Project Lore
What Is Lore?
Lore is the history of a game's universe or a story connected to that universe in some way. The term “lore” comes from the English word lore, which in this context means knowledge, traditions, and stories passed down over time.
Brief Lore of the District 9 RP Universe
In 2012, following the public testing of a new vaccine based on cordyceps, people began turning into zombies on a massive scale. Due to a series of circumstances, the infection managed to spread across the entire world in an incredibly short period of time, plunging civilization into chaos and forcing humanity to abandon its former comforts and focus entirely on survival.
Across the United States, there are many fortified settlements similar to Los Santos. Numerous cities managed to isolate themselves from the threat, survive, and create conditions suitable for human life. In some of the largest strongholds, scientists and doctors continue to actively study the virus in hopes of finding a vaccine against the horrifying infection.
Background
Human Labs had been developing an innovative vaccine for ten years, and during the final years of the project, they made tremendous progress. The serum was intended to be universal and extraordinarily effective. Had the project succeeded, Human Labs would have established a new milestone in the history of medicine and humanity itself: almost any disease could have been cured with a single injection.
For many years, scientists from around the world worked to develop the perfect formula and modify genes in such a way that the human body would not only accept foreign microorganisms, but actively assist them in performing their intended function.
After countless studies and failures, the scientists decided to use cordyceps as the foundation of the serum — a parasitic fungus that infects insects and completely takes control of them. For humans, however, the fungus posed no threat due to the high temperature of the human body and the strength of the human immune system. Quite the opposite: cordyceps had even been used in the treatment and prevention of various illnesses.
The scientists' objective was to artificially mutate the fungus and enhance its natural properties while preserving its inability to take control of the human body.
For the next four years, Human Labs specialists worked toward precisely that goal, and by 2010 they had reached the testing stage.
Initial experiments were conducted on mice and rats. By early 2011, however, when the success rate of experiments on small rodents had reached 98% and mortality remained below 1%, scientists began testing the serum on rabbits, cats, and dogs, followed later by chimpanzees.
Animal testing finally concluded in June 2012. By every measurable indicator, the results appeared flawless: the experiments had a 99.9% success rate, while the condition of the animals remained completely stable.
Public testing was scheduled to begin on September 1, and the following two months were spent actively preparing for the event.
September 1, 2012.
This day was supposed to go down in human history as the moment mankind took an enormous step toward utopia.
Human Labs rented a site, erected several tents, and transported all the necessary equipment to the location. People began lining up for vaccination as early as 5:00 AM, despite the event officially being scheduled to begin at 9:00 AM.
Even considering the serum's incredible success during animal testing, Human Labs refused to accept responsibility for possible side effects or other consequences. As a result, everyone who agreed to participate in the vaccination program was required to sign a liability waiver.
Events of September 1, 2012
The event site was arranged as follows: two tents were dedicated to administering the vaccine, while another four were used to monitor the condition of those who had received it. Portable toilets and a free cafeteria were also installed for the participants' convenience, as their condition had to be monitored for eight hours.
Afterward, vaccinated participants were required to visit a hospital for medical testing on the third, seventh, fourteenth, and thirtieth days.
At exactly 9:00 AM, specialists began administering the vaccine.
Although more than a hundred people had arrived and only two tents were equipped for serum administration, Human Labs staff managed to vaccinate everyone by noon.
At first, everything went smoothly. Scientists and medical personnel were thrilled with the initial results. The absence of side effects and stable condition during the first eight hours practically guaranteed success: during animal testing, roughly 90% of all failed cases had occurred within the first 24 hours of observation, most commonly during the first six.
Unfortunately, the innovative serum was never destined to become a success.
Barely an hour before the end of the event, several vaccinated participants suddenly began feeling unwell and behaving aggressively. Some even managed to attack several people before security guards escorted them away.
That was the beginning of the chaos.
One after another, people began attacking those around them. Panic spread among the remaining participants, while security personnel were unable to respond effectively.
Those who had suffered bites and scratches began changing rapidly. Their eyes became cloudy, their skin turned unnaturally pale, and their behavior became extremely aggressive.
Thanks to journalists who had been covering the event live from beginning to end for Weazel News, information about the incident quickly spread both among the general population and within government circles, even though local authorities attempted to prevent the news from spreading by shutting down Weazel News television and radio broadcasts.
The live coverage made it possible for authorities to react quickly. Even so, by the time law enforcement and military forces had been assembled to eliminate the threat, the virus had already spread across nearly a quarter of the state.
Perhaps, had it not been for the live report, the entire state would have become infected.
Soon after the incident began, at 7:40 PM, an explosion tore through Human Labs.
Massive clouds of smoke mixed with vapor from the serum rose into the atmosphere. This allowed the virus to spread across almost the entire country and even into several neighboring nations.
