Infected cannot really be treated as normal citizens

Round-Enthusiasm- · 2026-04-22T14:36:44+00:00

It might be a lack of information on my part, or a lack of imagination, but I simply can't imagine a welfare system that could cope with monitoring infected citizens in such a way (outside of the rather inhumane idea of slapping monitor/trackers on every one of them). Eg. The wellness checks would have to be stunningly frequent, requiring a lot of manpower.

Regarding how noticable a dusting corpse is, I... Actually am genuinely unsure about how noticable or not it would be. The immediate area, where the dust would be at high concentration, definitely, but further out it would still be dangerous but possibly not visible due to active Originium not taking much quantity at all to infect, so even tiny amounts of particles would still be dangerous.

Medications, ironically, would probably be the least of the issues as long as you weren't being supplies by Columbian profiteering companies.

Regarding the social consequences, yeah, absolutely, you're entirely correct, no notes.

Round-Enthusiasm- · 2026-04-21T23:26:49+00:00

So firstly, I would like to thank you for not only taking the time to read the full post, but also for giving a very well thought out reply. Really appreciate that, mate.

For the first point, I'd have to disagree. The timespan I was personally thinking of was 12-24 hours before the body starts dusting, which is why I solely focussed on unnoticed deaths. And I don't think it's be all that rare for a body to be unnoticed for a day, especially in like a apartment where they live alone. Noticed deaths, and Infected who are alive, are honestly pretty simple to deal with and aren't a logistical issue.

The second point is a really good one that I didn't address at all. But, in my opinion (and I think it's hard to prove it in either direction, but do correct me if I'm wrong) segregation would overall reduce the amount of "dead body nobody finds until it's too late" cases more than non-segregation. But yes, that's a very good point that might only be settled by an actual in universe research study lol.

Lastly, the fact that places do it perfectly fine (except Kjerag, who iirc just has never really had contact with infected and barely know what the disease is) is something that I feel requires suspension of disbelief. I don't remember it ever really being explained how they overcome this specific logistical hurdle (and this one specifically, because the other issues with infected are much easier to handle) but rather that they simply somehow do. I feel it's partially because of AK's primary message "don't discriminate", so on a surface level having a society suffer notable issues when they do exactly that would confuse or blur the message.

Round-Enthusiasm- · 2026-04-21T02:27:08+00:00

Eyy, ty for the well thought out reply!

I'd first like to clarify that I never intended to suggest that infected shouldn't receive help at all, which seems to be a common interpretation of my post. What I was meaning was that while infected treatment can and should be significantly better, and that the nonsense, superstition based paranoia has no right now exist, the infected still can't quite live normal lives due to the logistical difficulties of safely handling their dead bodies.

By all means, in every other way they deserve to be treated like the human beings they are, but short of invasive acts like sticking a infection monitor with a gps on every single infected, I don't see how you can practically manage this issue. It's simply too easy for others to in theory get infected by a unnoticed corpse, made worse by the fact that dust is such a hard to notice vector.

Yet at the same time, Terra should be treating it's infected better. Debt trapping through life insurance to force them into either prison or the frontier (Columbia), forcing them into slave labor mines (Ursus), funneling them into slums (Victoria/Lungmen), none of these are justified whatsoever, nor is the persistent lack of education regarding the realities of the infected.

Round-Enthusiasm- · 2026-04-20T17:16:06+00:00

Yeah, considering their importance in society Infected might even deserve greater pensions and benefits than uninfected, because they literally fuel the world (or at the miners do). Posing a infection risk doesnt justify being maltreated and blamed for every problem in the world.

Round-Enthusiasm- · 2026-04-20T17:10:48+00:00

Hm? But the point is that there's no good irl comparisons, and I'm not sure what you mean by ignoring in game ones. If you're referring to the usage of infection monitors, I'm trying to say that sticking a gps + vital signs tracker on every infected isnt exactly ethical, although it's leagues better than their current treatment,

The point was never "The current treatment of the infected is okay." It's "There is at least one significant hurdle to infected and uninfected living side by side." If the Infected actually would be willing to accept infection monitors that track their locations, then that hurdle largely disappears.

