The Dust Rises

[JerreyRough]

[b][size="5"]Curacao, Holy American Empire[/size][/b]

[i]A small creature snaked across the weathered pavement, long unused and nearly completely taken back by the island’s forest. Year after year, the once magnificent sky scrapers and the great Gadget Technology Industries’ Oil Refinery came under assault from two of the most powerful forces on earth: rain and sunshine. Together they have destroyed the Round Hill Hall of Art Gallery; spilled oil into the port of St Anna Bay, kept from the ocean only from the fallen bridge at the mouth of the harbour; and reduced the island’s largest formation of structures into crumbling dust piles: the headquarts of Gadget Technology Industries. The creature made its home in these once proud buildings, along with others of its kind. They did not know where civilization went, but they do remember the explosions set off by Aperture Science that killed thousands. They remember the clouds of noxious fumes released shortly after and trying their hardest to hide from them, human adults trying to defend them from the fumes, as well as themselves.

Yet in the end, all was for naught: the human adults died. But their sons and daughters lived on, abandoned by modern society and forced to struggle for survival.[/i]

[center]* * * * * * * * *

[b]Thirteen Years Later...[/b][/center]
The island was only visited and never reclaimed by the Holy American Empire. Although it would be a great strategic location for commerce and a defendable location for the navy, the sheer amount of destruction and debris covering almost the entire island deemed it too costly. And the Imperium did not want to clean up the oil that still continued to fill the harbour. Especially since the flow of gas did not harm anything but what was inside the harbour, the Empire thus chose to leave it well enough alone, believing there to be no more survivors.

And thus the secrets, developments, achievements, constructions, losses, triumphs, leaders and the very people of the island passed into the forgotten history of planet Bob. For the few that pondered about what happened to the island, they thought that it would never again be a topic on the news again. They would wonder what caused all of this destruction, why Aperture Science felt it necessary to cause this disappearance, and why no one came to save them. But even these few soon forgot the island, even the lords of the island...

But there is still one man who is determined to turn the tables upon themselves; a man who many may have thought, if he wasn’t so elusive, insane and hell bound on an insignificant journey of justice and revenge. He was determined to fulfill his oath to the people of Curacao and assure a future for the island, and to resurrect their greatest achievement: the once world leader in technology some 50-odd years ago, Gadget Technology Industries.

This is his story.

[center][b]***To Be Continued***[/b][/center]

[JerreyRough]

[i]Aircraft: “Hercules” class C-130E Cargo Airplane
Location: Curacao, Holy American Empire
Local Time: 6:54 AM
District: Barber District, Western edge of
Height: 9,000 ft / 2,980m[/i]

The powerful engines of the C-130 thundered above the island of Curacao, alarming many of its human inhabitants. It was closer than any of the other jets that normally flew overhead. Seconds after it started traveling the length of the island from the south east end, an explosion blew up one of the engines, scaring thousands of night crawlers back into their hiding places. The inner port-side turbine ripped itself apart, sending shrapnel catering into the hull of the plane. The airplane jerked side to side as it tried to regain stability. Its cargo, and many of its occupants, were sent battering around if they weren't strapped into something. Debris, boxes, and pallets broke against the inner hull, even opening up the rear hatch. The force of the blast unhooked the parked jeep inside, sending it and much of the plane's cargo out of the hatch and towards the ground. Those that didn't fall out would have likely died from flying debris.

That is, if the occupants were even still alive when the explosion hit.

[center]* * * * * * * * * *[/center]
[i]Local Time: 6:01 AM[/i]

When the cargo plane started its journey, it had a crew of ten. But there was another individual stowed away in the back of the jeep, waiting for the right time to strike. Almost an hour ago the first man disappeared, a knife through his heart and a hand cupped to his mouth. Two more men, both of them trained soldiers of the Empire out of their armor, died the same way but managed to bruise and bleed the intruder before their last gasp of breath. But that did not stop the individual from continuing, donning the gear of one dead soldier, since he had a mask for the individual to conceal himself with, and investigated the rest of the cargo plane. Additionally, he was at the very rear end of the air plane and the men he killed patrolled the back area; the remaining men wouldn’t expect the men to come back for at least a few hours. He then headed out to explore the rest of the cargo plane, hiding the dead bodies of the first three to die. He counted three pilots, likely working around the clock in 8 hour shifts, and three more soldiers – one of them fully armored. He would cause trouble, but what really troubled the intruder is the location of the final man. The intruder shrugged, and donned his revolver: a custom revolver with eight chambers for ten rounds. He had several other weapons in the back of the jeep, stowed in a hidden gun case, but decided that the handgun was enough.

