By Quantumsurfer Vomarsk
Not much is left of the Civilization we refer to as the “Old Ones” (formerly known as the “Ancients” until complaints from some of my allies about it being blasphemous). Far as we know, they died out Millennia ago and only left some ruins to remind of them. However, during the Raid on Site 4, Azurias, we accidentally triggered their security systems, reactivating their temples and guardian robots on that planet.
Now this alone would not have been an issue. But with the main power structure of Azurias being ripped apart by Brikthulhu and fights happening all over the planet, an old containment facility got damaged and Spores of an ages old Zombie Virus was set free. The Guardians of Azurias tried to contain them, but they made it through their portals and to other systems. Azurias sent out a distress call, slowly re-awakening all the other structures of the Old Ones throughout the Brikverse.
To prepare for what the Old Ones might throw at us, I returned to one of the inactive Sites to examine their ruins more closely. Here is all I could gather on their Units so far:
Leadership
From what I can tell, almost every planet that the Old Ones had bases on have a Central Command Unit we call “Enlightened Ones”. These Units typically stay out of battles and just oversee the worlds and structures they command.
This doesn’t mean, however, that they are not capable of defending the bases they oversee. Even at their small size, these things are packed with the Old Ones’ weaponry, from powerful shields to even more powerful laser cannons. Still, once their shields are overcome, they become very fragile. This is where Units like the Ravager come in.
Ravagers are the only “Vehicle” I was able to classify so far. They are essentially floating weapons platforms that an Enlightened One can connect to. Their main purpose is just to be an additional shell, shielding the Command Unit from damage while providing even more firepower.
Combat Units
So far, the Old Ones relied on small groups of Elite Units, Skirmishers, to defend their bases. These robots carry around many of the same weapons as smaller Units, in addition to powerful photonic blades. They have proven to be devastating even to larger groups of infantry, but struggle against vehicles.
They also heavily rely on “Orbiters”, drones they store in their back, to shield them from damage. Skirmishers also possess the ability to teleport, but so far it seems they rarely use it.
Battle Lords are a rarer variant of Skirmishers, usually more aggressive than their generic counterparts. This variant can be easily identified by the photonic spikes on its back. They often act as Field Commanders, leading other Skirmishers or more disposable Units into battle.
The rarest version of the Skirmisher Unit so far is the Queen. So far, I weren’t able to witness these in battle yet so I can’t say much about their combat behavior. They seem to share many characteristics of lesser Skirmisher units (photonic Melee weapon, teleportation, Orbiter Drone), but with more powerful ranged weapons and a smarter AI.
Skirmishers are not the only Units the Old Ones field, however. On Azurias, we’ve had multiple run-ins with their regular Troopers – smaller, humanoid robots, often commandeered by Skirmishers. These Troopers use many of the same weapons as the skirmishers – except for their blades – and seem to be a lot less elite. Their AIs fully rely on their Command Units to tell them what to do. Like Skirmishers, these Units have a built in, short ranged teleport, but they use it even less than the Skirmishers, typically only teleporting when trying to get into cover, shielding their Command Units or retreating from a battle after failing to keep said Command Unit alive.
Among the troopers there are some that are capable to at least to some extent conjure a thought of their own. These Enforcers act as commanders for groups of troopers when no more capable Units can be deployed. Enforcers can be easily identified by their golden armor – and by the fact that their weapons are usually bigger than themselves and cause massive explosions. So it is best to avoid getting shot by them.
Even lower than Troopers in the Old Ones’ hierarchy are the Slicers. These too come in different variants, with the spiked ones acting as a sort of command node in squads of Slicers. Typically, these Units are sent out as scouts or when a Skirmisher needs more cannon fodder to throw at the enemy.
Support Units
Usually carried around by Skirmishers, the Orbiter Drones are a weak, but annoying addition to the Old Ones’ Arsenal. They are fragile and not particularly well armed, but they make up for it with their speed and support abilities. They are capable of generating Photon shields for their allies, repair damaged Skirmishers, even revive dead ones, and act as teleportation beacons for the Old Ones to send more lesser troops from their buried structures to the battlefield.