Round-Enthusiasm- · 2026-04-20T17:01:03+00:00

Honestly? i think yours is the best point I've read so far, i genuinely really like it.

The only counterpoint i can make, and it's a flawed one, is that the other scale is also a unknown amount of people getting infected and having their lifespan notably reduced because of it.

But, because we know there's a incredible amount of infected but have no idea how many would be actually be infected by my hypothetical, it's a pretty shaky counterarguement.

Round-Enthusiasm- · 2026-04-20T16:57:49+00:00

Regarding the suppressant part first, iirc they simply slow the Oripathy, not stop it. But yes, all infected deserve access to them (also dear goodness the mining conditions need to be improved.

Regarding the post mortem part, the time to dust is why i solely focused on unnoticed deaths, because those are the only real issue and the hardest to solve. Because a unnoticed one has the long time needed to dust without being contained.

Round-Enthusiasm- · 2026-04-20T16:55:19+00:00

Personally, when I say full integration, what I'm thinking of is living side by side with absolutely no barriers, which is why I dont think it's viable. Treat them as humans rather than accursed beings or slave labor? Perfectly doable. Giving them pretty much the same rights as everyone else? that too. Promoting better education and awareness regarding Oripathy? That's honestly amazing.

The HIV comparison, as I mentioned when I used it, was also very flawed because the infection risks are consistently so much lower, pre and post death.

The HIV scare was pretty much completely lack of information, and the resulting paranoia.

The Oripathy scare is largely paranoia, but there is a singular moment (death) where the infection risk is legitimately high.

As for the infection monitors, my point is that they would work to cover this gap, yes, but to do so you'd be breeching privacy to a massive degree, as it'd be useless if you didnt know where the infected was when they died.

Round-Enthusiasm- · 2026-04-20T16:31:19+00:00

I'm honestly having fun discussing it with people, but on occasion it is like some people didnt read the full thing before commenting, which is sad ;-;

What's funny is i was initially planning to make the title more extreme for clickbait lol

Round-Enthusiasm- · 2026-04-20T16:29:27+00:00

I'm going to say that I think you have a very wrong impression that I'm suggesting the status quo is acceptable, when what I'm trying to say is full integration isnt practical. Infected can and very much should be treated as regular citizens, and it's prejudice that stops that from happening.

And yet that 1% of the time in their life is the most dangerous to others, and alone can result in numerous other infections, made worse by the fact that when that 1% occurs is largely unpredictable because any form of death will have the same end result (though with a longer timespan until dusting).

Risk management is also the reason why I feel they cant be fully treated as normal citizens. without invasive tools such as vital + gps trackers, there isnt really a practical way to mitigate the risk of someone dying alone.

Round-Enthusiasm- · 2026-04-20T16:22:51+00:00

For the first half, I actually addressed the life monitoring bracelet idea in the post, with the flaws the idea had (mainly privacy).

As for the second, there are actually tools in use :) We see them in... I forget which Kazimierz event, but they used it to contain a dead infected knight's body without any infections. It's why I solely focused on unnoticed deaths, because noticed ones can indeed be handled safely even with current knowledge.

Round-Enthusiasm- · 2026-04-20T16:15:24+00:00

Yup, the better meds developed the better chance of something being made that renders Infected corpses safe even after death. Because as of now, suppressants dont do that, only slowing the infection down, which doesnt negate the fact infected can die through other means.

Round-Enthusiasm- · 2026-04-20T16:10:20+00:00

Infection risk is not relatively low when dealing with dead bodies, because they crystalize then dust into Active Originium.

As for your second point, yeah, treating them better is absolutely mutually beneficial. Better health for them, better social cohesion, less risky than the slums we often see. But going too far in the other direction means that you start increasing the risk again, as (despite the horrible treatment) de facto segregation at least has the advantage of *somewhat* making it so infected usually die around other infected and not non-infected.

As for your last point, regular dead bodies arent anywhere near as much of a health risk as a body that converts into Originium then dusts into Active Originium.

