Albert Wesker

"Every day, humans come one step closer to self-destruction. I'm not destroying the world, I'm saving it!"

Dr. Albert Wesker (c.1960-2009) was an accomplished virologist notorious for his work with groups affiliated with the bio-weapons black market. As a senior researcher linked to the t-Virus Project as early as 1978, Dr. Wesker bore witness and in times shaped Umbrella's B.O.W. research. He officially left the company soon after the stall in the Tyrant Project, and began work as a spy, leading to a career in the US Army and eventually with S.T.A.R.S. Dr. Wesker ultimately chose to betray Umbrella and work with other groups to steal its research data, benefiting from a mutation brought on by a prototype virus. Dr. Wesker was ultimately killed in March 2009 during a BSAA operation which uncovered his role in a doomsday project dubbed Uroboros.

Biography
"The only thing that can defeat power is more power. That is the one constant in this universe. However, there is no point in power if it consumes itself. I will enlist the help of an old friend against our common foe; I will use one pawn to eliminate the other, and emerge with the spoils for myself..."

Early life and Umbrella
Little is known of Wesker's childhood. It is understood he inherited advantageous genes relating to intelligence from his parents. He was, however, raised away from his parents, either as an orphan or through adoption, as part of a eugenics project led by an Umbrella researcher known only as Wesker, of whom the thirteen children assumed the surname. The Wesker Project worked for the benefit of the Umbrella Pharmaceuticals CEO, Dr. Oswell E. Spencer, who had grand ideals of indoctrinating people into his ideals prior to their infection with the Progenitor Virus, which he believed would stop allow them to use their powers for what he saw as good. These children were later scouted by Umbrella and offered jobs, and intentionally made-unaware as to Umbrella's connection with their past.

In September 1977, at the age of 17, Wesker, likely already having a degree, was indoctrinated at Umbrella's executive training center, wherein young adults were given education on biology and virology to become senior researchers for the company upon graduation, as well as being taught skills beneficial for a company executive. The class of 1978 was criticised by the Deputy Director for being lacklustre, with the exception of Wesker and William Birkin, who showed a combination of talent and a ruthless character that would do well for the company. Dr. James Marcus, one of the co-founders of Umbrella Pharmaceuticals and the Director of the facility, took great interest in Wesker and Birkin, and earned his trust. Following a series of company scandals that were covered-up, the training school was closed at the end of the year, with the two students being immediately offered jobs and transferred to the nearby Arklay Laboratory as senior researchers.

Dr. Wesker's involvement in the t-Virus Project began immediately after his assignment to Arklay Laboratory began. The two arrived at a time when Umbrella was considering developing Ebola-based viral weaponry officially as part of a vaccination program. The two were successful in splicing genes from Ebola onto the t-Virus strain in development at the lab, creating an altered virus which kept the infected victims alive as braindamaged mutants rather than simply killing them. This rejection of Dr. Spencer's idea of t-Virus being used specifically for killing paved the way for a wide array of future research.

With the t-Virus Project progressing well, but only developing B.O.W.s of decent but sub-human intelligence, Umbrella began pressuring the duo to come up with newer research. At some point this year, Dr. Spencer ordered that Dr. Marcus be assassinated and his body dumped away; both Arklay researchers attended the assassination to immediately recover ten years of research data, which he had kept for himself. The Tyrant Project, meanwhile, represented the next step in t-Virus weaponry, but due to the virus of the time only giving advantageous mutations to people with certain intelligence-regulating genes (statistically one in ten million), the project was stalled until a new t-Virus strain could be engineered which would make it easier to create Tyrant prototypes, which could then be cloned.

As a work around, the two were able to get a favour from Dr. Spencer to obtain an intelligent B.O.W. parasite engineered by Umbrella Europe; the parasite, dubbed Nemesis Alpha, could solve the problem by hijacking a B.O.W.'s body and follow complex orders from trainers. The parasite was inserted into the body of a mutant human test subject, Lisa Trevor, to observe its reactions. When the parasite was killed by Trevor's immune system, this led to the discovery of Golgotha Virus, and Dr. Birkin's transfer away from the facility to NEST. Dr. Wesker also decided to leave the laboratory behind, confused about Dr. Spencer's motives in approving and funding Golgotha, as its was already seen as worthless for bio-weapons development. He took up employment with their intelligence bureau to find answers.

