The A.D. Pandemic Hellyear of 2043-2044: An Overview (Part 4)

WORLDNET ARCHIVES ADVISORY: the following is an excerpt from a medico-history review article written in a dry, complex style with technical terms.

Title: “Retrospective of the 2043-2044 Amazon Disease Pandemic Hellyear: the rise and fall of a death dealer.”

Author: Xenia C. Diakos, Department of Public Health, Faculty of Health and Medical Sciences, Copenhagen, Denmark Sector, OmniEuropea.

Source: History and Medicine, vol. 2, no. 1, pp 127-172.

Date of peer-reviewed epublication: 08/11/2051.

 

[Beginning of excerpt] (…) and as this was coming to pass, an A.D.-vaccinated and enduring Humanity had rediscovered for itself a purpose other than individual self-preservation: helping others to help oneself, and pulling together to preserve what was left of civilization.

A sense of community was being rejuvenated within a surviving Humanity.

The World-Shaping Consequences Of The Death Dealer

Nevertheless, those hope-filled days hung on a fragile thread, regardless of the best of ideals or intentions.  As extreme examples of this, religious- and tribalism-driven violence had taken root so deeply in the nations of the old Middle East (with the exceptions of Turkey, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan, Tajikistan, Kyrgyzstan, Pakistan, as well as the northern and southern thirds of Iran), madness and savagery refused to take their leave in deference to common sense and decency. Between an unyielding P. amazonia and a continuous parade of brutal and self-proclaimed rulers, along with barbaric would-be warlords, zealot ‘supreme’ imam-wannabes, hate-filled tribalistic bands, and roving marauders, the daily occurrence of armed conflict, slaughter, and death sustained an unbearable climate of horror and despair.

Under such ghastly and appalling circumstances, the ACVOS vaccine stocks could not be distributed properly as convoys would be attacked relentlessly and the vaccine destroyed, the latter being viewed as ‘poison from the West’. Worse still, those individuals who had been vaccinated nonetheless were often hunted down as ‘collaborators’, being subjected to the crude amputation of their arms above injection sites and further punished cruelly with several lashes to their exposed backs. If not outright killed.

Tragically, with the rest of the world engaged in its ambitious travails of mass vaccination and the restoration of order and civilization, there was little notice at the time of the collective devolution of these former West Asian nations into what became known as the ‘Dread Zone’—and as previously mentioned.

(It must be pointed out that what happened in the former Middle East likewise occurred in numerous other parts of the world. Yet, some way, somehow, a devolution into a Dread Zone-like state of things was prevented and reversed in these cases. In the same vein, and also as already mentioned, the former U.S.A. similarly escaped its own devolution into a Dread Zone despite going through a civil war—see more below.)

Meanwhile, as 2045 rolled in, a bewildered Humanity found itself bereft of roughly 45% of its pre-pandemic population. As guesstimated at the time by the worldwide tally of administered ACVOS vaccinations, the numbers had gone from 8.5 billion human beings in 2043, down to 4.6 billion in 2045—a throwback to 1983 levels, essentially.

And as if such an acute population collapse was not traumatic enough, the survivors also found themselves faced with the desolate aftermath of cities, suburbs, and towns marred by ruin and rubble, in addition to having inherited a dead global economy, moribund national economies, residues of governments, and an ever-present danger of a re-ignition of mass unrest and discontentment—a precarious state of affairs made all the more uncertain with, at the time, armed deputized citizens outnumbering the military everywhere.

Incidentally, it was also around March 2045 when already-ongoing armed skirmishes in the devolving former U.S. turned into a major internal conflict—a second civil war. Prompted by their fundamentalist Christian beliefs and the ‘End Times-like’ aspects of the pandemic, what remained of the southeastern and south-central states, which were typically known collectively as the ‘Bible Belt’, had united in force with the purpose of imposing a ‘God-ordained reconstruction of the country into a devout and repenting Christian nation’. As history shows, the other states took a stand against what they saw as a seditious and zealotry-driven wave of Dominionism—except for Alaska and Hawaii, the latter two instead opting for outright secession.

The ensuing Second American Civil War would last for the better part of two years, adding substantially to the death count racked up previously by the pandemic and its resulting anarchy, in addition to compelling thousands of refugees to flee across the northern and southern borders of their war-torn country to seek succor from violence or persecution.

