Raccoon City

Raccoon City was a small, industrialized city located in the Midwestern United States which was destroyed during the t-Virus outbreak in 1998.

At present, the area is cordoned off to the rest of the world by a US government facility.

History
Originally a small hamlet in the Arklay Mountains,  the city became heavily industrialized by the investments of the Umbrella Corporation. From 1987 onwards, under the guidance of the Mayor Michael Warren, the city grew rapidly, transforming from a small mountainous community to an industrialized city. However, the city's expansion and modernization was accompanied by a spiraling crime rate. The Raccoon City Police Department (RPD) established the Special Tactics And Rescue Service (S.T.A.R.S.) in 1996 as a countermeasure to the wave of crime.

Arklay Mountains incident
A series of bizarre cannibal homicides occurred in the forests of the Arklay Mountains north-west of the city, beginning in May 1998  and continued through the following months. Victims were mostly hikers and campers who ventured into the forest. The bodies found were mauled by unknown creatures (possibly by cerberus, zombies or other unidentified creatures). The police were at a loss to explain or stop the phenomenon, blaming it on cult activity. Afterwards, the road leading into the Arklay Mountains was cordoned off by the Raccoon Police, and citizens were warned not to go into the forest or mountains.

On July 23, 1998, S.T.A.R.S was deployed to the area to investigate the Raccoon Forest. The team was split into two, known as the Alpha team and the Bravo team. The Bravo team made a forced landing in the area due to mechanical problems, and the Alpha team was sent to rescue them. Of the twelve S.T.A.R.S. members and RPD backup pilot sent to the Arklay Mountains, only five returned alive, Chris Redfield, Jill Valentine, Barry Burton, Rebecca Chambers, and Brad Vickers. They reported about the discovery of a mansion which the Umbrella Corporation used to conduct illegal biological weaponry experiments, with a mutagenic agent called the "Tyrant virus" (t-Virus). The grounds were crawling with the results of that research, including zombies. However, the mansion and all evidence had been destroyed, and due to Umbrella's influence on the city and the corrupt Chief of Police Brian Irons, who was under Umbrella's pay-roll, the survivors' claims were dismissed and no formal investigations were undertaken. Chief Irons formally disbanded S.T.A.R.S., which was replaced by the Raccoon S.W.A.T.

Outbreak




Another viral outbreak involving the t-Virus occurred two months later on September 22, 1998, when Umbrella attempted to retrieve a sample of the powerful G-Virus from William Birkin, one of its more reclusive researchers. After he was shot multiple times, Birkin was left mortally injured and, knowing its regenerative capabilities, injected himself with a sample of the G-Virus that Umbrella successfully retrieved. Unfortunately, its mutagenic properties overtook his humanity and transformed him into an unstoppable mutant killing machine. He destroyed the paramilitary team Umbrella Security Service (USS) which had stole the G-Virus from him, and in the process, vials containing the t-Virus were dropped, releasing it into the sewers. The t-Virus was then carried by rats throughout the city, leading to a full-scale outbreak. By September 24, the city was in total chaos.



Recognizing an "incident", Umbrella officials called for an evacuation of the city, placing high priorities on key, essential members. By dawn of September 25, the United States Army units were called in to evacuate citizens and began setting up barricades around the city's perimeter, effectively enforcing a quarantine of the city and preventing people from entering. However, helicopters were still free to come and go. The military was ordered to only maintain the perimeter, and was not authorized to enter the city and assist the police.

To avoid mass panic, the rest of the nation was told that radioactive waste had been leaked throughout Raccoon City, forcing a quarantine. The Raccoon City Police tried and failed to contain (and eliminate) the hordes of zombies created by the t-Virus, using barricades, heavy force and in some dire instances, explosives to destroy entire streets.



