Raccoon City

Raccoon City is an industrialised urban area located in the Midwestern United States of America. To the north, beyond the vast Raccoon Forest, is the Arklay Mountains, a rich habitat of fertile forest and hills, home to a multitude of woodland creatures and very popular with tourists. The city dam is also located here as the source of the town’s water supply.

As of 1998, the city boasted a population of over 100,000 residents, classifying it as a mid-sized metropolis. Once nothing more than a tiny little town, the large-scale international Umbrella Corporation made the city’s growth possible and the fact that Raccoon City was the birthplace of Umbrella back in 1968 was a big draw for the tourists. Umbrella began to create factory after factory and this brought about the rapid growth of the city. Roughly 3 out of every 10 citizens are employed by Umbrella or at least have associations with them, although many are unaware of the company’s more clandestine practices.

The history of the town dates back to the late 19th century when it was first founded in 1881. Anyone who visits City Hall would be reminded of this fact thanks to the many golden plaques situated around the building referencing the date signifying the birth of the town. It is also said to be named after the plentiful amount of Raccoons inhabiting the area. At that time it was nothing more than a small farming hamlet and it wasn’t until the 20th Century that progress was made to expand its borders. In 1913, a large cemetery was built near the northern part of the city and not long after that, plans were afoot to construct a small university. During the 1930’s, renowned Japanese architect K. Ozawa submitted designs for the university building that would soon make this dream into a reality. The town also gained its first General Health Inspector with the appointment of Davido Ureski in 1933. In the 1940’s, construction of the university was finished following completion of its clock tower during the Second World War. Many of Raccoon’s citizens fought in World War II, including Don E. Joe who served in the Royal Navy and was later given a memorial plaque in Raccoon Park.

Nothing but a small town for many generations, Raccoon’s significant history begins in the early 1960s when engineer Michael Warren visited the city to help work on expanding and relaying the city’s electrification grids. In 1968 Warren played a large part in installing a state of the art tram system throughout the city. This was a major coup for the town as these cable cars had been constructed in Europe at great expense before being imported across to America. This same year also saw Gerard M. Topenhat named as town mayor and the formation of Umbrella Pharmaceuticals by Oswell E. Spencer, Edward Ashford and Dr. James Marcus which promised an influx of industry and new jobs for citizens to boost the city’s economy. Just a year after that, Oral and Werner of the Kite Brothers constructed the town’s first railway line, beginning with just one mile of track and only three stops. However, thanks to the economic rejuvenation provided by Umbrella, the railway would continue to expand over the next 20 years and by 1989 would have over 8 miles of track and 8 fully working stations. An underground subway was also constructed which was a rarity for such a town of modest size.

Michael Warren developed a keen interest in administration and politics and was praised for his distinguished service. Thanks to his recognised achievements, he was elected mayor of Raccoon City in 1987. Warren and Umbrella began to form a very close relationship and the city received significant financial support from the corporation. Welfare, public service, construction of medical facilities, public orders of maintenance…the public invested in everything and it all made the town grow and prosper into an economically sound environment. The corporation began to gain even more influence in the city’s politics, and Raccoon City thrived under it. Umbrella even built a secret research facility underneath the centre of the city unknown to the public from 1991-1993 and continued its top secret viral research undetected. 1992 saw the General Hospital built as a replacement for the old hospital located in Raccoon Forest and Michael Warren was awarded with a bronze statue erected outside of City Hall which was also extensively refurbished and rebuilt. Alongside several other private companies, Umbrella was the main sponsor of the tremendous city project and Mayor Warren’s ‘The Bright Raccoon 21st Plan’, which was intended to fight crime and protect the environment. This helped establish Umbrella’s positive corporate image in the city.

Although the city continued to prosper, Warren and the council’s increasing reliance on Umbrella for funding meant they were easily influenced by the company and speculation festered that the mayor was in Umbrella’s pocket, with many of his decisions being not just good for the town, but also beneficial for the company. By the mid-1990’s, the town was effectively under Umbrella’s grip and they took full control over the central sewer system and had several clandestine facilities up and running throughout the city.

Because of Warren’s campaign, the town gradually transformed from rural community to an industrialised city. However, Raccoon’s rapid expansion and modernisation was accompanied by rising crime rates and even terrorist activities. In response, and as part of the Bright Raccoon 21st Plan, the Special Tactics and Rescue Service {S.T.A.R.S.} team was created in 1996, as a countermeasure to this wave of crime. This further linked Umbrella to the city as they had provided 50% of the funds for the project, granting them significant influence when it came to recruiting its members. The Raccoon Police Department itself is located on Ennerdale Street in the heart of the city. They took residence here in the late 1980’s following the closure of a major art museum.
By 1998, Warren was in his 11th year as mayor. He was held in such high esteem it seemed inevitable he would go on to serve another term in office until the infamous biohazard incident of September 1998 put paid to all that.

