The Great Fungal War (Scenario)

The Fungal War was a massive global crisis that occurred between 2040 and 2055. Though the enemy was defeated in the end, and the nations of the world emerged stronger and more united, a large portion of the human population was lost. Even now in 2120, global population levels remain below pre-war levels. Nevertheless, this is seen by many as good considering the pre-war population of 10 billion people was completely unsustainable. The current 7 billion is much better suited to the planet's abilities.

2040 - Start of the Pandemic

 * Day 1 - February: A military scientist in a remote village in XinJiang is infected with the weaponized fungi that he was developing in his lab. Not long after reaching his home, he begins to develop symptoms similar to that of rabies. He fails to return to work the next day.


 * Day 2 - February: Having been reported missing by his colleagues, military officials visit the scientist's home to check up on him. All are bitten and turn. The infected move about the apartment complex and begin to infect more and more people. They are unable to run but can walk at a moderate pace.


 * Day 3 - February: Thousands are turned by morning and high level military officials get wind of the situation. The whole village is quarantined as the military attempts to discreetly eliminate the threat. All communication is blocked and power is cut off to the village.


 * Day 21 - February: The entire town is firebombed by the military, but this is too late. The infected have breached the quarantine and spread across the border into Kashmir. American and Israeli intelligence get wind of the situation but only the Israelis managed to discern why China might have firebombed its own villages. Israel begins preparations for a possible encounter with the infected.


 * March: The infection has spread to major urban centres in Kashmir with videos of infected roaming the streets all over the media and social media. Mainstream media calls it rabies, social media calls it zombies. The Indian military is filmed shooting zombies, with little effect.


 * April: Australia, New Zealand, Taiwan, and Singapore close off their borders to all except citizens and quarantined trade. Most of Africa, Europe and America continue with minimally increased health checks. They treat the situation in India as a health crisis, no more.


 * May: As paranoia mounts and social media spreads videos and images of cannibalistic zombies roaming the streets, governments around the world begin responding with more vigour. The UK closes off its borders and Europe no longer accepts travel outside of the European Union. Mexico, Canada and America agree to keep North America open but close off travel to the outside. Unfortunately, this comes too late as the infection has spread to America by ship and to Eastern Europe.


 * June: All hell breaks loose when videos emerge of Pakistani soldiers firing on Indian soldiers, both supposedly fighting zombies. Nationalistic fervour spurred on by mass demonstrations leads to war between Pakistan and India. China takes advantage by annexing Nepal and most of the Himalayas. India is too busy with Pakistan to respond with anything more than anger. Meanwhile, New York city sees the beginning of a serious fungal pandemic with citizens fleeing the city in droves. By the end of the month New York is lost with the US government declaring a national emergency and martial law across the entire Northeast. Canada closes off all travel with America but can't help but accept refugees. British Columbia, Alberta, and Saskatchewan close off their borders to the eastern provinces and to America, refusing to accept refugees unless vetted strictly for any possible infection. Guns sales skyrocket. In Europe, most of Southeast Europe is desperately fighting off waves of the infected, though the mountainous terrain proves useful as a retreat from populated zones. The European Union declares that all national borders should be reinstated as quickly as possible, with many nations mobilising their militaries to guard their border. Regular patrols ensue. Britain, like many other nations in self-isolation, faces a food shortage, and the government is granted emergency powers to nationalise much of Scotland to farm food. The fishing industry also receives a massive boost in funding to expand operations. Britain enters into a war-like mentality.


