ABLS

The Office of Applied Biochemistry and Life Sciences (ABLS) was the research and development agency responsible for the development of Caphiria's offensive biological warfare program during the Occidental Cold War. ABLS was organized under the Office of Advanced Research and Development (ORAD), which makes up part of the Department of Civilian Defense.

At its peak operation, ABLS consisted of five major military-focused research institutes, numerous design & instrument-making facilities, three pilot plants, five dual-use production plants, and employed 40,000 personnel. ABLS pursued major offensive R&D programs which genetically engineered microbial strains to be resistant to an array of antibiotics. In addition, bacterial agents were created with the ability to produce various peptides, yielding songs with wholly new and unexpected pathogenic properties.

Due to its size and political importance, ABLS began to emerge as a significant influence in the civil biopharmaceutical sector during the late 20th century, as it controlled the domestic production of vaccines, antibiotics, and other essential medicines. When ABLS was dissolved in 1979, it was divested of control of all R&D institutes and manufacturing facilities, and its operations were privatized, forming several pharmaceutical companies which exist today.

Establishment
Initial interest in biological warfare came at the start of the 20th century after the events of the First Great War. Caphiria began conducting tests with the toxin ricin in 1919 and formed the Research Center of Virology (known as the RCV1 program) in 1929 to further research and study biological weapons. However, it would not be until the late 1940s, when the RCV1 program began genetic engineering projects such as the creation of viruses that manufacture toxins as well as research on bioregulators and various peptides that function in the nervous system that Caphiria's biological weapons program started to formalize. By the time the Occidental Cold War began in 1953, many politicians in Caphiria had already successfully argued that the development of biological weapons was necessary. In 1955, The RCV1 program was replaced by the Applied Biochemistry Program, which became Caphiria's first iteration of its formal biological weapons program. The ABP quickly progressed into a practical, military-driven research and production program covered in controversy and secrecy; its R&D and production projects were, from the very outset, subject to extraordinary levels of secrecy and compartmentalization. The ABP had numerous teams and offices, such as the Office of Virus Preparations, Epidemic Prevention Unit, the Water Purification Department, and more. Caphiria would hire scientists from the Far East, like Ming Pak from Corumm, to oversee its projects.

By 1960, the Applied Biochemistry Program was a massive and far-reaching endeavor: it incorporated no less than 40 facilities operating in 15 different cities and had control of the domestic production of vaccines, antibiotics, and other essential medicines. The ABP also pursued offensive research, development, and production of biological agents under the guise of legitimate civil biotechnology research. It conducted its secret activities at numerous sites across the Imperium and employed 15-20,000 people. The ABP also began conducting covert biological warfare research on human test subjects.

On 1 February 1964, the Department of Civilian Defense consolidated its various biological weapons programs under the Office of Applied Biochemistry and Life Sciences. ABLS, as it was known, was under the purview of the Office of Advanced Research and Development, which meant that it was shielded from public scrutiny as tensions from the Cold War escalated.

Operations
ABLS was a system of nominally civilian research and design institutes, pilot plants, and dual-use manufacturing facilities located across the Imperium, in which a small army of scientists and technicians worked on bacterial and viral pathogens to develop a new generation of biological weapons.