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Premise
The year is 2033, and six months ago society as we once knew it came to an end. No one in the public sphere was sure as to where it came from, but a hitherto unknown virus quickly blazed its way onto the global stage. At first the symptoms were rather mundane. Insomnia, vomiting, and so forth. But, about four months in, the virus began to mutate at a startling rate. Then it began resurrecting the dead. Starting in the US, the major metropolitan areas were the first to fall to the ravenous hordes, though the rest of the world was quick to follow to varying degrees. Military intervention managed to mitigate this somewhat, but it wasn't enough. The virus, nicknamed Necroa on account of its necrotic effects on the human mind and body, continued to spread at an alarming rate, as did the corpses it resuscitated. Fortunately for humanity, there was the faintest glimmer of hope. A light at the end of the tunnel as it were. Pooling their resources together, the various countries of the world--under the auspices of the UN--created a new military collective. One authorized to recruit from and operate in every nation on Earth in order to put an end to the zombie menace and safeguard humanity...

Z-Com.

The newly formed organization wasted very little time and took to its task with downright ruthless efficiency, recruiting first from existing militaries and command structures that had managed to survive the army of the dead, before eventually inducting eligible civilians into their ranks as well. Both groups were drilled in anti-zombie combat techniques and put through a rigorous training regimen. Once that was done the fortresses were built. Generally situated in areas that the dead have not completely overrun, these massive facilities sport the latest and greatest in defensive technologies, as well as host the entirety of Z-Com's command for that region behind reinforced walls and blast-proof doors. It is from one of these strongholds that all Z-Com squads operate, coordinating with other teams and cells around the world to systemically eliminate the zombie threat, and yours is no different.

The base you and the other members of your team operate from, however, just so happens to be located smack dab in the middle of New York City. One of largest hotspots for infected activity in the world thanks to its high population density. Your missions up to this point have been as varied as they are difficult, but the one you've just received will undoubtedly be the most challenging and dangerous one yet. For you've been tasked with retrieving the rogue DarkWater geneticist who unleashed the virus on the world to begin with. A man by the name of Raymond Hubbard. Due to the global manhunt declared by his erstwhile employer and interest from the global community at large, he's gone completely underground somewhere in the city, as it is the one place even your brothers and sisters in arms cannot easily tread, let alone a group as unscrupulous and reviled as DarkWater. The reason for all of this is to allow Z-Com to pick Hubbard's brain, as the knowledge he holds of the virus's structure is of vital importance to immunizing against future outbreaks of the non-cytopathic strain.

It might, if we're very lucky, also lead to a breakthrough in combating the cytopathic strain as well.

So...

Are you ready to bring him in?

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All right, bit of a rambly introduction I know, but the basic gist is that you're a member of Z-Com during the height of a Necroa outbreak. Your job currently, besides contributing to the lowering of the global zombie population overall, is to track down and detain a rogue geneticist by the name of Raymond Hubbard. Sounds simple right? Except you've got to make your way through a zombie infested NYC in search of a man whose exact location you don't know, and whose tracks you can't follow because--so far as anyone within Z-Com knows--he's managed to scrub them all. On top of all that, you've also got to contend with a hostile private military contractor called DarkWater. The people who were responsible for the creation of NC-17 to begin with; their attempt at creating a bioweapon that would then be sold to the highest bidder, had it not been smuggled out of the lab and accidentally released, creating hordes of cannibalistic monstrosities anyway.

But don't sweat it. You've trained for this.

Summary aside, I'm looking for a small group of four players since we'll be moving through the city as a fireteam rather than a full on squad. Less chance of losing people to the zombies that way. A character sheet will be posted in the official OOC thread when it goes up, should enough interest be garnered of course.

Expectations
I don't really have many expectations regarding posts other than quality over quantity, and emphasizing proper grammar, spelling, etc. Other than that posts should be made once a week, but as always do let me and your fellow players know if you can't make a post for whatever reason, or if you wish to withdraw so that someone else isn't stuck waiting on a response. Additionally, despite being a fandom roleplay that takes place in the universe of Plague Inc. (which has its fair share of goofiness thanks to spoofing things like Apple or Microsoft ala the game's fictional company of AppleSoft and the like), I do want to take a more serious approach in this. While there will definitely be large amounts of tacticool, and I don't expect you to be a military expert since I myself am not one in the slightest, do keep in mind that you aren't playing as HUNK or Leon from Resident Evil. If you try to one-man army a zombie horde or do something else incredibly stupid, you will probably die.

