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Progenitor Virus

The Progenitor Virus (Also known as the Mother Virus and Founder Virus in alternate translations) is an RNA virus which predates the T-Virus in the Resident Evil survival horror series.

The Progenitor Virus was the first mutagenic virus ever discovered. It would become the basis from which the Umbrella Corporation's most successful mutagenic viruses would stem. It was discovered on December 4th, 1967 by James Marcus, Edward Ashford, and Ozwell E. Spencer.

Research showed that the cells infected with the virus would undergo a very violent and uncontrolled cellular change through the mutation of the host's genes. This caused increased aggressiveness and size in non-mammals, while mammals would exhibit various new attributes, including the ones shown in the non-mammals. However, the results weren't suitable for Umbrella's plans, being inefficient and uncoordinated bio-organic weapons.

The first subjects were Lisa Trevor and her mother, Jessica, who were administered the virus on November 10, 1967. Jessica was administered the Type-A variation, which her body successfully fought off. Lisa was administered the Type-B variation and underwent a strange mutation. She became extremely aggressive and even killed and ripped the face off her own mother.

James Marcus then combined the Progenitor virus with leech DNA, creating the T-Virus. William Birkin and Albert Wesker assassinated Marcus and continued his research at the Spencer Mansion. Here, William experimented on Lisa Trevor with new variants of the T-Virus on orders from a head Umbrella researcher. These experiments led to the G-Virus, discovered by mixing the Type-B Progenitor in Lisa's body with the NE-a parasite.

G-Virus

History
Spoiler warning: Plot and/or ending details follow.
The G-Virus is the work of William Birkin, a scientist of the Umbrella Corporation. After years of viral experimentation on Lisa Trevor, daughter of George Trevor, the original designer of the Spencer Mansion, the discovery of the G-Virus comes during an experiment in which, Albert Wesker and William Birkin decided to test the NE-α Parasite on Lisa, with unexpected results. She absorbed the parasite and began to co-exist with it. Further experimentation brought light to the discovery of the G-Virus that had manifested within her body.

Characteristics of the G-Virus
The G-Virus greatly increases the carrier's metabolism, accelerating cell duplication and revitalization of dead cells at the cost of higher brain function by continual destruction of mitochondria in neurons, causing the infected person to degrade to sub-human levels. The carrier exhibits animalistic behavior, loss of moral reasoning and becomes driven by self-preservation. Ultimately, carriers become creatures simply dubbed G-Mutants.

Flaws of the G-Virus
Beyond these qualities, the mutations induced by the virus tend to be extremely volatile. The only known carrier is William Birkin, who injected himself with the virus after being mortally wounded by the Umbrella Special Forces Unit attempting to recover the G-Virus from his labs. Unlike T-Virus infected carriers, G-Virus carriers never stop mutating, even without external stimuli. G-carriers evolve even faster when wounded, due to the incredible regenerative capabilities of infected cells.

William Birkin undergoes five distinct stages of transformation throughout the game, and it is most likely other G-carriers would also undergo similar stages, although the unpredictable nature of G-Virus mutations means that the details would differ.

Stages 1 - 5


Stage 1 bears the greatest resemblance to the original, though larger and more muscular. The right arm (Where he was sprayed with several sub-machinegun rounds) is considerably swollen with muscle, and a large tumor/eyeball has developed in a flap of flesh there. Supposedly, this is where the G-larvae are developed prior to implantation. (Beyond the swollen arm and the large eye, this form also bears resemblance to a T-virus zombie, although the part of the body that still looks human is not as rotten as a zombie.)



Stage 2 causes the carrier's head to move forward and downward, being absorbed into the left half of the chest, and the fingers of the right hand are replaced with massive blade-like claws of bone. Practically vestigial third and fourth arms develop beneath the original arms and a new rudimentary head grows to take the place of the old one. On top of that, an entirely new brain, far more animalistic and vicious, is added, replacing Birkin's true brain.



