Biotech Solutions Inc.

 

History: Founded in 1976 by a splinter faction of Apocalypse Prevention Inc.’s Research and Development Division, Biotech Solutions Inc. (BSI) was once hailed as the future of Bio-Genetic R&D. BSI’s first major breakthroughs were in the application of gene splicing in the agricultural industry, the scientists that founded BSI were instrumental in the development and adoption of High Fructose Corn Syrup in the United states in the 1950’s and 60’s. They took this knowledge with them and went on the engineer entire breeds of super hardy and nutritious foods. But all of this was an elaborate cover to hide the real reason for the company’s existence.

 

API has always had a more or less universal hand off policy when it came to dealing directly with sovereign governments and their military structures. The one time that API suspended this policy was during the dark days of World War 2, when API helped the allies take direct action against the Axis Powers. While much good came of this unprecedented cooperation there was a downside, hardliner elements in the United States Military were now aware of API’s defensive and offensive potential. For the next thirty years a concerted effort was made by the War Hawk elements in the Pentagon and the CIA to bring API, or a piece of the organization, under American control. While in hind sight it was a foregone conclusion that API would never be brought to heel by the United States or any other power, both the Soviets and the French made similar attempts during the Cold War, the efforts did bear fruit when the 21 founding members of BSI broke off with the support and protection of the United States Military.

 

Supplied with a state of the art facility just outside of Bangor Maine BSI immediately began working on classified DARPA projects that bore immediate fruit. But even with the support of the entire American Military they still could not begin to equal the resources that API had been able to provide them. In 1982 Project Gilgamesh began, the project was established to provide genetic resequencing to Special Warfare Soldiers (Navy SEALs, Marine Force Recon, Army Rangers, and affiliated groups) that enabled them to be Super Soldiers. There were many near successes over the next five years but they were limited and never really near what the powers that be wanted. Word began to circulate within scientific circles that API Researchers at the Detroit Advanced Projects Center (Associated with the Detroit Field Office) had made a radical advance in nanotechnology, realizing that this could be the answer to their problems a scheme was hatched. On April 21, 1987 a group of BSI Commandos (the best of their failed Super Soldier experiments) invaded the Detroit Filed Office of API and attempted a core dump of the facilities mainframe. They were only partially successful.

 

A Spirited defense of the facility, lead by Spectral API employee, forced BSI’s operatives to abandon the mission when only two thirds finished, only 3 of the 17 operatives that participated in the mission made it out. But the technical information that they returned with to Bangor was more than sufficient to jump start Project Gilgamesh. Then the Frakes Incident (named for Dr. Jessica Frakes the Project Gilgamesh director and the presumed responsible party of the incident) happened and the world became deadlier place.

 

Two years after the procurement of the nanotech information from API the BSI Bangor facility went into complete shut down and an automated distress beacon was activated. Three hours after the beacons activation elite troops entered the Bangor facility and were promptly lost. American Government officials and the few BSI executives that had not been inside the Bangor Complex went into a panic. The entire area was sealed off with an entire Division of the Maine National Guard, and a B-52 with a thermonuclear weapon was kept constantly over the facility.

 

Perhaps if API had been called in, or if cooler heads had prevailed what happened next, the carnage, may have been avoided. In later years, and under a cloak of secrecy, blame would be heaped on dozens of people but it is well known that in the end Dr. Jessica Frakes gave the order to enter the complex and clear it out. More than a thousand troops actually entered the complex the second time and they were met by abominations. The people that had worked in the complex, and the elite troops sent in the first time had been reduced to savage monsters killing anyone (including each other) that they happened to encounter. Mixed in with the human monsters was the escaped test animals that were likewise vicious killing machines, but whereas the humans seemed to have their intelligence reduced the animals had gotten smarter.