In between, the rest of the world strove to find a way to save itself and civilization through the historical 2045-2046 World Estates General – a series of three, one week-long extraordinary conferences (First: Geneva, from 6^th-12^th April 2045; Second: Beijing, from 21^st-27^th September 2045; Third: Antananarivo, from 7^th-13^th March 2046) with hundreds of invited surviving luminaries from everywhere who, in effect, brainstormed their way into devising the ‘Big Reset’ – meaning, the Consolidate system.  And thus, through the worldwide ratification of Economic Consolidation Acts in June 2046, the Consolidate world had arrived with the OmniEuropea (capital: Europa Novus), PanAsia (capital: Oriensia), SumAfrica (capital: Africania), TransAm (capital: Capitis Nova), and UniOceania (Capital: Oceanius) Consolidates.

It is not the scope of the present review to analyze the wealth of exchanges during the three WEGs and how these laid out the social, economic, and political precepts, definitions, and underpinnings of the Consolidate system—numerous theses already abound to this effect. Suffice it to say, our present constitutes irrevocable proof that the ‘Big Rest’ did save civilization.

In contrast, and aside from the Dread Zone which remains to this day as such, the former U.S. wound up saving itself with the end of its civil war on July 25^th 2047, and its rebirth as the C.R.U.S.A. The ‘born again’ country hotly rejected the Consolidate system shortly after its advent, resentful of the unilateral recognition by the five Consolidates of the willing inclusion of Alaska in TransAm, the independence of the Hawaiian Islands as the neutral-aligned United Hawaiian Freeholds, and the likewise consenting inclusion of all other former U.S. territories and insular areas into either TransAm, PanAsia, or UniOceania. Although it did accept and embrace the ACVOS vaccine (with all stocks provided abundantly and at no cost by the five Consolidates as a ‘friendly ouverture’) to undertake mass vaccination of its surviving population, the theocratic republic closed in upon itself through complete isolationism—not unlike a harking back to pre-pandemic North Korea, minus a friendly China for support or any diplomatic relations whatsoever. As of this review, it remains unknown when, let alone if, such a state of affairs will change.  

The A.D. Pandemic: History Changer

        The history of civilization is known to have been shaped at times by pandemics. The typhoid fever pandemic that brought Athens low during the Peloponnesian War in 430 B.C.E., the Justinian (Bubonic) Plague of 541 C.E. which prevented the Byzantine Empire from bringing back together the whole of the Roman Empire, or the fall of the Aztec Empire from small pox carried by the Spanish—examples abound, both ancient and more recent, of empires, kingdoms, and nations crippled by one pandemic or another, in turn leading to fundamental and lasting socio-politico-economic changes, or to their conquest and absorption, or to their fall and disappearance (if not replacement).

       In light of this, one can only conclude that the A.D. Pandemic was not only the deadliest pandemic in the historical records but also proved to be the ultimate history-changing one. Along with all that has been outlined in this review, several additional points of fact further argue for the Pandemic Hellyear having caused profound, everlasting changes to the entirety of the world—from geopolitics to geoeconomics, with geosociodynamics in between.

       While some scholars indulge in dissertations on the choices made and those not made (i.e. ‘what if’ speculations best meant for interesting fiction stories, according to this author’s humble opinion), this review will refrain from doing so as those aforementioned further elements that support a ‘World-Changer’ title for the A.D. Pandemic are enumerated and discussed herein.

       The first and foremost of such points is the irrevocably changed geopolitical dynamics of our world in the wake of the pandemic. Aside from the five Consolidates and the closed-in C.R.U.S.A., the previously mentioned U.H.F. is fast gaining a reputation as a ‘Switzerland-like’ nation with its friendly relations and open disposition to do business with not only the five Consolidates (who use the Consolidate Credit ⸿ digital currency), but also with the C.R.U.S.A. themselves (who still use the U.S. $ despite the global absence of monetary markets since the advent of the Consolidate system). Coupled with its strategic location in the Pacific Ocean, this is most likely to transform the young secular republic into a veritable diplomatic and economic hub for the world.

       The second point lies in micro-, macro- and geoeconomics fundamental transformations throughout the world, again brought about by the pandemic via the advent of the Consolidate system in its wake. Indeed (…)  [End of excerpt.]

(Final excerpt. Read Part 1, Part 2 and Part 3, if you haven't already)

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The A.D. Pandemic Hellyear of 2043-2044: An Overview (Part 3)

WORLDNET ARCHIVES ADVISORY: the following is an excerpt from a medico-history review article written in a dry, complex style with technical terms.

Title: “Retrospective of the 2043-2044 Amazon Disease Pandemic Hellyear: the rise and fall of a death dealer.”