Stage 3 is perhaps the least grotesque. The carrier has shed all of its skin, revealing its musculature, and its two primary arms have developed deadly claws. A set of smaller, functional arms (resembling its original human ones) have grown and the rudimentary head from the prior stage is now more human-like, encased in a shell of bone and sporting the lipless grin favored by most of the Tyrant models. A secondary, smaller eyeball/tumor has developed in the left upper thigh. This form is the only one that has bilateral symmetry, and it resembles closely a demon.



Stage 4 goes from bipedal to hexapodal; the top half of the skull elongates whilst the lower jaw splits in half vertically and sinks into the chest, transforming the entire chest into a vertical mouth lined with giant fangs. Its six limbs now serve as legs, and this stage is extremely fast and agile, and the jaws now have the main function of impaling its enemies.



Stage 5 is the most grotesque of all. After extreme damage and abuse to the carrier, the carrier has become a shapeless blob of flesh, fangs and testicles, slowly dragging itself forward. It seems that by this stage, the G-Virus has evolved continually by merging with the beings it has devoured to sustain its high regenerative powers, and multiple organs sprout from the main blob. Killing this creature permanently requires extreme measures, such as a truly massive conventional explosion.

Means of infection
Infection from the G-Virus is caused by injection or ingesting the virus, but unlike creatures infected with the T-Virus, G-mutants cannot pass infection on to other creatures through physical contact or injury. Instead, they create offspring by impregnating small, parasitic organisms into a live host. In unfortunate consequences a host who is of no compatible DNA match will reject the parasite in a matter of hours. It rapidly grows inside its host before bursting from their chest in an homage to that seen in the Alien movie series. Once they leave the host body, the larva quickly mutate into their adult form and go in search of another host.

A DNA match can only be achieved by a blood relative of a G-mutant becoming impregnated. The embryo begins to pupate and assimilate the host body turning them into what can only be believed to be a mutant of immense strength. Sherry Birkin was infected by her father, but the parasite was destroyed with an experimental anti-G-Virus vaccine, codenamed DEVIL, before mutation could occur with help from her mother Annette Birkin and Claire Redfield.

Though what the G in G-Virus means is never explicitly stated, given that the antidote for it is called DEVIL, and the personality of William Birkin, it is a fair guess that G stands for God.

Diferences to the T-Virus
The G-Virus is quite different to the T-Virus in terms of action and transmission. While both viruses have the characteristic of inciting mutation in infected organisms, the similarities end there. The G-Virus has none of the necrotic properties of the T-Virus, and as such, host organisms do not decompose (the characteristic rotting of the zombies).

The G-Virus is also much harder to transmit from one organism to the other. While the T-Virus can be transmitted by body fluids, direct attack from an infected organism, or even water, the G-Virus can only be transmitted by direct injection or active insemination of a parasite into the prospective host by a G-mutant, and G-mutants (as evidenced by Birkin and his spawn) instinctively attempt to reproduce. In this manner, G-Virus mutants act much more like living creatures than those infected with the T-Virus. While T-Virus infection can be considered accidental (as the host does not actually mean to infect its victim), G-mutants actively attempt to perpetuate their species. This has the frightening implication that, while the T-Virus is infinitely more contagious, a G-Virus epidemic would be nigh uncontrollable and actively hostile to humanity, as G-mutants would seek to reproduce over any other instinct.

The G-Virus also acts exponentially faster than the T-Virus, with William Birkin manifesting considerable physical mutation mere seconds after infection. Apparently, direct injection of the virus is nigh incurable, as it acts much too fast for a vaccine to be effective. Infection by parasitic infestation, however, can be controlled much like the T-Virus, with a vaccine being effective if administered during the initial stages of infection, before the larva can gestate. While the T-Virus' effects on long term, controlled exposure are well documented(Tyrant, the Hunters and the Lickers being examples), the effects of such exposure to the G-Virus are unknown, as there was no testing in this field done before the Raccoon City incident. However, results of such manipulation of the virus COULD be seen in future instalments off the series, since both HUNK and Ada Wong were able to procure samples of the virus for Umbrella and Albert Wesker, respectively. However, if the effect of said exposure was similar to the T-Virus and T-Veronica virus, such bioweapons would theoretically be the absolute deadliest creatures ever made by Umbrella. Birkin himself, an accidental G-mutant, was more powerful and deadly than any creature created with the T-Virus on purpose. The effects of the G-Virus on non-human hosts is unknown, but they are probably just as radically powerful and unstable as their human counterparts in comparison to the T-Virus.