The unarmored soldiers were playing cards with one of the pilots, meanwhile the third pilot was sleeping and the armored soldier just sat on a bench, his helmet preventing the intruder from telling anything about his face. The intruder holstered his gun and watched from the shadows, a fair distance away and behind some crates. The tenth man still did not show himself.

Four men. Eight bullets. One power suit. Each had some sort of sidearm, and one of the soldiers had a shotgun within arm’s reach. The odds would be stacked against him and so he decided to wait for something to happen. Then the armored soldier turned and looked down the aisle, towards the spot where the intruder was hiding. The intruder froze, knowing that any movement may cause the armored soldier to investigate the other end of the airplane. A few minutes went by. Laughter spewed out from the card game, followed by the pilot angrily shoving his cards on the table and leaving the table for bed. The commotion caused the armored marine to look back at the spectacle, allowing the intruder to move into a more concealed hiding spot. The armored soldier – the numbers “837” inscribed onto his shoulder armor – sneaked a look back at where the intruder was before reverting his gaze forward at the pallet of crates in front of him.

[center]* * * * * * * * * *[/center]
[i]Local Time: 6:46 AM[/i]

The intruder sipped some coffee, taken a few minutes ago when he posed as one of the soldiers in the back. Then one of the soldiers placed his cards down and headed for the bathroom. As soon as he got out of sight, the intruder un-holstered his pistol and drank the rest of the coffee. The sudden burst of coffee almost burned his throat, nearly making him cough. [i]“Too dark for me,”[/i] he thought. After waiting a moment to steel himself for the battle, the intruder casually walked out of cover and aimed at the unarmored soldier, his back towards the intruder. The soldier heard the clank of his boots and turned around, a smile on his face until he saw his gun. He reached for his shotgun and kicked his chair backwards, confusion and alert clearly in his eyes.

The soldier yelled “What the FU-”, but did not finish his sentence: the intruder fired his weapon and scored a direct hit on the back of the soldier’s head, splattering the table and its cards with blood and brains. The .357 round also tore a hole in one of the airplane’s compartments, pinging around inside and damaging some equipment inside.

A second after the first shot, the intruder took aim at the armored soldier but was forced to dive into cover, shooting two shots at the soldier. The soldier brandished a hammer burst rifle and had fired a few rounds, each embedding themselves in crates after piercing through a few boxes. A small spurt of blood splashed on one of these crates.

“Fool!” The soldier hollered at his enemy, walking forward with his hammerburst at the ready. “The Emperor protects all who serve him faithfully! You cannot dare to win this battle. Beg for forgiveness and surrender your weapon, and I will spare your life… for now.” The marine approached the spot where the intruder dashed behind, then dashed around the corner ready for another battle. But the intruder was gone. Then bathroom opened up, the soldier inside peering around the corner with his pistol. The two pilots currently not driving the aircraft popped up behind the soldier, each armed with their own sidearm pistols. Slowly, all three came forward and begged the emperor to guide his soul to the netherworld, asking that they give them the strength to fight this coward hiding in the cargo plane. They searched the area but found no trace of the intruder, except for a spot with a few drops of blood. With no knowledge of where he went, they organized shifts to watch out for the enemy; the armored soldier returned to his spot and sat down again, this time with his hammer burst on his lap.

Then was silence once more in the aircraft.

[JerreyRough]

[i]Aircraft: “Hercules” class C-130E Cargo Airplane
Location: Curacao, Holy American Empire
Local Time: 6:52 AM
District: Barber District, Western edge of
Height: 9,000 ft / 2,980m[/i]

The intruder checked his wound, now covered with a rough bandage made from the shirt of one of the dead men. He was disgusted taking it off a dead man, but the intruder needed to stop the bleeding. [i]“And,”[/i] he thought, [i]“He won’t need it anymore anyway.”[/i] When the nationalistic marine started coming forward, he knew that he wouldn’t get a shot off before the marine shot. He knew and remembered their training regimen, how they do not take prisoners who have killed their kin especially in un-honorable ways. The intruder once did have honor and glory, but times have changed his outlook in life. To him, honor means being friends with your enemies; and when you’ve been what he has been though, you know that many “honorable” men will find covert methods to destroy you instead. Besides, he needed this plane and materials to get to where he wanted to go: Curacao. But even this dishonorable intruder was honorable enough to keep his promises. He just used any means necessary to do them.

Thus he retreated into the shadows of the pallet maze. He stopped momentarily to yank off the shirt of one of the dead soldiers, then ran for the jeep and got into the back seat. [i]“Good thing I left it unlocked,”[/i] he thought. The vehicle was completely covered and its windows were heavily tinted nearly to the point where no light came in nor’ exited. Since it was locked when the plane left, with the intruder inside, once he locked the door again they likely would not think of him being in here. Earlier he also grabbed a parachute and hid it in the vehicle in case of emergency. Now the Empire soldiers may think that he jumped off the plane.

