Zombism
Zombism is a condition spread via various pathogens characterized primarily by rewiring the central nervous system in ways that weaken sensitivity to pain, remove higher cognitive functions and result in infected individuals targeting noninfected individuals with violence. Zombism has historically at times been used interchangeably with revenancy, the term used to refer to any circumstance where an individual has had all life functions cease yet remain animate. Clinically speaking, those who are reanimated via supernatural means are not considered zombies in the modern era, as though some examples of this act similarly to those infected by the range of diseases causing zombism, such as Inferi, others do not. The term ‘zombie’ is considered a slur when applied to individuals like the teenagers brought back during the Reanimation of 2008 or the members of Franchouchou, whom while clinically dead retain higher cognitive function and are no more predisposed to violence than the average person. The remainder of this article will thus focus on the conditions considered forms of zombism by medical professionals. For most strains of zombism there is no cure outside of supernatural methods (eg: resurrection rituals or use of healing potions), though a few can be defeated with vaccinations, antiviral drugs or alterations of temperature around the host.
The most baseline cause of zombism is the Solanum virus, which has existed for thousands of years. Solanum in nature is only capable of infecting humans in the present, though archaeological evidence suggests that now-largely-extinct species such as dinosaurs or mammoths may have acted as carriers of proto-Solanum viruses that made the jump to humans during the Ice Age. Solanum is universally infectious and transmitted via bites or deep scratches. Anyone infected this way will inevitably die and reanimate seeking to consume any living flesh within 24-48 hours, unless the infected area is amputated immediately. Over the centuries, there have been numerous small outbreaks of Solanum as well as at least one large-scale outbreak in Roman-occupied Britain. Solanum’s first known natural mutation was also in Britain in the 1800’s, where the ‘dreadfuls’ outbreak was sparked by corpses who rose from the graves despite being dead for years. However, Solanum is not the only natural cause of zombism. A plant known as the resurrection herb, native to the Korean Peninsula, is host to a parasitic worm that, if ingested by humans, will reproduce within their bodies and reanimate them, causing them to display behavior similar to Solanum infectees, albeit with some deviations. Those under the influence of the resurrection worms tend to have a low tolerance for warmth, functioning only in darkness or cold conditions. Additionally, the resurrection worms will be purged from the body if infectees are submerged in water, which was used to deal with a Joseon-era outbreak of zombism caused by the resurrection worm.
Both Solanum and the resurrection worm drew the interests of scientists researching biological warfare. The Darwinist Entente Powers of World War I considered using the resurrection worm as a bioweapon at the urging of the Japanese, whom had captured specimens of it from their occupation of Korea. This proposal ultimately was rejected and most of the specimens were destroyed (though the undeterred Dr. Herbert West would persist with his own experiments into the interwar period, which famously ended in disaster). However, it was the Second World War that would pave the way for zombism to become a more potent threat to humanity. Nazi Germany would begin research into Solanum as part of their broader Wunderwaffe efforts. Nazi research would ultimately lead to the creation of the original iteration of the compound known as Trioxin thanks to the efforts of Nazi scientist Edward Richtofen. Richtofen would ultimately have second thoughts about the bioweapon and would aid in destroying many of those infected with the prototype Trioxin alongside a trio of soldiers. However, samples were beyond Richtofen’s control, with a group of American soldiers participating in the D-Day landings having a vicious encounter with some Trioxin infectees during the invasion. This led to the compound being discovered by the Allies. Thanks to intelligence provided by defecting Nazi scientists Frederick Vought and Josef Merkwurdgliebe, the US would seize most samples of Trioxin in the closing days of the Second World War, taking them into American custody. A few were taken into Soviet custody or smuggled out by Hydra operatives.
In the era immediately following the end of the Second World War, it was an alien incursion that led to the first large-scale zombie outbreak. A race of aliens led by one Commander Eros attempted to raise the dead of the planet as part of a plan to prevent humanity from harnessing a universe-threatening element at some point in the future. To that end, the aliens made use of radiation to reanimate the dead to attack the living. The immediate aftermath of this saw the US government ramp up research into Trioxin, seeing the potential controlled reanimated corpses could have in warfare. However, the first containment breach on Trioxin occurred the same year, when a leak near the futurist town of Punchbowl, Pennsylvania reanimated a dead man in the graveyard, who triggered an outbreak that overran the town. Following a second containment breach not too far from the original site in Pennsylvania, President Esker Scott Anderson formally ordered an end to testing on Trioxin and that all samples of it in US custody be destroyed. This order, however, was not followed and several crates of the substance remained in secret warehouses until Richard Monckton assumed the presidency. Monckton, looking for a degree of plausible deniability, would decide to contract out research into zombism ot the private sector, settling on a company known as Umbrella Pharmaceuticals as the primary custodian of Trioxin research on behalf of the US government. Umbrella was already tasked with carrying out research into biowarfare, circumventing rules prohibiting such by also researching cures. Umbrella CEO Oswell Spencer was deeply interested in the potential bioweapon use of Trioxin.
