Tyrant Virus

File:Twi-T-Virus.jpg

"t" virions, as seen through a microscope.

Tyrant Virus (also simplified as "t-Virus" or "t" for short) is a complex, mutagenic virus derived from the Progenitor Virus. The t-Virus is well-known for its role in the development of Bio Organic Weapons, and has been used in a number of bioterrorist attacks in the 21st century.

Origin

Tyrant Virus is closely related to the Progenitor Virus, an African virus from which it is descended from. The virus was developed in 1978 by Umbrella Corporation co-founder, Dr. James Marcus, in an experiment whereby he infected leeches with the Progenitor virus. The virus mutated within their bodies, creating a primitive strain of "t".

Basic biology

The virus is unique in that it is a non-carcinogenic (non-cancer causing) mutagen, something rare in the natural world.

Known t-Virus vaccines

The first known human trials in the development of a vaccine occurred in 1996, where a number of men and women (Umbrella employee Yoko Suzuki, included) were subjected to a t-Virus infection as the first stage in the trial. Yoko's status as of September 1998 suggests that the experiment was a success, as she failed to succumb in the two year timespan.

The workers at Incineration Disposal Plant P-12A were treated with "t"-suppressing antibodies to ensure their continued employment without infection. Unfortunately, the virus mutated in the plant so much that the antibodies became useless, and the workers transformed into zombies. There were also prototype antibodies used by the Umbrella Biohazard Countermeasure Service, used on the U.B.C.S. mercenaries before their deployment into Raccoon City in 1998. It should be noted that no "zombified" U.B.C.S. members were encountered in the Clock Tower.

Umbrella Medical vaccine

The first is an unnamed vaccine developed by Douglas Lauper of the Umbrella Medical Equipment at Raccoon General Hospital as a last-minute effort to halt the rapid spread of the t-Virus. However, most of the hospital's staff had already succumbed to infection before the vaccine could be properly produced even in small amounts.

This vaccine could be cultivated by using a specialized synthesizer and inserting a medium base into the system, then combining the necessary chemicals using the control panel. The exact components that were used to create this prototype are unknown as most of the documentation regarding its production were either stolen by Nicholai Ginovaef or destroyed after Nicholai used C-4 to demolish the hospital, taking with it any evidence of the Umbrella Corporation's involvement with the hospital in the process.

However, Carlos Oliveira was able to create a single dose of the vaccine for Jill Valentine. While the vaccine apparently did not immediately cure Jill of the virus, it did send it into hibernation.

Daylight

Daylight was developed independent of Umbrella by Raccoon University professors Greg Muller and Peter Jenkins. The actual ingredients for Daylight are:

• T-Blood - a blood sample of a t-Virus infected creature, namely Thanatos;

• V-Poison - a sample of poison from an infected Wasp; and

• P-Base - an unknown chemical liquid that requires preparing before being mixed. Once all the ingredients have been collected, they can be mixed together in a special chemical mixer. The mixture takes about five to seven minutes to make and thirty seconds to one minute to duplicate.

AT1521

"AT1521" was developed by the research team operating from within one of Umbrella's labs in Raccoon City. Linda and Carter, surviving developers of the vaccine returned to the facility on October 1, 1998 to retrieve it in hopes of wide-spread production of the vaccine.

The exact details of the serum itself are unknown due to the short role it played in the storyline (the sample being destroyed by the rampaging Tyrant R not long after its initial appearance). However, Linda did remember the reagent's base, and thus was able to remake a sample.

t-vaccine

The fourth is an anti-"t" agent known as the t-vaccine created by WilPharma. Unfortunately, most of the samples were destroyed by Frederic Downing right after the Harvardville Airport t-Virus outbreak, and the last t-vaccine sample was taken by Downing so that he could sell it to bioterrorist general Miguel Grandé along with the t- and G-virus samples, but he was caught by Claire Redfield and Leon S. Kennedy before he could sell it. It is possible that the US Government used the last anti-virus sample to produce more in case of future outbreaks.

