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Prime universe
(Capcom's primary storyline)

The Umbrella Executive Training School (アンブレラ幹部養成所?, anburera kanbu yōsei-sho)[1] was a boarding school and laboratory complex located in the Arklay Mountains at least eight miles north of Raccoon City. It was one of the original sites owned by Umbrella Pharmaceuticals where the t-Virus Project was being worked on. Closed to students in 1978 following a series of illegal human experiments covered up by Umbrella HQ, the surface complex was left to ruin with research continued only by Dr. James Marcus in an underground laboratory for the remaining ten years. A 1998 attempt to refurbish the facility ended when the entire team was infected or killed by mutant leeches, and the facility was soon after destroyed to contain the outbreak as well as continue to cover-up its dark secrets.

History[]

Early years[]

The training school's establishment date is known to have been August 1968,[2] though this is uncertain if it means when construction began or when it began operations. Umbrella Pharmaceuticals co-founder Dr. James Marcus was appointed director of the facility, but day-to-day operations were led by the Assistant Director, with Marcus focusing on conducting t-Virus research in the laboratory complex.[3][4]

From its opening until 1978 the facility's primary focus was as a boarding school for child prodigies, talent-scouted by Umbrella following their early graduation from universities. These students were expected to become the next generation of executives, disciplined and well versed in both business and scientific fields.[5] At the school they were taught, among others, biology, chemistry,[6] sociology and political science.[7] Despite the academic achievements of the students, many did not fit the criteria Umbrella was looking in its executive candidates, and both Marcus and the Assistant Director saw most of their students each year as useless.[4]

1977-78 school year[]

One of perhaps the most significant events of the training school's history is that of its last year as an active facility. As had become typical, the new student arrivals in September were derided by the staff as useless to Umbrella in spite of their talents. Among the rare exceptions were Dr. Albert Wesker and Dr. William Birkin, two teenage doctoral graduates. Both were recognised by the facility heads for their ruthless dedication to research, a quality sought after.[2][4] These qualities earned their immediate respect from Marcus, who quickly trusted them with his more intimate operations as he became paranoid of staff working as spies for his fellow co-founder, Dr. Oswell E. Spencer, Earl Spencer.[8]

Resident Evil 0 training school - gas laboratory chamber

The 1998 investigation found skeletal remains in various places, including a gas chamber.

In late 1977, Marcus made a breakthrough in his side of the t-Virus Project by splicing annelid DNA into its genome.[8] In the ruthless quest for results, Marcus turned his eyes on the children as a source of research data. While it is possible he performed research on students in earlier year groups, they would not have survived infection from earlier t-Viruses. Students were infected by having them be tricked into touching his leech specimens while working at the laboratory, and bloody sheets in the dorm rooms would suggest some were left in their beds to mutate.[9] On level B1 of the training school, Marcus was able to restrain infected students to the walls with chains, force them to sit on iron chairs, be drowned by dunking cranes, or impaled by an iron maiden.[10] In one laboratory, children were forced into gas chambers to study their survival abilities. Even in 1998, skeletal remains were left lying around.[11] At the main laboratory complex itself, Marcus' research continued. In an operating room, children were subject to vivisection, with their organs removed and preserved in culture fluids in the auxiliary research room,[12] with other children being preserved whole for study.[13] Marcus' main lab room also contained its own gas chamber. Dead students were taken to the nearby morgue for storage, but due to Marcus' disinterest many were improperly stored.[14][15] People are also known to have been killed in the training facility on level B3, likely built to train anti-B.O.W. combat to the Umbrella Security Service branch. Their skeletal remains would be found within the animal cages in 1998.

There were, however, also cases of test subjects being removed from the facility as opposed to being left behind. A document found in 1998 lists the names of 15 students who were experimented on, and who the staff were ordered to remove any records on. Nine were sent to other Umbrella facilities for further research, with two being sent to the nearby Arklay Laboratory. Two more were kept to be preserved as specimens. Finally another four who died during research were ordered to be disposed of.[16] The manner of disposal was to dump them into an underground stream that flowed to the nearby water treatment plant. This list, however, is incomplete and evidence elsewhere indicates far more died during this research, as they fail to take into account the aforementioned body discoveries, and an assessment by the U.S.S. would estimate no less than twenty victims.[17]

Closure[]

Training Center1

Billy and Rebecca inside the Training School.

At the conclusion of the school year, Umbrella ordered the closure of the facility. Birkin and Wesker, as the two star pupils, were transferred to the Arklay Laboratory two days later to work as senior researchers.[2] Marcus, however, refused to abandon the facility as it would have deprived him of his ability to continue research on his t-Virus strain. Although left alone for ten years, he posed a threat to Spencer, who had become equally as paranoid as Marcus himself. In 1988, a U.S.S. unit was sent into the facility with orders to kill Marcus. This was carried out with the assistance of Birkin and Wesker, who immediately began recovering any data of use in the Arklay Laboratory's rival t-Virus Project.[18] His body and leech test subjects were dumped into the stream and flowed to the treatment plant with the other corpses.

Reclamation Project[]

Following the demise of the Arklay Laboratory to a viral outbreak in 1998, Umbrella issued orders for Birkin and Wesker to begin the process of re-opening the facility.[19] The 1st Investigation Unit - consisting of U.S.S. operators and workmen - made their way in via a cable car linked to the nearby NEST facility. Alongside routine management issues,[20] they uncovered the depth of Marcus' crimes, which the company had successfully covered-up.[21] In terms of infrastructure, most of the facility was operational and electrical power was fine. Some dilapidation had taken place over the course of the previous decade, most extensively in the laboratory where cave-ins had occurred. Soon after their arrival on 23 July, they were attacked by leeches under the control of Queen Leech.[22] Some members of the team did escape by cable car back to NEST, but became Zombies when Queen Leech spread out to attack the neighbouring facility.