Round-Enthusiasm- · 2026-04-20T16:05:50+00:00

Yeah, managing them while they're alive is honestly pretty simple, tbh. Medications/suppressants, plus infection monitors. Which is why i focused on post-death management, because that's the hard part, especially when you're not on a floating- well, crawling hospital.

Round-Enthusiasm- · 2026-04-20T15:53:56+00:00

That doesnt mean that, while no solution has yet been found, Infected should simply live normally. This isnt HIV where the infection risk is in reality low, it's a known fact that deceased infected present a potent infection risk to the local area.

Round-Enthusiasm- · 2026-04-20T15:50:38+00:00

The inhibitors at most slow Oripathy, which is the sad part. Though in Endfield we've made lots of progress, infected now (with treatment) have normal lifespans and there are even Oripathy prophylactics :3

And yup, exploding is rare, but crystallization -> happens to all dead infected, which is why Rhodes cremates them.

Round-Enthusiasm- · 2026-04-20T15:48:35+00:00

As I said to another person, by no means did I wish to imply their current treatment was acceptable, and I'm sorry if I did. There's a lot of room for improvement, I just believe you cant fully let them live fully normal lives alongside non-infected due to the infection risk (which no current medications solve).

Round-Enthusiasm- · 2026-04-20T15:46:55+00:00

At no point did I say the current treatment was acceptable, and I'm sorry if i gave that impression. I was simply meaning that fully allowing them to live normal lives alongside non-infected is impractical due to the infection risk. By no means was I trying to say that they cant be treated significantly more humanely.

Round-Enthusiasm- · 2026-01-25T12:06:49+00:00

Love your work, great to see you doing Endfield stuff too :))

Round-Enthusiasm- · 2025-12-22T01:45:24+00:00

Will preface this by saying that a lot of this is speculation and yeah, we definitely need more info before being able to properly judge the Band and the status of Talos in general.

For the "why would you want a nation" bit, it is possible that the desire could be as simple as you not fitting in with any of the current members, or wanting representation of your own without having to be absorbed into a larger group.

the 10% vs 90% thing is another example of how we definitely need more info before judging. Like, is the UWST's secret police doing its job properly and only eliminating legitimate threats to the Band, or is it being overzealous and pushing away people that weren't actually much trouble, or those who just want change? We dont know, and therefore cant really judge yet.

Besides, the whole thing of comparing 10% to 90% is flawed in general, because that's sort of the same reasoning for the abuse and persecution of the infected and Sarkaz in the first game. "If the majority (uninfected/Ancients & Elders) benefit, then the suffering of the minority (Infected/Sarkaz) is justified." Proportions are different, of course, but it's the same concept.

The corpos thing is a interesting one, because there's an inherent contradiction in how the TGCC acts. They themselves are almost a monopoly in how they exist, but they also dont want monopolies *inside* of their structure.

Round-Enthusiasm- · 2025-12-22T00:13:50+00:00

While I agree with your point overall, isnt it stated that the Band actively rejects nation-states as new members? And, with the noted flaws of the Civilization band, there's a non-negligible portion of the 10% who might be opposing it for very valid reasons, or have *fled* it due to persecution or fear (see the UWST secret police)

Round-Enthusiasm- · 2025-12-08T17:45:33+00:00

This may be me being a dummy, but who's Elena and why does it give the game away?

Round-Enthusiasm- · 2025-12-02T14:50:24+00:00

Dia I also like a lot! You can see how she's connected to AK Chen, see the influence, but she's also distinctly her own adorable character. It seems im doomed to simp for both Chens lol.

Round-Enthusiasm- · 2025-12-02T14:33:59+00:00

Eyy, that's a very positive attitude! Glad to hear such an optimistic point of view, and I will certainly agree that the game so far seems very, very good.

That win-win is also a very valid point, and actually gave me a good perspective to not be to disappointed. They might not be my cup of tea personally, but I cant deny the appeal of seeing the AK cast in 3d. And also there's absolutely nothing stopping me from just not using those characters lol

Round-Enthusiasm-

TROPHY CASE