Project FURY

The results of my research into these Arachnoids is a bit disturbing. It looks like these creatures were manufactured - and continue to be manufactured - on a large scale! Is Arachnos doing this or are they merely harboring someone who is? And more importantly, is there a way we can profit out of the whole thing?

- Dr. Forrester, AeonCorp researcher

Ah geez. This is bad. REAL bad. Arachnoid shock troops? This can get out of hand REAL quick.

- Terrence Dobbs, professional Arachnoids exterminator

File:Arachnoids1.jpg

Project FURY

Project FURY is an Arachnos super-soldier secret project which took place at one point in the island of Warburg and is currently being developed in Grandville.
The goal of the project is to simulate the super-powered state endowed by the Well of the Furies. Arachnos operatives who volunteer for this super-soldier experiment are injected with a 'venom' produced by Lord Recluse, which itself is a synthesis of Lord Recluse's own blood , in hopes of creating beings similar to himself .
The volunteers receive this injection, which leaves the skin around it point highly inflamed even much later, as if from a poisonous venom , and then have their vocal centers surgically removed to help keep the secrets of their origin safe and serve Arachnos as foot soldiers .

Somewhere in Grandville

The results are only partially successful, resulting in creatures who are incredibly strong but monstruous: The human-spider hybrid beings known as Arachnoids: despite being fast and strong, their intelligence seems to have devolved to animal levels, being barely able to communicate, and much less to execute organized military operations. There are exceptions, though: The Arachnoid known as Biff seems to have retained all of his intelligence, to the point that he's trying to revert his Arachnoid condition... But the sad truth is that the average Arachnoid seems to be much closer to the intelligence levels of the brutal Widdershins.
(NOTE: For some reason, the Grandville Arachnoids talk just like regular people and seem to have regular intelligence, unlike the ones in Warburg. There's no way to know if there are two different ways to create them or if this is simply a flaw in the game's lore, though I'd vote for the second.)
Arachnoids infest the old underground installations in Warburg -known as The Web- and the Gutter neighborhood, in Grandville. Arachnoids are known to kidnap unsuspecting citizens , probably as food. This has caused the appearance in Grandville of at least two professional exterminators: Terrence Dobbs, who charges exorbitant prices for his services, and the newcomer Charlie Biggs.

Also of note is the discovery of a version of the future, where Lord Recluse lost control of his Arachnoids and they destroyed civilization

File:Widdershins.png

Project FURY: In image to Lord Recluse himself

Besides, it's also known the existence of sub-sections of Project: FURY. One of them involves plant/human hybrids and reverse evolution. Operative Grillo and his lab assistant Vernon von Grun are assigned to this sub-project . Other branches probably exist, but haven't been revealed so far.

If the project had to stop in Warburg that's because Marshal Blitz has betrayed Arachnos on the isle. He intends to sell the two weapons programs there, Project FURY and the Warburg Rocket Program, to the Malta Group .
Due to the fact that Longbow has a presence in the isle as well, they may have learned about the project this way. The Longbow heroine Pizzazz seems to have been investigating the project recently .

Whether Blitz finally managed to sell the project or not, a Malta cell, the so-called Scorpion Gang, ended up having relevant info on the project and soon Malta started its own research.
As a result, they have developed a very interesting weapon based on Project FURY theoretical technology: the Orestes Rifle. This potent techno-magical weapon is designed to dispel mystical enchantments derived from the Well of Furies, such as those derived by Ms. Liberty's magical belt .
But Malta are by no means the only ones who have infiltrated the project. Crey Industries knows so much about the Arachnoids by now that it calls the Arachnoid "A-456", and has been capturing and doing research on them for some time now, in an attempt to make a trained group of mutant shock troops while developing a series of countermeasures to any Arachnos-controlled Arachnoids, such as the A-X76 gas specifically designed to overcome Arachnoid resistances. Crey has secret Arachnoid caves under St. Martial to perform field tests . The project lead is a Crey scientist name Doctor Reaves based at a Crey tech facility in Paragon City.

Fort Cerberus laboratory

But project FURY has had more unexpected results: Non-living specimens of the Arachnoids have been being shipped to Fort Cerberus in Mercy Island for some time now for further study : In a high-security area of that Fort is a secret laboratory where a scientist known as Doctor Geist is performing biochemical experiments, with the resulting waste from these experiments being pumped into the Mercy Island cesspools. This is what is causing the Infected .
Many would-be Villains have drunk their fill from the cesspool in hopes it might grant super power. Mostly they go insane
But others aren't that lucky: It doesn't take long for the cesspool water to have an effect. Those who have been drinking from it for only a few days, already have apparent change in their appearance . Those who dare to subsist on cesspool water for weeks, have changes far greater than skin deep. They no longer desire any nourishment other than that they take from the cesspool. Their old friends and dreams are entirely forgotten as they slip deeper into their irradiated daze . And after months of consuming nothing but cesspool water, they have become tireless, witless, and wickedly strong. Most people on Mercy agree: the Devolved no longer qualify as human. It would be fair to call them more zombie than man .

Some even gain actual superpowers: Biopulse is one of the rare Infected who drank from the toxic cesspools on Mercy Island and actually manifested super powers. It's ironic that he has contacted Longbow, in the hopes to champion the cause of the Infected on Mercy Island as a hero.

SOURCES