Project GUNDAM

A top secret project carried out by the Vist Foundation to try and give wounded Huntsmen and Huntresses the chance to continue the fight, but at the cost of their human bodies. Initially proposed by Dr. Torenov Minovsky, a well renowned nuclear physicist, the project was eventually canceled because of how radical the proposal was. But not before Dr. Cardias Vist completed the prototype frame and put it into storage. He eventually got the chance to use it when Joseph Matthews was brought in with life-threatening injuries.

## History

The proposal was first thought up by Dr. Minovsky and an old colleague of his, James Ionesco. The two knew of the hard work that other companies put into their prosthetic limbs, but some of the methods to install and make sure the limbs were functional were downright invasive and required literal hardware to be wired into the brain of the limb's user. This led to a schism between the two colleagues.

Dr. Minovsky wanted to take out the human body from the equation and allow Hunters to retain their humanity by downloading their very souls so to speak into a robotic frame designed solely to combat the Grimm in large numbers. He proposed that it was for the better, as human bodies are frail and are prone to severe injury, as well as the very little known fact that the Fallen were born from a... unique bloodline... so to speak. He argued that in removing a human's body from the equation, future Fallen could be prevented from forming. To this end, he did extensive research on the Fallen that did exist, as well as the Grimm substance itself with human DNA. His research may have been frowned upon, but the results led to conclusive evidence of genetic components. The downside was that not even he knew which humans could have a 'Fallen gene'. He told fellow scientists about this information, and while most thought he was crazy, a few agreed with him and planned to fund his project.

Dr. Ionesco on the other hand took a different path. He argued that humanity needed to forego their emotions in order to properly combat the Grimm Horde. He insisted that to strip humans of their emotions would deny the Grimm their food source, so they would starve to death slowly., an argument fraught with loopholes and inconsistencies as modern science has been unable to confirm if Grimm need negative feelings to nourish and sustain themselves. He also argued for linking humanity together into a collective so as to prevent any misunderstandings about one another. At the same gathering of scientists, Ionesco put forth his proposal, but almost unanimously the group shot it down, insisting it was foolish, unethical, and foolhardy to even insist on such a thing.

This led to Minovsky cutting off all ties with his friend and taking with him the plans for his new revolutionary nuclear fusion reactor. Ionesco went into solitude for twenty years before he returned to attack his old friend, trying to show him the folly of *his* project.

However, due to a sheer stroke of luck, Dr. Minovsky wound up meeting Dr. Vist who was at an excavation site near one of his company's distribution facilities. The man was busy trying to dig up a rare meteorite that had fallen to Earth several weeks ago to try and study it, as it had unusual properties that could be beneficial for any Hunters or Huntresses at the time. But when Ionesco attacked Minovsky, Dr. Vist's guards took action to save the physicist and took him back to the company headquarters where Minovsky told the company head everything.

Dr. Vist agreed to finance the project, as he had gotten some funding a week ago to carry out study of the meteorite. But due to the radical nature of it, the scientific and medical communities decided to cut the funding, but not before the prototype frame had been created. As soon as it was finished, the frame was put into storage until further notice.

## Purpose

The purpose of Project: GUNDAM was to give wounded Hunters more of a fighting chance against the Grimm Horde. It was designed to allow for the transfer of a human mind into a mechanical frame, giving them a chance to fight against larger numbers of Grimm. The number of Grimm slain would be enormous, and a single Gundam, it was theorized, could effectively defend a whole city if there were no Hunters in the area. This also led to intense controversy from veteran Huntsmen and Huntresses, insisting that such an entity could disrupt and even jeopardize their jobs.

This led to the cutting of the funding for the project after the first frame was completed.

## Impact

Despite having been shut down, the rise of the Dragon of Denver has led to some renewed interest in the project's potential. Some have already started to delve into how it was done, but Dr. Vist has kept all files regarding the project under lock and key. This has led to a few separate efforts, spearheaded by the Anaheim Electronics division of Sanban Industries, as well as the United States military itself. A rival company to the Vist Foundation, Zeonic Industries, has also taken an interest in the project.

Even Sammael has found this to be intriguing.