Matters were not helped by the actions of Police Chief Brian Irons, who attempted to trap officers and civilians within the police station, scattering weapons and ammunition around the building and cutting off all communications to the outside. Soon, the police station was besieged on September 26. The officers then made a last attempt to destroy the zombies in the streets near the Johnson National Bank on September 27, but failed when their roadblocks were overrun by hordes of zombies. The survivors within the RPD's main precinct on Ennerdale Street held off the zombies for days until only three living officers remained: Chief Brian Irons, Marvin Branagh, and an unnamed police officer. Mayor Michael Warren escaped from the city, abandoning his daughter. Umbrella also sent in several Umbrella Biohazard Countermeasure Service (U.B.C.S.) platoons for search-and-rescue missions on the 26th and 27th, which ended disastrously for the survivors. The supervisors of these squads were also secretly tasked with gathering field data about Umbrella's bio-weapons as well as destroying any incriminating evidence. Two Delta Force units deployed into Raccoon City to secure the G-Virus and other key Umbrella chemicals were quickly annihilated by a pack of rogue Hunter βs and a team of T-103s, respectively. By September 28, only a handful of U.B.C.S mercenaries were left alive, and would later help former S.T.A.R.S member Jill Valentine to escape.

By September 29, most of the city's populace had been annahilated by the monsters and bio-weapons released from Umbrella's laboratories, or had succumbed to the t-Virus and become zombies.

The military barricades surrounding the city had begun to fail in some places, allowing unwary visitors such as Leon S. Kennedy and Claire Redfield to enter the city, and allowing some of the city's few survivors to escape.

Destruction


On the night of September 30, Raccoon City was in ruins and overrun with mutated monstrosities. The majority of its populace was dead, the RPD and S.W.A.T. completely annihilated. The U.S. Army Special Forces unit sent into the city were also massacred by Umbrella's B.O.W.s, and the U.S. government was faced with the escalating threat of the t-Virus and the possibility of Umbrella recovering the G-Virus. Confronted with the rapidly deteriorating situation, a Congressional Special Committee under the thumb of government official Derek C. Simmons (and seating Senator Ron Davis) concluded that the "Sterilization Operation" was the best course of action and brought it to the President for approval. This order went forward on the evening of September 30 despite attempts by Umbrella agents to delay the voting.

The city was destroyed by an experimental non-nuclear missile at dawn on Thursday, October 1. The official report on the missile strike was heavily-classified to avoid implicating the U.S. government, as hoped (though the press and public believed the missile was nuclear). It was simply passed off that there was a dangerous virus leak in the city, and that The US had to destroy the city (with an estimated death toll by the press at 100,000) to prevent it spreading. The President resigned after this event, faced with public outrage at his decision to destroy the city.

What was left of Raccoon City and the surrounding area was searched and categorized thoroughly for any possible survivors and biohazard threats by the U.S. government in early October 1998. There were small traces of active "t" organisms found. The ruins of Raccoon City was declared a possible biohazard threat and became a highly-classified, restricted area that only the U.S. government could enter.

The area that used to be Raccoon City was gated off from the rest of the world, and the government built a classified research and testing facility. All that is known about this facility is that it was used for experiments and testing and it keeps a close watch for any trespassers or biohazard threats.

Legacy
Despite the tragedy of Raccoon City, its destruction served as a warning to the world of the dangers of viral experimentation, and as a result new guidelines and safety precautions were put into place to prevent another such disaster from occurring. Global distrust in pharmaceutical companies grew due to the Umbrella Corporations illicit practices becoming public knowledge. Companies such as WilPharma and Tricell came under intense scrutiny and were picketed by human rights organizations, whilst the Bioterrorism Security Assessment Alliance (B.S.A.A) was formed by former members of Raccoon's S.T.A.R.S unit to combat the rise in bio-terrorism that followed Umbrella's downfall. Despite the measures, the city of Harvardville nearly became a second Raccoon City following a t-Virus outbreak at the city's airport and at a WilPharma facility built within the city limits. However, the crisis was averted and the outbreak was quickly contained.

Hidden Truth


Ex-Umbrella employees, the former President in office at that time, the military and Raccoon survivors are said to be the only people who know that the t-Virus ultimately caused Raccoon's destruction. In Resident Evil Outbreak, after Raccoon City is quarantined, a news report states that the city is suffering from a radioactive waste leak, a cover-up story. After the President allowed the city to be nuked, many accused Umbrella of starting the incident. When most of the world blamed Umbrella, the company fell. It was clearly confirmed that the radioactive waste story wasn't true and that somehow Umbrella was responsible, which made survivors and family members of dead citizens to start demanding the government to release the truth of Raccoon's sterilization. Curtis Miller, who had a wife and daughter in the city, threatened Wilpharma to release the truth so corporations like itself would fall before similar destruction occurred again. He injected the G-Virus into himself and became a monster, exposing the truth of the reasons Umbrella destroyed Raccoon. Only his sister, Angela Miller, discovered the truth. Tricell took over Wilpharma and conducted the same research and no one would ultimately know what really happened to Raccoon City.

In 2013, Adam Benford, President of the United States, decided to publicly reveal the truth behind Raccoon City's destruction in the hopes of curving the recent global bioterrorist attacks, but was himself infected and turned into a zombie before he could.

Demographics
The population of Raccoon City was over 100,000. Figures regarding proportions of gender, age and ethnicity are unknown.

The vernacular language is English, although people of different ethnicity are found within the city but does not speak their respective native language(s).

Economy


The economy of Raccoon City was largely dominated by the Umbrella Corporation and it can be assumed that most  of the city's citizens were fairly affluent. The city's G.D.P remains unknown. Its police force and fire department were well-funded, with the police department possessing its own special task force. Also, there are plenty of small to medium-scale business within the city, and most of these are owned by its residents. Most of these businesses are located in Downtown.

Approximately 40% of the city's inhabitants were believed to be directly employed with Umbrella Corporation, working in its many legal businesses (pharmaceuticals, computing), however only a select few knew of its illegal activities in bio-engineering.

The corporation generously financed most of the city's infrastructure, including the tram and subway system under the "Bright 21st Century Project" in a bid to improve public relations.



Geography
The precise location of Raccoon City within the U.S has never been clarified, other than that it is somewhere in the midwest.

The city sat at the foot of the Arklay mountains to the north, on a confluence between three rivers: the Marble; Circular and Aimes.

The Marble river is the largest, and from which the city drew most of its drinking water. The Circular river ran through the city proper, dividing it into west and east. A dam was also built along one of the nearby rivers.

There are several noteworthy districts;


 * Downtown - generally defined as north of Ennerdale Street. Consisted of mixed residential/commercial buildings. Points of interest included Central Station, Raccoon City Hall, St. Michael's Clock Tower, Raccoon Zoo and Raccoon General Hospital.


 * Uptown - generally defined as south of Ennerdale street. Consisted of largely commercial buildings. Landmarks included the Raccoon City Police Department (RPD), Raccoon High and Folsolm Street, the center of entertainment for the city.


 * Cedar District - running alongside the Circular River and to the east, largely industrial. Notable landmarks included Raccoon University and the Waste Disposal Plant.


 * Suburbs - lay to the north and east of the city proper, surrounded by dense forest.

Transport
The city was roughly based on a grid system, with the main thoroughfares including:
 * Ennerdale Street - a main road going from east to west, separating the C.B.D into "uptown" and "downtown". The Raccoon Police Department's main precinct is on this road.
 * Central Street - location of Central Station.
 * Raccoon Street - location of St. Michael's Clock Tower.
 * Mission Street - location of Raccoon Hospital.

For a full list of the streets in Raccoon City, see here.

The city had an extensively developed tram and subway system, designed by the Kite Brothers in 1969. The tram system serves largely uptown and the Cider district, with Raccoon Station acting as the central hub. The subway system was known to have six stops, although before the outbreak was at risk of closing due to decreasing passenger numbers.