Over the course of the 1990s, Dr. Wesker was able to gain new employment with other groups by officially being an ex-Umbrella employee. From around 1991 he served with the US Army, having been scouted for his usefulness in their own illegal bio-weapons project. The military was presumably unaware of his work as a mole. Around this time, Dr. Wesker entered into a sexual relationship with a Serbian woman, but lost interest soon after, unaware she was pregnant with his child.

Following his Army career, Dr. Wesker was re-assigned by Umbrella in 1996 to serve in S.T.A.R.S., a private-funded police special forces unit in Raccoon City. The Special Tactics and Rescue Service was effectively Umbrella's private army, nominally raised to deal with the increasing threat of right-wing terrorism in the American heartland, and earning them a direct source within the Raccoon Police Department should an investigation linger uncomfortably close to the company. He was made Captain of the Alpha Team, and given seniority over Captain Enrico Marini.

Betrayal (1998)
"I will follow my initial plan and lure the S.T.A.R.S. members into the mansion. Their superior combat training should make them perfect test subjects." The Spring and Summer of 1998 saw considerable upset to Umbrella in Raccoon City. The new ε strain infected a number of staff at the Arklay Laboratory in May, prompting a quarantine of the staff while its guards made preparations to shoot all escapees. Drs. Wesker and Birkin personally visited the lab shortly after the alarm was raised to evacuate the cloned embryos of the T-002 Tyrant, one of Umbrella's most important assets. Wesker also gave orders to forbid phone calls in order to limit the spread of information. Escaped Cerberus B.O.W.s did however escape their cages and began killing and attacking civilians in Raccoon Forest, with infected survivors going on to kill others. By July the number of killings had surpassed 20 in what the RPD theorised to be the work of a cult, but were unable to find suspects so, after press backlash, assigned the case to S.T.A.R.S. No longer able to manage the situation from within, Umbrella HQ produced the "X-Day" plans, giving Wesker a series of tasks to perform during the mission. He received orders to sacrifice S.T.A.R.S. to the mutants to provide combat data, eliminating them as witnesses; to collect the remaining B.O.W. embryos, and to finally destroy the Arklay Laboratory itself to wipe out all trace of the virus. On 23 July, Wesker sabotaged the engine of Bravo Team's helicopter, which would prevent their escape and require Alpha Team's subsequent investigation.

During the S.T.A.R.S. preparation, Wesker and Birkin also had other duties with the company, and were to oversee the re-opening of the executive training school, possibly to make up for the loss of the Arklay Laboratory. An attack by a nascent mutant leech colony destroyed two armed investigation teams and infected the occupants of a private train taking key personnel to the school. To prevent the outbreak spreading out further, the two made plans to blow up the training school. While there, Wesker encountered Col. Sergei Vladimir, the executive in charge of the UBCS, after Umbrella HQ took notice of the incident. Wesker escaped from the facility before its destruction, but his experiences in the night convinced him abandoning Umbrella was now essential, and agreed to a rival company's offer of employment in exchange for giving them the embryo samples rather than handing them over to Umbrella.

On the evening of 24 July, Wesker led Alpha Team out to the mountains as he had expected. To better his chances of survival, Wesker was provided with a mutant t-Virus strain designed to mutate his body to further his strength and stamina. He also threatened Barry Burton with the nonexistent threat of his family's murder, forcing him to assist in the confiscation or destruction of incriminating evidence. Soon after arriving at Bravo Team's helicopter site, where RPD pilot Kevin Dooley's body was discovered, the team was attacked by the Cerberus pack and Joseph Frost killed, with pilot Brad Vickers abandoning the group. The others fled to the nearby Spencer Mansion to seek shelter. Inside, Wesker separated themselves into groups and continued with his mission. During the night he discovered Captain Enrico Marini to be alive and having incriminating evidence against Umbrella, and promptly shot him in the underground tunnels before fleeing. In the lab, Wesker began preparations for waking up the Tyrant to kill the remaining S.T.A.R.S. survivors, infecting himself with the mutant virus strain shortly before doing so. He was cornered by his comrades while in the chamber and confessed his role in Umbrella's conspiracy before ordering the Tyrant to attack them. However, T-002 recognized Wesker as a participant in the Tyrant Project, and he stabbed Wesker first, impaling him through the chest before going after the others. Though Wesker was seriously wounded, the virus in his body had succeeded in mutating him to possess powerful regenerative abilities, and he woke up in an empty room. With the self-destruct system prematurely activated and his computer access restricted by Col. Vladimir and the RED QUEEN AI, Wesker was unable to recover the embryos or any important data to hand over to Umbrella's rival company. He narrowly escaped the destruction of the mansion after a fight with Lisa Trevor, but his improved speed ensured his survival. Believed dead by Umbrella and S.T.A.R.S., Wesker was able to gain employment within the company despite his failure to provide the samples.

The Organisation (1998-2003)
"Sure I'm not human anymore, but just look at the power I've gained!" Still maintaining the illusion of death, Wesker avoided showing himself publicly and instead took to being the contact between the organisation and its spies. When Dr. Birkin completed Golgotha, the organisation made plans to steal it, and Wesker played a role as the external contact between the group and their spy, Ada Wong, the other being a liaison based within the Apple Inn. With the t-Virus outbreak slowing down Wong's investigation, the liaison killed himself to avoid turning into a Zombie. Through a computer feed, Wesker took over the liaison's role and waited for Wong's arrival on 1 October. When she confirmed the retrieval of a Golgotha sample, Wesker directed her to an Umbrella helicopter ferrying Col. Vladimir and an executive out of the city, which she hitched a ride on to escape the bombing.

Following the acquisition of Golgotha, the organisation began sending their paramilitary group, HCF, out on raids to Umbrella bases to recover data and bioweapons samples. Wesker led a raid on Rockfort Island in December 1998. Remember Alexia Ashford's research on t-Veronica, the Ashford-owned island was a logical place to begin the search. Saboteurs arrived on the island ahead of the main assault and planted explosives within the military training center, which released a t-Virus strain into the ecosystem as well as releasing B.O.W.s. Much of the island's infrastructure was destroyed in the subsequent bombing by HCF's aircraft, followed by the deployment of special teams searching for the t-Veronica samples, of which Wesker took direct involvement. They were unsuccessful in locating samples on the island, though Wesker did discover Claire Redfield, Chris' younger sister, had been taken captive by Umbrella and imprisoned in its concentration camp. Chris arrived the following day, looking for her. Wesker was interrupted on both occasions when about to kill them, and soon after left the island for a submarine after discovering Alexia was alive and well at Umbrella's Antarctic Base.

The facility had itself also fallen to a t-Virus outbreak after refugees from Rockfort Island fled there, but the team succeeded in entering it through a submarine pen. Finding himself in an underground mansion, Wesker met Alexia for the first time and demanded she hands herself over to prove him with a sample. She refused and began mutating into a more powerful form which even Wesker was unprepared for, and he was forced to flee the mansion. Not long after, HCF discovered the body of Steve Burnside, a teenager Alexia had recently used as a t-Veronica test subject, and they returned to the submarine. Having discovered Chris and Claire in Antarctica, Wesker finally took advantage of the opportunity to eliminate the two. Initially taking Claire hostage and dragging her to the submarine, he was persuaded to let her run on the promise of a fight with Chris. Though he was able to dominate Chris with little effort, Chris got the better of him by dropping metal girders onto him. With the facility close to self-destruction and his skin burnt by a fire, Wesker gave up and left for the submarine.

With the organisation now in possession of Golgotha; t-Veronica, and manufacturing modified clones of several Umbrella B.O.W.s, Wesker took a more senior role in selling these bioweapons to interested parties as Umbrella entered its long period of collapse. By August 2002, Wesker was negotiating the sale of weapons to Javier Hidalgo, the drug lord running the Sacred Snakes cartel. An Umbrella customer for over 10 years, Hidalgo began to suspect he was being conned as prices began to increase from the Russian production plant. Wesker convinced him to cease buying from Umbrella, and that a third party Asian broker asking Hidalgo for information was an Umbrella agent investigating him. Not long after the sale of t-Veronica, Hidalgo entered a murderous rage over his daughter running away, and caused a viral outbreak as his Zombie army and B.O.W.s began destroying nearby communities. Wesker watched from a cliff as the US government's Anti-Umbrella Pursuit and Investigation Team, itself investigating the Asian broker, was forced to tackle the biohazard and, ultimately, killed Hidalgo. Soon after his incident, he was tracked down by Jack Krauser, an American soldier who had been injured during the mission and removed from active service, who believed Wesker could help him find a new purpose in life. He soon after faked his death in an accident to explain away his disappearance and entered service as an agent whom Wesker could trust.

