New Name/identity for Zombies Thread - MISERY mod for S.T.A.L.K.E.R.: Call of Pripyat

By definition a zombie is a human infected with a virus. This is clearly not the case in STALKER series so... why call them zombies? Why not call them something else, because they clearly ARE something else. Theyre mindless flesh eating monsters to be certain, but in STALKER they have the ability to aim and fire (with SHOCKING accuracy) weapons and mechanical devices. Zombies, at least in the traditional sense, cant do that. Right?

So... why not call them something else? The zone creates them by wiping out their minds and souls. Basically turning them into hollow shells. So... theyre not really zombies are they? So, i say call them something that actually fits their nature. STALKER wikia defines them as being BRAINWASHED, not infected. Their minds have been stripped away and basically made into a mushy, gooey, pulpy, smush. theyre little more than animals, much like zombies, but do not possess the necrosis, decomposition or demeanor that traditional zombies have. They possess the equivalent intellect of a caveman, destruction of pain receptors, and loss of cognitive function. Most zombies have the ability to use weaponry, this means that at least on a rudimentary level, they have at least some brain function, but this deteriorates as radiation soaks the brain. The fact these creatures function in highly radiated areas suggests on some level theyve mutated to actually be healed, sustained or immune to radiation.

as stated in the STALKER Wikia page Stalker.wikia.com

So... i state that we might need to find a new name. Simply the 'zombies' arent zombies. So i say we call them .Husks. Empty, sorry hollow shells of what once was. Stripped of all rhyme or reason and left to rot. Husks.

This isnt a serious thread. I just thought... well i just thought this^^ and wondered what you guys think.

Think it's a terminology thing. The article you refer to is titled Zombified Stalkers, not Zombies. The only mention of the word zombies is by whoever wrote the article's main body. I think zombified is the correct term, it's a descriptive term, not a factual one in that the stalkers are 'like' zombies; they are zombified. Much the same as describing yourself in the morning as "so tired, I'm like totally zombified".

Whilst we do not know exactly what has happened to them or what's going on inside their mind (and they have one because they are not the living dead) we cannot make assumptions as to the condition of their consciousness, hence why it's is only appropriate to collectively refer to them as by their description - Zombified :) Frankly I personally know a few people who would also fall under this generalisation.

Edited by: htkblazer

just for my piece of mind, i wouldnt fall under that generalisation would i?

This isnt a serious thread. I just thought... well i just thought this^^ and wondered what you guys think.

Maybe you're defining 'zombie' too narrowly. Zombiefied stalkers mindlessly shuffle around and attack normal humans on sight, their brains are gone for good, they mumble and groan. They're pretty close to other zombies in any other setting.

As a parellel, traditionally a Poltergeist is literally a 'noisy ghost', something that tosses pans and cushions around and is a minor nuisance, not a giant sparking orb of psychic death like they are in Misery.

StalinGrad6 wrote: just for my piece of mind, i wouldnt fall under that generalisation would i?

Lol no, not someone on here, actively participating in open, interesting debate and problem solving, often in the aid of others. You really think anyone playing Misery of all games could be described as Zombified?? It's rare, but I have bumped into a two Misery players in the real world (or Great Land) and they've both been incredibly interesting people.

Lomlom wrote:

This isnt a serious thread. I just thought... well i just thought this^^ and wondered what you guys think.

Maybe you're defining 'zombie' too narrowly. Zombiefied stalkers mindlessly shuffle around and attack normal humans on sight, their brains are gone for good, they mumble and groan. They're pretty close to other zombies in any other setting.

As a parellel, traditionally a Poltergeist is literally a 'noisy ghost', something that tosses pans and cushions around and is a minor nuisance, not a giant sparking orb of psychic death like they are in Misery.

"Zombie" does have a definition though and I agree that those we see in the zone are not the undead. Zombified though is just a descriptive term and I think that it suits in that "they are LIKE zombies" in that they act so and may at first appear like them. Otherwise if we were to define them, we would have to assess them and end up with, "no that's not a zombie, its a stalkerwhogottoclosetothebrainscorcherandfriedhismind" oh like him? "no that ones a stalkerwhoisnowafailedagentofthecconsciousnessandwasdumpedbyadeathtruck" Oh. what about that one...?

Edited by: htkblazer

In the book "S.T.A.L.K.E.R - Deathzone" the "official prequal to the video game" a controller takes over one member of a squad and he opens fire in his teammates. I like the notion that the psy waves and fields either turn a human zombified trough a controller, or maybe that in areas with strong psy presence corpses become zombified and become the slow, rotten things wandering around they are now. while as the other "zombies" are engine wise just like enemy STALKERS, like the stalkers which turn on you after some time when the controller spawns at the "radiated conductor" quest in the tunnel by kopachy.

Has anyone found other parts of the report?

Keksfront wrote:
Has anyone found other parts of the report?

I remember finding one of them that mentioned the scientists had kept zombie internal organs alive in e lab for several months even though separated from their original body.

....... i think i remember seeing the ID codes in the spawn menu.....

I think Zone zombies in general need expanding on. Sure there's the brain scorched stalkers who seem to act like white blood cells, attacking only invaders, but it'd be great to see other random effects of the Zone. What about a military outpost caught in the 2007 blast where the soldiers keep doing their daily routine, ignoring everything around them but never dying? Or harmless zombies that are merely attracted to bright lights.

The Zone as we know it is quite standardised, due to the limiting nature of a game, but I think there should be LOTS of unique and very strange things to be found in the Zone. Whether harmless or deadly. Think the SCP Files.

found them. full list of all written non quest specific items.

[lootable]
letter_memoirs_1_of_2
letter_memoirs_2_of_2
letter_freedom_manual_1_of_2
letter_freedom_manual_2_of_2
letter_stalker_letter_1_of_2
letter_stalker_letter_2_of_2
letter_ecologist_report_1_of_3
letter_ecologist_report_2_of_3
letter_ecologist_report_3_of_3
letter_monolith_prayer_1_of_3
letter_monolith_prayer_2_of_3
letter_monolith_prayer_3_of_3
letter_monolithian_thoughts
letter_letter_to_outside
letter_military_stalker
letter_mercenary
letter_military_log
letter_stalker_letter_3

Lomlom wrote:

Keksfront wrote:
Has anyone found other parts of the report?

I remember finding one of them that mentioned the scientists had kept zombie internal organs alive in e lab for several months even though separated from their original body.

OK, found the stash for this today - it's the one in the broken concrete section at the entrance of the snork chasm, right between the Claw anomaly and the fuelling station.

Turns out it was part 1 of the 3.

I wouldn't have any problem calling these things zombies. Undead to me is simply as not dead yet. These things are not dead yet, and we are here to help. I wouldn't mind call them by their given names if I can find the dog tag.

Undead: Adjective, no longer alive but animated by a supernatural force, as a vampire or zombie.

Zombie: Adjective, a dead person who is believed, in some Caribbean religions, to have been brought back to life by magic.

Sorry to prick your wiki bubble. They are the same thing one way or the other to me.
For all the zombies out there, I got the best cure there is, just look down into my AK rifle barrel.

htkblazer wrote: Undead: Adjective, no longer alive but animated by a supernatural force, as a vampire or zombie.

Actually that could apply in Misery. The 'Walking Dead' science journals from the stashes imply that zombie bodies are sustained by some weird unknown force, they're no longer really 'alive'. That force is presumably the noosphere.

We should have much simpler terms like "Moving" and "Not moving". Simple rule, if it moves, shoot it until it stops moving.