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

[Mysterion Rises]

Yup, Formers came first, then they gathered up people with Rustlung to find a cure to turning into Formers, in the process they created the Sires. The Locust came along after that. The picture of Ruth is from the beginning of her studies, and the description in the collectible describes the process of turning Former. The COG wouldn't go through the effort of creating New Hope to find a way of curing rustlung, but lambency/Formers, that definately warrants a super-secret facility.

- The Formers were humans who were overexposed to imulsion.
- The Sires were created by accident in an attempt to cure the Formers.
- The Locust were the offspring of those who became the Sires.
- The Lambent were Locust who were overexposed to imulsion.

Simples.

Your a legend dude lol

Ok now that their origin is clearly obvious what about the size of the locust horde? As we know there is no locust children so the whole berserker gang bang is a load of bull in regards to that! How could they have populated such a size of drones, boomers, etc? If these "children" are the locust then how many bloody children were infected? Could it be possible they could have breeded so much underground before eday, that at the time of the hollow invasion by the humans their children were grown and there was no breeding (possibly because they were being overrun by lambent) or as Marcus said did the lightmass hit them harder than they thought, maybe they became sterile?? Lol? If humans became locust then surely over years the disappearance of humans would have been noticed as there is billions and billions of locusts? Maybe they did rape berserkers who knows but the size of the horde is too great to assume they captured humans and "processed" them

[Joveus]

Your a legend dude lol

Ok now that their origin is clearly obvious what about the size of the locust horde? As we know there is no locust children so the whole berserker gang bang is a load of bull in regards to that! How could they have a populated such a size of drones, boomers, etc? If these "children" are the locust then how many bloody children were infected? Could it be possible they could have breeded so much underground before eday, that at the time of the hollow invasion by the humans their children were grown and there was no breeding (possibly because they were being overrun by lambent) or as Marcus said did the lightmass hit them harder than they thought, maybe they became sterile?? Lol? If humans became locust then surely over years the disappearance of humans would have been noticed as there is billions and billions of locusts? Maybe they did rape berserkers who knows but the size of the horde is too great to assume they captured humans and "processed" them

Remember, the Locust are the children of people who are already infected - you cannot turn into a Locust as a result of exposure alone. I believe the Horde has grown gradually over the years as a result of "accidents" at imulsion mining facilities throughout the Pendulum Wars, only ever a few people at a time, but enough that it adds up over the years. Formers and lambency were being researched at New Hope, so instances were occuring, but don't you find it odd that between the closing of New Hope and the appearance of Formers in Mercy, there were no other reported cases of Lambent Humans? That's almost 90 years where lambency in humans seemed to stop happening. Obviously imulsion is evolving over time, so we should be seeing more examples of lambency in humans as the years pass, not less.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coal_mining
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pneumoconiosis
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coalwor...pneumoconiosis

I've always been reluctant to compare Gears of War to the real world, but perhaps some figures may help. Quoting these various articles on coal mining and pneumoconiosis, a similar affliction to rustlung, here's a few things to bear in mind.

- "In the US alone, more than 100,000 coal miners were killed in accidents over the past century"
- "China, in particular, has the highest number of coal mining related deaths in the world, with official statistics claiming that 6,027 deaths occurred in 2004"
- "In some mining countries black lung is still common, with 4,000 new cases of black lung every year in the US (4 percent of workers annually) and 10,000 new cases every year in China (0.2 percent of workers)"
- "There are currently about 130,000 underground coal miners actively working in the United States. The mining and production of coal is a major part of the economy in several developed countries. In the past ten years, over 10,000 American miners have died from CWP. Although this disease is preventable, many miners are still developing advanced and severe cases."

Consider now that the COG is not one country, but many, and we have no idea how large Sera is in regards to our own Earth. The population is quoted to have been in the several billions before E-Day, so let's make an even split - a couple of billion for the COG, a couple of billion for the UIR. Then consider the nature of the Gold Rush that took place on Sera before the Pendulum Wars, everybody from every nation rushing to get their hands on imulsion. 1/5 of Sera's imulsion reserves were in Kashkur, and the Allfathers of the COG were composed of imulsion-rich states, the UIR had much less than the COG, hence the reason the Pendulum Wars started.

So what am I saying?

Coupled with lack of knowledge of safety and exposure in regards to imulsion, it is not unreasonable to conclude that there were thousands of cases of lambency before the COG realised what was going on, with figures going as high as tens of thousands once the COG knew what they were looking for. The size of the subjects at New Hope would be in the thousands, not the hundred or so that most people seem to think. New Hope was in all likelihood founded during the Gold Rush, and shut down early during the Pendulum Wars. Judging from the markings in the cells it would appear to have been operational for quite a while. The Locust Horde would have been 10,000 or so strong at the very least in the beginning, 100 or so years ago.

Those that exhibited signs of lambency in the mines would either have been covertly killed by the COG to prevent the knowledge from spreading (unlikely since all traces of lambency research were wiped from the COG databases and even the Chairman didn't know), or they were taken by the Locust. I bet there were quite a lot of "accidents" where people disappeared in the Hollow.

[The Shrike]

Everything you just said about coal mining

You're pointing out things I never eventhought about beofre. I mean how often would news like that be in the papers in the Pendulum Wars?

