The Smoke War
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–Ayin, Lobotomy Corporation Day 31 | ||
The Smoke War (연기 전쟁, Yeongi jeonjaeng) was a great Wing War that ended ten years before Limbus Company,[1] pre-dating the events of Lobotomy Corporation.
It was through this war that Lobotomy Corporation could be founded in place of the L Corp. which came before it.
Overview
The Smoke War was one of few Wing Wars: catastrophic conflicts between two or more of the City's Wings known to result in mass destruction and bloodshed. Due to the power and influence of the Wings, wars between them are not started nor ended lightly. In particular, the Smoke War was known for the use of deadly chemical and biological weapons, and the fall of both the Old L Corp. and G Corp. Throughout the war, a vast amount of smoke clouded the skies.[2] The smoke could be traced to one source, known to be "outright hideous" and vomit-inducing, in the form of the Old L Corp.'s Singularity.[3] Veterans who caught view of the Singularity during their time at war would later have their memories of it wiped.
The seeds of the war began at an Outskirts Laboratory when its head researcher Carmen committed suicide, leaving a junior researcher by the name of Ayin to take her place. When their research was reported to the Head, the laboratory and its researchers suffered a devastating attack at the hands of its Arbiter and Claws. As the sole survivors, Ayin and Benjamin were forced to seek out a way to continue their research in safety, ultimately choosing to take down and replace a Wing. The previous L Corp. turned out to be an easy candidate, given that many other Wings were already against them due to their high prices and smoke production. Ultimately, many had complaints, and the only reason that the Old L Corp. was not overtaken sooner was due to the lack of energy alternatives combined with fear of the inevitable war.[4]
To set the war in motion, Benjamin contacted The Udjat’s leader, Dias, who found it to be in her best interest.[5] Dias single-handedly pulled many strings of the war, including recruiting R Corp.’s Fourth Pack.[4] During the war itself, some Wings, such as K Corp. and I Corp., participated by hiring Fixers,[2] while R Corp. and the Old G Corp. both provided their own soldiers. There are still some parties whose involvement is unknown or unclear. Different parties fought as they saw fit, with the former G Corp. having a unique approach in the form of bug-like augmentations for most of its employees.[6] Gregor compares the augmentation procedures to Lobotomy Corporation employees signing themselves up to die at the hands of Abnormalities; those from the old G Corp. likely loosely understood that they would be operated on, but were not properly informed about the extent of it or the consequences.
Despite its disastrous consequences, the Smoke War was approached more optimistically by certain individuals. Particularly, Canto I: The Outcast demonstrates the positive effects of the Old G Corp.'s propaganda on its soldiers, such as Tomah. During this time, Gregor was paraded as a symbol of hope for his fellow fighters, given that he had higher quality insectoid augmentations and had been operated on by Hermann herself.
The Smoke War concluded with the downfall of the Old L Corp., allowing Lobotomy Corporation to take its place as an energy production Wing. Despite the war’s impact on the City, little about the event is known concretely.
Aftereffects of the War
Most notably, the Smoke War led to both the downfall of the Old G Corp. and Old L Corp. This made way for the new L Corp., Lobotomy Corporation, which was the cause of the White Nights and Dark Days and therefore the manifestation of Distortions and E.G.O within the City's residents.
However, countless unnamed lives were lost in the war and many individual lives were adversely affected. In particular, the Old G Corp. permanently altered many of its soldiers with bug augmentations, who would go on to be horribly ostracized as a result of their appearance and stigma that comes with being from a fallen Wing. Gregor himself would be forced to live with trauma from the war and a verminous arm which would sometimes act against his will, affecting his daily life. In Gregor's memories, Tomah also mentions a bomb which rapidly ages those exposed to it and even converted one outpost into a "nursing home".
Additionally, the outcome of the war led to City limits on the production of smoke.[7]
Supporters of Old L Corp.
Old L Corp.
Not to be confused with Lobotomy Corporation, which overthrew them. The fallen Wing was also an energy supplier, but was widely unpopular amongst Cityfolk and other Wings for its high prices and smoke pollution. Through a series of manipulations, three individuals caused the Smoke War, which led to this Wing's collapse and allowed the new L Corp. to take its place.
E Corp.
