Origins of the Zombie Virus.

[Neon_Wolf1]

I thought that it might be fun to have a discussion on the possible cause of the Zombie outbreak.

Here is a transcript of the radio and TV lore in the game. http://pastebin.com/cBQVMzCG
NOTE: I did not make that transcript. I take no credit.
By going over the lore carefully I have listed all the likely suspects, As well as the pros and cons of each.

1.Bio-warfare testing during the Vietnam war.

Pros: On the radio and TV they talk about how there was a foul smell for days before the Knox Event.
This suggests that there may have been an accident or leak at the lab or base were the Virus was bening stored.

It would also explain how the Army would know to immediately deploy a large contingent of soldiers to enforce a quarantine. Furthermore it would explain why the Government was so keen to keep the public in the dark about the Knox event.

Cons: Simply put it just seems far too obvious, and the trope of the evil Military/Industrial Complex has been done to death.

2. Spiffo restaurants

Pros: There are was talk about the grand opening of a new spiffo restaurant in West Point, and how there was something wrong with the meat.
This game takes place during the early 90s, when the hysteria of Mad Cow Disease was at its peak. MCD has Zombieish symptoms. From Wikipedia:
Cows affected by BSE are usually apart from the herd and show progressively deteriorating behavioral and neurological signs.
One notable sign is an increase in aggression. Cattle react excessively to noise or touch and slowly become ataxic.[13]
Systemic signs of disease, such as a drop in milk production, anorexia, and lethargy, are present.

Transmission can occur when healthy animals come in contact with tainted tissues from others with the disease.
In the brain, these proteins cause native cellular prion protein to deform into the infectious state, which then goes on to deform further prion protein in an exponential cascade.
This results in protein aggregates, which then form dense plaque fibers leading to the microscopic appearance of "holes" in the brain, degeneration of physical and mental abilities, and ultimately death.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bovine_spongiform_encephalopathy

The timing would work.

Cons: As far as we know the Spiffo company is national, so would it start in West Point and not anywhere else?
Furthermore the Zombies are undead and as bad as MCD is, it can not create the undead.

3.Dogs.

Pros: In the lore they talk about how at the Fort Knox Military Base the security dogs had became sick just before the start of the Knox Event.
The Owner of Tiggys bar talks about his dog being sick just before the start of the outbreak. And when a group of survivors attempted to escape the quarantine their dog was immediately shot, and the rest just arrested.

Cons: Cross species virus are rare, and there are no Zombie dogs, or any other zombie animal in the game.

4. Meteorites. There is a single mention of a meteor shower happening just before the start of the Knox Event.

Pros: The way that a Zombie like virus could ever realistic come into existence would be if some alien microbe were able to survive through the deeps of space and through our atmosphere and some how infect an Human.
This game is trying to be the most realistic on the market, so if a Zombie apocalypse were to occur this is how it would happen.

The fact that it is mentioned only once in an off handed way decreases the likelihood that its one of the many red harries in the game.

Cons: If it was a microorganism that somehow hijacked a living host, then the host itself would not be dead. You would have a Last of Us scenario were the Zombies are infected but still very much alive. Whereas the Zombies in Project Zomboid are very much dead.

5. Science Experiment gone wrong.

Pros: In the sound track there is a woman who sings about mankinds attempt at achieving eternal life. And that we must now pay some great penalty for our hubris.

Cons: At least that is what some guy on the Youtube comments said, so who knows?

Edit: also they mention a second outbreak that happned some time in the past at Raleigh, North Carolina. But no other infomation is available.


Thats all I can think of. What do you guys think?

[DarkHorsePrime]

Write a short novel :p I will read it.

[Gilga ™ |Yonaguni|]

Nice summary, since the TV/Radio system was released there where some kind of discussion about the origin of the outbreak.

Anyway my favorite was always the "Meteorites Theory", first time i saw it ingame, i was just like wtf;=)

[Spidey19355]

This was pretty interesting to read and I like your theories. If you find anymore I'll gladly listen.

[tintenherz1]

these are some pretty nice theories you got there. but i'm more interested in that military code. does anyone cracked it yet? i'm trying my best. if i find something i let you guys know

[tintenherz1]

ok. these numbers have nothing to do with the virus. there just some coordinates. just type them into google maps and you see it yourself. sorry. false alarm

[Gilga ™ |Yonaguni|]

Originally posted by tintenherz1:

ok. these numbers have nothing to do with the virus. there just some coordinates. just type them into google maps and you see it yourself. sorry. false alarm

Iam sorry, what numbers you are meaning?

