NORS-19
NORS-19, meaning "Novel Virus Strain", is a novel, highly contagious virus within the Caseyverse. Mild symptoms include fever, drowsiness, and difficulty staying awake, with severe cases leading to prolonged sleep cycles or coma. The virus is what directly caused the pandemic crisis and rise in bio-augmentation when RNA vaccines proved to be both fast to develop and safe for individuals, leading to the post-crisis era.
Background
[edit | edit source]Originally NOVAR-20, NORS-19 was created by Tony Bark with the intention of exploring the real-life events of the COVID-19 pandemic. While the fictional virus was made to avoid the unfortunate controversy surrounding its real-life counterpart, he also wanted some narrative flexibility. Inspired by Paramount's The 4400 , Bark chose a deep sleep or coma as a severe case so he could maintain similar themes of overpacked hospitals while affording the chance to both bring back characters and maintain the virus' impact, avoiding an in-universe reset of the status quo through timelines or multiple universe travel. As he was developing the outline, Bark realized the events of the pandemic could be told from many perspectives, similar to a Crisis Crossover found in comics. The aftermath of the events themselves would create the perfect epoch, providing a much-needed epoch for timelines.