DTC (Disunited Territories of Columbia) #

Disconnected and dominated by corporations, it’s far from its former glory.

Sof

The DTC, or Disunited Territories of Columbia, are a fractured nation under a lot of stress. Mega-corporation Nex Gen, with their strong ties to the military, is hugely influential in this country (and world-wide). Before Nex Gen, the company was named Arc/Hive. After a bloody family legacy, Victor Carmine inherited his family’s empire and would go on to greatly influence the DTC.

Backstory #

The Disunited Territories of Columbia are a nation destroyed by war, the VSPR-37 pandemic, aliens and malicious and malfunctioning technologies. Sof remarks in their journal that the nation is dominated by corporations (like Nex Gen, previously ARC/HIVE) and barely held together.

From their journal, we also learn Sof is living in the DTC and there at the moment of writing. They remark that the DTC is home to Nex Gen and “the remnants of its influence shape my life”.

Cold War 2.0 #

It is unknown when exactly Cold War 2.0 started, since we get most of our history from an interview between Carmine and an unknown journalist. The interview itself was reconstructed using technology and might contain inaccuracies and is missing parts. Carmine himself is shown to be an unreliable narrator in the interview itself: he says he has nothing to hide before hiding the contents of his office behind special augmented reality walls.

As he tells the story, he was an astrobiologist obsessed with aliens during this war. Victor used his father Luca’s connections to make a deal with Novosovia to send signals into space. The plan was executed in 1962 from the tundra of Novosovia, from a station named Evpatoria. They used morse code to send signals towards Venus, with slavic words like ‘Varka’ and ‘Zinaida’. These words relate to “birth” and “god” respectively, and are marked as likely symbolic within the reconstruction.

World War 3.0 #

After the long Cold War, the conflict between Novosovia and the DTC exploded after 1983. They received a faint signal back from space. The Novosovians were not willing to believe the signal was real, also fearing that it might interfere with the religious control the government had over their people.

Carmine himself was involved in the Third World War. He lost his father and brothers and sustained severe injuries, which left him with his cybernetic parts. After the loss of his family, Carmine inherited his family’s fortune and became the head of Arc/Hive. He offered the DTC his resources, on the condition that they would kill the ‘woman in the sky’, a mysterious entity that was being misused according to him. While terrible for their economy, the DTC agreed to his deal.

Post World War 3.0 #

Unbeleevable (Episode 1) mentions that Skys’s pink hair is a direct result of a condition caused by the nuclear fall-out of the Third World War. Both countries have been at war for as long as anyone can remember, according to Dr. Lee MD. The situation between the countries is still tense, with the Cold War continuing.

Operation Trinity #

By 2020, the young boy with pink hair has turned into the leader of a torture cult, with research promising enlightenment and unique powers from dark matter. After a failed attempt around 2015, Victor Carmine manages to execute Operation Trinity to extract the three men leading their cult, as well as some other notable cult figures.

The extraction happens during the October Massacre, where the Novosovian government attempted to intervene in the cult. They lost hundreds of troops to psychological warfare with mares from the cult. Victor Carmine was interested in turning the research of the cult into powerful weapons to defend the DTC. Project D.U.S.T. was proposed by Dr. Elias Mortem to advance the research from Project Kingslayer.

The Public Execution (>2020) #

The execution of a man on a show named “Faith Over Flesh” was the topic of the article Faith on the Edge, by Gideon Mourningstone. The article was published on the Daily Whisper. Gideon is critical about the state of the DTC of this article, but does remark that the DTC’s ethics boards raised concerns with the show. The death row inmate named Jonah expresses intent to be crucified publicly, promising spiritual highs and cathartic release.

Gideon is critical about the practice, pointing out that Jonah has connections to Ecliptism, a shady sect that was formed by the Cult of Mantra’s more extremist followers. He claims that the cult of Mantra can be traced back to Victor Carmine, who ordered Operation Trinity at the end of 2020 to have the DTC extract Skys, Dallus Lauren and Karl Strassman. Victor is also behind the airing of the show on Nex Gen’s Mindstream and sees the execution as a convenient way to “deliver justice” and create a public spectacle.

Synths & Lupamine Crisis (>2028) #

While an exact timeline is unknown, we know that a Lupamine epidemic spreads through the DTC after Rebecca becomes the first synthetic human in 2028. These synths were thought to be immune to addiction, but Lupamine proved that this assumption was incorrect. The drug, developed by Nex Gen to tranquilize resurrected direwolves, was even more effective on the synthetic bodies. One article mentions that a popular celebrity named Jay Valex even overdosed on lupamine.

The DTC responded to the growing crisis by classifying the drug as a Class A controlled substance, only allowing it to be legally used by the military. Despite the measures, the article claims 12% of the DTC population has tried Lupamine at least once.

Synths are also causing troubles in other aspects of life in the DTC, as we see in the articles about clone chaos, rogue combat synths and synths used for sinister purposes

Gat3keeper Theme Park (2023-2051) #

The DTC was home to the Gat3keeper theme park, with an article in the Daily Whisper describing the park’s tragic history from 2023-2051. This was the DTC’s most advanced theme park and an AI named Celesta controlled several of their rides. During this time, several system incidents caused horrific accidents in the park, with most of them rumored or confirmed to be malfunctions of Celesta AI. The park is sometimes also rumoured to be involved in Lyra’s death, after her father Dallus got into a crash while driving her and Ren home.

VSPR-37 Pandemic #

The VSPR-37 breaks out in October 2037, following several developments around Nex Gen in the same month. From the Carmine interview around the same time we also learn this was shortly after the company had re-branded from the previous name: Arc/Hive.

In Scott’s diary we see the pandemic develop over a few days. Sof’s journal mentions that Scott became something called a voidling. In the Kingslayer Codec, we see Nex Gen’s swift reaction to the pandemic. Two operatives named Spectre and Overwatch from the FANTOM team attempt to retrieve Selene and Scott, codenamed NYX-01 and NYX-02 respectively. The team successfully retrieves Selene after shooting Scott several times.

In Nex Gen’s laboratories, the scientists learn that Selene is actually immune to this virus. This is the result of her unique pineal gland, which still produces DMT, something the rest of the population does not produce naturally any longer. Nex Gen’s latest advancement in AI, E.V.E. decides that this is the key to unlocking Youtopia and freeing humanity from their suffering. She starts Project Dreamseeker and develops a new substance named P.U.S.S-E, together with Karl Strassman. Soon they discover that this substance has disasterous side effects, but the call ends with E.V.E. still confident about her goal to bring humanity to Youtopia, no matter the consequences.

Post Pandemic #

The DTC is in a terrible state from the war and the pandemic that wiped out a large portion of the world population. In February 2040, Sof is born and Selene leaves her a recorded message. Shortly after, a mysterious chapel is attacked in the Chapel Incident by voidlings. This takes the lives of a full team of researchers from Nex Gen, including Dr. Elias Mortem.

At least part of Sof’s journal is written in 2048, when they are still living in the ruins of the DTC.