"Disaster at Imulsion Facility. Early today a large explosion destroyed the Imulsion Facility in Dushin. Though the UIR have not yet commented on the incident tensions were known to be high in the area with several skirmishes over the last few months. The bodies of the 500 workers in the facility have not been recovered though the COG said evey attempt would be made to recover the dead opnce the crisis had died down."

Yeah, I could see this happening all over the world. I tihk it says in one of the books that imulsion refinaries were always being targeted during the war. A bunch of people would disappear, presumed dead, the COG and UIR would blame each other, and the War would continue. Yeah it makes sense.

[Mysterion Rises]

I think joveus is 100% accurate with everything he has posted and there is no argument with his theories! I honestly don't know what to say everything just seems so clear now after reading and discussing about the origin of the locust that when you really think about everything that we have spoken about, Epic over the years have created a truly incredible storyline! When I first played Gears 3 I was a bit unsure over the ending but then when I thought more about the ending it was clear it had to happen, the lambency had to end IMMEDIATELY!!! Now after reading and discussing everything on this thread it has made me appreciate the ending to Gears 3 so much more and that the ending was perfect for the franchise! People look past what the story of the Gears universe is really about and pay more attention on the gameplay, blood, guts etc! People where expecting more for the ending but personally it was completely perfect and concluded a fantastic story! What people don't realise is the lambency had to be killed or every life on the planet including the planet itself would meet its demise!!! Unfortunately there will never and cannot be another game continuing the story on Sera! If this theory joveus has posted is 100% accurate which I think it is, then there is no way that the locust survived anything at the end of Gears 3..........it's finished!!!!

This has been one of the best reads I've had on this franchise, again well done joveus

[Equilibrium]

Wait you said that the locust are made by the queen, how? how does this compare to how the locust were first made in new hope? How could the locsut be made, but also the children of the sire?

btw i love this thread and all the info you put!

[L0M]

Great, great post, man, nice analysis, based on facts from the whole franchise, not just games.
That was the only reason I've registered - just to say thanks.

BTW:

The Locust

[I] Some, such as Brumaks, are said to have been genetically altered and domesticated by the Locust to suit their purposes. Others, such as the rock shrews that Elain Fenix found and their cousins who were the source of the Romily legend, Rockworm, Riftworm and Kryll, seem to have evolved naturally underground. 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.

I think you're right. Even one of the chapters in Gears of War 2 has a name ''Indigenous creatures''. Which could possibly be another confirmation of what you said. That Rockworm, Riftworm, Kryll have evolved naturally underground and are truely indigenous creatures.

[ManicRaider]

Hold on. Let's not go around saying everything is solved until we know for sure. Just because a theory sounds good does not make it right.

[ElGordo94]

So when Adams machine went off...did it kill Reavers, Wretches, Wild Tickers, the apes in which Brumaks are made from and Berserkers?

[CAPTAIN FANTASTIC]

wow...I really enjoyed reading your theory and I would like to add something. Rememer Tai being taken prisioner? Remember how they found him? They were gonna process him so....maybe he blew himself up, not because of the trauma, but because of preventing the process to complete. And also, Maria....remember how she suddenly transforms? Her hair just falls and her skin goes pale and rough? Anyway, im just adding some thoughts. Please let me know what you think.

[Joveus]

Hold on. Let's not go around saying everything is solved until we know for sure. Just because a theory sounds good does not make it right.

Very true, I'm just trying my best with the materials available.

So when Adams machine went off...did it kill Reavers, Wretches, Wild Tickers, the apes in which Brumaks are made from and Berserkers?

Yup, anything with sufficient lambency within the cell structure was killed - Adam Fenix, anybody with Rustlung, Sires, Formers, all humanoid Locust including Drones, Boomers and Kantus, all beast Locust including Wretches, Tickers, Serapedes, Bloodmounts, Reavers, Brumaks, Leviathans, Maulers, you name it, and all Lambent variations of Locust including Drudges, Gunkers etc. The original apes the Brumaks were processed from would have been fine, just like us humans, and any other creature that was processed into one of the Locust beasts.

wow...I really enjoyed reading your theory and I would like to add something. Rememer Tai being taken prisioner? Remember how they found him? They were gonna process him so....maybe he blew himself up, not because of the trauma, but because of preventing the process to complete. And also, Maria....remember how she suddenly transforms? Her hair just falls and her skin goes pale and rough? Anyway, im just adding some thoughts. Please let me know what you think.

Perhaps, but in The Quickening comic Tai kills himself because he was spiritually broken but had enough self control to end it all. Here is Maria post-torture from Gears 2. The text (which is pretty small) reads;

"A slave is locked down and a lobotomizing device is inserted through the tear duct of the left eye into the frontal lobe which scrapes away a small amount of brain matter."

Here is the wikipedia (source of all knowledge) article on lobotomy. Some of the effects include resistance to pain and a decrease in individual thought and self-consciousness. The difference between the real world lobotmy and the one used in Gears of War is where the lobotomy takes place - in Gears of War the deivce in located at the top of the nose between the eyes, the same place the Locust possess that "scalloped" (to quote Chris Perna - the Art and Design of Gears of War) bridge.

