arasaka special programs

history

founding

Following Hanako Arasaka's new testing trials of the Soulkiller technology, Landon Snow founded Special Programs in 2046 as a way to get the proper funding necessary to keep experiments running. Initially counting a staff of only ten members, Special Programs quickly became the smallest as well as one of the most important branches of Night City Arasaka, allowing for much more extensive research on new technologies as well as an additional layer of privacy, as a large chunk of the corporation itself remained unaware of its existence.

Early testing mostly involved the earlier variants of Soulkiller, developed and improved on in 2013 by Alt Cunningham, and already used on various victims with Johnny Silverhand as the most notable one back in 2023. Hanako aimed for a more refined version of the software, which she eventually achieved with the Secure Your Soul program, focused on creating digitalized personality constructs without killing the host in the process– a byproduct of Soulkiller, which proves to be a problem up until many years later, as clients of the Secure Your Soul program still experienced major complications and even passed away in some cases.

serpent projects

In October 2061, Arasaka launched a series of projects called the SERPENT projects, focused on an alternative method of evolving and weaponizing humankind without the use of Soulkiller. The software was deemed too unstable to be reliable enough for widespread use, and the SERPENT projects would offer a better solution for this. Andrew Colton was appointed as director.

The projects were named after snake species in alphabetical order, with each project being an iteration on the previous one. The iterative workflow maximized efficiency and would lead to more effective and reliable results in the test subjects, and it would allow for shorter bursts of creative processes to prevent the development of the technology from stalling.

project asp

Project Asp was the first project in the SERPENT series, revolving around an experimental technology focused on trying to gain control of a subject’s body. It combined knowledge from earlier technologies such as the doll chip and the early prototype versions of the Relic– to be officially created in 2070 by Anders Hellman– to create a chip that blocks certain encephalic functions and stimuli to make a subject more obedient.

Early testing failed horrendously due to malfunctions caused by Soulkiller, which was at that point still being used as a passive base for the rest of the software. Later prototypes no longer used Soulkiller but proved to be less reliable and more prone to overheating such as the doll chips. The project was discontinued in December 2062 after a fire in one of Arasaka’s science facilities, destroying most of its labs and the project’s contents.

project boa

Project Boa commenced in April 2063 and Kaida Akiyama joined Colton’s team, as recruiter, training overseer, and quality control manager across all of Special Programs. Among many others, test subjects Beckett Rydel, Gabriel Mason and Xavier Mason were recruited for the project in early 2064. Hanan Chisaka was called in as Head of Security in June 2065.

The new program focused on enhancing a subject’s physical abilities through cybernetic enhancements, implants, and drugs, and amplifying the results through the chip created in Project Asp. It was deemed a highly promising project, in which the two aspects turned out to amplify one another; the chip strengthened the effects caused by the enhancements, whereas the enhancements strengthened the overall control of the chip on the subject’s brain.

The project was discontinued after Gabriel Mason went on a rampage through Arasaka labs in July 2065, as a result of faulty balancing of enhancements and chip control. Further investigation showed the chip overheated and burnt out, causing the subject to go into an uncontrollable and destructive overdrive.

project cobra

Project Cobra commenced in the same month as Project Boa was discontinued. Dr. Alana Cartier joined the team amongst many others from Arasaka Science, since Colton had proven to not be able to handle the scientific side of the SERPENT projects. Rydel continued as a test subject until his mysterious vanishing in August 2066, and the Mason twins were brought back in for testing trials in May 2067. Many new test subjects were recruited for the project, including Sebastian Vidal in November 2066, who soon proved to be the SERPENT projects’ most promising asset.

Project Cobra revolved around experimental encephalic chips used to alter a subject’s stimulus processing and gain temporary control of their actions when activated. The chips, better known as Cobra chips, would be installed in the frontal lobe and served as filter for any stimuli and signals, amplifying and reducing them to alter the subject’s reactions, reflexes, and alertness to the user’s needs. Through correct installment and use of various cybernetic enhancements, implants, stabilizers and stimulants, the subject could be turned into a shell of a person without any free will, essentially turning them into an obedient supersoldier.

Activation of the chips– dubbed “Arasaka mode”– caused the subject to go into overdrive for a specific amount of time, duration depending on their bodily limitations, age, overall health, and active stimulants. This Arasaka mode was the most desirable state for the user, since the subject is at their strongest while in this mode. However, the limitations of the human body would make it impossible for someone to remain in this mode forever, and if used too often it could still lead to death.