And now here he was, figuring out what to do next in the jeep. They were constantly watching from the front of the airplane, in case he was still around, so sneaking up would be next to impossible. He could see one of their faces, a pilot. He was shaking in his boots, afraid for his life after seeing the dead body of the soldier to die by the intruder’s revolver. [i]“Poor pilot in the wrong place at the wrong time.”[/i] The intruder could assault them directly, maybe taking out the pilots and remaining soldier, but the armored marine would be a problem with the hammerburst. The intruder had weapons in the trunk of the vehicle, but they were inaccessible and the weapons good against the power armor could just as well make a hole in the plane. [i]“Thus,”[/i] he concluded, [i]“I am stuck. But not useless…”[/i] The intruder reloaded his revolver, cleaning off some blood with his own shirt.

The cargo hit some turbulence, causing the pilot to bounce and fall on the ground. Appearing to be chuckling, the marine pointed at the pilot and then a chair on the frame, probably telling him to strap himself in. He complied. This gave the intruder an idea, [i]“These boxes are only strapped in lightly, thus a lot more turbulence will...”[/i] Without wasting another moment, he crawled to the front seat, turned on the jeep and alarming the marine & pilot (Note: the marine is on the right side of the vehicle/aircraft from the intruder’s perspective and the pilot on the left, the driver’s seat is on the left side*), and opened the window. Taking his revolver from its holster, he calculated where the engines were and pointed at the hull. The pilot just sat in his seat, surprised. The marine, on the other hand, came around the corner and aimed his weapon at the intruder, various incarnations and cursing rolling off his mouth faster than his own hammerburst could ever fire.

But it was too late. The intruder shot all eight magnum bullets at where the port-side inner propeller engine should have been, and hit it several times. It hit the propellant and key parts of the propeller’s engine; setting off a chain reaction that quaked along the entire air plane, injuring the intruder’s left firing arm in the window. But he got it inside and closed the window, hoping he made the right choice. Although the marine shot his hammerburst at the intruder, the explosion’s force sent him to the ground and knocked him out cold. Then another explosion shook the ship, this time from the front of the craft. He did not know where I came from, but the intruder guessed that his first magnum round from earlier struck something explosive. What he did know, however, is that whatever pilot was driving this thing is probably dead from the blast. He couldn’t get out now though; the two explosions cause debris and boxes to fly everywhere, hitting everything and smashing against the frame of the craft. One of the bolts for the jeep broke. “$%&@,” swore the intruder at this calamity. This wasn’t the plan. The poor pilot, screaming in the maelstrom, fell silent as a box smashed his body into the wall, killing him instantly. The marine, with his heavy armor, moved little on the floor. Then one of the boxes exploded, showing metal pieces everywhere.

Then the rear hatch crashed open, howling wind increasing the frenzy of the boxes. The second bolt holding the jeep down in chains broke. The intruder swore many more times, mostly at the fact that he could do [i]nothing[/i] to save himself. All that time, all that planning to take over the aircraft, all the money he spent on corrupt officials...was for naught. He felt the aircraft fall through the air, knowing that it was crashing. The pilot either put it in a steep dive when he died, or the whole system fail. Either way, everyone on board was going to or is already dead. The third bolt broke open, and the intruder knew he was about to meet his fate.

The jeep, pushed by debris, wind, and momentum, flew from the back of the plane; falling into its own freefall...

[i]The airplane lost contact with the Holy American Empire, dropping off their radar above the north western part of the island. The only information they sent was the fact that someone infiltrated and killed four crew members.[/i]

OOC: If you want to add anything in Shadowsage (i.e. if there’s an HAE outpost on the island), then go ahead.

Edited July 28, 2010 by JerreyRough

[JerreyRough]

[b]OOC Warning: Block of Text! Read at your own risk.[/b]

[size="6"][font="Impact"][u]The Diberian Epic[/u][/font][/size]
[i][b]A re-telling of past events in Diberia, a war torn country that lost millions of people for no reason...[/b][/i]

[i]More than thirteen years ago, the zone of modern day Holy American Empire once known as Diberia was strife with conflict. From monsters claimed by many to be zombies, to the mysterious attacks by a rogue company called Aperture Science, the land was in disarray several times over. A few years prior, a great war (now called The Rainforest Wars) with oppressors from the south was fought in Diberia, forcing Diberians to resort to guerilla warfare and hide in the country’s hidden bunkers in the Amazon rainforest .What seemed to be the entire world soon came to the aid of Diberia, driving the invaders from Diberia. While the country was saved, the land was destroyed and rotten. War machines, like tanks and aircraft, littered the land. The rotten corpses of more than ten thousand dead soldiers polluted the water and land. Worse yet, some of these saviors resorted to burning parts of the rainforest down to get through it. Indeed, you would think these were dark times, but this could not prepare the Diberians from what was coming...

