Golgotha Virus



 

"A purple object in a gel-like state."

- Item description in Resident Evil 2.

The G-Virus is a highly advanced strain of the Progenitor Virus possessing fierce, regenerative abilities capable of essentially granting infectees biological immortality.

History
The G-virus was discovered in 1988 through the Umbrella Corporation's numerous biological experiments on Lisa Trevor; all of the mutagenic compounds she had been injected with, including the original Progenitor virus and an NE-α Type parasite, had formed into a new virus, which William Birkin dubbed the G-virus. Shortly afterwards, Oswell E. Spencer gave Birkin and his wife Annette permission to initiate the G-virus Project, transferring them to the underground facility under Raccoon City to do so. The G-Virus's development acted as the reason why he, unlike his colleague, Albert Wesker, did not leave Umbrella upon discovering James Marcus's apparent survival despite knowing full well of the inevitable scandal that would fall on the company and himself for the role in the conspiracy against Dr. Marcus.

In September 1998, Birkin finally completed and perfected the G-virus, but planned to sell it to the U.S. government instead after a disagreement with his superiors, However, the U.S.S. Alpha team, led by HUNK, showed up on Christine Henry's orders and gunned Birkin down before taking samples of the virus. Before his death, however, Birkin deliberately infected himself with the G-virus and mutated, taking his revenge on his murderers.

Now a slave to the virus's reproductive instincts, G-Birkin successfully implanted a G-embryo into his daughter, Sherry Birkin, though Leon S. Kennedy and Claire Redfield managed to treat her with the G-Vaccine Antigen before it was too late and subsequently destroy Birkin. Afterwards, Sherry was taken into custody by the U.S. government and subjected to daily tests and experiments under the supervision of Derek C. Simmons, who, unbeknownst to everyone else, worked with his subordinate Carla Radames to secretly use the samples of the G-virus taken from Sherry, along with an enhanced variation of the T-Veronica virus, to create the C-Virus.

In addition, Ada Wong, who survived a near-death experience, retrieved a sample of Birkin's G-virus infected body and narrowly managed to escape Raccoon City before its destruction due to a tip from Albert Wesker.

During the Harvardville Airport Incident in 2005, Curtis Miller was infected with the G-virus by the WilPharma Corporation during his attempts to expose the truth behind the Raccoon City Destruction Incident.

Transmission
As with its T-Virus, Umbrella considered the G-Virus' primary means of infection to be through injections. To date, only two individuals have been witnessed undergoing primary infection: Dr. William Birkin and Curtis Miller. Unlike creatures created by the t-Virus, "G"s cannot pass infection on to other creatures through physical contact and injury (e.g. bites and open wounds).

The secondary infection is drastically different, and relates to the "G"s' reproductive system. If a "G" decides upon using a human as a breeding tool, they will turn the individual into a host for its embryo through oral implantation with its reproductive organ, seen on William to be on his hand.



Should the host be of a complementary genetic makeup to the parasite - generally through identical blood groups, as with William and his daughter, Sherry - then a bond between the two will form, leading to the host's assimilation by the parasite, and subsequent mutation into a creature perhaps comparable to the first "G". To date, this occurrence has not been recorded as having happened due to the rarity of G-Virus usage. The only successfully implanted host with a DNA match - Sherry Birkin - was saved from assimilation by the experimental G-Vaccine, codenamed DEVIL, before mutation could occur, with help from her mother, Annette, and Claire Redfield.

Alternatively, a host whose DNA is incompatible will reject the parasite in a matter of minutes. The embryo rapidly grows inside its host before bursting from their chest. Upon exiting the host body, the embryo quickly mutates into its adult form. Brian Irons, police chief of the Raccoon City Police Department, Ben Bertolucci, a journalist attempting to investigate Chief Irons, and Monica are the only known victims to suffer this rejection of a G-embryo after being infected by William Birkin.

Effects
As shown by its creator, William Birkin, the G-Virus is capable of revitalizing the body of its host. However, the host becomes mutated into a monstrous creation that loses any human memories, becoming driven by only instinct. Signs of G-Virus infection are indicated by an increased muscle mass of the host with mutated sections of flesh over the upper body, an enlarged third eye on the shoulder, and extended claws on a single hand.

The G-Virus grants its host increased strength, durability, vitality, and strong abilities of regeneration. In addition, the G-Virus is capable of cellular mutations to the body should it sustain severe injuries, allowing it to mutate into a stronger form to adapt to numerous conditions. Even with the G-Vaccine, the virus can still adapt to the body, retaining the regenerative factor.

However, there is only so much damage that the body can take before it becomes destabilized.

Microbiology
A primitive form of the virus was discovered in the mutated body of Lisa Trevor, on whom the Umbrella Corporation had been conducting unethical genetic and viral experiments for three decades. When she displayed unexpected immune resistance to the experimental NE-α Type parasite, Birkin and other researchers looked for a cause and found what would later become the G-Virus. The virus was subsequently developed by Umbrella Corporation scientist William Birkin, who had also claimed credit for James Marcus' work on the t-virus.

Treatment
Alongside work on the G-Virus, Drs. William and Annette Birkin also devised the DEVIL vaccine to suppress the virus' take-over of the body. However, as the vaccine could only be injected into an infectee who still had not succumbed to the virus, its only realistic usage would be the administration of hosts - particularly hosts genetically similar to the "G". When Sherry Birkin was vaccinated, some aspects of the virus was preserved within her DNA. In the same vein as Lisa Trevor, Sherry developed extraordinary regenerative abilities, though nowhere near what she could have been capable of if left unvaccinated.

Further notes

 * The localization for Resident Evil 2 erroneously inferred that the T-00 (referred to as "that monster that is tearing apart the precinct") was created by the G-Virus and that it was the ultimate bioweapon when Brian Irons was explaining its properties to Claire. In the original script, he instead commented that the virus has the ability to rapidly advance human evolution without even mentioning the T-00.