T-Veronica Virus

History
Spoiler warning: Plot and/or ending details follow.
T-Veronica was created by child prodigy Alexia Ashford in 1983 by combining the Progenitor Virus (or Mother Virus) with an ancient virus extracted from ant queens and plants. The virus was named after Veronica Ashford, the first clan master of the Ashford family, whom Alexia was cloned from, although the virus is also referred as the T-Alexia after its creator.

Experimentation
Alexia first used T-Veronica on her father, Alexander, against his will to test the virus' efficiency. Alexander suffered severe loss of brain cells and necrosis of much of his flesh, turning into a mindless creature. Thus, the experiment was deemed a failure and the creature that was once Alexander was locked in the Antarctic Facility.

Alexia determined that in order for a host to accept the T-Veronica strain, it must be kept in cryogenic sleep for a long period while the virus incubated. Alexia implanted the virus into her own body and put herself in cryogenic sleep for fifteen years. In 1998, Alexia awoke, her body having accepted the virus with no deterioration of her intelligence. In her first mutated form, she keeps a humanoid figure (with a different appearance), but gains the ability to turn her blood into flames. In her second mutation, she resembles a giant queen ant and gains the ability to reproduce imperfect larvae. In her third and final form, she becomes a flying insect with four wings on her back.

Effects
The T-Veronica virus, much like its predecessor, the T-Virus, is a mutagenic pathogen with necrotic properties when invading a host in an uncontrolled manner. However, such infected creatures exhibit a slightly more advanced intellect than T-Virus hosts(i.e. they have more complicated instincts beyond "move" and "eat", as opposed to zombies), and they tend to exhibit insectile characteristics, such as insect-like limbs and poison glands. However, when applied in a controlled manner(as Alexia Ashford did on herself), the virus is completely assimilated by the host without destroying any cognitive functions, effectively creating a powerful mutant with intact intellect. Alexia showed no signs of diminished intellect or personality changes after her cryogenic sleep, while still exhibiting dramatic physical enhancements, such as increased strength, and the ability to produce caustic, flammable blood from her body, which she could spray on victims as a weapon.

Lesser creatures resulting from T-Veronica virus exposure also exhibit a sort of "hive mind", becoming subservient to higher intellect hosts, as evidenced by Alexia's control over the huge T-Veronica virus worms released after her sleep, as well as the different insects spawned by her subsequently. This is probably a side effect of the virus's origin as being spliced from the Progenitor Virus and ant DNA. In this manner, the T-Veronica virus, although of completely different origin, exhibits similar characteristics to Las Plagas, as Plagas infected beings were all subservient to Osmund Saddler, who'd be the "queen ant" of the Plagas, as it were.

Alexia also apparently had the ability to mutate form at will, switching into a subhuman form to face Albert Wesker. This would seem to indicate that the T-Veronica virus either grants the host control over his/her own form or is reactive to the host's mood, perhaps being sensitive to hormonal signals.

Although not specified anywhere in-game, the T-Veronica virus is apparently more stable in terms of transmission than both the T- and G-Virus. While T-Veronica mutants can reproduce(as evidenced by Alexia's creation of many subservient insects), they apparently cannot infect other creatures. The T-Veronica virus seems to be only transmittable through direct injection.

G2-Virus: Wesker's latest virus, created by combining samples of the T/G-Virus and the Las Plaga sample Ada acquired from Saddler. Only one subject has accepted the virus and assimilated it, after spending 360 days in a coma (starting three weeks after injection). The subject shows no signs of mutation, although it has gained increased muscle mass.

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