Surprisingly, the Rakghoul Plague went out with a whimper this week. Although we had been warned of the end day/time by the devs earlier, it was surprising, after such an immersive event had taken place, to find activities on the fleet back to normal. Well, other than the few remaining rakghoul plague victims who kept exploding all over the GTN.

What I’d been expecting was some sort of finale to cap off this engaging event. Maybe a big battle that broke out in the fleet. Or an all-galaxy intercom announcement that a cure had been found. Or an email that all those plague samples we sold to that adorable little Jawa paid off in finding a way to contain the virus.

Instead, it was just gone. Poof. And we were returned to our every day lives. James Ohlen has asked folks to share feedback on the event, so I hope folks who feel similarly will also chime in on this.

What about you — did you feel the event needed some sort of story completion or a finale? Or were you happy with how it ended? Share your thoughts in the comments.

Dear Readers–

As a continuation of my public service efforts around increasing the spread of information on the rakghoul plague, I’ve tracked down one of the containment effort’s leaders, to gain further enlightenment around the rakghoul threat. I do hope the following interview adds to your peace of mind, friends.

cheers,

Anexxia

ANEXXIA: Please introduce yourself to our readers

BRASHART: I am Doctor Corrandus Brashart with the Imperial Biohazards Containment Bureau, a division of the Ministry of Logistics. How may I assist you, my lord?

BRASHART: I am presently leading the Empire’s efforts to understand this virulent outbreak to ensure it does not spread far beyond this insignificant dust ball of a planet. My ultimate goal is to develop a vaccine that will render our citizenry immune to future infection.

BRASHART: The plague clearly began within the Republic. Our first indications of its spread came from their HoloNet reports. I personally briefed the Minister of Logistics immediately upon verifying the news was not some ridiculous form of prank entertainment.

BRASHART: I fear identifying the initial plague carrier will be next to impossible, as this person almost certainly emerged from Republic space and is very likely already dead. At this point, our best hope is to focus on the recently infected and learn what we can from them.

BRASHART: This is an outrageous accusation, my lord. It is a matter of historical record that the rakghoul plague first began on the Republic planet of Taris over three-hundred years ago. It re-emerged during the Republic’s failed attempt to restore a colony on that world, forcing the Empire to step in and quarantine the entire system. Quite frankly, I believe the Republic created this plague to destabilize the Empire and threaten its innocent citizens.

BRASHART: There have been a few reports of inconsequential outbreaks occurring on other worlds. All were the result of infected individuals fleeing Tatooine. My office quickly responded to contain these emergencies. There is no cause for alarm, my lord. I encourage anyone suffering from plague symptoms to remain aboard their starships and contact the Imperial Biohazards Containment Bureau. We will dispatch a team of trained medical technicians to assist them.

ANEXXIA: I have personally noticed a proliferation of small rakghouls being carried around by otherwise sane Imperials as pets. Is there any threat of plague contamination from these trendy crimson raklings and pale raklings?

BRASHART: Quite honestly, I can’t understand why anyone would want to be followed around by those vicious little beasts. But I’m not a pet person, my lord. Suffice it to say that we are monitoring those creatures very closely and would prefer their owners keep them in cages until more is known about them.

BRASHART: For the love of the Empire, please do not go to Vaiken Spacedock if you or anyone traveling with you is suspected of being infected! We’ve received disturbing reports of “plague parties” being attended by clearly suicidal and disturbed individuals. That is simply an inappropriate response to this emergency. Please think of your fellow citizens before taking such rash action.

BRASHART: My Lord… I guarantee you will be the first to hear of any new developments.

ANEXXIA: Thank you so much for the informative conversation today, Doctor Brashart. That will be all…for now.

Where the Outbreak Began

A small expedition was taken to the spaceship wreck in the Dune Sea, on Tatooine, where the outbreak began. And what was discovered was absolutely appalling. Rakghouls everywhere, feasting on the corpses of those who died in the crash, and the corpses of nearby rakghouls as well.

But, I am sure this is mostly old news, and what we are in need of, is more information. During the trip to the crash site, some security codes were recovered from the infected persons aboard the ship. These were used to access the data terminals scattered around the wreck, those that were still salvagable that is. From what has been discovered, the plague’s origin may have been found. No company has been identified, but the planet that the infected ship was leaving from was discovered, and the results may shock many of you. Specifically those from the Core Worlds.

Ord Mantell. The small, backwards and rather out-of-the-water island planet in the Bright Jewel Cluster that just is known for it’s recent bid for total independence. Of all the planets to be infected, this seems like one of the least likely. The ship was bound from Ord Mantell, and it had passed over the entirety of the Coreward Worlds, and crashed over Tatooine. Tatooine is practically on the edge of the known Galaxy, so where would have a ship, an infected without any known company nor origin be doing travelling to the far areas of space? How did they crash? A captain’s log revealed that the plague was initially treated as “food poisoning” reveals that this was not expecting, so either the plague was protracted by sheer accident, which seems unlikely, or someone put the plague on the shuttle on purpose. Not attempting to sound like a typical conspiracy theorist, but it seems unlikely that the plague managed to find it’s way to Ord Mantell and infect an entire starship and have it crash and spread to much of the known galaxy without detection, on mere chance.

