This world, its inhabitants called Earth; a divisive planet of countless nations. For millennia, nothing remarkable happened, aside from the usual course of civilization. Strife, science, society. Then, about a decade and a half ago, the Undeath epidemic occurred. Its cause, as everyone agreed, was when the 'masquerade' of the vampires was undone. These creatures, having long lived in mankind's shadow and content to feast parasitically on people, were also capable of something called Viscerality: the alteration of anatomy and other magics of the flesh. After their discovery, mankind wished not only to stamp out these creatures for safety's sake but also to claim their incredible power.
However, although Earth's governments cooperated, the vampires did not wish to face extinction. One of their elders made a threat: if this persecution went on to last, or if he died, a terrible calamity would be unleashed, and cripple the world forevermore. On something called a 'TV' he warned mankind not to disregard his warning.
His threat fell on deaf ears. Humanity ignored the threat.
This was the result: an almost incurable spore-like disease spread over the Earth's continents and oceans overnight, almost nowhere untouched. All alive were infected, and death was the disease's main trigger: any who perished soon came back as zombies and then became a part of the horde, and those bitten by the dead would inevitably die as well, swelling the ranks. Civilization did not fall instantly. Resistance was mounted, and the world's armies had the technology to prevent total decay. However, even with all these measures, the threat was still serious and complicated by the fact that some of the dead mutated superior strains: organic weapons, and worst of all, intellect.
