Who exactly is immune to the plague, lore-wise? [spoilers]

[santikaye]

Most of the Kin, some of the townsfolk, and the plague itself in various places mention something along the lines that the Kin are immune to the plague. And yet the plague decimates the population of the Termitary which is composed almost completely of the Kin; and Aspity and Isidor aren't immune to it either.

I do understand that the plague spares not simply those bound by blood to the Kin, but those who live wild and "in harmony" with the Earth enough to not risk its wrath. So it's understandable that it also infects Isidor who was a little too pro-civilization. But are we to understand that all the Kin that died in the termitary, as well as Aspity, were not Earthly enough?

Or does the plague simply see any Kin people living inside the Town's boundaries as a collateral damage until the whole population of the town is wiped out, so that the steppe people that live *outside* the town can inherit the place? (I suppose this makes sense, since I think Oyun too gets the plague once he starts living inside the town)

Is there an in-game textual explanation to this I might have missed?

[Pancakes]

Go out to the rocks shaped like bulls heads around 3am on Day 7. You'll find two men dancing round and making burbling noises. They're invulnerable.

[NoTimeToWait]

This is a good question. First of all, you got it right with the part about the Kin inside Termitary sort of being betrayers of their own beliefs for the sake of money and food and therefore being literally destroyed by the plague. When you get inside Termitary, if you are late, you will mostly see the Worms, who are (probably) immune.

The problem with this game, is that you are never quite sure about most of the things, because this game is absolute example of "unreliable narrator" trope. This trope is so ingrained in the flesh of the game, that you will see that even your main character is unreliable in terms of how he perceives the world. The same facts will be represented by different truths (often contradicting) by different main characters (like the fact that Simon Kain died).

So, even when they tell you that the Worms might be immune, you are actually the one who makes final decision (which might be correct or not). The same goes with Aspity. You might say that she is both human and inhuman and her health depends on your belief in her humanity. So, one might assume that her life is in danger because Haruspex sees her as a human, even if he has doubts

So far, what we know is that the bulls are immune.
And from the Nocturnal ending we might assume, that the Kin who returned to their roots and beliefs (or never actually left them) are also immune.

[Griffith]

I'd say the Worms are definitely immune in a biological sense, mostly because A. They claim they are. B. They are apparently partially Earth, so they're magical. C. We can never find an infected Worm throughout the entire game.

One might say that it's possible the Worms are infected and we simply never see one, but I'm pretty sure there's something about how the possibility of something not being the case (we haven't examined every worm to ensure they are immune) is not evidence that the argument is not the case (just because we havent examined every worm to test, doesnt mean worms as a whole are not immune). There's nothing to suggest they CAN be infected.

Aspity is an interesting case. There was something said about how she changed for Isidor, and how she changed for Artemy. It is unclear how in depth this is, but it seems likely that since her pattern of speech changed, that she may literally gain and lose qualities based this relationship with Isidor and Artemy.. It is clear, however, that she can die from the Plague, which is ironic as hell. Also means she does not truly understand the Kin, or, at the very least, is not one of the Kin. This is even better if it is true that she is made by Mother Boddho herself!

The magic heart that materializes out of a spindle, a coin, and something else ridiculous tells us that those unaffected by Plague also do not understand the meaning of "I." In other words, they have no individuality, and are capable of speaking to others of the same relationship with Mother Boddho, without speech. I don't know how anything aside from bull herding gets done without the power of language, but I digress.

I imagine that the Plague is not killing being based on simple rules like "anyone who is in the Town dies," but rather that somehow, Mother Boddho knows the heart and soul of everyone, or at least everyone the Plague comes in contact with, and as such is able to discriminate between those who have forgotten the word "I," and regular humans.

However, it is important to note that both Worms and Herb Brides are both inhuman, despite the fact that Herb Brides LOOK human. We never see anyone in the game be immune to the disease aside from Bulls, Herb Brides, and most assuredly but not definitely Worms. What does this mean? Is Mother Boddho lying? Does no one meet her standards?

What's interesting, is what the Sand Plague says him/herself (there are two voices). "Give me a hundred. Out of them, two might survive, but those two will be worth hundreds of hundreds." It constantly praises undergoing suffering to become a greater human, which is similar to the Kain's idea of humans (being that they are meant to expand as springs or something eccentric). No one can meet the Sand Plague's challenge, as it leaves no survivors. I don't have the time Artemy can survive the plague in game, but rest assured it's not more than a few days at best, which is likely what any NPC is capable of.

TL:DR Only the inhuman beasts seem immune to Plague. Mother Boddho is a racist evil being who kills people bc she thinks they aren't good enough.