BLADE Overlord Compendium, Version: 1.0
Tyrant: A classification used to denote native Miran fauna (or unique Ganglion assets) that display strength or abilities far beyond their more standard counterparts. Tyrants should be approached with the utmost caution and preparation, and should ideally be confronted by numerous BLADE teams working together.
Overlords: A new term used to identify Tyrants of exceptional note, creatures that as of this stage BLADE has no easy means of defeating, provided that such a feat is even possible. What follows is a first-hand report of observed Overlords and ideas on how to handle these beings, written by top BLADEs.
Report Start
Go-rha, the Guardian Deity
Genus: Xe-dom
Location: Noctilum, Yagami's Vista
Report Author: Cross, BLADE ID 2089
Ok so I was suddenly approached (accosted) by the Big Four to write this report about some of the more terrifying stuff on this wacko planet, so that's what I'm gonna do.
Just in case you haven't realized, this report is gonna be pretty relaxed in it's language, so get used to it.
Ok so Go-rha, eh? Well here's my advice.
Don't mess with it, and don't get within 79 meters of it. There you go, happy travels fellow BLADE or particularly ballsy civilian!
…I'm being told that's not enough information for this report. Ok ok fine.
Alright so Go-rha's call to fame and fortune is in it's bizarre energy field. Most Xe-doms have a similar field they can surround themselves in, either using gravity or magnetic repulsion to either propels themselves or deflect incoming fire.
Go-rha takes that a few steps further.
During my team's exploration of Noctilum we ran across this thing and it being one of the first Xe-dom NLA had ever encountered, we naturally tried to get close to it. Bad idea.
Any being that get's within 79 meters of this thing must trigger some sort of pre-programmed response, because it will then chase said trespasser to a maximum of 500 meters before returning to it's previous state. We discovered that charming fact the hard way and if it wasn't for a Skell we had handy we would be dust in the wind at this point.
But that field man. Once we had learned of the machines aggressiveness we gathered a few Skells and decided to test it's limits.
Spoiler alert: It didn't go well.
Go-rha is surrounded by some sort of field that reflects all forms of potentially harmful munitions back at it's shooter. Physical, energy-based, Ether based, even gravity weaponry is tossed back with seemingly zero effort (don't ask how it pulls off that trick with gravity based weaponry, because Hell if I know).
What's worse is that it doesn't merely throw back the incoming fire in a straight line, the bloody thing can actually send back attacks in a predictive manner a well. So strafing is a worthless tactic.
It's also not as easy as simply altering the speed of the projectiles or their size. It must have some sort of advanced sensor array because it can judge a weapon's threat level based on velocity or energy carried and respond accordingly.
There's some thought being given to the idea of simply overloading the field, such as dragging a massive boulder over it's resting place and then dropping it, but for now I think the phrase, 'let sleeping dogs lie', is a good rule to follow.
Barnabas, The Despot
Genus: Vigent
Location: Oblivia, Aaroy Plains
Report Author: Frye Christoph, BLADE ID 1009
My first bit of advice for avoiding Barnabas? Don't travel with the reclaimer Yelv. The guy's great to have in a fight and all, but he has an annoying tendency to also start them as well (and that's coming from me!). I say this because he first spotted this thing during the first weeks of exploring Oblivia and got it into his mind to shoot it with the cars rail-cannon.
All it did was piss the thing off and cause it to chase us for almost twenty minutes straight.
Alright actual details about the thing…well it's strong. Like really, really strong. Strong enough that it can be considered an Overlord based merely on it's physical strength.
First off, it's limb strength. When I said it chased us for almost twenty minutes it didn't stop because it got bored or tired, it was because another Vigent caught it's attention. All the extra commotion must have caught the others fancy. Long story short, Barnabas ripped the other one apart.
Literally.
While Barnabas is only a eighth again as large as your typical Vigent, don't let that fool you. With seemingly no effort it tore the arms off of the opposing Vigent and with a single hit crushed it's head into mush (and those things have pretty damn thick frontal skull plates, lemme tell yah).