History

On December 4th, 1966, the Progenitor virus, (also known as the Mother or Founder virus) was discovered by Lord Oswell E. Spencer and James Marcus. These gentlemen, along with Sir Edward Ashford, a family friend of Spencer, held a certain economic position and decided to begin research upon the virus. Most of the research was carried out by Marcus, after Ashford died in July 1968 and Spencer was already occupied by his burgeoning chemical corporation, Umbrella. Marcus had little resources to pool into the investigation, until Spencer agreed to employ him as a researcher and later Director of his corporation's Training facility, putting the vast resources of Umbrella into his hands.

Marcus overbid his hand, greedy for the power to finally invest serious amounts into his research, demanded numerous resources to perfect and improve what he envisioned was his life's work. This led to friction between Marcus and Spencer who, to compensate from the crippling economic demands laid by Marcus, demanded that he create a virus with a 100% effectiveness rate, much to the confusion of Marcus and his assistants, new Umbrella Trainees Albert Wesker and William Birkin.

The Umbrella Corporation used its finances to secretly develop the virus under the radar of international authorities. In time, Marcus further evolved the virus, creating the first effective bio-weapon to be produced in large quantity and be closely studied by the Umbrella Corporation. By adding the virus to leeches, the attributes of both were combined, and the t-Virus soon saw the light in 1978.

Though most of the research for the virus took place within the Arklay Laboratory underneath the Spencer Mansion façade, some eight miles North-west of Raccoon City, and the Umbrella Training facility under Marcus' orders, covered by the American Umbrella offices, Spencer's Umbrella empire in Europe raced against Marcus to adequate the t-Virus to create a virus with an even greater destructiveness. Marcus' dreams to overthrow Spencer and his attitude towards the virus as a "money-spinning tool" for Umbrella were never fulfilled, as he was murdered before he could enact them. Birkin came to be known within Umbrella circles as the true creator of the t-Virus.

During those years, vast numbers of t-viral strains were developed in the Arklay Laboratory, and tested upon one solitary test subject: Lisa Trevor. For years, she was subject to intense biological torture, which, despite all odds, she survived.

As well, William Birkin, grown conceited as being credited as the creator of the t-Virus, spawned a myriad of biological weapons to serve as backup to the virus, to ensure a 100% death ratio in any populace the virus should be released. Among these are the Hunters (created by fusion of a human fertilized egg with t-Virus infected reptilian DNA), the Ivies (flowers grown to unnatural proportions and given animal instincts, locomotion and rudimentary defense mechanisms), the Chimeras (a mixture between a fly and human given vague humanoid appearance, increased size and mass, improved claws, and better reflexes), the Cerberus (infected dogs - specifically Dobermans), and most importantly, the crowning achievement of Birkin's career for the time: the Tyrant.

Later, Lisa Trevor's body, by now a melting pot of unthinkable disease, had deteriorated to inhuman levels. Noting she was, while not a zombie, incredibly stronger, slightly more intelligent, and impervious to all damage, Birkin decided to test the NE-α Type (by then reputed to kill all its hosts, no matter how strong, within five minutes of gaining control over it) in her. The results astounded even Birkin: Lisa's body, by then a hideous amalgam of all viruses ever tested on her, overcame the parasite and absorbed its rejuvenation properties, giving her even more destructive capabilities, greater strength, and total invulnerability to gunfire. Even with shackles she could not be bound. After she outlived her capacity when Birkin extracted what would become the G-virus deep from within her, he had her killed and disposed of. Though, due to the properties of the primitive G-virus within her veins, death would not take her away that easily. She would spend the next decade hiding underneath the courtyard.

When the time came in early-1998, James Marcus revived, rejuvenated by the immense power of the first t-Virus strains, coordinated into a steady pace by his own DNA and that of his leeches. For more than three decades, the t-Virus threat had been averted, but at the time of his awakening, the Arklay woodland was slowly corrupted by the infectious agent. Before long, the Arklay laboratories had fallen. The Laboratory was seemingly infected by infected water, causing its employees to fall to anarchy over the relatively long period of time between May 11 and late June, 1998.

