OVERVIEW:
TRONTARI – the mere mention of this name evokes a range of emotions in people. While some consider him a hero, others deem him a terrorist. However, there’s one thing that’s undisputed – he’s the most sought-after life form on the planet. TRONTARI is desired not just by ladies, but every empire on Oceanus.
The story of TRONTARI starts with his parents – his father, HELIOS EUROPA, was a VALTERIAN Shock Trooper, and his mother, NIOBE EUROPA, was a supermodel. Their son, ORION EUROPA, inherited superior athletic and mental abilities from his genetically-enhanced father, along with a striking physical appearance from his mother.
Growing up, ORION’s life was nothing short of a fairy tale. He effortlessly gathered friends and followers from all social strata, commanding respect from the most physical of athletes and the most genius of intellectuals. These attributes made him a celebrity to all who knew him, and won him the admiration of many female admirers.
Orion’s military career took off when he was scouted for the highly prestigious ROYAL GUARD after surpassing basic training. He fought valiantly for Kingdom and Crown for 10 OMNI Cycles and earned himself the coveted EX LUASA CROSS.
On the 17th Moon of the ALURA Cycle, Orion was approached by KING OEDIPUS himself, who offered him a place at the TABLE OF LORDS and a leading role in the BLACK GAUNTLET. The BLACK GAUNTLET specialized in the political and social manipulation of other empirical superpowers and was headed by Senior Director SATYRS IOCLUS, an Ex-Shock Trooper and Royal Guard who had fought alongside Orion’s father.
Despite being initially impressed by Orion’s abilities, Satyrs began to develop concerns about his own position as senior director and started scheming Orion’s downfall. This was despite the fact that Satyrs was a sly and morally questionable man with no respect for honor or dignity.
Orion’s time as a Black Gauntlet Agent was marked by numerous undercover social and political manipulation campaigns, as well as blacked-out assassinations of political and monarchal figures. He executed these missions not only within Valteria but also in hostile empirical territories, earning himself even greater favor with the crown. As he undertook these dangerous missions, Orion continued to attract the admiration of many women, including the Princess of Poseidonia, Bella Donna. During his successful infiltration of the deep sea empire, he and the Princess grew close, even sharing a meal at the king’s table.
However, their passionate night together during the Tide’s 3rd Moon cycle was cut short when Orion’s Holocognito Suit malfunctioned, exposing his true Valterian identity to Bella Donna. This forced Orion to go on the run as a fugitive for several days as he tried to escape Poseidonia. In his desperate escape, he found refuge in a run-down and forgotten area of the city called Ganacoln. As the Poseidonian authorities closed in on him, a familiar voice trembled behind him – it was Bella Donna, tears welling up in her eyes.
Despite the danger, she led him to safety and tenderly kissed him goodbye before watching him disappear into the darkness of the deep sea. Orion couldn’t help but think that he should never doubt the love of a woman’s heart.
Orion’s charismatic abilities had Satyrs concerned about his hold on the Black Gauntlet, as he quickly climbed to the third-in-command position in just two ALURA Cycles, taking over the role previously held by Satyrs’s own brother, Janus. Seeing their power slipping away, the brothers hatched a plot to frame Orion in an assassination attempt against the Royal Family, recruiting ten of the most loyal Black Gauntlet agents on Satyrs’s side.
Each agent had their own communication profile on the Black Gauntlet’s secret ISHTARI Network, a sophisticated computer system that replicated any communication system or device on Oceanus, enabling them to lure their targets into traps by changing their identities, locations, and histories. Unfortunately for Orion, Satyrs could remotely access his profile and alter his location.
For one ALURA Cycle, the group carried out an extensive campaign using external burner accounts, location scramblers, faked security footage, and staged conversations to incriminate Orion. In the end, it all pointed back to him, leaving him in a precarious situation.
Upon receiving the falsified information, the King wasted no time in ordering Orion’s arrest and trial for his supposed betrayal. Satyrs and his group had foreseen this outcome and knew that they could not allow any doubts about Orion’s guilt to surface. Thus, they decided that Orion needed to be eliminated before he could face a jury, leaving no trace of him behind.
In the dead of night, DIOMEDUS CASTOR, the Black Gauntlet’s Master Assassin, silently entered Orion’s bathroom and slit his throat as he shaved. There was no struggle, no final epic battle between enemies. Orion died alone, staring at his own blood pooling around him as a supposed friend stood over his dying body.
