Lambent Drudges standing over uninfected Locust drones.
The Lambent are mutated organisms that have been infected and colonized by Imulsion; a golden, phosphorescent fungal liquid utilized by much of Humanity on planet Sera as a fuel source. Humanity fought for almost 80 Seran years over control of Imulsion in a conflict known as the Pendulum Wars; leading to widespread environmental damage as weapons of war powered by the substance were used by all participating sides.
The Locust horde, a breed of mutants born of humans exposed to Imulsion, were well aware of the substances true nature, but were forced to use it themselves to power their civilization and war machines. This led a vast number of Locust Drones to become infected by the imulsion parasite and transformed into Lambent, bent on attacking and infecting every living thing within range. This would later spark a subterranean civil war between the infected Locust and the their uninfected kin, known simply as the Locust Civil War, which began in the final years of the Pendulum Wars and continued all the way to the sinking of Jacinto, when the Lambent became a global pandemic.
The Lambent are so named for the constant golden glow they emit due to the copious amounts of raw Imulsion flowing through their bodies; when wounded to the point of death, all Lambent violently explode, scattering the Imulsion in their bodies across a wide area in an effort to further spread the infection.
History[]
For a time, Imulsion was seen as little more than a scientific curiosity; it had no outward signs of life, and so wasn’t considered a organism, but neither did it exhibit signs of a traditional fossil fuel. It wasn’t until Dr. Helen Cooper invented the Lightmass Process that Imulsion’s potential as a fuel was fully realized. Through an unknown process of refinement, Imulsion could be safely transformed into an efficient, highly effective fuel source known as Lightmass. For a planet teetering on the verge of an energy crisis, Imulsion was nothing less than a godsend.
For a time, the civilizations of Sera prospered exceedingly. During this “Gold Rush,” the extraction and sale of Imulsion became so widespread that nearly all other sources of energy were disregarded entirely. Oil Derricks were retooled to drill for deep pockets of Imulsion out in the middle of the ocean, while mobile land-based derricks harvested any lakes of the substance located on the surface. Imulsion-based products were introduced: from chemical compounds utilized in the construction of weapons to byproducts used in the production of synthetic materials, such as rubber and plastic.
Eventually, however, the Gold Rush would come to a catastrophic end. In time, speculation on the financial market coupled with exceedingly high prices caused a global financial collapse; leading many imulsion-rich nations to arm themselves in preparation for what they believed to be the inevitable invasion of their neighbors. Those countries with plentiful supplies of Imulsion banded together under the auspices of the Coalition of Ordered Governments, or COG, while those less fortunate came together to form the Union of Independent Republics, or UIR.
it is unknown when the first shot was fired, but the result was all too clear; war. After centuries of uninterrupted peace, Sera tasted true conflict once more. This conflict would be remembered as the Pendulum Wars, due to the see-saw nature of the fighting; one side would claim territory, only to then lose it, before regaining it once again. Back and forth, like the arm of a pendulum. Always, however, the goal remained “control of Imulsion.”
Some time into the war, several workers employed by Imulsion refineries across Sera found themselves suddenly falling ill: weakness, chest pains, burning sensations, and a persistent hacking cough which often resulted in the expulsion of reddish, gold-flecked phlegm. This disease was nicknamed “Rustlung” by those who worked in close proximity to Imulsion, and unbeknownst to them, this disease was caused not by lack of caution when in the workplace, but by the natural parasitic tendencies of Imulsion; Rustlung was nothing less than a symptom of the Imulsion parasite taking root, first in the lungs, and later into other areas of the body. At that time, the disease was merely terminal, and did not result in lambency.
The Miners were eventually transported along with their families to the New Hope research facility, where they were subjected to numerous unethical experiments by the facilities overseer, Dr. Niles Samson, who sought to create a cure for Rustlung. In time, his aspirations became more focused on eugenics; leading him to use imulsion-based mutations to create a species of highly adaptable humanoids. These would later go on to become the Locust.
Eventually the Locust would escape New Hope, migrating to the nearby Mount Kadar and founding their own civilization within the underground network of tunnels that humanity had termed “the Hollow.” Here, the Locust found vast lakes and seas comprised solely of raw imulsion. Due to the Locust’s ancestry, each one of them already had small traces of Imulsion coded into their DNA. As a result, even momentary exposure to Imulsion could cause a Locust to immediately become Lambent.
War broke out between the Locust and Lambent, with the latter gradually gaining ground. Desperate for a solution, the Locust Queen Myrrah commissioned a Human scientist, Professor Adam Fenix, to create a solution to the Lambent. However, his work was constantly delayed by the Pendulum Wars, turning his focus toward other inventions such as the Hammer of Dawn orbital laser network, which the COG would later use to end the Pendulum Wars. Unwilling to wait any longer while her people were slaughtered, Myrrah led the Locust in an invasion of the surface, only a mere six weeks after the final battle of the Pendulum Wars, intent on claiming the planet for her people before burying the Lambent in the Hollow.
Over the course of the war, some Lambent successfully reached the surface, primarily infected Wretches, and these were mistaken by Human forces as allies to the Locust Horde. The truth was discovered near the midpoint of the Locust War, when the Coalition of Ordered Governments launched a full scale assault on Nexus, the Locust capital city. There, Delta Squad, led by Sergeant Marcus Fenix, witnessed the Locust and the Lambent fighting through the streets of the city, realizing that they were not allies as they initially assumed. To contain the threat of both the Locust and the Lambent, the COG decided to sacrifice it’s last stronghold, the city of Jacinto, sinking it to allow the ocean to flood the hollows and drown the Locust and Lambent together. During this operation, a Brumak was infected by overexposure to a vast Imulsion lake below the city, and was horrifically mutated into a vile Lambent Titan, destroying the COG's only remaining lightmass bomb in the process. Remembering the Lambent's tendency to explode upon death, Delta Squad fired the Hammer of Dawn at the Lambent Brumak, killing it and sinking the city with its explosive death throes .
Although the Locust War was effectively over, the sinking of Jacinto resulted in the vast quantities of water forcing underground deposits of imulsion to the surface, saturating the ocean and soil, and causing its evolution to accelerate drastically. This eventually led to a global Lambent pandemic, in which Humans and Locust alike were beset by hordes of Lambent monstrosities, including new mutations of infected Locust and even Lambent Humans, known as Formers. During this crisis, Marcus Fenix would discover that Adam Fenix, his father, was still alive despite seemingly being killed in the early years of the Locust War, and had been held in captivity on the island of Azura for the past 17 years, where he had finally completed his solution to the Lambent problem. During the battle of Azura between the Humans, Locust and Lambent, Adam would unveil his solution to the world: the Imulsion Countermeasure Weapon.
Simply put, the Countermeasure was designed to target imulsion cells at the genetic level, not only curing the early stages of lambency, but also drying up any wells of imulsion within range. The device was powerful enough to bathe the entire planet in cleansing radiation, wiping out the Lambent without harming Humans. However, Adam was unable to refine the device to avoid killing the Locust as well, as due to their ancestry, the device was 100% fatal to them. Despite this, the countermeasure was successfully activated and every trace of Imulsion on Sera was eradicated; derricks were blown apart as pools of imulsion suddenly detonated, expending itself into non-existence, while Lambent lifeforms all across the planet either exploded in their death throes or simply dissolved into grey ash. The Locust survived the detonation despite Adam’s belief that it would kill them, however, rendered dormant by its effects and set to gradually evolve into the Swarm.