Project Cobra built on its previous projects, using two chips rather than one to prevent overheating and damaged hardware. Rather than installing the chips in the center of the cerebral cortex, they were to be installed superficially in the frontal lobe. The Arasaka mode was a controlled state of being, inspired by Gabriel Mason’s rampage caused by the amplification of his abilities through his chip overheating; built up stress in the subject’s system would purposely cause an overdrive, which turns this stress into adrenaline and physical power to make the subject unstoppable for the duration of the Arasaka mode.

The software on the Cobra chips was a flexible program that would grow and evolve with its host, unable to actively alter anything about their personality or memories. It channeled stimuli to provoke a desired reaction out of the subject, but could not control or predict this reaction. This is why installment of additional cybernetics and implants and control through stabilizers and stimulants was a necessity for the program to function correctly.

As successful as the technology behind Project Cobra was, the project still started showing serious cracks during its runtime. This was mostly caused by the crumbling marriage of Cartier and Vidal– the former cheating on her husband with Colton, the latter unaware until late 2072. The two got a divorce in early 2073, after which Vidal’s health spiraled into a new low; the continuous testing throughout the years, as well as the Arasaka mode episodes he’d had to endure on nearly weekly basis, took a toll on him to the point he could barely function and get through his days.

In preparation for a deal with MaxTac, Colton, Cartier and Vidal attended a meeting with the special ops department of the NCPD in May 2073, where the latter met Officer Reid Bennett for the first time. They would meet again a few months later at the annual NCBC, where Vidal punched Bennett on the nose following provoking behavior of the latter. The incident caused the Arasaka-MaxTac deal to vanish off the agenda, and Vidal– who had been falsely led to believe he had killed Bennett– was forcibly removed from Arasaka grounds by Colton.

After Vidal’s departure, not many new advancements were made in Project Cobra or the SERPENT projects in general for a decent amount of time. Akiyama and Chisaka were both relocated to oversee the Mason twins and their progress; any new test subjects that were recruited did not make it very far.

Colton and Cartier learned that Vidal had survived in early 2074. In order to try and deal with him in secret, the two began hiring assassins to hunt him down; though most of them did not last any longer than two attempts. This continued until early 2077, with Cassidy Shaffer as the final assassin hired by Special Programs. By then, Project Cobra had halted nearly entirely.

relic project

In January 2070, Anders Hellman was appointed director of the Relic Project. The project built upon the Secure Your Soul program and even the earlier versions of Soulkiller, and served as parallel technology to the Cobra chips.

The Relic was a biochip prototype created specifically for an engram to be stored on. This would allow engrams harvested through Soulkiller and the Secure Your Soul program to be transferred from Mikoshi to a portable chip, which would allow people to communicate with their lost ones; however, this projection of a deceased loved one was merely a copy of the original person in question, since the engram is not and has never been their actual soul.

Hellman successfully created a second version of the Relic in late 2076, which allowed an engram to overwrite a living person’s psyche. This meant the engram could now be uploaded to a body. The technology did not work on dead or dying bodies, meaning the new host has to be actively overwritten for an engram to receive a functioning body. This version of the Relic was never meant for public use, and could instead be used by the Arasaka family to gain immortality.

The Relic Project was halted when a prototype carrying the engram of Johnny Silverhand was stolen in early 2077. Hellman ran away from the corporation and sought shelter at Kang Tao.

elysium investments

In March 2075, the Elysium Project was started by Kinsley Osborn and Maxwell Crane. Construction commenced a few months later, but was halted in January 2076 due to financial issues. As Crane’s cousin, Andrew Colton showed interest in the spaceship’s construction and the possibilities it could hold were it to be finalized, and struck a deal with Osborn to continue construction.

Following Landon Snow’s retirement from Arasaka in July 2076, Colton was appointed as Head of Special Programs, a task he would fill alongside his role as Director of the SERPENT projects. When Elysium was sent into orbit in late 2076, this new position allowed Colton to start relocating forces to the spaceship and have them build several smaller stations to be sent into orbit between Elysium and the Crystal Palace.

apex program

Following Yorinobu Arasaka’s takeover of the corporation in July 2077, things changed for Special Programs. Andrew Colton was temporarily shoved aside as Yorinobu insisted on overseeing the branch himself, and he introduced a new program, which soon enough became known as the APEX program.

The program focused specifically on the additional functions of the Secure Your Soul program– memory wiping, undesirable trait removal, and adding or removing skills to the human psyche. The latest technologies acquired in the SERPENT projects allowed for the program to be run on living test subjects rather than engrams, allowing Arasaka to turn subjects into brainwashed supersoldiers.

Hanako Arasaka– taken captive by her brother after the attack on Mikoshi and presumed dead by the public– became the program’s first successful test subject and was appointed as its director. Adam Smasher and Rogue Amendiares, both also successfully captured in the attack, were turned into test subjects as well.

However, testing trials soon ran into complications. Soulkiller was still an active part of the software, continuously running in the test subjects rather than at a single point in time like with the Secure Your Soul program– the moment the engram is made– which inevitably led to the host dying. To prevent this, Arasaka was forced to develop a stabilizer in September 2077, to keep Soulkiller dormant. That same month, Vitali Dobrynin was added to the test subject lineup.

Despite its faulty and unstable technology and the loss of all its test subjects by the end of 2077, Arasaka still sought to commercialize the program in an attempt to get Arasaka back on the market. The APEX program was revealed to the public in August 2078, but following the assassination of Grant Armitage at the night of the reveal, the program was rolled back and discontinued for public use.

Hanako Arasaka– who had been staying in safehouses in the care and protection of Oda Sandayu and Goro Takemura– recovered and returned to the public in September 2078, after which she successfully took back control of the corporation. Special Programs was handed back to Colton.

special programs in space

With Hanako Arasaka back in control of the corporation, Special Programs was forced to work on various different projects, much to the dismay of Andrew Colton, who was looking to continue the SERPENT projects with new insights from the APEX program. Project Dasypeltis commenced in secret, as a combination of the APEX program and Project Cobra; the project was worked on in the smaller space stations Colton’s team constructed a few years back, but he lost contact with each station over time without figuring out why.

Project Dasypeltis combined the two technologies from previous projects together to finetune the subject’s personality to make them more pliant for the Cobra chips. This would reduce the possibility of the subject forcing themself out of Arasaka mode or learning to control the chips, which was initially the problem with Project Cobra.

Colton sought to move the project into Elysium, though needed to gain direct access through Hanako. This led to Kaida Akiyama becoming her advisor and assistant in November 2078, to get on her good side for Special Programs’ ticket into space.

On top of the continuation of the project, Alana Cartier was working on a piece of tech which would allow her to regain control of the Cobra chips of Sebastian Vidal. With her ex husband still alive, she was planning on leading him into Elysium where the tech could be installed in his brain. Akiyama was sent into Elysium in late 2080 to bring Cartier’s tech into the labs, and to get final preparations done to trick Vidal into visiting the spaceship.

In the meantime, Project Dasypeltis had evolved into Project Eryx under the command of Maxwell Crane. Early testing had been promising, but lacked oversight and efficiency which had prompted the CEO to take control of the SERPENT projects without his cousin knowing. Project Eryx used the technology of previous projects, but took a completely new approach in the hosts it used; rather than focusing on the human psyche it attempted to create a new type of cyborg which would lack the humanity that caused previous projects to fail.

The Cobra chips were no longer used and the software was instead installed directly onto the host’s mainframe. The flexibility of the new hosts– more robot than human, and in some cases the entire human aspect was lacking altogether– allowed for experimentation with highly advanced cybernetic enhancements and military grade tech and upgrades, turning the test subjects– dubbed “prototypes”– into dangerous, unstoppable killing machines.

Upon learning the projects had taken a turn for the worse in Elysium, Akiyama promptly decided to change the initial plans for Vidal’s visit to space and caused an outbreak to happen in the secret labs, to destroy Crane’s creations. In January 2081, Vidal showed up in Elysium, accompanied by Cassidy Shaffer, hired by Colton and Cartier in secret to supposedly figure out what was going on in Elysium; in reality, they were supposed to clean up Crane’s mess and Cartier’s team would install the piece of technology in Vidal’s brain, allowing her to regain control of his chips upon his return to Night City.

