Azula vs. Galen Marek

After two days of prep time who will prevail in a fight to the death between the Dark Knight and the God of War?

Batman vs. Kratos

Saturday, January 21, 2012

Warrior Bio: Delta-One , Coalition of Organized Governments.

 (check back every two days, as Ill be updating very frequently).
* Finished sniper, work will resume tommorow!
The Flag under which Delta fought for the first two games. 

(Due to the pure amount of videos, music is going to be infrequent here).

Backstory: 

 To cover the entire history of Sera would beyond the scope of this blog, so ill just try to keep things brief and on a need to know basis. 


The Pendulum Wars: 
The Pendulum Wars was the last series of  major conflicts in which humans fought each other. 


 The relevant backstory begins 80 years prior to E-day (more on that later), with the discovery of Immulsion, a fuel so effective and powerful that it apparently replaced all traditional forms of fuel overnight. While this sounds like a good thing; it wasn't. The energy industry that worked with other types of fuel collapsed, bringing other related industries down with them and causing the entire global economy to collapse. This led to many nations becoming desperate.  Only a few countries were blessed with Immulsion inside their borders, so the nations that didn't have immulsion naturally invaded the ones that did, ending a long era of peace known as the Age of Silence (for those of you asking how people could remain peaceful for so long, the Age of Peace was preceded by a millennia long conflict known as the Age of Armageddon). 


 Conflict erupted throughout the globe and as the chaos spread small fringe group known as the Coalition of Organized governments, built around the ideas of a fanatical socialist, experienced sweeping gains in membership. Being a international organization its membership spanned much of the globe, and its members gradually overthrew governments, increasing its power. Eventually the war ended up being a confrontation between the C.O.G. and the anti-C.O.G., the Union of Independent Republics.  
Coalition force under fire during the Pendulum Wars


 For at least four decades the two forces  fought each other into a bloody stalemate, with millions dead throughout the globe. Getting tired of the pace of the war, both sides pursued super weapons as a means to achieve quick victory. Efforts were made to sabotage both their programs, with only the CO.G. force succeeding , in which Marcus Fenix, Anya Stroud and Dominic Santiago participated (and all experienced loss) .With the U.I.R. scientists captured, it was only a matter of time until the C.O.G. achieved victory in the arms race. 
The source of seemingly all C.O.G. technology .




 Adam Fenix, father of Marcus Fenix, was always destined to be a pivotal player in the history of Sera,. A genius ever since a young age, and the very vision of a great scientist, Adam made great strides in many scientific fields, ultimately inventing the hammer of dawn. This contraption used a targeting system to fire down giant LAZORS  down from the sky onto the enemy. Coming in both a small portable version and a command post, this weapon of mass destruction could devastate the enemy without the C.O.G. command having to ever leave their office. 



 The Hammer of Dawn was deployed on the U.I.R. third fleet, destroying much of it and convincing the premier of the U.I.R. to surrender, lest it be used on cities next. Though some holdouts  of rouge member states remained, the U.I.R. as a governing entity effectively  ceased to exist. Peace had finally come to Sera.




6 weeks later......
To bad these guys didn't get the memo. 
Locust-Human Wars:


 The sudden emergence of the Locust took almost the entire C.O.G. by surprise(there is ONE singular exception) , who were completely unprepared for a sudden assault, much less one from  underground. It is estimated that in those first few days over a quarter of humanity fell to hellish monsters who resembled boogeyman tales from their folklore. The monsters gave no demands, did not interact at all in negotiations, and seemed only to desire one thing; the extinction of the human race. The next year was dominated by chaotic fighting with the invaders gaining more and more of a advantage. 
To some he was a lying scoundrel, to others a man dedicated solely to the salvation of the human race.


   Almost a year after E-day the Coalition Chairman Dalyell suffered a fatal heart attack in office, leaving it to his (formerly)  deputy chairman Richard Prescott. A bit more forceful of a personality then his predecessor, almost immediately upon taking office he tried to organize a counteroffensive among the states of the C.O.G., only to run into some fundamental difficulties. Namely that the C.O.G. was more Confederation then Constitution, with the chairman only being a leader among nobles rather then a class above them. All but one nation refused his request, pissing of the chairman who though that these nations were only fighting for "the right to be the last to fold" . He began drafting up a doomsday plan to save humanity utilizing his capital area of Jacinto Plateau, whose unique granite rock bed made it next to impossible for the Locust to dig through (though according to Prescott's military advisers, it would only be a month until they fell regardless).The rare times that they succeeded in those tasks the C.O.G. just flooded the tunnels with nerve gas.  In a meeting with his general Barry Salaman, chief intelligence officer Colonel Hoffman, Attorney general Milon Audrey, and Adam Fenix he announced his emergency plans.

