The Connections is an international crime syndicate that creates and sells bioweapons on the black market.  They operate mysteriously with very little known about them.  They operate globally and recruits such people as Mia Winters, Victor Gideon, and Zeno.  They have ties to the US government, the HCF, The Family, Tricell, and the Four Houses with political influences.  They were responsible for the fall of the Umbrella Corporation and one of Umbrella's founders Oswell E. Spencer, seizing Umbrella assets. 

Associating with Spencer's former mentor, Miranda, The Connections experimented with the molded to create Eveline.  Eveline is a bioweapon with the ability to control minds.  Eveline escaped, found her way to the Baker Ranch, by shipwreck resulting in an incident to which The Connections kept a close eye on Lucas Baker.  The Connections led Mother Miranda to learn of Rosemary Winters, the newborn baby of Ethan and Mia Winters, resulting in the Village incident.  Recently, The Connections, tasked Victor Gideon and Zeno to unlock Elpis.  Elpis is Spencer's mind controlling virus although it's really an anti virus cure instead.

History

Very little is known about where The Connections originated from and its origins.  In 2026, an investigation by the FBI discovered that The Connections has criminal activity since before the 1980s.  Their investigation also revealed the ties with the US government and the pharmaceutical giant Tricell going back to the 1990s.

The first known reports from The Connections dated back to 1986 when they got involved with the Umbrella Corporation.  The Connections used a puppet organization they called the F Foundation, making contact with one of Umbrella's founders, James Marcus.  A 1986 document reveals The Connections sent Marcus a $30,000,000 donation.  Marcus was killed in 1988 and his prestige with Umbrella, Brandon Bailey, took over correspondence with The Connections, replacing Marcus.  

1998, Raccoon City Incident

During the 1990s, Umbrella had grown in power and connections with US government.  With their moles, Umbrella weakened and leaked more information on The Connections.  

In the mid 1990s, another one of Umbrella's founders, Oswell E. Spencer, finished a project that was of great interest to The Connections, named Elpis.  The only known information about the project leaked, indicating the project was to upset the balance of military around the world and that it was being kept in an underground facility beneath Raccoon City known as ARK.  The Connections were yet to believe that Elpis being a super bioweapons used to control minds, and have a strong desire to obtain it.

In 1998, an Umbrella invention, the T-Virus, leaked from their research facility underneath Raccoon City, causing a viral outbreak that turned anyone infected with it into cannibal zombies.  The Connections saw this as their opportunity to seize Umbrella assets, and Elpis.  They secured ARK and lobbied for a missile strike to the city to cover their tracks and seal off Raccoon City for themselves.  At daybreak on October 1, Raccoon City was obliterated by a missile strike and what survived was placed on lockdowns.

The lockdowns were in effect for 28 years, the same time period that ARK served The Connections as a base for research, development and distribution of bioweapons.  They were however unable to obtain Elpis because a strong password that only Spencer knows could access it.

Following the disaster of Raccoon City, the Umbrella Corporation was put on the Raccoon Trials, found guilty in their involvement in the city's destruction.  The Connections influenced the trials with their contacts within the US government and Tricell.  In 2004, a year after the outcome of the Raccoon Trials, Umbrella had declared bankruptcy.  As intended by The Connections, Spencer was held responsible as CEO and went into hiding from the public. 

1994- 2014, Molded Research

In the 1990s, The Connections encountered Spencer's mentor in Eastern Europe, Mother Miranda.  They would help her in their quest to resurrect her daughter Eva.  She gave The Connections samples of Eva's DNA and genus of fungus to her part of the world called the molded.  The Connections are in league with the HCF, working together on a project that could brainwash enemy combatants using the mold.  With the embryo, they were able to produce numerous prototypes with Miranda overseeing the development of Eveline.  Eveline was the first of their E-Type creations before 2014 in Munich.  Miranda met Eveline and their assigned handlers, Mia Winters and Alan Droney.

The Connections iterated through five lines of "subjects" capable of mind control, with each successive line given a letter-based designations. The early lines such as the A-Type had performance issues and were not considered practical; later lines improved upon their abilities and made them more practical as weapons. By 2014, their most advanced series was the E-Type. A Serum made from the D-Types was also developed that would give immunization to the E-Type's mental control, and Stabilizing Compounds that would maintain Eveline's sanity and youth. Along with the series of bioweapons types, a Necrotoxin was developed for each that could destroy that type.

The Connections planned to sell their child subjects to allow the takeover of regions with their ability to mind control, converting hostile enemies into willing servants. With the creation of Eveline in 2014, competitors became aware of the changing market, since Eveline and other B.O.W.s like her could render conventional weapons obsolete, removing combat from the equation entirely.

2013 Tall Oaks

In 2013, the president of the United States, Adam Benford, was suppose to give a political speech at Ivy University.  However, the president was infected with the C-Virus and became a zombie in a terrorist attack caused by The Family.  Reports indicated that the president knew about the whereabouts of The Connections involvement in the US government and Raccoon City.