However, Elysium suffered a ship-wide outbreak in March 2081, following Vidal and Shaffer’s investigations and their collaboration with security specialists Aubrey Valentine and Leon dello Russo. Part of this was caused by the lack of humanity of the prototypes; it had corrupted the installed program– which grows with its host– and turned the prototypes more and more dangerous, violent, and uncontrollable over time, leaving Elysium as a ticking time bomb. The outbreak was dealt with, but with millions of eurodollars in repairs needed, Arasaka withdrew itself from Elysium, and the SERPENT projects came to an end.

end of special programs

Following the disastrous events in Elysium, Special Programs was left with not much technology to work with. In July 2081, Alana Cartier managed to regain control of Sebastian Vidal’s Cobra chips– though this lasted for less than a month as Vidal was rescued by the Cobras, leaving Cartier empty-handed. This prompted her and Andrew Colton to escape from Arasaka and go into hiding.

Following their departure from the corporation, Special Programs was officially shut down and all remaining employees were divided over other branches and departments.

hierarchy

Landon Snow was Head of Special Programs from its founding in 2046 to 2076, after which Andrew Colton took on that position. The directors of the various projects would report back to the Head of the branch– Colton as director of the SERPENT projects, Anders Hellman as director of the Relic Project, and Hanako Arasaka as director of the APEX program. Yorinobu Arasaka briefly took over in 2078 as Head of Special Programs, but this role was then returned to Colton up until his departure in 2081.

Each project’s hierarchy was mainly based on its needs. The SERPENT projects had a science division led by Alana Cartier, a security division led by Hanan Chisaka, and recruitment was overseen by Kaida Akiyama, who also did quality control across all of Special Programs.

In Special Programs’ transfer to space, Dr. Francesca Valentini was appointed as Head Scientist in Elysium. Maxwell Crane appointed himself as Head of the branch without Colton’s knowledge, though officially it was still Colton who was running the show.

notable test subjects

• Beckett Rydel
• Gabriel Mason
• Xavier Mason
• Sebastian Vidal
• Hanan Chisaka
• The Prototype

external affairs

Following the canceled Arasaka-MaxTac deal after the NCBC in June 2073, Reid Bennett became head executive of an investigation into Arasaka’s Special Programs branch. His job was to figure out what Arasaka was working on– initially meant to be part of the deal– and extract data to give MaxTac access to the technology. His investigation got close to several of Special Programs’ projects, though through Arasaka’s Counterintelligence department he was unsuccessful in obtaining any vital information. His investigation ended in 2079 when he managed to link Special Programs to Elysium; his superiors did not believe him and put him on other investigations instead.

Vitali Dobrynin was the Counterintelligence agent assigned to Special Programs. While he was successful in diverting any attempts from mainly MaxTac and Militech to get in on the projects, he was never fully briefed on the secret branch; many of his attempts to get in touch with Andrew Colton were rejected by the director, and Dobrynin’s investigations led him nowhere.

Militech Officer Michele Diaz showed interest in Special Programs from the moment rumors first began. She tried to strike a deal with Landon Snow, who continuously ignored her throughout the years. Elysium construction intrigued Diaz and she quickly figured Arasaka was funding the project, prompting her to keep a close eye and gather intel. She struck a deal with Maxwell Crane behind Kinsley Osborn’s back to get test results sent her way, using Crane’s dislike for his cousin– Andrew Colton– to get this done. Her initial plan was to use the gathered data as blackmail against Colton to get in on Special Programs; however, a massive data leak in 2079 put an end to that. Crane threatened to end the deal, to which Diaz responded with spending more corporate money on the spaceship– but after the incidents in Elysium in March 2081, on-site Militech investigations and lawsuits followed which inevitably led to Diaz’ demotion in February 2082, abruptly putting an end to her investigations and investments.

Andrew Colton’s older brother, William Colton, used to be a big sponsor of Special Programs and collaborated with his brother where possible on the SERPENT projects. However, following their cousin’s death in the Elysium incidents, he cut ties with Arasaka in April 2081 to start his own company, called Cobra Cybernetics. He had stolen many blueprints over the years from Arasaka with cybernetic designs to use for his own company, including blueprints stolen by Arthur Jenkins from Biotechnica which were transferred over to Special Programs after Jenkins got fired from Counterintel. The Cobra Cybernetics-Biotechnica scandal that followed in July 2081 was eventually traced back to Arasaka Special Programs sometime in 2084, during an investigation of a collaboration of the Cobras, Club Bodytalk, and the Crest into Cobra Cybernetics.