Eurosky Low-Emission Infectious Disease

"The truth is much more complicated than you think."

This article is written from a Lore perspective. It contains spoilers and different reference materials might be contradictory.

The Eurosky Low-Emission Infectious Disease (广域性低辐射感染症), or ELID, is the result of exposure of a living creature to the radiations of Collapse Fluid. Persons who went through complete infection without dying start acting similar to zombies, and are called “ELID Infected” or “ELIDs” (ELID感染者, “ELID-Infected”, “ED Infected” or “ELIDer” in Chinese). Infected are hard to kill due to the layer of hard silicon formed over their skin. The Assault Artillery platform was originally designed to destroy ELIDs.

Symptoms

ELID symptom initial stages on Captain Yegor after he was exposed to a Collapse bomb explosion, notice the scorched skin.

ELID symptom initial stages on agent Angelia after she was exposed to a Collapse bomb explosion, notice the scorched skin.

The symptoms for acute exposition to Collapse Fluid radiations (such as a Collapse Bomb) include coughing blood, pain in the head and stomach, loss of vision and/or a sensation akin to one's bones piercing through the skin, convulsions, fatigue, scorch marks on the skin and periods of unconsciousness. Most people die directly from radiations due to their average body resilience, but healthy people like soldiers can survive to reach the worst stages of irradiation. Despite this, children can still turn into infected. As silicification (硅化, also translated “silication” or, improperly, “siliconization”) occurs, their muscles and blood vessels will harden and their mind progressively withers to basic aggressive instincts. Due to this stiffening the soon-to-be infected maybe unable to flex their fingers and turn their own weapon on themselves. Under heavy radiation doses, transformation can take only minutes.

Symptoms for prolonged exposition to low dosage are similar to accelerated aging, including physical weakness and impaired cognitive functions. As the symptoms worsen, silicification occurs and the infected becomes incapable of moving and prone to hallucinations.

Secret Document 9 of Codename: Bakery Girl that was expunged from canon stated: Advanced ELID infection contracted by repeated exposure for short periods of time manifests physically as bluish-green skin, extremely fast aging made evident by geriatric wrinkles and crows' feet on the face, difficulty to breathe, muscular weakness and very unstable vital signs. Body amino acids decompose, connective tissues break down throughout the body, red blood cell count falls rapidly along with blood oxygen carrying capacity and the skeletal structure changes, undergoing calcification and increasing the density and hardness of bones to numbers up to 400 HB, far beyond conventional steel. Onset period increases as the body is repeatedly exposed to relics. Acute infection is fatal within 61 hours. Conversion to infected can take 24 to 48 hours, but necessitate the body to be healthy enough to survive DNA recombination.

ELID Infected

Standard ELID Infected are attracted to sound and moving objects not produced by other ELIDs. Low-frequency acoustic emitters are used to lure ELIDs and sonic bombs to repel them. The source of their killing impulse is unknown but they seem to attack everything but themselves indiscriminately and become more aggressive the longer they have been infected. However, in areas with particularly high radiation levels where there is no living creature to feed on, ELIDs can cannibalize each other.

ELID infection confers great resistance to the body. Even in early stages, as much as seven handgun bullets can be necessary to put a human ELID down. They seem to retain a certain degree of muscle memory, as demonstrated by infected soldiers actually firing their rifles haphazardly, though they are not capable of more complex actions like launching grenades. Soldiers severely irradiated undergo skin and internal organs mutations that make them both larger and more resilient than other infected, becoming Smashers, "Chimera" or "gigantified". Some have been described as spewing acidic fluids.

The Nytos from Paradeus recognize ELID infected as “baptized” and refuse to harm them, even when attacked. Shrike cells also have the strange property of being able to absorb ELID biomass.

Type D

A Type-D ELID Infected in Codename: Bakery Girl.

Infected staying in radiation zones for extended periods of time will undergo more drastic physical changes, with Type-D infected (D型感染者) being completely inhuman and monstrous in form, and requiring Assault Artillery platforms to take down. These poorly-studied creatures can become the pack leaders of lesser ELIDs. While they have been described as the most dangerous ELID creatures, it is implied in other sources that even more dangerous types exist.

Boojum

In the 2070s, new dangerous types of ELIDs born from the fusion of animals and plants were first observed. The URNC Contamination Zone Environmental Analysis Team gave them the name Boojum when they were first recorded in 2071. The theory behind the appearance of Boojums is called “Collapse radiation-induced breakdown of biological negative feedback systems” (坍塌辐射浓度异常导致的生物体负反馈机制失调). This phenomenon is extremely rare, but they can reach immense sizes, lead packs of other ELIDs and cause major damage when they leave their contamination zone. Known types of Boojums include the Nemertea and the Tumorhynchus.

The word Boojum originates from the epic nonsense poem by Lewis Caroll The Hunting of the Snark, where a Boojum is a particularly dangerous type of Snark that kills anyone who sees it. In early Girls' Frontline lore, BOOJUM was another name for the Pikes, but this usage has been abandoned for legal reasons.

Immunity and cure

There are two types of immunity to ELID, designated “semi-immunosome” and “pan-immunosome” (or “fully immune individual” in Reverse Collapse: Code Name Bakery). Semi-immunosome humans can be in close contact with Collapse radiation or ELID infected with no adverse effects. Semi-immunosome immunity can be innate or acquired. Known semi-immunosomes include Machlian (innate) and the Commander (acquired). Known pan-immunosomes are Kawasaki Kazusa and the products of the Three Goddesses project. Isomer White and Nytos are immunosomes of unspecified type.