Raccoon City was connected by train to its nearest neighbor Stoneville, a small town to the east.

Government
Raccoon City was believed to be run under an elected municipal government.

Mayor Michael Warren, elected in 1987, served for eleven years. Warren was the engineer responsible for the establishment of the cable car transportation system and also made contributions to the city's electrical system. In his campaign to modernize the city, he made a deal with the Umbrella Corporation, which provided funding for several of Warren's projects, including public utilities, welfare work, and law enforcement.

Unfortunately, dependence on Umbrella's funding meant the city council could be easily swayed to the company's demands. By early 1994, the city was effectively under corporate control.

Destruction
Raccoon City has been destroyed differently throughout the series.

In Resident Evil 3: Nemesis, a single missile is seen detonating near Raccoon City Hall. The single warhead detonation can also be seen in Resident Evil: Degeneration.

In Resident Evil Outbreak, three conventional cruise-missiles are seen striking the city. A photograph in the epilogue shows a large, shallow crater dwarfing the other three. This large crater may suggest that the city was destroyed by three cruise missiles and a thermobaric missile.

Resident Evil Outbreak File#2 shows sixteen air-to-land missiles hitting the city via a computer screen at Heaven's Gate.

Resident Evil: The Umbrella Chronicles shows the missile hitting the city, but in other scenes it shows three conventional weapons.

Raccoon City in other media
In the Resident Evil film series, Raccoon City was a huge metropolis built by the Umbrella Corporation and was used for conducting scientific research and experimentation. The Raccoon City in the films was much larger than in the games, with a population approaching 1 million people and a sprawling city center.

Resident Evil
In the 2002 film Resident Evil, Raccoon City was built by the Umbrella Corporation and staged research in a large top-secret underground facility called The Hive. Most of its 853,200 residents were oblivious to the experiments beneath its streets.

In 2002, the t-Virus escaped into the ventilation systems. Then, the giant supercomputer known as The Red Queen shut down The Hive, gassed some of its employees with Halon, dropped the occupied elevators at high speed, and drowned the others. Umbrella later sent in a special elite team of commandos in order to retrieve information about what had happened.

The team entered The Hive through a secret passage located within a mansion. It is later revealed, that the viral outbreak was intentionally done in order to smuggle out the t-Virus and sell it on the black market. Just hours later, only two survivors emerged from The Hive, Matt Addison and Alice. Both were seized by Umbrella's scientists and taken to the Raccoon City Hospital for quarantine and experimentation.

Resident Evil: Apocalypse
In the 2004 film Resident Evil: Apocalypse, the Umbrella Corporation sent in a research team to re-open The Hive. The team's insertion point was the main entrance beneath Raccoon City. Shortly after entering The Hive the entire team was slaughtered by t-Virus zombies that had been sealed within the complex. With the entrance now open, Umbrella realized that before long, these highly infectious zombies would make their way to the surface and begin an unstoppable amplification of the infection.

Knowing that containing the outbreak would be nearly impossible, an emergency plan to evacuate key Umbrella personnel from the city was activated. Important researchers and administrators were collected by two-man teams and removed from the city. After the completion of this operation, the city was sealed. Raccoon City was considered a loss, and to keep the infection from spreading past the city limits, gates at the entry and egress points of the city were closed. Traffic into and out of the city was halted.

A screening center was established at one such point, Raven's Gate Bridge, the city's primary traffic artery. Manned by medics and heavily armed corporate soldiers, this checkpoint was a minor effort to save some civilians from the rapidly expanding disaster. Uninfected civilians were permitted to pass, and control of the increasingly panicked population was maintained by Raccoon City Police units and Umbrella soldiers. However, once an infected civilian did reach the blockade (and was subsequently killed), orders were given to completely seal the city. The gates were closed and locked down, stranding the helpless civilians still within the city limits.

Mercenary soldiers working for Umbrella attempted, and failed, to turn the tide of the zombie onslaught. Losses were staggering and not effective. With nearly all of the units dead, Umbrella's last-line plan was put into motion.

Shortly before dawn on September 30, 2002, a cruise missile equipped with a thermonuclear warhead was launched into the heart of downtown Raccoon City. Umbrella Corporation public relations spin doctors were able to feed a convincing story to the media, who then reported that the city's destruction was due to a terrible accident at the Raccoon City Nuclear Power Facility nearby. Attempts by some of the survivors to spread the truth about what had really happened, met with failure.

Resident Evil: Retribution
As seen in scenes at the beginning and the middle of Resident Evil: Retribution, Raccoon City was rebuilt by Umbrella underground in a new facility to use as a testing ground for bio-terror outbreaks. The part of the rebuilt Raccoon City is the suburban location where Angela and Charles Ashford resided in Apocalypse. The area contains rebuilt houses, streets, and a subway station from Raccoon City, along with Raccoon City Police cars, Raccoon City News choppers, and more. "Good Rain", "Suburban Alice", "Suburban Carlos" and Becky all reside in the Suburban area. Suburban Carlos is attacked by a zombie and yells for Suburban Alice to take Becky away. They break into the attic and eventually manage to make their escape. As they run out, they are saved by Good Rain. Driving away in her car, they are suddenly struck by semi as they talk. Suburban Alice and Becky escape unharmed, but they are unable to save Good Rain, who was knocked unconscious.

They escape into a house and into a girl's bedroom and hide in the closet. A zombie enters the room and Suburban Alice tells Becky she loves her, then opens the closet and runs out to try to kill the zombie. Suburban Alice is almost killed by a zombie, but she knocks it down the steps and kills it. However, a zombified Suburban Carlos attacks Suburban Alice, killing her by knocking her down the stairs as well. Later, Alice and Ada enter the house, and Alice finds Suburban Alice's body. They find Becky as well, who mistakes Alice for her mother, causing Alice to take it upon herself to protect Becky. They leave the house but One, Jill, Bad Carlos and Bad Rain all are outside. Bad Rain informs Alice that she must surrender or they will open fire. However, Ada shoots an Umbrella officer. She tells Alice and Becky to run and escapes into a vent under the fake house. Later on, Alice and Becky find Good Rain again and leave the area together.

Further notes

 * At the beginning of Resident Evil 2, the player comes across a store named Arukas. Spelled backwards, it reads Sakura, a reference to the Capcom series Street Fighter.
 * In Resident Evil 3: Nemesis, Jill comes across Eagle's Pet Shop. Eagle is a reference to the Street Fighter character. There are also many signs above doors with a royal symbol surrounding the name, CAPCOM.
 * In Resident Evil: The Umbrella Chronicles, during the "Death's Door" scenario, a road sign can be seen as Ada exits the back of the Apple Inn that reads, "Mexico, Guatemala, Cuba" with arrows pointing in respective directions. As Raccoon City is located in the Midwest, it's unknown why the sign exists.
 * In Resident Evil 3: Nemesis one can see a sign reading: "Biohazard 4", on the street outside the restaurant.
 * In the American TV show "Robot Chicken", it showed Raccoon City in a skit whereas Mario Kart characters have to take detours to undesirable cities, and Yoshi ended up going to Raccoon City, where he was devoured by zombies.
 * In the comic book "I feel Sick", created by Jhonen Vasquez, the main character is on a date with a young man who mentions that he was in Raccoon City. The young man then turns out to be a zombie, and begins eating the waiter.
 * In the arcade mode of Ultimate Marvel vs. Capcom 3, the ending for Marvel Comics character Rocket Raccoon shows the character paying a visit to Raccoon City after hearing about it through Chris Redfield. Unaware of the truth, he is shown to be fighting his way through hordes of zombies.