Origins of the Locust - A study of the Lambent, the Sires, the Locust and Myrrah

[Joveus]

“Everybody says they want answers. No, they don’t. Most people just want reassurance that the world is the way they already think it is. Genuine revelation – the knowledge that changes minds – upsets them. And they’ll hate you for doing it.”
- Richard Prescott (Coalition’s End, Chapter 13)

After Gears of War 2 there were quite a few questions left unanswered; where did the Locust come from? What were the Lambent? What causes Lambency in the first place? What was the purpose of the New Hope Research Facility? What were the Sires? Is the Locust Queen human? If so, why?

After Gears of War 3 was released, some of these questions were explicitly answered; Lambency is caused by imulsion. Imulsion is a parasite that affects multiple life-forms. Other answers, however, were not provided. The origins of the Locust still hadn’t been revealed, New Hope and the Sires had not been explored any further, and while we now knew Myrrah was human, it wasn’t explained why she was with the Locust.

When contacting members of EPIC for clarification on these questions, their response was that the answers were already littered piecemeal throughout the series, all we had to do was look.

So let’s look and see what can be found.

The Lambent

“Sera’s dying Marcus, the whole planet’s infected. It’s the imulsion that’s killing it. It was always the imulsion, you see, and I can stop it. I understand it all now.”
- Adam Fenix in his message (Gears of War 3 – Act 1, Chapter 1: Anchored)

“At the time of its discovery, there was no reason to believe that imulsion was a living organism. It exhibited no observable characteristics typical of life; no response to stimuli, no apparent method of reproduction, and no metabolic process. It has since become clear that this is not the case.

Though our examinations were sound, the assumptions upon which they were based-our narrow definitions of life-were not. It is very definitely alive, mutagenic, and highly invasive.

Viewed in this light, imulsion exhibits characteristics that resemble the structure and life cycle of many fungi. The bulk of the organism - in liquid form - is underground like a mycelium. The evidence of its existence that we have begun to observe on the surface in the form of stalks is the equivalent of fruiting bodies. Its periodic vapour-like emissions are perhaps best likened to spores. Its behaviour is parasitic yet simultaneously viral; It not only colonizes its host, it also reproduces in the host at the cellular level. Its life cycle appears to be a long period of dormancy followed by accelerated activity before maturation, but I cannot establish whether it has existed on Sera since the first origins of life or if it somehow developed or was introduced during human history.

A successful parasite does not kill its host, imulsion does. It may be inept, but I suspect the death of its host organisms - which appears to be every living thing on Sera, plant or animal - is part of its reproductive strategy, not an unfortunate side effect. Its high-energy content may be part of that.”
- Fenix Research collectible (Gears of War 3 – Act 5, Chapter 5: Ascension)

“Why’d they just drop off? They afraid of the imulsion fumes?”
“That… or somethin’ else. Keep your eyes open.”
“Hey, wait. What if we breathe in this ****?”
“Too late now.”
- Dom and Marcus (Gears of War 2 – Act 3, Chapter 5: Displacement)

In Gears of War 2 – Act 3, Chapter 5: Displacement, it could be seen that the Locust barges did not follow Delta’s commandeered barge through the imulsion vapours. In light of the above information it can be known that the Locust were aware that it was the vapours (imulsion spores) that caused Lambency as opposed to the imulsion itself. In Gears of War – Act 3, Chapter 5: Angry Titan, a Corpser is knocked into a lake of imulsion. Instead of turning Lambent, the Corpser simply burns and dies. In Gears of War 2 – Act 5, Chapter 5: Closure, a Brumak stands above many smaller lakes of imulsion and inhales large quantities of imulsion vapour. The Brumak is then seen to mutate quite rapidly and turn Lambent.

The Lambent, therefore, are the former members of other races that have become infected by the imulsion parasite and mutated into another life-form. The exploding nature of the Lambent allows imulsion to cover a larger area, and spores present within imulsion vapour are then released to infect other life-forms.

“Marcus, are we talking about imulsion? Is that it? God-damn imulsion?”
“Yeah, and how was it first discovered?”
“Oozing out of the ground. Pooling on the surface.”
“Yeah. Exactly.”
- Dom and Marcus (Coalition’s End – Chapter 6)

“That luminous substance in the jars. Is all imulsion some form of Lambency, then?”
“I think so. It seems to have a long and complex life cycle.”
“So how much time do we have to beat this thing?”
“I only know that it’s spreading. So let’s assume we don’t have long.”
- Prescott and Adam Fenix (The Slab – Chapter 4)

“Marcus, I gave your father nearly twenty years to deal with the Lambent. He will deal with it, but not at my people’s expense.”
- Myrrah (Gears of War 3 – Act 5, Chapter 5: Ascension)

Now, the Lambent were never really the source of any of the community’s remaining questions, since their existence and nature was thoroughly explored in Gears of War 3. However, what we now know about imulsion and the Lambent is important when it comes to answering other questions. Imulsion causes Lambency, and Lambency has been affecting the Locust for at least twenty years. But did imulsion only begin to have mutagenic effects twenty years ago? Or can instances of Lambency be traced back further, back even as far as the early Pendulum Wars or Gold Rush one hundred years ago?

How old are the Locust?

“One thing I still don’t understand. Have the Locust been down here, like, forever or what?”
- Benjamin Carmine (Gears of War 2 – Act 2, Chapter 3: Disturbing Revelations)

“We can’t stop them. We don’t know where they come from. We don’t know what they want. They don’t even seem to want territory. All they do is kill. We can’t even begin to negotiate with them, or work out their objectives, because we just don’t know the first damn thing about them. That’s not an enemy, Mr. Chairman. That’s a monster.”
- Bardry Salaman (Jacinto’s Remnant – Chapter 3)

“We could have cooperated with the groundwalkers for our mutual salvation, but they are humans, and they only understand dominance and ownership. All that we have left is a war to the death. For all their so-called intelligence, humans are blind to the threat right before their eyes. We never stood a chance of enlisting their aid, so now we fight alone. And we will stand on their corpses to do so.”
- Myrrah, the Locust Queen (Aspho Fields - Epilogue)

Certain occurrences and events are known to have taken place regarding the Locust. First of all, the Locust were fighting against the Lambent before E-Day. Secondly, Adam Fenix was in contact with the Locust five years before E-Day, and for a while worked with them to find a way to combat Lambency. Thirdly, when imulsion evolution progressed at a rate faster than Adam’s ability to analyse it, Myrrah led the Locust to abandon the Hollow and colonise the surface of Sera instead.

But how long have they been in the Hollow? Twenty years, since just before E-Day? One hundred years or so, since imulsion was first discovered? Or longer still, thousands and thousands of years?

"Despite her mother’s warnings, and the calls of the friends, Romily left the safe company of her friends and walked deep into the perils of the forest. She thought they would admire her independence, and respect her brave willingness to break ranks with the others. But she did not walk alone. The six-legged demon that had waited patiently beneath her house since her birth followed her, unseen, and joined the rest of his kind who rose from the depths to embrace her."
- Ancient Tyran fairy tale, on the popular and improving theme of monsters lying in wait for disobedient children (Aspho Fields – Chapter 4)

“Didn’t you read Romily as a child? The monster under the bed? How’s the monster always shown? That story goes back centuries, and the monster always has the same features – long front fangs and six legs // All monsters come from some reality. The six legs are a folk memory. Something like that once existed on Sera, and we reduced it to a fairy tale in the end, but now – I think I’ve found its nearest living relative // I think these [rock] shrews may be the remains of a genus that once included much larger tunnel-dwelling creatures.”
- Elain Fenix (Anvil Gate – Chapter 5)

The concept of monsters living under the ground is not new, the story of Romily has been passed down for generations and is often used as a source to argue that the Locust have existed for centuries – or at least as long as the fairy tale has been around. But it is curious, the six-legged demon in the fairy tale does not resemble a Locust. The Drones, Kantus, Boomer and Wretches are all humanoid, and while Corpsers and Reavers have multiple limbs, neither fit the boundaries of the story.

But there is one creature that does – the Polyps.

The Polyps are six-legged, possess large fangs, and come from under the ground in large groups. Elain Fenix compares the creatures in the story to the rock shrew she has found, creatures that live within and around the Hollow. If the name “rock shrew” is any indication, it could be similar in nature or composition to the “rockworm”, another Hollow based creature used as a food source by the Locust.

“The mutated shrew was long dead, but the bioluminescent parasite within it was still biding its time, just as Myrrah had said // [Elain had] thought the six-legged shrew was the descendant of a much bigger and extinct animal that had lived on in folk memory as monster myths. She couldn’t have known then that it was a much more recent mutation. She simply recorded the cell changes. This is what Lambency does.”
- Adam Fenix’s thoughts (The Slab – Chapter 2)

Elain Fenix was mistaken in one aspect in regards to her discovery – the vestigial limbs on the rock shrews are not the remnant of an old genus, but rather the beginning of a new one. The Lambent are the mutated versions of Sera’s native lifeforms – just as a Drudge is the Lambent mutation of a Locust Drone, Polyps are the Lambent version of these rock shrews.

But if the Romily legend is indeed referring to the Lambent, or creatures that will once day become Lambent, where did the Locust come from? Were they an ancient race, living underground undisturbed and unknown by humanity until the spread of the Lambent forced them above ground? This might well be the case. But there is evidence that may point to another answer.

Rustlung

“Symptom: Ruth is clearly experiencing extreme swelling in her joints and
frequently cries out in pain during the night. She also exhibits rather
erratic and unpredictable behavior, though this is quite understandable
considering her situation and symptoms. There is a strange discoloration
in her eyes, and her breathing often sounds labored. Her nails grow at a
faster rate than normal, though her hair grows at a markedly reduced rate.
I'll keep trying to find some type of medication to alleviate her pain without
adversely affecting our studies.”
- New Hope Medical File collectible (Gears of War 2 – Act 3, Chapter 2: Origins)

“Uh, what happens when you set off your glowie killer, Professor? Are we gonna feel anything?”
“That depends on how far the imulsion has colonized your cells, Damon. Do you have a fever? Intense muscle pain?”
“No.”
“Then you’ll be fine”
- Damon Baird and Adam Fenix discussing the effects of imulsion contamination (Gears of War 3 – Act 5, Chapter 5: Ascension)

The symptoms Adam Fenix describes are the same as those experienced by Ruth at the New Hope facility countless years earlier. These symptoms are the result of imulsion colonising the cells and are the same as those experienced by sufferers of rustlung – an imulsion based illness that is caused by inhalation of large amounts of imulsion-vapour;

"Rustlung, imulsion sickness. Cases have been popping up all over since the Lightmass Bombing. Sure is a horrible way for a warrior to die."
"Uh, contagious?"
"They say it's not, but I would keep my distance."
"No argument here."
- Tai and Dom (Gears of War 2 – Act 1, Chapter 2 - Desperation)

“Driver: Wayne Mitchell
Route: Timgad/Jacinto

Patient #1: 33 yr. old male
Symptoms: Coughing up blood & brown mucus, nausea, minor bleeding from
ears

Patient #2: 21 yr. old male
Symptoms: Nausea, coughing up blood & reddish-brown mucus

Patient #3: 36 yr. old female
Symptoms: Unconscious, blood & reddish-brown mucus coming from nose &
mouth

Patient #4: 24 yr. old male
Symptoms: Coughing up blood & dark brown mucus, complaining of severe
chest pain & trouble breathing”
- Ambulance Driver’s Log collectible (Gears of War 2 – Act 1, Chapter 1: Welcome to Delta)

“Is this how it starts?”
“Yeah. You seen this before? ‘Cause this ain’t just rustlung.”
- Dom and a Stranded (Gears of War 3 – Act 3, Chapter 5 – Brothers to the End)

All the sufferers of rustlung present in Gears of War 2 were in the Timgad area during or after the Lightmass Bomb was used. The Formers in Gears of War 3 turn up in places with large amounts of imulsion – Mercy and Char are both imulsion processing townships. Rustlung, then, is the first step towards turning Lambent, and while knowledge of the disease may not have become widespread until after the Timgad bombing, patients with the same symptoms were being studied at New Hope.

