This article is about the resurrective cloning project. For the game based on the project of the same name, see Madness: Project Nexus (Classic), or its sequel MADNESS: Project Nexus. Or for the faction, NEXUS Core. This article is outdated. It will be renovated soon.

Basic Overview

Project NEXUS was a scientific program conducted by the NEXUS Core. It was aimed at the "mass-production of clone soldiers in Nevada", with Director Phobos being the lead overseer of the project until his death. It is the primary focus of the Story Mode in the game Madness: Project Nexus (Classic). It was formed approximately 30 years prior to the present, and operated for 15 years before it was nearly destroyed in an insurrection. The chief scientist at the time, Dr. Christoff, played a key role in both the program itself and the outbreak.

Most NEXUS research was done at the Science Tower. Despite Christoff's best efforts, many scientists within the Project survived and remained loyal, eventually restarting the Project in MADNESS: Project Nexus years after Phobos died.

History

Original Purpose

Aware of the emergent threat posed by The Other Place and their S-3LF crisis, The Employers had decided to appoint Director Phobos and the NEXUS Core to conduct 'Project NEXUS', a project that would save the two worlds of Nevada and The Other Place. The purpose of the project was to extract, purify, and recycle back the S-3LF of deceased Nevadeans to possess artificial G-04 clone bodies. When those clones die, their S-3LF would dissolve. This process would stop the collapse of reality and the merging between T.O.P and Nevada. Dr. Jebediah Christoff was appointed as the chief-scientist to supervise Project NEXUS.

Public Advertisement

While Phobos and the NEXUS Core were aware of the issues, the general population only had the most basic perception of Project NEXUS: It was somewhat related to cloning, and nobody else was aware of the doomsday that would happen if the project was compromised. Therefore, the NEXUS Core advertised the project to the public as the following:

• Generation-04 clones were described as "The ultimate insurance policy", serving as the new vessel for Nevadeans after they die. They advertised it as a "better version of yourself". Basically, the clones were advertised as being empty shells to be possessed by a S-3LF once the original host dies, and the host could learn new skills from it.
• Excess-produced Generation-04 clones would serve as butlers and general servants. Although, it was more of a "front operation" to generate funding and head off suspicions.
• Marketing of the clones slowly started shifting towards paramilitary purposes.

Phobos' Repurpose

Years after he was appointed by The Employers to conduct this project, Phobos has defied their orders and wished to repurpose the project for his own. First to expand his own army due to "inadequate soldier numbers" (as said by Jebediah's clipboard in Madness:Project Nexus Classic), but also to achieve godhood. Here is the following:

• Phobos wished to repurpose Project NEXUS to expand the army of the NEXUS Core, which means using Generation-04 clones as soldiers.
• He later wished to conduct Project Gestalt to achieve godhood and have full control over Nevada.

Compositions

While Project NEXUS itself was the main project, it was also composed of smaller sub-projects and researches of the NEXUS Core. Here is a list of the following:

• Enmeshment Program (Dr. Crackpot): Used more as the basis for the project, the Enmeshment Program was a research project to study the enmeshment of S-3LF possession. Upon binding a S-3LF within a corpse, the Zeds were created. While this program was not very successful, new research arose.
• Sleepwalker Program (Dr. Christoff): This project would be a sort of "instant education" for Generation-04 clones. Basically, Nevadeans would be able to relive the memories of their clones and things of the sort, such as learning new skills.
• Dissonant Energy research (Dr. Hofnarr): To be written.
• Project Gestalt (Director Phobos): Meant to act as a more secretive project, Gestalt was Phobos' own project that would assist him at achieving control of Nevada. Gestalt would be used not only as a super-weapon of the NEXUS Core, but also a way for Phobos to achieve godhood. Since every S-3LF is a partial gateway to T.O.P, they planned to use this project to incubate a quantity of S-3LFs bigger than all of the G-04 clones combined. And thus, Phobos intended to use Gestalt as a portal to The Other Place, as well as to infinitely grow more and more. Basically a conscious living portal composed of multiple S-3LFs that was constantly growing.

Purpose

While not entirely specified, the Project's original charter was supposed to help improve the lives of Nevada by utilizing S-3LF and cloning technology. Projects within the organization included Dr. Christoff's Sleepwalker project, which would allow Nevadeans to relive the memories of clones as a form of instant education, Dr. Crackpot's Project Zed (or Enmeshment Program), which was meant to attempt to resurrect the dead (with disastrous results), and Dr. Hoffnar's study of Dissonant energy from The Other Place. Unfortunately, Director Phobos repurposed the project, selling clones as servants and soldiers to raise funds, and trying to seek immortality through Project Gestalt, a project that would trap numerous S-3LFs into one giant Mag, that Phobos would attempt to control. The project eventually lead to the formation of undead creations such as Zombies, Sleepwalker Patients, and Abominations.

According to Christoff's clipboard in the intro cutscene of Episode 1.5 of Madness: Project Nexus (Classic), the program was militarized due to "inadequate soldier numbers." The cloning was performed on the resurrected deceased rather than the living most likely for safety reasons because of imperfect cloning defects.

As revealed in MADNESS: Project Nexus, the project's true purpose was solely for the benefit of Phobos in his pursuit of immortality and greater power. The excess of clones created in the Project's research were sold off in a front operation to provide funding and head off suspicion. Originally the clones were advertised to civilians as a way to extend their lives, escape diseases, learn new skills, or simply own butlers and wait staff. Over time marketing shifted to mercenary and paramilitary groups instead.

The Outbreak

At some point in time, Dr. Christoff, disgusted at what his scientific efforts had been used to create, released the experiments in an attempt to destroy the project. Zeds and Abominations broke free of confinement and began attacking Nexus Scientists and soldiers such as Nexus Agents. This was merely a distraction, and Christoff rose up and waged a one-man war against his former comrades. Christoff then took on the identity of Jebus, now wielding a powerful halo which he stole from the project.

Present Day

Fifteen years after the outbreak, the project is still active. Supposedly, the cloning process had been perfected, or at least close to perfected, which was then used to mass-produce many Nexus units. Loyalists continued the project, and split into two groups, seemingly for operational redundancy. The first was encountered in Madness: Project Nexus (Classic) where they were destroyed by Hank J. Wimbleton, Sanford, and Deimos. The second remained within the Science Tower, where they were only defeated by the combined effort of not only the trio, but also Jesus and Tricky.

Based on the backstory of Arena Mode, it would suggest that Project Nexus' Training Program aims to improve its soldiers and attain combat skills that are on par with those of Hank, Sanford, and Deimos.

Units

Within the Nexus Project are many unique unit types. Below is a list of the Nexus units in Project Nexus (Classic) and their levels of combat.

• Grunt - Level 1
• Agent - Level 2-4
• Agent Mk.1 - Level 5-7
• Agent Mk.0 - Level 9-11
• G03LM - Level 10
• G03LM Mk.2 - Level 15
• Mag Agent - Level 15
• Zombie - Level 4, 6, or 8 (depending on type)
• Zombie G03LM - Level 12
• Riot Guard - Level 8
• Abomination - Level 4
• Sleepwalker Patient - Level 6
• Sleepwalker Experiment - Level 12
• Phobos - Level 40

Trivia

• In the development of MADNESS: Project Nexus, The-Swain said that the Employers and the Auditor share the goal of taking down Project Nexus. This is confirmed to be true when the Auditor is revealed to be an Employer, thus sharing the goal of taking down the project. However, the A.A.H.W. are still on standing orders to kill Hank and even cooperate with the Nexus Core to eliminate him, despite the organization being led by the Auditor.