 

The fight was intense, but when it was over only three hundred of the thousand sent in came out. It was thought that all of the creatures had been destroyed but over the years stories of monsters fitting the descriptions of the beings at the Bangor Complex (now a burnt crater thanks to a series of high explosive detonations) have been reported as far north as Hudson Bay, as far south as Pennsylvania, as far West as Michigan, and out to the East Coast. While dozens of different types have been reported the most common are the Savage Zombie, the Ghoul Hound, and the Pipe Snake. These stories mixed with rumors of the Frakes incident and few “live” specimens that API has taken in have lead to more attention from API (especially the Canadian Branch).

 

The Gilgamesh Solution: Project Gilgamesh, and through it the Gilgamesh Solution, is the child of two very different parents Genetic Engineering and Nanotechnology. The solution is introduced directly into the blood stream and begins working immediately. The millions of nano-bots in the solution act as transportation for and defense of the retrovirus that delivers the new gene sequencing commands to the hosts DNA. After the retrovirus has been introduced the nano-bots begin their second task which is maintaining the structural integrity of the host organisms. The new genetic sequences increase the density and electrical conductivity of the host’s musculature, making the faster, stronger, and able to absorb more damage. The new sequences also enhance all five senses and increase the individuals healing rate (which is significantly augmented by the nano-bots). The main wild card in the Gilgamesh Solution is intelligence, while lower order animals have their intelligence increased to that of an extremely bright canine, Humans have their intellect reduced to that of an animal. And all creatures have their hostility factor increased by a factor of ten.

 

 

Ghoul Hound [Fear 12]

 

 

 

Description: The Ghoul Hound was the first success of Project Gilgamesh, and some say the only one. The Hounds were created to accompany warriors into battle, acting as partners and long range scouts in hostile territory. When the Frakes Incident occurred the escaping Ghoul Hounds were smart enough to run at the first chance they had, making them the most numerous of the escaped test subjects. At a distance the Ghoul Hound would seem to be any dog, maybe a little bigger than average but a dog none the less. It is only when it approaches that you realize that there is something very wrong with this pooch, the Ghoul hounds eyes are dark blood red and regardless of breed the animal is overly muscular. Depending upon the age of the Ghoul hound and if it has recent engaged in combat it will either be covers in open weeping wounds that seem to heal the longer the you look at them or stark white scar tissue that criss crosses it’s body like a satanic road map. Most who have survived an encounter with the Demon Dogs speak of the dark intelligence that seemed to be lurking just beneath the surface. The Ghoul Hound never wags its tail, never whines, and only barks or growls when it enters combat. At all other times it is as quiet as a wraith.

 

Motivations: The Ghoul hound, like all of the children of Project Gilgamesh, has a few basic motivations they need to feed, breed, and lead. Feed, the Ghoul Hound needs to constantly keep eating, the processes enacted by the Gilgamesh Solution severely ramp up the metabolism of the host organisms, A Ghoul hound needs to consume it’s body weight in food every three days. Breed, the nano-bots self replicating nature forces the Ghoul Hound to seek out others of its kind (Dogs, Coyotes, Wolves) to infect with the Gilgamesh solution, direct fluid to fluid contact is necessary for the infection to occur a Vigor Check -5 is needed to avoid infection. If infected it takes approximately 20 minutes for the Gilgamesh Solution to dominate the host organism. The Ghoul Hound sees its self as the Alpha in a pack and will kill any that challenges it’s authority although a Ghoul Hound will submit to a more dominate Ghoul Hound, the Ghoul Hound will typically run in mixed packs of normal dogs and Ghoul Hounds numbering from 2-22 members.

 

Statistics of Note: Health 40, Stamina 25, Initiative +12, Movement 10, Actions per round 4, Stealth +14

 

Combat:  The Ghoul Hound still fights like the dog that it is, teeth and claws are the only weapons that the monster employs. Bonuses: Damage +4, Strike +7, Parry +7, Dodge +10, Roll +7, Grapple +5

 

Powers: The Ghoul Hound, if properly fed, regenerates Health at three times the normal amount, also the Ghoul Hound only needs 2 hours of sleep in a 24 hour period. The Ghoul Hound is highly intelligent, possibly the equivalent of low human intelligence.

