ARC/HIVE #

ARC/HIVE was a big company with ties to the government, focusing on the development of sustainable projects, although an interview implies there may have been sinister motivations from CEO Victor Carmine.

After an incident called the ‘Cradle Crash’, the company re-branded itself to Nex Gen Corporation. This company was lead by Victor as well, before E.V.E. takes the lead over the company.

Their notable scientists include Dallus Lauren, Dr. Karl Strassman, Rebecca Sinclair and Dr. Elias Mortem. The company name itself is a play on the word “archive”.

ARC/HIVE studied several human subjects, including Skys, Scott, Selene and the so-called “special six”.

ARC/HIVE logo

The logo for ARC/HIVE, as seen in the video In The Dark and later used for the password screen for the Tekka Interview, with Rebecca, the first synth and one of their employees.

Background #

Aliens & World War 3.0 #

It is unknown when the company was established, but Victor Carmine became its leader after a bloody family legacy. During Cold War 2.0, Carmine used his father’s connection to make a deal with the Novosovians. As a result of the deal, the DTC and Novosovia sent out their first messages to aliens: Slavic names, likely chosen for their deeper meanings. In 1983, the countries received their first response, but Novosovia did not trust the faint signal. This resulted in World War 3.0, which Carmine fought in. He was the only one out of the Carmine family to survive the war, which means he inherited the entire family fortune.

Project Kingslayer #

In 2015 Carmine receives a secret message, sent out by Skys to reach the youth of Novosovia. Skys was recruiting for his cult, which gave Carmine the perfect opportunity to send in his own secret agent: Medea, his very own daughter. He decides that she should try to seduce Skys to get access to his research. Skys falls in love with her at first sight, but to Carmine’s dismay Medea eventually falls in love with Skys too. This causes her to cut contact with her father, and Carmine fails to get his hands on Mantra’s Kingslayer research.

Operation Trinity #

The company was most relevant from 2020 until 2031, when the influential men behind the Mantra cult were extracted in Operation Trinity, at the orders of Carmine himself. This time he succeeded, extracting the men and most of their families safely.

After gaining access to the men behind the MANTRA cult, the company developed different types of technology, for both sustainability and national security goals. Dr. Dallus Lauren notably developed the MOXYPAK for the company, which helped purify air after the devastation of World War 3.0.

Dallus’ Diary from 2021 provides another perspective on ARC/HIVE. Dallus was promised safety in return for his cooperation and also speaks about his synth project, something Carmine is very interested in. Another key figure in the trinity was Skys, the leader of the Mantra cult himself. However, Skys has gone into a in a coma and his body is now “useless”, according to the diary.

Dr. Karl Strassman, a scientist with a particular interest in the spiritual side of science, is the last member of the Trinity now employed at ARC/HIVE. He sadly lost his wife Ava and his child Angel is presumed dead.

ARC/HIVE scientists

Project D.U.S.T. #

In 2031 the research proposal for Project D.U.S.T. is declassified by Nex Gen, evidenced by the logos on the page. From this we learn more about how Arc/Hive used Mantra’s knowledge gained from Project Kingslayer, where torture was used to gain access to dark powers.

Arc/Hive was very interested in the supernatural phenomena that occurred around Mantra. Dr. Elias Mortem starts by talking about the Kingslayer project. Skys originally spearheaded this project, along with an individual whose name is redacted in that same proposal. From Unbeleevable 3 we learn that Alfgram was patient zero for the project and later pushed Skys to push a traitor within the cult.

The proposal tells us that the cult members were seemingly able to harness dark matter, which could also be seen in their brain patterns. The more commonly named mares were shared visions inducing fear in trained troops of soldiers, and Arc/Hive wanted to enable the DTC military to use these as a weapon. Mortem remarks that the results of Project Kingslayer may already have fallen into hands of enemies like the Eastern Citadel.

Mortem proposes they carry out the research on a redacted word referring to a group extracted in Operation Trinity. He mentions that these subjects have anomalous abilities and cannot be released. The redacted word here may be children, referring to the “Special Six” children who used powers to get away from their executioners. It’s been heavily theorised that these events are also what is seen in Kool-Aid’s official music video.

To advance their research, he proposes a new version of their technology called an Altilium Chordata tank. The schematic attached in the research proposal closely matches the tank we see in in the dark, which also showcases some of ARC/HIVE’s other experiments in its official music video.

Woman in a tank, touching the glass with her hands

A woman in the altilium chordata tank (the glass on the top left states this). The number 2 indicates that we might be looking at the second version of the tank, as described in the project proposal.

The Altilium Chordata tank is a stasis chamber, keeping the bodies of the subjects in a stable state where it can repair and regenerate cells. The tank inhibits endorphins, natural hormones that alleviate pain, lower stress, improve mood and well-being. Recalling Skys’ research into pain, this seems to be a continuation of their goal to reach other dimensions and control dark matter. Sadly, a lot of the text on this page has been redacted.

Project P.S.Y. & S.Y.K.O. #

The project proposal further raises the topic of P.S.Y., or Psychoactive Structured Yttrium. This is a substance they are interested in due to the cult being able to fend off hundreds of troops using “advanced psychological tactics”, possibly referring to the manipulation of mares. P.S.Y. possibly refers to the drug Mantra, that the cult was taking as evidenced by Unbeleevable Episode 2.

The research proposal subject line also refers to Project S.Y.K.O, likely referring to the character Syko. More information about this project might be behind some of the redacted lines and potentially relates to Dallus’ synth research.

Synth Research #

Continue the story with Nex Gen corporation

The rest of the companies shady business is documented in the Nex Gen Corporation article.

Other experiments #

Dr. Dallus Lauren developed the MOXYPAK at ARC/HIVE, something mentioned in both his own diary, and his son’s log on Eve’s genesis. It is also mentioned to have saved a lot of lives by Rebecca in her 2036 Grumblr post. This device also seems present with a little girl in the music video for Top 10 Statues.

Printer at ARC/HIVE

We also see a mysterious printer at ARC/HIVE, printing some type of data.