Gaiaterra: Elysea's Conflict/Brute

"Ready to crush!"

-Brute leaving the House of Auring

The Brute is the heavy close-range combat infantry of the Collective of Auring. Planned to be voiced by

Overview
The inevitable conclusion of the Archer project to increase muscle mass in humans, the Brute is a heavily mutated human with the strength to rip tanks apart piece by piece, their tough skin capable of withstanding tank shells. Though their low intelligence and focus on melee attacks puts Brutes at a disadvantage against conventional forces, they can become a very real threat when they outnumber their opponents and are potent against slower or immobile enemies.

With the use of Cloning Vats, psychic and regenerative support weapons, Genetic Mutator, or combined with the Stalker's energy drain weapons, Brutes can become a true menace on the battlefield.

History
"I'm the strongest one there is!"

-...

The Collective's cloning process and be best described in three words; fast, big, and numerous. Despite its much-celebrated success and efficiency, the process is far from perfect. Deep within the Collective's strongholds, vast cloning facilities work around the clock to create the Collective's troops, servants, and laborers. Hundreds of clones step out of the cloning vats every day, fresh with newly implanted mental conditioning. These clones would be ready for all the horrors of the battlefield. The process itself is relatively simple; embryos surrounded by nutrients within vats are subjected to biomanipulation to rapidly increase cell growth. The newly grown clone is then uploaded with preset telepathic instructions to give it the skills needed to fulfill its battlefield role.

For some unknown reason, some of the clones that step off the assembly line are a type of Blank, though unlike normal blanks they can't nullify psychic powers. It's not that they are physically defective; it is that they seem to have no soul. Clones, despite looking the same, will develop different personalities. In fact, it is not uncommon for a clone soldiers to decorate parts of their weapon or uniform to differentiate themselves from one another.

These "different" ones are often called the Brutes by their fellow clones and Collective soldiers, as they lack any personality. They display no emotion, empathy, or morality, and are immune to psychic powers. Further research with these clones revealed that, in addition to not feeling pain, they do not feel it either in all of its forms. For example, if a normal clone/soldier were commanded to attack a harmless kitten, they would hesitate to follow the order. And would follow the order if urged, but it would not enjoy doing so. However, if a "Brute" is given the same command, it would simply walk up to the kitten and stomp it to death without the slightest hint of remorse.

The Collective saw little use for defective clones due to their inability to be loaded with programs necessary for fighting. However, since not using them for anything would be a waste of resources, these defective clones were assigned to menial tasks and reprocessing. One fateful day, a clone, Subject 527, was cleaning the cloning facility when a malfunctioning robot arm knocked him into a nutrient vat. The automated assembly line then carried him through the body enhancment process that makes the Archers. This process should have killed him, but, against all logic, it didn't. A heavily damaged wing of the facility, as well as the twenty-three wounded and seven deaths, give testament to this. Being born again did not agree with him.

When news of the event reached the higher-ups in the Collective, they commissioned a medical lab to recreate the process under a much more controlled environment. That, combined with an improved mental conditioning process, gave the Collective a new type of soldier to send into battle.

On the battlefield, the Brute serves the Collective as shock troopers; by charging in and tearing their enemies to pieces with their bare hands. Often leaping great distances to surprise their enemies, Brutes can be used to rip the enemies of the Collective to shreds.

Short story
To whom it may concern:

The Brute project continues successfully and is currently acting 150% of projected production of melee shock troopers. However, new discoveries has been noted, that we feel should be reported.

As you sometimes get unusual individuals in the cloning process, which we use to produce Brutes, we have noted that there are new discoveries to these Brutes. We have tentatively referred to these outliers as Juwuba, and document their differences below.

Compared to a clone, and especially to a regular human, the Brute is slightly less intelligent, some more so than others. We believe that this is due to the fact that the brain cannot regrow or regenerate to the same level that other parts of the body can. As the process is calibrated to increase the growth of the rest of the body, this means that the brain does not grow to the same extent, and may even have some slight brain damage. However, recent statistics have shown the Brutes experiences a shocking rate of neuron growth. In effect, they become 'smarter' but less 'intelligent' than the average person: in other words, they have greater ability to process information, but as clones have no experience to compare it against. In effect, they seem to use their incredible strength in a more tactical way than normally expected.

Another change is in their body's regenerative abilities. Unlike regular soldiers, Brutes regenerate damage to their muscles in a way we have so far been unable to replicate. Basically, muscles have an 'upper limit' at which they can be used before they become damaged, possibly permanently. For a Brute, however, this damage will regenerate incredibly rapidly, returning them to normal. Combined with the Brutes trait of not feeling pain, they effectively experience no downsides to overexerting themselves.

While this would be useful to reproduce, there are some limitations. First of all, we are not sure how this occurs: even with clones from the same individual, it appears random. Secondly, we are still unable to understand the mechanism in detail, and approaching a Brute for experiments would be suicidal. Finally, there is a downside for the subject: Brutes have a greatly reduced lifespan, measured only in months.

For these reasons, we recommend that Brutes be used on the battlefield immediately. Their increased brainpower and strength make them incredibly difficult to restrain, and they have too short a lifespan for any other task.

End communication.