What, exactly, are the Scions?

[Ghastly]

A few friends and I are doing some random short-story writing, and I wanted to write a small prologue to Forgotten Enemies about the Scions' initial run-in with the Hadeans. Unfortunately, while I know their backstory pretty well, I can't find any actual descriptions of the Scions.

The briefing for Transformation refers to the Scions as Furies, but I thought those and the Cerberi were semi-sentient tanks.

[Zax]

[Fulmen]

According to BZ2, which as a sequel overwrites BZ1, the Scions are "evolved" Furies.

[Zero Angel]

Actually if you play the SP campaign you get a lot of hints about the scions. Generally they are not fury types. AFAIK, furies were created by fusing DNA with biometal (or trying to grow a biometal infused baby) -- whereas Scions were created by implanting biometal into adult humans. The Black Dog squadron was one such successful human/biometal hybrid and it was the Black Dogs who escaped experimentation to eventually find the remnants of the Cthonian civilization. They renamed themselves the Scions and began a grand experiment to use all of the alchemators from the Core solar system to funnel resources to the partially terraformed Dark Planet and make it their new home. In the SP campaign of BZ2 you actually defeat the Scion expeditionary force on the Dark Planet and invade the Core system in an effort to wipe out the Scions.

[Ghastly]

Yeah, I have their backstory, and I've played through BattleZone 1 and 2 (most of 2, anyway. I'm stuck on Transformation, but I pretty much know what happens), I just wasn't clear as to what they actually are, besides the generalized "biometal-infused humans." Still, I'm not sure what I can do for a description, but if they're never actually described in the game, I have almost free reign on that.

[Ded10c]

Braddock performed experiments on the NSDF Black Dogs, infusing their flesh with Biometal and producing the Scions as a result. Braddock branded them furies because he wanted them to be seen as the enemy.

[MrTwosheds]

The real tragedy of the Scions, is that they cannot take off those flares and shoulder pads. Apparently its also quite painful to bang your head when its pointy. Metal feet are also considered to be a serious disadvantage when mountain climbing.

[Ded10c]

Actually if you play the SP campaign you get a lot of hints about the scions. Generally they are not fury types. AFAIK, furies were created by fusing DNA with biometal (or trying to grow a biometal infused baby) -- whereas Scions were created by implanting biometal into adult humans. The Black Dog squadron was one such successful human/biometal hybrid and it was the Black Dogs who escaped experimentation to eventually find the remnants of the Cthonian civilization. They renamed themselves the Scions and began a grand experiment to use all of the alchemators from the Core solar system to funnel resources to the partially terraformed Dark Planet and make it their new home. In the SP campaign of BZ2 you actually defeat the Scion expeditionary force on the Dark Planet and invade the Core system in an effort to wipe out the Scions.

I don't recall any mention of biometal-infused babies...

[APCs r Evil]

I seem to recall a sort of concept art portrait of Padisha Burns. It was something ike the ones of Yelena and Cooke, he looked like a rather old man with splotches of bio-metal on his face.

(^^This is a really iffy memory.)

[Ded10c]

Yeah, they're on BZC somewhere.

[Iron Maiden]

Sadly, as far as I know, the best descriptions you can get are just by looking at scion pilots. After that, use what you have and your imagination.

P.S, Are the scion eyes really yellow or is that just a helmet?

[Baconboy]

I heard that was it's teeth. (a grin)

[Ded10c]

I presume that's just the helmet's visor. Somebody should make an image of a Scion pilot in normal dress.

[MrTwosheds]

Braddock was a Fashionist, the flares, boots, shoulderpads, shades and "hairdo" are all biometal technology constructs grown by modified human DNA and cannot be easily removed except by invasive surgical procedures or extreme violence. Presumably the Scions do have some control over the evolution of this DNA, so they may not be permanently cursed with the styles popular in Braddocks youth. The modifications do however give them great ability's to survive in a wide variety of environments including the vacuum of space.
What does remain a mystery is where Braddock acquired the technology to do this to humans, as it does not seem plausible that such a huge technological leap could have been made by a relatively small number of isolated human scientists. Extensive research by much larger groups have failed to reproduce his results even when they have living examples to study. Alien interference would seem to be the logical conclusion.

[Nielk1]

I seem to recall a sort of concept art portrait of Padisha Burns. It was something ike the ones of Yelena and Cooke, he looked like a rather old man with splotches of bio-metal on his face.

(^^This is a really iffy memory.)

According to story by Avatar, Burns was left for dead and his life saved by the Scions. It was the best they could do.

Braddock's Betrayal [of Burns]

As for the Cerberi. There are a few options:

• They might be the creation of the Core Computer the Scions moved from the Old Core in the Mire System to the New/Dark Core in the Sol System. Note that the computer was supposedly ejected from the planet when Braddock posthumously attacked but its tracking beacon never activated.
• They might be the creation of the computer that was created when New/Dark Core was 'alchimated' and the Scions just happened to move the other one in taking control for a while.
• They might be the creation of the remnants of a system meant to protect the Sol system in the case the Biometaloid (that being the Dark Planet) ever awoke to attack again (thus truly being lost Hadean Tech).
• They might be the creation of the Dark Planet itself waking from its slumber as a Biometaloid. This is unlikely since supposedly 'alchimization' would remove this, though perhaps the conversion failed, was incomplete, or was reverted in the nuclear strike.
• They might be a combination of the above where the Biometaloid intelligence (if you could call it that) was not correctly removed and caused corruption in the core computer.
• They might be a combination of the above where the Biometaloid intelligence (if you could call it that) causes corruption in the system meant to protect the Sol system from it in the first place.

Personally, I like the last one, though those involving the Core Computer make more sense, the last one fits an alternate timeline plan of mine. Though, the 2nd Core Computer option is most appealing and I might be able to jigger it into my timeline even though in mine the Dark Planet was not alchimized, you can see some Core like structures on it already. The computer might still have formed.


It should be noted that the Scions die without the Core planet. I suspect they were dying while in captivity after their creation. The Core planet seems to give off some sort of radiation that keeps them stable. This might be a side effect of the process of alchimization, meaning that being on Core might be like dialysis to a Scion. This would explain why super soldiers of the type that are Scion were never found viable as well as why the Scions needed to alchimize the Dark Planet. The Core they found in Mire was old and dying.