   First he signed the Fortification act, giving him powers that would make Loius XIV jealous. He had complete nominal control of everything in the C.O.G., and could do extreme acts like setting up breeding camps to boost up humanity's population (which he did). Of course this wouldn't be enforceable without a vote from the Parliament or declaring war on every nation of the C.O.G. but we will get there in a second.Secondly he ordered vast amounts of troops to retreat to Jacinto, which isn't nearly as surprising as the previous or next sections. Now here is the kicker; Prescott then talked about how the Locust's army was being fed by looted C.O.G. equipment gained from captured cities, so in a sense the C.O.G. were feeding their own enemies war effort! Prescott's solution?




"I'ma firen mah Lazors!"
   A three day warning period was given in order to save as many humans as possible and still keep the element of suprise, but alas very few made it into Tyre before the Hammer was brought down. The Hammer of Dawn counterattacks devastated the entire planet; incinerating numerous cities, killing about a quarter of the locust army instantly and many more humans. Those that survived and did not make it into the safe zone in time became the stranded, who wanted nothing to do with the C.O.G. after this. In turn  C.O.G. civlians and soldiers (called "Gears") developed a very negative view of their mostly anarchal brethren.

Sometimes with good reason
 Unfortunatly the Locust returned and launched assult after assualt on the Plateau, which was now the last remaining human bastion. By A.E. 15 (After Emergence Day...and the Hammer of Dawn counterattacks took place a year in) the humans had been pushed into a pocket of the Plateau, and their capital of Ephyra had fallen, with only a few remaining cities including Jacinto City remaining.

The last bastion.

       This is where the tale of Delta Squad begins.
           (And this is the introduction of Gears of War from the Locust Queen's point of view. Basically tells the same story in less words. Had I been lazy I would have only used this. )

Delta Squad:
The original four. 
         (I am going to try to be as brief as possible here).
In the very beginning of Gears of War 1 Delta Squad member Dominic Santiago frees his best friend Marcus Fenix from the Slab, a horrible prison that has now been overrun by Locust. The join up with Anthony Carmine and Lieutenant Kim, who leads the outfit. They are sent by C.O.G. command (which now  really just consists of Colonel Hoffman, as Solomon killed himself after the Hammer of Dawn counterattacks) to retrieve a Sonic Resonator from Alpha squad, who went missing. After coming across some of Alpha's mangled corpses their new objective became to utilize said resonator to map out the Locust's tunnels. Almost immediatly after they got that objective this happened
                                     (The Start of the Carmine curse.)
  The death of a member really didn't slow down Delta, and they pressed onward, eventually coming across Augustus Cole, legendary Cougar's player and former member of Alpha team. After getting a tour of their now destroyed capital Ephyra , they encountered and saved the remains of Alpha squad, including Damon Baird, and recovered the sonic resonator. However then they were ambushed by General Raam, and in that engagement Kim was killed, leaving command of the squad to Marcus. 
 With Marcus in charge they managed to fight through the beserker, and ultimately through the city with the aid of the stranded contracts Dom had made in the search of his wife Maria. Arriving at a old Imulsion station, they fought their way down underground after fighting through a Corpser and a new type of enemy that explodes when shot. After deploying the resonator, which is designed to map Locust tunnels, they just barely scramble to the surface, only for Command (speaking through combat controller Anya's voice) to tell them that they data collected is insufficient. Of course they are then sent to the Fenix mansion to see if Marcus's dead father had any information on the subject . Since Adam was the single competent scientist in the entire C.O.G., it turns out that he had pretty much mapped out the entire thing. Unfortunately in order to deploy the lightmass bomb, they had to board a train that was quite literally destined for hell. And in order to get it there, they first had to fight through a locust infested train and schedule appointment with good old general Raam. Though the battle was difficult, the rewards were great.
     Unfortunately though the lightmass bomb succeeded in killing off  the krill (think Pitch Black), it only put a small dent in the Locust numbers. Delta was forced to partake in many missions to help stem the new locust onslaught; whether it be evacuating cities, rescuing squads that got trapped behind enemy lines, or just engaging the locust in endless skirmish after skirmish. Getting increasingly desperate to win the war, the C.O.G. decided to do something they have never done before and go on the offensive. In a assault known as the Landown offensive they dug holes in the ground and invaded the Hollow, where the Locust reside. Meanwhile Dom is continuing to search for his wife, asking everyone who he knows 
 There they discovered the existence of the Riftworm- a creature so large that it eats out the foundations of cities. Of course Delta is sent to kill it, which they succeed in doing so by chopping it from the inside with their chainsaws. During this they gained two brief squad members named Benjamin Carmine and Tai Kaliso, both of whom died quite horribly, proving that in order to truly prosper in Delta, you need to be one of the main four (five if you count combat controller Anya).  After breezing through a creepy modern day Frankenstien's laboritory and once again going down to the Hollow, Delta was met by a tragic sight. 