A rogue company called Aperture Science secretly installed itself in Diberia, taking some of the Diberian bunkers for itself and making new underground fortresses. Even to this day, not all of them have been found. Twice it spread the zombie disease: first in a northern city, which was eventually nuked by the nation known as Tahoe. The disease was not perfected to Aperture’s specifications however, so they abided their time and continued to work on it. During this time the already mentioned Rainforest Wars came and went. The war destabilized Diberia, causing it to break into three factions: the Amazonians, the Gundrans, and the Diberian Loyalists. Aperture secretly backed the Gundrans, as the company was still unknown at this time. A great civil war followed, with the Gundrans eventually buying Nordic technology and gaining a strong advantage against the Loyalists. The Amazonians joined in with the Gundrans out of necessity: they embodied Diberian culture, and thus a new government would need them to help make a true Diberian country. But the local superpower, the Holy Imperium of Man (now known as the Holy American Empire), backed the Loyalists and the king of Diberia, fighting alongside them for control of Diberia. Eventually, with the assistance of several more countries, the Loyalists won.

But this victory was short lived. Aperture struck the Diberians six months after the war ended, this time hitting them with a mutating virus: originally a cold that spread like wildfire, it mutated the infected into what would be known as zombies. Most of Diberia’s population became these zombies, and many of the immune survivors shortly died. Worse yet, some mutated into something called an “elephambie”, a human with abnormal amounts of muscle and large bone structure; one in just over a hundred became these. Then, over the course of the next few years, the Imperium attacked and fought these zombies. A company called Gadget Technology Industries joined in, intent on taking the freed up land for themselves and install their own country. A country where they could make a clean profit, like their island base of Curacao, completely governed by them and needing not worry about another company stealing any resources. Other countries came and helped, but the zombies were relentless and seemed unstoppable. Every time a new crusade came, they wiped out many hordes of zombies yet eventually were driven back. However, there was a major breakthrough on the western coast: a country fought for and then established a colony on the west coast. They made this land a place to grow food, farms dotting the entire area that was deemed safe. The advances into Diberia slowed to a halt, the world forgetting Diberia’s very existence...

Several months later, a new offensive started. GTI pierced south from their northern fortresses and the Imperium (with her allies) fought from the North West and south east towards the center of Diberia. There were many casualties on all sides, but it seemed the hordes could not be stopped. Yet even against this onslaught, the Imperium and GTI marched forward. Eventually, they reached the central check point that was the goal of the campaign, and victory was in the hands of the Imperium, GTI, and their allies. Although there were still bands of zombies in Diberia, there were far less than before. Their advance was assisted by GTI’s new anti-zombie virus: it took a few hours to kill the zombie, but it turned all of the brain’s cells into useless cells (with the side affect of glowing lime green, seeable in the dark. Many found this spooky because the eyes were also turned into this color, but they not totally consumed). Missiles loaded with the spray were fired all over Diberia half way through the campaign.

Then the world turned once again from Diberia. GTI retreated to the north, leaving the zombies to spread once more and even breed in the central Diberian region. However, there were still some interesting events happening: most importantly the anti-zombie virus, when fired at people who are in the middle of being zombified, did not kill them but gave them glowing eyes and some zombie traits; the ability to control them, yet still have some humanity (like human reason). During this time, Aperture struck the fledging colony on the west coast with a new virus, this time boasting a higher rate of elephambies but with more survivors. A few million more people were then doomed, but somehow this never reached the news; likely due to wars in Europe at the time. This time, the Imperium was busy with its own zombie infection spreading in the Central America portion of the Imperium. They could not come to the aid of these survivors, and thus they were forced to survive on their own.

A month later, Aperture Science finally revealed itself to Diberians. It somehow also had the anti-zombie virus, using that and the sudden appearance of its personal army to control the zombies. Worse yet, GTI’s virus was now useless against these new zombies, stronger and smarter than before. Aperture directed the zombies towards GTI, forcing them to confront the new zombies. They also engaged with Aperture, but not very much. Then, in the middle of this chaos, a devastating series of explosions rocked their headquarters island of Curacao Island, killing tens of thousands and wounding countless more. Aperture infiltration teams attacked as well from ruined skyscrapers. They released a new virus to kill the surviving people, and then left the island in several hidden boats. They have never been seen again. The island’s 150,000-person population was wiped out. Since then, no one has tried to reclaim the cursed island, for it would be costly and the harbor was full of sewage and gas. The remaining GTI-related population was then killed in a massive offensive by Aperture Science, making them the most powerful force in Diberia.