 * July: Israel completes the construction of a nation-spanning wall, just in time as the zombies reach Arabia. Egypt refuses to accept refugees from Arabia, earning it the condemnation of its fellow Arab nations. Meanwhile, the infection has spread to Bangladesh, and despite the best efforts of the military, smaller outbreaks, likely originating with escapees from Bangladesh, have occurred in Myanmar. The rest of South East Asia agrees to work together to fight the infected in Myanmar and prevent the spread into the region of what is now being called Fungi-X1. The United States is in panic and martial law is declared across the entire Eastern Seaboard. Wall Street is gone and the economy is in free fall. Western states in the Union have all passed legislation allowing for the National Guard to patrol the streets and the borders with the East to prevent the spread of Fungi-X1. Checkpoints are set up all across the Eastern United States and infected are shot while suspected infected are sent to quarantined internment camps until they are proven uninfected. Habeus Corpus is suspended, the rule of law is quickly becoming the rule of force in the East, even as the Western United States does its best to aid the fight by the Federal Government. Most cities are now walled and heavily armed checkpoints and patrols prevent outsiders from entering without being checked. Venezuela and Russia report their first outbreaks of Fungi-X1. Switzerland cuts off all travel to and from the outside world and declares war on Fungi-X1, giving the government the power to command and compel the creation of many new domestic corporations, particularly related to food and munitions. Conscription is revived and hundreds of thousands mobilise to defend the mountain nation. Most of Europe follow suit with conscription legislation, sending troops to Eastern Europe hoping to stem the spread of Fungi-X1. Even Britain sends help to the European Union, declaring that "they would do the same for us".


 * August: China pioneers a new strategy for dealing with the pandemic, one with an implicit assumption that the pandemic is not going away anytime soon. Cities across China begin to fortify themselves, not unlike medieval fortifications. Thanks to minimal red tape and dictatorial threats, most major cities and key resource mines are fully fortified by the end of the month with increasing fortification an ongoing project. Cities and mines are connected via extant railways and armed convoys of military trucks. Seeing China's success, many European and American countries begin work on the same. At the same time, the British Insurrection occurs with tens of thousands of armed civilians from the ultra-far-right waging open warfare against the British government over its continuing policy of accepting refugees. Most countries around the world have revived conscription with able bodied men, and in some cases able-bodied women, sent off to fight the undead. East Malaysia secedes from Malaysia and, together with the rest of Borneo/Kalimantan declares a "Fungi-free zone". The first cases of Fungi-X1 in Borneo break out the next day. Australia experiences its first cases of Fungi-X1 in Western Australia, likely due to illegal refugees and the ultra-rich entering the country through political backdoors. The state is quarantined and the ADF is mobilised to the border, but struggle to guard its entirety. Thousands of civilians attempt to cross through the relatively unpatrolled desert outback leading to hundreds of deaths to the elements before the government quickly backtracks and begins openly and briskly processing refugees from Western Australia. New Zealand, in light of the situation in its Western cousin, vows never to implement internal border restrictions. Meanwhile, Taiwan and China go to war as tens of thousands of mainland refugees are turned away from Taiwan. Taiwan appears to be winning as China struggles to preserve its population from the fungal threat. Africa is in chaos, South Africa is becoming less of a state and more of a war zone. Russia declares war on Fungi-X1.


 * September: The British Insurrection is put down violently but concessions are made and an off-shore processing facility is constructed in Calais and Ireland before Ireland joins Britain's self-quarantine and France kicks the British out leading to the conversion of the Isle of Man and the Isle of Wight into offshore processing centres, against the will of the Isle of Man government. Venezuela and much of Central and South America collapse into anarchy as poor leadership and factional infighting cause many state and local governments to go about their own ways of fighting the pandemic. Millions around the world have died fleeing into the deserts, jungles, and oceans of the world. In particular, over half of the dead come from India where millions, fleeing the anarchy of the subcontinent swam out to try and catch leaving ships, almost all dying in the waves. Images and video footage taken by news helicopters broadcast scenes of thousands of bodies floating in the sea and lying dead in the plains and deserts as whole exodus' end in death.

