Umbrella Corporation

itHistory
The Umbrella Corporation (officially named Umbrella Pharmaceutical Incorporated) was a mega corporation which operated ruthlessly as a major international player in a number of markets including pharmaceuticals, medical hardware, defense, and computers along with more clandestine operations utilizing genetic engineering and biological weaponry. The company also had a more public face, producing cosmetics, consumer products and foods.

A subsidiary of Umbrella operated as a paramilitary organization. This division of the corporation maintained a highly trained security force capable of rescue, reconnaissance, and para-military operations. They used a variety of vehicles, including HUMVEEs. Complementing this security force was an air wing, which maintained a fleet of AV-8B Harrier jump jets, UH-60 Blackhawks, C-130 Hercules water-landing capable cargo planes, CH-53 Sea Stallion cargo helicopters for transporting prisoners and Hughes MH-6 "Little Bird" attack helicopters. The corporation utilized these resources in order to secure and protect its assets, as well as its high profile employees.

The paving stones for Umbrella started in 1966, when Lord Ozwell E. Spencer led an expedition into Africa with his friend Sir Edward Ashford, fellow scientist Doctor. James Marcus and Marcus' student Brandon Bailey, to find the lost kingdom of the Ndipaya. Ozwell had studied an encyclopedia by explorer Henry Travis, that described a legend of a plant that gave great powers to those who could survive its poisonous blossom.

The two rediscovered the lost kingdom of the Ndipaya, an ancient underground city surrounding the legendary flower, which Travis referred to as the "Stairway to the Sun" This flower produced a previously unrecorded virus which Spencer, Ashford and Marcus established as the Progenitor virus.

When they returned to North America in 1967, they discovered that the flowers could not produce the virus if cultivated outside their habitat. In March, Spencer had the idea of starting a company, though the idea was disliked by Brandon, who felt that it was pointless without being able to produce Progenitor.

Marcus injected Leeches with Progenitor in 1978, and bore witness to the creation of a new strain which he named the "Tyrant virus".[2] Later this year, the Training facility would be closed and Marcus' two prized students: Albert Wesker and William Birkin, would be moved to the nearby Arklay Research Facility.

Umbrella fell from grace of September 24, 1998, when the "T" had turned a large amount of the population into Zombies. The morning after, the U.S. Government had the city limits bordered off by the military, whilst they began an investigation into the matter.

Umbrella itself was divided on the issue of Raccoon City. Its virologists within the limits spent their time researching a cure, whilst weapons researchers had experimental B.O.W.'s sent in to receive combat data on their effectiveness at killing civilians. The Umbrella Biohazard Countermeasure Service (UBCS) was sent in to evacuate civilians, whilst "Monitors" installed within the four Platoon Delta's gathered the combat data, sacrificing their comrades to save their own lives, where they would receive a very generous sum for the data.

Description
Though Umbrella was portrayed as a archetypical "evil mega corporation", similar to Weyland-Yutani from the Alien series, a corporation that prefers money and power over human lives. It was later given an elaborate backstory and presence stretching back to the turn of the century.

On the other hand, the same game greatly bolstered the concept of an omnipotent corporation, introducing the company's private prison island. And while some of the zombie outbreaks seen in the Resident Evil series are caused by staggering incompetence and rogue operatives rather than overt maliciousness.

Umbrella Corp. vs Phoenix Corp.
Coming Soon...