After disposing of any evidence, Orion’s body was transported to an abandoned building on the outskirts of the Valterian Royal city. The body was placed next to a Military Star Cruiser grade Flash Bomb, typically used to burn a star cruiser from the inside out with no remains left behind. Orion’s body was left there until Satyrs’ final plan was set in motion.
The final plan involved orchestrating a shoot-out between Orion and Satyrs’ loyal Black Gauntlet forces. The grand finale was that Orion was supposedly planning to assassinate the Royal Family with a stolen Flash Bomb. During the chaos of the shoot-out, stray fire would accidentally hit the bomb, causing it to explode and vaporizing Orion, the last loose end in Satyrs’ depraved scheme.
Naturally, every plan has its flaws, and in this case, the flaw was Satyrs himself. Valteria, plagued by a long-standing tradition of exiling those deemed as failures by the Crown, has created a thriving underground community of individuals forced to seek refuge in the depths of Valterian cities. Inhabitants of these areas are left to fend for themselves in the sewers and catacombs of Valteria or risk death by Execution.
This out of sight, out of mind approach has resulted in the subterranean slums becoming a hub of both brilliant and unethical minds. Dr. Cadmus, a genius Bio-Cybernetics engineer, was exiled on ethical grounds for his research into Cyber-organic soldiers using the corpses of fallen Valterian servicemen.
However, what sets Dr. Cadmus apart from the other mad scientists dwelling in the depths of Valteria is his motivation.
Cadmus is suffering from rare degenerative brain decease. And he knows that his research is the key for saving all of the
knowledge that he holds while granting him the ability to theoretically live forever.
This is why Cadmus has a particular taste for the forgotten of those who once live on the surface, or more accurately, “Lived” on the surface. Many of the inhabitants of the dark, lawless subterranean slums were exiled for their addiction to a drug called LOCKSA.
LOCKSA is a synthetic opiate developed during the 34th Oceanus Cycle to manage pain caused by battle wounds. It was also used by Valterian soldiers during the 2nd Valterian/Maguston War to mask fear in battle. However, its legal and illegal use became rampant post-war, leading to its ban. The illegal market for the drug sprang up in the underground slums of exiled individuals, where the drug became highly addictive.
LOCKSA, derived from the DESMISSIUS angler fish that inhabit the waters around Valteria, is known to cause short-term and long-term effects, with degeneration of neural pathways in the brain being the most common. Although the Desmissius’s poison is not lethal to Valterians, splicing it with acids and proteins creates a substance that replaces oxygen in the bloodstream and causes depressed breathing. This shallow, slow, or irregular breathing results in less oxygen reaching the brain, which is replaced by LOCKSA. As a result, the brain’s functionality is reduced, and the LOCKSA’s chemical compound damages the ventricle structure, polluting the brain.
It is unsurprising that LOCKSA is the drug of choice in the slums, but for Cadmus’ twisted experiments, he requires a pure and healthy brain, as brains polluted with LOCKSA would not suffice. As an expert in Cybernetics, Cadmus has created a team of six-inch-tall surface-exploring androids, made from scrap technology, which he fondly named SCRATS. He uses these androids to help him find recently deceased, or in some cases, not even close to deceased, test subjects to harvest their parts.
However, on the night before Satyrs’ planned shoot-out with Orion’s body, these small makeshift tinman butchers were out prowling for gory remains. The area where Satyrs had transported Orion’s body to was a regular hunting ground for Cadmus’s programmed minions. Hundreds of the little scrap-built men surrounded Orion’s body like robotic Lilliputians around Gulliver’s giant body. Working together, they slowly unzipped the body bag to reveal Orion’s body with a haunting death stare.
Soon after, the decrepit room was illuminated by small flashes of red light as the miniature cutting lasers of the butchers began to extract the brain of the fallen war hero.