January

 * With the fall of Moscow, a majority of the Russian military retreats into Siberia, taking advantage of the Fungi's slow advance in cold climates. Civilians in Western Russia board up and fortify apartment blocks. Many use makeshift flamethrowers to systematically retake cities.
 * Britain forms a unity government between the ruling Conservative Party and the opposition Social Democratic Party, echoing a similar move during World War 2. King Charles is lost to an attack by the undead while overseeing military operations on the Continent and a period of national mourning begins. The Royal Navy is tasked with rounding up and turning away refugee ships, or directing them towards processing centres. Ships illegally aiming for the British coast and ignoring warnings by the Navy are sunk. Britain begins fortifying its coasts.

February

 * With millions of Pakistani refugees streaming into Iran every month and the Pakistani government too busy fighting India to care about Iran's protests, Iran takes drastic action by detonating hastily assembled nuclear bombs along various heavily trafficked mountain passages to stem the tide of refugees, leading to over 280,000 deaths in a day. Pakistan, enraged, launches nuclear missiles at Iran. Unable to respond in kind, much of Iran succumbs to nuclear radiation, the government collapses. India, mistaking the nuclear volley from Pakistan as being aimed at them, launches its own nuclear weapons at Pakistan, who responds in kind. By the time the dust settles the next day, 97 nuclear missiles have been fired overall, and over 250 million have died. The governments of Pakistan, India, and Iran cease to be. The war between Pakistan and India is de facto over.

March

 * The Department of Resource Management (DRM) is established in the United States with the purpose of radically reorganising the US economy, including the wholesale retraining of service sector workers for "war-relevant occupations" and the strict rationing of resources. Many in the public criticise the Department for being too draconian with many accusing the President of "making Marx and Mao look like playground bullies". Meanwhile, the systematic retaking and fortification of cities along the US West Coast and the mountain passes through the Rocky Mountains begins under the direction of the Department of Defense.
 * The global death toll of people who have died at coasts, ports, and at sea, as a result of desperate attempts at escaping infested territories and overcrowding of ships, is upwards of 100 million. 5 million alone have died at Chittagong Ship Breaking Yard, with dozens of un-seaworthy ships set out to sea and sinking. Moreover, a common occurrence across ports and shipyards around the world is hundreds of thousands (millions in some cases) dying as the zombie hordes catch up to them before they can escape.

April

 * Much of the Balkans simply disintegrates with the unstable governments collapsing and civilians fleeing. Greek coastal cities remain among the safest Safe Zones in the Mediterranean due to their mountainous protection. This however, has come at the cost of heavily controlled immigration and refugee processing, with less than a thousand new refugees accepted per city each month. Many thousands die in the sea, turned away by the Greek Navy and Coast Guard.
 * The Italian government, now based in the Fungi-free island of Sicily, prepares to fortify the Alps - the first step in retaking their country.
 * In a freak accident, zombies pile themselves over each other until they manage to climb over the wall at Jerusalem. Within days the Holy City is lost. As a result of this incident, Israel begins creating internal divisions, separating the country into fortified sectors, and wherever possible, dividing cities into sectors, so that if there is a breach, only one sector is lost.
 * The Greek government relocates to Fungi-free Crete and prepares to retake Euboea. Chalkida's Old Bridge, the only connection of Euboea to the mainland, is destroyed.

May

 * South Korea announces the successful retaking of its half of the Korean Peninsula. It has done so by dividing and fortifying its heavily mountainous terrain and retaking the country sector by sector. This is aided in large part by a huge body of able-bodied conscripts and discharged soldiers taking up arms. Having heard nothing from North Korea for over a year, an expedition is sent across the border.
 * The war between Taiwan and China is called off as neither side can sustain a war effort amidst the zombie crisis, with the Chinese government in particular severely disheartened and more focused on preserving its population centres than fighting an unnecessary war.

