Fate of UC Gundam biological weapon Astaroth

[Gelgoog Jager]

I have never played Gundam Side Story 0079: Rise From the Ashes, but from what I have read about it on some sites, part of the story is regarding this bio weapon.

From what I read, a sample was transported from California base to Australia, from where the sample was supposed to be taken to space. The sample was destroyed when the HLV that contained it was destroyed by the White Dingos.

But this left me a few questions:

Was California Base being used to produce bio weapons, was Astaroth a special case, or was it developed elsewhere?

Why wasn't the sample taken directly from California Base to space?

Why wasn't it transported in the first HLV that launched from Australia? If I'm not mistaken the first of the four HLVs that were supposed to be launched wasn't shot down and actually reached space.

Were there any other surviving samples either on space or Earth?

I know it's a lot of questions, but I found quite interesting this unusual case of a bioweapon in UC Gundam and I would love to hear more details about it and the story behind it.

[J-Lead]

Astaroth was a bioweapon that accelerated and encouraged plant growth at exceedingly high levels, which, over the long term, would eventually turning Earth into...well, basically a giant uninhabitable forest...

...I know, It's really unique and bizarre given the setting it exists in, not to mention such a weapon would completely eliminate earth from the Earth Sphere economy, which doesn't quite make much sense given that part of Gihren Zabi's ambitions was the conquering of earth, not outright destruction of it.

But yeah, from the looks of it, Astaroth was destroyed one way or another, as it doesn't appear again in the timeline at all. Either it never reached space thanks to the White Dingos, or whoever got their hands on it may have disposed of it, deeming it too dangerous, not to mention impractical to use. It's existence simply didn't hold any long or short term benefit for either earthnoids or spacenoids; it's a weapon of slow, yet irreversible destruction (ironically through the proliferation of plant life) and nothing more.

Don't forget that Rise from the Ashes was originally meant to be the first in an ongoing storyline of games, however, so it's possible that they were indeed planning on using Astaroth in a sequel, but never got the chance.

[ArkeotheHedgehog]

Maybe Astaroth was just a diversion on the Zeon's part to draw attention away from its plans to do...other stuff. In the final days of the war, I'm sure the higher-ups in the government weren't too concerned about sacrificing the people left behind at the Hughenden HLV launch base. I'm not saying that the bio-weapon wasn't real, but, as we've said, it's pretty impractical and stands at odds to Zeon's main objective of conquering the earth. This is, of course, speculation on my part.

[blind_dead_mcjones]

Astaroth was a bioweapon that accelerated and encouraged plant growth at exceedingly high levels, which, over the long term, would eventually turning Earth into...well, basically a giant uninhabitable forest...

...I know, It's really unique and bizarre given the setting it exists in, not to mention such a weapon would completely eliminate earth from the Earth Sphere economy, which doesn't quite make much sense given that part of Gihren Zabi's ambitions was the conquering of earth, not outright destruction of it.

look at it from the same perspective you would look at other chemical/biological or even nuclear weapons, which is basically the 'if i can't have area X then no one can' line of thought when things are desperate cause they aren't going your way.

[bluemax151]

Astaroth was a ploy (although it could have been a real virus, bear in mind by that point in the story we know the Resistance group Wombat has embedded Zeon sympathizers so their intel cannot be entirely trusted. ) used by Visch Donahue to get the HLV of men and equipment launched safely from the Hughenden HLV base. Walter Curtis' Staircase to the Moon had nothing to do with the Virus but instead was a plan to retreat and gather in Africa. The EF's focus on destroying the virus and combat in other areas was distraction enough for Staircase to the Moon to be successful. The Virus (if real) was in theory destroyed with the HLV that carried it when the WD unit and EF air forces attacked the HLV base.


