Genre: Horror, Drama, Survival, Tragedy
Setting: Raccoon City
September 1998 [D-11891]

FFO: Resident Evil 2 (1998)
Resident Evil 3: Nemesis (1999)
Resident Evil (2002, remake)
Resident Evil: Outbreak (2003)
Outbreak: File #2 (2004)
Degeneration (2008)
Resident Evil 2 (2019, remake) Resident Evil: Requiem (2026)

⬅ return SMOKING THE FILTER BURN THE RAIN

WELCOME TO THE CITY OF RUIN…

Less than 48 hours after the disastrous “Operation Nestwrecker”, Six civilians find themselves trapped within the Arklay Shopping Center (ASC).

The mall, once a bustling hub of commerce and recreation, is now a nightmarish labyrinth swarmed with the dead. Unfortunately, escape only marks the beginning of a harrowing journey through the infested streets of Raccoon City.

A crushingly bleak tale set in the Resident Evil™ universe, City of Ruin explores the depths of human resilience and community against the horrors and fragility of hope in a city-turned-necropolis.

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DATE OF BIRTH: July 13th, 1975 (23 years)
HEIGHT: 5’3 (163cm)
BLOOD TYPE: A+
OCCUPATION: Hair Stylist
AFFILIATION: Barbara & Co. Beauty Salon
HOMETOWN: Mayflower, AK

Described as a social butterfly who (for better or worse) sees the best in everyone, Anna was raised into a devout southern baptist family. Her exuberant personality makes her a beloved figure at her local church functions and community gatherings. After a chance reconnection with her high school sweetheart, Anna chose to visit Raccoon City to see if she could rekindle their relationship. Unfortunately, her squeamishness towards violence and empathetic temperament prove a hindrance on her overall mental state when faced with the brutality of the outbreak. Nevertheless, having grown up in rural Arkansas, Anna is resilient to hardship and knowledgeable in firearm handling.

FIRST APPEARANCE: Resident Evil: Outbreak (mentioned)

DATE OF BIRTH: April 17th, 1973 (27 years)
HEIGHT: 5’9 (179cm)
BLOOD TYPE: AB-
OCCUPATION: Unemployed
HOMETOWN: Raccoon City, XX

A free spirited vegan "flower child", Dawn is the oldest and seemingly the most "put together" of the household. Acting as a communal well of wisdom and emotional support, her carefree temperment has unintended consequences for herself and her housemates.

FIRST APPEARANCE: City of Ruin

DATE OF BIRTH: September 7th, 1971 (27 years)
HEIGHT: 6’2 (185cm)
BLOOD TYPE: O+
OCCUPATION: Bartender
AFFILIATION: Ironwood Alehouse & Grill
HOMETOWN: St. Cloud, MN

Described as a social butterfly who (for better or worse) sees the best in everyone. Anna was raised into a devout southern baptist family, her exuberant personality makes her a beloved figure at her local church functions and community gatherings. After a chance reconnection with her college sweetheart, Anna decided to visit Raccoon City to see if they could rekindle their relationship. Unfortunately, her squeamishness towards violence and empathetic temperament prove a hindrance on her overall mental state when faced with the brutality of the outbreak. Nevertheless, having grown up in rural Arkansas, Anna is resilient to hardship and knowledgeable in firearm handling.

FIRST APPEARANCE: Resident Evil: Outbreak (mentioned)

DATE OF BIRTH: May 9th, 1973 (27 years)
HEIGHT: 5’6 (185cm)
BLOOD TYPE: O-
OCCUPATION: Community Organizer
AFFILIATION: Raccoon Volunteer Corps
HOMETOWN: Raccoon City, XX

Nulla vulputate dictum odio eu vulputate. Sed nec elit nisl. Curabitur tellus magna, consequat ut lacinia nec, vehicula vel turpis. Cras nec ipsum neque. In tristique, justo et tincidunt euismod, leo orci lacinia ligula, sed vestibulum orci urna sed nisl. Nulla augue dolor, placerat quis risus in, aliquam volutpat quam. Nunc id consectetur arcu, sed sodales justo. Pellentesque laoreet metus arcu, in maximus nulla ultrices et. Vivamus ornare eros at congue imperdiet.
FIRST APPEARANCE: Resident Evil: Outbreak

DATE OF BIRTH: February 25th, 1977 (21 years)
HEIGHT: 5’11 (180cm)
BLOOD TYPE: B+
OCCUPATION: Student
AFFILIATION: Raccoon University
HOMETOWN: Raccoon City, XX
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FIRST APPEARANCE: City of Ruin

DATE OF BIRTH: August 2nd, 1986 (12 years)
HEIGHT: 4’9 (144cm)
BLOOD TYPE: A-
OCCUPATION: Student
AFFILIATION: East Raccoon Junior High School
HOMETOWN: Harvardville, XX
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FIRST APPEARANCE: Resident Evil: Degeneration (photograph)

