Bionic Animal Research and Kinetics, LLC. (abbreviated as B.A.R.K.) is the primary antagonistic faction of the Project P.A.W. roleplay. The company is responsible for the creation and weaponization of the P.A.W. program, as well as the migration of Earth's population to New Pangaea.
B.A.R.K. Logo used from 2020 through 2044.
History[]
Beginning/Golden Age[]
Bionic Animal Research and Kinetics was founded in 1990 in Concord, NH. They began life making prosthetic limbs for dogs, as well as dog toys and accessories. The founder of B.A.R.K., Victor Charles, is a self-admitted dog lover, and so he spent the majority of his first years in B.A.R.K. catering to dogs.
In 1994, he created a team to develop what was then the ultimate animal prosthetic: the P.A.W. chassis. It was relatively simple for the time period. The intention was to give the animal the ability to be equal with humans using a bipedal chassis and a voice chip. Many considered the idea ridiculous and refused to fund such a project. Thus, the P.A.W. chassis remained a concept. That all changed in 1998 when a Golden Retriever puppy named Cocoa was hit by a car driven by Charles himself. Feeling extremely devastated and guilty for the accident, he immediately took the injured pup into his lab to treat it.
B.A.R.K.'s initial logo used from 1990 until 2002.
Deciding to take a risk, he whipped out the P.A.W. blueprints and began to build the first chassis with his team, keeping Cocoa on life support and given medication to keep her alive. After a three week testing and construction process, the chassis was finally completed. Cocoa was fitted into it and spent the next two and a half weeks getting used to her new body. Later, her front prosthetic arm was given an upgrade; a retractable claw hand. She eventually learned to toggle between hand and foot modes and walk on two legs, like Charles intended. Now fully recovered, she spent a year living comfortably being adopted by development team member Max Phillpott until his untimely death in the summer of 1999 by two armed robbers. Cocoa was injured by the armed robbers as well, leading to B.A.R.K. returning her to the lab to be treated once more.
An upgrade is prepared for Cocoa: the Golden Armor. This armor pioneered the armor seen in P.A.W. units in 2044 that protects them from ballistic weaponry and in severe cases like Cocoa's, allows the animal to breathe. Due to the success of both the P.A.W. chassis and the Golden Armor, B.A.R.K. skyrocketed in popularity, winning several awards and gaining funding for the P.A.W. Project. Cocoa would become the official company mascot until her death in 2012, where she was killed by a Modification Serum designed to extend her lifespan artificially.
A few other P.A.W. experiments existed during Cocoa's life; Katie the fox and Charlie Jr the grizzly bear cub. Katie was killed when a semi truck hit her, and Charlie Jr died due to outgrowing his chassis and slowly being crushed to death by it.
Beginning of Corruption[]
Upon Cocoa's death, the company was desperate to stay afloat. They attempted to replicate Cocoa's success by throwing one of her puppies, Arfie, off a cliff with the intention of injuring him so badly, B.A.R.K. would be obligated to begin another P.A.W. project. He died on impact and his death was monetized. Victor Charles despised the direction his team was headed and fired the employees responsible for Arfie's death. The remaining corrupt employees retaliated, however. Mitchell Survin, a scientist on the team, attacked Charles using his own serum for a project he developed in secret. Once injected, Charles mutated into a seven foot tall troll-like monster and went on a violent rampage in the facility, forcing security to kill him. Due to this incident, Survin was given a cease and desist for his project. He continued in secret, being fired when caught seven months later.
Survin would return a few years later, when his mutation serum was successfully completed. He created a series of creatures called Mutricons, stealing the spotlight from B.A.R.K. and causing his former coworkers to despise him. His popularity did not last, as on the day he unveiled his Mutricons to Earth, they, like Charles, went on a violent rampage and forced security to retaliate. He and some of his creations escaped, but were captured and exiled to planet Gliese 581d to prevent his Mutricons from causing another massacre. B.A.R.K. took advantage of the incident and cashed in on it, marketing P.A.W.s as guard animals. To fit the change, P.A.W.s began being customized with weapons. This caused massive backlash and controversy from animal rights activists and former B.A.R.K. fans, yet the marketing tricks worked anyway and B.A.R.K. returned to glory, reborn as a company that sells and converts Prototype Animal Weaponry units.
As an Arms Dealer[]
Now that P.A.W. units are weaponized, militaries around the world began using them as expendable soldiers. The success lasted for well over a decade, and B.A.R.K. had the world at their fingertips. P.A.W. units were more human than ever, and were given voice boxes to speak with humans. This was especially important during the Mutricon raid of 2042, where a Mutricon-controlled dropship dispatched Mutricon soldiers to attack several major cities, most of them being in the United States. Militarized and civilian P.A.W. units alive joined forces to repel the attacks as best as they could, but Los Angeles and San Francisco (California, USA) and Port Elizabeth (South Africa) were lost to the attacks. No one knows how the Mutricons managed to obtain space-capable aircraft or sufficient numbers to pull off the attacks in only 24 years since their creation.
New Pangaea[]
By 2044, B.A.R.K. has become completely corrupted by power and fame. Now with the P.A.W. program in full swing, they have managed to strike a deal with the United Nations to create what they called a "utopia" designed to protect the Earth's population by moving them all into one man-made supercontinent, known as New Pangaea. In reality, New Pangaea is more of a containment zone for humans, and a very grim one at that. B.A.R.K. Peacekeepers were built to enforce order, but a rebel faction rose up to prevent the dystopian reality from coming into full swing, which B.A.R.K. intends to do by 2060.