Characters

George Petros al-Misiri (Cyrillic: Георгий Петрович Аль Мисири, Romanized: Georgij Petrovič Al' Misiri, Arabic: المصري جرجس ابن بطرس, romanized: Gerges ibn Boutros al-Misri), better known as Mayor George, is a shady businessman, local politician, member of the Communist Party of Taviana (CPT) (Cyrillic: Комунистическа Партия Тавияни, КПТ, romanized: Komunističeska Partija Tavijani, KPT), and the Chairman of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the Taviana SSR.

Born on July 12, 1954, in Cairo, Egypt, into a well-known, wealthy Coptic Christian family of a businessman named Boutros; George grew up in the wealthy Cairo district of Heliopolis, also known as Masr al-Jadidah (“New Cairo”), where he attended Heliopolis Elementary School from which he graduated early due to his exceptionally high intelligence. George found school boring and began growing reclusive after skipping two grades as he found it difficult to fit in with his much older classmates. As a result, George would often skip classes and spend his time loitering around Cairo, engaging in various petty money-making schemes, such as buying junk food in corner stores and reselling it to children at school with a markup. One evening, George was even brought home by the police after scamming some American tourists out of $50 by persuading them that he would exchange their dollars for Egyptian pounds at an unbelievably good rate and then giving them old banknotes that he had bought at a flea market. But his real love was airplanes. When young George wasn't getting into mischief, his father would often find him sitting by the fence of Almaza Air Force Base (Arabic: مطار ألماظة) watching airplanes take off and land. George used most of the money he made in his various endeavors to buy model airplane kits which he would glue together, hand paint, and hang all around his room.

Seeing his love for airplanes, George's father secured a place for him in the prestigious Cairo Military Academy through an old friend in the hope that his son would stay out of trouble, and indeed he did. George excelled at the academy but soon realized that being a fighter jet pilot wasn't for him due to the strictness of the military, lack of freedom, and his dislike for authority. So, after three years in the academy, George transferred to the Alexandria International Business School where he studied Russian, earned a master's degree in International Business Management, and also met Natalya Mariankova (Russian: Наталья Марианкова); a Russian student from Moscow who he later married and emigrated to the Soviet Union with. George is said to have fathered two children with Natalya; their whereabouts are currently unknown.

In Moscow, George briefly joined the underworld and did illegal business with agricultural products from kolkhozes (collective farms) before joining the Communist Party and entering politics. He quickly rose through the ranks and was sent to the Taviana SSR where he eventually worked his way up to become the Chairman of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet.

Nowadays, George is better known as Mayor George. After the outbreak, Mayor George flew off to a top-secret air force base, known as Sector B, with high-ranking government officials and other wealthy residents. He currently resides at the facility which is guarded by some of the world's finest mercenaries and is believed to contain vast reserves of money, rare loot, elite weapons, and possibly documents that could shed light on the origins of the virus.

Mayor George is said to be an avid snooker player, smoker of shisha, as well as a collector of luxury West German automobiles (some of which are believed to be on Sector B), and Swiss watches. He is apparently also a big fan of Russian ice cream. In addition to being fluent in Arabic and Russian, he is also believed to be fluent in English and German, both of which he is said to have learned at Heliopolis Elementary School during his childhood. Mayor George has the rank of Flight lieutenant (Arabic:نقيب طيار‎‎, romanized: Naqib tayar) in the Egyptian Air Force, and holds a commercial aircraft license with instrument and multi-engine ratings.

Very little is known about Dr. Ivan. His existence was only revealed in several documents said to have been found by survivors in a secret, underground laboratory in Sabina, known only as Object 24 (and also as Ivan's Lab since the discovery of the documents). Everything else that is known about him comes from a stash of classified KGB documents that were allegedly found by survivors while looting the KGB headquarters building in Sabina.

