Deepground's History-From tls.net forums

**Weiss_Hikari** · 08-23-2009 10:18 PM

http://thelifestream.net/forums/showthread.php?t=2501

Once upon a time when the Lifestream forums were but a twinkle in the eyes of Cthulu and others, I agreed to provide information relating to the Dirge of Cerberus: Online and Before Crisis games. I think it's fair to say I have focused primarily on the latter. However, now that I have brought the special episode summaries exclusively to TLS, it's maybe only fair that I try and touch upon this stuff too. While still part of the ACF community, I accumulated a lot of information on DC Online thanks to Hitoshura, Suzaku and Shinra Employee among others. Much credit goes to these guys for providing me with relevant info or links to sites that are now long gone. However, I still have an extensive archive of information and rare media collected, so anyone wishing to learn more, do ask and I'll do my best to share the information and/or data.

The following is something that I originally started writing for the opening of TLS but never got around to finishing (still haven't to date). It's simply a detailed summary of relevant events that reveal the history of Deepground and the lead up to the story of the online game.

The information in this post is as close to canon as I can get, with a number of things added that have been hinted at in different areas. The accumulated data was gathered from Final Fantasy VII, Dirge of Cerberus, Crisis Core, Ultimanias, and the information that was provided by those mentioned above. I apologise if I have missed anything here. Do let me know and i will credit appropriately.

Anyone wishing to debate this article or add to its content can do so freely. I occasionally do forget things. Credit will be given.

WARNING: the following contains massive spoilers.

Synopsis

Following the release of the single player Final Fantasy VII: Dirge of Cerberus in Japan in 2005, an online mode was established to enable fans of the title to use their honed skills to do battle in a multiplayer environment based on the world and characters created by the original. Dirge of Cerberus: Online allowed the player to delve deeper into the history of the secret facility of Deepground, and of the antagonists of the single player mode; the Tsviets. Through almost a century of missions, the player controlled a newly-recruited Deepground SOLDIER entangled in the conspiracy that led to the eventual seizure of power by the Tsviets. Unfortunately, in early 2007, Dirge of Cerberus: Online was scrapped, and most of the information relating to it was lost. What remains, however, is a chapter in the Compilation of Final Fantasy VII saga which contributes significantly to the overall scenario, explaining many of the Shinra Company’s dark secrets.

History

Shinra Manufacturing Works was originally established as a weapons manufacturer, but in the year 1959, was responsible for the discovery of Mako energy. The utilisation of Mako as an energy source was an evolution in the basic standard of living for people across Planet Gaia, and the Shinra Company was quick to monopolise the discovery. Over time, Shinra was able to grow rapidly as the world’s dominant power, achieving unrivalled commercial, economical and political status. The process of extracting Mako from the Mako mines and turning it into electricity proved costly but highly profitable, and the Company constructed their first cost-effective Mako Reactor in the Nibel Mountains in 1968. Shinra Manufacturing Works became Shinra Electric Power Company, absorbing all competition, and expanding to encompass new fields of study. One such field was that of biological and biochemical scientific research.

Among the ranks of Shinra’s top scientists were biologists Professor Grimoire Valentine and Professor Gast Faremis. As Head of the Department of Science, Professor Grimoire studied the secrets of Mako, travelling across the world to research its mysteries. One such find was that of a strange form of stagnated Mako which seemed to hold different properties to that of regular Mako. With the aid of an assistant, Lucrecia Crescent, and the passages from ancient scripture, Grimoire was able to determine that stagnant Mako held in it a dark power; a power which could be born from the tainted Mako.

While on an expedition to the newly chartered crater in the northern-most regions of the Permafrost Continent, Professor Gast discovered a frozen humanoid figure trapped in the rock. Returning the body to the laboratories of Shinra, Gast named the being Jenova, and extensive research commenced. After a long period of examination, Jenova was declared to be Cetran; an ancient nomadic race thought to have become extinct. Knowing that the Cetra had once been able to use the powers of the Planet, the founder and owner of the Shinra Company, President Shinra, ordered that attempts be made to create a child with the powers of a Cetra so that Mako extraction costs could be further reduced. The research was codenamed Project Jenova.

The following experiments using the cells of Jenova resulted in the births of three children to women of the Shinra Department of Science; Genesis, Angeal, and Sephiroth. Of the three, only Sephiroth showed a perfect genetic match to Jenova, as the other two had been altered using the diluted cellular combination of Jenova cells and that of scientist Professor Gillian Hewley. Project Jenova G, otherwise known as Project Gillian, was deemed obsolete in relation to the success of Project Jenova S. Project Jenova G was scrapped, and the samples of Gillian and Genesis’ cells were put into storage.