For some unknown reason, those infected through the airborne vapor did not mutate immediately. Some transformed after several days, while others showed no symptoms for several weeks.
Because of this, border closures and isolation measures did nothing to prevent the virus from continuing its spread across the planet.
To this day, nobody knows exactly what caused the cordyceps mutation.
Perhaps the body temperature of Patient Zero somehow dropped below the necessary threshold, or perhaps their immune system had become weakened enough to give the fungus an opportunity to take control of the nervous system of those who had been vaccinated.
The truth will most likely never be known.
Lore
The morning in Los Santos was truly peaceful, if one ignored the commotion surrounding the observatory district, where testing of a new vaccine was taking place.
Scientists and medical personnel prepared their instruments, journalists set up their equipment, and security guards inspected the area.
An event of this scale should have been held in a properly equipped facility rather than on rented land under temporary tents. For some reason, however, the local authorities chose to overlook such negligence on the part of Human Labs scientists.
Despite the unprofessional choice of location, all personnel were properly equipped and the tents contained everything necessary for the tests.
The fact that Human Labs scientists had not even bothered to allocate a few rooms on the upper floors of their own laboratory was nothing more than an attempt to distance themselves from a potential failure.
That alone should have been the first warning sign regarding their experiments, yet ordinary people saw nothing suspicious about it at the time.
The beginning of the testing proceeded successfully, and the vaccination process itself was completed ahead of schedule.
The irreversible happened only toward the end of the event.
Panic quickly spread among those who had received the vaccine when several participants began rapidly transforming into something that still resembled human beings, yet was aggressive and completely uncontrollable.
Those who had not yet become infected attempted to escape, but security guards tried to restrain the crowd and restore order.
They were unable to contain the sheer force of the people trying to flee.
Weazel News reporters had been present since the very beginning to cover such a large and significant event. They broadcast the developing story live on the Weazel News television channel as well as over the company's radio frequency.
The journalists acted with remarkable professionalism and courage, refusing to stop broadcasting for even a moment, despite both the reporters and camera operators most likely realizing that such bravery might cost them their lives.
Despite their heroism, the live broadcast was soon interrupted, making the deaths of the Weazel News employees almost meaningless.
The local authorities did everything they could to contain the spread of the information, and they were directly responsible for the sudden end of the broadcast after jamming both WN television and radio signals.
The leadership of San Andreas intended to conceal evidence of their failure and deal with the consequences themselves.
They had no idea how severely they had overestimated their own capabilities.
While the government of San Andreas desperately tried to stop the flow of information, the infection continued spreading from person to person. With every passing minute, the situation throughout the state moved closer to the point of no return.
By the end of the day, more than 30% of the population had been exposed to the infection.
Only then did the local authorities order the military to intervene.
However, the soldiers were neither informed of the true nature of the threat nor permitted to use lethal force — yet another critical mistake made by the government.
That same evening, an explosion occurred inside the laboratory.
In an attempt to destroy evidence, senior Human Labs officials had hired people to sabotage the facility.
Along with the clouds of smoke, vapor from the deadly serum rose into the atmosphere, gradually allowing the virus to spread across the United States and neighboring countries.
Over hotter regions, the vapor quickly mixed with precipitation and was neutralized in the soil. Over areas with more moderate climates, the virus gradually lost its potency while remaining airborne.
Airborne infection behaved differently from infection through direct physical contact.
The transformation process took anywhere from several days to a week and a half.
Because of this delayed onset, the world failed to react quickly enough to the rapidly spreading infection.
Over the following two weeks, the passive phase came to an end, and humanity descended into chaos.
Most countries failed to survive even the first year.
Island nations and the poorest countries on the planet collapsed within only a few months, while moderately developed nations survived only somewhat longer.
Local authorities fled once they realized the true scale of the catastrophe, abandoning the state to its fate.
Despite San Andreas being left without functioning leadership, construction of a defensive barrier around Los Santos began in early December 2012, once residents had become somewhat accustomed to life under apocalyptic conditions.
After four months of relentless work, the perimeter was finally completed.
The barrier was fragile and built out of anything people could find, but even that was better than remaining defenseless against the zombies — the name society had given to the mutated infected.
In April 2013, after the first stage of the wall's construction was completed, control of Los Santos passed to the military. It was under their command and protection that the defensive perimeter had been constructed.
By May 2013, work had already begun to reinforce the wall.
That same month, Los Santos began searching for other survivors using radio transmissions.
It soon became clear that fortified cities inhabited by survivors were scattered throughout the United States. San Andreas was far from the only place where people had managed to organize and survive.
Communication with these cities proved extremely valuable to their continued development.
Eventually, contact was established with all 42 strongholds located within the United States, which became known as Districts.
In September 2013, a decision was made to establish the United Scientific Council of the United States, whose purpose was to study the virus and search for possible methods of treatment and prevention.