 Driven to rage by his wife's death, Dom and Marcus tore through the Locust citadel, soon joined by Baird and Cole (these guys always split up randomly mid-game).During these adventures they find out that the Locust are actually fighting two wars! One on the surface (against humanity) and one below against the highly infection and explosive Lambent.  Eventually they come across some plans written by Adam Fenix (!) detailing, you guessed it, another superweapon! This one explains that in order to finish the Locust off for good the entire Jacinto plateau needs to be sunk, which would flood the Locust in their tunnels. Moving onward they next come across the Locust queen Myrrah who reveals A. that she knew and spoke positively of Adam Fenix and B. she plans to sink Jacinto first, after her forces are evacuated. Realizing that their was no real way to save the capital, they decide that it needs to be sunk first! After a boss battle with the Queen's high priest Skorge, they reach the surface, where they inform the elated Prescott and Hoffman that they need to sink the city that they had spent 15 years defending, and evacuate a million people in a couple of hours. 
FUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUU
 Marcus and company fend off the Locust attack designed to hold them in place, before Dom and Marcus are then sent off alone into the citadel (again). Deciding that they may not have any enough firepower, they hijack a giant Brumak and plow through the Locust defenses. After carving through at least a quarter of the Locust forces, they destroy some natural support beams in order to get the plateau to collapse. While that doesn't work, fortunately their brumak gets infected by the Imulsion! So they blow that up with the hammer of dawn and the explosion is big enough to flood the tunnels and end the game!
 Unfortunately the defeat of the Locust didn't solve one huge pressing problem; they no longer had a city to call home. Thus they were forced to look for another location, eventually settling on a island named Vectes, where they merged with a local city that still considered itself to belong with the Coalition, and surprisingly with the Gorsani, the last remaining remnants of the U.I.R. The latter brought a submarine and a fuel depot, greatly adding to collective strength of the coalition. Though there were significant tensions caused by the merge  of old and new enemies, as well as a viscous stranded insurgency, all seemed to be going well until...

 The Lambent invade!
 The new threat sent shock-waves through the community, which was already on edge. The New invaders were then worse then the Locust; poisoning the ground, killing all the fish in the sea, and exploding whenever they got to close or were killed. These constant disruptions to daily life resulted in Prescott leaving to parts unknown (partially in response to a coup), Hoffman, the Gorsani commander and a naval captain seizing control of the C.O.G., and finally its dissolution as they realized that they could no longer hold it together. 
                      (This time Anya takes us up to date...) 


    Delta was forced off the island, choosing to stay with the naval captain on a relic aircraft carrier.After many months at sea, spent scrounging for  supplies and avoiding lambent, the unexpected happens. Chairman Prescott came back, with a helicopter that he hadn't left with. What was even more surprising was the huge lambent incursion that followed, including a gigantic Lambent Leviathan, which was ultimately defeated by Baird and Cole's squad dropping tickers on its head. However numerous lives were lost in the assault, including the naval captain and Prescott. Before he died however Prescott gave him an encryption key, to a data disk that could only be found with Colonel Hoffman, currently residing at the fort of Anvil Gate. 
        With Prescott's death, Delta was now forced to journey across the devastated landscape, infested by Locust who managed to survive Jacinto, to get to the fortress of Anvil Gate. It wasn't easy, and it was only after many hijackings and skirmishes that they reached the fort, where in typical Gears of War style they found it under siege. After a long, grueling battle in which they were forced to fight even the monster Lambent Beseker, they came out victorious, albeit with the destruction of most of the fort. With that done they could finally find out where Azura, the research facility Prescott mentioned, was. 
Perhaps the most horrifying of the monsters the Gears were forced to face. 
    It turns out that the reason the Locust were unable to take the research island until recently was that it was surrounded by a  unending Maelstrom, caused by a top secret device. So naturally the Gears were supposed to go under it, fighting off marine creatures and mines as they went. To get there though they first had to find fuel, which forced them to Mercy. There they made the gruesome discovery that lambent infection was no longer a Locust problem, and in fact had breached the species barrier. After a grueling fight, Delta experienced their first real tragedy in the game, as Dom sacrificed himself to slow down the reapers. 
Offensive Categories: 


Super Long Range: Longshot Sniper Rifle

The signature Long Range Weapon of the C.O.G.
Stats:


Name:
Longshot Sniper Rifle
Damage Rating (Per Shot) :  
Very high to instant kill
Magazine size:
1 round
Total Ammunition:
24 rounds
Accuracy:
Very High
Fire Mode:
Bolt Action
Rate of fire:
Low- medium *
Range:
Extremely high
Attachments:
Scope

* Gears are often noted for the speed in which they reload, which gives them a automatic boost to  their Rate of Fire scores. 


