Vyzion Eyri
The Southern Legion
The Umbra Combine
1814
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Posted - 2013.11.06 00:35:00 -
[3] - Quote
I'll try do this in order of the parts of the "Stranded" collection.
==SPOILER WARNING== If you want to enjoy the story, read this AFTER. ==SPOILER WARNING==
He is an immortal soldier, and for some reason after a battle when everyone was recalled he was left on the battlefield.
He staggers along, fighting off salvaging drones which are pulling apart and I suppose acquiring the salvage for the game or recycling materials, and hears a voice in his head. This is where it gets hazy: speculation about the voice has led to me personally believing it's just him, but there is a possibility it's a real person. The voice calls him a "Traveller".
So, the voice leads him to a place that apparently he's been to before. In this place (all we know about it is it's dark and underground), the voice 'forces' him to relive memories of his life leading up to the stage he becomes immortal.
Events were traced which build up Balac as a character. He dislikes capsuleers, for example, because his brother was serving on a ship for one, and when it was destroyed apparently the capsuleer bailed, with no regard for his/her crew. This is very common in New Eden; indeed, it's ironic that the immortals fear for their lives more than that of the mortals who serve under them.
We skip to a time when he's serving under a Minmatar military special forces organisation: the Valklears. He is accompanied by Neera, who I am assuming is a lover and friend. Interestingly, Neera herself has a troubled conscience, much further progressed than the doubts flickering in Balac's own mind about the atrocities he's committing under the Valklears. Neera has lost faith in the organisation, believing they're 'worse than everyone else'. Also here we get a confirmation that Balac is Minmatar. Despite trying to calm her down, Neera ends up killing the rest of their squad, and turns on Balac. He overpowers her and kills her.
Throughout these fragments of memories there is constant referral and return to the darkness of his present, and how it seems to engulf him and force him to return to his memories, sometimes after returning just to puke.
After Neera, Balac is on a ship, some kind of caravan, and an explosion wipes out the ship. Strangely, this is not the truth, or as Balac puts it, 'not how it happened'. He returns to the dark present, and confronts the voice, who responds: "Well, you would know, Traveller. They are your memories after all." This could be concrete evidence that Balac is actually conversing with another person, or it could hint that his conscience is so fragmented he has tried to warp his memories to forget them.
And this is understandable, because that particular memory on the ship is probably one of the rare fights where he is beaten. Despite single-handedly wiping out half a squad of some unidentified soldiers who raided the ship for a container (contents unknown), Balac was left severely wounded and unable to stop the raiders or pirates.
Following this episode, an eager reporter is followed trying to find and interview Balac about the raid, trying to uncover the mystery of the box. At this point, probably because of the raid on the ship, Balac is crippled on a wheelchair. The mystery deepens as the contents of the box take on a larger importance in the story; a member of a research time of a top-secret program tried to divulge information to the reporter. As they converse, it becomes evident the container Balac remembers is the size of a coffin. Here I speculate that all this has something to do with the immortal mercenary initiative by empires. After, the reporter leaves Balac, and she is promptly killed by an unidentified man, probably Vantus Torin, the character we meet in the next part.
Darkness engulfs a blinding light as Balac returns to the present, arguing with the voice, and something I think is crucial here is when he says "Knowing is not the same as remembering." The next question from the Traveller reveals a lot Balac:
GÇ£Did you give them up willingly or did they take them from you?GÇ¥
Keep these quotes in mind.
Anyway, we return to Balac's memories, when he encounters Torin.Torin reveals that he ordered the raid on the ship to 'look into' Balac's whereabouts, and probably also to retrieve that container. Torin argues no one was meant to be harmed on the raid, that Balac started the fight, essentially. Torin, a Krusual (one of the Minmatar tribes), stole from the Thukker tribe, essentially stealing from their own. His motives, which he partially reveals to Balac, describe that container as their 'salvation'. He more or less confirms that the container probably held a clone body, which would mean it could be replicated
to create an immortal army.
Torin wants Balac to become immortal. Balac argues no; probably because of his experiences with capsuleers. Torin says Balac is one of the finest soldiers he has ever seen, and that 'we can't manufacture experience'. Still Balac is unconvinced. The selling point of immortality, then, was when Torin mentioned that immortality would mean Balac gets his legs back.
"..things that some people frankly don't even get the chance to do in real life, because it's poorly designed."
-Veigar
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Vyzion Eyri
The Southern Legion
The Umbra Combine
1817
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Posted - 2013.11.06 00:52:00 -
[4] - Quote
We find Balac wearing a neuro-interface socket (NIS) the next time we see him, preparing his consciousness to be transferred upon death. Once this procedure is completed, Balac is required to die to be transferred to a clone body. Instead of killing him, the people involved in the program decide to test him, letting him kill himself. This would prove to be one of the greatest challenges for him, and it takes him days to finally commit suicide. Interestingly, he chooses not to put a bullet into his skull with the provided gun, but suicides by pushing himself, wheelchair and all, off an overpass.
He is revived in a clone body, and initially is completely outraged that instead of being in his own body he is now a '200-pound albino infant'. Understandable, given his original body was as much a part of his memories and treasures as what he had in his head. This regret at becoming nothing but a 'grunt' seems to overpower the joy he feels at having legs and mobility again.
Now Balac is put into a squad of 3 other newly-immortalised clones: Krin, Gastun and Cala. A bit of history on each one. A point worth noting is that Cala was originally a woman, and even when they explained she would be put into a stock male body, she agreed to the process.
Their training regime is rigorous, designed to make them work as a cohesive unit. As elite soldiers, they get on fairly well. 16 days of gruelling training, of getting used to dying and coming back to life, and now we find the squad on a mountain, trying to get around it to set up a tower which would allow reinforcements to back them up.
It is unclear whether or not this is part of their training, but Balac drily remarks that "If we fall [off the mountain], we get to hike all the way back out here and try again." Which could indicates it is a training mission.
The failure of the mission, where Balac is alone amongst the 'empty husks' of the clone bodies of his squad who were killed, is rendered sinister by the voice, who implies that there is more to the situation, and that Balac was lied to 'in the worst way possible'.
And that's it for now.
"..things that some people frankly don't even get the chance to do in real life, because it's poorly designed."
-Veigar
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