As with the Arklay Laboratory, attempts were made to suppress knowledge of the outbreak while Birkin and Wesker continued to oversee the mission.[23] A train carrying the 2nd Investigation Unit was similarly attacked while en route to the training school. The U.S.S. Delta Team was sent out to commandeer the train, but were attacked themselves.[23] The train continued on its way to the training school, and derailed in the train station.[24] Not long after, Queen Leech returned to the training school, and took advantage of the newly installed CCTV feed to threaten Birkin and Wesker.[25] With the situation becoming fire, the reclamation project was abandoned in favour of triggering the facility's self-destruct device.[26] While Birkin prepared the bomb to remote detonate, Wesker travelled to the school via the cable car. There, he was met by Col. Sergei Vladimir, an Umbrella executive, whose robust intelligence gathering capabilities informed him of the outbreak. Wesker's support for destroying the facility almost cost him his life as it was not his decision to make.[27]

Architecture[]

The complex consisted of several independent structures. The training school itself was located on top of a cliff in the Arklay Mountains and resembled a mansion, externally, but served a diverse number of tasks. Level 1F consisted of the entrance hall, the restrooms, a kitchen and dining room, an operations room for discussing vaccine research, and a boiler room for heating the facility. Level 2F consisted of a library and reference room, the infirmary and faculty room on the west wing, and the conference room, CCTV and broadcasting room, a bar, workshop and laboratory gas chamber on the east wing. Level 3F consisted of a caged area for the storage of animal test subjects, a clock tower and garden.

The training school basement levels were split into two non-connecting parts - level B1 and B2. Level B1 could be entered via a hidden passage from the hall, and was where Marcus tortured his child test subjects. Level B2 could be entered via a boiler room, and led to the student dorm rooms as well as the shooting range for anti B.O.W. combat training. Below the training school itself lay a train tunnel and platform used for the transport of the school students.

Located on an islet in the nearby lake and connected via bridge was a chapel used for Mass. Via an elevator, staff and students could also reach a two floored laboratory hidden beneath the lake bed. Level B1 consisted of two labs, an operating theatre, a morgue, and a store room for B.O.W. test subjects. Level B2 consisted of a library, Marcus' personal suite and a large platform where a cable car could be driven to the Umbrella Chemical Plant.

Gallery[]

Further notes[]

  • In the English dub, the training school is referred to as the "Umbrella Research Center" and "URC". However, in both times the Japanese script refers to it the same as normal, and this is considered to be a change in localisation.
  • In the initial development of Resident Evil 0, the laboratory was to be built on a tall island stack. The height was downsized significantly later in development.[28][excerpt 1]

Bibliography[]

Sources[]

excerpts
  1. Excerpt from biohazard 0 KAITAISHINSHO, p.260:
    "最初の設定では、 養成所や岸との行き来が断絶された孤島だったようだ。ゲーム中では、礼拝堂が建っている位置はこれほど高くない。"
references
  1. Resident Evil: The Umbrella Chronicles (2007), file: "Resident Evil 0 Digest 2"
  2. 2.0 2.1 2.2 Resident Evil 5 (2009), file: "History of RESIDENT EVIL"
  3. Resident Evil 0 (2002), file: "Marcus' Diary 1"
  4. 4.0 4.1 4.2 Resident Evil 0 (2002), file: "Assistant Director's Diary"
  5. Resident Evil 0 (2002), file: "Regulations for Trainees".
  6. Resident Evil 0 (2002), room: "Library", examine: "The bookshelf contains an extensive variety of books. Most of them have to do with biology and chemistry."
  7. Resident Evil 0 (2002), room: "Archive", examine: "Biology, sociology, political science... The bookshelf contains works on a wide variety of subjects."
  8. 8.0 8.1 Resident Evil 0 (2002), file: "Marcus' Diary 1".
  9. Resident Evil 0 (2002), file: "Management Trainee's Diary".
  10. Resident Evil 0 (2002), room: "Torture chamber".
  11. Resident Evil 0 (2002), room: "Gas laboratory", examine: "The floor is littered with bone fragments. You wonder if they're human bones."
  12. Resident Evil 0 (2002), room: "Auxiliary research room", examine: "Some kind of internal organ appears to be inside."
  13. Resident Evil 0 (2002), room: "Auxiliary research room", examine: "These capsules contain human specimens. Each has a look of great suffering on its face."
  14. Resident Evil 0 (2002), room: "Morgue", examine: "The foot of a decayed corpse is sticking out. The rest of the body has decayed beyond recognition."
  15. Resident Evil 0 (2002), room: "Morgue", examine: "It's a corpse in a body bag. You get the feeling it was just stuffed in there."
  16. Resident Evil 0 (2002), file: "Correctional Institute Inmates List".
  17. Resident Evil 0 (2002), file: "Investigator's Report".
  18. Resident Evil 0 (2002), scene: "Confrontation With Marcus"
  19. Resident Evil 0 (2002), file: "Reclamation Project Notes"
  20. Resident Evil 0 (2002), file: "First Investigation Unit Notes"
  21. Resident Evil 0 (2002), file: "Investigator's Report"
  22. Resident Evil 0 (2002), file: "Investigator's Report 2".
  23. 23.0 23.1 Resident Evil 0 (2002), scene: "Delta Team".
  24. Resident Evil 0 (2002), scene: "Impact".
  25. Resident Evil 0 (2002), scene: "Entrance".
  26. Resident Evil 0 (2002), scene: "Conspiracy".
  27. Resident Evil: The Umbrella Chronicles (2007), scene: "Beginnings 2 scene 1".
  28. Hamamura (ed.), biohazard 0 KAITAISHINSHO, p.260.
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