Locust Origin Theory

As many people already know, I am a big Gears of War fan. It was the first game that I REALLY got into, has some of the most inspirational game design I’ve seen, and I got pretty competitive, to the point of my clan being second place worldwide on gamebattles, and myself in the top 50 for a few playlists in later Gears games. But that’s not all that caught my attention. The Gears universe had a great fiction and tone, despite what all the naysayers… say. So it was right after Gears of War 2 had been released I had taken it upon myself to find out what was up with all these things that we had no explanation for in the games. I was the first person to go in and say, “Hey, does anybody wonder were the locust (the main antagonist in the series) come from?” My theory was posted on the Gears of War forums, was quite controversial, and became a huge collaborative, eventually influencing the game itself (a lot of these questions were questions the developers probably hadn’t answered themselves). The theory has undergone 4 main revisions but hasn’t been updated past the first Gears of War novel, and is being posted in its raw form, so it should be taken with a grain of salt. And quite frankly, the theory can be a lot of reading, so clear your schedule.

Side note, I forgot how much I loved the Gears of War series. Please don’t give my fanaticism too much attention.

Quote:
“- BIG TEASE from Cliff to the forums about the origins of the Locust Horde: “There are multiple theories online where people have guessed what they are, but there are some who have basically figured out where the Locust are from". I wonder who's the lucky forumer that guessed the whole Locust subplot?” http://forums.epicgames.com/threads/724048-Karen-Traviss-is-writing-Gears-of-War-3!-NEW-CONFIRMED-STORY-INFO-Updated-May-13th

Original Theory:
http://forums.epicgames.com/threads/633203-Locust-Origin-Speculation-*SPOILER-ALERT*

Revised Theory:
http://forums.epicgames.com/threads/633203-Locust-Origin-Speculation-*SPOILER-ALERT*/page6

Final Theory:
http://forums.epicgames.com/threads/668431-Origin-of-the-Horde

So without further ado,



Original Theory:

Before you read any further, please make note of what I have to say. Really, just humor me. In just about all the text below, and pretty much every reply, there are spoilers to the Gears of War and Gears of War 2 campaigns. It's unavoidable. So if you don't want to have the Gears of War/ Gears of War 2 story spoiled, don't read. Simple. There may also be some spoilers to the Gears of War novel (Gears of War: Aspho Fields), though I personally have not yet read it. There are plenty of others who have and use evidence from the book to support their ideas. The next part I gotta talk about is that this is all speculation. Pretty much all of my theory is just speculation. It is not official Gears of War story; it is not unofficial Gears of War story. It's just a theory. The evidence used is fact - the ideas supported here are not - as far as we know. On another note, many arguments against (and for) my and others' theories have already been made. Quite a few pages actually. I'm saying this because there are some of you who will read the first paragraph and go straight to the quick reply box. I'm not saying you should go and read all the posts (even for myself that's a daunting task), but if you post something, try to be at least a little informed. Finally, in conclusion, and last, but sure as hell not least, no flaming or hate. Everyone's theory is valid unless proven otherwise by official Gears of War... official stuff. You know what I mean.

Now, I am speculating (speculating being the key word) that Locust originate from Humans, as has been hinted at OVER and OVER and OVER. The experiments in the lab in the campaign hint at this, all too many entries in the war journal hint at this, it would be a reasonable explanation why the Locust have been gathering human captives for so long (and why they didn't attack LONG ago - they were too few in numbers and needed to recruit the children they stole in the night), rustlung (which I'll explain further along), and Hell, what about those rings on Tai's back? Looks like something vaguely familiar . . . maybe rings that would be in a Locust's back . . . So basically, I think that the Locust mutate from humans.

This is big. Here's some more of my conspiracy theory. More of a timeline actually. First, the humans of Sera find Imulsion, and a process is developed to convert it to energy. Humans start wars to gain control of this new precious resource, the Pendulum Wars. Humans start to research ways of making better soldiers - the Locust. One of the scientists researching this is Adam (Fenix), another being Niles, and possibly another being the one who we now know as the Locust Queen . . . one research (or THE research) lab being explored in the Gears 2 campaign. Sires I'm assuming are the earlier attempts at Locust, and the first real Locust were made underground, by the Queen, who I'm guessing would have been made into the first Locust from either some accident or the scientists testing the "Locust making" process on her. Maybe the relation between Adam Fenix and the Queen before she was a Locust impacted a relationship after she was a Locust, explaining her talking about him in the campaign and how Marcus' dad had all those maps of the Locust tunnels.

