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The T-virus or Tyrant virus is Umbrella’s main biological weapon, responsible for the creation of most of their BOWs. Research for it began in 1978 at the Arkley Labs. The Ebola virus had been recently discovered in Africa and was immediately spotted as a weapon with limitless potential due to its 90% death rate. Umbrella circumnavigated the Biological Weapons Prohibition Pact by pretending to be researching the virus for a cure. Research was halted due to the virus’s weaknesses. Ebola could only survive outside a human host for a few days, as it was extremely vulnerable to ultra-violet radiation. It killed its host too quickly limiting the chances of infecting others. Furthermore the virus could only be passed on by direct contact so again chances of infection were limited. But what if a heavily infected host could still move around? What if the host could actively infect people? The concept of the T-virus was born.
This time the Progenitor virus was used as a base. On December 4th 1978 Dr James Marcus, Captain Albert Wesker and Dr. William Birkin succeeded in creating a new virus by mixing the Progenitor virus with leech DNA. |
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The life cycle of a normal virus can be described through the T-bacteriophage, a virus that preys upon bacteria. The virus itself is a protein crystal with a DNA core. Once the crystal touches a bacteria’s cell membrane, it dissolves and allows the viral nucleic acid to enter the cell. The cell immediately absorbs the viral genome into its own DNA. The new genes take over the cell’s functions and the cell manufactures dozens of new viral crystals and DNA strings. These crystal shells combine with the new DNA copies to form new viruses; the viruses dissolve the host cell, infect neighbouring cells and begin the cycle all over again. All cell energy in the human body is created by mitochondria. The T-virus actively kills any living mitochondria and replaces the dead ones. The T-virus then combines with cells to produce energy; this energy is enough to power the motor neurones and basic lower brain functions. This bypasses the entire circulatory system and makes organs such as the heart and lungs redundant. Unfortunately the T-virus must consume the cell in order to produce this energy and to divide mitotically and spread round the body. The slow breakdown of cells leads to the necrotising effects seen on most BOWs. The virus also incorporates itself into the host’s RNA substantially altering it. It is in this way that creatures lower down the evolutionary ladder, such as insects, birds and reptiles only increase in size and have only minor mutations due to the relative simplicity of their genome structure |
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All infected hosts suffer from increased aggressiveness. Should the host be alive at the time of infection, higher brain functions will be destroyed as the virus dissolves the frontal lobes, leaving the animalistic cerebrum to govern behaviour. The virus damages the hypothalamus and the resulting flood of neurotransmitters, enzymes, and hormones such as norepinephrine and dopamine, combined with the painful symptoms of the infection, induces an almost psychotic rage and hunger in the victims of the T-virus. If the host is dead at the time of infection then there will only be enough energy produced to power the lower brain, which is responsible for basic instincts such as eating and walking. The virus can also travel through the bloodstream if needs be, affecting oxygen-rich tissues, such as the brain and musculature of vertebrates. Most viruses are host-specific; they can only infect a specific kind of cell, such as bacterial cells, human brain cells, or sheep liver cells. There is no known virus capable of infecting all cells; such a virus would theoretically over propagate and infect the whole ecosystem if released in an airborne form. Umbrella appear to have created such a virus.
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