There's a reason you've been placed on a team and given the resources necessary to complete your mission, after all.

_{Here's an example of what I'm looking for.}

Rules
You know the rules, and so do I...

Basically all forum rules apply. I'm assuming you've read them already, but if not, please go and do so.

Lore

Looks interesting.

Hi!

Are you still interested in making this RP? I'm very interested as it seems to scratch a lot of itches that I have, especially the zombie and tacticool part.

If so, what would you think about the idea of a DarkWater defector who volunteers (well, not that he'd have a choice in the end) himself to Z-Com to redeem himself? Someone who is very experienced and valuable to the team, however, is highly discriminated against and deemed untrustworthy due to his ties to DarkWater and as such needs to prove his loyalty and respect to the team?

I'm mostly waiting on people to express interest, so yes, I am still interested in doing this. I have considered allowing one defector character at the very least, so that should be fine if you want to fill that role. But pretty much the entire team will be experienced given the demanding training Z-Com puts everyone through. Like it'll be a mix of actual military vets/active service personnel and civilians who went through the aforementioned training ideally.

Now some still might be green when it comes to combating zombies specifically, especially since I plan to have them evolve new symptoms over time and thus new defenses or abilities (etc.), but you've got enough training not to fall into a panic spiral or freeze in a combat scenario. Plus you have done a handful of missions before that involve thinning the hordes more or less, when it comes to Z-Com anyway.

I only mention that as the experience they're looking for in this regard likely has more to do with DarkWater's tactics, movements, plans, and so on rather than military or tactical experience in general.

I'd be interested in this if there was still space!

I'd be interested in this if there was still space!

Glad to hear it. There's still room, as I've only gotten two interested parties so far.

Could be interested

Yep, I specifically meant his experience and knowledge of DW tactics & MO, but I'm figuring that even his combat skills would be important at a time when it's all hands on deck. My idea is that he'd already be a survivor of multiple missions with Z-Com, however he'd be a new addition transfered to the current team. That's why he'd have to prove himself to them and due to DarkWater mercs being heavily looked down upon by everyone in the first place.

I had also wanted to ask about how you would handle the mutations. Would the evolution be uniform with the strain for all zombies, or would it be more like we'd see different types of zombies with different evolved symptoms?

Lastly, what is the status with the cure or possibility of treatment of Necroa? The NC-17 description had mentioned that it's very easy to cure during the earlier stages, does it mean that infection is not neccessary 100% lethal? Or would it only be possible after Dr. Hubbard is captured?

Yep, I specifically meant his experience and knowledge of DW tactics & MO, but I'm figuring that even his combat skills would be important at a time when it's all hands on deck. My idea is that he'd already be a survivor of multiple missions with Z-Com, however he'd be a new addition transfered to the current team. That's why he'd have to prove himself to them and due to DarkWater mercs being heavily looked down upon by everyone in the first place.

I had also wanted to ask about how you would handle the mutations. Would the evolution be uniform with the strain for all zombies, or would it be more like we'd see different types of zombies with different evolved symptoms?

Lastly, what is the status with the cure or possibility of treatment of Necroa? The NC-17 description had mentioned that it's very easy to cure during the earlier stages, does it mean that infection is not neccessary 100% lethal? Or would it only be possible after Dr. Hubbard is captured?

I ask that you bear with me here as I'm on four hours of sleep, so apologies if not all of the following makes sense.

So for the second question, I'm leaning towards making different types. They all have the same cytopathic strain of the virus, they just developed differing mutations/adaptations. I want to go this route cause in the actual game it's uniform across the board since you're playing the virus, and it's more keeping track of how much of the world's population is infected, as well as the cure progress, etc., rather than dealing with individuals and the like. I also don't see it being much fun if every zombie is a vampire with dermal armor and the ability to spit acid either, hence going for different mutation types like in Dying Light or Dead Island.

That isn't to say that there won't be baseline symptoms which every zombie has, of course. There most certainly will be. It just won't make them particularly strong or anything.

