The Plague

The term "zombie" redirects here, for those inflicted with LYVID-94, see The Infected.
An unidentified spiritual infection nicknamed The Plague, was an extradimensional virus of apparent supernatural origin that affected universe D-913 in the late summer of 2010, it was purposely created and unleashed as a form of mystic pseudo-biological warfare by The Others with the intent of wiping out the majority - if not all - Humans on the planet in an event that would quickly become known as the Apocalypse. The Plague proved itself to be extremely effective as it's virulent nature made it capable of being contracted and transmitted in numerous ways that surpassed the abilities of most traditional RNA pathogens.
However, it's important to note that not all people infected by The Plague would react to it in the same way, and while no specific reasoning for this is established in-universe, it's hinted and theorized by the characters that a variety of factors, both biological and psychological may have had an impact on each individual's inevitable transformation. These ideas ranged from the strength of one's resolve and/or willpower, blood type, religious reverence (or lack thereof), chemical balances, personality, genetic makeup or morality. It's also worth mentioning that the plague had appeared before at various points throughout human history, but never reached the point of being apocalyptic in scale, leading to many creatures and tales of mythology across various religions as being attributed to one common source, albeit seen through different cultural perspectives.
Ultimately, the only thing that can be discerned about the three types of infected, aside from being carriers of the plague, was their shared homicidal tendencies, loss of reasoning/humanity, and a craving for human flesh, they also share a weakness towards salt and fire much like the Others themselves, however, the effectiveness of each tactic varied from creature to creature. It's also worth noting the overall connection to the Others in general, while Zombies were nothing but empty shells, mass canon-fodder to be enslaved and controlled by the Others, Jiangshi and Wendigo both served as further and more direct corruptions of the person/soul afflicted with the pathogen, if not possessed by another entity entirely, in essence, becoming more like demons themselves.
Category:Apocalypse
Category:Reawakening
Category:Lore
Category:Pathogens