But if rustlung is an indication of Lambency, other questions are raised. If rustlung is caused by exposure to imulsion why have there been no reported cases until now? And if rustlung is the first step to Lambency, why did sufferers such as Michael Barrick and Jonathan Harper not turn into Formers?

“There’d been classified matters that had sometimes woken him in the middle of the night and left him staring at the ceiling, gut churning and unable to get back to sleep again. There were things he’d quietly dreaded becoming public, background things like the real health risks of imulsion exposure.”
- Richard Prescott’s thoughts (The Slab – Chapter 2)

“And imulsion did cause mutations in humans. He knew that all too well now, as the COG had known for years. But the process by which it changed from an apparently biologically inactive fuel to a live pathogen remained unclear, as did finding parallels between imulsion’s teratogenic effects and its behaviour as a pathogen. Adam suspected they weren’t linear stages of the same thing but evidence that imulsion was evolving, diversifying just like the first life on Sera had done.”
- Adam Fenix’s thoughts (The Slab – Chapter 13)

The first answer is simple – as seen above, there have been reported cases, Lambency has been observed, and covered up, by the COG for almost a century. And the answer to the second is difficult due to the ever-evolving nature of imulsion. Barrick and Harper may well have turned Lambent given enough time, but the length of time it takes imulsion to colonize the cells and the form they would have taken cannot be known, as imulsion had not reached the stage in its life cycle that caused mutation into Formers.

For rustlung to have been the focus of the studies at New Hope it can mean only one thing – the patients had to have been exposed to enough imulsion to present themselves with the symptoms. Who could have been exposed to so much imulsion? Imulsion miners is the obvious choice, but anybody who worked in-depth with imulsion are candidates, including the families of the miners who would have moved to and grown up around the drill sites, as was common during our own coal mining here on Earth.

[Joveus]

New Hope Research Facility

“What’s Azura?”
“Nothing to worry about. It’s an island facility built early in the Pendulum Wars because everyone was convinced that the conflict would end in global annihilation.”
- Nevil and Prescott (The Slab – Chapter 3)

“And if that smarmy recorded voice from the PA system started up again, the one they said was Niles Samson himself, he’d lose it completely.”
- Nevil Estrom’s thoughts (The Slab – Chapter 6)

“Whatever Dr. Samson’s nauseating cheerleading says, we cannot build Sera from the population here [on Azura] alone.”
- Richard Prescott (The Slab – Chapter 6)

“We’ll have to move during the night, in the snow, and Chairman Monroe won’t even authorise the use of vehicles to transport the subjects.”
- A recording of Niles Samson (Gears of War 2 – Act 3, Chapter 3: Rude Awakening)

“We’re talking about shrugging our shoulders and effectively dissolving a state that’s existed for –”
“Just under a century. That’s all // But the Allfathers were just an alliance of imulsion-rich states looking after their own interests during a fuel crisis.”
- Hoffman and Michaelson (Coalition’s End – Chapter 21)

Before delving into what exactly New Hope did, it should first be established how old the facility is.

The COG was founded during the Gold Rush, shortly before the Pendulum Wars started 79 years before E-Day, and existed for just under a century before it was dissolved in 15 AE. The COG was based on the Octus Canon developed by minor political figure and fanatical socialist Alexiy Desipich some time before the Pendulum Wars. The first leader of the COG was Nassar Embry, Allfather Prime, but at some point rule over the state passed over to a series of successive Chairmen. Niles Samson worked on both Azura and New Hope, and his presence on the PA system of both facilities means that they were in existence at the same time – the early years of the Pendulum Wars. The fact that there was a Chairman when New Hope shut down also limits the facility to being within a century old. The decrepit state of New Hope leads credence to the idea that New Hope was shut down earlier rather than later.

If rustlung was being studied at New Hope, and rustlung is the first step on the road to Lambency in humans, where do the Locust fit in? By looking at all the pieces, a timeline of mutagenic effects can be traced.

“Though many Imulsion miners had a shorter-than-average lifespan during the “Gold Rush” period following the energy source’s discovery, no one has proven that Imulsion exposure is a serious risk to human health.”
- Rustlung section of the Beneath the Surface booklet (Gears of War 2 Special Edition)

“As many of you know, we recently experienced an internal information leak, and
this had led some media outlets to make inquiries of the Department of
Heath. Should you ever be approached with questions by anyone from the
media or from someone who is not an employee of New Hope, I trust that you
will all refrain from disclosing any information about the facility or its
patients.”
- Interoffice Memo collectible (Gears of War 2 – Act 3, Chapter 2: Origins)

“I would begin exiting the facility if I were you. I tried to warn you. Now it appears that you have awoken the Sires. That could be very problematic // Those are irreplaceable specimens… a genetic bridge to our future. The Sires were not meant to be awakened yet. There will be consequences for a transgression of this magnitude. Severe, dire consequences.”
- The Niles AI (Gears of War 2 – Act 3, Chapter 3: Rude Awakening)

“But does Lambency kill its hosts? Does it just change them? Is it even a survival advantage?”
“The Locust told Adam that some Lambent began to self-destruct – literally detonate. If you’re thinking it has a future as a defence against the Locust, I suspect you’d have had an interesting conversation with Dr. Samson.”
- Prescott and Bakos (The Slab – Chapter 6)

“Dalyell had always been very cagey about [the Sires] existence and origin. Prescott had been kept out of the loop: it had suited him not to know about mutated humans, poisoned humans, but it was a gap he now needed to fill. All he could do when he took office was keep the New Hope facility quarantined and hope he never had to open the lid.”
- Prescott’s thoughts (The Slab – Chapter 6)

“And given the inarguable evidence of human mutation, this is research we also need to do in humans. Not cell cultures.”
Prescott thought she was still asking for access to the Sires.
- Esther Bakos (The Slab – Chapter 6)

TOP SECRET
TERATOGENICITY STUDY
(SAMSON)

“// This research into the teratogenic effects of imulsion was sealed years ago, but I think [Adam Fenix] should have access to it // We need to know what happened to the rest of Niles Samson’s New Hope research. The children with abnormalities.”
“If I had it, I would hand it over. We searched for those children for years.”
“We could go back and recover the Sires.”
“No. The facility has to stay locked down.”
“Sir, we know imulsion can cause changes in human physiology, and I think Adam’s established the link between imulsion and the pathogen.”
- Esther Bakos and Richard Prescott (The Slab – Chapter 6)

“Save the children, that’s what they always say. In this case, we’re truly doing it. Or at least, we’re giving it our very best shot. The trip to Mount Kadar won’t be an easy one, not by any means. We’ll have to move during the night, in the snow, and Chairman Monroe won’t even authorise the use of vehicles to transport the subjects. I will be leaving behind a semi-sentient security system to watch over the facility. I would hate for anyone to disturb the Sires’ rest, and we would all like the later opportunity to study them as they grow. I’m almost embarrassed to admit that the security system is based of my personality-”
- A recording of Niles Samson (Gears of War 2 – Act 3, Chapter 3: Rude Awakening)

“Were you aware of the health concerns about imulsion?”
“Emissions? Yes. Like any combustible material. Particulates, volatile fractions, that kind of risk.”
“I mean teratogenic. Mutagenic. Have I used the correct terms? Causing malformations and changes at the genetic level.”
“Oh. We suppressed those findings, did we? Can’t upset the imulsion companies with health scares. Share prices are hardly our biggest problem now, I suppose.”
- Prescott and Adam (The Slab – Chapter 6)

Imulsion was first discovered on Sera pooling on the surface by an oil derrick. Almost as soon as humanity began working in depth with the substance, Lambency became an issue. The evidence of human mutation was inarguable and infected subjects, people who worked in depth with imulsion such as miners, began showing symptoms such as rustlung. The infected imulsion workers were covertly relocated to New Hope. Here, Niles Samson hoped to find a way to prevent the mutagenic effects of imulsion by studying these Lambent humans – the Sires. Niles hoped that the Sires represented a “survival advantage” as Prescott puts it, a “genetic bridge to our future” in his own words, a way to limit the effects of Lambency to a purely physical change that was capable of resisting further mutation. However, because of what happened next, Niles never finished his studies on the Sires.

In the process of studying the mutagenic effects of imulsion, Niles was brought into contact with its teratogenic effects – genetic defections caused by imulsion on a cellular level in newborns. The children of the Sires, or of Lambent humans who would eventually become the Sires, were born with Lambency in their cells. As they matured, so too did the Lambent mutation within their genes. As the mutations progressed it reached a point where the COG became too fearful of the truth and the effect it would have on both imulsion companies and the general public. New Hope was quietly shut down – while the COG erased all records of these mutated children, Monroe had the staff and subjects moved to Mt. Kadar.

The Locust

“It was hard not to put two and two together, but it was also unscientific, he knew that much. He tried to meet professionals on their own terms.”
- Prescott’s thoughts (The Slab – Chapter 6)

“I ask you, how else do we secure our future? What is a culture without hope? It’s a shame. A dirty, rotten shame. // Did they know what was awaiting them inside Mount Kadar? Did they deserve what we did to them? Should we be punished? // When we are fully cleansed, and the truth comes forth, will we listen? … will we listen? Will we… listen? Listen… listen… listen.”
- Niles AI (Gears of War 2 – Act 3, Chapter 3: Rude Awakening)

The “children” that Niles studied at New Hope were not adult subjects or Lambent humans – they were very literally children, the offspring of the infected.

These “children” are the Locust.

The information on New Hope was sealed and the files restricted to the office of the Chairman and eventually to the scientists on Azura. After the Battle of Ephyra Prescott and Dr. Bakos were made aware of Lambency and both were able to make the, Prescott believes, obvious connection between the missing imulsion-mutated “children” who left New Hope and the race of imulsion-mutated, hitherto unknown, humanoids who emerged from underground one hundred years later.

The Locust as a species, therefore, are already Lambent. They have imulsion in their cells. Even though they are not glowing and mutating and exploding, every single Locust is Lambent on a cellular level.