It must have some sort of mutation in it's body structure that affords it that crazy strength, because there's no outward difference it shows between other Vigents.
It's also tough as Hell, since the rail-cannon didn't even dent it while other Skell class weaponry has been proven to accomplish absolutely nothing except make it mad.
Speaking of mad this thing takes it's territory very seriously. If it sees or hears you, it will attack. Don't make the mistake of thinking you're too small and puny for it to feel threatened by, it'll hunt you down no matter how innocent you are.
It's not all doom and gloom though, Barnabas does have quite a few weak points. Number one being that it's clumsy as Hell, just like all Vigents. There's documented videos of Barnabas just running along the desert and tripping over itself for no reason, as well as it getting it's limbs stuck in sinkholes for minutes at a time.
Potential strategies for eventually killing this thing might include some sort of giant murder hole that we can trap it in, or since it relies specifically on physical abilities we can exploit it's tendency to chase things and tire it out that way. In the meantime though I advise you leave it be and keep a close eye on FrontierNav when traveling through the Aaroy Plains.
And don't partner with Yelv. I can't stress that bit enough.
Atreides the Distinguished, Gesserith the Wileworm
Genus: Sabula
Location: Sylvalum, South Silent Sandsea
Report Author: Corwin Donahue, BLADE ID 0497
When we first discovered this pair of monsters I practically crapped myself. Sabulas were already proving to be a nightmare to deal with, since they're damn near impossible to detect until bursting out of the sand swallowing you whole. With FrontierNav being as advanced as it is now we don't have to worry as much about that, but back then we had our hands full.
So imagine my surprise when Atreides burst out of the ground like some kind of Sand Leviathan and proceeded to eat our teams Skell whole. I've seen some freaky shit, both on Earth and on Mira, but seeing a worm the size of the Bank of America Tower (when it was still around) pop out of the ground and leap through the air while digesting one of my team members is definitely on the top of my list now.
But that ain't the worst of it, there's a reason two names are listed on this report.
When BLADE HQ finally issued a kill order for this thing we were first in line to offer backup to a team of Skell equipped Harriers. Things were going well at first, we were avoiding being sucked into it's maw, dodging it's expelled stomach acids, shooting down it's 'spikes' it shoots out of it's body…until it's mate showed up.
Gesserith the Wileworm has an extra twenty meters on it's already huge boyfriend, and apparently they can use some sort of subsonic (potentially telepathic) call to attract the other. We ended up losing half our Skells before we called it quits and got out of there, accomplishing nothing except maybe lightly scarring Atreides when all was said and done.
Since these two will almost certainly have to be tackled together, and are insanely powerful on their own without their mates backup, they've been given the Overlord classification and should be avoided at all cost.
Only BLADEs traveling by Skell should be worried though. These two seem to ignore anything that isn't at least Skell sized, as Humans and other smaller Miran fauna have travelled over it's territory with no issues, and in one spectacular case we even caught video of a herd of Ovis walking right over Atreides's exposed maw with no consequences. Wild.
Some BLADE armchair generals have considered bringing along a lot of jamming equipment if we're ever to tackle this particular duo on the theory that enough interfering 'noise' will cause their cry for help to get drowned out.
Hey, if they think it'll work then they can ride along in the passenger seat of my Skell when we go out on the mission. Otherwise I'm calling bullshit.
Yes, Julius, I'm saying your theory is bullshit. I hope you read this you stubborn, opinionated fool.
Vortice, The Deific Blast
Genus: Colubrim
Location: Cauldros, Mount M'gando
Report Author: Hector Birtwhistle, BLADE ID 0915
To begin this report I would like to advise against any BLADEs attempting to attack this creature no matter how strong they might think themselves to be. Even one as skilled as myself would consider aggressive action toward this being to be foolhardy in the extreme.