So yes, maybe the Locust Queen IS Marcus' mother (from when she was theoretically human of course). Plenty of ideas could form around this speculation alone - is there ANOTHER Dom-Maria relationship? But I won't waste my breath on that. I'll leave that all to you.

Anyway, into the present, the Locust-from-human thing can also explain some things from Gears 1 and 2. What happened to Dizzy? I'm thinking we'll see him in Gears 3 as a Locust, having been captured. This in fact could be a sweet way to reveal that this is where the Locust come from - the Locust version of Dizzy comes toward Delta Squad - he is utterly unrecognizable from his human self - except for his signature straw hat . . . Anthony Carmine? Remember him? Likely he really is just dead - but if the Epic team decides to follow Halo once again (you must admit, they did a lot of things Halo did with Gears 2), Locust may be able to be converted from dead humans, or almost dead humans, like the flood. If this is true maybe we'll find out what happened to Adam Fenix, Minh Yung Kim, and Tai as well (or who they are/were - how ironic would it be if General RAAM was Marcus' dad?). That last part might be stretching it a bit though, and I personally am not looking forward to Gears continuing to follow the Halo direction - follow the Gears direction.

Now ALL of this leads to one question - how are humans converted to Locust? Well, first off, according to my theory the Locust originated around the time that Imulsion was found, so maybe it has something to do with Imulsion, probably inhaling it in some way (rustlung as I mentioned earlier, and maybe why prisoners are kept in small cells, cells that may have nothing in them to breathe except Imulsion in gas form. This theory could be foiled by the fact that most if not all of the cells have viewing slots in them - but hey, they could probably be closed off.

Whatever the cause of the mutation, it has to do something with the cells - which are oddly like the containers in the Sires' lab. I'm still sticking with the Imulsion theory though - that could explain further events - and maybe give us a new boss in Gears 3 (remember that Corpser in Gears 1? It was in a lot of Imulsion). The further events I'm talking about are the lambent of course. Just like the Locust are a natural evolution of humans (well, you know what I mean) - thicker skin, bigger in size, highly aggressive, and so on - the lambent are a natural evolution of the Locust. Humans get a dose of Imulsion after discovering it, and the locust are born. After a few years (since the emergence of the Locust, which is actually more than just a few) of even further exposure to Imulsion, the Locust become lambent - they grow BIGGER (just look at the Brumak at the end of Gears 2 - I mean damn, really), they explode, and seem better suited to combat. Lambent wretches for one can be a Hell of a lot harder than normal wretches. Also looking at the evolution thing, you know how we humans have to fight back the Horde? The Horde has to fight back the lambent.

So you see, my theory fits perfectly. The Locust are made from humans with large amounts of exposure to Imulsion. Everything fits and, well, I can't express my enthusiasm at pondering this. Besides that it's been HEAVILY hinted at - a lot. If you have any questions, comments, or see flaws in my theory, please tell me. Because if this is true - it's BIG.

Now please, don't flame, and make sure you've read the disclaimer at the top of the post. It's important. In other news, GEARS 2 IS OUT!



Revised Theory:

Well, I guess it's about time to put down my revamped theory. I won't have time to address everything, but a complete timeline should suffice.

- In the beginning there are humans on Sera from whatever made them, be it a big bang, god, or whatever. I will not intrude on anyone's beliefs by specifically saying one or the other. At this same time, the Locust, or as we would see them, the Kantus species of Locust (have you noticed all other Locust are named on their roles, and if I may say so, a bit... thicker? Boomers, Drones, etc.) were evolving on another planet, or more likely, an independent, to put it crudely, space rock. Just to add a little bit of flavor, I'm suggesting that this "space rock", moon, or whatever, has little atmosphere, which explains why the Locust have an underground tendency and have different breathing styles than humans.

