ThisIsAPackName said:

Generally, viruses can have permanent effects on a person's wellbeing. Like, if someone gets COVID, they might have shortness of breath for the rest of their life. I was just thinking that the sickness stage of the zombie virus could probably mess up the person's body in some regard and that would end up carrying over to their ability to battle.

Glacialis said:

Just an idea, but since zombies are technically corpses, what if older zombies showed signs of decaying? This way you could tell older zombies from newer ones, as it'll affect their appearance and maybe their abilities in battle?

Aight, I added some new information to the zombie lore thing:

In Ones, there's "The infection has deteriorated their eyes; they're sensitive to light. They also cannot see very well, especially in darkness. They use their impeccable sense of smell to get around. They are sluggish during the day."

In Twos, there's "Their eyesight is deplorable and they are more sensitive to light than Ones/Firsts are. They use their impeccable sense of smell and hearing to get around. They fall into a dormant state during the day, remaining unmoving—typically upright—unless jostled (i.e. they smell blood, they hear something loud, etc.), as if asleep."

And in both, there's "[...] the areas of previous injury will be more prone to getting damaged as healing is accomplished via filling the injury with hardened, fragile fillings of parasites (kind of like dental fillings)."

ASomeonePerson said:

ThisIsAPackName said:

Generally, viruses can have permanent effects on a person's wellbeing. Like, if someone gets COVID, they might have shortness of breath for the rest of their life. I was just thinking that the sickness stage of the zombie virus could probably mess up the person's body in some regard and that would end up carrying over to their ability to battle.

...I still don't get it— I'm stupid, I'm sorry—

Glacialis said:

Just an idea, but since zombies are technically corpses, what if older zombies showed signs of decaying? This way you could tell older zombies from newer ones, as it'll affect their appearance and maybe their abilities in battle?

I think that zombies probably wouldn't show signs of decay because they have healing factors. And Ones and Twos have heartbeats. Their cells also are still functioning and decay only really occurs when cells "die". But I do think that they would show signs of deterioration, just not decay. Maybe because their healing factor involves the parasites in their bodies to just form a protective sheen above areas of injury (kind of like dental fillings or something), they'd be more prone to getting fucked over as they get older and encounter more... grievances.

ASomeonePerson said:

@Glacialis

Don't worry about it. I sometimes completely forget that the apocalypse was caused by a parasite and not a virus or bacterium— But, no, I don't believe a zombie would be able to regenerate a missing limb. If the injury is severe enough, the parasite can't do much to heal it. If that wasn't the case, zombies would pretty much just be immortal— And, also, I don't think much transformation happens when someone turns; really, all that happens is that they, well, die, then come back to life, then they're pumped with copious amounts of adrenaline, and then, y'know, the change in the color of blood and shit. And the eyeballs. But, yeah, pretty much the body remains the same. So, if someone didn't have a limb before turning, they still wouldn't have a limb after turning.

Glacialis said:
Ah, okay. Thank you for clearing that up, it is appreciated.