UDWiki:Project Timeline/Zombie Timeline

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2005

As with each class of player in Urban Dead, early zombie attacks and groups were mostly scattered, unorganized and generally undocumented. Gradually, as mailing lists and the first unofficial UD forums were created and players began to become organized, defined groups emerged and the stories behind their battles began to spread.

The Many and The Undying Scourge

One of the first documented zombie groups to emerge in Urban Dead was The Many. Considered by most to be the first large, coordinated zombie horde, The Many recruited heavily through the Something Awful forums and was said to have a Hive Mind. Though very successful, The Many had a relatively short existence; they were founded in mid-August and suddenly disappeared from the game in mid-September after their only defeat during The Siege of Giddings Mall. Though short-lived, the horde left a lasting impression on Urban Dead, and a journalist for the November 2005 issue of PC Gamer UK was quoted as saying:

The Many are the main cause of fear in the city of Malton. Some reports put their numbers as few as fifty but, in a place of fear, the voices that whisper "there's three hundred of the bastards" are more listened to. The zoms attack like rotting locusts, tearing down barricades in minutes and devouring all within. People say they ravaged the entire suburb of Shearbank in 24 hours. They say that when the defenses went down at the Rolls Road Police Department over Lamport Hills, they killed 80 people in a long black night. And they say that they got a whupping when they tried to take the Giddings Mall, but most seem to think that was just wishful thinking.

It is believed that after the defeat at Giddings, members of the horde abandoned their zombie characters to form the PKer group DARIS.

Another early zombie group, The Undying Scourge was also formed in the middle of August, 2005. Formed by Sniperwulf, The Scourge used their own forum in addition to the UD forums to coordinate. The horde was one of the many zombie groups to emerge from Central Malton and their initial success can be traced to Ackland Mall. During their year-long history, The Undying Scourge participated in many of the early game events such as The October Battle of Fort Creedy, Dia de los Muertos, Stanstock and Mall Tour '06 and played a role in the war with DARIS.

Minions of the Apocalypse, The Rise of Ridleybank and The Ridleybank Resistance Front

By September, the game had become very popular and both zombie and survivors were very involved in metagaming. In particular, the Urban Dead Forums had become quite popular, though that forum would soon be shut down. On September 18th, just prior to the closure of the forums, a member named ApocalypseLord announced the formation of a new zombie group called Minions of the Apocalypse. The horde gathered at St. Lazarus's Church in Gulsonside, branching out and quickly gaining momentum. By mid-September, the horde had many members, their own forum and four of the horde members were appointed as generals, called The Four Horsemen. MotA would go on to be one of the longest lasting hordes in the game, participating in many events. As of 2012, the horde is still active, though its number of active members has dwindled considerably.

Also in mid-Speptember, the Urban Dead forums underwent several problems, and at one point the original forum was closed and then subsequently deleted by Proboards. Two new forums emerged: Urban Dead Strikes Back and Desensitized. Since Desensitized was hosted by a player and not subject to the Terms of Conditions which led to the deletion of the original site, it became the de facto Unofficial Urban Dead Forum. I was amidst these technical issues that a member of the zombie community, Petrosjko sent out a rallying cry to the zombie meta to retake Moggridge Place Police Department in Ridleybank. Several answered his call and several battles within Ridelybank took place. The battle, later named The Rise of Ridleybank led way to the birth zombie culture and of the horde The Ridleybank Resistance Front. The suburb of Ridleybank, later dubbed the zombie homeland would remain nominally in zombie hands after the battle and The RRF would go on to be the longest lasting active zombie horde in the game's history.

After its initial successes with key buildings during The Rise of Ridelybank, The RRF spread out and began to stake their claim to the suburb and then Nichols Mall in neighboring Stanbury Village, which had been used as a base of operations for survivors during the Ridleybank battle. After Nichols fell, the RRF claimed Ridleybank secure, naming it The Zombie Homeland. It was the first time in the game's history that a zombie horde had laid claim to a suburb. Later zombie hordes would mimic this tactic, such as the Pwotters in Stanbury Village and the Eastonwood Ferals in Eastonwood but none would be as successful at securing a suburb as the RRF.

The horde would later create divisions, with the Department of Homeland Security administering to the task of keeping Greater Ridleybank in the horde's control. For a time, though, the RRF would move as one to various locations, participating in many of the early sieges.

The Shambling Seagulls and The October Battle of Fort Creedy

Later in September, a new zombie horde named The Shambling Seagulls would emerge in Shearbank during the chaos of the war by the group DARIS and they soon teamed up with Undying Scourge to take on Tynte Mall, Fort Creedy and many other battles in 2005 and 2006. The two hordes worked very closely with one another and in mid-October they took on the newly formed Creedy Defense Force during the October Battle of Fort Creedy. The Seagulls went on to participate in Stanstock and the the '06 mall tour. By March of 2006, the horde disbanded, claiming that the current syringe mechanics made it too difficult to make an impact on the game.

Ministry of the Dead and Dia de los Muertos

By mid-October, zombies had claimed many victories, including Fort Creedy, Fort Perryn, Nichols Mall, Woodroffe Mall, Ackland Mall and Hildebrand Mall and it was during this time that talk began of forming a zombie "super-horde". During the unified attack of Hildebrand Mall such a horde was formed. The Ministry of the Dead was comprised of leading members of RRF. MotA, The Undying Scourge and other prominent zombie groups of the time. The structure of the group functioned similarly to its survivor counterpart, The Council of Leaders. The Ministry's first targets would be Giddings Mall.

Since The Many's attack on Giidings had failed, the mall had earned a reputation as a survivor fortress. On October 28th, a call to arms went out on the Urban Dead forums and plans were made to raze the mall. RRF and MotA would be the first to arrive and they quickly breached one corner of the mall. The Undying Scourge and The Shambling Seagulls would arrive later on October 30th and together, the four groups completed bringing down all four corners of the mall on November 1st. The event was called Dia de los Muertos (Day of the Dead) and was considered by most in the zombie community to be the biggest success to date. The Ministry would split apart for a time but soon came together to battle at one of the last remaining untested survivor strongholds; Caiger Mall.