 The Longshot Sniper Rifle was invented to give the Gears a means in which to kill their foes from a great distance or as the C.O.G. military manual describes it "to reach out and touch someone". Well this rifle can certainly do that and more...
He has been "touched" in the head. 


 The Longshot boasts a high powered scope with a enhanced zoom option, doubling the range of their long range game. In fact with the possible exception of the Hammer of Dawn and One-Shot, the longshot  has the most range of any of the C.O.G. weaponry. The weapon is very accurate, and though you may not always get a headshot a hit is almost guaranteed . The bullet itself is powerful enough to drill straight through armor, as demonstrated by it going straight through Anthony Carmine's head, and the huge explosions of blood they cause when getting a headshot in multiplayer. Since it creates giant holes in its victims, its pretty safe to say that a high degree of damage and penetration can be associated with the round. 



 One final advantage to note is that its a powerful tool in close combat, able to break bones like a baseball bat in a single swing, as this unlucky C.O.G. finds out!




Both the sniper rifle and its operator have some weaknesses that can be exploited. The Sniper's field of vision is rather limited, and are at risk for being flanked if teammates are not around. The Sniper rifle itself is limited by its 1 round clip size, especially when compared against a Semi automatic rifle such as what the Spartans possess. Another limitation is the difficult in reloading this weapon, though that is off-set partially by the Gears emphasis on fast reloads (see "Active reloads" ). A final limitation is that the rifle has been known to give off a glare for some reason when zooming, though this would be a far from constant occurrence! 


                    (Needless to say I like this sniper, he is extremely good.) 
  Its hard to say which Gear is best with the sniper rifle. If Bernie was included then she would have been undeniably the best, however since she is not here it seems that the position would fall to either Marcus, Dom (for his commando training) or Anya. Cole and Carmine prefer closer quarters weapons, and Baird, though he seems like he would be competent with a sniper rifle actually prefers its Locust counterpart, which will be previewed later. Thus unlike other guns where a specific team member could be assigned to, this shall remain ambiguous pending further evidence. Delta would have without a doubt used it, but I am unsure which one would have the greatest chance of carrying it into battle. 


  (Although his previous montage had some hits and misses in regards to soundtracks , I really like the song in this!)
 Overall the Sniper Rifle provides Delta with a useful, if flawed, first strike capability. Its bullets are powerful enough to instant kill a Spartan should they hit them right. 


Long Range: MK II Lancer Assault Rifle,MK I Lancer Assault Rifle

The Iconic Weapon of the Gears of War series, as well as the most gory.


Name:

Mk. 2 Lancer Assault Rifle

Damage Rating (Per Shot) :

Low

Clip Size:

60

Total Ammunition:

600

Rate of Fire:

550/M (High)

Fire Mode:

Automatic

Accuracy:

Medium

Range:

Medium

Attachments:

Chainsaw Bayonet, Crosshairs


    Possibly the most badass gun in this entire match, the Lancer is a weapon so famous that even those who have never heard of the Gears series know of this weapon. It is also a special weapon for Delta squad, as one of their very own members came up with the idea! Early in the war Marcus very nearly met a premature end when a Locust Drone down him, and was about to finish him off with a gruesome execution when his buddy Tai came in weilding a chainsaw looted from a chainsaw. The excessive gore from that grisly kill gave Marcus a brilliant idea, and the general rule in Gears is if you have a brilliant idea, you go to Adam Fenix. He is the only one competent enough to do anything about it. 