- While the humans of Sera continue on their evolutionary trail, the asteroid-moon-planet which the Kantus inhabit becomes drawn into Sera's gravitational pull and comes, like one would expect an asteroid-moon-planet to, crashing down to Sera. The Kantus, living on the inside of the space rock would be pretty much protected from the friction of entering the atmosphere. Once again, to add a little flavor, I suggest that this rock when it lands eventually becomes Jacinto Plateau.

- The Kantus, to their nature, tunnel underground, having little to no contact with humans. Humans though at the time of the Kantus' coming must have had some records, as the Locust were said to have "fallen from the stars". Here the humans continue evolving as normal, while the Kantus evolve alongside Imulsion, like other creatures such as rockworms (rockworms and the riftworms have existed for a while now, making the tunnels we now see as the Locusts'. The riftworms were not mutated, but evolved from normal rockworms long before the Kantus came to Sera) and corpsers. The Kantus also at this time built their what are now ruins.

- Many of these ruins were focused on the Kantus religion of sorts, which they based, like humans myths, on what was around them they couldn't understand. In this case it was the worms, their food, the creators of their tunnels, and so on. The Kantus developed this religion in sync with their habits, once again, like humans. They learned to control the worms with voice commands and pheromones for example. They also developed a relationship with, though not religion on, Imulsion. They learned of the many ways they could use that to their advantage, for example they could excite it with certain pitches of sound, activating properties which under some circumstances can act as adrenaline (healing fellow wounded Locust). They very likely have other such control over Imulsion, though what the controls allow are even today unknown to humans. The Kantus religion and environmental control has been passed on from each generation since.

- Over time, the humans developed as they have, and the Kantus the same. There were run ins between the two, along with Imulsion, though all occurrences were extremely rare and didn't affect much of anything. There were very likely a few humans who got exposure to Imulsion and died from rustlung, and likely a few times a Kantus has happened upon an over ground town - explaining some of the earlier stories of Locust kidnapping children - although they may have been exaggerated.

- While the Kantus have the beginnings of extinction appearing, the humans have the problem of fuel. Because they are running out of (like us humans on Earth) fossil fuels, they need to do something. The humans of Sera decide, with very few other options, to dig deeper.

- At this point time has come to where humans first found Imulsion. There were a few more initial occurrences where humans met Kantus, but the Kantus for the most part stayed away, being too few in number to ably fight. The reason they are as such is because the female Kantus had a different reaction to Imulsion than the males. The male Kantus became the grotesque things they are today and the females, because of some trait or another, over time evolved into Berserkers, making reproduction somewhat difficult. There were though some less Berserker-like female Kantus, keeping the population alive. I also believe the Kantus species has a life somewhat longer than the average human's, though there is no proof of this.

- With the first research on how to use this new, plentiful resource, named now Imulsion, likely from "emulsion", which describes its state - suspended. A one Helen Cooper unlocks a way to unsuspend the Imulsion - convert it into energy - called the lightmass process. With this an industrial age comes upon Sera, and more research occurs, for example, experiments on how Imulsion affects humans, and how Imulsion can be used. This is about the time, for example, that the Hammer of Dawn is concepted.

- With the new discovery of Imulsion, the short industrial age comes to an end, as the Pendulum Wars start. The Coalition of Ordered Governments now emerges as a political party. Most importantly, the Hope (not to be confused with the New Hope) facility comes into being, probably under the COG. The Hope Laboratory researches ways to strengthen their soldiers against the other nations of the world. Helen Cooper was part of the team of scientists there.

- The researchers at the Hope Lab soon realize they need actual human test subjects to get further in their work. They kidnap children, taking refuge under the old wives' tales of old. They create non-Kantus Locust from experimentation with Imulsion. It is late in the history of the Hope facility, and (for flavor) Adam Fenix is given position in the lab and develops a romantic relationship with Helen Cooper. Their son is Marcus.

