Description (Healing Blade Lore)
Haemophilus influenzae are some of Soma’s most ancient demons, first described over 100 years ago. But despite a century of experience fighting these foes and research on their destructive habits—including the detailing of their entire genome—their attacks are still poorly understood, and they still pose a significant threat to the life on Soma, wreaking havoc on the land’s rivers, Respiro Forest, the Skeleton Mountains, and even Sententia. While there are preventive measures that can brace the land for an attack by one particular strain of H. influenzae, there are many varieties of the Lord that are not deterred by such additional armaments.
There are two different classes of H. influenzae armies—those that possess the slimy capsules, and those that don’t. The capsules protect those predators from the attacks of the Apothecaries, and are thus almost always more invasive than H. influenzae that lack such capsules. But even these so-called unencapsulated Pestilence agents are capable of causing significant damage to Soma, firing into action Soma’s Noble Sentry, whose defensive stands themselves can damage the land and harm its inhabitants.
Many H. influenzae armies are known to live quietly in Soma before springing their attacks. They lie in wait for the attack of another Lord of Pestilence or other invader to weaken Soma’s defenses, then quickly disperse to numerous towns and cities. There, they can inflict widespread damage, choking Soma’s oxygen supply by attacking the Respiro Forest, causing significant pain and suffering in the Skeleton Mountains, or destroying the Oculos, inhibiting Soma’s ability to detect incoming vessels.