The other common type of Drone we’ve seen hit the battlefield so far is the Vulture. These seem to typically function as maintenance units, but their shields and purification beams make them just as versatile in battle as many of the Old Ones’ combat Units.
Weapons
Purification Beam: I’ll start off with the Vultures’ main weapon, just so I can explain the whole “Purification” thing some of the more powerful weapons have going on. The Purification beam is designed to vaporize any organic contamination it comes in contact with. On paper, this means cleansing their target from the Zombie-Spores, but it’s also used to just remove whatever could be zombified – aka minifigs. Vultures use a Flamethrower-like variant of these weapons, while Enlightened Ones use a more explosive variant.
Bolt Pistol: The weakest weapon of the Old Ones, typically used by Orbiters and the lesser Slicers, occasionally also by Troopers.
Suppressor: These rifles are most commonly used by Skirmishers, but also by Troopers and Slicer Commanders. They are the basic “rapid fire” variant of Bolt Weapons. Ravagers also use larger versions of the Suppressor.
Bolt Rifle: A somewhat rare, long ranged variant of the Bolt pistol. These are typically used by Snipers, be they Skirmishers, Troopers or even Slicers. Fully charged Bolt Rifles have the power to purify enemies killed by them.
Scattershot: The Scattershot is most comparable to a regular shotgun. Battle Lords usually wield one of these, making them even more deadly at short range than other Skirmishers. On occasion, Troopers also choose to wield Scattershots. At full power, a blast from a Scattershot is even powerful enough to purify its target.
Inferno Cannon: One of the rarest infantry weapons of the Old Ones, typically only used by Enforcers and Skirmisher Queens. These weapons fire off a burst of smaller explosives, purifying anything that is unfortunate enough to be hit by it. Ravagers are also equipped with a variant of the Inferno cannon.
Syphon Grenade: Troopers and Skirmishers are known to occasionally carry additional grenades with them. Unlike the grenades fired by Inferno cannons, the Syphon Grenades create an energy field around them that drains the energy of beings caught in it, eventually leading to death and purification.
Photon Blades: Typically only used by the different types of Skirmishers. These come in different shapes – mostly swords, occasionally axes – and are the main reason why getting close to any Skirmisher should be avoided at all cost.
Known Planets
- Site 1/AS-236: This planet was originally discovered by the Vomarsk Swarm and later conquered by the XEC, who still control it. It is currently inactive.
- Site 2/Frysa 6: During the Demonic Invasion of Frysa-11, FleebOrk’s Brootals attacked this planet to steal some of the Old Ones’ power structures. They were engaged by Immortals of Legion Rho, but I do not know who of them won and if the planet is still inactive or not.
- Site 3/Unnamed Planet: Same as Site 2, mostly. FleebOrk showed up to rip some parts from the temples here, Immortals tried to stop him. I don’t know what else happened here.
- Site 4/Azurias: The Big One. The first time we ran into active guardian robots. This was one of the largest temples I’ve seen of the Old Ones. At least until a dozen different faction heard about the artifacts here and came to loot the planet. The conflict and the accidental summoning of Brikthulhu destroyed most of the temples. This was also where the Old Ones held the Virus mentioned before the Spores escaped containment and from where the call was sent that caused other worlds to reawaken.
- Seleho: Another inactive Temple was discovered not long ago by the Alliance. They even found the planets Enlightened One – and promptly had it stolen by Space Pirates. I don’t actually know what happens when a planet receives its wake-up call and the enlightened one is no longer there… will surely be interesting to study further. The planet is still under control by the Alliance at the time of writing this, but Demons have begun taking some of their territories away and some other factions have also attacked the planet recently.
- The Forge/Unnamed Planet: This planet was also discovered only recently, but unlike Seleho the Guardians here are already reactivating.