Meanwhile, the survivors of the newest attacks banded together and formed the Rebellion in the center of Diberia. Aperture Science started a secret worldwide underground recruitment campaign, offering fast fortunes to become one of their soldiers for merely half a year. Soon, recruits rolled into Diberia to fight the zombies and the survivors. The survivors had massive stores of supplies however, located in several liberated bunker fortresses, and prepared for a long battle. Half a year went by, neither side having an advantage. The king of Diberia, leading the survivors from one of the bunkers, took on a defensive campaign that – although they could of routed Aperture at this point – decided that the risks were too high. The survivors occasionally liberated some of the recruits however, due to them realizing the evil of Aperture Science and/or knowing that they were not going to get paid in the end. Still, the war of attrition continued. Trenches warfare evolved into this modern setting, this time the grunts having machineguns as well. But Aperture gained little ground. A year since the survivors set up camp came and went. Aperture now surrounded the survivors on all sides, giving them nowhere to run.

Then, with little warning, the Imperium came to the rescue and attacked. They did not know of the events happening in Diberia however, and when they were shot upon by what they thought were survivors they fired back. From the first Aperture fort they destroyed, they learned of the evil entity known as Aperture Science. Its goal? To cleanse the world of Humanity with its zombie disease, then killing or making the zombies into workers. This would allow humanity to start again, this time in Aperture’s image of a perfect society, with clean green technology and renewable resources being the only resources used for most activities. Thus, the Imperium (now known as the Holy American Empire) charged and killed all in their path, zombie and human alike. Aperture retreated to the north to fight this new threat with all available forces, but it could not stop the awesome firepower of the Imperium. Cut off from supplies, hordes of soldiers attempted to surrender but were cut down by Empire weapons. Then, Aperture did its final blow in the war: it fired a final, third variant of the zombie disease at its own forces and the Empire soldiers near them. This disease affected every individual and would soon zombify every single one. For several hours, the ground was covered in the virus’s filthy smoke, rendering any approach impossible. This gave time for a brave group of survivors, lead by Jerrey Rough, to approach the Empire’s front lines and tell them of the survivors. Although some friendly fire killed a few individuals, along with an elephambie swarm, they managed to make it and save hundreds of thousands of survivors from being needlessly killed by the Empire.

The Empire was hailed by the survivors as their saviors, many instantly becoming worshipers of the Emperor instead of the local Diberian worship of something called The Tome. Aid came in to help the survivors from around the globe, helping them recover. Jerrey Rough then allied a force of Zombies in the west, to allow them to have the lands of the West to breed and live. These were intelligent zombies, brooding over some swarms of normal zombies. They helped Jerrey’s jeep squad survive against an elephambie swarm when they were on the way to warn the Empire about the survivors, and he was in their debt. Without need of the western lands, he gave them that land.

And thus, the times of war were over for Diberia, but the story does not end there. A large minority of the population wanted Diberia to be a part of the Holy American Empire, while another large minority wanted to cancel the deal with the inhuman zombies to the west. Then the King of Diberia, Vutomo, died of a heart attack. The people were struck by this event, and a large ceremony was made in his honor. Although hailed as a great leader, as he always just wanted the best for his people and wanted to save as many lives as possible, he was no military strategist when he was called upon to be one. Jerrey Rough was chosen as the next leader, but after a few months he abdicated and left for parts unknown. He claimed the stress was too much.

The power vacuum caused rioting and various sub-factions to try and take power through force. The group of survivors, now made up of people from all around the globe (including a very large amount of soldiers), could not decide on a new leader. Both Jerrey and Vutomo were strong leaders capable of leading the country, but there were no other figures as known as them for this power. With the levels of violence increasing, the Holy American Empire came in and stabilized the region. Soon after, the country was declared part of the Empire for the people’s own good – and many willingly accepted it.

It is now eight years later – the present. The rainforest has re-grown in many areas and the people of Diberia have moved north and abandoned the bunkers that kept them safe. They have fully accepted the Empire now. The zombies are nearly non-existent, except for rumors of intelligent zombies occupying the middle region (they were driven away from the west by the Empire, not knowing about Jerrey’s deal). Although the land is healing nearly to its pre-war strength, there are still many signs of the wars. Great Imperial war machines and flying machines lay wrecked and destroyed throughout the Amazon, along with the equipment, weapons, bullets, mines, and tattered uniforms of other countries. Some areas have swaths of bones laying in the muck, long picked dry of anything edible. All remaining Aperture facilities have been found and cleansed by Empire infiltration teams, but they found all research already destroyed or removed from these facilities. Indeed, there are no traces of Aperture left – who knows where they have left for, and what they are doing right now. Are they preparing another virus and another force to conquer another nation? Do they still hide in the rain forest somewhere? Or are they indeed destroyed? Only time will tell…[/i]


OOC: I’m assuming that the Inca Empire never existed. It doesn’t need to be in this history.

