Undead Plague

The world of Dead State is threatened by a plague that turns those infected - with the infection vector being a bite from someone who has already died and turned - into walking corpses. While there is widespread speculation about the cause of this plague by both the survivors within the Shelter and the various Data Entries you find around the world, nothing is certain as to what its real origin is, or what it truly is.

Game Lore
Only a few things are truly certain about this undead plague:


 * The "plague" itself doesn't kill you - infections surrounding it ultimately claim the life of the victim, allowing the plague itself to raise them as the walking dead.
 * Antibiotics can keep the plague at bay, but cannot cure it.
 * If an infected individual does not have any antibiotics for three days, they will die - and turn.

Game Systems

 * Characters who are knocked down and attacked by the undead and have less than 50% health have a chance to get infected. Wearing armor and items with a high Bite resistance is the best way to protect against this (well, and not being surrounded by the undead)
 * Player characters cannot be Infected unless you select the "PC Infection" mode when beginning a new game.

Speculation

 * A CDC communique states a certain element of debate in calling the plague a "virus." Ultimately it is internally tagged - against objections - as the Countdown virus.


 * A blog states the plague started somewhere in Africa.


 * Animals cannot carry the plague, and tests say they will run from infected. Infected do not show any interest in attacking animals.


 * The spread of the plague is attributed to apathy - and human selfishness at violating quarantines and travel restrictions.

Dev Commentary

 * Although developers toyed with the idea of giving allies Parisa Sharazi, Sara Seza, or Ulysses Ford a plotline to discover a treatment (NOT a cure) for the virus, this was abandoned before ship because of technical concerns, but primarily a desire by the developers to preserve the somewhat grim, bleak feel of the game. George Romero's (early) Dead series of films never offered a cure for the undead plague - even with researchers in Day of the Dead focusing on it - and the focus of the movies was not about finding a cure but surviving against hopelessness and the inhumanity of man. Devs have repeatedly states that the "cure" quest was cut intentionally, and was never meant to be an ending to the game. There is nothing in the game's files that hint it was ever meant to be an ending (no slides, no dialogues, etc.)


 * The term "zombie" is never used in the game itself, and devs have been very careful to try and avoid using it.