Aberrant - Catch-all term for casualty variants that exhibit unique abilities.

Bait - Term for citizens of the Recession who are believed to be casualty “Bait”.

Believer - Term for the various religious sects, philosophies and beliefs that rose up after the Crash.

Blight - A mysterious plague that defies any known scientific convention. It’s infectology consists of two phases: the Vector phase and the Casualty phase. Living Blight is extremely infectious, converting its hosts to mindless bloodthirsty Vectors in a matter of minutes and completely subsuming the host in seconds. After some time, the histology of the Blight becomes akin to a parasite, burrowing black tendrils into the putrefying corpse and puppeteering it.

Bounty - the currency between the Loss and the Recession. Bounty is provided by
the DHQS for the retrieval of identity and property documentation dating before the
Crash. Bounty is rewarded on delivery, based on the average value of a pre-Crash adult’s
total property and financial holdings.

Casualty - A zombie; a cadaver puppeted by
the parasitic nervous system characteristic of
“cold” Blight. The term hails from bloodless,
sanitized news reports during the early days
of the Crash used to prevent panic, now used
ironically by Takers. “Taking casualties” can
now mean killing zombies for money or dying
in the process.

Carrion Economy - generalized term for the
world economy. While new goods and services
are still in production, worldwide trade is
largely focused on looting the corpse of the
Loss to recover value and infrastructure.

Citizen - pejorative term for a person
living safely in the Recession or one of its
settlements.

Crash - the initial emergence of the Blight and
the resulting panic, chaos, and death.

Crew - the collective noun form of Takers.
Crews assemble to bid on jobs and brand
their services.

DHQS - the Department of Homeland
Quarantine and Stewardship, the new agency
in charge of maintaining the United State’s
borders and eventually reclaiming the Loss.
They are responsible for the bounty system
and the inept enforcement of the underground
economy resulting from it.

Enclaves - pockets of surviving civilization not
officially recognized by any of the surviving
state powers, but large enough to have some
economic impact. Allowed to survive because
they draw casualties away from the borders
of safe zones or maintain vital infrastructure
points.

Free Parking - derogatory term for the
shantytowns that developed in the wake of
the evacuation, so named because of the
numerous derelict cars that make up their
dwellings.

Homo Sacer - Latin for “the accursed man,”
the term refers to a person banned from
civilized society and not afforded protection
under the law. Anyone outside the Recession’s
borders without expressed federal consent is
considered Homo Sacer.

Immune - a rare person that, for reasons
unknown, is completely immune to Blight
infection. They are subject to “conscription
into medical service” (read: kidnapping,
medical torture, and bone marrow harvesting)
in the Recession and its settlements, in order
to produce Suppressin K-7864 from their
bone marrow. Takers and certain enclaves
often attempt to kidnap the Immune for a
sizable reward.

Latent - a carrier of the Blight that somehow
remains free of cannibalistic urges. It occurs
when the virus infects a host but transfers too
quickly into its undead state. Necrotic Blight
sinews wind painfully through the victim’s
tissues (making Latents instantly identifiable),
but the dead strain cannot affect living brain
tissue. Latency can be natural or achieved
by injecting Supressin K-7864 shortly after
infection. Those infected by a Latent become
Vectors as if bitten by a casualty, as the Blight
reanimates itself without the intervention
of drugs. Due to this danger, enclaves,
settlements, and nations often shoot Latents
on sight or detain them in isolated camps.

Lifelines - the secured forum launched by
Gnat to coordinate evacuation and survival
for civilians during the Crash. It’s now an
invite-only community for Takers and other
inhabitants of the Loss.

The Loss - as in “written off as a Loss.”
Everything outside a safe zone surrendered to
the dead

The Recession - If someone is “from
the Recession,” they live in a safe zone
marked by geographical fortification and
run by a surviving national government.
Early government communications used this
term exclusively to refer to symptoms of the
Crash because everything except economic
news was being censored to avoid panic. It
stuck due to its ironic inadequacy after the
American government abandoned many of its
citizens and “receded” to the East coast.

The Red Markets - the underground economy
exploiting the Loss as a resource and trading
between enclaves and the Recession. The
market is “red” because it is not legal, but as
nearly everyone participating is considered
legally dead already, the trade isn’t technically
illegal either.

Supressin K-7864 - a drug cocktail derived
from the bone marrow of an Immune
human, extremely powerful antibiotics, and
dangerously caustic antiseptics. Though it
cannot kill infection, injection within a few
minutes after a bite can cause the Blight to
enter its dormant state and reduce a Vector
into a Latent human. Supressin is the single
most valuable substance in the Loss.

T-mins Never - slang for the day of
reclamation, generalized to mean false hope
or foolish wishes. Derives from the fact that
DHQS has claimed reclamation would begin
in 20 years from the date of announcement...
for five years running.

Takers - name for the outcasts, smugglers,
and survivors that work the Red Markets.
Simultaneously references “undertakers” and
a reputation for theft.

UBIQ - massive internet start-up responsible
for the free global wi-fi network exploited
by the Moths and the only reliable from of
communication the global economy can
rely on. Ubiq servers both enabled and
sabotaged the Recession by providing a stable
communications network during the Crash.

Vector - a recently infected human unhindered
by decay or rigor mortis. They are fast,
infectious, and deadly.