- Helen sees the possibility of the Locust, and becomes greedy and corrupt. She takes the Locust, as well as the process of converting humans to Locust, and flees to the underground, where Imulsion - and her heart - lay. Sometime before this fleeing she administered the Locust conversion process on herself - though not necessarily in the full manner we see other Locust such as Drones. She became the Queen. Her features didn't change noticeably - except for the large "appendage", for lack of a better term, on her back.

- After this incident the Hope facility was shut down, and all memory of it was put out of mind. Once again, many things happened at once. Marcus made a name for himself fighting in the Pendulum Wars as well as befriending Dom, Adam Fenix delved deep into research he continued from the Hope Lab as well as remarrying, and the COG rose up as one of the more dominant governments as other nations joined it (hence the coalition part of Coalition of Ordered Governments). All this time the Locust Queen (Helen Cooper) has been taking soldiers and turning them into Locust underground, although this occurred even more frequently after the next event bullet. The disappearance of a few (or even a lot of) soldiers here and there makes hardly a noticeable impression in time of worldwide war.

- As far as Locust affairs go, what happens next is quite important. The Queen and her followers, while in the flight from the surface, run into the Kantus. The Kantus make for an undeniably strong base, as they have existed as long as humanity and the Queen's Locust have the showings of strength enough to keep the Kantus from dying. It's the perfect alliance. Together the mutated humans and the Kantus are known as the Locust Horde, headed by the Queen and the high priest, Skorge. This signals a rapid golden age of development for the Horde. The Queen performs more experiments in her new haven, creating Locust beyond the normal Drones - Boomers for example, and even taking animals and turning them Locust, creating Wretches, Reavers, and Brumaks (so can anyone tell me if she used monkeys or dogs for the wretches?). The Kantus in turn infused their religion into the Horde and gave them their tunnels and architecture.

-Here the Pendulum Wars end, for multiple reasons. Marcus Fenix has taken many heroic actions toward the end of the wars, the COG has emerged as truly dominant over all other nations (as well as every nation that wasn't strong enough to hold up against them was absorbed), and simply, war got old. This signaled another very brief golden age. Cole Train for example became recognizable as a thrashball player at this time and Adam Fenix (or possibly even earlier, still during the Pendulum Wars, or still later, after E-day) created with others (Niles Sampson) the New Hope research facility, to try and recreate the happenings of the original Hope Lab. Maybe this was purely for research, maybe to end another war more quickly should another one come up, but I believe (at least for him personally) Adam Fenix had his own agenda - to find Helen, the now Locust Queen. Whether he did or not is unknown, but it may explain how he has a complete map of the Locust network, along with other important info about the Locust... Anyway, the New Hope Lab finally gets to the point of Sires (one step down from actual Locust like the ones in the original Hope Lab, therefore the predecessors, forefathers, of the Locust, "father" being the key word) and the subject Ruth is taken by the Locust and put underway to becoming a locust queen, to succeed her predecessor, Helen.

- Then there was Emergence Day. E-day. When the Locust had gathered enough forces to attack, they did. It was now apparent to the researchers at the Hope and New Hope facilities at least that the Locust were much greater in number than thought - and to everyone else - that there was a threat from underground. Here the Locust got their name, as they devoured everything, leaving nothing in their wake. Needless to say, the proceedings at New Hope were stopped - immediately.

- Evacuation to Jacinto Plateau proceeds, the COG declares martial law, open operation lifeboat, and so on, the works. After a while of fighting, Adam Fenix is put under siege in his mansion. Fenix, who was presumably in contact with the Queen, apparently decided to side with humanity. The Queen didn't like this, and sent her general, RAAM, to kill him. Since the entire event is shrouded in relative shadow, it is also likely that instead of RAAM killing Marcus' father, a Darth Vader was pulled. General RAAM didn't kill your father Marcus. He WAS your father. Nobody can confirm or deny this besides the Queen (Helen Cooper). Next, as everyone knows, Marcus was charged and proven guilty of dereliction of duty and the other events follow in order: deployment of the lightmass bomb, flooding of Jacinto, etc. Besides that, in the Locust underground, soon after Adam Fenix's disappearance, the new queen (Ruth) was instated. If Helen died, both Marcus' blood parents are dead, whether Adam was or was killed by RAAM. Either way, what this means is quite thought provoking.