Participated in the Smoke War in the Mirror World of Old G Corp., as described in Outis' G Corp. Head Manager Identity. It is unknown whether the same lore applies to the main world of Limbus Company.
F Corp.
Participated in the Smoke War in the Mirror World of Old G Corp., as described in Outis' G Corp. Head Manager Identity. It is unknown whether the same lore applies to the main world of Limbus Company. Interestingly, F Corp. is actually one of the few Wings specifically mentioned to have been unhappy with the Old L Corp.[4]
Old G Corp.
Not to be confused with the current G Corp., the former G Corp. was involved in the Smoke War, specializing in genetic augmentation. This was implemented in their soldiers, often in the form of insect genetics. They collapsed after the war under unspecified conditions and were eventually replaced with a new G Corp.
Opponents of Old L Corp.
I Corp.
Participated in the Smoke War as a major party. Promised Smoke War veterans that they would be allowed first priority when moving into their Nest, but went back on this policy, ultimately not allowing any veterans whatsoever.
K Corp.
Participated in the Smoke War as a major party. Promised Smoke War veterans that they would be allowed first priority when moving into their Nest, but went back on this policy, ultimately not allowing any veterans whatsoever.
R Corp.
R Corp.'s Fourth Pack participated in the Smoke War to avoid elimination by R Corp. in a deal with Dias.[8]
The Udjat
Participated under Dias' command. Notably cooperated with the Fourth Pack.[5]
Known Smoke War Veterans
Old G. Corp
- Hermann (Corporation director who oversaw body augmentations; not a soldier)
- Old G Corp. Head Manager (Head manager)
- Gregor (Manager)
- Tomah (Assistant private)
I Corp.
- Salvador (Part of a war-hired Fixer Association)
- Walter (Most likely part of a war-hired Fixer Association)[9]
R Corp. Fourth Pack
- Nikolai (Commander of the Fourth Pack)
- Myo (Captain of the Rabbit Team)
- Rudolph (Captain of the Reindeer Team)
- Maxim (Captain of the Rhino Team)
The Udjat
- Dias (Leader of the Udjat who ran various operations; not a soldier)
- Moses (Captain)[5]
- Ezra
- Han Hee-joon
Unknown Allegiance
Trivia
- The staff at Project Moon has, in the past, had hopes of making an animated series focused on the Smoke War. A script was even written for ten episodes worth of this hypothetical series, meant to depict "events from the build-up to the aftermath of the Smoke War".[11]
- Nothing has ever come of this ambition, despite the official Project Moon social media having made a Twitter post announcing the creation of this project back in 2019, before Library of Ruina had even released.
References
- ↑ Branch D-02/Floor 2 - Gregor: "Look, the war ended a decade ago."
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 Library of Ruina Binah, Episode V
- ↑ Library of Ruina Binah, Episode V - Roland (referring to the source of the smoke): "What… is that thing…"
Salvador: "You’d better get used to this kind of scenery. The Singularities that keep the City running all have a nasty truth or two hidden from the public eye." - ↑ 4.0 4.1 4.2 Maxim's Complete Page
- ↑ 5.0 5.1 5.2 The Distortion Detective Chapter 37, Noise
- ↑ Canto 1-8 - Faust: "In the past, G Corp. had procedures on most employees to give them biomimetic weapons like the one Gregor has."
- ↑ Intervallo 5.5-18 - Faust: "Of course, I must also inform you that the conditions have improved somewhat after the Smoke War due to the various extenuating, prohibitive conditions introduced by the outcome of that war that limits the production of smoke. Before the war—"
- ↑ Nikolai's Complete Page
- ↑ Salvador and Walter are stated to be old friends, having been colleagues of the Zwei Association (Dawn Office Pre-battle). In Salvador's Smoke War flashback with Roland, he mentions that his entire Association has been hired to fight for I Corp. Given this, it's likely that Walter would have also participated in the war.
- ↑ Roland participated in the Smoke War for a Nest permit, which was offered by both I Corp. and K Corp. He mentions both of them when cursing their decision to revoke their promise of Nest permits, and does not indicate to Salvador whether or not the two of them are fighting for the same Corp. There is a potential Roland was contracted to both given that they operated on the same side of the war.
- ↑ Library of Ruina Artbook, page 426
External Links
- Smoke War - Library of Ruina wiki
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