“Dad, what’s Myrrah up to? In your message you said she didn’t realise you can’t save the Locust.”
“This is a last stand for the Locust too, Marcus. My device will kill the imulsion, but it’ll harm the Locust too.”
- Marcus and Adam Fenix (Gears of War 3 - Act 5, Chapter 5: Ascension)

"Marcus Fenix seems to be as persistent as his father - and just as predictable. If he lives, our entire species dies."
- Queen Myrrah (Gears of War 3 - Act 4, Chapter 4: Hang 'em High)

At this point the evidence is damning. Only one result is possible – the Locust are the result of the experiments conducted at New Hope close to 100 years ago, they are the offspring of Lambent humans, the Sires – all of these species, Locust, Former and Sire, have Lambency on a cellular level.

But if the Locust are less than 100 years old, other questions arise;
How can this explain the age of Nexus and other Locust architecture, surely it is much older than 100 years?

“Hard to believe this leads to a Locust city. Feels too old.”
- Dom (Gears of War 2 – Act 3, Chapter 5: Displacement)

“Still don’t get how they could’ve built this **** so fast.”
“Ah hell, we still don’t know how long they been down here.”
“And all this Imulsion… Are they thriving off of it?”
“Maybe. But that queen of theirs keeps talkin’ about reachin’ the surface.”
- Baird and Marcus (Gears of War 2 – Act 4, Chapter 4: No Turning Back)

The Locust did not suddenly pop into existence on Emergence Day, they have been around for a while, but any species that has existed for a long time would have provided evidence of its existence at some point in its history. As seen with the Romily story, older races that once existed in the Hollow still leave their mark on the surface – the rock shrews found by Elain Fenix were discovered near the Hollow. The Locust do not do this.

Dom comments that the architecture feels too old to be Locust in design, while Baird comments that the Locust seem to have built too much, too fast. Together they ask a simple question – if the Locust are an ancient race, surely there would be some evidence of their existence. If they are a recent emergence, how can they be so large and so advanced?

When travelling through Nexus, a curious mesh of technological advancement can be seen – the architecture of Nexus is old enough to be considered ruinous at first glance, but new enough that the mechanical aspects such as the cable-car system, lever-controlled cover and computer systems are built directly into the city, not tacked on at a later date. The city may look to some to be older than 100 years, but considering the builders, is it not more likely that its construction was crude rather than ancient?

Another question is this – what about the size of the Horde, surely it is much too large to be a bunch of test subjects from New Hope?

“They breed by rape.”
“What, sir?”
“The Locust. I heard the females – the Berserkers – have to be tied down to mate. They’re not exactly willing.
- Hoffman and Tai (Aspho Fields, Chapter 14)

“Baird here.

I guess this could be an invasion map, but it looks more like a kid's drawing
to me. Li'l Locust, do they have those?

I was just asking Marcus about this earlier... Why aren't there any Locust
brats around here? Figured we'd see some grub's grub somewhere around this
place.

Well, guess if the Berserkers are the females, maybe the males just wised up
and quit laying the pipe to 'em. Man, that would be perfect... Locust go
extinct due to the fugly, homicidal chicks they have to mate with.

Hey, one can hope.”
- Locust Invasion Map collectible (Gears of War 2 – Act 4, Chapter 6: The Best Laid Plans)

“What the hell are the Locust doing taking prisoners?”
“They’re locking people up in these things, taking ‘em deeper into the Hollow. They were gonna process me, man. Whatever that means…”
- Marcus and Baird (Gears of War 2 – Act 2, Chapter 4: Sinking Feeling)

“The mice she’s been using – when they’re injected with Lambent cells, their fertility drops rapidly. Litter size fell to two or three pups and thirty percent of those offspring are sterile // Esther says look at the declining family size in southern Tyrus alone. High proportion of only children and childless couples. Siblings aren’t the norm. We don’t have the data because we didn’t investigate the motives, whether couples wanted fewer children or just didn’t conceive and never sought medical help for it.”
- Adam Fenix (The Slab – Chapter 11)

Imulsion exposure causes sterility. This is something that applies to all species, and is noted by Adam to have an effect on human populations. Since the Locust are themselves the children of Lambent humans and are already Lambent it would seem that there are no Locust children, another factor that disproves the idea of the Locust being an ancient race. In Aspho Fields Colonel Hoffman has heard that the Locust breed by rape, but when Baird enters the Nexus in Gears of War 2 there is no evidence of infant Locust.

When the Locust need to increase their numbers they have to resort to “processing”, to create more. But what exactly is “processing”? And how can so many people be kidnapped by the Locust without the COG or UIR noticing?

“Thousands of people are still unaccounted for, and rumors still abound on the whereabouts of the missing. Theories range from the implausible (the Locust eat humans) to the likely (the Locust are taking prisoners).”
- “The Lucky Died on E-Day” section of the Beneath the Surface booklet (Gears of War 2 Special Edition)

“Baird here.

Just found an artifact that looks exactly like the glyph on the back of that
lovely skin scroll.

From other writings I've found, I think I've pieced it together: This is
something called the 'Trinity of Worms,' and it's probably the closest thing
I've seen yet to a Locust religious symbol. They really worship worms. We so do
not deserve to be alive.

As far as I can tell, there's some kind of mantra on the artifact, about the
queen making drones, drones protecting Nexus... and I'll have to work out that
last part a little later. I don't work well under gunfire.”
- Trinity of Worms Artifact (Gears of War 2 – Act 4, Chapter 5: The Best Laid Plans)

As stated in Beneath the Surface, thousands of humans have been taken by the Locust since E-Day. Using the Locust Runes the Trinity of Worms can be seen to state “The Queen makes Drones, the Drones protect Nexus, Nexus covers the Queen”.

Having seen that the Locust do not breed, the only other interpretation would be that the Queen literally makes Drones. Taking what we have learned about the Locust origins from New Hope and the role imulsion plays in their development, it can be concluded that Drones are created through imulsion exposure.

But there must be more to it than that, otherwise exposed humans would just become Formers. “Processing”, therefore, must include another element. Since the Locust origins were at New Hope, and at least some of the scientists travelled to Mount Kadar with the “subjects”, the method of “processing” must have been passed down. And who makes the Drones? The Queen.

“Here’s what I don’t understand. They never press home their advantage. Is it won’t or can’t?”
“If we knew that, we’d be halfway to beating the bastards.”
“I think they lack capacity and have to keep restocking their menagerie, for lack of a better word.”
“Is that a guess, sir?”
“An educated guess, I suppose. What kind of force launches a global assault that takes out a quarter of the population in a few days, and then spends more than a decade unable to finish it off despite overwhelming numbers?”
“An enemy with its own supply problems, running out of steam.”
- Prescott and Hoffman (The Slab – Chapter 12)

How does the Locust Horde seem to have such overwhelming numbers? Short answer – they don’t. Long answer – as they continuously lose lives to both the Lambent and the COG, the Locust run low on their numbers and have to process more. Prescott is able to figure out how it all works after making the connection between New Hope, the “children” and the Locust – if the Locust did not periodically process more Drones into their ranks, they would have been wiped out early into the Locust War by sheer attrition.

“Diz, are they aliens or something? How did they get here? Did they land? I mean, I know everyone’s saying they came out of holes in the ground – but how come we’ve never seen them before? You don’t just get a whole new breed of things come out of nowhere like that.”
- Milos to Dizzy (Coaliton’s End – Chapter 4)

“What are the Locust? We don’t know what they are… Most scientists believe they’re a mutated version of Sera’s native life forms. A minority claim they’re aliens. Ask any Gear and they’ll tell you the Locust come straight from hell.”
- What are the Locust section of the Destroyed Beauty booklet (Gears of War Special Edition)

The Locust are a mutated version of Sera’s native life forms. So if the humanoid Locust were all former humans, or the descendants of Lambent humans, what about the other Locust species; Wretches, Brumaks, Kryll, Rockworms, Reavers, Leviathans and so on? Were all the other Locust variants also created artificially like the humanoids?

“DNA analysis indicates these were bred by the Locust Horde from smaller native apes.”
- Brumak section of the Destroyed Beauty booklet (Gears of War Special Edition)

“Elain would have been fascinated by their skill at engineering other species into living weapons for their war effort.”
- Adam Fenix’s thoughts (The Slab – Chapter 2)

“The Locust must be pretty proficient in biotechnology in their own way, given the mutations they’ve bred for their own purposes.”
- Richard Prescott (The Slab – Chapter 11)

“You still feel sorry for them, don’t you?”
“No, but I do respect the extraordinary understanding of genetics it takes to create living weapons that bring global powers to their knees.”
- Dury and Adam (The Slab – Chapter 13)

“Ah, so that’s where Corpsers come from.”
“When a mommy Corpser and a daddy Corpser love each other very much…”
- Cole and Baird (Gears of War 3 – Act 2, Chapter 4: Trench Run)

"We're seeing more of those kryll things at night. The only good news is that the grubs don't seem to like them either, so it looks like it's cut down on their incursions after dark. But that means the things are either one of their own engineered creatures gone wrong, or something else entirely."
- Hoffman (The Slab - Chapter 12)

Yes and no. The majority of the beast Locust did not exist before the humanoid Locust created them, and they were engineered and bred specifically for use in combat – Brumaks, Reavers, Wretches, Corpsers, Seeders, etc. A few, such as the rock shrews, rockworm and Riftworm, seem to have evolved naturally underground and are domesticated in a very fragile way. In either case, all of these creatures are grouped together under the moniker Locust due to their shared trait of Lambency within the cell structure.

All of this information - the declassified New Hope files through to the studies on the Locust - are likely detailed on Adam Fenix's disk witnessed in Act 5, Chapter 5 of Gears of War 3.

[Joveus]

Myrrah

“Listen to me, Marcus Fenix! I will not let my people die! We have a right to live, a right to this world! Your father must complete his task!”
- Myrrah (Gears of War 3 – Act 5, Chapter 5: Ascension)

“Okay, I really need to know what Myrrah was yapping about. She knew your dad before E-Day? How? I mean, she looks human, did she join the Locust country club for ****s and giggles or something?”
- Baird (Gears of War 3 – Act 5, Chapter 5: Ascension)

"You humans! Why do you think your lives are worth more than ours? Don't you realize who we are? Don't you recognise all your most admirable qualities in us? Oh yes... we are genocidal monsters! Just like you!"
- Myrrah (Gears of War 3 – Act 5, Chapter 6: Threshold)

Finally, we come to Myrrah, the decidedly human-looking Queen of the Locust. The first question regarding her is whether she is human or not.

“You know what we are, Adam. He could hear her voice more clearly than Elain’s sometimes; authoritative, patrician, human. You know where we come from. We deserve to live, we have the right to live, but you’ll never let us. Just remember that what’s killing us will one day kill you. And I shall be there to see it.”
- Myrrah (The Slab – Chapter 2)

"Adam, you knew this day would come." It was a familiar voice: silky, imperial, polished, and utterly human.
- Myrrah (The Slab – Chapter 5)

Twice in the Slab Myrrah is referred to as being human. In Gears of War 3, the queen is unharmed by the imulsion countermeasure activated in at the climax of the story, meaning that she does not possess lambency in her cells. This is important for two reasons – first, it means that she is not in the process of turning Former; second, it means that she cannot be Locust in any capacity since, as has been discussed, each and every Locust has lambency.