Just as the first quick add on, I believe Adam Fenix in the end credits of Gears of War 2 was a recording, because, face it, if he was still human, he'd be pretty damn old - at least by my timeline. Of course, there's always the possibility (he may even be only part Locust, like the Queen)...

AS AN AMENDMENT TO MY REVISED THEORY I suggest that instead of Helen Cooper leaving because she became greedy for power, she flees the Hope Lab because the government intends to use the creations to fight in the Pendulum Wars, and she believes they still retain human traits, and should so inherit the rights of humans. I also just realize that I forgot to mention the Lambent. I believe they originated first from experiments taken too far (the Queen's experiments while underground) with Imulsion exposure. The Lambent threat is the rapid mutation of Locust (though not of the Kantus species, I've yet to see a Lambent Kantus) from direct Imulsion exposure. The Lambent seem to be like the Locust were originally, believing they have the same rights as the Locust and the Locust would not give them the rights, so they fight. It's a vicious circle. Anyway, the Queen was in contact with Adam to organize a collaborative effort between the humans and Locust to stop the Lambent, but that didn't work, obviously. So in a nutshell, wrapping it all up, there were Kantus and humans, humans made Locust, Locust made Lambent, Locust side with the Kantus, and all three sides are fighting against extinction. This town isn't big enough for all of us.

Anyway that's my new theory. Please be warned that I may tweak and edit it a little further, but any major changes will be instated in a separate post.

NOTE: I did not include anything (with one exception) from the novel Gears of War: Aspho Fields, as I did not read it and would not want to provide inaccurate information. I am though planning to read it before the year's end.

Oh, and keep the ideas coming!



Final Theory:

I know it’s been a while (a long while), but this is my third and (hopefully) final theory on the origin of the Locust Horde. Before I go any further, yes, there are SPOILERS, from Gears of War, Gears of War 2, and Gears of War: Aspho Fields, and likely the Gears of War comic series in both my post here and likely any consecutive posts in this thread. Anyway, for those of you who don’t know, I was the first person to piece together some things from the Gears universe and link humans to locust after Gears 2 came out, then post it on the Gears forums, and from that came out a whole bunch of other ideas from fellow gear heads. If you want to see my original thread, here’s the link. [link moved to top of post] It’s only a few hundred posts if you want a bit of light reading =P. What I’ve done since then is put together other people’s theories along with my own and come up with a timeline of sorts, telling the evolutionary story of the humans and locust on Sera. Feel free to argue against anything I or others post here, but realize that if you do, I’ll argue back. Also know that this might be a bit of reading. You were warned.

In the beginning there was Sera. Yup, plain old Sera. On it were the beginnings of humanity, from whatever source, be it a god or science. On Sera’s moon were another species – the Kantus. While humans were like cavemen, like one might expect, the Kantus were much more different from their present selves. Of course they were also not completely unrecognizable. The moon with its thin atmosphere forced them to live underground, underneath the protective rock, much like they do now, on Sera.

In time Sera’s moon is drawn in to Sera’s gravitational field, and crashes into Sera’s face – it being a large celestial body not so much crashing as much as landing on – forming what is now known as Jacinto plateau.

The Kantus species tunnel underground, it being part of their nature now, but find large hollows already carved out of the planet – by riftworms. They finding this place extreme significance on worms – this is the first sign of religion for the locust.

But how did riftworms come about? Before there were even signs of humans on Sera, there was Imulsion. Now Imulsion has a few interesting properties:

Imulsion most likely is derived from the word emulsion, which shows its first characteristic. This also is the only characteristic of Imulsion that can really be derived from the first game without it being expressly stated. Imulsion must flow, stay suspended; be in constant motion, unsuspended, lest it becomes volatile. This means that if it stops moving, it blows up. This is seen best with lambent (exploding) wretches. Once the wretches die, their blood stops flowing. This means that the Imulsion in their bloodstreams halts as well. What happens then? They blow up. This property of Imulsion though is being seen less and less as more control over Imulsion is seen, as I will explain later.