Variants[]
- Former: Although lambency primarily affected Locust, by the year 17 AE, even humans had begun to turn lambent. Despite their rarity, Formers traveled in large swarms and could overwhelm their target with sheer numbers. Disturbingly, the consciousness of the infected individual remains completely aware of what is happening to them, as indicated by their cries of pain, with some even begging Marcus and his squad to kill them as they attack
- Lambent Berserker: Locust berserkers, females of the species, turned Lambent, the Lambent Berserker's mutation has caused it to sprout three large tentacles from it's back, alongside the forced development of a pulsating organ in its chest which constantly produces raw Imulsion. The Berserker can spread this imulsion from it's body in a liquid and gaseous form as it takes damage. However, it's mutation is flawed in that it's “heart”(that is to say, the Imulsion producing organ)is fully exposed by it's newly ambulatory ribcage, which opens in the manner of a bear trap, providing a weak spot for it's enemies to exploit. When killed, the Lambent Berserker's death explosion appears similar to a miniature nuclear detonation, and is extremely devastating to anything nearby.
- Lambent Brumak: Only one Locust Brumak is confirmed to have been infected by imulsion to the point of lambency. The Lambent Brumak's extreme mutations include a replacement head growing from it's original mouth, numerous tentacles and it's own flesh anchoring it where it stood, rendering it immobile. Requiring the orbital weapon, the hammer of dawn, to be killed, the Lambent Brumak's death explosion was powerful enough to destroy an entire city (although it was directly underneath said city at the time).
- Lambent Drone: Locust drones infected with lambency, Lambent drones behave almost identically to their uninfected counterparts. However, they explode on death, making close quarters combat against them a significant risk.
- Lambent Drudge: Lambent drones mutated further by lambency, Drudges are more durable and aggressive than Lambent drones, presenting a complete disregard for their own survival. When fatally wounded, Drudges may either run as close to their enemy as possible before detonating themselves, or enter into a state of self-destructive mutation which allows them to acquire a myriad of new abilities. These can include; merging their legs and lower body together into a thick, tree-like stalks providing elevation and the ability to spawn lambent Polyps, replacing their arms with tentacles to throw globules of Imulsion or rip apart their enemies, or replacing their head with a tentacle-like appendage which grants them the ability to spray a stream of super-heater imulsion at a target. If the Drudge is killed with this last mutation, the "headsnake" may survive independently from the body and continue to attack.
- Lambent Gunker: Locust Boomers infected by imulsion, Gunkers are twice as large as they were before infection and extremely durable. Gunkers are capable of slinging massive chunks of raw imulsion at their enemies, while using an elongated tentacle tipped with a jagged blade to attack at mid - to - close range. Unlike other Lambent, Gunkers explode in phases rather than all at once; the arms detonating shortly before the head, followed by the rest of the body.
- Lambent Leviathan: A Leviathan infected with Lambency, the leviathan is mutated with several tentacles, the characteristic golden glow, and the ability to create gestate a constant supply of Lambent Polyps. Only one Lambent Leviathan has ever been documented.
- Lambent Polyp: Unlike other Lambent, Polyps aren’t born of any naturally occurring organism; rather, they are formed from Imulsion itself, with the substance comprising 100% of its body. Polyps appear similar to oversized crabs, with black and luminescent-yellow skin that has hardened to the consistency of stone. While extremely vulnerable to most offensive means, Polyps travel and attack in swarms, and like their kin, can explode upon death. Like the stalks, Adam Fenix believed Polyps to be a kind of oversized fungal vector; specifically, spores.
- Lambent Stalk: Large tree-like organisms, Lambent Stalks rapidly sprout from underground imulsion lakes to deploy Lambent from their attached pods. Destroying said pods will "kill" the stalk, preventing Lambent reinforcements from being deployed from them. Adam Fenix believed that these creatures were roughly akin to fruiting bodies for the Imulsion, which he theorized to be somewhat similar to a fungus.
- Lambent Wretch: Wretches infected with lambency, Lambent Wretches behave identically to Locust Wretches, with the addition of self-detonation on death. Somehow, the Locust general RAAM was able to control Lambent Wretches as part of his forces.
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