A popular idea is that Myrrah must be Ruth, the patient from New Hope whose medical file was present as a collectible in Gears of War 2 and is quoted above. If this was the case though, it doesn't quite add up, Myrrah doesn't have the swelling in her joints, long nails or lack of hair that Ruth did. The physical description indicates that Ruth is turning into a Sire or Locust. It can be seen that Myrrah shares nothing in common with the Sires or Locust and therefore nothing in common with Ruth. If Myrrah was Ruth then she would have lambency, and would have been killed by the imulsion countermeasure.

Another argument states that Myrrah must be the one patient from New Hope who was cured of lambency and immune to imulsion. Unfortunately, there is little that supports this idea – why was the cure not taken to Mt. Kadar when the scientists relocated there? Why were the Sires left in stasis in the first place if a cure had been found? And why would Myrrah not use the cure on the Locust if she was indeed immune to the effects of imulsion?

And just because there’s always one…

“He’d found some of [Elain Fenix’s] remains in the tunnels – arm bones and scraps of fabric he recognised all to well.”
- Adam Fenix (The Slab – Chapter 2)

… She’s not Marcus’s mother.

So how did a human end up leading the Locust Horde?

“Queen Myrrah. It was an odd choice of title. It smacked of termite colonies and ants, an analogy he knew she’d find offensive, but he suspected she’d chosen it in an attempt to make herself feel more embedded in Sera’s history, more Seran than the humans who’d long since discarded their monarchies. You know that’s not true, Myrrah. You know all about your origins. But this is no time to argue that with you.”
- Adam Fenix’s thoughts (The Slab – Chapter 4)

Myrrah is not a Locust. Myrrah is not Lambent. Myrrah is not royalty by succession; she has taken the title of Queen for herself. Myrrah possesses knowledge that allows her to create Drones, something that no other human on Sera has. Taking what we know so far, we can deduce who she must be.

Locust are the offspring of Lambent humans, but considering the high infertility rate caused by lambency, breeding is difficult. In order to process humans and create more Locust large numbers and careful planning is required – humanoid Locust must be bred just like all the other beast-like Locust they command. Myrrah is in possession of knowledge that no-one else has – how to create Locust. The only people who knew how to do this were those who worked at New Hope. The scientists of New Hope moved to Mount Kadar. Myrrah’s palace is at Mount Kadar. Myrrah is not a Locust.

Therefore, Myrrah is a descendant of the scientists of New Hope, imbibed with the knowledge of how to create Locust, her people, her children, whom she was born and raised with deep under the earth. She considers herself a Locust, not a human, and she has taken the title of Queen and the cause of vengeance to fight for a race that was literally forced underground.

The Kantus, Nexus and the size of the Horde

A popular theory is the idea that the Kantus are the original Locust, having existed undeground for millennia. This theory states that the Kantus built Nexus, New Hope was set up to create Kantus-Human hybrids, most of the Locust we see in the franchise are failed versions of these hybrids, and Myrrah is the only successful one. The primary arguments for this are threefold;

- The Kantus are too different from the other humanoid Locust to be related.
- Nexus is too large and looks too old to have been built within one hundred years.
- The population of the Horde is too large to have been formed in one hundred years.

While I will not delve too much into these here, I will comment breifly on each point.

First; the Kantus possess similar biological features present on multiple forms of humanoid Locust. Indeed, elements of the Sires, Drones and Berserkers can all be seen on the Kantus. Imulsion's ability to evolve down divergent paths causes multiple mutations from the same source, as witnessed with the Drudges. The Kantus are, like the other humanoid Locust, descended from the subjects at New Hope.

Second; considering the Gold Rush period of Seran history and the amount of people working in the mines, it is not unreasonable to assume the numbers of infected miners were far larger than just the Sires witnessed at New Hope. The Sires are considered the most extreme cases of imulsion exposure, many of the exposed would not have been mutated to this extent. I argue then that it was not the Locust that were moved from New Hope to Mt. Kadar, but instead Lambent Humans - sufferers of rustlung who were walking, talking and on par with the likes of Adam Fenix, Michael Barrick and Jonathan Harper. The Locust did not come along until after the move.

Third; there are no signs of Locust children, something Baird points out while in Nexus, but there are no signs of older Locust either. Given the lambent nature of the Horde on a genetic level, I argue that the Locust do not age at a rate similar to humans. Imulsion exists as a single organism, a hive-mind-like entity, and elements of this have transferred to the Locust - such as their almost telekinetic communication ability witnessed in RAAM's Shadow. The Locust, therefore, age at a slower rate or may not age at all.

For a more detailed look at these issues, please see my thread on the Kantus.

Conclusion

By looking throughout the series, the following observations can be seen;

- The Locust are NOT an ancient race, they have only existed for a century.
- New Hope was NOT set up to splice the DNA of Locust and humans to create halfbreeds.
- The Kantus did NOT exist prior to the Pendulum Wars, they are also descended from New Hope.
- Myrrah is NOT Marcus Fenix's mother.
- Myrrah is NOT Elain Fenix.
- Myrrah is NOT Ruth from New Hope.

And the following conclusions can be drawn;

- Imulsion is evolving all the time, what once caused humans to mutate into Sires 100 years ago now causes them to mutate into Formers.
- Lambency has been around since imulsion was first discovered.
- New Hope was set up to research Lambency on both adults and their children.
- The Sires were Lambent humans.
- The Locust are the children of Lambent humans
- Most of the beast Locust were genetically engineered by the humanoid Locust.
- Imulsion causes sterility. Both humanoid and beast Locust struggle to reproduce.
- Humans are periodically kidnapped, tortured, processed and bred to create more humanoid Locust.
- Myrrah is not a Locust, she is human.
- Myrrah is a descendant of the New Hope scientists, throughout the existence of the Horde humans have always been in charge.
- Myrrah considers the Locust more “human” than modern humanity, and will fight and die for their right to live.

What are the Locust? What were the Sires? Why is Myrrah human?

When contacting members of EPIC for clarification on these questions, their response was that the answers were already littered piecemeal throughout the series, all we had to do was look.

And they were right.

Provided throughout these posts have been quotes from throughout the franchise that, when pieced together, provide the answers.

A History Lesson - The Nashtyboy thread and comments by EPIC

Now, a message for the uninitiated. Some who have read this will already have heard of the Nashtyboy thread, but may not know exactly what it was. Some places on the internet, including these forums, inaccurately quote what was presented in that thread. Here I will set the record straight on what exactly EPIC have said regarding the origins of the Locust, in chronological fashion.

In September 2006, a month or so before Gears of War 1 was released, a thread was started on these forums questioning how the Locust knew English. In that thread, an EPIC designer named Dave "Nashtyboy" Nash posted the following comment;

Without giving away too much of the story, the Locust know english because they are former surface-dwellers.

This was before Gears of War 1, before New Hope and the Sires in Gears of War 2, long before Gears of War 3 and the Slab. This was before Joshua Ortega and Karen Traviss, this was before everything. Right at the very beginning, EPIC said on these very forums that the Locust were former surface dwellers. However, this managed to pass pretty much under the radar - for the next few years a large majority of people assume the Locust are an ancient race that have evolved naturally underground. This is the assumption many people made going into Gears of War 2.

Skip forward a few years to after Gears of War 2 is released. TAO Devil posts his Locust origin theory. In this theory he states that the Locust were likely created artifically at New Hope, but that the Locust Drones we encounter are failures or defects. He theorises that Ruth is Myrrah, and that she is the only successful or "true" Locust, he uses the term Locust-Human hybrid. The Kantus were the original builders of Nexus, the "original" Locust, and existed underground long before the Drones came along. This theory is popular and word spreads. By the time Gears of War 3 is released many people already have their hearts set on the outcome - the Locust are an ancient race, or at least the Kantus are, and Myrrah is the perfect genetic hybrid between human and Locust created at New Hope.

When Gears of War 3 came out, many people were stunned. Where were the answers? The Queen is a Locust-human hybrid, right? The Locust have existed underground forever, right? After a week or so, Dave "Nashtyboy" Nash reappeared and posted the following in a few discussion threads.

The back story is that sires were imulsion miners... the first to be mutated by it. The gov't rounded them all up to study them and find out what was causing it, and perhaps find a cure. This occurred at the outpost that you guys visited in Gears 2.

(Myrrah is) a descendant of the scientists who first studied imulsion-infected miners at the outpost in G2.

Think of the sires as locust 1.0... or 0.5 or something. We've only really hinted at it, but if you pay close attention to origins and rude awakening in G2, you can pick up on some of this stuff. Also, just think about what the word 'sires' means in the traditional sense.

When the COG found out that people who worked with imulsion over the long term began to have ill effects, they rounded them up at the super-secret base that you were able to see around the middle of G2. Eventually, some of the scientists took most of the subjects up to mount kadar, thinking they would be killed when the COG found out about the crazy mutations and what not that imulsion causes. Remember, the video from niles said something like "save the children.. that's basically what we're trying to do". It's the children of the miners they're talking about. The scientists thought they might be born mutants and that the gov't would want to kill them. They were sealed inside of Mount Kadar, and nobody heard from them for a long, long time...

Without spelling it all out, let's just say that the sires were the first warning that people could become affected/infected by imulsion. The COG didn't want that to get out to the general public, so they took all of the people who were showing signs of this out to the kadar outpost from G2 (new hope facility). Things didn't go well for some of those subjects, and most of you ended up shooting THEM with a shotgun. But the scientists ditched that place long ago and took a large group up of the "test subjects" to kadar, as was shown in that video marcus & dom watched in the rude awakening chapter. Remember, he said they were saving the children. They thought they could save them by taking them deep inside the mountain, never to be found by humans again.

Well we never said how long ago everything that went down at the outpost was, but that place was in pretty bad condition, so one might draw the conclusion that these happened many many years ago.

Asrial collected together all these quotes in a thread called "The DEFINITIVE Fact(s) About the Sires and Myrrah (AKA The Nashtyboy Thread)" and while the thread no longer exists, the quotes have been sourced from here. Shock! Horror! The Locust were not an ancient race? Myrrah is not a Locust-Human hybrid? Blasphemy! I refuse to believe! This franchise has lost its path and I will never touch it again! There were debates with myself and Pandut representing the opposing sides. It was civilised for the most part, but near the end some really angry people got involved. The idea that the Locust came from New Hope was so appalling, so gut-wrenchingly antagonising, that people were raging against myself, Nashtyboy, EPIC as a company, anybody who presented themselves as a target. In the end a sort of stance was reached by the opponents of the idea, which was essentially - Who is Nashtyboy? Some level developer? If Cliff Bleszinski or Rod Fergusson or Karen Traviss tell me it's true, I'll believe it, but not if it's some level developer. How do we even know he works for EPIC anyway?

To that end JacktheBlack, a member of these forums and the admin of Gearspedia, contacted Karen Traviss on Twitter in an attempt to ascertain the truth of the situation.