The precise location of the city has never been determined other than it classified as being in the American mid-west. It is surrounded by largely flat desert but has direct access routes to the neighbouring towns of Stoneville, Kant City, Opossum City and Arklay City. There are plenty of landmarks and key locations and the city is divided into Uptown and Downtown districts with a majority of stores and communal services located within. One main river flows through the centre of town which is the Circular River. Other rivers such as the Aimes and Marble Rivers branched off into Raccoon Forest. The north eastern portion of town is known as the Cedar District and there are numerous industrial zones on the outskirts. The downtown district of the city contains many points of interest such as the St. Michael Clock Tower, the city college, City Hall, Raccoon Zoo and the General Hospital. This is also the main residential zone of the town. The uptown district contains Raccoon East Elementary School, Bar Black Jack, and numerous other commercial and entertainment hotspots and eateries. There is also a shopping district and a mall located just off the bridge over Main St.

Transport links to the town consist of several main roads leading into the uptown district. The three main roads into the city are Darios Street, Fox Street, and Ema St. There are also several minor roads leading out of the city through the forest. Griffin Road is located in the Cedar District and runs out through the north-eastern Raccoon Forest near to Victory Lake. For north-western routes, Spear St branches out into three small roads leading out of town. The citywide tram system also runs to the neighbouring town of Stoneville to the east via the Raccoon-Stoneville line and to Arklay City in the west via the Raccoon-Arklay line. The heart of the tram system runs from Central Station on Raccoon Street and was first opened in 1968. There is also a citywide bus service known as ‘Raccoon City Link’. As well as police and medical facilities, the Raccoon City Fire Department is also based in town. They had a special unit known as Task Force Squad 9.

Raccoon City was known as the Home of Umbrella and this was a major tourist pull, as is the beautiful forest and Arklay Mountains landscape. The residents also celebrate the patron Saint Michael in a Christian appreciation of the harvest season by having the ‘Michael Festival’ on September 29th every year.
Raccoon City is also home to the Raccoon Sharks American Football team and the Raccoon City All-Stars baseball team. There are two main radio stations. 77.7 RC Radio and Radio Raccoon 112.5FM. The breakfast show is popular and hosted by Casper Devere. Over the years Raccoon City received significant investment from Japanese firm Hiroki Ohnishi Corporation, the Lonsdale Corporation, and hotel/restaurant conglomerate Big West Corporation.

Notable Locations

BAR BLACK JACK: A small bar popular with students. It is an ideal place to start a night out before moving up into town. More often than not local bands such as BIG E were booked to play there. Inside there is a small dance floor and a couple of retro pinball machines. The bar does food and also sells postcards showcasing local landmarks such as the St. Michael Clock Tower. Staff from Raccoon Hospital also frequent this bar.

KENDO GUN SHOP: Located on Flower St, this is a local firepower suppliers run by Robert Kendo; a good friend of S.T.A.R.S. member Barry Burton. Kendo had a contract to supply custom guns and parts for the S.T.A.R.S. team. The shop was co-owned with his brother Joe; an ex-SWAT team member and gunsmith in San Francisco. They established the business together in 1984. Robert Kendo also runs the Raccoon Shooting Club.

RACCOON POLICE DEPARTMENT: Click here for more details

CAFE 13: A small café situated next to the movie theatre. Contains access to a small waste filtering basement that can be flooded. The café sells tourist pamphlets entitled City Guide with endorsements from Michael Warren. It is also set back against the central shopping district.

MOVIE THEATRE: Playing Biohazard 4 throughout September 1998; a ground-breaking entry to the franchise that won an entire new audience. But fans of the original films criticised it for the poor story and lack of ties to the originals. This cinema is quite run down, featuring a malfunctioning neon sign made up of lots of individual electric lights.

RACCOON PRESS: A small newspaper office located near city hall. Situated over three floors, the first floor has a reception desk and vending machine. An electronic fire shutter can be opened to give access to the second floor which contains offices. The third floor has more offices and the back window looks down on a small back alleyway filled with garbage bags. The Raccoon Weekly and Raccoon Times have offices here.

CITY HALL: Located near to Central Station, City Hall was built practically in the heart of Raccoon City. The nearest main road is Warren St, named after the mayor and the municipal building garden had a bronze statue of the mayor to honour all his achievements in the city. In 1992 money was invested to rebuild and refurbish City Hall. The interior is fashioned from marble and contains over four floors of offices, administration areas and conference rooms. There is also a central courtyard with trees growing alongside statues of former mayors such as Ogee O’Gravy and Gerard M. Topenhat. There is also an archives and records room where many plans for the town are stored and a stage and greeting hall for receptions and theatrical performances.

ST. MICHAEL CLOCK TOWER: One of the main tourist hotspots for Raccoon City. A huge tower that offers a view of the whole town. It is located just off Raccoon St and Mission St and is directly in front of the General Hospital and Raccoon Park. It is named after the patron saint Michael and a festival is held in his honour every year on September 29th. The interior of the building is lavishly furnished with golden and emerald themes with several statues all worshipping the goddess of time. There was also a small chapel, library, a decorative bedroom and a dining hall with swords, ornamental weapons and armour on the walls.

RACCOON GENERAL HOSPITAL: Built in 1992 through funding provided by Umbrella as a replacement for the small hospital located in Raccoon Forest which closed down a year later in 1993. The new, modern hospital was installed with state of the art medical facilities spared no expense. The building consists of four floors with a helipad on the roof and three basement levels. The lowest level connects to the sewer network where a boat is kept for easy travel to William Birkin’s underground laboratory. The hospital is known for being a big strain on the city’s power grid because of the amount of electricity it used. On clear days, patients could hear children’s’ laughs of joy from the nearby park. The hospital’s mascot is ‘Doc Rock.’

RACCOON PARK: Recreational park located on Woodbine St set behind the St. Michael Clock Tower and the General Hospital. It includes many water features and has streams and ponds running throughout. It also contains the city cemetery and led to the Dead Factory on the outskirts of town as well as Raccoon Forest and the Arklay Mountains. The Circular River also flows through here. The park also contains the main town cemetery which was constructed back in 1913 before the First World War.

J’S BAR: Popular drinking hole with many locals, including S.T.A.R.S. member Barry Burton and Officer Kevin Ryman. However, the bar’s owner, Jack, was secretly into money laundering. J’s Bar is known for its great food, thanks to Chef Will and his book of secret recipes. It is also famous for its lavish selection of fine wines and Cindy Lennox worked here as a waitress. The bar is located on a terraced street next to an old, run-down apartment block. The kids living there often used to climb along the ledge to get onto the roof of the bar, much to the annoyance of the staff. Jack was into jazz music and burgundy was his favourite drink. He was believed to have over 100 different brands in his beloved wine cellar. A bright neon sign for J’s Bar is on the roof, looking down on the street below.

THE APPLE INN: A hotel built over three floors around a central courtyard. Dario Rosso stayed here, as did Ben Bertolucci as he began his investigation into the strange goings on in the city. It was also used as a meeting point for Ada Wong and her contact from the rival company. The hotel recently changed hands and the new owner installed a strange electronic map as a decoration in one of the guest rooms. This proved to annoy many of the guests as its constant flickering kept them awake at nights. The hotel boiler is also old, neglected and needed replacing. It is a comparatively cheap hotel, popular with students and tourists and designed in such a way that the guest rooms surround a central garden known as Apple Inn Square. A hotel map is etched into a concrete block in the centre of the garden. The Apple Inn charges $25 a night to stay in a single room. Across the road from the Inn is a popular restaurant.

RACCOON UNIVERSITY: University built over three floors with a basement. Umbrella had dealings here having invested heavily in 1994 and transferred many of its people across into teaching and research positions, including Greg Muller. It was here that Greg created the Thanatos Tyrant, as well as the Daylight reagent vaccine for the t-Virus. MA-124 Gamma Hunters were also cultivated here as the lower levels of the university were under control of Umbrella. Yoko Suzuki was a student here and one of the university staff members, Peter Jenkins, was friends with George Hamilton. The university features designs from a famous Japanese architect and had four Presidents in all, each of whom had a statue or bust within the grounds. The current president maintains a museum of quality art he collected himself including antique chess boards and a gift from the building designer. A portrait of the first school president William A. Fitzgerald hangs on the wall in the vast entrance hall and most of the fixtures inside the building are antiques. The university is located near to Circular River and a small port and jetty allows canoes and boats to go out onto the water.

RACCOON ZOO: Very popular with tourists. Back in the 1970’s the zoo held elephant parades where they would fit the elephants with Christmas lights. There was also a recent accident where several animals escaped their enclosures, resulting in severe reprimands from local Raccoon citizens. This resulted in zoo officials having to install a special new lock at the front gate where blue and red lion emblems are needed to unlock it. A recent new addition to the zoo is the Terrarium Dome which houses over 750 species of rare plant life. There is also a huge elephant stage modelled after a Roman Coliseum that can seat over 600 patrons and a public animal display stage for tourists and children. The zoo’s star attractions include an elephant named ‘Oscar’, and a male adult lion called ‘Max’. There has been recent controversy surrounding the zoo when a member of the Board of Directors was implicated in the illegal trading of rare orchid specimens. It is believed that the monies being generated from these sales were used to pay for the recent new extensions and exhibits unveiled at the zoo.

