Tricell Incorporated was a conglomerate originally known as "Travis Enterprises". It was comprised of three main divisions: sea cargo, natural resources development and pharmaceuticals. Tricell's pharmaceutical division was a prominent member of the Global Pharmaceutical Consortium, and was a major contributor to the funding of the BSAA. Tricell Africa is known for its collusion with Albert Wesker and the development and sale of biological weapons, as well as the development of the Uroboros virus, which almost resulted in the death of billions. Following the fall of the Umbrella Corporation, Tricell became responsible for taking over a large percentage of the market share on the black market and after buying the bankrupt WilPharma Corporation, became the world's leading pharmaceutical company. 1
History
Formation
The initial foundation for Tricell was founded during the Age of Exploration (also known as the Age of Discovery) as a shipping company known as "Travis Enterprises" by Thomas Travis, a wealthy European merchant. As a result of expansive trading with the Orient and the profits reaped from it, Travis Enterprises was able to establish their shipping division and entered the 19th century as a very profitable business venture.
In the 1800s, the youngest of seven siblings, Henry Travis, was indirectly responsible for laying the groundwork for the discovery of the Progenitor virus. With Henry's impressive 72 volume book set entitled "Natural History Conspectus", which were written from his five expeditions to Africa and contained an expansive amount of information on everything from flora, fauna, topography, minerals and folklore. The scientific community mostly discredited his books, stating that the meticulous details were the result of creative license or an overzealous imagination. The shock of this action threw Henry into a deep state of depression. With Henry's death only two years after his final expedition, his older brother spread the rumour that the set was nothing but fiction. In reality, he wanted to ensure that Travis Trading would be the only ones privy to the large amount of information within the books.
By the mid-19th century, Travis Enterprises, with Henry's books, used the information within to great extent and gained a firm foothold on Africa and exploited the abundant mineral resources contained within. Mining, oil and natural gas fields were among these endeavours, establishing the foundation for the natural resources development department of Tricell. During the mid-20th century, they had begun to collect specimens of plants, animals and insects, also using the information within Henry's books. These specimens were applied for pharmaceutical research, bringing commercial success with unique pharmaceutical products and laying the foundation for the pharmaceutical division of Tricell. During the 1960s, the three divisions of Travis Enterprises merged and formed a conglomerate; Tricell. Each division of Tricell (shipping, natural resources and pharmaceuticals) ran on its own capital and was self-supporting and able to expand its own operations independently, essentially making them seperate entities under a single parent company. Other divisions also existed between Tricell's branch offices.
Biological Weapons Development Business
Excella Gionne of the prominent Gionne family which was blood-tied with the Travis family was a woman so intelligent that she skipped grades to enter university and majored in genetic engineering. The mentally sharp Excella joined the pharmaceutical division of Tricell at the young age of 18, where her talents were noticed by Albert Wesker. However, due to being part of the Gionne family rather than a direct Travis descendant, she was only given one research team. Following the fall of Umbrella in 2003, while still angered over this, Excella was approached by Albert Wesker. Wesker approached Excella and freely shared with her the secret information stolen from Umbrella, and encouraged her to use it for product development -- the "t-virus," followed by the "t-Veronica virus." Excella successfully restarted Tricell's B.O.W. development by using Umbrella's technology provided by Wesker, significantly improving the bio-weapons business of the pharmaceutical division. In this way, Excella, who had become a valuable member of the company, strengthened her influence and later rose to the post of Tricell Africa director while still in her twenties aided by her use of flattery and intimidation.
Tricell began to dominate the B.O.W. market as it moved in to fill the gap left by Umbrella. The success of these operations gave Excella increased voice and control over the pharmaceutical division, giving Wesker himself even more of a foothold in the company through Excella. In 2004, Wesker's covert operations in Southern Europe allowed Tricell to gain access to the "Plaga" parasitic organism. A year later in 2005, another pharmaceutical company, WilPharma Corporation, bankrupted following the Harvardville incident. Tricell subsequently bought out the receeding company. Through a subsequent excavation beneath the Air Dome Research Facility, Tricell's researchers managed to retrieve a tail fragment of Curtis Miller from which they extracted the G-virus.
Following the incident in Harvardville, Tricell became a trustee corporation and financial contributor to the formation of the BSAA (Bioterrorism Security Assessment Alliance), and remained a major sponsor that continued to make financial contributions. As a result, Tricell was extremely influential in putting pressure on the BSAA headquarters if any incidents arose which were not in Tricell's best interest.