June

 * Unlike South Korea the month before, the Singaporean Army fails to retake Singapore, in large part due to its high population density. The Singaporeans are eventually driven into the sea, with most of the only 1 million survivors having fled deep into the Malaysian state of Johor, or escaped across the sea to the zombie-free Batam (and surrounding) islands. The Singaporean Armed Forces makes its HQ on Pulau Tekong. It prepares to take back its homeland from 5 million undead.
 * Istanbul falls to the undead hordes. Unbeknown to the crew of a commercial aircraft fleeing Istanbul, an infected has gotten onboard. An outbreak occurs mid-flight over the Mediterranean and a deserting Turkish soldier on board opens fire, resulting in the rapid decompression of the aircraft. The plane crashes on the erstwhile zombie-free island of Sardinia, resulting in the island being completely overrun in days.

July

 * The majority of the Leo Plan is completed and the plan for the long-term retaking of Continental Europe, spearheaded by Britain, is implemented. Hundreds of thousands are evacuated to Scotland and Ireland with millions more relocated to the ever increasing number of fortified Safe Zones on the Continent. These refugees are put to work in large scale farming, logging, mining, and munitions production projects, among others, to supply the eventual work of clearing out the Continent. Any idea of "securing national borders" is abandoned by Continental Europeans with the aim instead to secure cities and resource centres. Britain, for its part, has continued to supply hundreds of thousands of soldiers, workers, and retrained professionals, with the entire economy now geared towards aiding the Continent. Many training centres and communications centres are established on both Britain and Ireland to coordinate the European war effort. The recently re-established Ministry for Information circulates the motto, "Every person saved is one less zombie to fight". The irony is not lost among political detractors who remind the public of Britain's exit from the European Union only 21 years ago, under the stewardship of the Conservatives no less.
 * The South Korean expedition discovers a largely deserted North, with the handful of remaining survivors claiming that much of the country went underground. What exactly is meant by this is still unclear, but what is clear is that all of North Korea's citizens have had their teeth removed, and eat via dentures. The North has virtually no zombies. As a result of this discovery, and its announcement to the world, many countries mandate that their citizens wear purpose-built teeth guards, issued by governments. They are rubber casings that are worn over the teeth when (the teeth) are not in use, blunting the human bite.

September

 * The British Royal Air Force undergoes a massive reorganisation to focus on fuel-efficient transport aircraft, deployed in Operation Continental Airlift as part of the Leo Plan. Hundreds of airfields are built in Safe Zones across the Continent with the French, German, British, Irish, and many other national air forces flying in and out non-stop, redistributing supplies where necessary.

November

 * With the wartime economy surging rapidly, public approval for the US Department of Resource Management (DRM) reaches an all time high of 89%.

January

 * It has been 1 year since the beginning of the weekly global broadcast of prayers from the Vatican city and Mecca. In an unexpected declaration to the world, Pope Pius VIII declares a crusade against the undead, calling on all faithful to work together, save each other, and fight the undead. This is soon followed by similar calls of jihad within the Muslim world. The three major Abrahamic faiths agree to work together in what they see as a holy war to end all wars.

February

 * Many local communities across Northern and Central Europe have established secure Safe Zones centred around islands and/or castles. One such example is the community of Muiderslot, Netherlands, centred around the Castle of Muiderslot and its surrounding island, having secured the island and bridges from zombies. Another example is Malmo Castle in Sweden, which is home to 250 survivors. Islands in the Baltic Sea such as Oland, Gotland, and Bornholm, become thriving centres of safety, protected by military units strictly vetting new arrivals to prevent island outbreaks.
 * The New Templar Order is founded by Italian Catholics in fortified Praglia Abbey, with many civilians joining its ranks to receive training to take back their homes and communities from the undead. As word spreads and the Pope's calls for crusade continue, many similar military orders form across Europe and the Americas, including a number of protestant orders such as the Methodist Order of Knights based in the Eastern United States. One of the single largest military orders to form is the Order of the Fellows of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (aka. the Mormon Order), whose ranks swelled to over 1,000,000 Knights around the world at its peak.