[tintenherz1]

if you click on the link Neon_Wolf1 posted, you can see all the TV and radio lines. at the botton you can see that the military radio reads out a line of numbers. was very curious what they mean and yeah... they're just coordinates

[Gilga ™ |Yonaguni|]

Ah ok, thanks for the info

[Neon_Wolf1]

Thanks for the kind words everyone!

I know that the Devs won't tell us the answer to the outbreak, but maybe they would either confirm or deny what the woman on the soundtrack is saying? Her voice is just so haunting.
There just has to be a clue in there.

[tintenherz1]

I trink that the theory with the goverment and the Science Experiment is not wrong.

1. The virus spread very fast. What i heard myself beforw the radio and tv went dark is that the virus reached japan, London, Afrika and Berlin.

2. The General from the Military and other soilders always said ''I's Contained. IT always was Contained." I trink this means something

[Neon_Wolf1]

Originally posted by EnigmaGrey:

Originally posted by Neon_Wolf1:

Thanks for the kind words everyone!

I know that the Devs won't tell us the answer to the outbreak, but maybe they would either confirm or deny what the woman on the soundtrack is saying? Her voice is just so haunting.
There just has to be a clue in there.

You can find the translation in the comments of this video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OAEw_qH-DVI :)

Thank You Enigma Grey!

After reading the translation I realised that the zombies don't need to eat,or to drink,
nor do their age, if you locked a PZ zombie in a room for a hundred years he would be fine.
So, in a way, they are immortial. They have defeated death, by becoming death.Interesting.

Originally posted by tintenherz1:

I trink that the theory with the goverment and the Science Experiment is not wrong.

1. The virus spread very fast. What i heard myself beforw the radio and tv went dark is that the virus reached japan, London, Afrika and Berlin.

2. The General from the Military and other soilders always said ''I's Contained. IT always was Contained." I trink this means something

You make a good point.

The first reported non-American outbreaks of the virus is not in Mexico or in Canada,
Americas only land bordering neighbors. But in Norfolk England and Mogadishu Somalia. Both of which at the time had a large U.S. military presence in the early 90s.

In fact I belive that the next areas named are Berlin Germany, and Seoul South Korea.
Again both are home to a massive number of American troops.

All of this is reported before the complete fall of society in the U.S.
This gives more weight to the Bio-warfare theory, as the news reported that the
World Heath Organization had banned air travel before the riot broke the quarantine.
So only military aircraft could have been transitioning between those locations.

But the military would have been performing autopsies, dissections and vivisections, on
zombies, dead zombies, and on the "lucky" survivors who were immune to the first strain
of the virus.All of which could have been performed at any of those bases.
So the question is of causation or correlation. Did those outbreaks occur because the
military created the virus? Or because they where trying to find a way to destroy it?
Sadly the evidence is inconclusive.

As for the troops yelling that "its contained" over and over agian, that could be chalked up to
the unimaginable stress and fear that they were going through.
Imagine being a solder on that wall, in front of you the dead have risen up to feast on the
living, you have seen you best buddys eaten alive.Hell itself has arrived in Kentucky.

Behind you, your fellow Americans are calling you a fascist and a murder, who is keeping
them separated from their loved ones with bayonets.
There has been pushing and shoving, and even some death threats from the crowd.
And with all the news vans everywere you know that the eyes of the entire world is upon you.

Honestly I would have snapped the first day, let alone the fourth or the fifth.

[tintenherz1]

this could sound crazy but i think i got an idea. what if the goverment tried to make immortial soldiers. this would explain why the locations with military are first infected. first the "virus" does nothing, no symptons. but what if the virus mutated over time and transmitted to other people? this could explain a lot of questions

[Mr. Quiet]

Cool stuff! I like your imagination! Maybe it will translate into something in the game!

[South_Of_Nowhere]

4, when you say the only realistic possibilty of a zombie outbreak happening is aliens, thats not really true. Not to be a smarta** or anything but there are a few human pathogens that can cause changes in behaviour and there is a constant evolving microbial community. Really any one of these days, a bacteria, fungi, parasite or whatever could become lethal and take out a large part of the population, or worse, cause them to act erradically and start attacking people as means of further infection. Kind of depressing to think about actually lol.

[South_Of_Nowhere]

Think human rabies