The Investigation Division serves as the frontline of the Virion Project, constantly searching out new sources of viscerosis and relaying information back to the Forensics and Research divisions in order to track the progression of the disease -- and the fate of its eventual victims.
Due to the constant exposure to infected EQE and essence-users, this division has the highest turnover rate out of any other part of the Project. The Investigators might be hailed as heroes, but its culture of sacrifice has never been as favorably received among its members -- and ex-members -- as Atriven's citizens might think... even if their smiles serve as enough of a disguise, for now.
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The former Investigation Division (and their collective best friend, Chanto), eight years prior to the beginning of Crux of Soma. Formed at the beginning of the Virion Project's "golden age," the four years that the team spent together was filled with success after success: news appearances, publications, policy changes, technology advances, recognition past any of their wildest dreams.
For a brief period of time, it truly felt like they were invincible, capable of pushing back against the harm that viscerosis had already done to the city that they'd grown up in. It was impossible for any of them to predict just how much damage the Outbreak Incident would do to them -- not just to their eyes, of course, but to the friendship that they'd held so close to their hearts.
Besides the Investigators, the Forensics Division are the first to arrive at the scene of a suspected viscerosis death, cordoning it off to the public and documenting the details of the victim as accurately as they possibly can. After bringing the cadaver back to the lab, sketches are made and photographs are taken of every aspect of the corpse in order to construct a coroner's report to add to their database of viscerosis cases.
With the growing number of infected bodies in their morgue, they've started to privately question whether or not they're even capable of documenting all of them -- but it's not like they aren't going to try.
The Research Division serves as the virtual backbone of the Virion Project, cataloging information and data about viscerosis while attempting to dissect its structure, etiology, and pathology within the body. With the most technical knowledge out of the entire Project, this division is responsible for creating containment plans and tracking the actual spread of the virus within Atriven -- and all while finding a way to create the cure that the Virion Project is desperate to obtain.
While the essence limiters that they've constructed serve as a short-term solution, their ultimate goal is to be able to reverse the effects of viscerosis as a whole. They'll need much more data and much more time in order to find something that works, but with the virus's rapid spread, they know that they have far too much of the former -- and far too little of the latter.
With the dangers that viscerosis victims and Vessels potentially pose to the citizens of Atriven, the Containment Division seeks to dispose of any infected EQE that they've been ordered to collect and destroy -- while containing the espers and diseased essence-users that have been driven to violence by the effects of the virus on their minds and bodies.
While they're at far less risk of infection than the Investigators, it's no secret that they're exposed to a significant risk of injury while they're on the job. On the surface, their missions are well-planned, well-coordinated, and always end spectacularly, but very few are truly aware of the amount of backstage friction, fighting, and training that contributes to those hard-won successes.
The people of Atriven might be unwary of the threat of viscerosis, but it's the Public Relations Division that's gone to such great lengths in order to keep them that way. In order to prevent mass panic and fear from spreading within the population, members of the PR Division carefully spread Project-approved news about the virus, its prognosis, and the steps that the Project has taken towards full containment and finding a cure.
While they might be preventing general unrest within the city, that work comes with the unfortunate necessity of censoring news outlets and redacting significant amounts of information from what the Project does publish online; they might be concealing the truth about the virus's spread, but they believe that the chaos that would spread if the reality leaked to the people is far worse than anything the Project could be hiding.
Having existed for as long as many of Atriven's citizens can even remember, the Wingspread Funeral Home serves as the most popular provider of funeral services and cremations within the city. Having constantly offered affordable prices and a caring, sociable staff, they've achieved a virtual monopoly on the business of death. After a sudden fire that caused the death of the previous owner of the company, Xell Grey took over the business with an adept hand; shortly afterwards, two members that look oddly familiar to the members of the Virion Project were adopted as part of the funeral parlor's new staff.
One question: if you cremate a body, are you ever sure that you're getting the right ashes in return?
Another question: if someone's corpse is never found, are you ever sure that they truly died?
After having newly graduated, these two college graduates end up sharing a flat. Both of them are broke -- Mihan does magic shows for a living, while Riley depends on his Twitch streamer revenue for his salary. Both of them are too dramatic to be able to interact with anybody besides each other. Both of them have somehow managed to adopt the three kids that keep sneaking into their backyard, to the point where they spent one sunny afternoon setting up an entire treehouse for the kids to play in.
Both of them are gay. Both of them are roommates. You tell me what comes next.
The Triple-Tailed Troublemakers have been tormenting the neighborhood ever since their initial inception. Cashew, the new highschooler of the group, leads Kiko and Natalia on a trail of rampage that always leaves broken glass (from badly-thrown baseballs) and overturned trashcans (from a game of tag gone wrong) scattered across the street. The two middle-schoolers are more than happy to follow along with her -- as long as they're back before dinner, of course.
Recently, they've been holing themselves up in a treehouse in the back of Riley and Mihan's property, demanding juiceboxes and free Wi-Fi as tribute in return for maintaining their peace. The rest of the neighborhood can finally breathe a sigh of relief -- with Riley and Mihan being more than willing to placate them.