Project D.U.S.T #

Project Deaths Unknown Spiritual Terrain (D.U.S.T.) was proposed by lead researcher Dr. Elias Mortem. He was working for Victor Carmine in the DTC, which was at war with Novosovia.

Background #

Project D.U.S.T. was a continuation of Project Kingslayer, a dangerous experiment from the Cult of Mantra. The cult was located in Novosovia, which was in a long Cold War with the DTC at the time. Victor Carmine, head of Arc/Hive and an influential figure in the DTC, ordered Operation Trinity to extract the men and get access to their research.

Cult Infiltration #

The first attempt to continue the Kingslayer research came in 2015, when Carmine got his hands on a secret message from Skys to the youth of Novosovia. With the cult actively recruiting, Carmine decided to send in his daughter under the fake name Medea. However, she fell in love with Skys and broke contact with him.

October Massacre #

Victor would finally succeed in gaining access to the project research during the October Massacre at the end of 2020. This event signifies the fall of the Mantra cult, after the government of Novosovia attempted to intervene at October Palace. Novosovia was a very religious country with strong government control, which led to the conflict with the cult located there. However, they did not expect the cult members to resist their soldiers using terrifying psychological powers.

Meanwhile, Carmine orchestrated Operation Trinity, to extract the most important men in the cult: the trinity of Skys, Karl Strassman and Dallus Lauren. Additionally, he extracted their families and a mysterious “special six”, later mentioned in the project proposal. After a successful extraction, Carmine could now continue the research they had started at the October Palace.

Project Proposal #

Now in possession of the Project Kingslayer research, Arc/Hive could start working on several projects of their own. The main goal was to develop a potent bioweapon: D.U.S.T, but Dr. Mortem also requested funding into the potential of P.S.Y. (Psychoactive Structured Yttrium).

The proposal starts with motivation for the project: the potential to harness dark matter and an interest in spiritual transcendence. There is also a political factor, since the same knowledge might already be in the hands of others. After ethical consideration, they decided to work with subjects with dangerous powers extracted from the Mantra cult.

altilium chordata tank

Mortem proposes development of a phase 2 Altilium Chordata tank, with a schematic attached. We later see the realised version of this tank in the official video for in the dark. According to Sof’s journal, the tanks keep subjects alive while subjecting them to hell, with the goal of unlocking higher dimensions (like Youtopia).

The second request for funding is for more research into P.S.Y., Psychoactive Structured Yttrium. It seems this is what allowed the cult members to incapacitate hundreds of troops. The soldiers would see terrifying psychological hallucinations, which are often referred to as mares. Dallus’ son Ikaro Lauren also had visions of these mares, producing drawings that suggest that these abilities might be able to be passed down to the next generations.

Nex Gen declassified the project proposal document on its 10-year anniversary in 2031, leaving many lines and occasionally words and names redacted.

Project Dreamseeker #

In 2037, a disaster referred to as the “Cradle Crash” in an interview with Carmine happens at Arc/Hive. Shortly after this incident, the company re-brands to Nex Gen. October 2037 is also the month Dallus Lauren passes away and the month that E.V.E. is activated by his son Ren. The LBR sites letter from 2038 mentions that the catastrophic event was caused by energy exchanges with Dallus’ consciousness.

Even though the LBR sites letter is still addressed to Carmine, the research from Project D.U.S.T. continues in a new project headed by E.V.E.: Project Dreamseeker. E.V.E. believes that the way forward in their destroyed world is to send people to Youtopia, something she first accomplishes with Selene with the assistance of neurospiritualist Karl Strassman. Her means of reaching this dimensions are the Dreamseeker tanks and the drug P.U.S.S-E.

Chapel Incident #

The Chapel Incident is the last known major incident on the timeline, occurring in February 2040. Sof learns that Dr. Elias Mortem and his team lost their lives shortly after she was born, after they were slaughtered by physical versions of the mares. They are known as voidlings and result from the VSPR-37 pandemic, which also started in October 2037. Sof speculates that Mortem died as a result of his own research, as a result of Project D.U.S.T. and the dark side of Youtopia.