Development of the Uroboros Virus
To Excella, who wielded power, Wesker recommended to re-open Umbrella's Africa Laboratory which had been built for Progenitor virus research. Aided by the romantic feelings that she had for him, just as expected, Excella used her influence to re-open the Africa research laboratory and used Ricardo Irving (an employee of the 'Natural Resource Exploration Division', and director of the Tricell Africa oil fields) as a pawn to buy and sell B.O.W.s on the black market, thereby contributing to Wesker's research funds. Tricell themselves soon built a new facility behind the Africa Laboratory. Tricell were able to finally gain the Progenitor virus. Because the vast profits earned through illicit trading were used by the Africa location to pay for bioweapons research and development, Irving is thought to have been a member of the 'Natural Resource Development Division' as a way of concealing the relationship with the pharmaceuticals division from the BSAA Because operational trials/demonstrations of the B.O.W. were also conducted out of the African location, he was one of a handful of people with knowledge about the entire bioweapons development business. Meanwhile, Tricell researchers began developing new and improved variants of the Plagas parasite.
The first Uroboros virus, which was generated from a primordial flower, could not be used in its natural state because its poisonous effect was too strong. Due to this characteristic, research progress was more difficult than expected, but a major breakthrough was made when a change was seen in subject number 1 in 2006. A powerful virus antibody was found in the subject's body that could weaken the poison in question. This breakthrough was made possible because the subject had been infected with the t-virus in the past and mutated remnants of the t-virus remained in the subjects body even after injecting it with a vaccine.
This subject number 1 was former S.T.A.R.S. member Jill Valentine. Thought to have died during the arrest of Ozwell E. Spencer in August 2006, Wesker thought she could be useful in an experiment and saved her life and kept her in cryogenic hibernation for a long time. This caused purified viral antibodies to build up in her body, miraculously exposing the method of weakening the Uruboros virus. Wesker was jubilant. The Uroboros virus, his final card for realizing his dreams, was complete. All that remained was to put the plan into action.
Irving Arrest Operation (March 2009)
In 2009, immediately before putting the variant Plaga Type 2 and Type 3 on the black market, Irving held a demonstration/operational test to ensure the product met customer satisfaction. The latest Type 3 variant was administered to the 'Ndipaya' indigenous peoples living in the marshlands near the oil fields. He falsely portrayed it as a vaccine against an infectious disease. While women and children died immediately, men first lost their ability to think rationally and then transformed into beasts with heightened physical abilities and violent tendencies. Following an investigation by the BSAA West Africa branch, Irving became wanted tor questioning in relation to the sale of B.O.W.s.
An operational test was performed for Type 2 in the Kijuju autonomous zone as three tests for infection, containment and engagement. The details of this test comprised of giving primary doses to 10 subjects and observing and investigating how fast the disease spread. Next, data was gathered to understand to what degree the violent tendencies of the subjects could be controlled, and how much of the fighting capabilities could be drawn out. The timing of the BSAA taking an interest in the tests was inconvenient so Irving changed strategy and caused the subjects to fight them. At this time, based on information obtained from Chris, the BSAA had already decided to enter the Kijuju autonomous zone with the goal of arresting traffickers engaged in illicit trade. The BSAA could not have anticipated the B.O.W. battle and started their operations in the usual way.
The first casualty was the Alpha strike team, which was chased deep into the city by infected local people and a local infected with a sample of the Uroboros virus and subsequently eliminated. Next, The Bravo Team and Delta Team fought for their lives, not knowing that this meant that Irving was able to collect more than enough data in terms of actual combat. After finding out about their involvement, Irving unleashed the recently developed Type 2 Plagas among the population of Kijuju, triggering an incident which would eventually lead to the deaths of Irving, Excella and Wesker. Wesker set loose the Uroboros virus on Excella, whom he no longer needed, a major step in bringing the "Uroboros Project" to fruition.
Tricell's current status is unknown, but the conglomerate is believed to still be operational since it was only the pharmaceuticals division which was involved in the illegal research, development, manufacture and sale of bio-weapons.
Branch Offices
- Tricell Europe
- Tricell Americas
- Tricell Africa
- Tricell Middle East
- Tricell Asia Pacific