As a child, Sephiroth was endlessly experimented upon as the scientists strove to determine the abilities of a Cetra. After capturing the Planet’s last natural full-blood Cetra, Ifalna, interest in Sephiroth for his Cetran abilities diminished, but different tests began to be performed. When exposed to Mako, the cells inside Sephiroth reacted tremendously, revealing that a certain genetic balance between the two resulted in a phenomenal physical enhancement. Following these results, President Shinra ordered that an army of genetically altered warriors be established by exposing the strongest individuals to Jenova cells and intense degrees of Mako infusion. Such was the founding of SOLDIER; the elite faction of the Shinra Army.

In 1976, Shinra Electric Power Company began the construction of a Plate above the city of Midgar as a location to centralise the Company with a modernised Headquarters at the heart of the Plate. The vast upper-city was designed to house the growing support and investment base of Shinra, powered by eight enormous Mako Reactors around its circumference. However, unknown to most, commencement on the construction of a secret facility in the caverns below Midgar took place simultaneously. The complex was primarily established as an infirmary for injured SOLDIERs, powered by its own Mako Reactor. All records of its existence were locked away, accessible only by the senior-most Heads of Department in the Company. The facility became known as Deepground.

Over time, further experimentation began to take place in Deepground. What had been created as a medical facility had slowly become home to increasingly immoral biological testing inspired by the results of Project Jenova. With the encouragement of President Shinra, the dark and ambitious experiments continued, and the scientists of Deepground knew no bounds. In 1985, the first genetically-engineered child was born in the facility with the sole purpose of having her body pushed to limit of human capabilities. The child was named Rosso.

Over the next two years, more varied and extreme experiments occurred in secret. The greedy scientists of Deepground began to ignore morality completely, opting instead to fuel their own maddened hunger in the name of research. Archived documents such as those regarding Project Gillian and Professor Grimoire’s studies on stagnant Mako were used as the foundation of further experiments. Of the hundreds of babies born in Deepground to Project Jenova G, none would survive beyond infancy, developing a strange form of degradation of the body due to a genetic leak inherent in Gillian’s cells. Similarly, it was found that Genesis’ cells – termed G-Cells - held properties different to those of Gillian and Jenova, though the conditions for which these properties could be realised could not be determined as those injected suffered the same degradation. Worse still, of all the test subjects exposed to stagnant Mako while in foetal form, only one was born; a child bearing the power of darkness, destined for a life of misery. At birth, the darkness that emanated from the baby was enough to absorb his mother – a brilliant and highly regarded scientist of Shinra - into the vacuum of an unknown dimension, and he was contained within a special suit. The child was named Nero.

With the success of SOLDIER as a force for combating anti-Shinra activity, President Shinra ordered that further experiments be carried out on existing SOLDIER members in order to obtain even greater potential; the perfect soldier. A large number of SOLDIERs were sent to Deepground for testing. As part of the research, a training complex equipped with ultramodern virtual reality technology was built so that the effects of the SOLDIER’s treatment could be observed by the scientists while they did battle against one another under set conditions. Due to the rigorous experiments, the bodies of the SOLDIERs became dependant on Mako, and needed Mako baths to preserve them. Special suits were developed so that a weak current of Mako could run through their bodies at all times, keeping them at their physical peak. These superhuman warriors were cut off from the outside world, forming a force of their own. They became known as Deepground SOLDIER.

For more on Deepground/the entier article, please click the link.

**Ixion** · 08-24-2009 12:52 AM

Here the vids of the story.

[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3g2sD20yK3M&feature=related"]YouTube - DoC Online - Scene 04 (jap. with english subs)[/ame]

[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0zc_uqtkRHw&feature=related"]YouTube - DoC Online - Scene 05 (jap. with english subs)[/ame]

[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0B3psvD0Gi0&feature=related"]YouTube - DoC Online - Scene 06 (jap. with english subs)[/ame]

[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=623_VjFjpHQ&feature=related"]YouTube - DoC Online - Scene 07 (jap. with english subs)[/ame]

[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eIu2YgHQdzc&feature=related"]YouTube - DoC Online - Scene 08 (jap. with english subs)[/ame]

[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sMKaJjqyUhk&feature=related"]YouTube - DoC Online - Scene 09 (jap. with english subs)[/ame]

[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A1xJqmY3x28&feature=related"]YouTube - DoC Online - Scene 10 (jap. with english subs)[/ame]

[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6QfjkzLK3Cw&feature=related"]YouTube - DoC Online - Scene 11 (jap. with english subs)[/ame]

[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VUp16GiLjYk&feature=related"]YouTube - DoC Online - Scene 12 (jap. with english subs)[/ame]

[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cqYgxfxmsFM&feature=related"]YouTube - DoC Online - Scene 13 (jap. with english subs)[/ame]

[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nTFDLQ4MJsg&feature=related"]YouTube - DoC Online - Scene 01 (jap. with english subs)[/ame]

[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sR6aytcQlxw&feature=related"]YouTube - DoC Online - Scene 02 (jap. with english subs)[/ame]

[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J2j1DhLVSXc&feature=related"]YouTube - DoC Online - Scene 03 (jap. with english subs)[/ame]

Edit: These r the events in DoC online. Sorry the vids r placed out of order