 

Weaknesses: The Ghoul Hound needs to feed upon the equivalent of three times its body weight every three days, for every day after three that it does not consume sufficient food it will lose one point of health. The Ghoul Hound is also uncomfortable in heavily developed urban areas, it will not enter a population center of more than a thousand people under any circumstances. The Ghoul Hound can only breed, pass on the Gilgamesh Solution, with other canine type races.

 

Pipe Snake [Fear 16]

 

 

 

Description: The Pipe Snake may be the most terrifying creation of Project Gilgamesh. The initial idea was to use a snake as test animal for reptilian hosts of the Gilgamesh Solution, but the idea quickly got out of control. It is known that 48 hours before the Frakes Incident three Pipe Snakes escaped their cages and preceded to infect attack the Complex’s personnel. It was unknown at that time that the version of the Gilgamesh Solution that the Pipe Snakes were carrying was universally transferable. Upon the breaching of the Bangor Complex two Pipe Snakes escaped into the sewer and drainage network, the escapes and their offspring were intelligent enough to realize that this was a perfect way for them to get around undetected. The Pipe Snake is undistinguishable from a normal snake with the exception of their dark red eyes.

 

Motivations: The only motivations of the Pipe Snake are to feed and breed. Like all of the Children of the Gilgamesh Project the Pipe Snake needs to consume the equivalent of its own body weight in food every three days. The dietary requirement s of the Pipe Snake are met almost exclusively by the consumption of rodents that live in the sewers and under belly’s of the cities of the North American East Coast. The difference in the Pipe Snake comes to breeding. The Breeding imperative is just as strong in the Pipe Snake as the Ghoul Hound and just like with the Ghoul Hound this imperative can only be met through exposing another snake, of any breed, to the Gilgamesh solution. But the Solution that had been used on the escaping Pipe Snakes was a new variety that had been in the early testing phase, it allowed the Pipe Snake to infect any creature they bit with the Gilgamesh Solution, not just other snakes. The Non Snakes that were infected would however only be able to infect others of their species. It was a Pipe Snake that lead to the proliferation of Savage Zombies outside of the Bangor Containment Zone following the Frakes Incident.

 

Statistics of Note: Health 15, Stamina 10, Initiative +8, Movement 4, Actions per Round 4, Stealth 20

 

Combat:  The Pipe Snake is a stealth fighter, preferring to use its preternaturally high stealth abilities to sneak up on its victims and strike before they know they are in danger. Bonuses: Damage +5, Strike +6, Parry +5, Dodge +5, Roll +1, Grapple (Entangle) -2

 

Powers: The Pipe Snake is a Universal Transmitter of the Gilgamesh Solution, this means that any creature that is bitten by the Pipe Snake become infected (see the Savage Zombie for information on transmission to humans) the only exceptions are Demons whose immune systems destroy the Gilgamesh Solution. The Pipe snake is able to narrow its body to one tenth its normal diameter allowing them to travel through all but the narrowest of openings. The Pipe Snake has an extremely high level of intelligence, equal to low human intelligence.

 

Weaknesses: The Pipe Snake hates the day light, the reasons for this are unclear but the Pipe Snake will always attempt to avoid conflict in the day light. If the Pipe Snake is forced to battle in the day light all combat bonuses are reduced by half. Artificial light, no matter the intensity, wave length, or saturation have no effect on the Pipe Snake.

 

 

Savage Zombie [Fear 18]

 

 

 

Description: The Savage Zombie is the dark face of Project Gilgamesh, while it can be argued that the animal subjects of the project are a hideous legacy, what was done to dozens of otherwise healthy human beings is an abomination.

 

Motivations:

 

Statistics of Note:

 

Combat:  Bonuses:

 

Powers:

 

Weaknesses: