Light Ice
A Real Bastard
- Joined
- Feb 12, 2003
- Posts
- 5,397
The years is 2008 and the world is as you see it around you now, an overcrowded technological marvel with a rapidly moving and utterly diverse population. We will begin our story in a fictitious rural town called "Bending", located an hour from the city of Rochester in Central New York State. The area is notorious for its vineyards and farmland, with suburban and urban centers at least an hour's drive away.
Bending's population sits annually at just beyond a hundred, and the town's economy is remarkably stable. A great portion of the community's money comes from a modest summer-autumn market for the town's local wines. It is not unusual to have a hundred or so "tourists" from the nearby cities of Rochester and Syracuse in the town at any given time, touring the wineries and staying in the town's subsequent pair of bed and breakfast inns.
Setting
Date: June 27th, 2008
Weather: 74 Degrees with a Mild, Eastern Breeze and Clear Skies
Town: Bedding, NY
Location: Kipper's Tavern - The town's restaurant and bar, family owned and operated for over a century. Our characters will start here.
Stage of Outbreak: The virus has just become acknowledged to the public as a virus, discounting previous reports of "rioting". Originating near the West Coast, it has spread within the last week throughout the majority of the United States. Reporters on the local news station issue orders passed on by Government Agencies for residents to stay within their homes.
Last evening's broadcast reported that Pennsylvania had not only been overrun, but that efforts to secure New York's Southern Border had dramatically and systemically failed.
The Virus [While zombie lore is extensive, portions of this are shamelessly stolen from the pages of a Max Brooks publication.]
The origin of this outbreak stems from a virus known as Solanum, and the details of this virus are few and far between. Upon entering the blood stream the virus immediately travels to the victim's brain, attacking the frontal lobe. The virus infects healthy cells and mutates them, effectively killing the brain. As the mutation spreads the brain becomes something else entirely, a hybrid organ that can utilize but is in no way dependent on the body.
The virus is 100% communicable, and 100% lethal in humans. It is not airborne, and it cannot cross species. There is no treatment.
Infection
Most commonly communicated through a bite or scratch, Solanum incubates within a short hour through most hosts. Symptoms are almost immediate and violent, beginning with severe headaches that soon extend through most of the victim's muscle groups. Cramping, vomiting, shortness of breath follow. Within forty minutes the victim lacks the stamina to walk, and shortly after the victim dies.
Corpses cannot be infected with Solanum. The virus needs living tissue. It does not create life, it simply alters it into something perverse. Unfortunately, the brain is often the last organ to completely fail. Live cells within a brain are a home to the disease, which means those killed by zombie bites and attacks will almost always reanimate.
Reanimation - The Living "Dead"
Because Solanum effectively kills the victim's brain, they are no longer alive in the meaningful sense. Victims will reanimate within ten minutes after death, and no portion of their personality effectively remains. They have no memories, no emotions, and no cognitive ability.
Capabilities - The Living "Dead"
Zombies, which I will now allow as a moniker, are not superhuman. They function in ways very similar to the way human beings function. They will appear pale, with discolored skin. Their eyes do not turn red or gold, but instead dramatically pale in coloration.
Zombies can run as quickly as they would have as living beings, at least shortly after they have been reanimated. It has been established that as days progress and the undead body continues to decompose that motor functions gradually become more and more difficult to accomplish. A zombie's ability to run degrades into a hastened shuffle, which fully degrades in a shambling stumble. Zombies are not capable climbers, struggling in even the most simple of circumstances to scale any kind of height.
An advantage the zombie has over human beings, however, is that they do not and cannot tire. They are absolutely undaunted by long distances, they do not lose focus or intensity, and as such are extremely formidable.
The zombie can sense its prey using all of the human senses at rates comparable to human conditions at first, only degrading as decomposition or injury occurs. Removing a zombie's eyes will effectively blind it, but it will continue to use all other senses actively.
Hunting - The Living "Dead"
Zombies are relentlessly hungry and incredibly lethal. They do not sleep, they do not breath. They simply kill and devour. At night they have been proven extremely competent killers.
Mortality - The Living "Dead"
The brain of a zombie takes as long as five years to completely rot away. They do not need to ingest anything to sustain themselves. A zombie will eat itself until its stomach bursts, and continue to eat. The only way to effectively kill a zombie is to destroy the brain.
Removing limbs, destroying the spine, or injuring the zombie in any way may slow its advance but will not deter or stop an attack.
