Viron

Viron, Indiana is a fictional town in The Gerosha Chronicles of Dozerfleet Comics. It featured prominently in every version of the Ciem webcomic trilogy, and was the main district of Evansville where Candi lived in Ciem: Vigilante Centipede. It was described in Gerosha Prime - Classic Gerosha as being a suburb of Dirbine.

Relative location
Viron was assumed to always be somewhere located to the west of Dirbine / Evansville. In Ciem: Vigilante Centipede planning materials; it was defined as the area of Evansville located around Poplar Grove, Perry Township, and the greater area surrounding the University of Southern Indiana.

Multiversal
The city of Viron derives its name from "virus." In the 1960's, when it began as West Dirbine, as a suburb of proper Dirbine. A man in the local paper remarked on the irony of a rumor spreading in town about a virus that had caused much disease in every town in the area except for West Dirbine. He labeled the situation as "vironic." The town's name was changed to Viron, and a university was soon built there. The university would take on the name of the town, but its funding would be regulated by the city of Dirbine.

Classic Gerosha
Candi Flippo changes her name to Candi Stevens and moves to the Viron area so she can attend Viron University. She changes her name so as not to draw undue attention to herself from the Hebbleskin Gang. However, she discovers that they are already in the area, and are plotting with local police chief Merle Hourvitz to launch a revolution and seize the greater Dirbine for Meethlite control under Duke Arfaas. After Musaran murders her husband Denny Levens and her daughter Angie Levens dies shortly after birth, Candi dons an orange centipede outfit and becomes Ciem to battle both the Hebbleskins and the notorious local Kerpher Gang.

The Viron area remains relatively safe even during the Mik-Non's assault on it. This is in spite most of Dirbine-proper being seriously damaged by a full-blown terrorist assault. The area even survives the catastrophic destruction of downtown Dirbine brought on by Milp in Milliblob form, after she takes control of Arbustrombre.

Comprehensive Gerosha
The city layout is slightly different in Ciem: Vigilante Centipede, more closely resembling real-life southwest Evansville. Otherwise, its major history points in this universe are nearly identical to their Classic Gerosha counterparts.

Places of interest within

 * Viron Counselors Network: A center for troubled teens and at-risk families. Based on the real life Boys Town Network.


 * Viron University: Where Candi goes to study forensic science as a major. In Classic Gerosha, it was a parody of Ferris State University, having a "Scarr Building" in the place of the Starr Building.  In Comprehensive Gerosha, it was the University of Southern Indiana in everything but name.


 * Viron Community Church: The church where Wilbur Brocklyn traditionally preached. Candi attended this for a time in several incarnations of the mythos.


 * Candi's house / apartment: Depending on which version of the mythos, Candi had either a house or an apartment in Viron both before and after her marriage to Denny ended.


 * Denny's house: A house with a large science lab in its basement. Various different takes were attempted on what the exact contents of Denny's house were.  However, the Classic Gerosha version seems to have provided the template for every version of Levens house ever tried after it.


 * Hazy Eighties Bowling Alley: Arguably Candis' first job was here. At least two different versions of the alley have been attempted.

Prominent residents
The following residents are listed based on their status of living in Viron at any point in time, and according to which timeline(s) they did so prior to Cataclysmic Gerosha.


 * Candi Levens / Ciem (G3.1, G4, G5, and G6)
 * Denny Levens (G4-G6)
 * Donte McArthur / Emeraldon (G5 and G6)
 * Jeraime Malestrom / Musaran (G4-G6)
 * Charlie McArthur (G5 and G6)
 * Frank McArthur (G5 and G6)
 * Laurie Pegol (G5 and G6)
 * Wilbur Brocklyn (G3.1-G6)
 * Celia Winehart (G5 and G6)
 * Daghmar Wu (G5)
 * Amy the Skater (G5)
 * Wayne "the Vampire" Norfine (G6)
 * Betty McArthur (G5 and G6)
 * Kelsea Linney (G5)
 * Jessie Levens (G5)
 * Nolle Barret (G4-G6)
 * Pete "the Shouter" Sims (G5)

