The ZAIN Project (ザインプロジェクト) is an important element and weapon from both the Strider Hiryu manga and its NES adaptation, as well as the main reason for both Hiryu and Kain's fight against Enterprise and Matic.

The project codenamed "ZAIN" was initiated and has been under development for atleast 30 years by the bussiness organization Enterprise and its director, Faceas Clay. Faceas Clay has been keeping the project in total secrecy, as he plans to use it to control all humanity and take the throne of a god.

The ZAIN machine is a brainwashing weapon. Through a small radio transmiter implanted on the neck, the machine is able to manipulate the subject by sending a certain kind of electric wave into an area of the brain known as "Crocodile's Area", from where the most basic behaviors can be issued^[1]. In this way, ZAIN destroys the mind and forces the subject into acting out of instinct rather than reason.

Contents 1 Development History 1.1 Discovery 1.2 Transmiters 1.3 ZAIN Terminals 2 References

Development HistoryEdit

DiscoveryEdit

Initial research into the human mind led to the discovery of a mysterious area of the brain, which controls the most primitive of human behaviors such as "eat", "sleep", "kill" or "escape". This area hidden deep within human subconscious was christened the "Crocodile's Area" (ワニの領域), comparing it to a Black Crocodile hiding in a swamp awaiting for a prey to attack.^[1]

Following this discovery, scientists from the Central Control Organization were able to streamline the body's natural electric current into this section, and discovered it tuned to a certain kind of radio wave^[1]. By directing this radio waves into the brain, it was possible to control basic actions in human subjects, though perfect control was considered impossible, since the human brain isn't yet fully understood and there exists many mysteries about its workings.^[1]

TransmitersEdit

A radio transmiter was developed in order to conduct ZAIN's radio waves into the brain. Initial models were small pea-shaped interfaces that needed to be implanted through surgery into the subject's neck, leaving a noticeable bump. A second model was developed by the director of the Kazakh Mental Health Institute. It's called a "bullet-type" due to its shape, and can easily be implanted using air guns.^[2]

The transmiter exchanges the body's electric current with radio signals from ZAIN, generating hallucinations in the subject's mind^[2]. This creates a sense of alienation and solitude, which evolves into a fear of inminent death, a deep paranoia where everyone is plotting to kill him; and finally a state of rage, violence and bloodlust. This hallucinations are permanent, causing a total loss of sanity in the subjects,^[3] though it can be prevented if the transmiter is disabled in time, breaking the mind control and bringing the victim back to normal.

While further research continued on the bullet-type model in order to correct these defects, Hiryu and Kain's infiltration and eventual destruction of the building halted its development completely. Even then, research on the original model continued and eventually perfected the mind control, as the ZAIN host computer was going through upgrades that'd allow it to control anyone on Earth who has been implanted.^[4]

ZAIN TerminalsEdit

Main article: ZAIN Terminal

To expand the effective range of the project's mind-control ability, various stations known as ZAIN Terminals are installed in different parts of the world. These terminals are all interconnected as a network of relay computers and are dependant of the "Main Tree" to operate^[5]. Likewise, destroying them has little impact, and the project remains active as long as the Main Tree is operational.^[6]

Although several are said to exist all over the world, only a select few are actually known in each adaptation.

List of known Terminals

Location	From	Details
Kazakh Mental Health Institute	Manga	An operational terminal, the result of 30 years of research by the Institute Director. Destroyed by Hiryu during his and Kain's infiltration.
Amazon Institute	Manga	Infiltrated by Hiryu and Kain in order to track down the Host Computer. Was under heavy protection by both Enterprise and Matic's men. Destroyed.
Sahara Desert	Manga	Not seen, mentioned by the Kazakh Institute Scientist.
Chinese Base	Game	Protected within a tower base. Hiryu was sent here by Chief Kuramoto to destroy it.
Kazakh Secret Police HQ - Underground	Game	Kept deep underground in the headquarter's dungeon. Destroyed by Hiryu after his trip to China.
Africa	Game	Hidden inside a cavern, and under protection of the Strider Matic Unit. Destroyed by Hiryu.
Australia Base/Africa	Game	Found in an isolated area within the African cavern, only accessed through a transport tube in Australia. Destroyed by Hiryu.
Los Angeles HQ The Red Dragon	Manga & Game	The ZAIN Host Computer, the most important station. Much more massive than the other Terminals, it's shown in the manga to be built as part of Enterprise's HQ[7]. Its destruction marked the project's end.

ReferencesEdit

Strider Manga/NES Series
Main Articles	Strider Hiryu (Manga) • Strider (NES) • Moto Kikaku • Tatsumi Wada • Masahiko Kurokawa
Characters	Arana • Commander • Faceas Clay • Hiryu • Kain • Kubira • Kuramoto • Matic • Police Chief • Sheena Game Exclusives: Badger • Dragon Fiend • Flash Blade • Kodiak • Ryuzaki Manga Exclusives: Captain Keith • Kazakh Institute Scientist • Mariya • Rin • Yuri
Stage Enemies	Doberman • Egypt Soldier • Giant Robot • Hunchback • Machine Cannon • Mechanical Snail Robot Frong • Russian Infantryman • Scuba Soldier • Sharkman • Sky Wing • Spark Machine
Technology	Cypher • Kali • Phantom Train • Shadowtag Bullets • Stealth Chopper • T-48 • ZAIN Project • Yggdrasil
Locations	Africa • Australia • China • Egypt • Japan • Kazakh • Los Angeles • Red Dragon
Groups	Enterprise • Kazakh Secret Police • Striders • Strider Matic Unit