I first encountered this creature during a solo scouting mission to the Ganglion held continent of Cauldros. It had begun to rain ash and brimstone (as it is wont to do in that area) and I had taken up an observation post overlooking Mount M'gando. I will admit to being quite awed and humbled once I first laid eyes on the creature. Easily dwarfing the crater of M'gando I can only estimate it's length to be almost 290 meters, give or take an extra 5. Compare that to a normal Colubrim's 195 meters and we have quite the ravenous creature on our hands.
Thankfully once the sky had cleared somewhat the creature was nowhere to be seen, and further FrontierNav scans have only picked up rare sightings of the creature…usually before a group of Petramands or a solitary Vigent disappears from the map.
As for it's abilities, aside from it's impressive size, during the storm I could see odd loops of flame coiling around the beast, phenomena I can only grudgingly admit the creature was causing. It seems a safe assumption that it can also manipulate electricity similar to other Colubrims.
If we are to ever attempt to slay this creature I highly recommend we attempt to find it's resting place and ambush it as it sleeps with all available force. Colubrims are frighteningly quick at regenerating lost limbs and staunching their bleeding, so the quicker we can end a potential battle the better off we will be.
Pharsis the Everqueen, Phanatos the Netherlord
Genus: Yggralith
Location: Sylvalum, Noctilucent Sphere, Lake Ciel(?)
Report Author: Corwin Donahue, BLADE ID 0497
So the Yggraliths. Where to start with these monsters? Easily topping 300 meters in length, covered in scales harder than wurtzite boron nitride (that are also self-regenerating), capable of levitation due to the ability to manipulate gravity, and to a lesser extent, Ether. Also possessing insane physical strength and obvious intelligence, these are second only to Telethia in terms of sheer power here on Mira.
Heh, I remember when we first brought back news that Pharsis was hibernating (or resting, who knows?) inside the Sphere. I've never seen the Xenos in such a panic before. The Ma-non stepped up repairs on their ship triple time, the Nopon started to pack up their wares (to go where, I have no idea), so on and so forth. Even the usually unflappable Wrothians and Orpheans froze up in fear.
Apparently these critters are some kind of interstellar natural disaster that requires immediate evacuation of a planet if some sort of massive military response can't be organized. Seems they suck the Ether out of a planet's crust, causing a lot of the Ether dependent lifeforms to die off, causing a massive biological disaster, at which point they descend upon the planet itself and proceed to gorge themselves upon the more tangible biomass.
These two are likely juveniles, or at least close to it, since the largest Yggralith ever recorded, according to Ma-non testimonies, was 12 kilometers in size. Holy crap.
So imagine the panic that came when we found another Yggralith out and about Sylvalum. Phanatos.
Oh boy there was a lot of Xenos changing their pants that day.
Thankfully Mira seems to have extremely high levels of natural Ether production so we don't have to worry about the two Yggraliths draining the planet dry or fighting each other over territory.
Ways to kill these things if we have to? Hell if I know. If we do decide that these two beasts need to be killed I would recommend using several 'Superweapons' in conjunction with massive barrages of more conventional weaponry over the course of several minutes, or however long it takes to wear these things down. Anything else seems like a suicidal proposition.
Telethia the Endbringer
Genus: Telethia
Location: Noctilum, Divine Roost
Author: Cross, BLADE ID 2089
The Endbringer. Well there's a fitting title if ever I've heard one. And that's coming from the guy who's had the dubious pleasure of running into this thing four times, more times than any other BLADE on Mira. My first encounter with this…being…was during a recovery mission in Noctilum that quickly went sideways. My team was cornered by three Sphinxes, Theroids that make Grexes look as deadly and lethal as newborn kittens. We'd barely managed to beat one of the things, and that was with Colonel Elma backing up our team.
Long story short the Telethia suddenly dropped out of the sky and proceeded to tear apart the Sphinxes with about as much effort as you or I would put into making a sandwich. When we're not even hungry.