DATE OF BIRTH: August 2nd, 1986 (12 years)
HEIGHT: 5’4 (144cm)
BLOOD TYPE: A-
OCCUPATION: Student
AFFILIATION: Raccoon University
HOMETOWN: Wrenwood, XX
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FIRST APPEARANCE: Resident Evil 2

Anthony DiMartino:
Timothy O'Neil:
Monique Sylvia:
Max Tyler:
Max Tyler:
Angela Li:
Trent Lane:
Alison Kirkland:
Axl Kirkland:
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The initial concept for what would eventually become Blank Earth initially arose in the spring of 2014 in the form of "Faust": a psychological thriller which, although similar in it's bleak tone and grunge-influenced aesthetic, veered heavily away from the final product's gritty realism in favor of post-modernist and the surreal: influenced by popular media such as Silent Hill, Jacob’s Ladder, Angel Heart, Donnie Darko, 1408, Selby's The Room and the various assorted works of David Lynch, H.P. Lovecraft, Franz Kafka, Lars Von Trier, William S. Burroughs, and painters Francis Bacon and Lucien Freud.

This journey into the abstract marked a notable turning point for Cooper, who had - up to this point - spent the past several years working on Apocalypse and similar works that followed a very "Hollywood-inspired" formula of storytelling and narrative conflict, often centered around grand setpieces, post-apocalyptic settings and the multiverse. Cooper, inspired by the works of philosophers Albert Camus, Jean-Paul Sartre, Friedrich Nietzsche and psychoanalyst Sigmund Freud, found himself growing ever more intrigued by the concept of focusing instead on internal character dynamics, unreliable narrators, and an exploration into more viscerally challenging, obscene and taboo subject matter that Cooper believed better reflected the reality that he, and his peers, had grown and lived in.

The Screaming Asylum, located in Wellington, New Zealand (circa. 1993) served as the initial inspiration for the novel's central locale.

This new book had no title, initially defined by only a short outline; the story was to follow a traveling motley crew of punk rock vagabonds who traveled the country in a beat-up Volkswagen and dished out their own brand of homicidal vigilante justice to greasy old politicians, wife-beaters and rapists everywhere, while being hunted by a morally-disturbed FBI agent, only to be stopped when their respective pasts caught up to them. Though that concept would be scrapped, many of it's plot elements would be recycled for the inevitable sequel Of Cigarettes & Copulation, whilst the spirit of that original synopsis was re-contextualized and embodied in the character of Ryley Summers.

By late-2015, Blank Earth had been formulated, in-part as a response to (and rejection of) the emergence of what would later be dubbed the 'culture war' between "DiAngelo-brand woke tenderqueer SJWs" and "basement-dwelling incel neo-nazis" on major social media platforms such as Twitter and Tumblr. Cooper had ascertained that he did not want to pander to either, opting rather, to offend both. As such, the novel inherently rejects and attacks concepts of identity politics, political correctness, gender norms & stereotypes, ethnic nationalism and identity, and objective morality and instead raises arguments against both ideologies by observing 'simple truths' about modern life that Cooper remarked could be "easily found on any street corner, from dying small towns to over-gentrified cities, if one dare to look outside their safe space".

Over the remainder of the year, Cooper had dug his hands ever deeper into the world of film and literature, particularly in search of art that would reflect and help develop the innate themes and tonal mood that he had envisioned for Blank Earth. At this point, several various "scrap chapters" were also written up as a playground for Cooper to explore translating said themes into written prose, with the character of Jacob Delsin being created and developed as a visual catch-all proxy for the novel's overall themes.


"It was clear from very early on that I wanted to treat 'Blank Earth' as a more abstract and deconstructive piece of literature, to which things like theme, aesthetic, mood, atmosphere, tone, ambiance and character motivations were far more important than the overall “plot”. I really wanted 'Blank Earth' to feel less like your cookie-cutter ‘story in three parts’ narrative and more like it was a snapshot or a recording of something that had happened and/or was happening in real life; that these characters could feel non-fictional and would maybe feel like old friends to the reader. Even if they were perpetually flawed, morally inconsistent, and not always agreeable in their actions, you would feel their choices were deliberately tied to their core desires and beliefs. Human."
- Todd Cooper, on the inception of Blank Earth.


At this point in time, Cooper began his first drafts on the novel's overall plot outline, however, unlike the final product, it was as a three-act play then-entitled "Six Cigarettes", inspired by several classic kitchen-sink dramas, the implication that each of the six main characters, outcasts disillusioned with society, would ultimately burn fiercely then wither away.

Cooper realized that crafting the characters, story and world of Blank Earth and actually writing it, were two separate and equally difficult challenges that would require much effort, many rewrites, and a balance of determination with the correct state-of-mind. Blank Earth had to be nuanced and subtle, yet, could not pull its punches. It had to be equally "raw" and "in-your-face", but not enough as to invoke a pubescent child merely writing obscenities. It had to shock and offend mainstream readers sensibilities, while also being deeply thought-provoking. Thankfully, as time went on Cooper was able to draw massive amounts of inspiration from dozens of newly discovered works.

SEASON I: TBA

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