The Beginning of the End (Zombie RP) discussion

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The zombies in this roleplay are inspired by those seen in the series the Walking Dead and Night of The Living Dead. Here is a brief run down of how the zombie virus acts and spreads after a person comes into contact with the infection;

• The initial pathogen is easily spread, assumed to airborne or waterborne because of the speed at which it infects. Most will not know they are infected (at least not until the outbreak is announced in roleplay). Symptoms do appear in around 1 out of 10 people and manifest in what might be described as a cold or mild flu. The recovery period for this is around 3-4 days and has no effect on the virus strain. Everyone in roleplay will contract this virus.

• The pathogen works by bringing back the recently deceased. The dead corpse of anyone that dies for any reason in roleplay will reanimate as a zombie, unless the brain of the individual is badly damaged or destroyed or the person was dead prior to the outbreak. When a person dies, the infection they carry reactivates critical areas of the brain that support necessary vital systems, resulting in reanimation. Because only a portion of the brain is reactivated, the reanimated person retains only a physical resemblance to their former self.

• Those who are bitten or badly scratched by a zombie go through a state of fever, aches, and internal bleeding, and this will ultimately be fatal. The pathogen spreads into the brain like meningitis. It infects synapses, mostly concentrating on those in the brain stem. It eventually causes the adrenal glands to hemorrhage and the brain to shutdown, all brain activity would cease, followed by the major organs and the body would be clinically dead: no measurable brain activity, no reflexes, and no respiration or pulse. A variable time later, the pathogen, through some means, would revive synapses it infected and reactivate the brainstem and other parts of the cerebrum and cerebellum of the dead body.

The following explain the two ways in which people can become zombies;

• Latent: In the roleplay, most, if not every, human being on the planet is believed to be infected, where the pathogen remains latent or dormant within them. Any time a human dies they will reanimate, bitten or not, unless their brain is destroyed or severely damaged.

• Fluid Contact/Bites/Scratches: Though physical contact with a zombie's saliva or blood will not cause an individual fatal infection, any fluid contact with open wounds will lead to an irreversible contamination of the individual. Zombie bites are not necessarily fatal because of the zombie pathogen. One possible explanation is that, through bites, the pathogen induces a rapid immune system response that accelerates the onset and severity of symptoms caused by bacteria in the zombie's mouth. While zombie scratches and clawing rarely cause fatal infections, the deep gouges left by zombie bites are almost always fatal; death can potentially be avoided if the bite is on an appendage, which must then be immediately amputated. However, this does not always work, and bites on the torso, or on veins or arteries are always fatal. Even if an amputation proves successful at removing the infection, blood loss is also extremely dangerous due to the generally unprofessional execution of the procedure.