I hope this didn’t intimidate too many of you. Sorry it’s such a giant block of text ha ha! I thoroughly enjoyed typing this.

Anyways, how did I do? Did I miss anything? Comments are welcome.

Edit: Fixed some stuff, added a title for this.

Edited July 30, 2010 by JerreyRough

[Shadowsage]

OOC: Accurate delivery of facts and extremely intelligent extrapolation of the events between wars.

[JerreyRough]

OOC: Sorry about a second wall of text guys. I promise no more!

[b]EDIT:[/b] Thanks Shadow! ^.^

*Note that Aperture Science’s new name is a retcon, and Aperture Science is now called Aperture Scientology Research Inc or Aperture for short. I’ve also changed the character based on the real life man, George Romero, with Dr. Romper.

*It should be noted that I’m treating zombies as a sub-species of humanity, rather than the typical undead/half dead zombies. /OOC

[b]XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX[/b]
EMPIRE CLASSIFIED EYES-ONLY INFORMATION
CONFISCATED: JUNE 29, 2009
DESCRIPTION: INFORMATION REGUARDING
THE DIBERIAN ZOMBIE OUTBREAK
[b]XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX[/b]


[size="5"][b]A Study of Diberian Brutality Intoxication Virus (BIV)[/b]
[i]Dr. Romper’s Thorough Pocket Guide of Diberian Zombies[/i][/size]

The Zombie. A very dull, basic, but effective concept. Its purpose is to swarm in numbers over any obstacle in its way of finding sustenance, with the goal of eating the flesh of the tastiest of all meat: human. Very ironic, mostly because a Diberian zombie is still human; it’s just dumber, takes one too many evolutionary steps forward and backward, and – well – it likes meat. However, forces like the Holy American Empire have fought back these swarms time and time again, thus both the makers of the virus and the infected themselves have taking additional steps toward guaranteeing domination against any human resistance. For example, there is a chance of an impossibly muscular zombie mutating from most humans from the basic strain of BIV.

The Brutality Intoxication Virus was created by Aperture one and a half decades ago, a female scientist by the name of Killigan Mores being the chief creator. Aperture Scientology Research Inc., better known as Aperture or Aperture Science, is a rogue company originally a part of Gadget Technology Industries, a corporation who manufactured, sold, and created New Age technology. It was the research wing of GTI, however over time grew less and less attached to their parent company. Eventually, they started funded their research outside of GTI’s outlined budget by covertly purchasing an international Grocery corporation, using their excess funds to fund Aperture. When GTI found this out via its spies, the company inquired where it got the funding for its sudden recent advances in technology, to which Aperture did not respond to. This was quickly followed by the disappearance of all their spies and then the abandoning of Aperture’s research facilities. GTI hired several private investigation firms to figure out where they went, but could never find the answer. Thus, they destroyed all public records of the company – so that if Aperture ever did do anything that would tarnish GTI’s reputation, there would be no proof that GTI had any involvement with it. What Aperture has done since then is unknown to GTI, however my personal records that follow should reveal to you more about the company. This is all I could salvage in the wreckage on GTI HQ Island known as Curacaos.

Now here is the meat of my guide: the types of zombies that evolved from the BIV’s random mutations, or at least the numerous and successful zombie types.

[b]BIV Zombie Types – The Zombie[/b]
Naturally, the Diberian Zombie is a classical zombie in many ways. Their goal is to infect (and take their fill of meat) as many personnel as possible. The zombie will normally be walking or trotting in packs of a t least two dozen, whether they’re looking for food or migrating to another location. Many zombies will still retain some measure of their pre-zombie memories, sometimes using them to use various weapons (i.e. like a soldier zombie and guns) or vehicles. However, these are limited and zombies that can remember to do these things are far between. Most remember locations or routes to locations, thus guiding groups or even swarms towards these locations.

Zombies are curious, and not just to fulfill their desire for flesh. They tend to explore and investigate everything, both for meat and just to know more. Although its’ next to impossible to teach zombies – normal zombies are incapable of teaching each other complicated tasks, and their weakened minds can retain less information then most human minds – they can teach themselves and their offspring (yes, zombies still procreate and pregnancy only takes five-six months) what they still remember, namely survival tactics and other small snippets of information (i.e. run from explosions). They appear to have this lust for information likely to fill the void of information that was wiped from existence the moment they awoke a zombie.

