing on Markab colonies found similar results: an additional two to three million dead. Fires raged across the deserted worlds as other races rushed to loot and pillage what remained of the Markab civilization. Very few Markab survive to this day. Some were on deep space patrols or on isolated colony worlds when the plague spread. However, there are too few survivors for genetic technology to create an effective and lasting gene pool. There are rumors that the Vorlons destroyed the Markabs. The Markabs themselves felt they had lost favor with the gods. Perhaps it was their own refusal to be less fanatical that destroyed them. |