Another property is that Imulsion is like blood. It is made of two parts – plasma and blood cells. The part of Imulsion we see is the plasma; the substance in which the cells reside. The second part is the blood cells; Imulsion has in it microorganisms, which produce to an extent the Imulsion and control it as such as the environment of any microorganism would be controlled.

The third property of Imulsion is the only characteristic of Imulsion the general populous of Sera realizes. Imulsion (which will from here on out refer to both the substance and the microorganisms that reside in that substance) is to the public just a new and efficient energy source. The process that allows anyone to utilize Imulsion in this way is called the light mass process, developed by Helen Cooper, which differs from the other ways in which Imulsion affects things in its natural and raw state. The term “Imulsion” may have also originated here – Helen Cooper found a way to unsuspend the Imulsion and unleash its energy.

The last, and from an evolutionary standpoint most important trait of Imulsion, is its mutating effects. Exposure to Imulsion induces a mutational effect in beings, both sentient and not. Indirect exposure to Imulsion – breathing in its fumes, having a large amount of contact with light produced from it (an effect of Imulsion not worth mentioning aside from the fact that it makes it easier for the Kantus to live underground (though you notice at many points the Kantus still require torches here and there, though some are only there for ceremonial purposes)) – induces in small amounts over time evolution. The Kantus experience this, as well as many other creatures that reside underground, such as the aforementioned Brumaks and rockworms. They evolved into what we see today because of indirect Imulsion exposure. Humans have experienced this indirect exposure since the “discovery” of Imulsion, but the effects – rust lung – only became largely apparent when the light mass bomb vaporized large amounts of Imulsion making indirect exposure more significant for the humans not typically introduced to it. Large amounts of indirect exposure were not common until the light mass bomb was detonated at Timgad (by Marcus Fenix), but large amounts of indirect exposure can create more sickness than mutation. One must control the indirect exposure (as I, yes, will get to later) to mutate without killing or seriously harming the afflicted being.

Direct exposure to Imulsion is just that. If you touch the Imulsion without a glove on, immerse your hand in the stuff, or take a running leap and dive into it, you’re getting direct Imulsion exposure. This method of Imulsion exposure horrendously, horrifically, and almost immediately mutates the subject. The Brumak at the end of Gears of War 2 is the best (and possibly only) current example of this. The other likely example (albeit unconfirmed) of this is the riftworms.

Anyway, the Kantus continue evolving (the evolutionary process being affected by the Imulsion) along with the humans. There was little contact between the two.

The religion of the Kantus was, as stated, based on worms. Worms were their food source, the things that made their tunnels, and were generally mysterious and mythical to the primitive Kantus. The worms were the only creatures at this time that Imulsion was able to fully affect (the rockworms were the only habitants of which Imulsion had evolved them at this point). And so began the intricate relationship between the Kantus and Imulsion.

While the humans above based much of their existence on inventions and machinery, the Kantus below, because of their relationship with worms, based their existence on taming creatures, among them Brumaks, corpsers, seeders, nemacyst, Reavers, and of course their beloved rockworms. They tamed the creatures with their pheromones, different voice commands (screeches, screams – you’ve all heard them before), and physical cues. In more modern times they developed large masks, which acted as a sort of blinder for the animals – well, half blinders and half mind control helmets. The reason they were able to control the animals through these ways (other than the masks… possibly) though was not like the reasons we are able to control our tamed creatures – though maybe not even the Kantus may have realized it – but through the Imulsion in the creatures’ bodies.

In the future (very far off at this point) the Kantus learn they can use their talents with Imulsion even further than animal taming. They can activate the microorganisms in the Imulsion in other locusts’ veins to activate the energy locked in Imulsion. This energy acts as a kind of adrenaline to revive the locust – much like the humans use actual adrenaline for this.

Unfortunately for the Kantus, the effects of Imulsion were not all positive. Their females had an adverse reaction to Imulsion, and started on a different evolutionary track than the male Kantus. The females gradually turned into what we now know as berserkers. This, logically, made mating increasingly difficult. Ever since the Kantus were exposed to Imulsion, their rate of repopulation has declined.

