DrBezendrine
Resident Shitposter
These are stranger times. . .
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These are strange times. . .
Rusted cars litter the roadside like broken teeth. Nighttime is pitch black, punctured only by flashlights, torches, and fireflies. In the day, lonely pothole-covered avenues gather leaves, matted by the rain. They’ve been quiet for three years.
It is a time of duct tape and bartering. One year ago, during the Great American Restoration, people protected their dollars, waiting for the upswing. Now, they’ve taped them to candlelit walls: memorials of a time long gone.
The Polypox Pandemic hit in 2014, but its vaccine is what ended civilization. The World Health Organization’s cure, distributed through elementary schools, offices, and grocery stores, was handed out by nurses, principals, and managers.
It was the honest people who did it. Good men and women—fighting a pandemic. The medicine worked. Everyone got better, for a while. Then, it happened. The children turned first. Then, the elderly. Then, anyone who’d been bitten.
The hospitals locked up. Grocery stores became supply depots. The Great American Restoration, like the British Repair Effort and the Chinese Revival, came forth. There were subway station food markets and condo towns. There were rooftop dances, gymnasium picnics, checkpoints, and punch cards.
Knox County was luckier than most. All those fields, the woods, and the Fort Knox Division to watch it all. For two years, patrol boats swept the Ohio River—powering the civilian protection zones with food, water, and manpower.
In time, however, the boats stopped coming. The radios went quiet. Local utilities ran dry. Caravans, zone officials, and families started whispering: The Great Quarantines in Chicago, New York City, and Miami had fallen.
The Great American Restoration had failed. . .
In 2017, Knox County is a home of forgotten shops, dusty bedrooms, and sidewalk grass. In hidden fields, farmers grow crops. Deep in the neighborhoods, homeless survivors warm their hands atop trash can fires, wary of what the light might attract.
. . .Several communities have risen. Most, only to fall.
Folks teach kids to hunt, to cook, to build, and to fight. For some, it’s still the Land of Opportunity. Ripped car radios whisper trade tales over static. Urban decay bands twang songs of a new dawn. The land is torn, but soul still thrives.
Some melt metal. Others breed horses. Office cubicles, hotel rooms, and outhouses, now, are places of study, worship, and refuge. In forgotten homes, hooded men scribe strange books. Smiling travelers hum harmonicas on the highway, drinking whisky canteens slung by silken rope.
There is a place many go, fortified by local traders. Barter Town, they say, is protected by hired guns. Its wooden walls are thick, and its sand—coarse. Bearded-folk chatter, and adopted families laugh. The gates have been opened, and scarecrows have been hung.
. . .These are strange times, indeed.
Polypox
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Tales of Things: Polypox
Polypox, responsible for The Polypox Pandemic of 2014, surfaced as early as 2009 in small populations around the globe.
While the cause of Polypox’s massive upsurge is unknown, disease case studies released via Atlanta’s Center of Disease Control suggest genetic drift to be a contributing factor to its contained state between 2009 and 2014. Due to latent genetics present in small populations caused by inbreeding, low population diversity, or even unknown adaptations, Polypox remained relatively contained before wide-scale outbreak reports across Europe, the Middle East, and South America.
Symptoms
In 2017, Polypox is presumed to be eradicated—as any who were not aided by a vaccine succumbed to the disease within three months. Quite a lot of contention exists about Polypox’s symptoms—which were highly varied on a victim-to-victim basis. During The Great American Restoration, many studies were released through various Capital Area Chapters of the American Red Cross. The Great Chicago Quarantine, in particular, was responsible for a resurgence of medical information via a highly-coordinated intranet network.
Thus, any modern Polypox symptom records exist entirely due to the Red Cross associates, medical personnel, server administrators, and United States Military personnel who studied, recorded, and reported on the disease. Today, many of these officials are presumed to be dead—as The Great Chicago Quarantine lost contact, and intranet sustainability, in early 2016.
Polypox symptoms, reports state, are not dissimilar to those sustained by smallpox victims. Those contracting Polypox suffered full-body discomfort, fever, severe back pain, and vomiting. Unlike smallpox, however, Polypox victims rarely suffered from typical pox-related spots—which are regularly flat and red. Several cases of Polypox-related spots, lesions, and blisters did exist, yet were strangely rare. Polypox had an incredibly high fatality rate—existing between 99 and 100 percent with standard deviation statistics applied, which was far deadlier than smallpox’s historical 30-percent fatality rate.
Polypox, itself, has carried the -pox definition in street term only. Distantly related to smallpox—Variola major and Variola minor—the infectious disease, “Polypox,” was given such a name by French scientist, Louis Moreau, who reported on the disease on Frebruary 2, 2010. Officially titled Orthopoxvirus Gestarum, Polypox reportedly sustained a variety of clinical trials well before The Polypox Pandemic of 2014.