The believed-to-be abandoned Training facility fell as well. Two Umbrella teams sent to evaluate it for re-activation were killed by the creatures from within and outside of the facility.

From there, stories started stemming from the forest; several killings took place and an advance party of an elite paramilitary unit -, the S.T.A.R.S. Bravo team - was sent from Raccoon City to destroy the threat, oblivious to its real cause. Only four of these members, Rebecca Chambers, Enrico Marini, Kenneth J. Sullivan, and Richard Aiken survived the night. All of them had holed up in the massive mansion and its adjacent areas. The next evening, the S.T.A.R.S. Alpha team sought refuge in the mansion as well, after losing a man to an attack by the multitude of cerberuses, mutated Dobermans, which infested the grounds.

Later on, the remaining members of S.T.A.R.S. met up at the underground laboratory where the Tyrant (T-002 Type) was kept. This Tyrant killed Albert Wesker temporarily, and was killed by a rocket blast in a skirmish with the remaining S.T.A.R.S as it attempted to foil their rescue by returning Alpha team pilot Brad Vickers.

After the demolition of the manor, the virus sources were thought stopped definitively, but when William Birkin's subterranean laboratories were attacked by Umbrella's Black Ops in September 1998 in an effort to retrieve his G-virus, another outbreak ensued. This infection encompassed all of Raccoon and ended in the forced termination of the entire city. Umbrella was immediately exposed as creator of the virus due to the enormous amount of evidence produced from the scarce survivors, and was systematically dismantled and shut down.

Still, another outbreak was induced in late 1998, on Rock Fort Island, this time by the revived Albert Wesker and his new employers, referred to only as the Organization. This ended in the partial demolition of the Umbrella installations there and the total destruction of the South Pole Umbrella Research Center.

Yet another occurred in 1998, this time on Sheena Island; an Umbrella-owned "Tyrant Plant". Hundreds of adolescents from across the globe were kidnapped and taken there to be dissected, to retrieve a hormone important for Tyrant development. This infection was caused by the - now mad with power - commander Vincent Goldman. The island was "sterilized" when facility's self-destruct system was activated.

Another occurred in 2002 on an Umbrella-owned luxury liner, the Spencer Rain, which was caused by an ex-Umbrella researcher-turned bio-terrorist named Morpheus D. Duvall, who was fired after the company used him as a scapegoat for the disaster at the Arklay facility. The ship's crew and its passengers were transformed into zombies, or were killed by the B.O.W. cargo being shipped out. The liner was destroyed when it crashed into an island which housed the -also infested- Umbrella Atlantic Facility.

Also in 2002, an Amazonian organ-trafficing crime syndicate got hold of "t" and the similarly named, but otherwise unrelated, "t-Veronica virus". Receiving "t" and B.O.W.s through a black market group involving Ada Wong, the syndicate's leader, Javier Hidalgo, prepared himself for warfare. He also purchased t-Veronica through Albert Wesker, and proceeded to use it to treat his wife from an unfortunate degenerative condition. After his daughter ran off, Javier, in a fit of rage, released the t-Virus throughout the surrounding area. The virus spread to at least two villages, transforming their inhabitants into zombies. Leon S. Kennedy and Jack Krauser ended Javier's rule with the assistance of his daughter.

Although the t-Virus was not utilized between 2002 and the Los Illuminados Incident in Eastern Europe, a viral strain was allegedly kept at the Madrid Police Department, according to Luis Sera.

A bioterrorist attack in 2005 India was halted by WilPharma's t-vaccine. This attack was actually planned by a WilPharma researcher, who wanted to demonstrate power of the virus and its vaccine to potential buyers on the black market.

The last known outbreak occurred in 2005, within the Harvardville Airport, where the infection began after a single zombie entered the building and began to attack people within the building. A small-scale outbreak happened at the nearby WilPharma Corporation bio-dome facility, after a bomb was detonated. Both facilities were eventually sterilized, however.