Cataclysmic Gerosha
Main article: Cataclysmic Gerosha

Due to the timeline changes for the year 2018, a lot of things are switched around in this timeline. As such, Cataclysmic Candi never resided in Viron. Denny effectively doesn't exist as one individual in this timeline. Donte lived in a part of Evansville, but it was not explicitly described as Viron. Likewise, Jeraime and Dolly got married in the rubble of Evansville itself. Their house is not described as being in Viron. Since Candi is living in Texas by the 2020's, Frank was born in Waco. Charlie does not exist in this timeline. Laurie moved from Indiana to Texas some time ago, as did Wilbur, Celia, and Wayne. Daghmar, Amy, Kelsea, Jessie, Nolle, and Pete effectively don't exist in this timeline. Betty McArthur is killed while listed as a resident of Evansville proper, not Viron. While this does not entirely eliminate Viron from existence in this timeline, the effect of its existence is entirely muted. Viron University is replaced with the University of Houston as a setting for Candi's college years.

Culture
Viron is a peaceful village for the most part, but it does have a major divide between regular residents and the local college student body. The locals tend to be either very young or very old, or college graduates with very young children. They are generally cordial, except towards college students attending Viron University. Towards them, any and all manner of abuse is viewed as acceptable. The older residents especially have it in for college students at Viron. This is largely due to the campus' student body having a bad reputation for being obsessed with sex and otherwise very cold socially. Women at Viron University in particular are stereotyped as ranging from apathetic to mean.

In chapter 15 of Ciem, as well as in the canceled Despair Gerosha version of that story, Candi loses her bid to become a Sunday School teacher at Viron Community Church due to Nolle Barret and others spreading around baseless rumors that she's promiscuous - and therefore, a bad role model for children. It's figured that she has to be so, since she's a Viron University student. Ciem: Vigilante Centipede expands on this to reveal that the blackmail ring Candi came into conflict with in her first week retaliated against Candi for standing up to them by blackmailing an out-of-towner who looked like her to sleep with the football team, resulting in a porn video in which Candi is being impersonated and defamed. In spite Candi's complaints to the school, they shrug and do nothing about the widespread popularity of that porn video. Many other students find that justice only exists in theory in Viron, and the wicked run rampant. Candi doesn't see the harsh reality of extent of this until Denny's house is destroyed, her church is burned to the ground, and the Hebbleskin Gang seizes control of the police force.

Inspiration and evolution
Viron was first defined as a village not far from Dirbine where Candi could go to and start over following Denny being captured by the Hebbleskin Gang in the 2005 version of Ciem. She later settles in Viron semi-permanently following the events in Ciem 2. Despair Gerosha later re-defined things so that she begins her life outside Gerosha by living in Viron, and attending Viron University. Most of Candi's college life was skipped over in Gerosha Prime, as the first story was created before the Dozerfleet founder possessed a copy of The Sims 2: University. Despair Gerosha and later Classic Gerosha versions of Ciem and Ciem 2 sought to capitalize on the University expansions' new features, giving Candi's college days some value. Comprehensive Gerosha's Vigilante Centipede story sought to delve into Viron culture even deeper, and would have it the novel hadn't been canceled.

Design
Various maps of Viron have been designed throughout the development of all versions of the Ciem webcomic trilogy. As such, there is no one specific consistent geography to it before Comprehensive Gerosha's formal definitions give it one. All designs were rendered with Sims 2 default neighborhood maps, with new locations often being made up on the fly as the plot required them. At one point in Classic Gerosha, Viron even had its own lake. This is both inconsistent with the area's geography in real life and impractical to the story. Candi was the only one with a house specifically identified as having access to the lake. And all she did with her lake access was use it to go fishing when she had free time.