The second occasion was during a mission we were given by a Nopon client to retrieve one of the Telethia's scales, a mission that in retrospect I wish I had never taken. We had gone in with four Skells, with only the intention of finding a cast off piece of it's skin and getting the heck out of there. Instead it confronted us head on and proceeded to beat us like a rented out speed-bag.
After wrecking our Skells but thankfully leaving us alive it seemingly decided we weren't worth the trouble and left to do it's business. The third time was during a search and rescue operation for several missing Orpheans. The mission was only mostly successful, as the various Dilus had already killed most of the Orpheans, and the Telethia ate the last Orphean about three meters in front of me.
The fourth and final time I came within spitting distance of the Telethia was on a completely unrelated mission in the Divine Roost. Me and my team had been recovering a few Dilus pelts when all of the sudden the beast just landed about twenty meters away from where we were working and stared at us for about a good two minutes before flying off again.
I needed a new pair of pants after that.
All my repeated experiences with the Telethia have given me a cursory knowledge of what might make it tick. Take all of this with a grain of salt.
The Nopon and L (a Miran local) tell of how the Telethia can read an opponents mind and predict both their intentions and movements. Normally I wouldn't lend this sort of tribal mumbo-jumbo much credence, but the Telethia has shown extraordinary ability to both dodge and predict attacks towards it, more so than any other creature on Mira.
There's also the matter of how every time I've encountered it it always seems to examine me before leaving, almost as if it's searching for something. Maybe not so much mumbo-jumbo after all.
On to the more tangible and practical side of things, the Telethia has astonishing levels of physical strength, it's hide is resistant to seemingly all sorts of Skell-class weaponry, it can freely manipulate Ether with seemingly zero effort, and has the odd ability to seemingly redirect certain kinds of energy on a whim, not too dissimilar to Go-rha mentioned earlier in this report.
There's some debate as to the Telethia's level of intelligence, with some merely believing it to be a clever, yet primal, predator while others (myself included) believe it to be at least as intelligent as a Human, if not more so. Something about it's actions and behavior just seem to speak of a higher purpose in life, as well as the fact that it seems capable of calmly observing situations before making decisions about them.
As for trying to defeat this creature?
Forget it pal. Someone posted a bounty on Mission Control a few weeks back for the Telethia's head on a platter, and I can only assume they posted it as a joke. If you happen to have a buddy that thinks that it's at all possible to actually do the deed…instead of smiling and laughing at their bravery, grab them by the shoulders and shout, 'Good God man! Are you insane?!'.
You'll be doing them a favor, because the Telethia is so far beyond anything we currently have that believing we could kill it is wishful thinking, at best.
Disclaimer
After reading the after mentioned reports and their contents, BLADE command would like to remind everyone that the views and opinions expressed do not necessarily reflect BLADE's own, and any inquiries should be directed to BLADE HQ.
Report End
I had a lot of fun writing this particular extra, mainly because I got to fondly remember all the times the aforementioned Overlords pile-drived me into the dirt.
When creating the list I went with Tyrants that were either the most memorable or most lethal during my playthrough of the game.
I think my experience with Go-rha went much the same as everybody else's. 'Hey what's that cool looking statue in the middle of that lake? (Uncontrollable plays) OHCRAPITSAGIANTROBOTRUN-' dies in one hit.
Many hours of gameplay later...
'Man the Ares 90 is so broken, I'm just one-shotting stuff now...Oh hey, lets go take out that Xe-dom Tyrant that was in Noctilum!'
(Suicides after using Ageshuras)
'OH CMON!'
Barnabas was a right pain in my ass when exploring Oblivia before you get the flight module, and the first time I encountered him pretty much went like, 'Hey what's with the heavy footsteps behind me? Hey why's the Tyrant theme playing? Hey why's my character dead before I could even pan the camera around?'
Atreides and Gessirith are actually my favorite pair of Tyrants just because there's so much buildup to when you decide to take them on. Before all you see is this giant lvl 70+ Tremors reject jumping through the valley, and once you finally decide to take it on...lo and behold Bitch, there's two of them.
The other four should be in for obvious reasons really.