The Zone

The Zone is awash with wild theories about the real cause behind the initial explosion, the creation of the Exclusion Zone and what the Government scientists are really doing there. Here are a few of the more popular and enduring.

The original explosion was in fact a crash landing of some kind of alien vessel. The vessel contained a device known as the Alloy Engine, a form of automated factory that creates new materials out of whatever it can find around it. The Government has captured this engine, which may or may not be sentient but in its periodic attempts to escape some of the anomalous materials it creates have been released into the Zone, out of Government control. Those who believe the Alloy Engine is sentient also believe it is here purposefully and has clear goals in mind.

The vast majority of conspiracy theories concern what the Government are doing in the Zone and why it needs such a vast exclusion zone to conceal it. One of the most popular topics tends to be the creation of some form of super soldier. The Protean is supposedly the final product of an attempt to create a stealth soldier. Accounts vary as to whether the stealth ability was applied to the test subject or their suit first, but they all agree on the end result, a human being capable of shapeshifting. No-one is clear how it happened but the consensus is that the Protean is loose in the Zone, pursuing their own agenda. A great deal of Government resources are being expended on his recapture, but to no avail. As to the Protean's agenda, none can say.

One abiding rumour is that the Zone houses the Next Nation Project, a Government plan to prepare for an extinction-level event of some kind. Somewhere within the Zone is the access point for a vast underground network of housing, hydroponic farms, scientific installations and power plants. The Exclusion Zone itself is under a subsidence risk due to the works below, hence the barriers. This rumour is often dismissed because it offers no explanation as to where the unusual phenomena of the Zone originate.

Often cited in conjunction with the Next Nation conspiracy is the Balrog. To be clear, no-one seriously believes there is a Balrog below the Zone, but it is believed that the people excavating for the Next Nation Project unearthed something untoward and that all the strange phenomena in the Zone originate from whatever it was they dug up. The exact nature of the Balrog varies from person to person, but it is usually alien technology or something left behind by previous advanced civilisations such as Atlantis.