For the third question, there are two main strains. The non-cytopathic one and the cytopathic one. In-game it's just a symptom you evolve as part of the original virus (and alternate strains or genome shuffles are done via the abilities tab instead, both of which slow down or set back cure progress and not much else), but I felt it made more sense to have a clear and straightforward delineation for each version of the virus instead. The non-cytopathic strain can be cured, and that's what makes it easy to stop (at least initially), since its symptoms and the like aren't that extreme. I mean aside from giving you a compulsion to eat your own flesh and other lethal symptoms that could--but are not guaranteed to--develop naturally. At the start it functions as a relatively normal, albeit concerning, flu-like pathogen that can be cured. Once the cytopathic strain emerged, however, this became a whole lot harder. You can't really cure the zombies, since they're effectively brain dead and the virus itself is what's reanimated them/keeping them and their cells alive, but you can cure and immunize those who have the non-cytopathic strain. At least that's how I have it in my head.

The game is, naturally, more restrictive about this.

So long as you get someone who has the non-cytopathic strain early enough, assuming you have the cure, they can be immunized against it. If they get bitten though that's not enough, as the cytopathic variant will rapidly overwhelm their immune system even with the aid of the cure. Plus it's a different strain and the cure is only really being developed for the non-cytopathic one, so the body is only trained to deal with that variant. As far as status goes, the world's working on it, but it's going very slowly now that a large percentage of the planet's population has joined the ranks of the walking dead. Dr. Hubbard's work therefore, alongside the knowledge he has of its original sequencing in particular and whatever samples he has left over, would help speed up this process immensely.

Hopefully that clears up any confusion. Trying to translate game mechanics into RP material isn't easy. Especially for Plague Inc. where it's a lot more cut and dry for the sake of gameplay, whereas in real life if it were a real virus it'd be a lot more malleable and would have a bunch of different strains.

@Sifter
If in doubt about how it works though, I'd recommend just defaulting to the descriptions on the wiki. It is the Necroa virus at the end of the day, regardless of what flourishes I may put on it for the sake of RP. The only change that is really important is the zombie types one.

@Havoccultist Thanks! And no issues, I specifically asked due to having played Plague Inc. years back and remembering how the disease mutations worked in that game. And I agree that having different zombie types makes it more interesting, plus new mutations appearing later on would also make it neccessary to develop new tactics to defeat the undead combatants.

@Havoccultist Thanks! And no issues, I specifically asked due to having played Plague Inc. years back and remembering how the disease mutations worked in that game. And I agree that having different zombie types makes it more interesting, plus new mutations appearing later on would also make it neccessary to develop new tactics to defeat the undead combatants.

That's understandable. I don't plan on deviating too much from the game save for the mutation types idea (and just making it work for an RP in general). That and maybe making gas or chemical warfare effective since I'm fairly certain the zombies are still alive. Given the fact that cytopathic reanimation restarts cellular processes and low level functions, things like the lungs should still work since it isn't technically magic and probably can't resuscitate a corpse that's been dead for more than an hour at least.

I think. But we can figure that out later I guess.

Plus they're also capable of starving to death, so they clearly still need sustenance and the like to function.

I’m interested! I love small groups and zombies so 😍

@Days, @Sifter, @Sadie, @ChronoBovino, @Jamesyco
Pinging those who expressed interest. Just want to know who's still interested and who isn't before I get the actual RP thread up. Also I'm still debating either playing a character myself, or just controlling the world and NPCs in general.

Also I'm still debating either playing a character myself, or just controlling the world and NPCs in general.

Whatever feels more right to you, what makes your idea come to life the best.

A fair statement. Also, I'll give it till the end of today for those who have not confirmed their interest to respond. Otherwise I'll go ahead and create the OOC thread and just have myself with a GMPC as the fourth 'player', as I don't want to keep anyone waiting too long.

@Days, @Sifter, @Sadie, @ChronoBovino, @Jamesyco
To those who showed interest, here's the OOC: roleplayerguild.com/posts/5474549

It's more or less the same as this, but with a character sheet template included.

Hey, if there's still room in this, I'd like to throw my hat into the ring. Seems like it could be pretty fun!

Hey, if there's still room in this, I'd like to throw my hat into the ring. Seems like it could be pretty fun!

There's still room for now, though there are several players who have already expressed interest.