In early 2003, the Organisation became aware of a series of unusual incidents in the Caucasus, which led them to believe a biohazard was responsible. It was thereafter discovered that the region was the location of Umbrella's secret Russian base, and Wesker traveled there in search of the U.M.F.-013, the Arklay Laboratory's supercomputer Col. Vladimir had confiscated shortly before Alpha Team's arrival at the Spencer Mansion nearly five years prior. Heading to a village close to Umbrella's oil plant base, he discovered it had fallen to the outbreak, and the Hunter Delta B.O.W.s they were bribed to keep in storage had escaped. During his search for development data, Wesker ran into Redfield and Valentine, who had joined an anti-biohazard force and were also alerted by the goings-on in Russia. Too busy to kill them, he retrieved the data and left.

Wesker arrived at the Umbrella base when the outbreak had almost fully engulfed it, and Col. Vladimir one of the few uninfected staff-members left. Though he made his way into the facility before the anti-biohazard force arrived, he was slowed down by Col. Vladimir's Ivan bodyguards, and was forced to kill them to progress further. When he reached the control centre. Col. Vladimir was overseeing the T-A.L.O.S. fight with Redfield and Valentine. Rather than give up his allegiances to the sunken ship, the executive infected himself with a perfected t-Virus strain to match Wesker in a fight over the computer. Vladimir lost the fight, and Wesker downloaded the U.M.F.-013's entire data, the Umbrella Archives, before ordering RED QUEEN to delete everything on the server, denying his former S.T.A.R.S. comrades access to incriminating information to use against Umbrella. Soon after the raid, Wesker provided the Archives or, at least, excerpts of it, to the US government. Having been locked into a dead-end lawsuit with Umbrella USA over damages following the destruction of Raccoon City, the excerpts provided irrefutable proof they were the manufacturers of the virus that contaminated the town. After the verdict was made requiring compensation for victims, Umbrella Pharmaceuticals was forced to declare bankruptcy, and the US and Russian Federation collaborated in tracking down the whereabouts of Dr. Spencer.

Partnership with Tricell (2003-2009)
Soon after the raid on the Caucasus facility, Wesker entered talks with Tricell. Although nearly all of the major pharmaceutical companies had their reputations damaged by the revelations that Umbrella performed the experimentation with their products, Tricell Africa under Excella Gionne was interested in the emerging bio-weapons black market as the emergence of dedicated anti-B.O.W. organisations necessitated better B.O.W.s for its customers, although she was physically interested in him and helped give him regular injections of PG67A/W which was a serum that was required to maintain his strength after the virus infection. Helping them to develop new B.O.W.s, Wesker was provided a cut of the profits and a laboratory was constructed among the underground ruins of the Ndipaya Kingdom where Umbrella first discovered the Progenitor Virus. Now with a powerful influence within the industry, Wesker began to develop the Uroboros Virus which he envisioned would cull the human population and ensure the survival only of the genetically pure in the perfect symbol of eugenics.

While working with Tricell, under the codename "S", Wesker continued to work for The Organization and oversaw the 2004 operation to retrieve a dominant species Plaga sample from Los Iluminados which was a religious extremist group in Spain with access to a bio-weapons laboratory. Krauser was sent into the area first and took part in the group's kidnapping of Ashley Graham, the American First Daughter to obtain such a sample. With Krauser taking longer than expected to return, Wesker sent Wong in who returned the following day with a Plaga. Hearing of how U.S. Special Agent and survivor of Raccoon City; Leon Kennedy became involved with the sacrilegious terror sect's activities. Wesker implored Ada to eliminate him in order to better cover their tracks as they didn't need his kind of distraction. When Ada proved obstinate in her secondary assignment however, Wesker would revise his mission statement, saying it'd be best to leave him be as the distraction he causes can help further their own goals. After making it too the Plaga testing facility, Wesker informed his secondary that Krauser was assigned to dispatch of their rogue element. But was later informed the loyalist had been dealt with by agent Wong (secretly with her help). Ergo, Wesker would further opt her to wait out the battle to secure the Plaga sample, then eliminate whomever was left standing afterward. Ada completed her task and handed her handler the Plaga, this was revealed to not be a dominant Plaga as he was expecting and realized that The Organization became aware of his dealings with "S". He was forced to travel to Los Iluminados' island fortress in person to obtain such a sample, found within Krauser's body. This sample made it's way to Tricell who the following year also gained a sample of the t-Abyss Virus after Agent Jessica Sherawat infiltrated the BSAA which Tricell established as a propaganda tool to appear wholly against bio-warfare. In 2006, Wesker got a message from his dealer, Ricardo Irving by informing him that Spencer wished to meet him. Close to death after being betrayed by Alex Wesker, Spencer wished to see the only other remaining Wesker child. Wesker took Spencer's offer up, but killed his guards when arriving. Spencer gave Wesker his most secret information, revealing the eugenics project that ensured his rearing; career within Umbrella, promotions and eventual infection with the modified t-Virus to him. He also revealed that the creation of a loyal group of modified humans was Umbrella's true goal for the world with the B.O.W.s merely a means to this end rather than it's true form. With Spencer no longer a worthwhile source of information, Wesker impaled him through the stomach. He was immediately after greeted by Chris Redfield and Jill Valentine who are sent on a BSAA mission to arrest him and Spencer. In the subsequent fight with the two, Wesker was thrown out of a window by Jill. The two survived the fall and Wesker kept her as his prisoner for his use in his Uroboros research. Her use in the research ultimately saved Uroboros. Too potent to do anything, but kill the infected, Jill's t-Virus antibodies gave him new ideas to modify it and she was spared from the project out of gratitude and provided performance-enhancing drugs to serve as one of his agents.