@KDP3200 Here's my credo. Details should emerge in storytelling not outside it. Or else it sucks the joy out of it for the majority of fans // But if I or my colleagues say something is so...then you'll accept it as so. Even if you disagree. Deal?

- Karen Traviss on Twitter - Part 1, Part 2.

This had a mixed reaction. Since the tweet did not specify that that the colleague she was referring to was Dave Nash, little progress had been made. Not that it mattered in the end, as the thread was deleted the following day. The language and attitude in the thread had descended rapidly, and the admins and EPIC staff were bombarded with demands for answers. It was almost inevitable that the thread vanished, but not before the content was incorrectly quoted and began to spread throughout the forums and further afield.

Played straight in Gears of War 2 with the Locust Queen Myrrah, who strangely looks like a human woman wearing a squid on her back. Although this appears to be a plot point, this is never explained in game. On the forums, it was revealed that Myrrah was experimented on as a child up until some point prior to the games, eventually becoming a Human-Locust-hybrid. The facility she was in got destroyed, with her being the only survivor. Guess who found her?
- TV Tropes page on Gears of War

Scientists run tests on the locust and begin to attempt to mix his genes with some of the miners who had developed rustlung, and then subsequently the children of those miners. The Miners were too far gone, but the children were born with altered cells and presented a higher probability of success. This was done at the New Hope Research Facility. The experiments were largely a failure, and the children are taken into the mountain while the miners became sires. This is why the sires are so different, as they are humans mixed with locust genes with a tiny bit of lambent.
- Queen Myrrah and the Sires explained thread on Gamefaqs.

People sourced Nashtyboy as a reference, but the story revelations they supplied were actually from TAO Devil's theory. The prevailing argument in the thread was that Nashtyboy's revelations didn't make sense when compared to what we already knew about the universe. How could Nexus be less than 100 years old? How could the Horde grow so large in such a short period of time? Many people wanted the Locust to be an ancient race, and those who didn't reject Nashtyboy's comments outright tried to incorporate it into what they already believed, even after TAO Devil himself said that people were quoting a theory that was two years old and had been disproven.

Over the next two days Karen Traviss responded a few more times to questions asked on Twitter.

A single timeline for The Slab. More things will become clear, but then I think they're clear already...hiding in plain sight. I'm always surprised by questions people mail me about things already in the books. Some hints, but some already spelled out.

- Karen Traviss on Twitter - Part 1, Part 2.

I thought it would be obvious by now. Maybe it'll be clearer after The Slab. The clues throughout have been pretty frequent.

- Karen Traviss on Twitter here

All this occurred within a week of Gears of War 3's release. After this, there was a long period of silence. Dave Nash had told everybody the answers, but they were rejected. Karen Traviss told everybody the clues were pieced throughout the series, but was unwilling to step into an argument. For the next few months tensions ceased and simmered down. People forgot what Nashtyboy actually said, and TAO Devil's ideas were attributed to him instead.

Cut forward a few more months and after a conversation with NFI regarding Nashtyboy and the Locust origins in a different thread, I decided to create this one. The idea was that the revelations Nashtyboy told could actually be corroborated by in-game evidence. I argued as much at the time, but never went through the series to source the material anywhere near as much as I have here. And so the first version of this thread emerged, prior to the release of the Slab and Dirty Little Secrets. Over two or three revisions the it reached the point where nearly every relevant quote regarding the Locust had been gathered from the series. At the same time, an opposing theory emerged by Snorkelbottom, developed after a discussion in this thread. A second EPIC developer, Jim "Entropy" Brown, responded;

Couple points re: your theory

Conspecificity (spelling?) is an interesting theory, but if you read the books, you'll find that the lambent infection has crossed the species barrier several times, and is affecting sea life, livestock, even dogs.

New Hope is significantly older than Adam Fenix, and his career path is well documented in the supporting materials (comics, novels).

Marcus's mother (a field biologist) was actually the one to "discover" the Locust, and Myrrah continues the dialogue with Adam after she dies. But Adam is a physicist, so he's not as qualified to figure all this infection stuff out. He often muses about how he wishes his wife were around to help him because he's fumbling in the dark. More detail on this forthcoming in The Slab.

Actually New Hope is significantly older than you're thinking, and at the time of its heyday, Rustlung / Lambency was indeed a super dooper top secret mystery that they were experimenting on and the general population had no idea of its existence.

So there it is, comments regarding the origins of the Locust by Dave "Nashtyboy" Nash (Campaign Lead Level Designer), Jim "Entropy" Brown (Multiplayer Lead Level Designer) and Karen Traviss (Lead Writer on Gears of War 3 and the books and comics). Nashtyboy never said that the Locust were an anceint race, or that Myrrah was a Locust-Human hybrid. He never said anything about Myrrah being immune to lambency, or that the Kantus were the original Locust race and built Nexus. All of these ideas are TAO Devil's. Regarding the Kantus, EPIC has never said anything regarding them in any capacity. Feel free to insist they were the original Locust and built Nexus, but is nothing that supports or refutes this idea. When looking elsewhere on the internet be wary of what you read, the actual content of the Nashtyboy thread has been reproduced above, and those involved in that thread - namely Asrial, Pandut and myself - can verify that.

One last thing...

On Friday September 14th 2012, almost one year after the release of Gears of War 3 and four months after the release of the Slab (and the last major update to this thread), Cliff Bleszinski participated in a Reddit AMA (Ask Me Anything). Naturally, probably inevitably, he was asked "Why is the Locust Queen human?". He gave the following reply;

You can find the answer to this by digging online. The Gears community has basically solved this as well as the origins of the Locust. Also, Karen's books delve into some of this a bit more.

- Cliff Bleszinski's Reddit AMA, full version viewable here.

Is Cliff Bleszinski referring to this thread? Given the above quotes from Dave Nash, Jim Brown and Karen Traviss, I am confident enough to say he is.


Phew, I hope you enjoyed the read if you reached this far. Want more? Yeah!? Then check out The Kantus and Adam Fenix's Disk for some observations that use conclusions reached in this thread to address other elements of the Gears of War mythos.

[NFI]

Joveus, tremendous posts. I happily recant my earlier posts in this thread. Sign me up under your theory.

Side note: even if Hoffmans assumption they breed by rape was correct, it doesn't hurt your theory one iota, as IF this is the case, it could be how berserkers come to be. He said "berserkers" breed by rape, not drones or anything else. Females are rare, thus meaning so are berserkers, what if breeding berserkers only results in a single clutch, also being a berserker? It would acount for their scarcity. Otherwise why not "create" an entire army of them as well, given how strong they are?

Just a thought.

[Suprakawaii]

Okay, but what about the origin of the Locust creatures that lived in the hollow? Are they the real inhabitants of the inner hollow and the Locust humanoids found and dominated them?

[NFI]

Okay, but what about the origin of the Locust creatures that lived in the hollow? Are they the real inhabitants of the inner hollow and the Locust humanoids found and dominated them?

Odds are they were "domesticated" by the locust. To me now as I think about it, the fact the reavers carried delta and they rode a brumak, the brumak attacked a corpser and fired on locusts, shows me they werent "locust" so to speak, otherwise it wouldn't have happened, just like dogs obey us but aren't human. They attacked what they were told to attack.

Just my two cents.

[Dustmiester]

First off, this post is awesome.
Second, its definitely apparent you've done your homework.
Third off, i think by golly you've cracked the locust code.

Two thumbs up!

[OOJIMMY]

very well thought out. my only problem with it is the whole processing and makes the locust. I find that impossible because between gears 1 and 2 the locust horde and rebuilt itself. How could they have processed enough people to make the volume of locust that were present during operation Hollow Storm If 1/4 of the human population died on E day itself?

[Joveus]

Okay, but what about the origin of the Locust creatures that lived in the hollow? Are they the real inhabitants of the inner hollow and the Locust humanoids found and dominated them?

Yes and no. Some, such as Wretches and Brumaks, are quoted in the Destroyed Beauty booklet as being genetically altered by the humanoid Locust from smaller, native apes. Others, such as the Rockworm, Riftworm and Kryll, seem to have evolved naturally underground.

Sorta off topic, but the Armored Kantus seem to be more Lambent than other Locust, especially when they chant. My theory is that the Kantus don't revive or rejuvenate other Locust, they actually stimulate the imulsion cells directly. It's this ability to communicate and control with the imulsion parasite that earns them their role as Shamans within the Horde, and this is how they can communicate with things like the Riftworm.

[NFI]

Yes and no. Some, such as Wretches and Brumaks, are quoted in the Destroyed Beauty booklet as being genetically altered by the humanoid Locust from smaller, native apes. Others, such as the Rockworm, Riftworm and Kryll, seem to have evolved naturally underground.

Sorta off topic, but the Armored Kantus seem to be more Lambent than other Locust, especially when they chant. My theory is that the Kantus don't revive or rejuvenate other Locust, they actually stimulate the imulsion cells directly. It's this ability to communicate and control with the imulsion parasite that earns them their role as Shamans within the Horde, and this is how they can communicate with things like the Riftworm.

I think it's also more "inspirational" so to speak. I always looked at kantus as a form of a motivational speaker, if you will. Btw my post about domestication dealt w things like reavers, and brumaks.

[Joveus]

very well thought out. my only problem with it is the whole processing and makes the locust. I find that impossible because between gears 1 and 2 the locust horde and rebuilt itself. How could they have processed enough people to make the volume of locust that were present during operation Hollow Storm If 1/4 of the human population died on E day itself?

This is related to something I've been thinking about, too. I don't understand why Timgad was chosen as the site of the Lightmass Bomb. I'm assuming that the data on Adam's computers showed this area as being a Locust hub, perhaps because of the Kryll nests? Either way, it wasn't the stronghold of the Locust. Let's assume that 25% of the Locust were destroyed by the Lightmass Bomb? A pretty decent amount. During Gears of War 1 you never really fight that many Locust, they don't take much notice of you for most of the game. In Gears of War 2 you march into their home and start shooting, then they march into yours and do the same. The Locust didn't get decimated and rebuilt between Gears 1 and 2, they just grouped together their numbers and started coming at you much harder.

[NFI]

This is related to something I've been thinking about, too. I don't understand why Timgad was chosen as the site of the Lightmass Bomb. I'm assuming that the data on Adam's computers showed this area as being a Locust hub, perhaps because of the Kryll nests? Either way, it wasn't the stronghold of the Locust. Let's assume that 25% of the Locust were destroyed by the Lightmass Bomb? A pretty decent amount. During Gears of War 1 you never really fight that many Locust, they don't take much notice of you for most of the game. In Gears of War 2 you march into their home and start shooting, then they march into yours and do the same. The Locust didn't get decimated and rebuilt between Gears 1 and 2, they just grouped together their numbers and started coming at you much harder.

The amount of tunnels found in the geobot was so numerous one lightmass bomb wouldn't kill all of them. I think the cogs intent was to cripple them and then mop up stragglers, not remove at once, but miscalculated the size of the horde and their habitat.

