Progenitor virus

From Resident Evil Wiki

The Progenitor virus also known as the Mother or Founder virus in alternate translations, is a virus which pre-dates the Tyrant virus.

The Progenitor virus was a highly potent non-carcinogenic Mutagen that became central in the Ndipaya culture. Progenitor was discovered by Westerners, and would become the base from which the Umbrella Corporation's most successful bio-organic weapons research would stem several decades later. Derived from the "Stairway to the Sun", it was discovered in the Kijuju region of East Africa on December 4, 1966 by Edward Ashford, and Lord Ozwell E. Spencer in an attempt to prove the validity of Henry Travis, a man who mentioned the flower over a hundred years previous. After being experimented upon by Dr. James Marcus, the Umbrella Corporation was then founded by the three, with Spencer providing most of the funding, to disguise the research they hoped to carry out. Dr. Ashford died because of a Progenitor virus infection in 1968.

Despite Dr. Ashford's death, his colleague, Dr. Marcus, would continue his research into the Progenitor virus as planned. Dr. Marcus, however, was much more interested in the effects the Progenitor virus would produce when exposed to organic subjects, whilst Spencer had plans for the virus to be utilized towards military applications. Eventually this research would begin to yield results, and would eventually show Marcus and Spencer that cells infected with the virus would undergo a very violent and uncontrolled cellular change through the mutation of the host's genes. This caused increased aggressiveness and rapid growth in non-mammals, while mammals would exhibit various new attributes, including the symptoms displayed in the non-mammal specimens. However, the results weren't suitable for Umbrella's plans, as the subjects would prove to be inefficient and uncoordinated bio-organic weapons.

As Marcus and Spencer became obsessively fixated on the possibilities the Progenitor virus offered, this fixation eventually took a dark turn. The first human subjects to be infected were Lisa Trevor and her mother, Jessica, who were administered the virus on November 10, 1967. Jessica was administered the Type-A strain game but displayed no reaction to the treatment and was killed by Umbrella afterwards. Lisa was administered the Type-B strain and underwent severe mutation, becoming extremely aggressive, suffering dramatic decline in intelligence and horrible disfigurement. Lisa would then become Umbrella's test subject for several decades.

There is also a mention of this virus in Resident Evil: Dead Aim in the file Thoughts on My Kingdom "The symbol of power is in Africa..." and "I will materialize the construction of my kingdom deep in Africa."

[edit] Birth of Tyrant

In January 1978, James Marcus combined the Progenitor virus with leech DNA, creating the Tyrant virus. In 1988, Dr. Marcus' two most valued (and, ironically, most trusted) assistants, William Birkin and Albert Wesker, would then assassinate Marcus at the order of his partner and co-founder, Lord Spencer, and continue his research from within the secluded Arklay Research Facility. Here, under Spencer's supervision, Dr. Birkin continued to experiment on Lisa with new variants of the Tyrant virus. These experiments led to the creation of the G-virus at a much later point in time, discovered by mixing the Type-B Progenitor virus and the countless viral experiments made on Lisa and the NE-Alpha parasite, injected into her body.

One way to destroy each of these viral strains from within a host body is to inject the patient with one of several prototype anti-virus formulas created specifically, although in minute amounts, to combat both the 'Tyrant' and 'Gene' viral strains. It should be noted that these anti-viral agents will only take effect if the host subject has not reached critical infection. However, these anti-viruses have been known to be scarce, and it is unlikely a complete cure can ever be achieved, considering the rapidity of the mutations of both "t" and "G" viruses.

[edit] Path to Godhood

In 2006, Lord Spencer, in his waning years, met with Albert Wesker to discuss his plans for world domination through its rebirth. Having grown arrogant as leader of the Umbrella Corporation and his knowledge of BOWs, Spencer felt it was his right to become a god among men. In his hubris, Spencer revealed that Wesker was the product of an experimental hybridization between humans and the Progenitor Virus. There were multiple "Wesker Children", children of intellectuals, hand picked and programmed with Spencer's values, but only one, Albert Wesker himself, survived and flourished. Upon discovering this, Wesker brutally murdered the decrepit president of Umbrella, and decided to use the power of Progenitor for his own gain by using it in the development of the powerful virus known as "Uroboros".

[edit] Sources

[edit] See also

Preceded By	Position	Succeeded By
Stairway to the Sun	Experimental Umbrella virus	Tyrant virus, Uroburos virus