They do not breath, but their lungs continue to respirate air. This accounts for their ability to "moan" and snarl.
To Join The Story
All interested can PM me with a brief character bio and introduction to join.
Bending's population sits annually at just beyond a hundred, and the town's economy is remarkably stable. A great portion of the community's money comes from a modest summer-autumn market for the town's local wines. It is not unusual to have a hundred or so "tourists" from the nearby cities of Rochester and Syracuse in the town at any given time, touring the wineries and staying in the town's subsequent pair of bed and breakfast inns.
Setting
Date: June 27th, 2008
Weather: 74 Degrees with a Mild, Eastern Breeze and Clear Skies
Town: Bedding, NY
Location: Kipper's Tavern - The town's restaurant and bar, family owned and operated for over a century. Our characters will start here.
Stage of Outbreak: The virus has just become acknowledged to the public as a virus, discounting previous reports of "rioting". Originating near the West Coast, it has spread within the last week throughout the majority of the United States. Reporters on the local news station issue orders passed on by Government Agencies for residents to stay within their homes.
Last evening's broadcast reported that Pennsylvania had not only been overrun, but that efforts to secure New York's Southern Border had dramatically and systemically failed.
The Virus [While zombie lore is extensive, portions of this are shamelessly stolen from the pages of a Max Brooks publication.]
The origin of this outbreak stems from a virus known as Solanum, and the details of this virus are few and far between. Upon entering the blood stream the virus immediately travels to the victim's brain, attacking the frontal lobe. The virus infects healthy cells and mutates them, effectively killing the brain. As the mutation spreads the brain becomes something else entirely, a hybrid organ that can utilize but is in no way dependent on the body.
The virus is 100% communicable, and 100% lethal in humans. It is not airborne, and it cannot cross species. There is no treatment.
Infection
Most commonly communicated through a bite or scratch, Solanum incubates within a short hour through most hosts. Symptoms are almost immediate and violent, beginning with severe headaches that soon extend through most of the victim's muscle groups. Cramping, vomiting, shortness of breath follow. Within forty minutes the victim lacks the stamina to walk, and shortly after the victim dies.
Corpses cannot be infected with Solanum. The virus needs living tissue. It does not create life, it simply alters it into something perverse. Unfortunately, the brain is often the last organ to completely fail. Live cells within a brain are a home to the disease, which means those killed by zombie bites and attacks will almost always reanimate.
Reanimation - The Living "Dead"
Because Solanum effectively kills the victim's brain, they are no longer alive in the meaningful sense. Victims will reanimate within ten minutes after death, and no portion of their personality effectively remains. They have no memories, no emotions, and no cognitive ability.
Capabilities - The Living "Dead"
Zombies, which I will now allow as a moniker, are not superhuman. They function in ways very similar to the way human beings function. They will appear pale, with discolored skin. Their eyes do not turn red or gold, but instead dramatically pale in coloration.
Zombies can run as quickly as they would have as living beings, at least shortly after they have been reanimated. It has been established that as days progress and the undead body continues to decompose that motor functions gradually become more and more difficult to accomplish. A zombie's ability to run degrades into a hastened shuffle, which fully degrades in a shambling stumble. Zombies are not capable climbers, struggling in even the most simple of circumstances to scale any kind of height.
An advantage the zombie has over human beings, however, is that they do not and cannot tire. They are absolutely undaunted by long distances, they do not lose focus or intensity, and as such are extremely formidable.
The zombie can sense its prey using all of the human senses at rates comparable to human conditions at first, only degrading as decomposition or injury occurs. Removing a zombie's eyes will effectively blind it, but it will continue to use all other senses actively.
Hunting - The Living "Dead"
Zombies are relentlessly hungry and incredibly lethal. They do not sleep, they do not breath. They simply kill and devour. At night they have been proven extremely competent killers.
Mortality - The Living "Dead"
The brain of a zombie takes as long as five years to completely rot away. They do not need to ingest anything to sustain themselves. A zombie will eat itself until its stomach bursts, and continue to eat. The only way to effectively kill a zombie is to destroy the brain.
Removing limbs, destroying the spine, or injuring the zombie in any way may slow its advance but will not deter or stop an attack.
They do not breath, but their lungs continue to respirate air. This accounts for their ability to "moan" and snarl.
To Join The Story
All interested can PM me with a brief character bio and introduction to join.