Gundam Side Story RFTA DC Hughenden HLV base
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PuNZxha_ohs

Gundam Side Story RFTA DC Ending (right after the Hughenden level)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WjILGvXPCX0

[ArkeotheHedgehog]

Astaroth was a ploy (although it could have been a real virus, bear in mind by that point in the story we know the Resistance group Wombat has embedded Zeon sympathizers so their intel cannot be entirely trusted. ) used by Visch Donahue to get the HLV of men and equipment launched safely from the Hughenden HLV base. Walter Curtis' Staircase to the Moon had nothing to do with the Virus but instead was a plan to retreat and gather in Africa. The EF's focus on destroying the virus and combat in other areas was distraction enough for Staircase to the Moon to be successful. The Virus (if real) was in theory destroyed with the HLV that carried it when the WD unit and EF air forces attacked the HLV base.

Now that you mention all this I went back and watched the youtube videos you posted and then it hit me: of course. It's been a few years since I played Rise from the Ashes and so I forgot that I knew...or something. I guess it wasn't speculation on my part after all.

[Gelgoog Jager]

So let me try to summarize some of the main points:

First of all, the very existance of Astaroth is being questioned. The very first idea supporting it is that it would go agaisnt Gihren's objective of controlling Earth rather than destroying it. Even if didn't exist, information regarding it was leaked to the Federation to be as a decoy so that operation Staircase to the Moon, which I assume took place somewhere else in Australia while the attack on the HLV base took place.

Now, regarding it's origin, I do would agree with the idea that Astaroth might not be useful for Gihren's goals. But on the other hand, the fact that it was developed on Earth and namely on California Base would put it in Kycillia's jursidiction and it could mean that it's development was ordered by her instead. It's not that unlikely that Kycillia had some projects she didn't tell Gihren about. I remember that one of the reasons M'Quve didn't help Ramba Ral was to prevent him, and therefore Dozle, from finding out about some of their activities at their Earth bases.

As a biological weapon that could destroy human civilization on Earth, I would imagine it would get high priority on it's transportation, which does makes suspicious the fact that California didn't ship it directly to space, nor was the HLV containing it launched first (most of the time we see that Zeon officers give priority to other things over their men's lives, especially if some sort of superweapon is involved). If it did exist, I certainly would considered that the managed to get a sample to space one way or another.

Astaroth was a ploy (although it could have been a real virus, bear in mind by that point in the story we know the Resistance group Wombat has embedded Zeon sympathizers so their intel cannot be entirely trusted. ) used by Visch Donahue to get the HLV of men and equipment launched safely from the Hughenden HLV base.

Do you mean that the leaked information on Astaroth even mentioned which HLV contained the sample, therefore making that particular HLV the priority of the White Dingos, which in turn would allow the other one, loaded with men and equipment, to launch? Or that Visch Donahue told Zeon's HQ that the first HLV was the one that contained the sample, therefore making it's recovery a high priority (higher than simply rescuing a HLV carrying his men)?

Either it never reached space thanks to the White Dingos, or whoever got their hands on it may have disposed of it, deeming it too dangerous, not to mention impractical to use. It's existence simply didn't hold any long or short term benefit for either earthnoids or spacenoids; it's a weapon of slow, yet irreversible destruction (ironically through the proliferation of plant life) and nothing more.

Gihren and Haman were indeed more interested in controlling Earth rather than destroying it. On the other hand, Char would probably have seen Astaroth as a better option than dropping asteroids on Earth, had he had at his disposal by U.C. 0093.

[bluemax151]

So let me try to summarize some of the main points:
Even if didn't exist, information regarding it was leaked to the Federation to be as a decoy so that operation Staircase to the Moon, which I assume took place somewhere else in Australia while the attack on the HLV base took place.

Here's Mark's footnote

* Although the Federation Forces assume that the enemy plan is to escape to space via the Hughenden HLV base in eastern Australia, the Principality forces in fact intend to make their way to the west coast of Australia and escape to Africa.

Astaroth was a ploy (although it could have been a real virus, bear in mind by that point in the story we know the Resistance group Wombat has embedded Zeon sympathizers so their intel cannot be entirely trusted. ) used by Visch Donahue to get the HLV of men and equipment launched safely from the Hughenden HLV base.

