Continue the story with Nex Gen corporation
The rest of the companies shady business is documented in the Nex Gen Corporation article.
ARC/HIVE #
ARC/HIVE was a big company with ties to the government, focusing on the development of sustainable projects. Their notable employees include Dallus Lauren, Dr. Karl Strassman, Rebecca Sinclair and Dr. Elias Mortem. The company later renamed itself to Nex Gen Corporation and became known for their shady experiments on humans, while still under the leadership of Victor Carmine. The company name is also a play on the word ‘archive’.
ARC/HIVE also studied several human subjects, including Skys, Scott, Selene and the so-called “special six”.
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 #
The company was most relevant from 2020 until 2031, when the influential men behind the Mantra cult were extracted in Operation Trinity. They were interested in the supernatural phenomena that seemed to occur around this cult and its leader Skys. However, Skys is in a coma and his body “useless”, according to Dallus’ Diary.
ARC/HIVE is an organisation that develops technology, with strong government ties. Their boss Victor Carmine ordered Operation Trinity to get access to Strassman, Skys and Dallus Lauren.
In 2031 the research proposal for Project D.U.S.T. is declassified by Nex Gen, evidenced by the logos on the page. This means that at this point they were actively working on their re-brand under the new company name.
We learn more about the company’s experiments around the time of Project D.U.S.T. from the proposal. They were interested in the supernatural phenomena that occurred around Mantra. Dr. Elias Mortem starts by talking about the Kingslayer project, something Sof files under “incidents” in her journal. From Sof we also learn that the project involved the Cult of Mantra. The proposal tells us that Skys was able to harness dark matter, seemingly being able to control a physical manifestation of his mares. Skys believed that psychological and/or physical distress could help subjects access hidden dimensions (like Youtopia) and harness dark matters themselves. From Unbeleevable Episode 2 it also becomes clear that Strassman initially sought contact with Skys, pointing to him being the redacted name concerned with Project Kingslayer.
Project D.U.S.T. is a direct continuation of this research. Mortem remarks that the results of this project may have fallen into hands of enemies like the Eastern Citadel. The primary objective of the research was to create a potent bioweapon, for national security purposes. 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 can not 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 theorized 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 something called an Altilium Chordata tank. We likely see this tank in “in the dark”’s official music video. The picture attached in the research proposal also looks like this.
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).
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 ascension and control over dark matter. Sadly, a lot of the text about the tank has been redacted.
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.
Other experiments #
We also see a mysterious printer at ARC/HIVE, printing some type of data directly onto a long roll of (presumably) paper.
Read More #
Related lore:
Related files:
- Dallus’ diary
- Project D.U.S.T
- Unbeleevable Episode 1
- Unbeleevable Episode 2
- Tekka Interview
- Rebecca’s first Grumblr post
- Rebecca’s second Grumblr post
Related characters: