Synthetic Plague: Difference between revisions
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{{trope}}
[[File:
{{quote|''While the individual viruses had proven to be non-lethal in testing, [[Mad Scientist|Paxia]] had engineered a sort of genetic puzzle box. When more than one of her viruses infected a host, they assembled the fragmented pieces of a single, labyrinthian genetic code. The genome of a '''plague.'''''|''[[The Greening Wars]]''}}
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It may have been designed for use as a [[Weapon of Mass Destruction|biological weapon]], or an unexpected result of an [[Freak Lab Accident|experiment]] [[Gone Horribly Wrong|gone wrong]]. Perhaps we just shouldn't have [[28 Days Later|let monkeys watch TV for too long]]. However it came to be, it has now been unleashed by humanity at large, and has almost certainly gone far beyond what its designers had originally intended.
In works that involve these types of diseases, expect an [[Aesop]] about the hubris of man, and the [[Science Is Bad|evils of unchecked science]]. In most cases, those behind the creation of the disease will often [[Hoist by His Own Petard|fall victim to it as well]], either directly or indirectly. Scientists who worked on the original project may cry out "[[My God, What Have I Done?]]". The only time it will be seen as heroic is against utterly nonhuman [[Exclusively Evil]] [[Alien Invasion|invading aliens]], and ''even then'' it has a horrible tendency to mutant to infect humans.
A [[Sub-Trope]] of [[The Plague]], and one that can often serve as a form of [[Depopulation Bomb]]. Compare [[Mystical Plague]], [[The Virus]], [[Apocalypse How]].
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== Anime & Manga ==
* This is the sub-plot in the anime ''[[Highlander the Search For Vengeance]]'', where Marcus has released a virus over New York to wipe out all of people who haven't conformed to his ancient Roman ideals. The virus only had an 80% kill rate but by the end of the movie he's managed to make a 100% version.
* The blood plague from ''[[
* The 'Monkey Business' virus from ''[[Cowboy Bebop]]''. Fortunately, our intrepid heroes made sure the only victims were [[Hoist by His Own Petard|the eco-terrorists who planned to unleash it in the first place.]]
== Film ==
* The [[Hate Plague]] in ''[[Dead Air (2009
* Similarly, the [[Hate Plague]] in ''[[28 Days Later]]'' (and its sequel ''[[28 Weeks Later|Twenty Eight Weeks Later]]'') was caused by researchers looking for a way to calm down angry persons. It flew the other way. Horribly.
* In ''[[I Am Legend]]'', the infection that wiped out most humans was the result of a supposed cure for cancer that ended up going horribly wrong.
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* In ''[[L: Change the World]]'', Blue Ship, a terrorist group, manufactures an extremely dangerous virus in order to wipe out humanity and restore balance in the ecosystem.
* In the film version of ''[[V for Vendetta]]'', the St. Mary's Virus was a major factor in Norsefire's rise to power. Blamed on religious extremists, it's later revealed that {{spoiler|the government developed it through experiments conducted on prisoners at the Lark Hill detention facility, and chose to attack their own people to create an environment of fear that would cause the people to give the goverment more power.}}
* To be fair, the scientists in ''[[Rise of the Planet of the Apes]]'' weren't ''trying'' to create a
* The [[Hate Plague]] in ''[[The Crazies]]'' was created by the US government as a biological weapon against hostile populations. Then the plane carrying it ends up crashing in a lake used by a local small town for drinking water.
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* In ''[[The Dresden Files]]'' novel ''Death Masks'', creating a magical plague like this is the objective of Nicodemus, using the magical power of [[Public Domain Artifact|the Shroud of Turin]]. Nicodemus isn't doing it for any reason beyond [[For the Evulz|to cause chaos and death]], which he views as its own end.
* In ''Echoes of an Alien Sky'' by ''James Hogan'' settlers from Venus spend much of the novel figuring out where Terrans went, and why they look like them. {{spoiler|Turns out they are descended from Terrans, ones sent away right before the Earth was overwhelmed by a Plague. Even more Horrible when one realizes the virus was meant to be genocidal, and it causes the effects of Zombie Rabies essentially. Even the technique used to get away was so experimental that the Venusians didn't think Terrans had found it yet.}}
* In the ''[[Dune]]'' prequels, there's the Omnius Plague, released by the [[
* David Patneaude's ''Epitaph Road'' has this. It's discovered the plague, Elisha's Bear, that killed many of the men on Earth, was released by a fanatical woman.
* ''[[The Wild Boy]]''-the virus created and released by the Lindauzi. Everyone thought they were humanity's saviors, but later, Ilox found the truth.
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== Webcomics ==
* ''[[Ebin and May]]'' had a case of biological warfare, but due to [[Fantastic Racism]], it only affected the lupines as seen in [http://www.radiocomix.com/ebin-and-may/2010/04/29/ah-rats-pg2/ this strip].
* ''[[The Greening Wars]]'' had an interesting example in the prologue. The warlord who had the viruses created wanted them to be ''disabling but non-lethal'', to allow relatively bloodless conquests of crippled armies. Unfortunately, the [[Mad Scientist]] he hired to make the plagues believed that crippling the enemy wasn't enough, and found [https://web.archive.org/web/20120710120453/http://www.drunkduck.com/The_Greening_Wars/5296410/ a way to make the viruses harmless in testing but be lethal in the field.]
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* In modern times, fortunately, this is mostly not [[Truth in Television]]. Biological weapons are considered far too difficult to control and too prone to backfiring; the majority of germ research is on how to maintain cures and preventative measures for such things. Chemical weapons are seen as the more practical equivalent for something that poisons an area.
** Note that there are far fewer candidates in Real Life then in fiction. Ebola outbreaks and other quick lethal diseases for example "burn out" because people get sick too quickly to spread it around very much. In a pandemic its speculated that after people start locking themselves at home the transmission would stop from quarantine. Slower diseases conversely are more survivable or treatable. There are still dangerous scenarios, but not world ending ones.
** Contrary to this trope's usual assumptions, creating a
* There is speculation around the world of intentionally modified viruses developed and stockpiled for biological warfare. It typically involves taking an already highly infectious and lethal agent, such as small pox, and modifying it just enough to render vaccines ineffective. No such strain has ever been used, but there have been rumors of the Soviets stockpiling such a version of small pox during the 80's (fortunately, its not around today even if they did; small pox has a self life of only a few years).
** Former Soviet bioweapons director Ken Alibek's autobiography describes "Ebolapox", with Ebola being used as a vector for
{{reflist}}
[[Category:Futuristic Tech Index]]
[[Category:
[[Category:Speculative Fiction Tropes]]
[[Category:Make My Index Live]]
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[[Category:Synthetic Plague]]
[[Category:Depressing Tropes]]
[[Category:Apocalyptic Index]]
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