RACCOON UNDERGROUND: The underground rail system was run by the Kite Brothers who first came to the city in 1969. The subway runs to many destinations throughout the city including Warren Stadium, Old Court, New Lock Square and Rhodes Hill to name but a few. The main entrance to the central subway is on Water St and Jim Chapman was an employee here along with his colleague, Ricky. As well as the subway, there are numerous underground tunnels, some of which connected to the university via some disused tracks no longer in service. Some of the ticket gates have been closed down to reflect a current economic slump and there is a large ventilation tunnel and emissions tower allowing the passage of fresh air into the subway. There were several such structures throughout Raccoon City.

DOUGLAS PRISON: A large prison presumably located on the outskirts of town. A poor infrastructure and outdated security led to many escape attempts from those incarcerated. There were four attempts in 1996 alone, with Derek Azula and Kyle Brendan making a failed attempt on August 30th.

WARREN STADIUM: A stadium used for American Football and named after Michael Warren. It is home to the Raccoon Sharks.

RACCOON EAST ELEMENTARY SCHOOL: The main school of Raccoon City. The dog handler for the R.P.D., Fred, used to take the K-9 Unit’s two prized Dobermans, Rocket and Jo Jo, on trips to see the kids on a regular basis. Sherry Birkin was a student here and was in school shortly after the biological outbreak occurred in the city in September 1998.

LONSDALE TRAIN YARDS: Situated in the industrial zone in the outskirts of the city, the train yards are a transportation hub located near to the vacant factory and chemical plant that served as a hidden entrance to the underground laboratory. Many freight trains and cargo shipments come through here, and various locomotives are garaged in supply sheds and turntables. This area is part funded by the Lonsdale Corporation; a Japanese company with ties to the city. A smaller Lonsdale Yard was located in downtown Raccoon City with a plaque to commemorate their contributions to the town.

Umbrella Facilities

SEWERS: By the mid-1990s, practically the whole central sewer network was under the control of Umbrella and their employees used it as a means of getting around the city undetected and without arousing suspicion. Chief Irons often used this network of tunnels to attend meetings with William Birkin and Birkin himself would use the facilities provided to conduct training seminars to Umbrella employees from other offices. The network contained links to the underground lab, the R&D corporate building, and the P-15B facility. There is also a foundry and a warehouse for mass-storage of materials and resources. The sewer manager kept in regular contact with Umbrella Headquarters via its Chief of Security; Charles Coleman.

UNDERGROUND LABORATORY: Click here for more information

P-12A INCINERATOR FACILITY: Also known as the Abandoned Plant or Dead Factory, this run-down complex was purchased by Umbrella for use as a disposal plant for materials and discarded guinea pigs from William Birkin’s underground laboratory. On the outside the facility looks deserted, but armed security was employed and any curious individuals caught skulking around the factory were captured and used as guinea pigs. The Dead Factory was one of the main causes of the t-Virus seeping out into Raccoon City throughout the late summer of 1998. William Birkin intentionally let conditions get out of hand so it would deflect Umbrella’s watchful attention away from himself as he finalised the G-Virus. The factory is located north-east of Raccoon Park and can only be reached by crossing a bridge over the Circular River. It operates via its own independent power supply.

UMBRELLA SALES OFFICE: Commercial office where admin work was carried out. This was a supplier for some of Umbrella’s more legal products such as Safsprin, Aqua Cure and Adravil. Many dangerous drugs and chemicals are stored here and secured in a temperature-controlled storage room with an access code that needed to be changed every 24 hours.

CORPORATE HEADQUARTERS AND RESEARCH AND DEVELOPMENT CENTRE: This well-enforced facility is used to keep infant MA-125R Hunters in a specially designed testing area with laser barriers in place and pressure resistant materials lining the walls. It also houses experimental T-103 units and a prototype t-Virus reagent was developed here named AT1521. In the main experimentation chamber a liquid insulating agent is constantly circulated through the floor. The storage capsules have a capacity of over 200 litres and a specially built ultra-powerful titanium frame which keeps the room safely contained. This facility also deals with day to day pharmaceuticals and represents the public headquarters for Umbrella in the city. Curious citizens were able to take a tour of the building with full access to everywhere other than the sensitive R&D areas. Like all of Umbrella’s facilities, it was linked to the vast underground sewer network and also connects to many old passages that were dug to aid in the construction of the sewer system then left in a state of neglect.

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