How did the bee colony-esque nature of the Horde arise in the first place? Lobotomy? It would certainly help explain the name and nature of the Drones (and Kantus, they possess the same scalloped look), and it provides a missing link in the whole "processing" thing.

Here's something else thats neither here or there -

"Baird here.

I think this thing's like the Locust equivalent of a calendar or a clock... it
says something about 'every season having its opposite,' and I also see some
glyphs for 'Nexus,' 'queen,' and maybe 'Imulsion'... can't quite tell.

I'm guessing it has something to do with the ebb and flow of Imulsion, but I'd
have to do a lot more research to confirm that.

Considering that I'm about, oh, 3 kilometers deep, right square in the guts of
the enemy, you'll have to forgive me if my vast empirical skills aren't exactly
at their finest right now."
- Locust Calender collectible (Gears of War 2 - Act 4, Chapter 4: No Turning Back)

So the Locust adhere to a 12 season calender:

Queen - Imulsion
Fire - Water
Drone - Human
Leviathan - Kryll
Danger - Secure
Nemacyst - Seeder

A couple of things I found interesting here. First of all, the fact that humans are on this calender at all. The Locust are aware of humanity, either because this calender has only been in use since the last 20 years (after meeting Adam Fenix) or because the Locust were aware of humanity before then. If they were aware of humanity before then, how? Why are they the opposite of Drones? The Queen is the opposite of imulsion, the Queen representing everything great to the Locust, the imulsion (and lambency) respresenting everything bad. This leads me to believe that the calender has been in use for a long time, before they met Adam at least, and as long as lambency as been affecting the Locust (as long as there has been a Queen at least, either Myrrah or one before her). Now, I've argued that Myrrah knows about humanity and the Pendulum Wars from the stories passed down to her by her parents, grandparents etc. from New Hope, and that's why she's drilled the "superior race" mantra into the Locust and believes humanity is only capable of destruction. But if Myrrah is not from New Hope, what are the alternatives? If you can think of a reason the Locust would know enough about humanity to include them on the calender as the opposite of Drones while at the same time humanity knows nothing about the Drones, give me a hollar.

Second thing I notice is the beast Locust that appear on the calender - Leviathan, Kryll, Nemacyst and Seeder. I find it interesting that these are the same Locust I argued to exist naturally underground before the humanoid Locust started to create things like the Wretches and Brumaks (well I did in the case of the Leviathan and Kryll at least, I forgot about the other two).

Third thing I notice is this - where are the Kantus?

If the calender is one of the cornerstones of Locust society and the Kantus are, as has been argued by others, the original Locust that lived in Nexus for generations before the Drones came along, why are the Queens and the Drones on the calender and the Kantus are not? I also argued that the Locust do not breed - I still argue this, not just in the case of the Drones but the Kantus too. There are so few Kantus. Where are the women? Where are the children?

It has been said by two different EPIC developers now, Dave "Nashtyboy" Nash and Jim "Entropy" Brown, that New Hope was researching Rustlung. So with that in mind, is it still possible that the Kantus existed before then? Sure it is, but a few things must be borne in mind. New Hope was researching Rustlung, not creating a half-Kantus, half-human supersoldier (and this nonexistant half-Kantus, half-human supersoldier was not Myrrah, guys), so if there were Kantus living in Nexus as this point the COG and the New Hope scientists were not aware of them. So when New Hope was closed down and the subjects forced to move, the one place they chose to go just so happened to be the one place where a culture of imulsion infused humanoids already lived, and had done uninterrupted for generations? That is one hell of a coincidence. Look at the size of Nexus, then at the number of Kantus. So what exactly happened? Either the already severely depleted Kantus race welcomed this new incursion of humans and their mutated Locust as a means to interbreed (which is only possible if the Locust can breed), or there was a big fight and most of the Kantus died. Either way, there really aren't enough Kantus around to account for the size of Nexus.

Anyway, after writing that it occurs to me that I should have posted most of this in my (newly 1-starred ) Kantus thread. I'll have to copy and paste.

[CAPTAIN FANTASTIC]

very interesting man. And I like this theory more than anyone cause THIS is actually a THEORY. Made up with evidence that supports what you're saying....not speculation. Kudos man, I was always curious about act 3 in GOW2 and played it several times to try to find an answer.

Karen Traviss said " the answers are already there ".....well...luckily we have guys like you in the forum to put the pieces together...but that woman can't expect everyone to do such a research like yours. I mean GOW is over....all it's left is the MP and people to have fun with it. What's the point of " keeping it a mystery".
"WHEN THE TRUTH COMES FORTH" and your theory reveals, I really expect everyone to appreciate Joveous work.

"WHEN WE ARE FULLY CLEANSED...AND THE TRUTH COMES FORTH...WILL PEOPLE WHO DISAGREE WITH JOVEUS...LISTEN? LISTEN.....LISTEN....LIS..TEN...LIS....TEN.

[Mysterion Rises]

I agree with the fact that gears is ment to be over so yes the answers should be explained but on the other hand there might be further games in this franchise and revealing everything could ruin the storyline

But this theory seems to be watertight for me and unless someone else comes up with a better theory with the evidence given throughtout the gears universe then I believe we have our answers

[ElGordo94]

I wish they just told us the story already. I know that finding out about the story is cool and interesting to see what people come up with, nobody knows whether their theory is right. I like this theory and would probably make more sense but I'd rather have the Locust being an ancient race.