Over the next two and a half years, Wesker oversaw the completion of Uroboros as well as the advancement of three mutant Plaga species to be used on the black market. To test both after killing his entire Uroboros research staff, Wesker and Irving used the Ndipaya tribe for Type 3 Plaga research and later sold the Type 2 Plaga samples to the Kijujuan nationalists who sought it as a means of conscripting citizens for an army to fight for independence. Aware that the BSAA would eventually investigate, Wesker's moles within the group provided them with information on the Uroboros Project; the Progenitor Virus and Valentine's survival. Though realizing that they are walking into a trap, the BSAA sent the teams including Redfield in. The main body, Alpha Team was killed by a Uorboros test subject while Redfield was convinced to continue searching for Valentine after finding a digital photograph of her. Redfield and his partner, Sheva Alomar made their way straight to Wesker and Valentine as he hoped. Though unable to kill the pair after seven minutes of fighting, he left to a nearby Tricell oil tanker and left Valentine to continue the job.

Death (2009)
"Uroboros is on the eve of its appearance. Six billion cries of agony will birth a new balance." In the night, Wesker made the final preparations for his eugenics plan which required the dispersal of Uroboros in Earth's upper atmosphere so the winds would spread it across every populated area. No longer seeing use in Gionne, he also had her infected with Uroboros as a distraction for the BSAA. This was only a mild setback, however and he was confronted while ready to disembark on a stealth bomber as the ship began to sink from the damage that was sustained in the Uroboros fight. Redfield learned from Valentine that an overdose of PG67A/W could harm him, and in the ensuing fight in the sinking ship, Wesker was successfully injected. It was not enough to defeat him, however and Wesker managed to board the bomber and began his departure by forcing Redfield and Alomar to follow. Continuing their fight on the bomber, the hatch was forced open, causing it to crash into a volcano and Wesker to be thrown out. With his plan ruined, Wesker punched a hole in a missile that was storing the Uroboros samples, infecting himself with the virus in the process. In the course of the fight, Wesker became stuck in the lava as a BSAA helicopter evacuated Redfield and Alomar. With his newly developed tendrils, Wesker tried to drag the helicopter into the lava, but this attack forced the pair to handle and fire two RPG-7 rockets at him, destroying him completely.

Legacy
Although Wesker died, he left a legacy behind. One of his fellow Project W candidates, Alex Wesker continued utilizing the Uroboros Virus until being killed by Barry Burton and Claire Redfield in 2011. In large part due to his attempt to infect the world with Uroboros, Wesker also gained a lot of notoriety.

At some point in his life, he met a female immigrant from Edonia in her early twenties whose last name was Muller. They had a brief relationship and she eventually became pregnant with his child, but returned to her home in Edonia without telling Wesker about the fact. She soon gave birth to future mercenary, Jake Muller whose specialized blood type gave him protection against mutagenic pathogens such as the C-Virus, meaning that Wesker's immunity to viral infections was genetically passed down to Jake.

Later, when revealing Jake's lineage to him, Dr. Carla Radames mockingly referred to him as a "colossal imbecile" for his failure to destroy the world and attempted to do the same with the C-Virus. However, unlike Wesker's eugenics ambition with Uroboros, Carla simply desired to destroy civilization outright and govern over the resulting chaos.

Before his death, his H.C.F. group had a role in creating a Progenitor-enhanced mold, collaborating with The Connections in the 2000s. The mold would be later grafted to an artificially born bioweapon: E-001, also known as Eveline.