It's been just a little over 10 years since the Infestation.

No one knows where it came from. No one can agree on the exact date of the first attack. Many assume that it came from another planet. Some say it arrived on a meteorite; others say it must have come on some sort of flying saucer. Still others say it wasn't extraterrestrial at all; they claim that it was a tragic byproduct of some sort of sinister biological warfare weapon.

Whatever it was and wherever it came from, it soon had a name: Malectoplasm.

The substance, carried via airborne spores, would gather in gelatinous pools on walls, on floors, on ceilings. Once gathered, it would remain dormant until stimulated by the presence of a living creature. Then it would attack, viciously and without reason or emotion, usually in the form of a ghoulish replica of its victim. These super-strong, super-swift, seemingly invulnerable dopplegangers came to be known as Ghouls.

The first Ghoul attacks caught mankind unawares, claiming thousands of victims around the world. Soon, humans learned to cope and eventually to fight back. Scientists worldwide scrambled to discover a way to successfully battle the Ghouls.

In time, a way was found, a substance known as Ghoo. It was the only thing that could harm the Ghouls. But there was a caveat: In order to destroy a Ghoul, the Ghoo had to hit the creature in its one and only weak spot. That wasn't the worst part. Because of the variations in formation, each Ghoul's weak spot was in a different location. Miss a Ghoul's weak spot and you risk sudden death.

Countries devoted their major resources in the constant battle against Malectoplasm and Ghouls, in most cases forming paramilitary organizations whose sole missions were to protect the populace against the Ghoul threat. In America, the organization was the Aberration Deterrent and Eradication Forces -- ADEF. This organization gathered the top scientists and researchers in the country to continue the search for a solution to the malectoplasmic threat. And to its origins, extraterrestrial or not.

It's been just a little over 10 years since the Infestation.

That's when our stories begin.