From that moment onward, detailed research began into the infection that had engulfed the entire world.
Over time, District 9 discovered that Americans were not the only people who had managed to adapt to life after the apocalypse.
Many nations survived, and countries and Districts began establishing trade relations with one another in order to ensure their continued existence.
Maintaining cargo aircraft would have been extremely expensive and economically inefficient, so cargo ships became the primary means of international trade and exchange.
Thanks to productive cooperation and international trade, construction of a proper fortified wall was completed ahead of schedule in the summer of 2014.
Afterward, the national army relinquished its authority as the city's governing body and transferred control of Los Santos to a newly arrived group of politicians.
The citizens of Los Santos had always known that people were still living beyond the walls.
Until then, those who inhabited the Wasteland had generally been treated neutrally, although with a certain degree of suspicion.
After the city's borders had been reinforced, however, the population of Los Santos began openly despising and discriminating against them.
The situation escalated so far that, in May 2015, a group advocating for the rights of those living outside the walls was secretly transported out of the city and abandoned in the Wasteland.
After the incident became public knowledge, the new government was overthrown.
The national army assumed new responsibilities and was subsequently renamed N.O.O.S.E.
The police were granted the authority of a military police force, and before long, N.O.O.S.E., LSPD, and SAMS jointly assumed control over the city.
In October 2014, the religious organization known as the Unitologists paid the Adepts generously to manufacture explosives they intended to use to destroy part of the wall.
The breach was important not only to the factions, as security at checkpoints was becoming stricter with every passing day, but also to the Unitologists themselves.
The construction of the wall was deeply offensive to their religious beliefs.
Approximately one month was spent studying the wall's layout in detail and developing a strategy.
Once preparations were complete, they carried out their plan and destroyed a section of the wall in the middle of the night, far from residential districts beyond the dam.
The breach remained undiscovered for three months until LSPD officers noticed it while on patrol and immediately reported it to their chief.
Although the matter was later raised in Congress, nobody appeared particularly eager to address it.
The hole in the wall benefited the shadow government.
Following the incident, however, several laws were tightened, including regulations concerning firearms, dangerous items, and the sale and distribution of hard liquor and narcotic substances.
The mafia never ceased its operations, even during the apocalypse.
In some cases, they helped the city. In others, they helped the Wasteland.
Ultimately, however, they only acted when doing so served their own long-term interests.
With much greater threats to deal with — zombies and hostile factions beyond the wall — Los Santos law enforcement largely turned a blind eye to crime within the city itself.
Police still arrested murderers and robbers caught in the act, of course, and alongside N.O.O.S.E. they conducted raids against particularly high-profile members of the criminal underworld.
However, when their interests did not directly collide, law enforcement generally avoided interfering in organized crime.
In early 2016, the trafficking of narcotics and hard liquor became a rapidly growing problem throughout the city.
Dealers became increasingly brazen, circulation increased dramatically, and the number of consumers rose along with it.
After several unsuccessful interrogations, the police eventually managed to extract information about the source of the products from one of the intermediaries.
Most of the contraband, including narcotics and alcohol, was being produced on the island of Cayo Perico.
To deal with the problem, N.O.O.S.E. organized reconnaissance operations using aircraft.
However, approaching the island proved impossible both during the day and at night: those who had occupied the territory simply opened fire on reconnaissance aircraft with automatic weapons.
The risk of losing both personnel and aircraft — especially if the pilots were hit — was considered far too high compared with the scale of the problem.
As a result, the decision was made to leave the island uncontested while significantly strengthening control inside the city instead.
Today, Los Santos is one of the largest and most advanced strongholds remaining anywhere in the United States.
Among the other Districts, it stands out for its high standard of living and developed economy. The wealthiest residents of the state can even afford luxury imported vehicles.
And although factions from the Wasteland still occasionally terrorize the city and cause large-scale emergencies, it can be said that the city and the Wasteland now exist in a strange form of harmony with one another.
List of Surviving Countries
The countries that managed to survive and establish themselves during the difficult years of the apocalypse were not limited to the United States, Mexico, Australia, and other major nations.
More information about them can be found in the List of Surviving Countries article.
Faction Lore
Following the unprecedented catastrophe, countless small communities appeared throughout the infected territories.
They struggled to survive under harsh conditions while staying away from the major city, believing that Los Santos would inevitably become the epicenter of the infection.
The exact opposite happened.
Los Santos managed to protect itself from the zombies behind a strong defensive wall, while the territories beyond the city remained infested with horrifying creatures.
Under such hostile conditions, most factions were unable to survive for very long.
Some, however, continue to exist to this day.
The factions that have survived into the present were already at the top of the food chain during the years when the Wasteland was covered with countless different communities.
They demonstrated extraordinary resilience, cunning, and survival skills.
Because of this, they were able to carve out a place for themselves in this world, fighting not only against the zombies but against other factions as well.