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Bridges was a logistic company of the United Cities of America, that was formed to reconnect the fractured society of United States of America after the cataclysm known as the Death Stranding.
Story[]
Background[]
After the initial research on the Beach, America was hit by the first voidout and during this the President died, making Bridget Strand the first female President of the United States. Feeling that time was running out, she raced to complete the Chiral Network: a network that, thanks to the connection of the Beach with the world of the dead, can make communications and data transfer instantaneous. She ordered research on the so called Bridge Babies, or BB, unborn children bound to the world of dead, to continue in secret, while publicly she put an end to all further BB experiments and had all data destroyed. Determined to complete the Chiral Network and to stop the next and final extinction, Bridget founded Bridges, a company that could make her dream concrete, which she guided in secret wearing a mask to conceal her face, while maintaining her public figure as President.
During this time, in a Bridges secret research installation devoted to BB research, a promising BB, son of Cliff Unger and his wife Lisa, had been chosen as the foundation for the nascent Chiral Network. When Cliff discovered what Bridges would have done to his son and that he would never have him back, the former soldier tries to escape from the facility with his son, but the escape failed with the death of the two. The data on the escape and the experiment was erased, and the revived BB is adopted by Bridget, and named Sam Strand.
After the Death Stranding caused the United States to deteriorate as a country, Bridges became a point of reference for the survivors of the cataclysm. It expanded its services to logistics, deliveries, transport etc. assisting President Bridget in forming the United Cities of America: a fledgling nation-state substitute for the United States. While the US is now extinct, albeit only in name because cities, called "Knot", and various other communities of survivors still exist, but they are disconnected from each other.
Reunite America[]
After years of research, strengthened by Bridget's vision of a newly united America, and the Chiral Network now ready, Bridges begins a three-year expedition across the continent to reconnect isolated communities and establish network nodes in old cities. Thanks to the charisma and DOOMS abilities of Amelie, a prominent member of Bridges and 'daughter' of President Strand, BRIDGES I has no problem convincing survivors and traveling the continent while avoiding the BT zones until Amelie is captured in Edge Knot City by a group of separatists. The city is then isolated by a tar puddle, stopping the expedition. With the chiral nodes unstable, Amelie captured and the President Strand sick again from the reappearance of cancer, Bridges intensifies the search to find Sam Strand. Sam is a former member of Bridges and now a private porter, who left the organization years before after the suicide of his pregnant wife.
Bridges manages to find Sam near Central Knot City before it is destroyed by a voidout. At Capital Knot, Sam is updated by the commander of Bridges, Die-Hardman, on the situation and, after taking his adoptive mother's body to an incinerator, agrees to go on an expedition, retracing the steps of Bridges I to reconnect the communities. Along his journey through the various regions of what was once the American continent, Sam meets various members of the first expedition, chosen by Amelie herself, and reconnects them to the Chiral Network. Specifically, he befriends: Deadman, Mama, Lockne and Heartman.
When Sam eventually reconnects Edge Knot City as well, the Bridges Chiral Network is fully operational. This sets in motion the Last Stranding, the last great mass extinction, which is stopped by Sam with the support of other Bridges members, his friends. Eventually, the commander of Bridges Die-Hardman is appointed as the first President of the United Cities of America, now an official nation-state, with Bridges as the official logistics company and Fragile Express as the first approved private company.
After the Last Stranding[]
After unification, the UCA launched a plan to expand the Chiral Network outside their borders, starting with Mexico and other regions. However, many things changed within the UCA, with Bridges being disbanded once everything was set up, the staff relocated and Sam's friends take different paths, therefore no longer managing the distribution network with human porters.
However, APAC, a private corporation, will fill the distribution gap with its robotic porters while Fragile's Drawbridge will do the same in the regions outside the Chiral Network.
Logo[]
The Bridges logo design was based on the Contiguous United State on which is superimposed the web of a spider's web which has its center in the eastern region. The logo used a black semi-circle with a black banner up top, with the banner bearing the name of the organization in white colors, and the semi-circle itself containing the Contiguous United State colored white. In the lower part of the semicircle there is the inscription United Cities of America, to symbolize the close connection between the two organizations, both founded by the same person.
Variant or old Bridges' logo
An older version, or perhaps an alternate version, consisted of a stylized spider with angular shapes, with the lower body wider than the upper one. In the lower part, in the shape of a rhombus, the name of the organization with a spider web underneath; in the upper part, in the area of the mouth are two small stars one above the other, the upper point up, the lower point down. This version had two different colors: one white on a black background and one gold on a black background. This version can still be found on the back of the Bridges Delivery Team suit.
A much simpler version of this, found on the façade of Mama's lab, is made up of a stylized spider with the organization's name at the bottom and a star above the spider's mouth, only with a golden color.