Namesake and Rumors
Part of the genus orthopoxvirus, Orthopoxvirus Gestarum was, reportedly, an empirical element of the world’s ‘modern’ -pox diseases. Due to its odd namesake, many have speculated upon Polypox’s origins. Orthopoxvirus Gestarum was highly underdeveloped, evolutionarily-speaking, sharing qualities of many previously eradicated DNA viruses. The genus orthopoxvirus is defined by an ability to replicate an affected cell’s cytoplasm—rather than its nucleus.
For this reason, the existence of Polypox is, reportedly, a biological anomaly. No conclusive research depicting the disease’s origin or sheer unlikelihood of existing, today, exists.
The Polypox Vaccine
Within one month of Polypox’s pandemic status, a vaccine was procured. Much like Polypox’s origins, its vaccine’s dynamics, capabilities, and design are incredibly mysterious. Reports suggest a larger archive of vaccine-centric information may indeed exist—yet the archive, itself, has never been found.
The Polypox vaccine was distributed via the World Health Organization and the World Health Assembly—who conducted a coordinated effort of mass surveillance, case identification, and vaccination. First-world patients were processed based upon their respective nation’s security measures.
In America, government officials used information provided by the Department of Homeland Security, the Social Security Administration, and the United States Employment Service to target, vaccinate, and cure diseased individuals. Many were vaccinated in local workplaces, grocery stores, general stores, schools, universities, and local courthouses. The Polypox vaccine, however, spawned horrors far exceeding those created by Orthopoxvirus Gestarum.
Global Downfall and Speculation
While the vaccine, indeed, cured Orthopoxvirus Gestarum with a near-100-percent success rate, its latent effects were devastating to its victims and the world at large. Within sixty days, between 35 and 52 percent of vaccinated individuals displayed bizarre traits, categorized by weakened immune systems, low body temperatures, and—most notably—apparent 'death' and motor function reanimation. Little evidence supports specific symptoms, however, as the global population’s medical resources—at the time—were unable to study the effects in detail. Polypox, recently quelled, had still taken a toll on mass populations, as well as their scientific resources.
The Orthopoxvirus Gestarum vaccine’s release, during the Great American Restoration, was highly scruitinized. Due to its devastating effects, many latent Polypox cases simply ended in disease-related death—as the vaccine’s 35-to-50 percent mortality rate was particularly gruesome to behold. Several reports suggest the local deportation of Polypox-ridden survivors from Civilian Protection Zones and quarantines, as the disease would be devastating to closed populations. No reports of Polypox immunity exist.
The Polypox vaccine, while removed from circulation in mid-2014—a massive feat constructed by the American Red Cross—still appeared in several areas. While poorly supported, reports of minor chemical warfare are rumored to have occurred in the Los Angeles Quarantine, among at least two other establishments classified as Lesser American Quarantines. Because the vaccine’s production halted immediately after its ill effects were realized, any small-scale chemical warfare is expected to have ended—due to the sheer impracticality of using scarce chemical resources. Counter arguments to these claims similarly exist. Military radio reports, alongside various civilian tales, assert that no chemical warfare occurred in Los Angeles, regardless of the quarantine's downfall—which, reportedly, occurred during a city-wide auxiliary power outage.
Rumors about the vaccine’s origins are as odd as they are varied. Today, much of the Polypox Pandemic—as well as its subsequent vaccine—are shrouded in misinformation. Vaccine victims, today, are still studied by survivors, local medical practitioners, and military remnants. Categorized by a crazed demeanor, a hunger for human flesh, baseline motor functions, and a high degree of pain tolerance, the ‘infected’ are the leading factor of the civilized world’s collapse. Seemingly spreading the vaccine's effects via saliva-to-blood or blood-to-blood contact by bite, the 'infected' are considered to be highly contagious.
Many, indeed, cannot determine whether these individuals are alive, deceased, or suffering from something else entirely.
Fort Knox
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Tales of Places: Fort Knox
The 109,000-acre United States Army post, Fort Knox, was responsible for the protection of the Federal Reserve’s most important assets during the Great American Restoration. Before the Polypox Pandemic of 2014, the 99-year-old vault was home to strategic overlooks, a United States Army training center, and a 20-ton door. Inside, approximately 147.3 million ounces of gold, valued at $168 billion, was stored.
During the Polypox Pandemic
In May of 2014, the United States declared Fort Knox to be a priority quarantine. Thus titled “The Fort Knox Quarantine,” the area was zoned off. While little factual information about The Fort Knox Quarantine exists, residents of Louisville claim that the area was used to store remaining United States currency. At the time, The Great American Restoration micromanaged fiscal resources from city to city, funneling important goods, services, and currency to nearby Civilian Protection Zones.