Author: Xenia C. Diakos, Department of Public Health, Faculty of Health and Medical Sciences, Copenhagen, Denmark Sector, OmniEuropea.

Source: History and Medicine, vol. 2, no. 1, pp 127-172.

Date of peer-reviewed epublication: 08/11/2051.

 

[Beginning of excerpt] (…)

Incidentally, the emergency deputation of citizens wound up being embraced overwhelmingly by civilians both outside and within the refugee camps—with at least stoic compliance, if not welcoming dedication. It was as if people had heard the call of citizenship responsibility to fight for civilized Humanity; alternately, it could have simply been a natural desire to preserve access to food and water, as well as remain protected from A.D for themselves and their families. Most likely, though, a mixture of these two not-mutually-exclusive motivations applied in the case of most deputized citizens.

By mid-April 2044, and as they welcomed a vital injection of ‘boots on the ground’ similarly armed and biohazard-protected via military equipment stockpiles, the armed forces could then rely on the support of these deputized militias to ensure a disciplined and efficient performance of their previous multitasking roles—such as maintaining closed borders, upholding the inviolability of military bases and food reserves, defending refugee camps, assisting in maintaining order inside and outside the sanctuaries, or enforcing the perimeters of quarantine zones. Furthermore, this provided the military with much-needed leeway and personnel to finally embark on three additional endeavors that had previously been unattainable, let alone actionable: the enforcement of dusk-to-dawn curfews in all areas; the engagement and interdiction of violent activities everywhere; and the reopening of supply lines between hoarded emergency reserves and quarantine zones.

Such all-encompassing mission of restoring order and hope, however, wound up commanding its very own steep price in human lives—from the inevitable high casualty clashes against a plenitude of rabid gangs, outlaw raiders, zealot throngs or rebellious marauders, to having no choice but to strife down riotous mobs at borders, quarantine perimeters, or established food and water distribution centers. And through it all, an unrelenting P. amazonia kept on wantonly reaping its own sizeable share of the deathly spoils.

Notwithstanding, chaos and savagery were being forced into a gradual retreat almost everywhere in the face of an unwavering alliance of soldiers and deputized citizens, bringing with them succor from anarchy, barbarity, and starvation, along with a lucid preparedness to deal death themselves if need be.

Consequently, by the end of May 2044, and thanks to an increasing pool of vetted, disease-free, and trained citizens, further expanding the numbers of deputized militia, power and communications were being restored, whereas the incidence of violent confrontations was already undergoing a declining trend—albeit remaining far from having dissipated entirely.

In other words: with the wheels of civilization being put back on their axel and set to spin anew, at least slowly, the grinding war for civilized Humanity was being won gradually in an overwhelming majority of countries in the world. But, this took many months and, unfortunately, a tragic degeneration into a cycle of violence and death nevertheless became the doom of some countries, as these devolved into hellholes of calamity through persistent barbarity and religious zealotry, coupled with an Amazon Disease kept unchecked by ignorance and paranoia.

Some of these nations somehow managed to reverse the tides of catastrophe to not only remain among the civilized nations of the world by the end of the pandemic, but furthermore join in what would be known as the ‘Big Reset’ (as discussed later in this review). Woefully, some others never recovered and instead remained violence- and A.D.-ridden disaster areas, to this day comprising a small group referred to as the ‘Dread Zone’ (also as further specified later in this review).

(As an aside, the former U.S.A. had almost gone the way of the Dread Zone; the anarchy, though, somehow morphed into their 2045-2047 Second American Civil War and resulted in the founding of the Christian Republic of the United States of America—again, as further explained later in this review.

The death dealer’s bane comes

During Humanity’s harrowing descent into darkness and its subsequent—yet still-ongoing—re-emergence into the light, the cloistered WHO-affiliated research teams around the world had seen their collaborative dedication and shared doggedness finally rewarded.

And thus, on the historic day of June thirteen, 2044, the announcement was made that science had bequeathed to Humanity a freshly forged tandem of sword and shield to vanquish its new, gruesome foe: the ‘Anderson-Connelly-Valence-Olbermann-Sheu’ (or ‘ACVOS’) vaccine, named after Stephen Anderson (former U.S.A.), Marie-Sol Connelly-Valence (Canada), Karl Olbermann (Germany) and Daiyu Sheu (China), whose teams provided the critical scientific discoveries and designs for the world-saving medicine.

