Zalim

The Zalim Virus is a nanovirus which was created as North Korea's own dead hand switch. *"Their nukes wouldn't work on a dream, but their virus sure did."*

It spreads through water, especially rainwater, along with fluid contact with anyone infected. It cannot be removed by any conventional means, including boiling or freezing. The only sure way to protect against Zalim is a one-time dose of Qatiun. The mortality of Zalim was 92%, and its victims suffer for about a month before succumbing to multiple organ failure. 3 billion people would die as a result of its spread, whether through direct disease contact or through the decline of civilization.

The Siege of Pyongyang forced North Korea's leader to release the virus into the water, which would later cause the deaths of three billion people in only four years. Some believed it to be a rapture, sending its victims to heaven while leaving its survivors to persist in a doomed world.

## History

Disease 23X212 was created in a secret facility located in Samsu, North Korea, during the Second Korean War. Several convoys containing barrels of the virus were deployed towards cities that had no other access to water. It was designed to survive and multiply in water, even when boiling or freezing. 23X212 was Dictator Jung-Kim's contingency plan for the war, "If this glorious nation cannot live then the others cannot live either!". The virus was effective for four years, from 2028 to 2032, and managed to seep into the ocean water, before a cure and vaccine was developed to fight it. It was dubbed 'Zalim' by Kurdish researchers.

## Symptoms

* Shortness of breath
* Dizziness
* Jaundice
* Blackened fingertips
* Hair loss
* Blue lips
* Diarrhea
* Blood in human refuse/saliva
* Bleeding eyes
* Scarring of windpipe
* Coughing blood
* Hallucination

## Transmission

Every drop of water in the world is infected by Zalim, and there remains no way to remove the infection en masse. Rainwater is especially dangerous, and remains a risk to open water reservoirs. Zalim only infects humans, and is only transmitted by water consumption and blood contact to those chronically ill with the disease.

Vaccination is the only way to prevent a Zalim infection, as virtually every accessible water source is contaminated, save for stored, separated water which has become rarer as the years pass. Since immunity does not get inherited, newborns must be vaccinated within the first two hours.

## Qatiun

The name of the vaccine (and cure) is called Qatiun. A small diode is inserted just below the eye, which dissolves in the fluid and is absorbed into the bloodstream. From there, several hundred nanomachine cultures train the immune system to fight the infection, and change the chemistry of the liver so that it can filter the plague right out of the water. It is uncomfortable, but was made mandatory and was ordered to be given for free in nearly every nation. In rare cases the nanomachines will fail to give proper steps to the patient's body for them to fight the disease directly, in which case the vaccine is given again, this time in both eyes. However, chronic cases of Zalim infection have irreversible effects, and thus require a lifelong prescription of such a capsule.

### Pre-Qatiun treatment

The cure, though it has a low chance of curing the Zalim in one trial, was the most sought after treatment after the war. It involves a week in cryostasis, which lowers the heart rate enough for a trained machine to manually switch out the patient's blood for non-diseased blood. In more extreme cases, all bodily fluids are replaced. Damaged organs are replaced with electronic replacements, or organic transplants if the patient was wealthy enough (At the time, bionics were only limited to extremities). However, it was not uncommon for the patient to freeze to death in cryostasis. After the treatment, a physical and mental evaluation is conducted. Permanent damage, such as the scarring of the windpipe, was irreversible, and until recently with bionic voice syntheses left millions of people mute.

## Effects

The plague wiped out 3 billion people globally, bringing the population down to roughly 5 billion people. This resulted in The Great Decline, between 2029 and 2032. Sciences in fertility and repopulation were funded shortly after the end of the crisis in attempts to bring the population back to its former levels.

Instead of a census every decade, a census is now conducted annually to monitor the regrowth of the population. Between 2032 and 2033, the population rose from 5,013,884,221 to 5,063,023,063.

In efforts to regrow the population, various legislative measures were passed on federal and UN Charter levels. The United States federally banned abortions in cases where the mother's life is not in danger, and dismissed cases of rape which would result in the birth of a child. Vascectomies, IUD's, tubal sterilization, and forms of birth control (save for condoms) slowly became prohibitive with cost, in countries that could not ban them. The UN Charter prohibited adoptions for partents who have not had at least one biological child, inadvertently barring gay couples from adopting children. Numerous orphaned children would become interred into various AFUN programs to become enahnced operatives.

## Post-Crisis

A year or so after the distribution of the Qatiun vaccine, people still feared the rain and drinking water from the tap (Or at least even more so). Society would eventually return to normal after The Great Decline, though the deaths of three billion required a technological overhaul to fill in the work gap. The producers of Qatiun, Hubris Developments, would continue to make sales on Qatiun as the vaccine does not carry over to newborn children.

The Interlopers would unfortunately have to rely on the vaccine if they wanted to raise children. They trade with city folk or guide them in the abandoned lands solely to obtain Qatiun. Many Interlopers live in fear of Qatiun being restricted, which would severely attrite their population. Some countries, like Poland and Czechia, restrict Qatiun to such a degree that Czech and Polish Interlopers have to smuggle it from Aquitaine or Russia.

1. ↑ Despite popular belief, this dismissal would be exploited more often by women, who would also benefit from the child support of the resulting child.