The Timeline
"War of the Dead" chronicles the decades-long struggle between
the forces of the living and the dead for dominance of the Earth.
"War Of The Dead: Z*E*R*O" takes place during the Third Age,
but other projects which chronicle the other Ages are in progress,
from comic books to collector card games to action figures.
Here is a summary of the events surrounding the War of the Dead:
THE FIRST AGE: PRELUDE (NOW -10)
Man is tearing himself apart.
There is a rise in natural disasters, murder rates, wars. A collective anxiety grips the world, like animals sensing an impending earthquake.
THE SECOND AGE: RISE (NOW -7)
One day, the unburied dead return to life.
Slowly, harmlessly at first, causing global confusion, fear and religious-political conflict. Then inexplicably, the dead begin to attack the living and devour their flesh.
As the numbers of zombies rise and target the living, the world descends into panic and mass evacuations. Military and emergency response units respond to the crisis as they would any natural disaster, with mixed results.
THE THIRD AGE: CONTAINMENT (NOW)
Time and trial lead to an eventual reduction of the zombie phenomenon from global disaster to localized threat.
Z-E-R-O, the Zombie Emergency Response Operations task force, is formed out of several government agencies to contain and eliminate undead outbreaks.
This, combined with scientific experimentation on the dead and the use of zombies as pawns in proxy wars, creates a growing sympathy for the living dead.
THE FOURTH AGE: AWAKENING (NOW +10)
Whether as a result of experimentation or natural evolution, some of the zombies begin to communicate and show other signs of intelligence.
Sympathetic humans begin to petition for rights for the undead -- resulting legislation and other civil actions begin to erode efforts to contain outbreaks or destroy the more aggressive zombies.
The more intelligent zombies band with sympathetic humans and form death cult-style religions.
Leaders rise from the ranks of the living dead.
THE FIFTH AGE: UPRISING (NOW +20)
Leaders of the undead claim cemeteries as sovereign territory and all dead as brethren and fellow "citizens".
Organized, coordinated attacks are launched from these new "territories" until all-out war erupts.
The living descend into panic and fear far worse than when the dead began to walk, scattering all over the globe.
Rockets are seen in the skies. The earth catches fire. Everything changes.
THE SIXTH AGE: CONQUEST (NOW +30)
The dead become rulers of what is left of a scorched planet, a radioactive, medieval wasteland. What remains of the living are their prey and progeny.
The living are outnumbered by the dead, which become both a blessing and curse for the undead: less of them to hunt, but less of them to challenge their reign.
Those humans who are able migrated to warmer climates, and the undead headquarter themselves in colder climates, to slow their decomposition.
The living struggle hard to adapt, but at the same time there is a growing resistance against their undead masters.
Pockets of technologists and scientists furiously strive to find some kind of advancement that will finally destroy the dead.
THE SEVENTH AGE: REIGN (NOW +40)
In this, the final Age of the War of the Dead, the Undead descend into the warmer climates to wage a final onslaught on the Living.
