Full Lore

This is the full lore of the Overgrowth universe as opposed to the history of specific locations, created by the ideas and work of the authors' team.

Abridged Version
A deadly disease, the Yellow-Faced Plague, is discovered in Brazil in 2045 and spreads to become an epidemic. This causes the children and the wife of Canadian bio-corporation CEO Sam Levinson to pass away. Devastated by loneliness, Levinson uses his company's specialization in biotechnologies to grow a synthetic daughter by the name of Samantha. Pressured by his investors, however, he retrofits Samantha with plant growth powers; the investors make plans to rent Samantha out to countries in desperate need of environmental regeneration.

Samantha experiences accelerated growth to a seventeen-year-old girl by 2048, and in that same year, she breaks out of her containment in a Genesis laboratory. Dismayed by hearing the investors' plans for her, she longs for freedom; still, there is a struggle, as Levinson's agents are sent to re-capture her.

Samantha escapes to Toronto in 2049 and is taken in by a caring woman there, taking the guise of a homeless teenager. Her synthetic growth has granted her superior intelligence and registering in a local high school, she graduates only one year later.

2050 sees the emergence of Canadians mutating from the Yellow-Faced Plague instead of passing away. These mutants, named "Brutefaces" for their abnormal appearance, are quarantined in hospitals. The brother of one such Bruteface resolves to rob a bank in Toronto, the West Eglinton Mall Bank, alongside some of his friends. They lead their robbery on Boxing Day of 2052, and Samantha finds herself in the situation. She uses her powers of plant growth to subdue the robbers, and in doing so, she gets herself and the other robbers captured by a police task force.

Medical inspectors in early 2053 examine Samantha and the robbers for the Yellow-Faced Plague; all of them are infected, but Samantha does not seem to react to the disease's effects. A seeming hope for a cure to the Plague, Samantha is sent to a secret government facility, Site Phi-Alpha, to be experimented on. Levinson and his agents are not informed of this.

One fateful experiment performed on Samantha, labeled under the title "Project X", attempts to test the Plague's reactivity to sound waves. Unexpectedly, Samantha's nature powers fuse with the Plague to release a monstrous wave of energy—one which mutates the Canadian landscape into a ferocious jungle and ravages Canada's cities. This sudden outgrowth of plants is known throughout the world as the Overgrowth. Samantha's condition is unknown.

The Full Version: Preface
In the earlier years of the 21st century, the world’s population skyrocketed than like never before. To complement this was an array of new technologies in biological manipulation and information communication, among other fields. Earth’s natural biodiversity had lessened and the oceans had an inexplicable rise from climate change. Escaping to space from such problems started to become as equal an issue as conserving the environment.

2045
A fast-spreading airborne fungal strain, officially named X9-48 and commonly known as the "Yellow-Faced Plague”, is discovered in Brazil.

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Countries around the world instantly keep their borders under lock and key for fear of the Yellow-Faced Plague spreading. Specifically, in North America, Canada closes its borders to the United States and other countries that which to use its land or airspace for travel purposes in general. This ramps up Canada-U.S. tensions drastically, as American resources are less capable of traveling to Alaska and Americans are unable to travel to Canada for economic reasons.

2047
The children and wife of Sam Levinson, the CEO of the Canadian bio-corporation Genesis, fall ill and pass away due to the Yellow-Faced Plague. Levinson is devastated by his familial loss, and using his resources from Genesis, starts to grow himself a synthetic humanoid daughter. However, his company’s investors pressure him to also fit Samantha with the power of growing nature, hoping to use Samantha as a “rental” for environmental restoration efforts.

2048
Levinson successfully nurtures his synthetic humanoid into a conscious being and names her Samantha. Samantha’s growth is accelerated to that of a seventeen-year-old youth and is kept in a cell with consistent monitoring by Genesis scientists. Despite the fact that her external features are heavily reminiscent of a human being, internally, Samantha produces extremely high frequency and compact electromagnetic waves with her body acting as both a generator and torus field. Her abilities, when utilized correctly, can re-arrange the ionic, cellular and biological structures of any and all living things, hence how she can rapidly increase the progression rate of a plant's growth.

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Samantha is in confusion concerning her identity and the state of the world and has a natural urge to escape her cell. She also starts to hear of the company investors’ plans to use her for monetary gain, as the investors personally come to her cell for inspection and the satiation of personal curiosity. In this, Levinson tries to speak to Samantha and comfort her like a father. However, he begins to get sidetracked with work alongside Canada’s government to stop the Yellow-Faced Plague.

