Stalburg Nuclear Weapons
 | |
| General | |
|---|---|
| Company | SNW |
| Status | Active |
| Industry | Defense |
| Key People |
Sven Olsson Board Member Jeff Walter (deceased) Funder Xeander Berg (deceased) Science Team Leader Richard Scientist |
| Locations |
SNW Bunker Erzfell Base Black Rock Nuclear Power Plant |
Stalburg Nuclear Weapons or S.N.W is a secretive military organization that was founded after World War II. The goal of the organization was to build nuclear weapons in order to defend Stalburg. The organization was highly corrupt and was unknown to the general public of Stalburg.
History
Some years after World War II, several unknown military representatives, among them Sven Olsson contacted Jeff Walter to help create and fund an organization with the purpose of researching and developing nuclear weapons to defend Stalburg in the event of another war. It would appear the initial leadership of the project was genuinely interested in protecting Stalburg, and Jeff Walter was under the same impression. Other military officials however were corrupt, and actively used the S.N.W project as a way to profit and secure control over Stalburg.
S.N.W used Walter's funding and influential name to develop plans for constructing a bunker under the Walter Tower that would be used to house the research laboratory for nuclear weapon development, as well as centrifuges to enrich uranium. The construction project was undertaken by Stalburg Engineering Co., who signed a confidentiality agreement.
Rather than finding willing scientists to develop nuclear weapons, S.N.W operatives practically kidnapped scientists from Stalburg's Atomic Research Team (including Xeander Berg, co-founder of the Bergmann Group) to work on the project. The scientists were to be kept in the bunker's accommodation wing next to the laboratory and weren't allowed to contact anyone outside of the project.
During the construction of the bunker, the construction team encountered "something". What that 'something' was isn't specific, S.N.W deemed it worth investigating and discovered what they would call S.M.V, forming a smaller scientist team to create biological weapons. The team discovered that the Stalburg's native green mushrooms can cause an invasive disease that causes hallucinations and violent behavior, eventually leading to a slow death. All information regarding S.M.V was sold to an unknown party.
S.N.W used Walter's influential company to get rid of three major companies in Stalburg for various reasons.
- Hammer Valley Hydro
- S.N.W reasoned that Hammer Valley Hydro had too many connections to the Bergmann Group.
- S.N.W wanted to use the Hammer Valley Dam as a secondary power source for the bunker.
- Bergmann Group
- Bergmann Group built the majority of Stalburg's underground infrastructure, including several areas around the bunker. S.N.W wanted to use the underground tunnels to smuggle uranium from the nuclear powerplant to the bunker, as well as have control over any underground area near the bunker to avoid exposure.
- Stalburg Steel
- The Union of Metal Workers was a major civilian legislative body, getting rid of Stalburg Steel would incite civil unrest, and allow S.N.W to gain control over civilian legislative bodies through a military mandate.
- S.N.W knew the Stalburg Steel offices contained sensitive information about their organization acquired by Mikhail Rosenthal and his criminal connections, which they didn't want to fall into the wrong hands.
At some point, S.N.W also constructed a secret control room in the Black Rock Nuclear Power Plant that could be used to control the reactors, but were mainly used to filch uranium and smuggle it to bunker. They presumably continued to intimidate all of the power plant's managers to keep the room secret.
Jeff Walter eventually discovered what S.N.W was really doing, and attempted to expose them, but was hunted by their operatives and nearly caught in his office. Walter went into hiding for the next few years attempting to expose S.N.W, but was murdered by Alex Hartman.
Metro Accident
On August 8th 1986, a metro train full of passengers took a wrong tunnel due to a signal error and ended up on in an old unused tunnel that collapsed and lead to the train crashing into the bunker's main hall. All the passengers survived the crash, although some may of been infected with S.M.V or irradiated. S.N.W assessed the situation and feared their actions would be exposed. They ordered the execution of all the surviving passengers and hid their bodies in the bunker. Some of the guards apparently took issue with this, but S.N.W handled them.
Following the accident, Xeander Berg and one other scientist managed to escape the bunker. S.N.W started to search for them with help from the Stalburg police department. Shortly after Berg's escape, something happened that caused a leak of S.M.V The bunker was immediately evacuated with everything left behind.
After the bunker was condemned, S.N.W held a meeting aboard a local steam ship, and decided that due to the contamination risk nobody would be sent to retrieve what was left in the bunker, and the S.N.W project would be discontinued. All personnel stationed at the nuclear power plant would be assigned new tasks while operatives would keep in contact with the manager to make sure nobody found the control room. S.N.W continued searching for Berg, but were unable to find him. No consequence came of S.N.W's actions for over 30 years.
INFRA
During the events of INFRA, structural analyst Markku Siltanen uncovers the conspiracy visiting his various inspection targets and journey through Stalburg's underground infrastructure during a field day gone wrong. He photographs incriminating evidence inside the bunker, including the crashed train and bodies of the missing metro passengers, finds a confession tape from Walter that shows he was being manipulated, as well as discovering a list of names of S.N.W operatives that becomes publicized. The conspiracy comes to light and all corrupt leaders behind the S.N.W project are arrested for treason and face a life sentence.
Gallery
Several documents regarding the bunker's construction.
Map of the tunnel system S.N.W used to smuggle uranium from the Black Rock NPP.
Trivia
- S.N.W logo is seen on a Polonium-210 container in Obenseuer.