In this respect, the ACVOS vaccine is in actuality an anti-A.D. vaccination strategy consisting of a three-pronged assault against P. amazonia’s unique disease-causing feature. First, the active vaccine uses as an injected immunogen a synthetic version of the protist’s fibrinogenase, with the latter’s fibrinogen-cleaving activity disimproved by artificial mutation. Second, a pharmacological thrombolytic agent capable of penetrating and dissolving efficiently the protective fibrin shells of P. amazonia is delivered over three days upon vaccination. And third, another pharmacological compound designed to inhibit specifically the fibrinogen-cleaving activity of the protozoan’s native fibrinogenase, thus preventing any ongoing or further formation of protective fibrin coatings, is administered over fourteen days after vaccination.

Therefore, during the minimal two weeks it takes for the immune system to produce antibodies aimed at the protist’s fibrinogenase, subsequently crippling the deadly trespasser while flagging it for termination by white blood cells, the previously insurmountable fibrin-coating defense of P. amazonia finds itself simultaneously stripped and nullified. To this effect, the ACVOS vaccine is highly efficient not only as life-long protection for those yet to be infected but also for those newly-infected while curing them of the developing disease.

Alas, the vaccine reaches its limits of effectiveness for those already into their fourth day after infection. By that time, the already occurring manifold emboli have begun to cause irreparable organ damage, especially to the brain, whereas the triggered and ongoing systemic thrombogenic cascade, along with the resulting incremental thickening and curdling of the blood, condemns to futility the administration of the active vaccine and its assisting fibrinogenase inhibitor and thrombolytic compounds.

So, even in the face of its imminent and total defeat, a spiteful P. amazonia still harvested every sown death that had already taken root.

Darkness persists in its last throes

The arbitrary madness that had gripped a suffering Humanity was determined to prolong its stranglehold, however. Following the news about the ACVOS vaccine, some of the survivors in quarantine zones wound up funneling their fears, their resentment, and their rage into various conspiracy theories that held scientists and other ‘privileged elites’ as scheming oppressors who sought to save themselves while leaving ‘common folks’ to die, or were responsible for the pandemic as an act of culling to remedy an overpopulated world, or caused the pandemic to enslave everyone with the promise of the vaccine as barter for the surrender of individual freedoms—or any combination and variation of these. In a similar vein, the vaccine represented either the ‘Devil’s hand acting against God’s will’, or a ‘poisonous substance disguised as a cure to genocide the faithful’, in the paranoid and nescient minds of religious zealots.

As a consequence, there was an explosion of instances where individuals were beaten or slaughtered after their identification as (or ‘accused of being’) scientists, especially in the case of those suspected of having worked in any biomedical field prior to the pandemic—and it didn’t matter if the targeted individuals were truly scientists or not. Even worse, in some parts of the world, simply knowing a little bit of science had come to constitute righteous justification for being assaulted or murdered.

In between, by the end of July 2044 and following the priority vaccination of soldiers, deputized citizens, refugee camp caretaking personnel, refugees, and those still awaiting admission into the camps, mass-vaccination campaigns in quarantine zones and everywhere else were initiated in earnest the world-over. On the surface, such an undertaking to save what was left of Humanity from P. amazonia seemed like an impossible task. However, a progressive upwelling of gratitude-driven volunteerism from the subsequently vaccinated, including those from quarantine areas, not only boosted the momentous endeavor into moving forward at an accelerated pace, but moreover, resulted in a further inflation of responsible and dedicated deputized citizens.

This was fortuitous, for the inflation of militia numbers meant an enhanced capability to interdict mobs and restore order. Moreover, this enabled improved protection of victuals and vaccine distribution centers, as well as vaccine production facilities—especially from ‘anti-ACVOS’ crazies. Incidentally, at the time, anyone attempting to steal or destroy batches of the active vaccine and its assisting compounds was shot on the spot—no questions asked. All the same, it took almost six months of committed uprightness and determined organization to achieve vaccination of the bulk of the world’s survivors, with an additional dozen weeks or so before fulfillment of the endeavor.

Meanwhile, the madness and savagery returned at last to the deep recesses of the human psyche, thanks to the combination of unwavering and heavily protected supply lines, an accelerating restoration of power and communications, and a gradual re-establishment of calm and order.

And as all of this came to pass, an A.D.-vaccinated and enduring Humanity rediscovered a purpose other than individual self-preservation: helping others to help oneself, and pulling together to preserve what remained of civilization.

A rejuvenated sense of personal and communal responsibility blossomed among the survivors.

(…) [End of excerpt.]

 

(Concluded in Part 4. Read Part 1 and Part 2, if you haven't already)

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The contents of Psiarch's Hideout are licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.

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