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The testing of Samantha’s power starts around the middle of the year, in June. Samantha is given multiple plants and is asked to exert a mental force to “encourage” the growth of the plant. All tests are successful, with plant growth occurring at a rapid rate relative to typical times for growing plants. This, however, increases the talk of greed among the Genesis investors.

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In the latter part of the year, Samantha’s desire for freedom grows stronger, and her blood boils from hearing the investors speak of her as a tool or cash cow, even. With that, she uses her power to break out of her containment and destroy virtually all Genesis research relating to her. Levinson is greatly dismayed by this, and so, he sends agents of his company to track and re-capture Samantha. Their tracking missions span several years.

2049
Under the guise of an intelligent, down-on-her-luck teenager, Samantha is taken in by a caring Torontonian woman in January and becomes her “daughter”. Through accelerated courses, an individual education plan, and summer school supplements, Samantha is set to graduate in June of 2050. Samantha gains experience in social interactions and learns about pop culture. Hearing about the Yellow-Faced Plague and its persistence is something she keeps in mind when thinking about the state of humanity.

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In August, scientists find that a human genetic mutation affecting part of Earth’s population integrates with Yellow-Faced Plague fungi cells. An infected human with both the genetic mutation and the Yellow-Faced Plague would undergo a transformation into an organism of increased endurance and stamina--but a loss of empathetic capabilities. These people, unaffectionately called “Brutefaces”, gather in small pockets of groups over time, unable to smoothly interact with anyone but themselves.

2050
Samantha graduates from high school in June. In the fall, she joins the local university and takes a course on World Regional Geography to broaden her understanding of Earth. Through this course, she meets a fellow young pupil by the name of Roy Daniel Williams. Both Samantha and Roy have keen eyes for seeing the unorthodox in people, and they begin to form a special bond among their studies. At the end of the year, however, Roy makes a transfer to a military academy for easier transitioning into the Canadian Army. The two promise to stay in touch with each other.

2051
As Samantha continues her studies at her local universities, the first Brutefaces begin to appear in Canada’s hospitals, particularly from what were quarantined victims who entered the country illegally. Security at hospitals is radically increased for fear of the Brutefaces’ abilities. All Bruteface patients are stringently contained, induced into groggy states with medicine for safety.

2052
On Boxing Day, the West Eglinton Mall Bank is attacked by three armed robbers, all of which are brothers. As investigators later find, they are desperately trying to find money to pay for their younger brother’s treatment of the Yellow-Faced Plague. Samantha finds herself caught in the situation, and engages in close and far-range combat with all robbers. Using her power of botanical growth, she grows the bank’s plants in such a way that the robbers are eventually incapacitated. This allows the police to apprehend the three robbers, but it also leads to the government's apprehension of Samantha, who is considered a person of interest to the incident. Samantha and the robbers are promptly sent to medical inspectors under suspicion of having the Yellow-Faced Plague. They spend the rest of 2052 in confinement.

2053
After a few days of meticulous testing, it is determined that the robbers and Samantha have the Yellow-Faced Plague; however, Samantha has an apparent non-reactivity to the fungus, and this provides the hope for a cure to the Yellow-Faced Plague. So, she is sent to a secretive government facility, Site Phi-Alpha, and is aggressively experimented on, unbeknownst to Sam Levinson and the CEO's agents.

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In the month of March, an ambitious experiment—Project X—takes place at Site Phi-Alpha, spearheaded by scientist Callie Gorovenko.

Gorovenko wishes to test the reactivity of the Yellow-Faced Plague fungus to a variety of energy, discovering that Samantha’s physiology resulted in her fungal cells regressing to a simpler state. In one fateful test, Gorovenko blasts Samantha with copious amounts of sound energy. This, unfortunately, leads to an unforeseen circumstance.

The large amount of sound energy aggravates Samantha to the point that her nature power and infected cells fuse together in a biochemical reaction that releases a monstrous energy wave. This energy wave hits all of Canada, destroying Site Phi-Alpha and cities such as Toronto and Vancouver. It also creates the mass growth and mutation of plants throughout the Canadian landscape, effectively transforming Canada into a jungle. The whole world is taken aback by this sudden transformation, and it is labeled as the Overgrowth. Samantha's condition is unknown, and Canadians are left to fend for themselves.