File ID: KAC-444
Designation: "The Thanatos Strain"
Threat Level: Category 4 (Existential Threat)
Status: Ongoing Eradication
Discovering Officer: Commander Iroh
World of Origin: Earth (Variation #761263412)
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[DESCRIPTION]
KAC-444 is a highly adaptive, interdimensional viral virus that infects biological lifeforms and induces a progressive transformation into hostile entities colloquially classified as zombies. This designation is misleading and insufficient.
Unlike conventional necrotic pathogens, KAC-444 preserves and amplifies the cognitive, physical, and combative capabilities of the host during the early and intermediate stages of infection. Full transformation results in a state best described as Dead and Alive.
The virus has breached multiple alternate Earth realities, spreading through both conventional vectors (blood, saliva, aerosolized particulate) and anomalous channels (memetic exposure, dream-state contact, cross-world resonance).
The Virus has also given rise to a Category 5 entity capable of combating those of the same category, designated as KAC-444-A: Thanatos.
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[INFECTION PROGRESSION]
Stage I — Retention (0–6 hours)
- Host remains fully conscious and self-aware.
- Mild physiological enhancement observed (strength, reflexes, sensory acuity).
- Hosts retain all learned skills, memories, and combative capabilities.
- Increased aggression.
- Hosts often attempt to conceal infection.
Stage II — Amplification (6–24 hours)
- Physical capabilities increase exponentially beyond baseline.
- Any pre-existing combative abilities are magnified and destabilized.
- Hosts demonstrate tactical reasoning, teamwork, and strategic ambush behavior.
- Emotional range narrows; empathy degrades rapidly.
- Self-identity persists but becomes subordinate to viral imperative.
Stage III — Collapse (24–72 hours)
- Personal identity fragments but does not vanish.
- Speech becomes distorted, repetitive, or symbolic.
- Abilities remain active but operate reflexively.
- Host no longer recognizes allies except as tools or prey.
- Pain response eliminated; structural damage does not impair function.
Stage IV — Conversion (Post-72 hours)
- Host is no longer classified as living or deceased and their body undergoes necrosis.
- Biological processes are restructured around viral propagation.
- All abilities become instinctual weapons.
- Individual memories dissolve, but capability patterns persist.
- The infected demonstrate coordinated swarm behavior across urban and planetary scales.
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[ANOMALOUS PROPERTIES]
Ability Amplification:Any combative ability(s) possessed by the host prior to infection is intensified, often beyond survivable limits for non-infected users.
Cross-Reality Adaptation:The virus mutates in response to local physical laws, allowing survival in worlds with differing constants, power systems, or metaphysical frameworks.
Memory-Based Targeting:Infected entities preferentially hunt individuals known to them prior to infection, exploiting emotional bonds and tactical knowledge.
Death Resistance:Destruction of vital organs is insufficient. Neutralization requires complete cellular disintegration or reality-level containment methods.
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[BEHAVIOUR]
The infected do not wander aimlessly.
They coordinate attacks, prioritize high-value targets, avoid fortified positions until sufficient force is gathered, and deliberately spread infection rather than maximize immediate kills.
Several Earths fell after initial containment success, when infected survivors used retained knowledge to sabotage defenses.
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[CONTAINMENT ATTEMPT]
The KAC has initiated Multiversal Protocol Θ-Graveyard.
Current measures include synchronized planetary quarantines, forced dimensional isolation of infected Earths, targeted reality purges of high-density infection zones, deployment of anti-viral conceptual counteragents, and controlled collapse of irrecoverable worlds.
Eradication success rate varies by reality. In some Earths, total extinction of native life has been deemed preferable to uncontrolled spread.
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[FINAL NEUTRALIZATION]
Complete neutralization remains ongoing. The virus cannot be eradicated in a single reality without addressing its cross-reality mutation framework. Long-term projections suggest that even one surviving infected entity could re-seed the outbreak.
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[NOTES BY Commander Iroh]
"These are not the dead rising. These are the living weaponized by memory."
- Commander Iroh
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[FILE END]