Doom (lore)

Lore from The Official Doom Suvivor's Stratgies & Secrets & Doom II: The Official Strategy Guide books explaining backstory for the game.

What is Doom?
...Doom is about a rugged and somewhat jaded Marine who is caught in an improbable web involving a conglomerate giant, the military, toxic waste disposal, interdimensional gateways, and some rather ghastly creatures emerging from said gateways. Our antihero's saga begins on Mars, where he has been reassigned because of an earlier shall we say, "attitude" problem. Although the officer who wound up encased in a full-body plaster cast would probably label the Marine's actions as a bit more drastic than simple misaligned attitude.

Collaborating with the military, the Union Aerospace Corporation (UAC) has set up research facilities on Phobos and Deimos, the red planet's twin moon system. UAC's research centers around some strange structures found in each of the moons. These never-before encountered structures were given the names Anomalies. Early research shows the Anomalies are ruptures in the fabric of time/space which actually provide access to "interdimensional gateways." Using these gateways, UAC has been able to experiment with interdimensional space travel, sending objects and organic matter from one moon to the other. But as destiny would have it, this meddling with forces and laws beyond our comprehension has had some unexpected, baffling, and ultimately, horrifying results. The gateways have recently become unstable and, basically, all of Hell's dark children have come to visit you today.

When the Marines arrive on Phobos, after heeding the desperate cry for help from the lunar scientific base, they encounter a scenario that defies all logic, that reaches into the darkest corridors of your deepest fears: a face-to-face encounter with evil incarnate in a labyrinthine nightmare. If Poe, Dante, and Lovecraft were alive to see Doom today, they might feel vindicated...

Who Am I and What The Hell Am I Doing Here?
You are one tough marine. You wound up in a toxic waste disposal plant on Mars because of this "attitude" problem that seems to follow you around. Here's the skinny. You attacked a superior officer after he ordered his troopers to shoot unarmed civilians. That riled you up a bit. So the officer wound up wearing a full-body plaster cast; you, sucking red Martian dust and longing for some real combat action.

The toxic plant is operated by the Union Aerospace Corporation (UAC), a multiplanetary conglomerate. UAC also has scientific research bases on Phobos and Deimos, the otherwise desolate Martian moons, where bizarre structures named "Space Anomalies" were found. These anomalies are quite extraordinaire. UAC and the military have been using them to investigate interdimensional space travel. That is, teleporting objects and organic matter across "gateways" between Phobos and Deimos.

But lately it seems the gateways have become somewhat unstable. The human "volunteers", who've taken the interdimensional leap have undergone unexplainable physiological changes. Some subjects were lost to the gateways. Others not so fortunate have literally exploded without warning just a few hours after emerging.

But things can always get worse, just minutes ago, the incoming message from Phobos left no doubt there was something awfully wrong. According to the desperate request for military support, something evil was materializing in the gateways.

So now you find yourself guarding the perimeter of the Phobos moon base, alone and armed with only a handgun. The rest of the platoon went in taking all the heavy weaponry, leaving you behind as their best last-chance fighter. After a few agonizing hours of waiting to be called in, the silence you're hearing on your radio is enough to fray your nerve fibers raw. Knowing any chance of ever leaving Phobos lies inside, you don your helmet, tightening your grip on the handgun, and head straight for the entrance hatch. Without another thought, you know it is time to stare Doom in the eye.

Your Mission--It's Not Like You Have A Choice
Your objective is simply stated: Go inside each of the Phobos plant installations in systematic search of ammo and answers, and along the way kick some serious interdimensional rear. And pray that you can avoid an untimely death. To better your odds, use any weapons and ammunition you pick up along the way. You'll need them. You'll be slugging it out with whatever evil forces came through the gateways. There are also other electronic gadgets and supernatural aids that might prove useful, if not right-out lifesaving.

Ultimately, you want to make it back to Earth and out of the hellish nightmare you're in. But how? Can it be done? The answers may be as close as your fingertips or as far as Earth from Mars. Perhaps the gateways hold the clue...

Thumbnail Storyline (Doom II)
At the end of Doom, Our Hero having returned to Earth, is left staring at a flaming city, evidence that the demon aggressors have arrived head of him.

It turns out that the monstrous invaders are all over the place. There are demons from Tokyo to Timbuktu, from Stockholm to Scranton. Many people are dead. Some people have been transformed into flesh-eating zombies, but some have actually survived. The remaining leaders of humankind have evolved a place to save the human race. In orbit, they have built dozens of enormous ships to carry all the remaining people into space, away from their ruined world. However, the only spaceport has been taken over by the demons. A small band of tough fighters is sent into the port to kill the demons and permit the ships to land and take on passengers. If you lose, all mankind is doomed.

Eventually, you manage to kill the demons guarding the spaceport, and find the master switch to turn off the flame barrier that prevents teh ships from landing. You pull the switch, and the ships land. People file onto them as fast as possible, and they take off. Unfortunately, you are trapped in the room with the switch, and are unable to leave with the rest of humanity.

Now, you are the last human left on Earth. Everyone else is a zombie, dead or in orbit. The High Command radios down to you and says their sensors have determined that all the demons' power comes from a single spot. If you could find that spot and somehow close it down, they would lose much of their strength, and humanity could land back on the planet and begin to reclaim Earth from the demon horde. You must fight your way through the suburbs and slums of a ruined city, making your way to its very heart, where the monsters have raised a mighty citadel of evil.

You break into their stronghold and find the source of power. It is, of course, a portal direct to Hell. To close off the gate, you must go through the portal into Hell, and close it from the other side.

Without hesitating, you plunge through. Now, you have to fight yoru way through the diabolic landscape to the center of hell, where you find the master source of all power and destroy it, thus closing the gate to Earth and trapping the demons in their nether dimension. You are flung back out of Hell to Earth. Humankind and the demons are thwarted.

Now you can have a donut.

How to Use This Book
Stand by, Marines, you are about to embark on a grueling course of training to prepare you for the life-or-death mission you have been given. We'll start out with the basics. First, you will be told how