Zombies also have a heightened sense of smell and can more easily see in the dark – natural predator characteristics. They use this to track down prey but when attacking something it sees as it’s equal, or if the zombie thinks its enemy is much more powerful, it will make various sounds to alert more zombies and to frighten its enemy. Most zombies have learned of humans and will start making these noises as soon as they see, hear, or smell humans. Once a zombie is alerted to a human presence, it will start charging towards wherever it thinks the humans are, quickly creating or joining a column of zombies headed in the same direction. Once the perceived threat is either eliminated or zombified, the zombies will continue to search for food or return to their previous locations.

Zombies are controllable by Zumans, who use “controller” zombies to carry out their will. I will have more information about both types later, but know this: if the zombies are using any scraps of tactics, its best to run rather than fight. Zumans take larger armies of zombies than normal swarms with them, as well as more tank zombies. They themselves are respected by zombies, for their tinted or glowing green eyes (a side effect of the LZK disease when it fails) shows that they are true survivors and capable of leading them, and zombies will listen to what they tell them to do. Guns and even basic vehicles may appear in their armies, thus it is better to run than fight until their start firing bullets back.

[b]BIV Zombie Types – The Yeller[/b]
In the initial zombie war, the first major mutation was a simple yelling zombie – a zombie whose body developed stronger vocal cords which allowed it to yell a special high pitched scream, carrying for miles around and attracting other zombies to the area. Additional yellers would then yell if they hear a yell, attracting an even bigger and bigger swarm. This proved to be highly effective, yet often doomed more infected than they would gain out of the situation. Soon the yeller was naturally killed off (in some areas) by its brethren because they became too human like, behaving like a boss. In other areas, a new zombie type called a Zuman replaced the yeller and the Zumans had the now useless yellers killed off.

It is rumored that a sub type of the Yeller, nicknamed The Runner, would yell and then run away from the battle, so it may alert other zombies. However there are three problems: zombies do not run away from food; the runner could not run farther than its yell could reach in a single day; and its highly likely that the yeller was running and yelling at the same time, as they do not look any different than normal zombies (perhaps a larger chest). If the runners existed at all, they died out quickly (likely from exhaustion) and are useless because of the numbers of yellers at this period in time.

[b]BIV Zombie Types – The Elephambie/Tank[/b]
The Elephambie, better known to survivors as a Tank, is the most frontline devastating zombie. Its statue carries it usually half a foot higher than most other zombies and its telltale muscular body gives away the fact that it is an Elephambie. This is a remnant of the original virus that the BIV virus was deprived from, which would force certain acids and bodily fluids to stop functioning, allowing the muscles to grow unhindered. These zombies are known for their excellent ability to run faster than a normal human, again because of their increase muscles, and to lead groups of zombies into great charges. Although it does not take that much more bullets to kill an elephambie than a normal zombie (their body sure soaks up more, but headshots still kill the zombie), they do have more strength and a few bullets won’t stop a tank when it’s a few meters away charging you. They are also immune to the LZK disease and, when in a cloudy mist of it, will use it to surprise enemy attackers coming through the mist after spraying an area.

The original virus increased the strength of all affected individuals, thereby giving them an advantage over the targeted species’ brethren and affecting more individuals easier. Why Aperture attempted to completely remove this is a mystery; perhaps to make it easier to remove the zombies later on with the LZK disease? We can only guess their intentions.

The Tank is often the personal body guard of Zumans. They remember even less of their memories and their obvious strength advantage makes them the best zombie guard for the zumans.

[b]BIV Zombie Types – The Controller*[/b]
The controller is a very unique zombie and is in no part created by nature like the other genetic specialties. The controller was created by Aperture Science while they were at war with the Rebellion so they could direct the zombies at the Rebellion, instead of wasting their own money on it. The controller creates a psychic mind link in between itself and nearby zombies, hardwired into connecting to as many as possible. Although their range is limited, the controller is one of the most numerous mutations of zombies and can be connected together to form a web – which then can be controlled by a single zuman.

As the Zuman Ix has told me (an adventure I dare not take again), normal zumans can receive information from Controllers but only transmit close to a controller and only to that controller. Ix herself, along with a select few others, can take control of groups of controllers and then give them orders to do. This is comparable to a hive mind/democratic autocracy, only the leader (being Ix in this group of zombies) has unlimited and unquestioned rule and makes decisions for the group (whether it’s for the good of herself or of the “city” is up to you to decide; she claims to be helping them all). I myself don’t know much more, as my stay with zombie-kind was as short as possible so I too do not join the hordes.

Oh, one other thing: the Controller has been made so then it will not breed with other zombies to create more controllers, and there is absolutely no chance that anyone can become a controller from a normal zombie (or even if you get killed by a controller). Instead, these laboratory-created zombies can impregnate themselves (they do not need nor’ cannot use another partner). Aside from this, controllers look like normal human males.