One of the first breakthroughs Umbrella had was in removing the effect of Trioxin that rendered the host utterly unintelligent. After a number of experiments, a variant of Trioxin that allowed infectees to retain capacity for speech and strategy while maintaining a hunger for human brains was developed. It was this variant that was responsible for the Louisville zombie outbreak of 1983. Umbrella’s research would continue to develop a number of variants of Trioxin over the next several decades, each one varying significantly from baseline Solanum or earlier iterations of Trioxin. The most well-known version, the T-virus that overwhelmed Raccoon City in 1998. However, this was not the only outbreak caused by Umbrella’s meddling with Trioxin. The 2003 London outbreak, the 2006 Willamette outbreak and the 2011 Thousand Oaks and Banoi outbreaks just the confirmed outbreaks resulting from Umbrella’s actions. While never fully confirmed, it seems plausible a number of other undead outbreaks such as the 2009 Santiago outbreak, the 2011 Havana outbreak, the 2017 Little Haven outbreak and the 2019 Pleasant Valley outbreak were also the result of Umbrella’s action. The DC2 outbreak in rural Texas in 2007, while not caused by Umbrella directly, was also the result of research conducted by ex-Umbrella personnel on behalf of Biosyn. In the end, the 2021 fall of Las Vegas to a horde of zombies that escaped an Umbrella facility was the last straw and the US government forcefully dissolved the company the same year. However, the President’s Day Massacre and the assumption of power by David Jefferson Adams let key management officials off the hook for liability and allowed them to reconstitute themselves as the Randall Corporation. Only time will tell if the revamped company will continue on the path they already started upon.
While the path of Trioxin in Umbrella’s custody has led to the most notable zombie outbreaks and viruses, it is certainly not the only source of them over the decades. The most notable undead zombie strain not involving Solanum or Trioxin derived viruses in the modern era was the Kellis-Amberlee outbreak of 2014, sparked by an interaction between a cure developed for the common cold and a cure for the common cold mutating, though thankfully this outbreak was contained before it could get too widespread. Of note as well, however, is the existence of so-called ‘fast zombies.’ These are beings who possess a number of zombie traits (such as a loss of brain function and a tendency towards cannibalism and harm towards the uninfected) without becoming deceased. The Rage virus that breached containment in the United Kingdom in 2002 and hit Germany in 2010 is probably the most iconic example of this. Other similar viruses exist as well, however. In 2006, a variant of bird flu gave rise to a disease affecting prepubescent children, rendering them homicidally violent and cannibalistic. The bioweapon known as Trixie lacked the same age limits and ravaged the town of Evans City in 1973 and the town of Ogden Marsh in 2010. Variants of the rabies virus have also been documented that cause the general symptoms of zombism. Rabies variants are responsible for the 2008 Los Angeles apartment outbreak, among several others. Some zombies are the result of parasitic infection by alien races such as the Vodun or the ZQN. Other kinds of zombies are the result of demonic possession–the Deadites, the Stitched and Medeiros syndrome infectees all display the general behavior associated with zombism coupled with an explicit sort of malevolence owing to the source being demons.
