Red Flood Removal Effects
Whenever a human being is entirely submerged in a Red Flood (even if only for an instant), they are immediately considered "Removed" from reality.
Note: The entire body needs to be submerged for the victim to be Removed. If even a single limb is still visible above the water level, they can (and should) still be rescued if possible. Do not attempt to enter floodwater to save someone, as you will only put yourself at higher risk.
It is impossible to confirm whether a Removed victim is in fact actually deceased. There is no currently known way to find a Removed victim's body after it has been claimed by a flood. The term "Removed" comes from the secondary effects that occur after their body disappears. Generally, it has been reported that any historical records of Removed victims (including legal documentation, photos, recordings, memories, etc.) tend to degrade at an extremely accelerated pace. If no effort is made to preserve said records, they can entirely disappear within a matter of weeks (or days in extreme cases). Even if attempts are made to preserve or copy records of Removed victims, the following effects will still occur as their records/memories degrade over time:
- Selective amnesia in family and friends (causing them to forget they ever met the victim, even if they were a close relative)
- Degradation of physical copies of anything documenting their existence, including:
- Birth certificates
- Identification, including drivers licenses and passports
- Physical photographs
- Drawings and other artistic renditions
- Degradation of digital copies of anything documenting their existence, including:
- Digital copies of any legal paperwork
- Social media accounts
- Photographs, video, and audio of their likeness
- Any artistic renditions, regardless of whether they were originally created digitally
- Any text describing the victim (including their likeness, personality, and/or any actions they've taken)
- Degradation of all (virtual or physical) legal paperwork documenting their existence
- Degradation of anything produced, manufactured, designed, and/or otherwise created by the victim, especially if they had a strong influence on its creation
Degradation effects seem to slow down if the victim had many close relatives/friends who knew them very intimately, preserving their memories for longer, though their memories and records will eventually disappear within a matter of months (or years if extreme preservation measures are taken).
Digital degradation effects tend to manifest as data corruption on whatever media is used to store the relevant data. It is generally indistinguishable from spontaneous "bit-flipping" caused by solar flares, though it occurs on a catastrophic scale that makes data recovery impossible in most cases.
Physical degradation effects tend to manifest as a reversal to whatever form the relevant document used to exist in. For example, any canvas paintings of Removed victims tend to fade back into plain white canvases as its paint chips off over time, even if preservation measures are taken. Similarly, any kinds of documents or forms they filled out revert back to their original blank forms over time.
To attempt to preserve Removed ones' memories and records, you can attempt to repeatedly reproduce them as the original copies fade away, or attempt to repair original copies. In either case, you may be able to extend their memories/records' lifespan by a few months (or years if remembered very strongly and intimately), but it will become increasingly difficult to preserve these memories/records as the pace of degradation seems to increase with time. You might have to go from touching up a portrait of them one a week to several times a day to keep it intact.