Resources[]
Personnel[]
- Bridget Strand - Founder
- Amelie –Executive
- Sam – Executive (formerly), Porter
- Die-Hardman – Head of Security (formerly), Director
- Deadman - Doctor
- Heartman – Researcher
- Mama - Scientist
- Lockne - Technician (formerly), Overseer of Mountain Knot City
- Viktor Frank – Head of Distribution for Port Knot City
- Igor Frank - Corpse Disposal Team 6 member (deceased)
- Driver - Corpse Disposal Team 6 member (deceased)
- Nick Easton - Head of Distribution at Capital Knot City
- George Baton - Head of Distribution at Waystation West of Capital Knot City
- Benjamin Hancock - Head of Distribution Center West of Capital Knot City
- Jake Wind - Head of Distribution at the Wind Farm
- William Lake - Head of Distribution at Lake Knot City
- Thomad Southerland - Head of Distribution Center South of Lake Knot City
- Owen Southwick - Head of Distribution at South Knot City
- Alex Weatherstone - Head of Distribution at the Weather Station
- Charles Khan - Head of Distribution at Waystation North of Mountain Knot City
- Phillip North - Head of Distribution at the Distribution Center North of Mountain Knot City
- Langdon - Porter at Distribution Center Noth of Mountain Knot City
- Aaron Hill - Head of Distribution at Mountain Knot City
- Mary Dickens - Evo-Devo Biologist
- Thomas Hucksley - Geologist
- Edward Wallace - Paleontologist
Divisions[]
Bridges is divided into the following main operating units, with the colors of the uniforms distinguish each team:
- Bridges General Staff: Normal workers inside various Bridges facilities, never going out into the outside world. They wear a white or light green workwear with a stripe on the sides and one on the chest in the colors of Bridges. One variant includes a suit with gloves and a protective helmet.
- Bridges Delivery Team: A unit that deals with the preparation, sorting and collection of various cargo which the porters, both internal and private, will then deliver to the various destinations. They wear the Standard Issue Bridges Suit of blue color, with sleeves covered with a protective layer, hat or cap and protective headphones.
- Bridges Corpse Disposal Team: A field unit that mainly deals with the recovery, delivery and disposal of dead bodies, including suicide victims, to the nearest incinerator before the body begin necrosis, so as to avoid voidouts. The color scheme of the Standard Issue Bridges Suit is mainly orange, with the protection zones of the knees, elbows and shoulders white; there is also a strip with the colors of Bridges. On the right shoulder there is the Bridges logo and on the left arm there is a black band with the identifying name of the team. Only Corpse Disposal Team 6 makes an appearance in Sam's expedition.
- Bridges Medical Team: A unit that focuses on medicine and medical treatment inside the Bridges Isolation Ward near the Knot Cities. The color scheme of medical's lab coat is mainly bright red, with a bandana and medical mask in the same color and a black Bridges logo on the right shoulder. There are also members with the Standard Issue Bridges Suit, albeit with the same color scheme. A team, lead by Deadman, is featured in taking care of President Bridget Strand.
- Bridges Security Team: A tactical unit specialized in the surveillance and patrolling of various Bridges structures and its secret bases, such as those of research on the BBs, and in neutralizing any threats. The color scheme of the Standard Issue Bridges Suit is mainly black with additional harness; they wear a two-eyed balaclava under a protective helmet with visor, chest body armour with ammo pouch and four Lv. 1 armor plates worn on the shoulders and hips to protect against gunfire. They are equipped with a variant of the Wellmax Assault Rifle. A chiralgram of them can be generate outside various Bridges Structures of Lv. 2.
Vehicles[]
- Reverse trike
- BRIDGES I Pick-up
- BRIDGES I Mega-trailer
- Cicada MC 2000 (navy blue frame for the Delivery Team variant and orange for the Corpse Disposal Team variant)
Notes[]
- When Sam finishes any delivery at any terminal on the chiral network, a chiralgram of a poster from The Bridget Foundation appears, with the face of President Strand, the slogan Reconnect the World and the classic American colors. Whether the Foundation is a forerunner of Bridges, or a parallel organization is unclear, the slogan nevertheless fully echoes Bridges' future action.
- Given the origins, it is not known if Bridges, at the time of its creation, was of public domain, and therefore recognized by the government, or totally secret and then made public post-Death Stranding.
- Bridges has been featured prominently in prerelease Death Stranding content:
- On Ludens' left shoulder pad in sketch art of the mascot;
- On the badge worn by Deadman (with Guillermo del Toro's likeness) in the TGA 2016 teaser trailer;
- In a webbed design released by Hideo Kojima prior to E3 2017;
- On the hazard suits of two Corpse Disposal Team 6 operatives present in the TGA 2017 teaser trailer.7
Gallery[]