Fort Knox, West Point, Muldraugh, and Valley Station
The Fort Knox Quarantine exists approximately 9.1 miles south of West Point, Kentucky. Those who’ve traveled to Fort Knox, however, frequently take backroads near Lickskillet—due to the general dangers associated with major highway travel. Strangely, most who journey to The Fort Knox Quarantine never return. Locals have speculated that the journey, alone, is too perilous to complete.
Between 2014 and 2016, The Fort Knox Quarantine became increasingly mobilized. Responsible for the protection of West Point, Muldraugh, and Valley Station, The Fort Knox Quarantine initiated the Fort Knox Division, which was an even collection of units sourced from the Air Force, the Marine Corps, the Navy Reserve, and the Army National Guard.
Many speculate that the Fort Knox Quarantine received such an astounding amount of aid due to its positioning, layout, and incredible defensibility. In 2016, residents of West Point, Muldraugh, and Valley Station were sourced for their money. Many, indeed, took part in the sourcing—as these “taxes” were directly used to channel food, water, and other supplies throughout the area. Many of these supplies can still be found, resting in houses, woodland retreats, and even dilapidated stores—provided by The Fort Knox Division through localized Civilian Protection Zones.
Conspiracies and Rumors
Due to the apparent importance of the Fort Knox Quarantine to the United States Military, many rumors have surfaced. Above all, a conspiracy discussing the quarantine’s ties to international aid exists. During the Polypox Pandemic, many nations suffered due to lacking support from the United Nations. Before the nation’s satellite stations were discontinued in August, 2015, reports of international fiscal aid existed—to be sourced from America’s purest form of currency: gold.
Wilder, still, are the allegations about the motives of Fort Knox Quarantine officials—as the Quarantine, itself, was highly secretive. During the Great American Restoration, The Fort Knox Quarantine—survivors say—received a bizarre amount of air traffic, blackouts, and disappearances. Something, it seemed, was happening.
Among the wild rumors which surfaced, one claimed the existence of a Polypox vaccine cure—which would relieve victims of the vaccine’s devastating effects. As of now, no evidence supports the truth of this claim, which surfaced from West Point newspaper writer and conspiracy theorist, David Garner. Other rumors have suggested Fort Knox’s involvement with Polypox, a Second Great American Restoration, and—of course—the failure of the first Great American Restoration.
Fort Knox Today
The Fort Knox Quarantine, in 2017, receives no air traffic. The areas around it, reports say, are devastated by roaming hordes of the infected. Radio broadcasts in late 2015 stated that the Fort Knox Quarantine had fallen, shortly after the collapse of The Great Miami Quarantine. Others have speculated that the quarantine simply stopped giving aid to surrounding areas. Regardless, any remaining military from The Fort Knox Division have lost contact with The Fort Knox Quarantine.
It isn’t rare to hear labored, begrudged campfire tales from the Division’s old members—who haven’t received contact or support in many months. Tales of lessening support, false promises, and blatant lies. Today, The Fort Knox Quarantine rests, gray and battered, within a brown, dead field. Nothing escapes it, sans whispers and tossed dust. A favored campfire story, The Fort Knox Quarantine—to some—has become a bit of a wild religion.
Bartertown
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By candlelight, the signs have been hung.
Barter Town’s gates have opened. The place, some say, has food for the hungry. Rooms, for the weary. Supplies, for those who have little. The town has sent requests for craftsman of all sorts, trained in fishing, farming, trading, and combat. Many have arrived, establishing shop and skill for profit. Any and all residing in Valley Station are welcome inside—to trade, find work, find a pillow, or enjoy the entertainment.
Be warned, however, that Barter Town’s owner—The Baron, they call him—does not take kindly to treachery. He and his men will meet violence with violence. Watch the roads, travelers, for not all who enter Barter Town are keen on friendship. Follow the signs, and find solace from the dangers beyond the walls. Just be careful of those within.
Keep your head low. Eyes, open.
Rules and Links
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Holy crap, alright--this took me almost all night to write up and process if it was good or not. My head is fried. Anyways, this is a zombie apocalypse RP with quite a bit of actual lore if you didn't read my bible for this realm. But yeah--Here's this stuff I guess:
Rules will be the same as RPNation's rules, I have no specifics except for one--Make some room for character development. Not everyone will survive and not everything will be perfect. That's about as blunt as I can say it. There are 7 Main Story Arcs I have planned for the entire RP, they will be announced as I go. The last thing is, keep it realistic in terms of there's no super powers, supernatural or anything like that. Realistic or anime claims are alright for characters, I prefer anime. Minimum of two paragraphs for replies. Don't worry, you'll have plenty to reply to
Links (Will soon be posted)
IC---OOC---CS
Thank you!
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