[b]The Large-scale Zombie Killer Disease[/b]
The Large-scale Zombie Killer disease was created by Aperture, then stolen by GTI, then re-created by Aperture again for the second and third strains. The second disease was also stolen by GTI, but the final third version of the LZK disease was not stolen. These three diseases are known as LZK-1, LZK-2, and LZK-5. This disease was targeted at killing zombies en-mass, spreading via close contact and taking only hours to kill the zombies. How the disease works is far different than other virus’s and diseases however, and if re-created for anti-human use could be devastating; however, the LZK disease was possible because of Aperture’s knowledge in zombies, not humans (BIV is based off a very rare virus, deep in the Amazon rainforest, and the original virus’s location has been lost).

Anyways, this disease will infect any zombies it comes across and can live on its own for up to 8 hours. When the disease hits the zombie, it will enter the blood stream and head for the brain. Depending on where the disease entered the body, the disease can take anywhere from a few hours to twelve hours to affect the zombie. When the LZK disease hits the brain, it begins its work to neutralize the brain via making the zombie’s brain cells into useless cells. Accidentally, this also gives the cells a slight green glow to them. The disease will also target certain other cells, usually stem cells, but most particular of all is the fact that this disease also targets the eyes as well. This gives entire banks of dead zombies an eerie look to them as their eyes are glowing nearly bright green. Indeed, normal zombies that have seen these dead zombies have spread the word of this weapon to most other zombies and all of them fear the Green Glow, as they call it.

On some occasions, there are three outcomes: one, it affects people who are in the middle of being infected. This will make a normal Zuman. Two, it affects a person that so happens to be becoming a elephambie. This will make an elephambie zuman, a zuman that is very strong and smart, a terrible combination. The most powerful Zuman Ix'Chimalxochitzin, Ix for short, is one of these and lead’s the strongest faction of zombies within Diberia. The final outcome is if it affects an elephambie, which is ultra rare and known only to have happened three times: it produced an elephambie as smart as any human but plus the positive elephambie characteristics and green, glowing eyes. However in the process all of its memories are lost, thus it knows as much as a new born baby. It only has survival tactics. Each of these zombies has died, but it is possible that there are more.

[b]BIV–LZK Disease Hybrid – Zuman[/b]
Named because of their closeness to being human, compared to a zombie, the Zuman is a chance creation of nature that is a very powerful creature, in its position. Their glowing eyes instantly receive the respect of the zombies around it, accepting any command from the zuman. Although not physically stronger than a normal zombie, at least for normal zumans, a zuman benefits from its human origins more via intellect and reason. It will retain and be able to have more memories than any other zombie, as well as retaining higher brain functions and be able to figure out how to use objects and tools for its own advantage. Thus, they have been seen using weapons and vehicles, and some scraps of information I recovered from an abandoned Aperture facility have shown me that some of these zuman’s never fired a gun before they were a zombie.

As said before, they use controller zombies to control entire populations of zombies, depending on their physical and mental power. Under this power, they can do almost anything: construct cities, make weapons, and even conquer countries (if they have sufficient numbers). Zumans, however, do not always attack and attack like normal zombies; their human understanding means that they know that, in the right place, a few words and an alliance can accomplish far more than blindly attacking on all fronts.

When a zuman is created, there is a chance that the zuman will be a elephambie zuman. There is a low chance of this, but the results are startling! Ix is proof that one elephambie zuman can make a world of difference, now the leader of a small zombie [i]nation[/i] of all things. With the elephambie's stength and stature, and the zuman's intelligence and wits, plus the ability to control multiple controller zombies, makes this the ultimate zombie in zombiekind. Beware of these super zumans: I fear that even a close encounter will result in injury.

[b]Conclusion[/b]
Thanks for reading, and I hope you know more about Diberian zombies than you did before, perhaps giving you better odds of survival if fighting zombies is fun for you. Best of luck with this information,

[i]Dr. Romper[/i]

OOC: Zombies in CNRP are a blurred line, some recognizing it while others don’t. Here’s my compromise: they are zombies (remember, NOT undead ones), however any nation that is against them just views them as a group of madmen, as many people already do. Diberian-strain zombies can also be only used by me and whoever wants to use them will require my permission. This includes zombies that are even remotely connected to these zombies. This is so then the feared “zombies take over the world” scenario many people fear will never happen and cannot happen.

*Notice that The Controller wouldn’t “exist” for people that do not recognize these zombies.

A big thanks to Amyante for giving me additional information to add onto the controller type of zombie, which I had completely forgotten about.

Edited August 3, 2010 by JerreyRough