Based on the documents, Dr. Ivan's full name is Ivan Yegorovich Simirnov (Russian: Иван Егорович Симирнов). Dr. Ivan was allegedly born in Norilsk, RSFR, to a young nurse named Olesya (Russian: Олеся), and a nickel miner named Yegor Simirnov (Russian: Егор Симирнов) on the 24^th of September 1938. His father was apparently a low-ranking member of the Communist Party. No records have been found suggesting that Dr. Ivan was a member of the Communist Party or interested in politics at all. The KGB documents classify him as a 'person of special interest', code-named Gazel (Cyrillic: Газель) who was to be monitored closely. Nothing is known about his youth, except that he studied Molecular and Theoretical Biology in Novosibirsk after which he went off the gird and resurfaced in Sverdlovsk 15 years later under the pseudonym Ivan Petrov, which he gave the police during a routine traffic stop. It is therefore speculated that Dr. Ivan worked on the Soviet Biological Weapons Program in Sverdlovsk under a false identity.

It is unclear when exactly and why Dr. Ivan came to the Taviana SSR. However, based on documents found in Object 24, it was several years before the outbreak. A memo by Dr. Ivan found in Object 24 dated shortly before the outbreak may also suggest that he was aware of the virus and possibly working on a cure for it.

“Jan 2, 1989. The condition of Patient 0 seems to have stabilized. - Dr. Ivan”

Conspiracy theorists believe that Dr. Ivan was not working on a cure for the virus but had a hand in causing the outbreak.

The identity, gender, and ethnicity of Patient 0 are unknown; nothing at all is known about Patient 0 — In fact, their very existence is disputed. Only one document mentioning them is said to have ever been found by survivors in a top-secret laboratory located beneath Sabina, referred to only as Object 24 — also known as Ivan's Lab among the survivors as Dr. Ivan is said to have worked there before the outbreak.

Survivors have speculated about the existence of Patient 0 ever since the outbreak. Some say that no such thing exists while others have reported encountering him. Those that claim to have encountered Patient 0, claim that he is more than two and a half meters tall (8 ft 2 in), very muscular, with a deep roar, and immense physical strength. Some even claim to have seen him tear an entire cow in half. Others say that Patient 0 possesses superpowers such as thermal vision, the ability to run very fast, and some even say that he can turn invisible. Some claim to have seen secret documents about Patient 0 which describe him as a mutant from the X-18 lab in the Chernobyl exclusion zone who was brought to the Taviana SSR for experimentation. Another theory is that Patient 0 was a test subject for a highly contagious virus, accidentally escaped from the laboratory, and caused the outbreak by infecting livestock.

The whereabouts of Patient 0 are currently unknown.

The majority of people that got infected with the virus initially developed relatively harmless symptoms, but then came rotting of the skin and decay of the brain. The infected were reduced to bloodthirsty zombies with only primal instincts that now roam the land, unable to die. Perhaps an adequate punishment for humanity's sins?

Due to a rare genetic mutation found in a small percentage of the population, some individuals remained entirely unaffected by the virus as their fellow countrymen and women turned to zombies. As the high-ranking officials fled to Sector B, they were left behind to fend for themselves and became known as the survivors. It is unclear whether the authorities were aware that certain people were unaffected by the virus during the outbreak and left them behind intentionally or not. It is also unclear whether the inhabitants of Sector B are also immune to the virus or just left so soon that they never got infected.

Some survivors have attempted to reach Sector B to establish communication with the inhabitants, but they never made it back.

Sector B is guarded by some of the world's finest mercenaries, known to the survivors as The Guards. It is uncertain who exactly they are. However, it is likely that they were members of the elite military branches and KGB (secret service of the Taviana SSR) before the outbreak. One thing is certain — they don't like visitors!

Some survivors have also reported seeing the guards fly around the islands in helicopters and even land on them from time to time.

The Novistrana archipelago is home to various species of mammals, birds, fish, reptiles, and insects, some of which include:

● Brown Bear
● Cow
● Deer
● Fox
● Goat
● Golden Eagle
● Mountain Hare
● Pig
● Seagull
● Sheep
● Stork
● Wild Boar