[darksin]

Good point....

[Solid_Gear]

End of the day people are looking too much into this imo. Epic didn't know what they were doing when they introduced alot of things. The sires is just a massive grey area that was used to provide a horror and mystery section for the campaign. It is not possible for a civilisation to evolve and develop from about 20-30 test subjects and then some how build centuries worth of tunnels, structures and develop a class system in the space of 30-50 years.

Face it, the Locust have been there for a very long time. The "children" may have sparked off the lambent war but they were definitely not the first Locust.

[LostSoulno301281]

That's one long post.

I've had a theory about Locust for a few years, since GoW2, and from reading the novels and playing GoW3 I've come to a few conclusions of my own.

Locust:
They simply are a primitive form of human who never evolved the way regular humans did.
A divide led them to live underground with the creatures they came to use as weapons.
Somewhere along the lines, certain Locust showed signs of regular evolution and were revered as "royalty" and therefore were able to command the rest of the horde.
This means that they have been around just as long as the humans of the surface have.
This also explains why Myrrah looks human.

The Sires found in New Hope were failed experiments to cure lambency in the Locust(and prevent it crossing the species barrier).
Seeing as the Locust lived underground and were exposed to Imulsion for centuries, they were the first show signs of lambency.
This would also mean that lambency(and the Locust) was known about for longer than first thought, but it began to reach a peak 14 years after E-day.

Imulsion, being a living organism, only began to "come to life" because of the lightmass process.

To sum up.
Humans caused all the problems with the Locust and lambency.
If humans hadn't found Imulsion and created the lightmass process, Imulsion would have stayed dormant.
The Locust wouldn't have been affected and wouldn't have attacked the surface.
Humans also wouldn't have been affected either, avoiding things like rust lung and lambency in humans.

That's the way I see it.

[oMarcus]

This post is absolutely incredible. Seriously. And it all makes sense and adds up! Thank you Joveus!

[Zaulik]

Can we assume that the events at New Hope Facility occurred during Myrrah and Adam's life time during those 94 years? Not that it really matters but it would help specify the time that Chairman Monroe was in charge...no?

[Joveus]

Can we assume that the events at New Hope Facility occurred during Myrrah and Adam's life time during those 94 years? Not that it really matters but it would help specify the time that Chairman Monroe was in charge...no?

New Hope was set up either during the Gold Rush or the early Pendulum Wars, and it was shut down in the early days of the COG. Myrrah and Adam Fenix didn't come along until much later - New Hope was aactive during the time of their grandparents or great-grandparents.

[The Shrike]

Regarding the Slab... spoilers...








OH MY GOD!

Havbe you read this yet? Interesting, interesting things!

[Joveus]

Regarding the Slab... spoilers...








OH MY GOD!

Havbe you read this yet? Interesting, interesting things!

No spoilers!

Official release date is 03/05/2012, and I'll do an edit to include any relevant info after I've finished reading it.


Edit: Spoilers below


SPOILERS BELOW




SPOILERS BELOW - LAST WARNING


Well, I've finished the Slab and have made the relevant edits to the thread with the information provided.

Maybe 6 months ago or so now, somebody asked Karen Traviss on Twitter whether the origins of the Locust would ever be revealed. Her response was something along the lines of "It should be obvious by now, but if you still haven't figured it out maybe the Slab will make it a little clearer."

I have to admit, I didn't think she'd make it this clear. I mean, the answers are pretty much thrown in your face. After reading the Slab, can people still hold onto the "Locust are an ancient race" and "Kantus are the original Locust" and "New Hope created a half Locust, half human supersoldier" theories?

It's all there, all of it. Everything from New Hope researching lambency right through to the sterility of the Locust. Sure, it doesn't say "The Locust are the children from New Hope" but does it really need to at this point? The only thing that isn't addressed is Myrrah, I feel. Sure, if you put the pieces together it's easy to figure it out, but the lack of information on Myrrah is all the more noticeable because of how much information is given about everything else. Although, I can't help but notice that the last issue of Dirty Little Secrets, the last ever Gears of War comic, is very Myrrah-centric. The lack of Myrrah in the Slab does seem intentional.

Even processing is addressed.

Of all my ideas, I always thought that was the one that was the most speculative. Sure, after playing Gears of War 2 it seemed pretty obvious what the Locust were doing, but these forums kinda wore me down and made me question if I was on the right path. In the end, it seems so. Again, it doesn't say outright that "The Locust are sterile and can't have kids" but it does say "Lambency causes infertility" and "The Locust stop their onslaught every now and again to fill their ranks".

There's a line that jumped out at me when I read it, "It was hard not to put two and two together, but it was also unscientific". It's said when one of the Azura scientists asks Prescott where the children from New Hope went. I don't know if this is a playful dig at the fan community, but if I was writing the series I'd be tempted to do it.

Fact 1 - The children of New Hope were moved to Mt. Kadar
Fact 2 - Mt. Kadar is the stronghold of the Locust
Conclusion - The Kantus are the original ancient Locust race, New Hope was entirely irrelevant and why the hell did we even go there, Act 3 was a huge waste of time.