The potentially most frightening fact about this plague is that it isn’t just the typical strain seen on Taris, but rather, it is two different strains going around altogether. The original strain is going around alongside an entirely new strain of virus. Unlike the Rakghoul plague, this one isn’t intended to mutate it’s victim, but actually, it causes massive buildups of a number of bodily fluids, blood, waste, rheum, hormones, tears, sweat, anything that can fill up the body. It quickly gets to the point that veins and arteries begin to blow, and suddenly, it breaks through the skin, particularly around the torso, and boom. The victim quite literally, explodes mid-transformation.

All of this, whether news or old stories to some, is still frightening. It’s been a long time since the galaxy has seen a pandemic spread so quickly and strike both the Republic and Empire so fatally. However, the people of the Galaxy, no matter their affiliation must stand vigilant. Vaccines and antidotes have been produced in record-shattering time, but it is still not being distributed fast enough, despite humanitarian efforts to do so. We must remain vigilance and keep a calm head, and figure out where this entire strain came from or what it is for.

William Shaffer

Over 10,000 dead so far, with thousands more infected and outbreak area growing exponentially as the virus continues to mutate. In an effort to try to contain the outbreak to the planet, government officials have asked the public to refrain from visiting or in any way communicating with Tatooine and its inhabitants.

While I do, of course, agree with their methods in general, I also knew that this was exactly the sort of catastrophe for which I am personally well-suited to handle. Which is why I immediately hopped on my speeder and zoomed back to my ship’s hangar and made my way to Tatooine.

Once there, I found the typically unremarkable outpost of Mos Ila swarming with containment troops, staring down infected citizens at rifle point. I was pleased to note they heeded our orders and immediately took down any people who showed signs of turning into rakghouls. Well met.

Having spent a good deal of time on Tatooine in my early days, I immediately noticed a few abnormalities– like the escape pod that had lodged itself in one of the unused city outbuildings. Where there is an escape pod, there is an escapee. And a larger ship from which they were escaping.

My path was becoming more clear to me. If I could track down more of the debris from this crash — and better yet the hull of the ship itself and some of the survivors, I know I could get to the bottom of this mystery.

A highlight of my day was definitely coming upon the wreckage from the ship (now known to me as the Stardream) North of the Republic encampment in the Dune Sea. The place was swarming with infected personnel– and already turned rakghouls. Luckily, I was able to subdue one of the rakghouls enough to gather a significant blood sample before I put him out of his misery with a nice overload of purple lightning.

I took my blood sample to someone I trust [name redacted to protect my useful compatriot] who is working on weaponizing the virus as we speak. I’ll have to jump back in the fray tonight to obtain some additional samples. But for now, it’s back to the grindstone. Must Holo in for a few meetings and give the impression I’m cooling my heels on the fleet, awaiting Malgus’ next directive. What a fool that man is…I’m sure my incredibly convincing PSA on the radio show last night, warning all loyal members of the Empire to stay away from Tatooine will give the impression I’m more than towing the line…

–Anexxia

Breaking News! In addition to the daily quests there’s more! Check Dulfy’s guide for gaining the “Tracking the Origin” quest on Empire, Republic may have something similar although details are not yet confirmed. Republic version “Origins of the Outbreak” is here by @r2d2arm.

Best map for the quests above is by Exhaust Port. The reward is a Crimson Rakling.

The daily quests are [AREA] quests, so go to the following coordinates on Tattooine to pick them up. Vendor is north of the crash site up on the dune.

1. [AREA] Wreck of the Stardream
2. [AREA] Outbreak

Republic

Go northeast of Thorazon to get the dailies in area 1.
Vendor is at: -892, -1925
Area 2 is at Largona, with another daily.

Empire

Go north of Zaroshe to get the dailies in area 1.
Vendor is at:
Area 2 is at Ridge-something.

Dailies for Outfit

The quest chain that rewards the orange moddable Republic or Empire Containment Officer (Social I) outfit starts by picking up an item from the first [AREA] quest. Each new quest takes a day to open up for you, so if you haven’t done the prior day’s quest you’ll be unable to see or pick up the new one. April 19th is the last day to pick up Blood Sample and get the entire outfit by doing the next one each day!

1. Blood Sample – 50 LS or DS points plus boots or 1 DNA – picked up from Area 1
2. Passenger List – gloves – picked up from Area 1
3. Hybrid Strain – legs – picked up from Area 2
4. Pure Virus Sample – helm – picked up from Area 1
5. Newly Infected – chest or belt (need to do it twice to get both) – picked up from Area 2

REWARDs from Vendor in Exchange for Rakghoul DNA

• Black/Green colour crystals, for levels 31 and 50, various stat choices. 75 and 83 event currency respectively. Waiting confirmation if it’s a different green from the Razer exclusive, but probably.
• “Pale Rakling” – A mini Rakghoul pet. 60 event currency.
• “Infected Companion” box with a random companion customization. 20 event currency.

PRO TIPS:

• From @Asros:
  If you have the infection at the feverish stage, and you die, you will infect others and get 5 DNA samples!
• From @SwtorSpy:
  Full list of codex entries for the event
• From general chat:
  Once you pick up the “Origin” quest you no longer need the buff and don’t have to worry about running out of time to scan all the crashed ship bits.

Gonna prettify all this with pictures and maps later. For now, get grinding!

Updated guide with quest arc from Dulfy, new daily rewards, and corrected prices.