I was wondering if people knew whether any novels had been written with an infected apocalypse for a medieval setting? Specifically, when I say "infected" I'm talking about something like the rage virus from 28 Days Later, or the green flu from the Left 4 Dead video games (without the cool but cartoony mutations seen in the "Special Infected" enemies that the player is up against). They're not zombies, but that's how some of you may refer to them. I don't know if I'd ever actually write a story in this setting... Maybe, but if it's already been done many times before then I doubt there'd be anything new I could bring to the table. I was thinking about an alternate history of the black plague. There are some serious complications with this. For one, if it's a blood-borne pathogen, using a sword or axe is a very dangerous way of dealing with the infected. It'd be seemingly inevitable that combatants or survivors would get infected while trying to defend themselves or otherwise deal with the infected. Bows, crossbows, or other ranged weaponry of the time period would be best, but not everybody would have the know-how. And because of primitive medical understanding and lack of education, many people would be inclined toward superstition, curses, exorcisms and the like. They'd likely be smart enough to know that getting bitten or ingesting the blood leads to turning, but that's about it. There's no hope of cures or vaccines, which means that options are limited to running-and-hiding, quarantining, or eradication. Of course I just see this as an opportunity to introduce a different dynamic and spice things up a bit, rather than impossible problems to get around.
In The Zombie Survival Guide Max Brooks had several 'proof of zombies in history' accounts, one of which in the medieval time period, and another in ancient Rome. If I remember properly (it's been a couple of years) they ended up doing things like razing villages of infected and using traditional weapons and heavy leather gloves to burn everything involved to avoid infection.
Ayyy, I just added that book to my Amazon shopping cart a couple hours ago haha. Good to know there's some of that in there. It's interesting that they would've used traditional weapons, even with leather gloves. I understand that it isn't necessarily like the movies with huge fountains and explosions of blood spewing out (think Kill Bill) but there's certainly a greater danger with close-quarters combat than with ranged weapons. I suppose the length of time it takes to turn into an infected would determine just how dangerous this would be. If it's a day or more than soldiers could be individually quarantined after battles whenever possible, which could introduce some nice suspense. Fighting on horseback and using spears might be a realistic compromise. I'm interested to see how the zombies "work" in Brooks' fictional historic accounts; what ways they are similar or different to what I've been brainstorming. I appreciate you bringing this to my attention.
One thing to remember is population densities would have been much lower, with communities being quite isolated from each other. Depending on how long the infected live for, outbreaks might be quite contained simply because there's nobody left in range to infect before they die off from the virus, dehydration, etc. And there's less chance that someone might get infected but slip unnoticed into another community before the infection takes hold, simply because of longer travel times. Of course, if the outbreak is in a big city, all bets are off. Spears with boar-stoppers were an existing weapon designed to kill a dangerous creature while keeping it at a safe distance from you, that would probably become quite popular. Or a pitchfork, for a low-tech version.
Those are very good points that I'll keep in mind. This is why I was thinking of the black plague. Sort of how the rage virus first started in monkeys (the lab scene from the beginning of 28 Days Later, if you've seen the film). This way humans aren't the only way it is spread. EDIT: I was considering the host being dogs instead of rats, with symptoms that are more like rabies. And thank-you for mentioning spears with boar-stoppers. I was having difficulty finding them at first (Google images kept showing me wine stoppers shaped like boar heads lol) but once I looked up "medieval boar spear" it came up with spears that have what looks akin to the guard on a sword hilt, except it's toward the top below the blade of the spear. Would definitely be an excellent melee weapon for dealing with infected.
I personally think that while dogs and rats are in fact efficient disease spreaders,they are slightly overdone in media.A way to get around this would be to show cattle and horses be affected,since they were pretty common in the Medieval ages,horses especially for travelling purpouses. And it would be very interesting to have a bubonic plague-like virus,but since the incubation period is fairly short (Roughly a week.) i'd suggest trying to stretch it out in the larger animals due to their size to have a slower pacing. I also suggest telling it from a mercant's viewpoint,since as someone already said,the communities were pretty isolated,so they would have the chance to see the virus affecting several towns at once. Also,poor hygiene was a pretty important factor in spreading the disease,so definetly go absolutely mad with that when you're writing.
I know what you mean. I personally didn't want to go the route of rats and bubonic plague because the "zombifying" virus I'm going for is far more like rabies. I also think dramatizing a "super-rabies" in dogs might make it closer to home for more people and would be all around easier to dramatize and fit into a story. With rats I feel like I'd have to go out of my way to contrive some way of addressing it, but with dogs it would be more apparent and immediate to the characters. They just wouldn't have had the knowledge or technology to determine if the cause was rats. Horses can get rabies too of course. I agree that in a larger animal, the infection would take longer. But if the incubation period for humans is longer than a few moments I feel like it's a little anti-climactic. I think the best way forward is to just have dogs, horses, and cattle all be effected by it. Dogs could bite their owners or other people. If you have to put down your horse because it's been infected, you're without transportation which is a grave danger. If cattle are infected there's a lack of food. Judging from your comment, I think you'd agree these are things worth exploring. I don't think I would do it from a merchant's POV, but you *are* right that it needs to be from the POV of somebody who would travel to many different places, even if it's all within the same country. I was thinking either somebody in the military if I wanted to go for something "realistic", or something fun like a travelling plague doctor who - in this alternate history universe - are more like cleansers for the Church. I can't quite think of the best word to describe them, but essentially they travel in groups or sometimes alone, helping take care of outbreaks. Sometimes that means healing, sometimes that means eradication. I'll keep poor hygiene in mind. This most certainly was one of the leading factors as to how the plague spread in real life.
