The Multiverse Zoo

The Multiverse Zoo

Overview

The Multiverse Zoo is a S.U.P.L.E.X. project initiated in 2016 as an expansion of the earlier captivity and display of Chungus the Beast of Busco in a tank across from the original S.U.P.L.E.X. HQ in Bloomington. It is an actual multidimensional portal through which a number of expansive habitats for the various alien creatures, cryptozoological finds and bizarre experiments that the team has encountered in the field, serving as both a vector of scientific study and a source of Revenue. Despite several controversies, the Untamable Creature has made the Multiverse Zoo a flagship success for S.U.P.L.E.X. Corp and the franchise is expected to expand in the future.

Origin

In 2013, one of the team's earliest missions involved a legendary cryptid known as the "Beast of Busco" in the small town of Churubusco, Indiana. The creature, now estimated by scientists to be over 11000 years old, awakened for it's thousand year migration and mating cycle only to find itself completely alone, the rest of the species having been wiped out by development of the Indiana Wetlands. The monstrous sized snapping turtle went on a rampage and was almost captured by a team of supervillain poachers, but they were driven off by S.U.P.L.E.X. members Flora and Fauna, along with Dr. Badtouch. They captured the beast and moved it to Bloomington, where it was initially planned for dissection but the creature become a local hit, and the team hit upon the idea of recouping the cost of the mission by displaying the beast in a large aquarium tank. Using a scientific research grant from the city of Bloomington, they built a tank in the parking deck across from their HQ and began charging admission. It was quite successful for a time, but eventually fell out of favor.

All that changed when The Creature joined the team in Q4 2015. Distressed at the conditions of the beast's living space, he used some of his own endorsement capital to improve the space and add a display of certain other exotic animals the team had discovered on missions, such as the showtunes singing blind cave fish. This invigorated the process, and the team saw an opportunity. During The Creature's hiatus from training in 2016, he spent a lot of time with multiversal science researchers, and with the help of Singularity, developed what would become the current model for the Multiverse Zoo-the pocket dimension habitat. It allowed the team to create a bigger habitat for the Buscovite cloning program and also reduced the risk of dangerous species contamination. The team began collecting animals from the places they had encountered them right away, and added more and more attractions over the course of 2016 until the zoo's launch in early 2017. It was wildly successful, both as an income stream and a resource for the study of xenobiology and other unusual flora and fauna. Now staffed by over 200 technicians and encompassing more than 40 biomes, The Multiverse Zoo is overtaking even the Indy 500 as Indiana's number one tourist attraction, with waitlists over a month long.

Captive Species (Current)

* Chelydra Buscovius - The Beast of Busco
* Vandelia Cirrhosa Rex - The Flying Peehole Fish
* Sus Scrofa Satanus - The Satan Hog
* Classicum Asmodeus - The Nine Toned Pipefish
* Delpheus Lannaeus Uranus - The Saturn Ring Dolphin
* Harpya Malum Rosa - The Skull Fucking Eagle
* Dendricus Faux - Albertson's False Woolly Oak Tree
* Psychocelius Dives - Snob Penguins
* The Demon of Danville
* Didelphus Marsupialis Pyrrus - Giant Exploding Possum
* Polypalpus Malorium - The Soul Eating Anemone
* The Waffenraptor
* Dickwolves (DISPLAY ONLY)
* Homo Sapiens Vampirus - Vampire Wretch Spawn

Controversies

The Multiverse Zoo has had it's fair share of controversies. Critics have been against the policy of allowing research and dissection of specimens, as well as some of the policies which allow safari like tours of the actual habitats rather than the displays, as well as the policy of copywriting certain processes for use in pharmaceutical and chemical research. Many people are against the Multiverse Zoo's purely capitalist policies of selling merchandise, putting animals on display (certain animals, like the Saturn Ring Dolphins, are even trained to do tricks in low gravity) and even weaponizing some of the animals for paramilitary purposes, as on at least one occasion the Giant Exploding Possum was weaponized in a battle with the Hellrazor cult during the Afterlife wars. S.U.P.L.E.X. defends these policies as necessary to provide the rather expensive care for many of these exotic species, but the Multiverse Zoo has been the target of protests and even eco terrorist attacks, though the multidimensional nature of accessing the zoo has blunted any success in those ventures.