The diverse array of zombie viruses out there naturally has stoked widespread fear of an apocalyptic zombie outbreak. While most outbreaks do not last long thanks to rapid governmental responses, some strains seem more likely to trigger apocalyptic consequences. The variant of the virus that hit South Korea for the first time in 2016 and again in 2019 showed the potential of a highly transmissible zombie virus, as it ravaged the country to the point it was forced to reunify with North Korea under the North’s authoritarian rule. Many have speculated that the virus was a bioweapon–perhaps engineered from the same parasitic worm that caused the Joseon outbreak–created specifically to make the Greater Korean Republic’s existence possible. A similar strain ravaged Japan in 2022, but eventually a cure was developed by Yuuko Sagami before it could wipe out civilization. The variant responsible for the Seattle outbreak-which rendered infected people hungry for human brains but retaining mental capacity so long as they could consume them-likewise was contained before it got too big. Another strain that very plausibly could threaten the world is the highly infectious Crossed virus, which couples many symptoms associated with Rage with an intense sense of sadism and a persistent ability to use tools. This virus, fortunately, is not native to our timeline and has only been encountered in extradimensional investigations (though the so-called ‘Taipei strain’ of the Alvin virus that broke out in 2021 has heavy overlap with the symptoms of the Crossed virus). Speaking of parallel timelines, others have been documented where Kellis-Amberlee or Trioxin largely overran the human race, reducing humanity to bands of survivors and petty warlords. There have even been documented worlds where Solanum pushed humanity towards the brink, though the limits of Solanum did allow humanity to overcome it after a long struggle. The specter of an actual, full-on zombie apocalypse remains dreaded, though it has been avoided.
Zombism is a condition spread via various pathogens characterized primarily by rewiring the central nervous system in ways that weaken sensitivity to pain, remove higher cognitive functions and result in infected individuals targeting noninfected individuals with violence. Zombism has historically at times been used interchangeably with revenancy, the term used to refer to any circumstance where an individual has had all life functions cease yet remain animate. Clinically speaking, those who are reanimated via supernatural means are not considered zombies in the modern era, as though some examples of this act similarly to those infected by the range of diseases causing zombism, such as Inferi, others do not. The term ‘zombie’ is considered a slur when applied to individuals like the teenagers brought back during the Reanimation of 2008 or the members of Franchouchou, whom while clinically dead retain higher cognitive function and are no more predisposed to violence than the average person. The remainder of this article will thus focus on the conditions considered forms of zombism by medical professionals. For most strains of zombism there is no cure outside of supernatural methods (eg: resurrection rituals or use of healing potions), though a few can be defeated with vaccinations, antiviral drugs or alterations of temperature around the host.
The most baseline cause of zombism is the Solanum virus, which has existed for thousands of years. Solanum in nature is only capable of infecting humans in the present, though archaeological evidence suggests that now-largely-extinct species such as dinosaurs or mammoths may have acted as carriers of proto-Solanum viruses that made the jump to humans during the Ice Age. Solanum is universally infectious and transmitted via bites or deep scratches. Anyone infected this way will inevitably die and reanimate seeking to consume any living flesh within 24-48 hours, unless the infected area is amputated immediately. Over the centuries, there have been numerous small outbreaks of Solanum as well as at least one large-scale outbreak in Roman-occupied Britain. Solanum’s first known natural mutation was also in Britain in the 1800’s, where the ‘dreadfuls’ outbreak was sparked by corpses who rose from the graves despite being dead for years. However, Solanum is not the only natural cause of zombism. A plant known as the resurrection herb, native to the Korean Peninsula, is host to a parasitic worm that, if ingested by humans, will reproduce within their bodies and reanimate them, causing them to display behavior similar to Solanum infectees, albeit with some deviations. Those under the influence of the resurrection worms tend to have a low tolerance for warmth, functioning only in darkness or cold conditions. Additionally, the resurrection worms will be purged from the body if infectees are submerged in water, which was used to deal with a Joseon-era outbreak of zombism caused by the resurrection worm.
Both Solanum and the resurrection worm drew the interests of scientists researching biological warfare. The Darwinist Entente Powers of World War I considered using the resurrection worm as a bioweapon at the urging of the Japanese, whom had captured specimens of it from their occupation of Korea. This proposal ultimately was rejected and most of the specimens were destroyed (though the undeterred Dr. Herbert West would persist with his own experiments into the interwar period, which famously ended in disaster). However, it was the Second World War that would pave the way for zombism to become a more potent threat to humanity. Nazi Germany would begin research into Solanum as part of their broader Wunderwaffe efforts. Nazi research would ultimately lead to the creation of the original iteration of the compound known as Trioxin thanks to the efforts of Nazi scientist Edward Richtofen. Richtofen would ultimately have second thoughts about the bioweapon and would aid in destroying many of those infected with the prototype Trioxin alongside a trio of soldiers. However, samples were beyond Richtofen’s control, with a group of American soldiers participating in the D-Day landings having a vicious encounter with some Trioxin infectees during the invasion. This led to the compound being discovered by the Allies. Thanks to intelligence provided by defecting Nazi scientists Frederick Vought and Josef Merkwurdgliebe, the US would seize most samples of Trioxin in the closing days of the Second World War, taking them into American custody. A few were taken into Soviet custody or smuggled out by Hydra operatives.