I mean, this was the reaction from Gears of War 2, before the Slab came along and said "Guys, I think you're going a bit off tangent". I always thought that when presented with two pieces of information that the conclusion would be based on the content of that information,

Fact 1 - The children of New Hope were moved to Mt. Kadar
Fact 2 - Mt. Kadar is the stronghold of the Locust
Conclusion - The Locust came from New Hope

I'm really glad that the Slab allowed me to do some rewrites with this thread. It always bugged me that I had to resort to design documents on the Sires as such a crucial part of my arguments. The all-important line "The Sires are the forefathers of the Locust" could easily be voided with the response "Yeah, but that's just a design document and EPIC may have changed their minds about what they are". Now that the same content is addressed in the Slab, I can finally remove that as a source.

So all that's left is to wait patiently for the last Dirty Little Secrets while the revelations about the origins of the Locust sink in. How do you feel? Are you content that the hints pieced throughout the series actually paid off? Or are you devestated that the Locust, in the end, weren't an ancient subterranean race afterall?

[Mysterion Rises]

I think the fact the book mentioned they had to repopulate their horde and that after over 15 years fighting they still hadn't wiped out the humans because they had to "process" more of them to increases their numbers was just brilliant! For me that is good writing and it makes things kind of more obvious now! In reality if the locust really had huge numbers they should have wiped out humanity inside a year or so but fighting humans and the lambent on a daily basis would have decreased their numbers greatly so they had to process humans! What gets me is how did nobody report humans being captured by the locust! The amount of humans being taken to be processed over so many years would have been endless how did epic not mention this! We see in gears 2 human are being captured but what about the 15 years before gears 2? In reality that's a lot of humans to process and a quarter of humanity was wiped out after eday? For me that doesn't add up humanity lost billions of its own, so surely the locust didn't process the humans that died!! As for Myrrah well again nothing on her, hopefully something in the future but her story needs to be explained we know nothing about her

[Mysterion Rises]

Btw joveus I must congratulate u! U were right all along and your theory that u posted when u started this thread was spot on! After all the theories I've read u were the one who actually nailed it on the head!

Well done sir, well done

[Tysodie]

wow, huge post, yet a very interesting way of looking at the gears story, excellent post

[Solid_Gear]

This guy, needs some sort of unique title or mention from Epic. Brillantly done. It basically all makes sense. The only thing that doesn't, is the abducting of millions of people before E day to comprise the initial Locust army that attacked the surface.

Other than that, this post and your Kantus one, explains everything, from the Tempest spewing what looks like imulsion, to the lambent wretches on gears 1 fighting with the Locust still.

Well done sir.

[Gearslover01]

Very true, I'm just trying my best with the materials available.



Yup, anything with sufficient lambency within the cell structure was killed - Adam Fenix, anybody with Rustlung, Sires, Formers, all humanoid Locust including Drones, Boomers and Kantus, all beast Locust including Wretches, Tickers, Serapedes, Bloodmounts, Reavers, Brumaks, Leviathans, Maulers, you name it, and all Lambent variations of Locust including Drudges, Gunkers etc. The original apes the Brumaks were processed from would have been fine, just like us humans, and any other creature that was processed into one of the Locust beasts.



Perhaps, but in The Quickening comic Tai kills himself because he was spiritually broken but had enough self control to end it all. Here is Maria post-torture from Gears 2. The text (which is pretty small) reads;

"A slave is locked down and a lobotomizing device is inserted through the tear duct of the left eye into the frontal lobe which scrapes away a small amount of brain matter."

Here is the wikipedia (source of all knowledge) article on lobotomy. Some of the effects include resistance to pain and a decrease in individual thought and self-consciousness. The difference between the real world lobotmy and the one used in Gears of War is where the lobotomy takes place - in Gears of War the deivce in located at the top of the nose between the eyes, the same place the Locust possess that "scalloped" (to quote Chris Perna - the Art and Design of Gears of War) bridge.

How did the bee colony-esque nature of the Horde arise in the first place? Lobotomy? It would certainly help explain the name and nature of the Drones (and Kantus, they possess the same scalloped look), and it provides a missing link in the whole "processing" thing.

Here's something else thats neither here or there -

"Baird here.

I think this thing's like the Locust equivalent of a calendar or a clock... it
says something about 'every season having its opposite,' and I also see some
glyphs for 'Nexus,' 'queen,' and maybe 'Imulsion'... can't quite tell.

I'm guessing it has something to do with the ebb and flow of Imulsion, but I'd
have to do a lot more research to confirm that.