Following the gruesome brain extraction, a group of ten SCRATS carefully lifted Orion’s re-enforced Valterian brain from his skull, with only two SCRATS needed to make precise cuts to detach it from the stem. The clock was ticking for the scrap butchers as they had a mere twenty minutes to deliver the prized brain to Cadmus before it became unusable. In a matter of seconds, a robotic wave of scrap metal surged from any available opening in the decrepit building, as hundreds of SCRATS charged into the night to surround and protect the chosen few who carried the ghastly prize. With cutting lasers at the ready, the horde of miniature robots swarmed the ground like ants, strategically taking points and safeguarding the brain from any harm or contamination. Their dedication was put to the test as they entered the sewers, where the SCRATS’ devotion to protecting their repulsive treasure was on full display. Navigating through the labyrinth of septic systems and waste runoffs, they pulsated around the brain encased in what looked like television static.
As the group of SCRATS carrying Orion’s Valterian brain traversed through the labyrinth of septic systems and waste runoff, they encountered various forms of contaminants that could potentially damage or contaminate the prized organ. Every possible contaminant was identified and eliminated by the miniature butchers with a fierce determination to protect their valuable prize.
As they moved through the filthy and hazardous environment, droplets of sewage water threatened to damage the brain. However, the SCRATS were quick to react and would throw themselves at the droplets, absorbing the impact and preventing it from reaching the brain.
In a display of coordination and teamwork, another SCRAT would swiftly tackle the previous one out of the way to ensure that it did not accidentally fall on the brain. The SCRATS worked in unison, each with a specific role to play, to protect the brain from all potential threats.
The additional droplets that would occur from the impact would then be intercepted by other SCRATS with mechanical precision. They would swiftly and accurately tackle the droplets away from the brain, ensuring that they did not contaminate the valuable bounty. The determination and precision of the SCRATS were on full display as they worked tirelessly to protect the brain from any possible harm.
The putrid stench of the sewer filled the air as the SCRATS turned the corner, coming face to face with a grotesque nest of RATTOGs. These disease-ridden creatures, resembling giant rats, were covered in mangy fur and crawling with fleas.
Their sharp teeth were bared, drooling a sickly green saliva as they inched closer to their prey – the brain. The SCRATS knew they had to act fast.
With a flash of their cutting lasers, they engaged in a fierce battle against the RATTOGs, determined to defend the brain at all costs. The air was filled with the sound of buzzing lasers and the sickening crunch of metal on flesh as the SCRATS fought for off vile creatures. Butchering the entire nest and leaving them all even the younglings as piles of sliced up mutilated flesh.
The SCRATS skillfully make their way back to Dr. Cadmus’s covert underground laboratory, triumphantly carrying the brain of their inventor and creator, the brilliant and enigmatic Dr. Cadmus.
Upon arriving, the air crackles with urgency as Dr. Cadmus’s sharp gaze fixates on the brain. With a commanding voice, he orders his henchmen to place the valuable organ in the Regen Chamber.
The fate of the doctor rests on this procedure, which will transfer what is left of his consciousness into this new healthy brain and into it’s specially-designed robotic body, meticulously prepared for this crucial moment.
The robotic body lies still on a surgical table, draped in a tattered, blood-stained white sheet, awaiting the brain that will give it life.
The moment of truth has finally arrived as Dr. Cadmus reveals the pinnacle of his life’s work – a robot body that has been years in the making. With a flick of his wrist, he lifts the blood-stained sheet to reveal the awe-inspiring creation.
Dr. Cadmus retrieves the brain from the Regen Chamber, his hands shaking with excitement and anticipation.
The procedure to transplant the brain into the robot body is a delicate one, requiring the utmost precision and care.
Dr. Cadmus’s expertise in bio-cybernetics is on full display as he works with surgical precision, every movement calculated and deliberate. The science behind this groundbreaking procedure is both complex and fascinating, a true testament to Dr. Cadmus’s genius.
Finally, with a flick of a switch, a surge of electricity coursed through the robot body. This signaling the final fusion of metal and flesh. It was a moment that would go down in history, marking the birth of a new era in bio-cybernetics.
With the sudden surge of energy, the robotic body lurches forward, its mechanical limbs thrashing about in a frenzied rage.
Dr. Cadmus, watches in horror as the very creation he brought to life turns on him in a fit of blind fury.
Despite his years of experience in dealing with the unpredictable nature of his experiments, Dr. Cadmus is caught off guard by the sudden attack, and before he can react, the robot body strikes with deadly force, ending his life in a shocking display of high-tech violence before the robotic body falls to the flaw…silent…montionless.