2014-2017 The Baker House Incident

In 2014, The Connections was forced to take Eveline into hiding after the BSAA, an international counter-terrorism organization, learned of them and Eveline. After a failed BSAA raid in Munich, The Connections decided to transport Eveline to a Central American lab on the LNG carrier Annabelle, using Genome Codices to assist assigned Handlers, Winters and Droney, in keeping track of her.

On October 5, Eveline lost control and damaged the ship causing its tanker to explode, knocking her out and causing the ship to drift into the Louisiana bayou. The organization chose to allow her to continue living there. By the beginning of January 2015, they set up a lab in the Abercrombie Salt Mine, provided Lucas Baker with the serum, and enlisted him as an agent.

Lucas kept in contact with the lab, keeping them up to date with Eveline's condition while in hiding. Prior to July 2017, within the lab, Lucas and staff also created new variations of the Molded, the WM-001, its offspring the WM-001a, and the WM-002. On August 26, 2016, due to not getting her maintenance chemicals, Eveline began rapidly aging and becoming unstable. On September 1, Lucas reported it to The Connections HQ, and by the 9th, the lab received a kit to make E-Necrotoxin from HQ. It was to be used if necessary but Eveline had already stabilized herself, albeit now an old woman. On June 11, 2017, The Connections made Lucas the lead researcher of the lab staff, but he subsequently killed the other researchers and covered up the murders.

At some point, the BSAA and Blue Umbrella became aware of Eveline's presence and began monitoring the Baker ranch while becoming suspicious Lucas was working with them. On July 20, 2017, Blue Umbrella arrived at the Baker estate and aided Ethan Winters in neutralizing Eveline, whom Winters had injected with the E-Necrotoxin from The Connections' lab. Although the mission was to capture Lucas alive, Chris Redfield was forced to execute Lucas, eliminating the only lead on The Connections.

In the aftermath, the BSAA decided to keep Mia Winters' involvement with The Connections in secret as a sign of appreciation for her cooperation, and she was allowed to return to civilian life without facing charges for her crimes. She and Ethan were placed under BSAA protection. A report of the events produced by Zoe Baker investigated The Connections and uncovered rumors that Brandon Bailey was the syndicate's founder, but this was false.

2017-2021 Kidnapping Of Rosemary Winters

The Connections kept tabs on the life of Ethan and Mia Winters. During his involvement in the Dulvey incident, Ethan had died and been resurrected by the mold, resulting in his body being composed entirely of Mold, which was replicating human DNA. When the Winters' baby Rosemary was born August 2020, The Connections informed Miranda of its existence. Since Miranda was researching the Mold with the goal of resurrecting her own child, Rose's existence was of interest to her. This led to Miranda kidnapping the baby in 2021.

1998 - 2026 Elpis Release

Although The Connections succeeded in mind control with their E-Type bioweapons, these Mold-based bioweapons were "inefficient" at mass infection, something that could be solved with a contagious virus. Thus, The Connections poured heavy resources in retrieving Elpis from ARK, still believing it was a mind-controlling virus, ever since ordering the missile strike on Raccoon City. Spearheading this project were Zeno and the former Umbrella scientist Victor Gideon.

Oswell E. Spencer's incomplete notes led them to Grace Ashcroft, the supposed "key" to unlocking Elpis. Misinterpreting Spencer's memory research, The Connections created many clones, such as Emily, but they were all useless, as Grace was not special nor was she part of the experiments. In truth, Grace was a baby Spencer had adopted before passing her on to the reporter Alyssa Ashcroft, who was eventually murdered by an assassin sent by Gideon in 2018. On October 9, 2026, Gideon delivered the now-adult Grace, an FBI agent, to Zeno. Taking Grace to ARK, Zeno had her enter the password to release Elpis. Should Grace answer incorrectly, ARK would be destroyed, but if she deduced the password "Hope", Elpis would be freed.

Zeno injected himself with Elpis and was horrified to realize that all of his viral enhancements were suddenly neutralized. Elpis was never a virus but an antiviral, rendering all virus-based bioweapons useless. Astounded by Spencer's genius, Gideon betrayed The Connections and killed Zeno, planning to use Elpis to destabilize a market dominated by viral research while continuing the late Spencer's eugenicist vision for humanity's forced evolution; however, this never came to fruition due to his death at the hands of Leon S. Kennedy. In wake of this, Grace wrote a report that revealed that The Connections secretly controlled the U.S. government as well as its involvement in the Raccoon City bombing, Umbrella's bankruptcy, and the recent incident with Elpis to the public. Meanwhile, The Connections sent soldiers to retrieve an "objective" from Raccoon City, eliminating the BSAA forces there and departing before the BSAA could send the Hound Wolf Squad.

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