Then sometime after the Raccoon City outbreak a series of bioterrorist attacks started happening all over the world and so far the virus used in said attacks was the t-Virus.

Development timeline

• February 3, 1978: Marcus begins his experiment on the Leeches by infecting them with the Progenitor virus.

• September 19, 1978: Marcus confirms the existence of the t-Virus.

• October 23, 1978: Marcus ceases experimenting on rodents, citing Humans as being the perfect guinea pig to prove its abilities.

• January 13, 1979: Marcus ends his research with the Leeches.

• January 31, 1979:see February 11

• February 11, 1979: Spencer has employees attempt to steal Marcus' research.

• 1988: Marcus is assassinated and credit for the virus' creation goes to his student William Birkin, who was a conspirator.

• 1993: An experimental t-Virus variant designated "T-JCCC203" is used in human experimentation.

• 2002: A merger between a "t" antibody and the G-virus is created. The virus is named "t+G".

Incidents

These are the following list of biohazard incidents involving the t-Virus. There are other small scale outbreaks in other parts of the world but information of them is unavailable.

• Mansion Incident (1998) - Unleashed by the reanimated James Marcus to exact his revenge on Umbrella.
• Raccoon City Destruction Incident (1998) - Unleashed due to the failed attempt by the Umbrella Security Service to steal the G-virus from William Birkin, later spread by rats.
• Rockfort Island outbreak (1998) - Unleashed due to the attack on Rockfort Island committed by the H.C.F. led by Albert Wesker
• Antarctic outbreak (1998) - Accidentally released
• Sheena Island outbreak (1998) - Unleashed by facility commander Vincent Goldman
• Spencer Rain outbreak (2002) - Unleashed by former Umbrella executive Morpheus D. Duvall onboard the Spencer Rain
• Atlantic Facility outbreak (2002) - Occurred due to poor security protocols.
• Operation Javier (2002) - Unleashed by drug lord Javier Hidalgo to the amazonian ecosystem
• Caucasus outbreak (2003) - Unleashed by Albert Wesker
• India Bioterrorist Attack (2005) - Unleashed by Miguel Grandé's guerrilla forces and several WilPharma Corporation employees
• Harvardville Airport outbreak (2005) - Unleashed by Curtis Miller, also caused by an infected passenger onboard a plane which crashed shortly to the airport
• Air Dome Laboratory outbreak (2005) - Unleashed by Frederic Downing

Common strains

All strain names are generic, and should not be interpreted as official.

• Primitive strain - the initial strain of the virus produced by leeches.
• Arklay Labs' strain - this variant, developed in the Arklay Laboratory, had the unique ability to induce V-ACT.
• Birkin Labs' strain - this strain is comparable to the early version, lacking V-ACT. It cannot be confirmed that the primitive strain could produce lickers. This strain appears to by synonymous with the strain that was leaked on Sheena Island.
• t-Abyss Virus - a virus created through the merging of genetic material of both the t-Virus and "The Abyss", developed under the instructions of F.B.C. director Morgan Lansdale.
• t+G Virus - a virus created through the merging of the t-Virus with G-virus antibodies.
• t-JCCC203 - a variant used in human trials in an Arklay hospital.

Trivia

• As the "t" and Uroboros viruses are variants of Progenitor, it can be deduced that for someone to co-exist with either of the three viruses, they must have a specific genetic trait. This trait is incredibly rare, and that only 30 people statistically have it in the United States - with a population of 300,000,000. This 1 in 10 million chance of having this trait means that Tyrant development is kept short of suitable candidates. This was the reason why Umbrella sought to clone Sergei, a carrier of this gene.

• In Resident Evil Zero and Resident Evil Survivor the t-Virus (along with its parent virus in Resident Evil 5) is visible under microscope. It should be noted that virions are generally not large enough for the naked eye to see with a standard light microscope, though some viruses are known to be larger than certain bacteria species.