Glossary

A twisting, dense forest-like cluster of nerve endings located at the base of The Great Spinal column of the BioCosmos. It is here that a rebellious messenger cell named Nero meets his tragic destiny.

The eternal conflict played out through evolution. As life-forms adapt to their surroundings, they compete against each other for limited resources and space. The strong survive; the weak fall to the wayside, to extinction. Charles Darwin called this cruel process the Survival of the Fittest.

The Immune System’s “Intelligence Agents,” coordinating its response to pathogenic invasions by analyzing information received from the Council of the Mind, and using it to effectively deploy BioWarriors such as B-Cells, Macrophages, and Natural Killer Cells. They are based in satellite Lymph Nodes located throughout the BioCosmos.

An advanced handheld electronic weapon carried by The Combine Agents. Its charge can be adjusted to induce a full range of effects on Combine prey—from stunning to paralysis to termination.

The mythical, cathedral like space nestled between the twin hemispheres of the brain. Here, the supreme neuron cells known as The Council of the Mind receive and interpret thoughts, impulses, and emotions emitted by a brilliant corona of energy high above. In turn, they transmit this information throughout the BioCosmos by way of messenger nerve cells.

An enigmatic realm of unknown vastness that exists outside the barriers of the BioCosmos. It is the source of every invasive threat, every infection, every strain of bacteria—and as such, it is spoken of in hushed, sometimes fearful tones by BioWarriors. What they don’t know is that The Beyond is filled with billions of other human beings, each of whom holds within a separate Biocosmic universe.

The end of all life in the BioCosmos, the time when all biods dim forever and the lifecore ceases to beat. Every BioWarrior knows instinctively that this event is inevitable, and yet they struggle against its passage ever second of their existence.

Also known as the chest, the Thoracic Region is a complex system of sweeping plains and caverns that house the thundering Life Core of the BioCosmos. It is in this sector that the BioWarriors first battle Raze’s and his minions, who inflicts massive damage before escaping.

A collection of identical cells in function and form, that together comprise a larger whole. Tissue is one of the main structures of the BioCosmos, giving it mobile ability and more. When this tissue is infected or damaged during the Biowars, it is mended by Fibroblasts.

A chemical compound that provides immunity from a particular disease. The Combine seeks to develop a vaccine for the Z-Kron microbe, and to keep it for themselves, so as to ensure only their selected elite survive the coming plague.

Nature’s most brutally efficient engine of destruction. Since time immemorial, these microscopic pathogens have been invading hosts, seizing control of their genetic structure, and twisting it to their own image—increasing their threat exponentially with each successive infection. Few life forms have proved as durable and adaptable as viruses, the dark side of the Survival of the Fittest.

The genetically engineered microbe developed in the labs of The Combine. Its structure is as unique as it is insidious—a bacterium that carries within it the DNA of a deadly virus. Once absorbed into the skin, it kills within twelve hours—the exception being Alex Hawking, whose immune system powered by his will to survive successfully holds off the infection.

The enigmatic and ruthless head of security for The Combine’s New York City headquarters. Her real name remains a mystery, but her skills as a hand-to-hand combatant, strategist, and taskmaster are legendary. After she targets Marcus Hawking for death, she soon finds herself hunting his son, Alex—and the chase is on.

A Monocyte, or junior member of the Macrophage Corps, who worships Scathe and desperately wants to match his mentor’s contagion-killing ways. Though not yet fully matured, he possesses the Macrophage traits of grasping tentacles, the ability to fire chemical heat blasts, and an abdominal cavity that disintegrates defeated foes with corrosive enzymes.

The viral half of the Z-Kron microbe and leader of a virus army, Viron could very well usher in the Eternal Darkness—the death of the BioCosmic Universe. Like all viruses, evolution has made him a hyper-efficient engine of destruction capable of injecting his DNA into prey to breed innumerable more viruses. Despite owing Raze his very existence, the two are at best reluctant allies.