Fast forward to an industrial age in Sera – for the humans at least. Before this time the humans were much like Earth’s humans may someday be. Their fossil fuels and nonrenewable resources were running out. They had depended on these fuel sources so much they could not turn the world to renewable energy fast enough. Many projects were undertaken to keep the humans from dying out. One of these was digging deeper. Dig deeper than you’d need to for oil; perhaps find more oil, maybe a new energy source. That’s what they found – Imulsion.

It was almost useless though. It was a bit acidic perhaps, but did nothing else – until Helen Cooper came along and invented the light mass process. This was much more efficient than other fuels as well. That fact added with the fact that Imulsion was plentiful created a joy – and greed. Imulsion deposits were distributed unevenly among the nations of Sera. The nations with Imulsion prospered. Those without went to arms. And so began the Pendulum Wars.

Helen Cooper though wasn’t part of the fighting. She was a researcher. She, along with a few other scientists, started to study Imulsion for other benefits and other uses besides fuel. Unfortunately (this time for the humans), the Coalition of Ordered Governments (COG), their government, intervened and directed the research toward fighting benefits. How can we use Imulsion to better our soldiers in the battlefield? This redirected project was undertaken in the Old Hope Laboratories.

After time the famous Helen Cooper died, as all do at some time or another. At this time the project was taking on new members, and was at the point where the researchers knew that controlled exposure to Imulsion could mutate the subject in a way that would make them stronger, faster, smarter, and generally better soldiers. The initial tests were done on ordinary animals – dogs for example – and progressed to subjects more similar to humans – monkeys being the example here. I guess you know where this is going. These monkeys and dogs turned into what we today would call wretches. The Old Hope Labs soon found though they needed to work with actual humans to make any progress. They took advantage of the old wives’ tales of boogiemen stealing children in the night and wartime law to steal children and use them for their experiments. Remember, this was wartime and these people had already been through decades of continuous warfare – if only they knew how they were making it longer and not shorter.

A prominent doctor named Myrrah was then accepted into one of the more inner circles of the project. Another prominent new member was Adam Fenix. These two, though working in different knowledge levels (as was common in the COG), got along together (to say the least), and eventually had a son, Marcus. Soon after Marcus’ birth though, Myrrah returned to work, and because of her close relationship to the work, desperately attempting to immerse herself in it, performed the process on herself. She became what is today the locust queen, and was alienated from the other researchers. This alone was considered bad by the other researchers, but right after this there was an outbreak of locust experiments. Many of the scientists died, and the locust went underground, either forced by the humans or taken by Myrrah.

The story once again splits into pieces. Marcus grows up with a new stepmother, Elaine Fenix, another doctor, although the “step” part is unbeknownst to him. Adam Fenix, still retaining some kind of contact with Myrrah, became (with the lack of many of the other prominent scientists, killed in the Old Hope Labs) the most prominent scientist in the COG. Myrrah and the locust, underground, found the Kantus, and forged a relationship between their species, in fact being very similar by association of the Imulsion. They began feeling the real effects of the lambent threat together, and tried to work to fight it. Adam Fenix above was trying to forge an alliance between the humans and the locust, to help all three species to stop the lambent. Myrrah and the horde took humans who would not be missed in war and processed them into locust, the process working well underground nearer the Imulsion. Adam on the other hand working now with the New Hope Project, to try and, with others, recreate what happened at the what would at this time be known as the Old Hope Labs.

Unfortunately, Adam was ultimately unsuccessful at convincing the humans to ally with the locust. Myrrah saw this, and with her locust killed Elaine Fenix. Later in the Pendulum Wars, after Marcus had made a name for himself, his father indulging only his research, there was Emergence Day. The New Hope Facility was shut down, the public fought against what they saw as inhuman monsters – what used to be humans themselves – and Adam Fenix was taken underground, either killed or processed himself.

Next, as everyone knows, Marcus was charged and proven guilty of dereliction of duty and the other events follow in order: deployment of the light mass bomb, and the flooding of the Hollow

Now we are starting to uncover some of the secrets from the COG’s past. Gears of War 3 should provide some real answers. Anyway, post your comments and questions and I’ll try to respond best I can.