Awesome! I had to pull over on the road and read the whole thing it was so good. Congrats to everyone and especially Doug. I'll send an EOG later.
Mike
From: NDM <holyyakker(at)gmail.com>
To: dc391(at)diplomaticcorp.com; diplomacyworld(at)yahoo.com; Githraine(at)yahoo.com; Alex Maslow <blueraider0(at)gmail.com>; Jack McHugh <jwmchughjr(at)gmail.com>; JOHN CLARKE <john.c1arke(at)btinternet.com>; Michael Norton <mjn82(at)yahoo.com>; "NICOL, Alfred (AMN)" <amn(at)benenden.kent.sch.uk>; holyyakker(at)gmail.com
Sent: Monday, October 3, 2011 11:26 AM
Subject: The Zombie Lords
Revealed
Across all of Europe the zombies have rampaged, devouring the strong and the guilty as well as the weak and the innocent. Military forces have crested and ebbed again and again in massive violence fighting both with other nations as well as the against their own former citizen's now turned into mindless monsters. Throughout the lands speculation has been wild. The public had considered the rise of the zombies as a sign of god, or a sign of the devil, blame had been placed on medical testing to reckless disregard to the laws of church and nature. But as the conflict spread two nations seemed best equipped to defeat their enemies as well as the zombie hordes.
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The fireplace burned brightly in the corner, but the rest of the lights were dimmed, causing eerie shadows to dance and twist along the walls. Two men stand over a large wooden table peering down at documents in front of them, their shadows cast long over a map of Europe.
"Well, my friend, it appears our plans have worked."
"Yes." came the short answer from a smile curled around a slowly smoldering cigarette.
"The other nations have all but given up. Perhaps we should release the vaccine now?" The first voice a bit more nervous than the other.
"I suppose comrade. If you wish." A pair of hands, covered in black leather gloves smooth over a map of Europe, arrows and crosses showing the routes of massive armies and their victories. "They all seem ready to cave as it is."
"Do you ever think that maybe we shouldn't have done it? All those innocents dead, your countrymen, my country men." A hint of regret fills the speaker's voice.
"No." The answer firm and direct. "What we have done has ensured the survival of our nations for the next two centuries. A few million is a small sacrifice to secure the future for the rest of us."
"Yes... I suppose you are right."
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"What do you mean, it doesn't work?" the army official angrily questioned the younger man in a lab coat.
"I didn't say it didn't work!" the technician attempted to explain, again, with frustration mounting in his voice. "It just doesn't always work!"
The commander of the research facility slammed his fist against the desk. "Damn it man, it either works or it doesn't work. Does it work?"
"Look, here is what happens. In most subjects the vaccine works fine. It will revert recent zombification victims to human status and prevent future zombification infections."
"So it works!"
"In MOST subjects!" the technician interrupted, "In very rare cases the vaccine will appear to work and continue working for months before the subject begins to... revert."
"Do they all revert?" The commander looked concerned now, as realization dawned across his face.
"We don't know, we've only be testing for a few years. It seemed to work perfectly to begin with, but we never had a chance to study the long term effects before you folks decided to unleash it on the world! What's worse is there is evidence to suggest that even in healthy non-zombified humans the vaccine can cause the change to take place in the long term, but we haven't confirmed whether or not that can happen or how common it will be. We just don't know."
"And we never will." The commander clasped his hands in front of his chin, deep in thought.
"What do you mean? We have to research this more, we need to find out.."
It was the commander's turn to interrupt, "Find out what?" He snapped angrily, "Whether or not we are all doomed? The vaccine has already been handed out like candy across the world. If we go public with this information now all that will happen is the brass will see that we are silenced. No. We bury this report. We burn it, and we bury it that is the only way we stay alive."
"And... and then what?" the scientist seemed defeated and scared now, as if reality had come crashing down around him.
"Then we both go home and pray to god that you are wrong."
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The sun was shining bright on the shores of Naples. A family was taking an outing, enjoying the fair weather. Life was finally returning to some semblance of normal. Along the shoreline various buildings were still in ruins, reminders of the brutal conflict that had taken place. Several locals had taken to combing the shore for pieces of scrap metal that would still wash up from the destroyed fleets. On a good day the scavengers could bring in a hefty load of iron and steel, on the bad days all they found were bloated half eaten corpses.
Fernando and his family were hoping they'd find neither today. The harbor wall had done a good job of keeping most of the debris off of this particular stretch of beach. "Don't go wading in too far!" he called to his children, "Lunch will be ready soon!" He felt blessed each and every day that his family had made it through the war untouched. His brother had not been so lucky when his wife had succumb to the infection and turned on him. He was able to fend her off, their infant had not been as fortunate. It was a wonder he hadn't killed himself in grief.
He shook his head, trying to abandon such dark thoughts on a sunny day. It would have helped had there been a few more families out to enjoy the great weather. They seemed to have the beach to themselves other than for the strange figure in the distance who was slowly limping down the beach. Fernando idly wondered if he'd join them for lunch, he looked like he might be a wounded soldier from the war...
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"Did you bring the proof?" A hushed voice asked from behind a thick wooden door.
"Ja, it is here, let me in." The short man's eyes darted nervously up and down the street. As soon as the door was open more than a crack he pushed through into the foyer of the house in what used to part of the German Empire.
"Here it is." he said pulling an envelope form his coat. "Documents, they prove everything."
The older man's eyes lit up and his mouth opened in a wide grin. "So we can finally prove they started the entire plague. We can prove they were the ones who caused everything."
"Yes, yes! All we need to do is go public and their hegemony will be destroyed." The shorter man smiled.
The soft report of a silenced pistol went off and the shorter man clutched at his abdomen. "I am sorry friend, but what will that do? It won't bring back the German Empire, it won't bring back our rule. But what they will do is pay for silence, and pay handsomely, and that money, and time, can buy influence and, ultimately, revenge."
The shorter man attempted to speak but no sound would come, he could feel the blood flooding into his lungs, drowning him like so many German soldiers drowned in the northern seas.
"Don't worry my friend, we will have our vengeance, Germany will remember all you have done, but this requires a delicate touch. A better sense of... diplomacy."
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End of Game Results
Russia/England Draw was voted up by everyone. I apologize for the delay, but I wanted time to give you guys a slightly more enjoyable end game email. A final map will be distributed/uploaded as soon as I get back onto my laptop and off a work computer. I hope you all enjoyed the game and were willing to forgive the minor delays and setbacks. I hope you enjoyed my ending story lines as well. I felt I needed to give you something special after delaying so many deadlines on my part. Feel free to give me any feedback you'd like and thanks for playing.