Also we are assuming 1 human = 1 locust when processed. Jov correct me if I'm wrong aren't brumaks genetically altered apes? Whose to say human DNA, or some other trait, wasn't farmed, and ombimed w some other creature to create drones. They obviously were adept scientifically and technologically based on their creative abilities, and didn't it su the scientist aren't sure what thy derived from?

[OOJIMMY]

This is related to something I've been thinking about, too. I don't understand why Timgad was chosen as the site of the Lightmass Bomb. I'm assuming that the data on Adam's computers showed this area as being a Locust hub, perhaps because of the Kryll nests? Either way, it wasn't the stronghold of the Locust. Let's assume that 25% of the Locust were destroyed by the Lightmass Bomb? A pretty decent amount. During Gears of War 1 you never really fight that many Locust, they don't take much notice of you for most of the game. In Gears of War 2 you march into their home and start shooting, then they march into yours and do the same. The Locust didn't get decimated and rebuilt between Gears 1 and 2, they just grouped together their numbers and started coming at you much harder.

Alright you have a valid point but even then if we go back to the origins of the locust how could they built such a massive army with processing people. I am aware that parents teased their kids saying if they misbehaved the monsters would come, but with the amount of people that would have had to disappear to build the horde would have put the planet in a state of panic.

[Q Dude 87]

AWESOME! thats neat!

[MiniPistolTroika]

EPIC also stated they left out a lot of answers on purpose to not give everybody everything and still have some interest

[OOJIMMY]

EPIC also stated they left out a lot of answers on purpose to not give everybody everything and still have some interest

That is how it should be. If they flat out told us every thing it takes away from the mystic of the game. This way we can have conversations and elaborate ideas.

[aweZm]

Very good post. Unfortunately as others have mentioned the whole processing deal doesn't really work logically considering the human population is much smaller than the Locust Horde after E-Day and the Hammer strikes and both decrease as the war continues. And using a processing method, how would the Queen possibly have created the Horde in the first place in complete secrecy. I'm sure the two sides trying to win a 79-year war over fuel would take notice if they had huge quantities of able-bodied soldiers and civilians just up and disappearing. Now, I don't like the whole "take turns gang-banging the Berserker" stuff either but it makes more sense that a force of that size and diversity would develop over time.

As I've said before, this great world that the developers created is marred by multiple authors and shoddy story-telling. Since there still isn't anything 100% convincing either way, I prefer to go with the Locust as a primitive older race.

[DeRobertC]

Wow, you are... a hero.

[snorkelbottom]

I agree with others comments regarding the processing of humans into locust, the numbers don't match up. Also there are a few points I saw that seem incorrect:

1. You claimed the locust don't breed, this is untrue. It is known that the Locust shackle and rape Berserkers to breed, although it is unknown how many offspring are sired.

2. You stated that the Brumak at the climax of Gears2 became Lambent because of Imulsion spores, this is also untrue as we can clearly see the Imulsion infecting the Brumak from it feet upward.

3. You also stated that the Queen IS human, although most of us suspect this, it has never been explicitly stated as such.


For comparisons and ideas why not check out my locust origins thread, the link can be found in my signature.

[Joveus]

Very good post. Unfortunately as others have mentioned the whole processing deal doesn't really work logically considering the human population is much smaller than the Locust Horde after E-Day and the Hammer strikes and both decrease as the war continues. And using a processing method, how would the Queen possibly have created the Horde in the first place in complete secrecy. I'm sure the two sides trying to win a 79-year war over fuel would take notice if they had huge quantities of able-bodied soldiers and civilians just up and disappearing. Now, I don't like the whole "take turns gang-banging the Berserker" stuff either but it makes more sense that a force of that size and diversity would develop over time.

As I've said before, this great world that the developers created is marred by multiple authors and shoddy story-telling. Since there still isn't anything 100% convincing either way, I prefer to go with the Locust as a primitive older race.

The Horde was created at New Hope, as stated. The vast majority of the Locust date from this period. Processing really doesn't come into play until much later. But you do raise a valid point, surely the COG and UIR would notice large quantities of humans disappearing. But the specimens from New Hope had to come from somewhere in the first place, and nobody seemed to notice when they all relocated.

Edit: I've included a quote from Beneath the Surface in the initial posts, it looks like the COG were indeed aware of large numbers of humans unaccounted for.

By all means feel free to believe that the Locust is a primitive older race, but you'll have to ignore a good chunk of the Locust collectibles from Gears of War 2 and the Sires in their entirity for it to make sense.

I agree with others comments regarding the processing of humans into locust, the numbers don't match up. Also there are a few points I saw that seem incorrect:

1. You claimed the locust don't breed, this is untrue. It is known that the Locust shackle and rape Berserkers to breed, although it is unknown how many offspring are sired.

2. You stated that the Brumak at the climax of Gears2 became Lambent because of Imulsion spores, this is also untrue as we can clearly see the Imulsion infecting the Brumak from it feet upward.

3. You also stated that the Queen IS human, although most of us suspect this, it has never been explicitly stated as such.


For comparisons and ideas why not check out my locust origins thread, the link can be found in my signature.

1. I do indeed claim that the Locust don't breed, but it is not an unsupported claim. As seen in my post, I quote the relevant lines regarding the Beserkers from Aspho Fields and Gears of War 2. Hoffman has heard that the Berserkers breed, but when Baird actually explores Nexus there is no evidence of Locust breeding. As Myrrah says in Gears of War 2, "You are the first humans to ever desicrate this palace with your presence", meaning that Baird's information carries more weight than Hoffman's. So it is not known that Berserkers breed, it was only rumored amongst the COG.

2. The Brumak did become Lambent due to imulsion spores. Why? Because Adam Fenix said in the Fenix Research collectible in Gears of War 3 that Lambency works this way. This is, again, something that can been seen in-game.

3. True, it has never explicitly been said that the Queen is human. Come up with another theory that makes sense within the bounds of the evidence provided and it may be true.


I actually have read your Locust origins thread, and it is a good read. However, it is 100% speculation. Every idea that I propose is backed up with statements from quotes, collectibles and lines from printed media. If you are willing to provide evidence to support your claims, as I have, then your theory will hold more weight.

[snorkelbottom]

The Horde was created at New Hope, as stated. The vast majority of the Locust date from this period. Processing really doesn't come into play until much later. But you do raise a valid point, surely the COG and UIR would notice large quantities of humans disappearing. But the specimens from New Hope had to come from somewhere in the first place, and nobody seemed to notice when they all relocated.

By all means feel free to believe that the Locust is a primitive older race, but you'll have to ignore a good chunk of the Locust collectibles from Gears of War 2 and the Sires in their entirity for it to make sense.



1. I do indeed claim that the Locust don't breed, but it is not an unsupported claim. As seen in my post, I quote the relevant lines regarding the Beserkers from Aspho Fields and Gears of War 2. Hoffman has heard that the Berserkers breed, but when Baird actually explores Nexus there is no evidence of Locust breeding. As Myrrah says in Gears of War 2, "You are the first humans to ever desicrate this palace with your presence", meaning that Baird's information carries more weight than Hoffman's. So it is not known that Berserkers breed, it was only rumored amongst the COG.

2. The Brumak did become Lambent due to imulsion spores. Why? Because Adam Fenix said in the Fenix Research collectible in Gears of War 3 that Lambency works this way. This is, again, something that can been seen in-game.

3. True, it has never explicitly been said that the Queen is human. Come up with another theory that makes sense within the bounds of the evidence provided and it may be true.


I actually have read your Locust origins thread, and it is a good read. However, it is 100% speculation. Every idea that I propose is backed up with statements from quotes, collectibles and lines from printed media. If you are willing to provide evidence to support your claims, as I have, then your theory will hold more weight.

Regards this idea that the Locust were created by the humans at New Hope, their is one key piece of evidence that ruins that theory and helps (only helps mind) support my theory. And that is the vast and ancient locust structures in the hollow/hive/nexus, and the wealth of history shown in the collectibles gathered from there (Also from Gears 2 ironically). As for the sires, they were an experiment, an experiment whose true purpose is, as of yet, unknown.

As for your replies to my points here goes...

1. If the Queen is human as you claim then here statement in Gears 2 is inherently incorrect, because she would be the first human to desicrate the palace. Also this statement from the Queen and Baird finding no evidence of breeding hold no weight. Why? One would imagine that the Locust breed in the Hive, not the Palace nor the Nexus and thus humans could have witnessed this upon discovering the Hive, of which we the player barely explored because the mission was to find the Nexus. What I am saying is, is that we have seen very, very little of Locust culture and society and thus claiming to have ascertained the truth from what little information we have is foolhardy at best.

2. In the collectible you cite Adam Fenix does note definitively state that Lambency works via Imulsion spores, he states "...Its periodic vapor-like emissions are perhaps best likened to spores." Also early one in the same collectible Adam Fenix states "The bulk of the organism--in liquid form--is underground like a mycelium." Therefore lambency would be caused by exposure to Imulsion fumes (Formers) and direct contact (Leviathan, Brumak).

3. As in my theory I try to explain the Queens human appearance by suggesting that we and the locust are cousins, and that their exposure to Imulsion fumes and their preference to dwell beneath the ground have resulted in their monstrous appearance. This is somewhat supported by the Queens human appearance (despite her claims that she is Locust), the Imulsion within the Locust resulting in their death at the hands of Adam Fenix's device and their general humanoid appearance.


Finally, Your ideas are on the whole are good, but not perfect and are a theory. Its a nice theory, but with some holes (as does mine). Defending your theory is your right, but stating it as undeniable fact is foolhardy. Remember to remain open to other ideas, not just those that can be backed up evidence but also those that are creative and imaginative.

[Joveus]

I have updated the first posts with the information regarding the other, beast-like Locust sub-species since these can be supported.

This thread has only one purpose - EPIC and Karen Traviss have stated that the answers regarding the Locust and Myrrah can already be found within the series if you look. My goal is to show where exactly to look, and to show that the revelations make sense. Creative and imaginative theories are good too, but when you go down that road it's a slippery slope and you can start making up whatever you want.

Theories are designed to fit the facts, facts are not altered nor ignored to suit the theory.

[snorkelbottom]

I have updated the first posts with the information regarding the other, beast-like Locust sub-species since these can be supported.

This thread has only one purpose - EPIC and Karen Traviss have stated that the answers regarding the Locust and Myrrah can already be found within the series if you look. My goal is to show where exactly to look, and to show that the revelations make sense. Creative and imaginative theories are good too, but when you go down that road it's a slippery slope and you can start making up whatever you want.

Theories are designed to fit the facts, facts are not altered nor ignored to suit the theory.

But the facts, as in the collectibles and the games themselves, only explain so much. The rest is open to interpretation, and rather than read it one way or another all elements of the evidence should be taken into consideration, as exemplified in my reply to your reply in my previous post (item 2.)

Another mistake is that in your OP's you state that your conclusions are fact, which they are not, until certified by Epic themselves. You should phrase your conclusions with "IMO" and "therefore I conclude that" instead of "this is this" and "that is that". Like I said you have a theory, but your theory isn't necessary correct because you think it is, others can and will use the same evidence to support other conclusions.