Do you mean that the leaked information on Astaroth even mentioned which HLV contained the sample, therefore making that particular HLV the priority of the White Dingos, which in turn would allow the other one, loaded with men and equipment, to launch? Or that Visch Donahue told Zeon's HQ that the first HLV was the one that contained the sample, therefore making it's recovery a high priority (higher than simply rescuing a HLV carrying his men)?

While you are playing the Hughenden level at a certain point Anita Julianne/OASIS reports that she is receiving a coded message from WOMBAT. This message states that the Astaroth sample is on a particular HLV.

[AnimeMun]

Ok, like most bio weapons this would be an airborne virus correct? Then wouldn't exploding the HLV with it RISK a contamination issue?

[Gelgoog Jager]

Thanks for all the replies so far.

Astaroth was a ploy (although it could have been a real virus, bear in mind by that point in the story we know the Resistance group Wombat has embedded Zeon sympathizers so their intel cannot be entirely trusted. ) used by Visch Donahue to get the HLV of men and equipment launched safely from the Hughenden HLV base.

While you are playing the Hughenden level at a certain point Anita Julianne/OASIS reports that she is receiving a coded message from WOMBAT. This message states that the Astaroth sample is on a particular HLV.

Can you please provide some more information on this WOMBAT intel group? I'm specially interested in the event that caused their information to become unreliable.

[bluemax151]

This will answer some of that
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ybCz1284Mmk

[Gelgoog Jager]

Allow me to revive this topic, not only due to the upcoming resurrection of the game itself Rise from the Ashes as part of Gundam Missing Link Side Stories, which may unveil more details on the existance of the bio weapon, but also due to something that caught my eye on the MSV-R wikia page:

Story
...
Volume 08
...
MATERIAL-H44 ASHTAROTH

http://gundam.wikia.com/wiki/MSV-R:_The ... nny_Ridden

In this case, MATERIAL-XXX is simply the designation of a chapter for this manga. Anyway, I couldn't help but think that there do might be some relationship with the Astaroth (the slight difference in name could simply be an inconsistence, just like Chimera and Chimaira).

Anyway, if anybody has read up to that chapter of the manga, could he/she let us know if there's any relationship with the biological weapon from Rise of the Ashes?

[Deacon Blues]

Basically the file contains some footage that was archived regarding the original intent of the project. There were apparently two different research paths: one was to produce a rapid-growing flora (plant population) and the other was the virus that you know causes destruction in the game (or so we are lead to believe by Chairman Gopp). One part in particular, which I guess could lead to other research, is the following:

"So if this virus vector were to be scattered inside an existing colony, what would happen?"

"If I were to speak strictly based on experimental (laboratory) results, then it should grow rapidly."

"How interesting."

"........"

"What is this virus vector called?"

"We have given it the name Astaroth."

[FinalSin66]

Im just basing this on the images i saw and not at all on the dialogue i can't read. In one of the more recent MSV-R it showed Ghiren, Degwin, a few other recognizable zeon leaders and Deikun himself in some meeting years before the war, where i think they were at least discussing the possibility of the virus based on research already done. Astaroth i think started out as a way to help repair the eco damage to earth, and this would gain Deikun's support, possibly even if long term forced people off earth seeing as he believed all of humanity should eventually move out to space. Even after his death and the desire to conquer earth it was still a potentialy powerful weapon to finish development on.

Possible spoiler

Spoiler

while used in rise from the ashes to help get zeon troops to africa and back into space i think what MSV-R might possibly reveal is that the virus was indeed completed and sent off to space. And that it is the minaret the chimera corps was formed by kycillia to protect(a bio weapon that could irreparably change the earth)

[Gelgoog Jager]

Thanks for the information!

So it seems that Astaroth do was completed after all and it is actually very relevant outside Rise from the Ashes.

In fact, if we assume that Astaroth is the Minaret itself (or at least is related to it), which was eventually entrusted to the Chimera Corps, it could somehow explain why Visch Donahue's MS-14G differs from the standard MS-14G design: it might simply be a YMS-14 from the Chimera Corps which only got some minor modifications (the arm modules) and was reclassified as a MS-14G.