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Infection (84)

The Zombie virus, attacking a human cell

The Second Blight, often simply referred to as just the Blight or the Plague, was an outbreak of a deadly, contagious virus that ravaged the city of London in the year 2012. The virus turns it's victims into undead, aggressive, cannibalistic creatures known as the infected, who will then seek out and attempt to devour any uninfected individuals, turning them into infected as well.

The Blight was first discovered by 17th Century Alchemist John Dee, who made a prediction that the disease would destroy mankind in the year 2012, in what is known as the Black Prophecy.

Origins[]

How the virus came about is unknown. When the Prepper discovers that the player has been aiding Dr. Knight, he angrily tells them that doctors started the mess, and that they were "mucking about with viruses" and "playing God". This suggests that the virus was man-made, possibly as a biological weapon, or was perhaps created by accident during an experiment, to which the motive behind it is unknown.

According to John Dee's letters, the virus has existed since the late 16th Century. The letters explain that Dee had travelled to Europe in order to study what he initially thought was a new outbreak of the Black Death. When reaching France, however, he noticed that several villages had been swiftly quarantined and isolated, and the physicians, who were the only ones aloud to enter these villages, took weapons and poisons into them. Dee managed to gain entry into one of these villages, and discovered that it's residents were not afflicted with the Black Death, but rather with a new, more terrifying disease which he would come to nickname "the Blight". Dee later returned to England and travelled up to the city of Manchester to see his wife Jane, only to discover that the Blight had also wreaked havoc in Manchester, and Jane became infected with the disease and was eventually mercy-killed by Dee, despite his attempts to save her. He then made his way back to London and began researching a cure for the disease, the panacea, but was unable to complete it in time due to his libraries being pillaged on the orders of King James I.

These outbreaks Dee encountered in England and Europe would become known as "The First Blight". Many modern people likely confused the outbreaks of the Blight in Europe as just outbreaks of the Black Death, due to some similarities between the two. Before his death, Dee made the Black Prophecy, a prediction that a second outbreak of the Blight will plague and destroy mankind sometime in the year 2012.

Signs and Symptoms[]

CA CHA ZOMBIFICATION policeMan 001

Concept art showing the progression of the disease on a policeman.

Symptoms of the disease vary from person to person. According to notes written by Dr. Knight, most victims succumb immediately to infection in the region where the virus enters the body. This is then followed by violent convulsions, during which the victim's skin turns pale white and their veins black as ink. Poisoned blood in the form of throbbing black veins will then emerge from the wound and spread around the body, like a venomous tree as described by Knight. Once the veins reach the head, the victim is presumed to be fully infected. Infected individuals will have their intelligence reduced to an animal-like nature, and they will actively try to hunt and consume uninfected individuals, in the process infecting them with the disease. Other notable symptoms of the disease include excessive coughing (evidenced in the case of Dr. Knight) and heavy nosebleeds (evidenced by several infected having blood dripping from their noses). Most infected victims also lose the ability to speak and will only be able to moan or growl, though this isn't always the case, as evidenced by Vikram being able to speak despite being fully infected.

In some subjects, pockets filled with a rich acrid pus form near hot inflamed areas in the armpits, groin and jaw. This pus likely contains antibodies that are strong enough to deactivate the virus. As a result, the pus is efficient in being used as a virucidal poison. Injecting any infected with this virucide will result in the infected dying instantly.

How quickly a victim achieves full infection is unknown. In the case of Vikram, it took the disease roughly an hour to fully take over his body. In contrast, it took Dr. Knight several days to fully succumb to the infection, though this is probably because he kept injecting himself with prototypes of the panacea that he was working on, temporarily stalling it's process.

Several mutations in the virus's genome have resulted in a number of different, and often more deadly variants of the infected. These variants include; Hunters, Sprinters, Spitters, Screamers, Enraged and Evolved infected.

Trivia[]

  • The word "Blight" in the English language refers to something that spoils or has a very bad effect on something, often for a long time.
  • It is never truly stated in the game whether the Blight stayed in England or spread across the world in the 2012 outbreak. Even more so, it is never even stated whether the Blight spread across the whole of England or was only confined to the city of London.
  • The firebombing of London by the Royal Air Force near the end of the game may suggest that the Blight is confined to London only, as Sondra states that London is no longer a rescue zone, meaning that the air force and Ravens of Dee must be stationed somewhere in the north of England, where the disease hasn't caused total destruction yet.
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