Considering that I'm about, oh, 3 kilometers deep, right square in the guts of
the enemy, you'll have to forgive me if my vast empirical skills aren't exactly
at their finest right now."
- Locust Calender collectible (Gears of War 2 - Act 4, Chapter 4: No Turning Back)

So the Locust adhere to a 12 season calender:

Queen - Imulsion
Fire - Water
Drone - Human
Leviathan - Kryll
Danger - Secure
Nemacyst - Seeder

A couple of things I found interesting here. First of all, the fact that humans are on this calender at all. The Locust are aware of humanity, either because this calender has only been in use since the last 20 years (after meeting Adam Fenix) or because the Locust were aware of humanity before then. If they were aware of humanity before then, how? Why are they the opposite of Drones? The Queen is the opposite of imulsion, the Queen representing everything great to the Locust, the imulsion (and lambency) respresenting everything bad. This leads me to believe that the calender has been in use for a long time, before they met Adam at least, and as long as lambency as been affecting the Locust (as long as there has been a Queen at least, either Myrrah or one before her). Now, I've argued that Myrrah knows about humanity and the Pendulum Wars from the stories passed down to her by her parents, grandparents etc. from New Hope, and that's why she's drilled the "superior race" mantra into the Locust and believes humanity is only capable of destruction. But if Myrrah is not from New Hope, what are the alternatives? If you can think of a reason the Locust would know enough about humanity to include them on the calender as the opposite of Drones while at the same time humanity knows nothing about the Drones, give me a hollar.

Second thing I notice is the beast Locust that appear on the calender - Leviathan, Kryll, Nemacyst and Seeder. I find it interesting that these are the same Locust I argued to exist naturally underground before the humanoid Locust started to create things like the Wretches and Brumaks (well I did in the case of the Leviathan and Kryll at least, I forgot about the other two).

Third thing I notice is this - where are the Kantus?

If the calender is one of the cornerstones of Locust society and the Kantus are, as has been argued by others, the original Locust that lived in Nexus for generations before the Drones came along, why are the Queens and the Drones on the calender and the Kantus are not? I also argued that the Locust do not breed - I still argue this, not just in the case of the Drones but the Kantus too. There are so few Kantus. Where are the women? Where are the children?

It has been said by two different EPIC developers now, Dave "Nashtyboy" Nash and Jim "Entropy" Brown, that New Hope was researching Rustlung. So with that in mind, is it still possible that the Kantus existed before then? Sure it is, but a few things must be borne in mind. New Hope was researching Rustlung, not creating a half-Kantus, half-human supersoldier (and this nonexistant half-Kantus, half-human supersoldier was not Myrrah, guys), so if there were Kantus living in Nexus as this point the COG and the New Hope scientists were not aware of them. So when New Hope was closed down and the subjects forced to move, the one place they chose to go just so happened to be the one place where a culture of imulsion infused humanoids already lived, and had done uninterrupted for generations? That is one hell of a coincidence. Look at the size of Nexus, then at the number of Kantus. So what exactly happened? Either the already severely depleted Kantus race welcomed this new incursion of humans and their mutated Locust as a means to interbreed (which is only possible if the Locust can breed), or there was a big fight and most of the Kantus died. Either way, there really aren't enough Kantus around to account for the size of Nexus.

Anyway, after writing that it occurs to me that I should have posted most of this in my (newly 1-starred ) Kantus thread. I'll have to copy and paste.

The only thing I didn't quite agree with on the theory is the Kantus. Now, it has been said the Rift Worm created life in the Hollows because of the rich manure, it probably created the Kantus, the Hollow Creatures, and possibly Imulsion. The Kantus saw them as Life-Givers (Gods) and could communicate to them. They were advanced in civilization so that they could build Nexus and decoarted the city, palace, and church to the worms. I think Bersekers were the Native females to the Kantus, because they look so similiar. The Kantus also have a record of man venturing down in the hollows and confronting the worms and horde. So I feel that humanity researched for life-forms (plants) in the Hollow to cure Lambency, but they found the Kantus. Then, they thought the Kantus were Immune since they had been around Imulsion for so long, so they spliced the genetics of the Kantus with the infected Humans and made Sires, then the Sires reproduced the Drones, which is why they have a connection with the Kantus. They probably mix these genetics with prisoners to make more locusts. But since the Drones and Kantus are connected, I guess the imulsion still infected drones and evolved in them through Kantus genetics and was able to infect Kantus as well. Everything else you said is spot on, but something native like the Kantus had to be down their to create ruins. Ruins like that are hundreds, if not, thousands years old.

[Mysterion Rises]

The only thing that doesn't, is the abducting of millions of people before E day to comprise the initial Locust army that attacked the surface.

This is what's bothering me so much! I am happy with everything to do with the origin of the locust but the disappearance of so many people in order to be processed doesn't make sense! We're talking billions and billions of people here and nobody on sera noticed their disappearance? This is a big hole in the story for me it doesn't make sense! The only thing I can think of is humans that died were processed into locust but that is ludicrous and impossible! Other than that I don't know surely we need clarity on this

[Joveus]

This is what's bothering me so much! I am happy with everything to do with the origin of the locust but the disappearance of so many people in order to be processed doesn't make sense! We're talking billions and billions of people here and nobody on sera noticed their disappearance? This is a big hole in the story for me it doesn't make sense! The only thing I can think of is humans that died were processed into locust but that is ludicrous and impossible! Other than that I don't know surely we need clarity on this

Except - did the Locust ever actually number in the billions? Or was it always in the tens or hundreds of thousands, deployed in the right places and renewed at a rate that makes it seem like there was more?