Add this to Adam Fenix's scorecard


    As the trademark weapon of the entire Gears series, nearly every member of the Coalition goes into battle with this weapon. And its not hard to see why; the Lancer is the closest thing that Gears of War has to a perfect weapon. 
                       (Baird shares my opinion. ) 
  The Lancer was most optimal for medium range combat, however its low recoil  meant that it could be used effectively at much greater ranges, as well as making it fairly accurate in the right hands. The recoil is so low, that Gears have been known to spray it one-handed from cover at times, something that would have broken their arms had they tried that with most other weapons. A holographic sight adds an additional boost to their accuracy.  Its sixty round clip and full auto fire ensure that it can take down multiple enemies fairly easily before having to reload, and that only takes a mere 3-4 seconds! This weapon also seems to have the reliability of a AK, and can be seen in all sorts of rough conditions from wetlands to snow to deep under the Earth. 
 (Execution double feature! Watch Dizzy Walin take out some of his immense anger on some unlucky Locust). 


 No preview of the Lancer can be complete without mentioning the chainsaw bayonet, the attachment that really makes this weapon famous, and gives the Coalition a close quarters edge over the physically superior Locust (something that motivates Locust to pick up this weapon when they find it). The execution, while time-consuming, is so mind-blowingly gory that blood sprays in all directions, providing a psychological component to this weapon. Someone having to watch one of his comrades die in this way is not going to want to get close again. How strong is the blade? Besides being designed to cut through Locust hides (and proven to do so with the larger variants) it can also cut through foliage, the hard hide of a gigantic rockworm, and steel lines. In this battle I believe it could saw through even Spartan armor if the Gear got close enough. 


(Hopefully that is enough Chainsaw action for ya!) 
 Even this weapon has some disadvantages though. Notably that it will take longer then usual for it to punch through Spartan shielding, and by then they may already be on top of them. Also the chainsaw jams after a while from overuse. Nearly all Delta Squad members start out with this weapon, save the one that will get a special version of this gun's predecessor. 




MK I Lancer Assault Rifle : "Retro Lancer": 



The predecessor of the famous "original " lancer, this weapon was added into Gears of War 3 solely due to popular demand. 


Name:
MK. 1 Lancer “Retro Lancer” assault rifle 
Damage rating:
Medium to High (per shot)
Magazine Size:
30 rounds
Maximum Ammunition:
210 rounds
Accuracy:
Low-Medium
Fire Mode:
Automatic
Rate of Fire:
500 rounds per minute
Range:
Short-medium
Attachments:
Blade-Bayonet, “Gut Puncher”



    Many of you are probably curious as to why this weapon is in the match. Shouldn't its successor be better in every way? In redesigning the rifle, Adam Fenix had to make some readjustments to the design, some good and bad. the second major reason this was added is that by the time of Gears of War 3, the remaining C.O.G. and Locust have gotten desperate enough to wear they have to mostly utilize antiques. 


 So what are the pros and cons of this weapon, in comparison to the regular Lancer. I'll do a departure from routine and talk about the bad first. It's range is nearly half that as a Lancer, and is devoid of any sort of targeting reticules. The range is further hurt by its recoil, which in the words of Baird Damon is "like a mule". The clip size is half that of the Lancer, and its maximum ammunition nearly a third of that. The Bayonet, though fast, lacks much in the way of penetration and killing power, especially when compared to the chainsaw. In fact it needs a long charge up time to have the momentum to successfully pierce Locust hides or armored enemies. 
   (That's not to say the Retro Lancer isn't lethal however.)

 The Pros may very well outweigh the cons however. Its ammunition possesses a extremely high damage rating, to the point where I can see it shredding through Spartan shields and armor quite easily. In fact it is SO damaging in game that several patches had to be made by Epic games (the creators), to lower the damage rating. It also seems to be a faster weapon in close range in comparison to the chainsaw, which needs to be wound up to be able to kill. Finally the design of the later Lancer made it so underside attachments are very difficult. In comparison the Retro Lancer has two attachments; the blade bayonet and the rare "Gut Puncher" . As the former is basically a standard bayonet, the latter is a weapon not seen in the games, only the novels. However since I generally have a policy of including all forms of media it will be present in the match. The Gut puncher is a grenade launcher attachment capable of shooting devastating anti-vehicle grenades over many meters. Due to its rarity the C.O.G. won't have many  of these grenades, however they will have some. 
Gruesome melee kills are the norm in Gears of War. 
 In this battle the Retro Lancer will be present at both supply drops and initially in the hands of one Delta member, who will probably be pissed that at how raw his shoulder will be after the battle. 


Close Range: 







2 comments:

  1. Magnificent so far, utterly precious :D A quickish and concise look into the world of the gears as well as the conflicts that forged them and their society. Also great intro to the sniper rifle (fantastic!) and great work :D

    I see we've got good times ahead of us

    ReplyDelete
  2. Looking good. I dont know much about either side but this info really helps a lot.

    Looking forward to reading more so i will be very prepared

    ReplyDelete