April

 * Within a span of 2 weeks, 5 outbreaks occur across the island of Great Britain, 1 in Portsmouth as the result of an illegal crossing from the Isle of Wight, 1 in Edinburgh whose cause remains unknown, and 3 more across Southern England as a result of illegal refugee crossings. The death toll before the Army restores order and eliminates the threat is upwards of 200. As a result of this scare, Britons begin to adopt the mindset of a nation having the outbreak on home-soil, and the nation is quickly divided up into internal sectors and systematically fortified. Local councils stockpile and fortify local castles, bringing them back from their old days. In the same month Prince Harry flies to Canada to personally participate in Army action against the undead while King William continues touring Britain and the Continent, rallying troops and keeping up morale in his capacity and duties as King. Prince George the heir presumptive flies to the Continent to participate in strategic operations while his brother Prince Louis, a Wing Commander in the RAF, participates in the Leo Plan.

May

 * Facing severe munitions shortages with far less supplies and natural resources than their American and East Asian counterparts, the various European defence ministries begin training their soldiers, civilian paramilitaries, and really anyone willing to learn, how to use the hundreds of thousands (and increasingly millions, as they are easily manufactured out of recycled civilian tools) of medieval weapons locked away in museums and personal collections. Blacksmiths become invaluable and help design large-scale sword and battleaxe manufacturing facilities. Such weaponry are also exported to Eastern Europe as the civilians there have taken a far more proactive stance against the infected in the face of government collapse and abandonment.

July

 * The Russian, Ukrainian, and Kazakhstan governments employ chemical weapons in War Plan Rada - bombing refugees with chemical weapons to separate the infected from the uninfected. This is universally condemned by governments around the world, with some describing them as no different to witch-hunt drownings: "You drown you are innocent, you live you are a witch". Kazakhstan abandons War Plan Rada after even China threatens to withhold aid, Russia and Ukraine persist.

November

 * After the November mutiny of the Ukrainian Air Force, War Plan Rada is discontinued, leaving Russia as the only remaining country employing the War Plan.

April

 * The famous Battle of Wartburg Castle occurs with 523 Catholic faithful and 400 other survivors defending Wartburg Castle (the former hiding place of the original Martin Luther) from a horde of the undead led there by desperate local survivors seeking shelter. The latter half of the 25-hour battle is broadcasted across Europe (and later the world) by TV-drone. It is recognised as the defining moment that solidified the role of fortifications in fighting the undead, and immediately after the broadcast, thousands of castles across Europe that were not already re-fortified were turned into the bases of many survivors.

June

 * The campaign for Madagascar begins. Simultaneously, the massed forces of Southern Africa begin proactively retaking their continent, working from the South up.

November

 * The campaign for Sri Lanka and Singapore begin.

January

 * With the beginning of a new year heralding the possibility of hope, the Australian Defence Forces completes the laying of tens of thousands of kilometres of wire fencing around and within population centres, dividing the country up into a huge number of fenced-off pockets. The newly re-trained ADF as well as hundreds of thousands of survivors work together to clear the country of the undead, pocket-by-pocket. International broadcasts of the Herculean effort undertaken by the Australians serves to inspire similar strategies for retaking land around the world, and brings hope to the hearts of many who believed the world to be foresaken.

September

 * With over half the population of China dead, the CCP government experiences record unpopularity. With a resurgence in religiousity, many now claim the CCP has "lost the mandate of heaven". On the 23rd of September, the Three Gorges Damn bursts, killing close to 83 million people in the ensuing 3 weeks of flash flooding. A further 250 million people are displaced, effectively a death sentence as they are forced to wander off into the zombie-infested wilderness. Many larger cities such as Shanghai are partially protected from the flooding by their fortifications but suffer significant destruction of crops and granaries, leading to famine. The single largest wartime loss of life, the CCP initially claims it was an unfortunate but necessary intentional controlled destruction, aimed at rapidly clearing the Yangtze Delta of zombies. However, as public outrage mounts and demonstrations turn to riots within fortified cities across China, the government admits the disaster was indeed accidental and the result of neglect. The execution of local authorities supposedly responsible for the disaster (though it was later confirmed the true cause of the failure was CCP neglect during the War, and even before that, irresponsible disregard for safety protocol during its construction) fails to dissuade rioters as public outrage towards the CCP reaches a fever pitch.
 * Sporadic mutinies break out within the People's Liberation Army, particularly among the inland Ground Force, in support of the riots.