In the era immediately following the end of the Second World War, it was an alien incursion that led to the first large-scale zombie outbreak. A race of aliens led by one Commander Eros attempted to raise the dead of the planet as part of a plan to prevent humanity from harnessing a universe-threatening element at some point in the future. To that end, the aliens made use of radiation to reanimate the dead to attack the living. The immediate aftermath of this saw the US government ramp up research into Trioxin, seeing the potential controlled reanimated corpses could have in warfare. However, the first containment breach on Trioxin occurred the same year, when a leak near the futurist town of Punchbowl, Pennsylvania reanimated a dead man in the graveyard, who triggered an outbreak that overran the town. Following a second containment breach not too far from the original site in Pennsylvania, President Esker Scott Anderson formally ordered an end to testing on Trioxin and that all samples of it in US custody be destroyed. This order, however, was not followed and several crates of the substance remained in secret warehouses until Richard Monckton assumed the presidency. Monckton, looking for a degree of plausible deniability, would decide to contract out research into zombism ot the private sector, settling on a company known as Umbrella Pharmaceuticals as the primary custodian of Trioxin research on behalf of the US government. Umbrella was already tasked with carrying out research into biowarfare, circumventing rules prohibiting such by also researching cures. Umbrella CEO Oswell Spencer was deeply interested in the potential bioweapon use of Trioxin.
One of the first breakthroughs Umbrella had was in removing the effect of Trioxin that rendered the host utterly unintelligent. After a number of experiments, a variant of Trioxin that allowed infectees to retain capacity for speech and strategy while maintaining a hunger for human brains was developed. It was this variant that was responsible for the Louisville zombie outbreak of 1983. Umbrella’s research would continue to develop a number of variants of Trioxin over the next several decades, each one varying significantly from baseline Solanum or earlier iterations of Trioxin. The most well-known version, the T-virus that overwhelmed Raccoon City in 1998. However, this was not the only outbreak caused by Umbrella’s meddling with Trioxin. The 2003 London outbreak, the 2006 Willamette outbreak and the 2011 Thousand Oaks and Banoi outbreaks just the confirmed outbreaks resulting from Umbrella’s actions. While never fully confirmed, it seems plausible a number of other undead outbreaks such as the 2009 Santiago outbreak, the 2011 Havana outbreak, the 2017 Little Haven outbreak and the 2019 Pleasant Valley outbreak were also the result of Umbrella’s action. The DC2 outbreak in rural Texas in 2007, while not caused by Umbrella directly, was also the result of research conducted by ex-Umbrella personnel on behalf of Biosyn. In the end, the 2021 fall of Las Vegas to a horde of zombies that escaped an Umbrella facility was the last straw and the US government forcefully dissolved the company the same year. However, the President’s Day Massacre and the assumption of power by David Jefferson Adams let key management officials off the hook for liability and allowed them to reconstitute themselves as the Randall Corporation. Only time will tell if the revamped company will continue on the path they already started upon.
While the path of Trioxin in Umbrella’s custody has led to the most notable zombie outbreaks and viruses, it is certainly not the only source of them over the decades. The most notable undead zombie strain not involving Solanum or Trioxin derived viruses in the modern era was the Kellis-Amberlee outbreak of 2014, sparked by an interaction between a cure developed for the common cold and a cure for the common cold mutating, though thankfully this outbreak was contained before it could get too widespread. Of note as well, however, is the existence of so-called ‘fast zombies.’ These are beings who possess a number of zombie traits (such as a loss of brain function and a tendency towards cannibalism and harm towards the uninfected) without becoming deceased. The Rage virus that breached containment in the United Kingdom in 2002 and hit Germany in 2010 is probably the most iconic example of this. Other similar viruses exist as well, however. In 2006, a variant of bird flu gave rise to a disease affecting prepubescent children, rendering them homicidally violent and cannibalistic. The bioweapon known as Trixie lacked the same age limits and ravaged the town of Evans City in 1973 and the town of Ogden Marsh in 2010. Variants of the rabies virus have also been documented that cause the general symptoms of zombism. Rabies variants are responsible for the 2008 Los Angeles apartment outbreak, among several others. Some zombies are the result of parasitic infection by alien races such as the Vodun or the ZQN. Other kinds of zombies are the result of demonic possession–the Deadites, the Stitched and Medeiros syndrome infectees all display the general behavior associated with zombism coupled with an explicit sort of malevolence owing to the source being demons.
