Stated to be extraterrestrial in origin (Army of Darkness vs. Marvel Zombies) the 'zombie' plague is a morphological virus which has severe psychological components. Brought to Marvel Earth 2149 by Magneto and Fabian Cortez, the carrier ( a version of Sentry) immediately infected the Avengers, who then began systematically devouring and spreading the plague to the metahuman community. Within three days, the entire planet's metahuman population (with very few exceptions) were affected, and the planetary population was reduced to a handful of survivors.
How the plague works:
The Plague is spread through fluid contact with the virus, requiring very little contact to immediately infect a hero or villain. A simple scratch can affect a hero within minutes (As seen in Marvel Zombies: Dead Days). The plague then begins to alter the individual's biochemistry, causing them to vomit up blood and other organic materials while it replaces them. Within minutes of introduction, the individual's physiology is altered to the point of no return, shutting down the healing and regenerative properties of the human body, arresting decomposition and cellular activity. In essence, the individual is dead, with continued brain function and partial digestive adaptability.
Within seconds that the physical symptoms have stopped, a psychological component begins to take effect, creating a psychosomatic element that creates great pain in the individual unless the individual consumes the flesh of the living. The pain subsides for minutes or seconds, but returns within one to six hours with greater intensity, lessening the time in which the consumption of flesh sates the pain. During this period, the individual's primary concern will be to sate the hunger, and will abandon any previous connections to family, friends, and allies in order to stop the pain. (As seen with Spider Man in Marvel Zombies: Dead Days when he ate Aunt May and Mary Jane).
If the individual can go without devouring anyone for a significant length of time, the hunger will abate and finally disappear, restoring the individual's personality to their 'normal' level, albeit with full memories of what they have done.
Game Mechanics:
For the purposes of the game, an individual is infected when they are exposed directly to the virus via an infected person, usually through bite. Once the hero is bitten, the following occures:
The hero must immediately make an Endurance FEAT against +2cs of their current Endurance. The FEAT is to determine the length of time before they themselves become infected. Androids and Robots do not need to make such a FEAT, nor do any heroes whose state is considered 'unliving'.
Regeneration, Recovery, resistance to Disease, or any healing abilities cannot arrest the plague once infected.
Depending on the FEAT result, the following time-frame is used to determine how much time a hero has before they turn:
-White: Immediate conversion within the same round of infection
- Green: 1 round before the conversion occurs
- Yellow: 1 to 10 minutes before the conversion occurs
- Red: 1 hour before the conversion occurs.
Note: Once the conversion occurs, the hero immediately begins to suffer the psychological need to feed:
- Heroes can resist the psychological compulsion by making a Red Psyche FEAT at - 2cs.
- Heroes lose all Karma once the conversion occurs.
- Heroes will immediately attack and consume those immediately nearby with intent on killing and devouring.
Once a hero undergoes conversion, they immediately become NPCs (unless your judge is running a Marvel Zombies campaign...ewwww)
The hero immediately loses any regeneration/healing abilities, and begin to slowly decompose. They retain their intellect and skills, as well as most of their additional powers. If their powers utilize something akin to worthiness or noble actions, they immediately lose access to them.
In addition, individuals gain the following:
- Unliving state: The infected do not feel pain, except for the hunger, and as such can even suffer dismemberment without even slowing down. As such, they cannot be killed through conventional means, such as complete molecular destruction or full destruction of the brain. The brain is the key component that drives the infected, and it must be completely destroyed to stop the infected. The infected can survive any condition including beheading (As seen in Marvel Zombies 2, issue 1) and do not require anything to continue to exist, save to stave off the hunger. In essence, the infected are immortal, remorseless beings who are parodies of their former selves.
- The hunger: The relentless drive that the infected suffer. At any time, the infected can try to resist the hunger, by making a series of Red Psyche FEATs. The first FEAT is to stop from devouring, requiring a Red Psyche FEAT at -2cs. If successful, the infected can resist the hunger for up to one hour, allowing them to be incarcerated or held in a detoxification center. The next FEAT is a Red FEAT at -4cs which will allow the Infected to resist the hunger through the worst parts of the addiction. The final Red Psyche FEAT is at -6cs, which is the worst part of the addiction. Should the infected manage to make the FEATS, they will overcome the hunger, and therefore, can be warily treated like the heroes they once were...however...
Should an infected ever devour a living being again, they immediately resort to the creatures they have become, requiring them to undergo the process again.
A Cure?
At this moment, there is no known cure for the Zombie Plague. It is reasoned that a cure would require both Mn (75) and above Reason and Mn (75) and above resources with additional talents to develop a cure or vaccine. Neither Mr. Fantastic or Doctor Doom came close to uncovering a solution to the plague, and agreed that fleeing the Earth was a better solution. If a cure was possible, it would have to be administered PRIOR to full conversion into an infected, during the first stages of exposure. Once the infection has set in, it is nearly impossible to reverse it, requiring nothing short of reality alteration.
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