The only thing I didn't quite agree with on the theory is the Kantus. Now, it has been said the Rift Worm created life in the Hollows because of the rich manure, it probably created the Kantus, the Hollow Creatures, and possibly Imulsion. The Kantus saw them as Life-Givers (Gods) and could communicate to them. They were advanced in civilization so that they could build Nexus and decoarted the city, palace, and church to the worms. I think Bersekers were the Native females to the Kantus, because they look so similiar. The Kantus also have a record of man venturing down in the hollows and confronting the worms and horde. So I feel that humanity researched for life-forms (plants) in the Hollow to cure Lambency, but they found the Kantus. Then, they thought the Kantus were Immune since they had been around Imulsion for so long, so they spliced the genetics of the Kantus with the infected Humans and made Sires, then the Sires reproduced the Drones, which is why they have a connection with the Kantus. They probably mix these genetics with prisoners to make more locusts. But since the Drones and Kantus are connected, I guess the imulsion still infected drones and evolved in them through Kantus genetics and was able to infect Kantus as well. Everything else you said is spot on, but something native like the Kantus had to be down their to create ruins. Ruins like that are hundreds, if not, thousands years old.

Well, that's your choice.

Of course, there's nothing in any of the games, books or comics that supports any of this, but I'm not going to shove stuff that's actually in the series down your throat if you don't want to hear it. The Kantus are not indicated to be an ancient race anywhere in the series. Anywhere. If you want to ignore all the stuff that's actually there and replace it with something that's completely speculative, unsupported and basically made up from nothing, be my guest.

That's not patronising by the way, it's just that there really is nothing to support this. If anything, the Slab completely disproves it.

[james288gto]

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.

Great thread man, appreciate the work.

I like the idea of Myrrah as a decendant of a scientist from New Hope. The way Adam mentions how inteligent she is and how she talks support this.

A surviving scientist would be pretty cool but unless she discovered life preserving medicines I doubt that. The scientists at New Hope had many factors that could have made them stray from the "norm":

Seclusion (from the world)

Secrecy (from some family and friends)

Living in close quarters with subjects leads to attachment

Over a number of years all factors multiply and results drastic

Treatment buy government (many officials did not know about New Hope and in their earnest to keep a lid on it I'm sure they pissed a few residents off)


Myrrahs "You know what we are" suggest she believed that the COG knew all about New Hope and therefore knew all about the Locust. The COG didn't know, did Prescott even know what was going on there. He seemed pretty frightened when New Hope was mentioned. I think his line was "Somethings, I'd prefer not to know".

[BadMoonRising]

It's probably somewhere in here (information overload...) but who built those ruins and the Nexus? They seem much to old for the locust (which you claim have only been around for a hundred years - younger even, given the queen isn't dead from old age) to have built.

[Solid_Gear]

Something else i have thought of relating to supposed Locust "infertility", maybe they just became more and more infertile as time progressed due to lambency.

The idea that all locust are "processed" is just highly unlikely. They are not mindless savages for the most part. You posted a thread once OP about the formers and sires saying kill me. Surely the locust would have the same thought process when they learnt they are no longer humans but instead some "freaks". This would lead to resentment of the queen for creating them, not admiration.

[sH4k3nB4ke]

So if I was to put this into a "family tree" so to speak, would it look like this? Or have I misread something? I honestly have no idea, even after reading it, so this is kind of guessing.

Humans
| (Prolonged exposure to Imulsion)
Sires------------(Myrrah Creates Drones)---------------Drone-------(Imulsion Exposure)-------Lambent Drone-----(Imulsion Evolves)--------Drudge
| (Imulsion Evolves) /|\ (speculation - different outcomes from processing humans?)
Formers Kantus, Boomer, Berserker
|(I.E) |(Imulsion Exposure)
Gunker, Lambent Berserker

(EDIT: It looks different in the editing screen, "K, B, B" is right underneath Drone and the 3 branches, and Gunker is right underneath Boomer with a branch and Lambent Berserker is right underneath Berserker with a branch)

[Joveus]

Something else i have thought of relating to supposed Locust "infertility", maybe they just became more and more infertile as time progressed due to lambency.

The idea that all locust are "processed" is just highly unlikely. They are not mindless savages for the most part. You posted a thread once OP about the formers and sires saying kill me. Surely the locust would have the same thought process when they learnt they are no longer humans but instead some "freaks". This would lead to resentment of the queen for creating them, not admiration.

“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)

“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)

“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)

“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)


It's all there. What else could Prescott mean by "restocking their menagerie"? Getting more guns? They'd repeatedly stop their invasion to stock up on their guns? And why would he call it "an educated guess" if he wasn't comparing it to what was going on at New Hope. In terms of what "processing" is exactly, check this and this. The final step in processing in lobotomizing, making the humans like Maria. When they reach that point, where would the Locust go from there? Would they pile all their braindead humans in a corner, or shoot them all and be done with it? What is the point of going through all that kidnapping, torture, mindbreaking and lobotomizing if at the very end they can't do anything with the results? Answer - Getting the humans to Maria's state is part 1, breaking them down. Part 2 is rebuilding them from scratch with a new mindset, new loyalties and new objectives.

So if I was to put this into a "family tree" so to speak, would it look like this? Or have I misread something? I honestly have no idea, even after reading it, so this is kind of guessing.