October

 * 2 days into the month of October, the second Chinese Civil War begins when a previously covert cabal of military leaders from the Ground Force, Navy, and Air Force, lead a mutiny and declare a coup. They seek to overthrow the CCP and install a new meritocratic and capitalist society in its stead. They constitute 40% of the Ground Force (mainly inland), 60% of the Air Force, and 35% of the Navy.

February

 * The Chinese Civil War, being won by the CCP, takes an unexpected turn when the Rocket Force decides to join the rebels along with most of the Navy. As the leadership of the CCP hole themselves up in a highly fortified bunker and hundreds of individual CCP units surrender to the triumphant rebels, the rebel portion of the Rocket Force launches 2 nuclear missiles at the CCP's last stand, ending their rule in China. The new leadership of China takes over and continues the war as a military dictatorship.

August

 * The People's Republic of China is officially disbanded and United China (联合中国) is proclaimed. Even as the war against the undead persistently continues, the systematic replacement of communist symbology ensues.

January

 * With the successful retaking of New York City on the 6th of January 2050, Victory in America (VA) day is declared, though notably, Alaska has not yet been retaken completely, with hundreds of thousands of frozen corpses sporadically reanimating.

November

 * US elections are held for the first time since the beginning of the Great War and candidate Andrew Mason of the Democratic-Republican Party (the party of incumbent President Joshua Hosea, the president who saw America through the entirety of the Great War due to special powers granted to him by Congress, and who did not run for reelection) loses to Timothy Lim of the National Party running with Mary Louis of the Liberal Party as his Vice President in a coalition to challenge the decade-long government of the DemReps. They run on a campaign of freeing up the economy and loosening central planning in light of a post-war environment and economy, as well as the restoration of various pre-war civil liberties. This is also the first US elections to be held via an instant run-off method. The DemReps do moderately well in the Congressional elections but suffer in large part because of their continued war-like mentality and affinity for state control. The National Party sees itself as a successor to the party of Lincoln and the Liberal Party was formed as an explicit challenge to the perceived continued authoritarianism of the Democratic Party (having joined with the Republicans during the war to form the DemRep unity government) while acknowledging strict government and state control as a necessary evil during the war.

February

 * Acting on campaign promises, the US President ends the Department of Resource Management (DRM) and redistributes its functions to other relevant departments, with many functions outright dismantled or watered-down. Additionally, America's system of universal healthcare, strained to the brink having expanded from its origin on the West Coast to the entire United States, is split up into 5 separate divisions - the West Coast Health Authority, the New England Health Administration, the Southern Healthcare Authority, the Midwestern Healthcare Administration, and Middle America Health. Each division is run by a board whose members are appointed by the state governors (with the consent and confirmation of state legislatures) and are coordinated by the Federal Government. Separately, troops are sent overseas, particularly to Canada, to continue the work of eliminating the threat of the infected.

March

 * The majority of news media outlets in the Western world are re-privatised, having previously been nationalised in a bid to stop fake news, alarmism, and "unnecessary criticism that spreads distrust in government". Nonetheless, many newly privatised media corporations collapse as the demand for television news is low with many opting for internet media as a cheaper and more accessible alternative. Public broadcasters PBS and NPR continue to produce government-sanctioned informative programmes regarding rebuilding efforts and zombie survival guides.
 * The decennial British Census reveals a wave of religiosity has returned to the United Kingdom with over 85% of the population declaring adherence to a religion. It is believed that the pivotal role that churches and knightly religious orders played in the defeat of the zombie plague were the primary reason for this sudden demographic change. Similar statistics are reported around the world, with the Mormon Church in particular reporting membership at over 25 million, with particularly large membership growth in Brazil.