[aweZm]

The Horde was created at New Hope, as stated. The vast majority of the Locust date from this period. Processing really doesn't come into play until much later. But you do raise a valid point, surely the COG and UIR would notice large quantities of humans disappearing. But the specimens from New Hope had to come from somewhere in the first place, and nobody seemed to notice when they all relocated.

By all means feel free to believe that the Locust is a primitive older race, but you'll have to ignore a good chunk of the Locust collectibles from Gears of War 2 and the Sires in their entirity for it to make sense..

I wish I could just ignore all of Gears 2 :P Although I felt the campaign was a lot of fun to play through in spite of the odd story angles.

I just don't feel that the size and scope of New Hope could create a "Horde" in any aspect. I think there are less than 50 sires to be killed when they are released so I don't know how many children they would have been able to transport. Doesn't seem like it would be any kind of comparable force to what finally attacks the human population.

And I don't really question your logic because you make great points and base it on the actual canon from items in the game. Again I guess I just don't like the amount of holes inherent in the story followed as is.

[DeRobertC]

Regards this idea that the Locust were created by the humans at New Hope, their is one key piece of evidence that ruins that theory and helps (only helps mind) support my theory. And that is the vast and ancient locust structures in the hollow/hive/nexus, and the wealth of history shown in the collectibles gathered from there (Also from Gears 2 ironically). As for the sires, they were an experiment, an experiment whose true purpose is, as of yet, unknown.

As for your replies to my points here goes...

1. If the Queen is human as you claim then here statement in Gears 2 is inherently incorrect, because she would be the first human to desicrate the palace. Also this statement from the Queen and Baird finding no evidence of breeding hold no weight. Why? One would imagine that the Locust breed in the Hive, not the Palace nor the Nexus and thus humans could have witnessed this upon discovering the Hive, of which we the player barely explored because the mission was to find the Nexus. What I am saying is, is that we have seen very, very little of Locust culture and society and thus claiming to have ascertained the truth from what little information we have is foolhardy at best.

2. In the collectible you cite Adam Fenix does note definitively state that Lambency works via Imulsion spores, he states "...Its periodic vapor-like emissions are perhaps best likened to spores." Also early one in the same collectible Adam Fenix states "The bulk of the organism--in liquid form--is underground like a mycelium." Therefore lambency would be caused by exposure to Imulsion fumes (Formers) and direct contact (Leviathan, Brumak).

3. As in my theory I try to explain the Queens human appearance by suggesting that we and the locust are cousins, and that their exposure to Imulsion fumes and their preference to dwell beneath the ground have resulted in their monstrous appearance. This is somewhat supported by the Queens human appearance (despite her claims that she is Locust), the Imulsion within the Locust resulting in their death at the hands of Adam Fenix's device and their general humanoid appearance.


Finally, Your ideas are on the whole are good, but not perfect and are a theory. Its a nice theory, but with some holes (as does mine). Defending your theory is your right, but stating it as undeniable fact is foolhardy. Remember to remain open to other ideas, not just those that can be backed up evidence but also those that are creative and imaginative.

Just wanted to say that in his theory he states that Myrrah was a descendant of the scientists who were moved from New Hope to Mount Kadar. With that said you can assume that she was raised there in the presence of Sires, or whatever version of locust that were transferred with the scientists, which would probably make her feel as though she is locust and then she would be inclined to say that Baird was the first human to desecrate her land (or whatever). It reminds me of how a man was raised by wolves he would consider himself a wolf, or in a more realistic sense, how some dog's (when raised in the presence of humans without much interaction with other dogs) may believe as though they are human. I'm not saying he is right but by following his logic it makes sense IMO. I will be sure to read your theories as well snorkel. I find all these theories quite intriguing.

[snorkelbottom]

@ Joveus

i have to admit that my previous comments were written after only scanning through your posts. I have since decided, and rightly so, to read your posts in there entirety. Here are my views...

The lambent

About 99% of what you wrote is bang on, except for one thing.

1. The Brumak at the end of Gears 2 does not get infected by inhaling Imulsion fumes/spores. The infection is clearly shown spreading up from the Imulsion lake, up the Brumaks legs and up through the rest of its body. Although it is possible fumes/spores contributed to the Brumaks transformation the bulk of the infection actually comes from direct contact with the Imulsion itself, in this case at least.


New Hope Facility

Okay, bear with me one this one. You started off well the seemed to jump to a conclusion, based on a design document (bad idea).

Rustlung = Formers - I obviously agree with this conclusion. But in this you mentioned the New Hope test subject Ruth. Ruth suffered from extreme swelling in her joints, erratic behaviour, discoloration of the eyes, rasping breath, nails grow faster, hair grows slower.
Adam when talking to Baird only mentions fever and intense muscle pain. That is like comparing a quick fart to the trots. Ruth's symptons are nothing like what Adam asks Baird. But what Adam infers to Baird is similar to Rustlung (nausea, vomiting, rasping breath). Which is a step toward Ruth's symptons, yes.
Now look at Ruth's symptons again (I have put them in bold for ease), now think of the Sires. How would one describe a Sire - A humanoid (obviously) with swelled joints, erractic behaviour, discolored eye, rasping breath, long nails, and next to no hair, with a rock like textured skin.
Ruth was a test subject, that in all likelihood became, or would have become a sire, yes. Now lets infer that Ruth was infected with Imulsion and thus at risk of developing Rustlung, taking into account that the scientists at New Hope were studying the effects of and attempting to develop a cure for rustlung, it becomes obvious that their first attempt of a cure led to Ruth and the other test subjects becoming Sires. Now we have linked Imulsion infection to Rustlung, and then with intervention from the scientists at New Hope, instead of a Former we get the Sires.

Now stop for a second and ask a question, which has no discernible answer, what "cure" did the scientists at New Hope give to the test subjects that resulted in them becoming Sires. This we do not know.

Now continue with the comparisons between a Sire and the Locust. But we have a problem. Excluding the Queen and the "Beasts" for now we have a problem; there are numerous breeds of Locust - Wretch, Drone, Boomer, Theron, Kantus and of course the Berserker. Ignoring the Berserker for the moment we have forms of Locust that all have many similarities in their general appearance. A Drone/Theron looks just like a Boomer, just smaller - with the mid range covered by General RAAM. Whereas a Wretch looks like an infantile Kantus (note they both scream, and their screams have key effects). Note the word infantile.
Now the Berserkers we know are female, and we know the alleged rumours regarding breeding by rape. Physically, minus their immensely thick hides, the Berserkers share many similarities with the Drones/Therons/Boomers, thus one would assume that they are of the same species, the older they get the bigger they get. But what of the Wretches and Kantus. If Wretches are Infantile Kantus (which suggests breeding), how do they breed (unseen female Kantus).

Heres you proof regarding the link between Wretches and Kantus - Kantus-Infants-Are-Wretches-Majority-in-Agreement Thread

Now stop again and think back to the Sires, what exactly did they look like. IMO a mutated cross between a Drone and a Kantus, but they were originally human. What does this mean. Well that there is the problem with interpretation; one could presume the Sires are the source of the Locust because of the "forefathers" quote, while another could presume they are man's ancestors because of the "genetic bridge" quote. Either way one thing is for sure, there is evidence of breeding for both variations of Locust that may both stem from the Sires, or the Sires are the revelation that the Locust are, genetic mans ancestors.

To figure this out we need to know what the cure given at New Hope was.


Regarding the Queen, that's a whole other story!!!

[Dom17]

Wow, I want to read the first posts again! Really good job, man.

[Locust_Forever]

Okay. I agree the locust was made at the New Hope. But the Kantus was already around, they created nexus. They are lambant proof and can also stimulate immulsion in things. That scream, chant, prayer thing they do... Thats what they use to change DNA of the creatures of the hallow. Now the Queen isn't human but the Ultimate experiment from the lab. The only one that went right. Immune to immulsion, semi-psychic, age VERY SLOW, and even though we never see her fight, I am damn sure she can kick ass with the best of them. The Kantus civilize the Drone strain with the help of the queen, who was there with her friends (Locust) from the labs. Now... The Kantus may have been fighting off the lambant for who knows how long? I can go on for days.

[Mysterion Rises]

absolutely brilliant post Joveus from the information supplied from the 3 games and the fact Epic have already stated that the answers are in the games, you have created a theory that for me is spot on and i have no argument with

but........................................i have to agree with this

Now the Queen isn't human but the Ultimate experiment from the lab. The only one that went right. Immune to immulsion

now.......if the queen is a descendant of a scientist from new hope as you said then that is all i have to disagree with u on. why? well as locust_forever posted she is immune to imulsion. as we have seen over the 3 games humans have different symptoms from imulsion!!!

rustlung or former!!!

if she is human and a descendant of a scientist then surely she would experience one of the 2 above?!?!?

she cant be human but she could be the one that was cured at new hope. i have no proof to back that so im just speculating here but it has to be likely that she is the only one that was cured as that was mentioned she is immune to imulsion. therefore i have to say that i honesty think she must be Ruth based on the information supplied in gears 2 and the fact Epic stated the answers are in the game. im trying to take a leaf out of your book by basing my theory on collectables, quotes etc from the games. she has to be the only one that was cured at new hope and maybe like u said the locust are the children from new hope. maybe they where moved to mount kadar together but then another argument i would have with this is............. if she was cured then why would she be sent there???? a question that for me could ruin this theory completely but based on what is supplied in the game, its what i believe and ever since i picked up that collectable in gears 2 i have always believed ruth was the locust queen.

but another theory that i have thought on while reading your post is that you might be correct, maybe myrrah is a descendant of a scientist from new hope? one that has a cure for immulsion sickness and has used this cure on herself and therefore is immune to imulsion. my theory on this is based on her contacting adam fenix. if she was a descendant of a scientist and had a cure for immulsion then she would need someone to help her create a bigger version of that cure to destroy the lambent? she contacts adam fenix seeking help as she is running out of time due to the lambent invasion underground. adam tries to help but the lambent life cycle has changed and her cure isnt strong enough to destroy the lambent. it takes him over 20 years to finally find a way to use this cure and destroy the lambent but as we know it harms the locusts. but then this theory takes another twist as why would she stay with the locust? maybe they are her test subjects? her children as we have heard many times?