I like this idea, but in the real world it would mean eventual large scale puppy slaughter, which I don't find kosher.
Judging from the selfie you're using as a profile picture, I'd give you a ten second head-start out of compassion.
This is very interesting. I literally thought about something similar with my story. I pictured my characters fighting a bunch of diseased rat monster but then realized that if they got blood on them they're basically screwed. Things might change if there are zombies introduced to the world. Towns may be designed differently to be protected from the undead. Also, maybe they might develop armor designed specifically for dealing with that type of outbreak. You can really get creative with this.
There are a lot of alternative history stories about the Plague - both times it struck. I think it depends on what point your story begins in. Has the world all ready got Zombie like things? If so they might have learned how to deal with it. Maybe their wear armour or face shields so their mouth and eyes are protected. I could never understand why in Resident evil 2 the women walked around half dressed - like shorts and tank tops. Like really? I'd want something to protect myself from bites. The human teeth are not designed to cut threw skin and bone, nor does our jaw have the strength. Our jaws work in a rotational way which works for chewing plants (like cows and horses). but if you look at predators they have a snapping motion and no ability to move the jaw from side to side. That snapping motion allows the jaw to rip of large chucks and sink deep into the flesh. You wouldn't need metal armour really, just good thick leather.
If you could point me in the direction of those alternate-history black plague stories, I'd appreciate it. I'm specifically wondering if a "zombie" (i.e. 28 Days Later) approach has been taken. I'm sure a pseudo-cannibalistic human could do some serious damage, and easily draw blood if they're attacking full force with their teeth and nails. You're right that it wouldn't be easy given that human teeth and jaws are not designed for that (and we don't have claws), but it's far from impossible. Just researching domestic assault cases is enough to tell you that much. You're right about face shields and other changes to the armor. If not leather, then very light metal. Exactly! The creative possibilities really excite me. As you say, towns having to restructure, changes to combat (weapons, armor, tactics). I'd like to explore it at the societal, religious and political levels as well. I appreciate your Samurai Jack profile picture by the way.
I've never read any as I don't like Zombie tales and 28 Days later was my worst nightmare so I don't even think I finished watching it. But, I was on Good reads or Amazon and put in Alternative history the black death and quite a few came up. One (can't remember title) was about how the plague victims (some) mysteriously didn't die after being infected and instead became aggressive and began biting others and infecting them (which was odd as the plague was also airborne). They believed it was the devil sending the dead back to earth and launched a witch hunt. The main characters name was Isabelle. There were a few others. Check those places out, it was only a few months ago that I saw them and I'm a bit of a plague fan so (that sounded wrong). That subject interests me, I'm not fascinated with morbid things lol. But there were three types of plague and each spread differently.
Exactly! The creative possibilities really excite me. As you say, towns having to restructure, changes to combat (weapons, armor, tactics). I'd like to explore it at the societal, religious and political levels as well. I appreciate your Samurai Jack profile picture by the way.[/QUOTE] I know. Samurai Jack is my childhood man. It's my second favorite American cartoon of all time (The first being Avatar: The Last Airbender.).
Domestic assault cases are the wrong case study anyway, because the attacker is still intelligent behind them. Instead, the better case would be rabies, and tragically, it doesn't look good as rabies was one of the hardest diseases to transfer (did my own research on to the point of having a report), and that was spread through both blood and saliva. Diseases spread by fluids in general have a hard time, though if you're doing fantasy, you could just magic it away.
Yeah, there will be some fictional liberties taken. The infected in the story will be "intelligent", in sort of the same way that the infected in the 28 Days Later movie are "intelligent". Rabies would be a better case study but at the end of the day this fictional plague will just resemble rabies. Since it takes place in medieval times, I get to luck out of getting into the science of it. Or as you say, magic it away. My point about domestic assault was to simply say that while humans may not have teeth and jaws designed for it, or claws / talons like a cougar or eagle, we clearly can draw blood at the very least. But yes, unlike rabies, this fictional plague will have to spread via liquids more easily. Either that, or blood and saliva are not the only means by which it can spread.
There was a horror movie quite a while back called 'Quarantine' all about an rabies outbreak. It was kind of unbelievable because rabies suffers don't go feral on you and start attacking and biting everything in sight - but it's a terrifying disease and usually 100% fatal. You could research the disease and model your own.
Hi, An odd thought, but why do you have to go the disease route? I get the whole zombie thing, and most of the films I've seen about stuff like this in the middle ages would have involved the black death and witch craft. But it occurs to me that the origins of zombies are actually tetrodotoxin and voodoo. So why not take that idea a little further? You want a plague how about making it a chemical plague. There are plenty of mushrooms that will cause wild hallucinations if you eat them. Why not go for one that causes some sort of zombie madness through its spores. The weathers good, for some reason the mushrooms have bloomed everywhere, spores are being released everywhere, and people are going crazy. Cheers, Greg.
Yeah, I think rabies is the first thing many people model "zombie virus" symptoms after. I've seen Quarantine and the sequel; they were a big B-movie hit among my friends and I, along with the movie As Above So Below. Wow, I think this is a great idea! I might be able to keep some of the rabies-esque symptoms, but make the cause fungal spores. Ophiocordyceps unilateralis is an option. And in keeping with the route of witch craft, maybe that could be the ground-zero of the outbreak. Perhaps they were brought back from a foreign land, like a rainforest in Africa or something. The cool thing about this is that the mushrooms could be in the background, seemingly innocuous and only occasionally mentioned in the setting. This allows the possibility that a character (or at least somebody) can put two and two together. I guess the only thing I don't know would be how the outbreak could be resolved. If they did come from a foreign land at just the right time, maybe harsh winter would wipe them out?