The search for an effective, cheaply produced and easily distributed ELID cure sunk many pharmaceutical companies who tried to synthesize it. Some advocated that ELID cures were only tackling the symptoms of a wider environmental problem, but a variety of cheap fraudulent cures or protective products were sold in the streets of Green Zones. In 2064, Galatea Corporation, backed by Paradeus, attempted to bring the Idunn Formulation Type-III to market, supported by renowned surgeon Lady Gray and ELID treatment specialist Eugene Rugosa.

By 2074, human infection was considered solved and infected fauna was the main danger posed by ELID (though ELID still plagued populations without access to treatment two decades later). During the First Antarctic War, Antarctic Union soldiers received genetic modifications and used radioactive decay barriers meshed into bulletproof vests that enabled them to operate in contaminated areas without special equipment for a short time. URNC soldiers did not have these benefits.

History

ELID has been an ongoing problem during the exploration of relics sites, and spurred the development of the Weight Bearing protection system.

Secret Document 9 of Codename: Bakery Girl that was expunged from canon stated: In early infection cases, before the 21st century, radiation sickness treatments were applied to no avail due to a lack of understanding of the mechanisms of ELID. This posed considerable problems as relics research ramped up during the Cold War, since infection vectors were unknown and no protection or treatment existed, leading to an estimated 150 000 ELID infections worldwide between the first documented case in 1976 and 1980, with about 10 000 infected. 50 000 new cases had appeared a year later, with a higher percentage of Infected and new mutation forms. High variance in infection conditions and combat data rendered global studies useless. Countries started to create special units dedicated to manage ELID cases, like the Chinese Special Circumstances Armed Police Force, but the infection rate of these agents was high. The Relic Arms Limitation Treaty and détente between the Soviet Union and United States permitted Anti-ELID vaccine research to begin in 1983, gradually reducing the number of cases.

By 2023, genetic augmentations were available to boost resistance against ELID. In 2048, during World War Three, the United States established the Aurora Experimental Unit to develop ELID bioweapons based on cheetahs, leopards and bears injected with Collapse fluid. Aurora failed to find a way to control these creatures before they disappeared in 2050, but isolated the DNA sequences responsible for their mutations by comparing them with he DNA of the subjects from the Black Lily and White Rose project.

Due to the collapse of traditional faith systems based on divine salvation after the Beilan Island Incident, new faiths based on transcendence emerged during and after World War Three. Many of these religions promised transcendence through ELID, in a blatant exploitation of the feelings of survivors who lost love ones to the infection.

By 2064, severe Collapse Fluid irradiation could be treated as long as the patient had not turned yet, as exemplified by Angelia and the Commander's survival. Enough ELIDs existed in the Belgrade region in the 2060s to pose a significant threat to the city once the quarantine walls were breached.

William cultivated massive quantities of Collapse-radiation filled Epiphyllum flowers and created dirty bombs to infect population centers, in order to identify a pan-immunosome he could use for his plans. After finding the semi-immonosome Machlian in Germany, he extracted large quantities of her blood to create an effective ELID cure.

With the progress in human treatment against ELID, the main danger posed by the disease shifted to the wildlife of the contaminated regions by the 2070s. The term "ELID Infected" was replaced by "ELID Silence Dread" or "living skeletons/hollows" (生骸) due to the changes occurring in contaminated animals. Despite their dangerous nature, some like the Obsidian Hare were captured and sold as pets, leading to casualties in owners. ELID still plagued refugees populations in the 2090s.

Gallery

Girls' Frontline

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  Infected.
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  Infected Soldier.
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  Smasher.

Girls' Frontline 2: Exilium

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  An example of “Silence Dread” ELID, an Obsidian Hare.

Reverse Collapse: Code Name Bakery

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  “Transmogrified Infected Individual”
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  “Terminally Infected Individual”
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  “Super Mutant Lambda”
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• 
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  Lige absorbs ELID creatures into her Shrike body.
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  Yuri is thrown out of a refugees transport due to his silicified arm.
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  URNC commemorative coin for anti-ELID operations.

Trivia

• In Codename: Bakery Girl, ELID is said to have been prevalent in northern Ukraine due to the Chernobyl incident and the Soviet “Koschei system”. The game also says that ELID vaccines were lost because of World War Three and the First Antarctic War, which is now contradicted in canon.
• Mendo is fascinated by ELIDs and extensively studied them. On the contrary, Jefuty is terrified of them and disapproves of Mendo's interest. In Chapter 3, Act 1 and Chapter 4, Zombieland of Reverse Collapse: Code Name Bakery, if Jefuty is more than 4 tiles away from Mendo, she'll start shivering.

References

General List of Characters (Minor Characters) · List of Locations · Timeline · Rossartrism · Eurosky Low-Emission Infectious Disease · Epiphyllum · GAVIRUL Technology Assault Artillery · Automaton · Collapse Technology · Magrasea · OGAS · Parapluie virus · Pike · Relic Technology · Shrike · Tactical Doll · Weight Bearing Events Beilan Island Incident · World War Three · Operation Couatl · Incident Zero · Butterfly Incident · Safe House 3 Raid · Plan Parapluie · Great Retreat · Paldiski Incident · Fireworks Incident · Battle of the Dead Sea · First Antarctic War Factions 90wish · Antarctic Union · Fox Sisterhood · Germany · Global Rescue Foundation · Griffin & Kryuger · KCCO · Neo-Soviet Union · Pan-European Union · Paradeus · Sangvis Ferri · Union of Rossartrist Nations Coalition · United Nations · United States · Varjagers Corporations 16LAB · 42LAB · B.R.I.E.F. · Cyber Media · Galatea Corporation · Girard Group · I.O.P. · Svarog Heavy Industries · Ultilife · Universal Anything Services · WAVE