"rise my children"

god i hate her voice lol but this theory of yours could be true Joveus, she could be a new hope hope scientist or a descendant who created a cure for immulsion sickness and her tests subjects to her are her children. maybe she went with them to mount kadar as she had grown attached to them while working on them and as u mentioned the chairman at that time had ordered this!! this could be the reasons for her pure hatred towards mankind the fact humans disowned her work and rejected her children leaving her on her own and forced to be relocated to mount kadar?

the subjects were ordered to be moved to mount kadar, she disagreed and stayed with them at mount kadar, nexus is at mount kadar, the locust guard mount kadar in gears 2?? she may have continued her work there as we know the locust had computers. maybe she was able to create a cure for immulsion and maybe she also created a way to "process" humans and turn them into locusts??

i cant go along with the theory locusts have always been there and lived underground for hundreds of years because the humans drilled underground for imulsion and from ive read unless someone else has some proof, there is nothing mentioned of human miners sighting locusts underground. but tbh if locusts were underground and then from out of nowhere another race starts drilling your home wouldnt they react over this?? there is nothing mentioned of human miners sighting locusts while at work and if the locusts ruins were as old as some people seem to think then surely these humans would have came across these ruins while working underground?

epic have made a great trilogy here but based upon the facts they have supplied for me its kind of hard to make your mind up on what is actually true regarding the locust origin. all ive done is made a few specualtions on what could be or not be reasons behind the locust and queen origin.

this is just a theory i have thought on based on reading your post but by all means i am open to suggestions over and if nobody agrees with that then that is totally understandable its just something that has just came to mind.

but overall your whole post was incredible dude well done

[NFI]

Okay. I agree the locust was made at the New Hope. But the Kantus was already around, they created nexus. They are lambant proof and can also stimulate immulsion in things. That scream, chant, prayer thing they do... Thats what they use to change DNA of the creatures of the hallow. Now the Queen isn't human but the Ultimate experiment from the lab. The only one that went right. Immune to immulsion, semi-psychic, age VERY SLOW, and even though we never see her fight, I am damn sure she can kick ass with the best of them. The Kantus civilize the Drone strain with the help of the queen, who was there with her friends (Locust) from the labs. Now... The Kantus may have been fighting off the lambant for who knows how long? I can go on for days.

There is little to nothing to support this. Nothing about DNA, the queen never exhibited "semi psychic", nothing about her aging slowly. None of this is supported by any clue anywhere. You don know if they are lambent proof, just because we didn't see any doesn't mean anything, no hint was ever made about them creating nexus. Jov has created the most plausible theory.

You can go on for days but with little supporting evidence, it doesn't fit.

race starts drilling your home wouldnt they react over this?? there is nothing mentioned of human miners sighting locusts while at work and if the locusts ruins were as old as some people seem to think then surely these humans would have came across these ruins while working underground?

The locust dwelled in the inner hollows, miners never went in there as they mined in the outer hollows, this is why they never came into contact w locusts. However the New Hope facility is apparently WAY older thn we thnk and they were researching Lambency and rustlung under top secret conditions.

Elaine Fenix is who "discovered" the locust.

based on her contacting adam fenix.

I enjoyed your post but here is where you run into trouble. Myrrah didn't contact Adam. He was working w Elaine, who was an expert biologist as she would be the one who understood this whole thing. When she died, the queen Then To Adam to continue Elaines work.

Here is some reading and info for you, use it to adjust your theory.

New Hope is significantly older than Adam Fenix, and his career path is well documented in the supporting materials (comics, novels).

Marcus's mother (a field biologist) was actually the one to "discover" the Locust, and Myrrah continues the dialogue with Adam after she dies. But Adam is a physicist, so he's not as qualified to figure all this infection stuff out. He often muses about how he wishes his wife were around to help him because he's fumbling in the dark. More detail on this forthcoming in The Slab.

Actually New Hope is significantly older than you're thinking, and at the time of its heyday, Rustlung / Lambency was indeed a super dooper top secret mystery that they were experimenting on and the general population had no idea of its existence.

[NFI]

Entropy, was quite impressed w this theory, and much of Jov's work lines up very well.

[Mysterion Rises]

There is little to nothing to support this. Nothing about DNA, the queen never exhibited "semi psychic", nothing about her aging slowly. None of this is supported by any clue anywhere. You don know if they are lambent proof, just because we didn't see any doesn't mean anything, no hint was ever made about them creating nexus. Jov has created the most plausible theory.

You can go on for days but with little supporting evidence, it doesn't fit.



The locust dwelled in the inner hollows, miners never went in there as they mined in the outer hollows, this is why they never came into contact w locusts. However the New Hope facility is apparently WAY older thn we thnk and they were researching Lambency and rustlung under top secret conditions.

Elaine Fenix is who "discovered" the locust.




I enjoyed your post but here is where you run into trouble. Myrrah didn't contact Adam. He was working w Elaine, who was an expert biologist as she would be the one who understood this whole thing. When she died, the queen Then To Adam to continue Elaines work.

Here is some reading and info for you, use it to adjust your theory.

Thank you for your post and filling me in with much needed information! I haven't read any of the books or comics so my theories were based on information from the 3 games. I wasn't aware of the miners drilling on the outer hollow so thank you for sharing that with me. I also wasn't aware the Elain Fenix discovered the locust and I'm guessing that information was from one of the books! I would also like to know where Entropy got that passage from the slab from as that small paragraph has changed everything for me lol

Thank you for ur post nfi

[NFI]

Thank you for your post and filling me in with much needed information! I haven't read any of the books or comics so my theories were based on information from the 3 games. I wasn't aware of the miners drilling on the outer hollow so thank you for sharing that with me. I also wasn't aware the Elain Fenix discovered the locust and I'm guessing that information was from one of the books! I would also like to know where Entropy got that passage from the slab from as that small paragraph has changed everything for me lol

Thank you for ur post nfi

No problem. Entropy is Jim Brown, if you weren't aware, lead level designer an worked closely w Karen Travis, so he knows the del.

Actually Entropy just randomly told us. He does that from time to time. He had a thread explaining the Queen and various issues but they closed because ppl were made at the revelations and spammed inboxes of mods. If you google the "gears Nast boy thread" you can find. A Synopsis on a few sites.

[Mysterion Rises]

No problem. Entropy is Jim Brown, if you weren't aware, lead level designer an worked closely w Karen Travis, so he knows the del.

Actually Entropy just randomly told us. He does that from time to time. He had a thread explaining the Queen and various issues but they closed because ppl were made at the revelations and spammed inboxes of mods. If you google the "gears Nast boy thread" you can find. A Synopsis on a few sites.

Thank you really appreciated

[Mysterion Rises]

I googled the Nast boy thread but all I got was the Kantus thread

[Mysterion Rises]

Entropy, was quite impressed w this theory, and much of Jov's work lines up very well.

Was this regarding me or Jov??

[Maaaaaz]

Very nice thread. Explains so much and makes perfect sense really.

20/10

[TAO Devil]

Very nice read. It goes along with a large amount of my theory (written before gears 3)

Take a look if you want.

http://forums.epicgames.com/threads/...ible-storyline

[Joveus]

Very nice read. It goes along with a large amount of my theory (written before gears 3)

Take a look if you want.

http://forums.epicgames.com/threads/...ible-storyline

Thank you, I've made a point of reading all the theories on the Locust I can to get a grasp on what the general ideas seem to be. I believe my argument is has been supported recently by Jim Brown's comments regarding the age and purpose of New Hope.

Actually New Hope is significantly older than you're thinking, and at the time of its heyday, Rustlung / Lambency was indeed a super dooper top secret mystery that they were experimenting on and the general population had no idea of its existence.

Dave "Nashtyboy" Nash and Jim "Entropy" Brown have both been quoted saying that New Hope was set up to research Lambency a long time ago. When Dave Nash said it, people argued back and now the thread is deleted so I can't quote him directly, but now that two Epic Developers are saying the same thing hopefully it carries more weight. No Locust-Human hybrids, no supersoldiers, just good old fashioned Rustlung.

Taking their words as gospel and adding the whole Sires "forefathers" thing into the mix leaves a pretty strong foundation to start building from, but really their comments serve to support what can already be found in-game. Hopefully, after thinking about it a bit, you and others will be converted to my glorious Locust origins ideas as NFI was before you

That being said...

I don't have a flawless way of explaining the Kantus. In your theory, and others I've seen, the Kantus are the original Locust and have lived underground for millennia even if the Drones and Myrrah came from New Hope, which could be possible. I've seen it argued that the Sires being the forefathers of the Locust doesn't necessarily include the Kantus for various reasons, but nonetheless I've attempted to explain the Kantus under the assumption that they too came from New Hope. There's a link in my signature, check it out, although I'm not really as confidant with that one as I am with this - there's not really that much to work with.

One last thing, I've seen it said in this thread that Myrrah is immune to imulsion and therefore must be a human-Locust hybrid or Ruth from New Hope. NFI has already addressed the issue but I'll add my two cents anyway - I haven't seen anything that suggests she's immune to imulsion. I'm aware she's in Nexus all the time and the palace is obviously above a giant imulsion pool, but the Gorasni were slogging through a ton of the stuff throughout Coalition's End and they were fine. Plus, Nexus is actually quite a sealed area, imulsion fumes don't seem to reach the palace, her and the majority of the Horde seem to be fine so long as they don't get too close to the imulsion. Regarding the other idea, considering that "New Hope is significantly older than you think" Myrrah would have to be very old if she was indeed Ruth, and she's looking pretty good for her age.

[NFI]

converted to my glorious Locust origins ideas as NFI was before you .

Haha. Hey, like I said, much of you said I initially felt then backed off of. after reading your post it's impossible not to see the holes in what posted, and that you've paid much closer attention to it than I have. It's not about me being right, it's about me finding a logical theory to put it all together. Yours does that better than anyone's. It's not even close. It's easily the most plausible out there.

One last thing, I've seen it said in this thread that Myrrah is immune to imulsion and therefore must be a human-Locust hybrid or Ruth from New Hope. NFI has already addressed the issue but I'll add my two cents anyway - I haven't seen anything that suggests she's immune to imulsion. I'm aware she's in Nexus all the time and the palace is obviously above a giant imulsion pool, but the Gorasni were slogging through a ton of the stuff throughout Coalition's End and they were fine. Plus, Nexus is actually quite a sealed area, imulsion fumes don't seem to reach the palace, her and the majority of the Horde seem to be fine so long as they don't get too close to the imulsion.

Even if she swam in it, it doesn't mean she's immune. Griffin processed it and was fine. Remember it was dictated by how much it colonized your cells. DELTA showed no ill affects. So there is nothing to substantiate her immunity, as you said. It merely didn't colonize her cells enough is most logical

Regarding the other idea, considering that "New Hope is significantly older than you think" Myrrah would have to be very old if she was indeed Ruth, and she's looking pretty good for her age.

This is an interesting point, however we don't know When Ruth was there in regards to the origins of new hope or when it was abandoned. Was she an intital subject? Or one towards its end before being abandoned. We know she was 15, and it was during the pendulum wars, but nothing concrete. This may be touched on in the slab.

The problem is Ruth was affected by rustling already, so she wasn't immune, so I'm willing to guess she ultimately was a sire. It's clear they didn't find a cure otherwise it would have been administered so Ruth couldn't both be the Queen and immune if Ruth was affected to begin with.

If the queen is from new hope, it had to be someone else. What exactly is "processing" in the hollow w human? If sires are neither human or locust mening they share genetic commonalities w both species, coud they breed w humans? Or was she a locust offspring that had her more "human" traits show through, entirely plausible genetically speaking, it happens with vestigial organs in real life, whales born w hind legs, horses with multiple toed hooves today. She had some weird moving tentacles in gears 2 on her body, remember.

There are numerous possibilities but I don't think she's Ruth, as you said Jov.