The diverse array of zombie viruses out there naturally has stoked widespread fear of an apocalyptic zombie outbreak. While most outbreaks do not last long thanks to rapid governmental responses, some strains seem more likely to trigger apocalyptic consequences. The variant of the virus that hit South Korea for the first time in 2016 and again in 2019 showed the potential of a highly transmissible zombie virus, as it ravaged the country to the point it was forced to reunify with North Korea under the North’s authoritarian rule. Many have speculated that the virus was a bioweapon–perhaps engineered from the same parasitic worm that caused the Joseon outbreak–created specifically to make the Greater Korean Republic’s existence possible. A similar strain ravaged Japan in 2022, but eventually a cure was developed by Yuuko Sagami before it could wipe out civilization. The variant responsible for the Seattle outbreak-which rendered infected people hungry for human brains but retaining mental capacity so long as they could consume them-likewise was contained before it got too big. Another strain that very plausibly could threaten the world is the highly infectious Crossed virus, which couples many symptoms associated with Rage with an intense sense of sadism and a persistent ability to use tools. This virus, fortunately, is not native to our timeline and has only been encountered in extradimensional investigations (though the so-called ‘Taipei strain’ of the Alvin virus that broke out in 2021 has heavy overlap with the symptoms of the Crossed virus). Speaking of parallel timelines, others have been documented where Kellis-Amberlee or Trioxin largely overran the human race, reducing humanity to bands of survivors and petty warlords. There have even been documented worlds where Solanum pushed humanity towards the brink, though the limits of Solanum did allow humanity to overcome it after a long struggle. The specter of an actual, full-on zombie apocalypse remains dreaded, though it has been avoided.
References
Harry Potter, Generation Dead, Zombie Land Saga, Community (Epidemiology), The Zombie Survival Guide, Primal, The Reluctant Prometheus (David Dunwoody short story), The Zombie Survival Guide: Recorded Attacks, Pride and Prejudice and Zombies, Kingdom, Leviathan, Herbert West: Re-Animator, Night of the Living Dead, Call of Duty: Nazi Zombies, Overlord, The Boys, Dr. Strangelove, Marvel Comics, Plan 9 From Outer Space, Stubbs the Zombie, The Company, Resident Evil, Return of the Living Dead, Shaun of the Dead, Dead Rising, Dead Island, Zombies en la Moneda, Juan of the Dead, Anna and the Apocalypse, Little Monsters, Planet Terror, Jurassic Park, Army of the Dead, The Handmaid’s Tale, School Live!, Newsflesh, 28 Days Later, Siege of the Undead, Cooties, The Crazies (1973 and 2010), Quarantine, Roswell Conspiracies (Comic Book), I Am a Hero, Evil Dead, Stitched, [REC], Train to Busan, #Alive, High School of the Dead, Apocalypse no Toride, iZombie, Crossed, The Sadness, Day/Dawn/Land of the Dead, The Walking Dead, World War Z
Harry Potter, Generation Dead, Zombie Land Saga, Community (Epidemiology), The Zombie Survival Guide, Primal, The Reluctant Prometheus (David Dunwoody short story), The Zombie Survival Guide: Recorded Attacks, Pride and Prejudice and Zombies, Kingdom, Leviathan, Herbert West: Re-Animator, Night of the Living Dead, Call of Duty: Nazi Zombies, Overlord, The Boys, Dr. Strangelove, Marvel Comics, Plan 9 From Outer Space, Stubbs the Zombie, The Company, Resident Evil, Return of the Living Dead, Shaun of the Dead, Dead Rising, Dead Island, Zombies en la Moneda, Juan of the Dead, Anna and the Apocalypse, Little Monsters, Planet Terror, Jurassic Park, Army of the Dead, The Handmaid’s Tale, School Live!, Newsflesh, 28 Days Later, Siege of the Undead, Cooties, The Crazies (1973 and 2010), Quarantine, Roswell Conspiracies (Comic Book), I Am a Hero, Evil Dead, Stitched, [REC], Train to Busan, #Alive, High School of the Dead, Apocalypse no Toride, iZombie, Crossed, The Sadness, Day/Dawn/Land of the Dead, The Walking Dead, World War Z
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