Humans
| (Prolonged exposure to Imulsion)
Sires------------(Myrrah Creates Drones)---------------Drone-------(Imulsion Exposure)-------Lambent Drone-----(Imulsion Evolves)--------Drudge
| (Imulsion Evolves) /|\ (speculation - different outcomes from processing humans?)
Formers Kantus, Boomer, Berserker
|(I.E) |(Imulsion Exposure)
Gunker, Lambent Berserker

(EDIT: It looks different in the editing screen, "K, B, B" is right underneath Drone and the 3 branches, and Gunker is right underneath Boomer with a branch and Lambent Berserker is right underneath Berserker with a branch)

Yes, almost exactly right. Two things I'll clarify;

First, depending on the evolution of imulsion, the mutagenic effect on humans give the following outcomes;

100 years ago - Humans --> Sires
Present day - Humans --> Formers

It doesn't go Humans --> Sires --> Formers. As imulsion evolves over the years, the result of human mutation does too. Like it says, "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.”

Secondly, Myrrah does make Drones, but it doesn't go;

Human + Processing = Drone

Instead it's more like;

Human + Processing = Lobotomized, braindead human.
Lobotomised braindead human + controlled imulsion exposure = Lobotomised braindead Lambent human.
Lobotomised braindead Lambent humans + artifical biotechnological breeding program = Drones.

It's complex, and it's time consuming. That's why it's taken so long for the Locust to make the final push into Ephyra. They lost way too many lives on E-Day, everything since then has been trying to recoup their losses while fighting on two fronts.

[Solid_Gear]

“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)

“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)

“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)

“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)


It's all there. What else could Prescott mean by "restocking their menagerie"? Getting more guns? They'd repeatedly stop their invasion to stock up on their guns? And why would he call it "an educated guess" if he wasn't comparing it to what was going on at New Hope. In terms of what "processing" is exactly, check this and this. The final step in processing in lobotomizing, making the humans like Maria. When they reach that point, where would the Locust go from there? Would they pile all their braindead humans in a corner, or shoot them all and be done with it? What is the point of going through all that kidnapping, torture, mindbreaking and lobotomizing if at the very end they can't do anything with the results? Answer - Getting the humans to Maria's state is part 1, breaking them down. Part 2 is rebuilding them from scratch with a new mindset, new loyalties and new objectives.

Just like humans would do to aliens if we could get the chance, we'd mutilate them and experiment on them, see what we could find out about them, run tests on them, see how they would react to different stimulus, just like we do to animals, using monkeys who are 97% genetically identical to us. Once they are braindead, they won't try to escape or know too much of what is going on but will still respond to pain and stimulus with fussing about.

Who knows, maybe the Locust thought humans were the key to getting rid of lambency.

If the Locust are lambent creatures, creating from exposure to lambency, surely, using logic, this would mean that lambent individuals, such as the drudge and lambent drones are the cream of the crop. The perfect imulsion beings.

As far as the Prescott quote goes and your belief that the Locust are from New Hope, this would mean that the locust numbers are extremely low due to having only a 100 years to develop everything they had. The initial surface attacked combined with the war that had been going on with the lambent for 4 years previous, would mean that their levels would have been extremely low. Infact, they wouldn't have been able to abduct so many humans prior to this and to have such a powerful attack force. Even if there was only a few hundread thousand of them, they wouldn't have been able to eliminate humanity in such a massive and efficient way.

They had to restock because they would have exerted a large amount of energy into the initial attack and then had to recuperate especially after the hammer strikes and the fight with the lambent. Going to use an real life comparaison. Nazi Germany made amazing progress through Russian at first, but then resources began to run out, their progress was slowed down, they lost troops, and eventually they had to retreat back. More than likely what happened with the Locust and the humans, the humans managed to keep them off enough.

Maybe you are correct, but that just goes to show that this series did not start off with intentions, it added them in, so things defy previous materials. And due to it being a video game series, alot of the things are done just for gameplay and story effect i.e. the Armored Kantus's mouth lighting up, isn't so much a lambent thing, but a "look shoot me here to get a kill". This story is not as intricate as you are making it out to be, and alot of the stuff wasn't planned. Epic wanted people to make "connections" etc, because they couldn't be bothered putting in a logical story that didn't have plot holes due to previous things done in gears 1. I mean come on, this is the game developer that brought us Unreal Tournament, you know that game that doesn't have a story but is just a a mixture of multiplayer objective games. Epic aren't this intricate.

If the Locust are from New Hope, then they have become smarter and more capable in 100 years than man was, likely, i don't think so especially as they maintain the same brain genetics as humans, except they have been lobotomised and the majority of them would be about 5 years old if we are to accept the processed theory.

Face it, they are an ancient race that have had alot of time to develop, build and explore science and weaponry.

[The Shrike]

Face it, they are an ancient race that have had alot of time to develop, build and explore science and weaponry.

Umm... Are you serious? Joveus has posted an incredibly detailed argument with just about every piece of information on the Locust that can be found asnd your response is this? You're picking holes in the story but you're not backing it up with anything. Joveus isn't making this up, and it's not a rant either like yours. Why don't you go and do half the amount of research he did, until then Joveus wins hands down.

[Solid_Gear]

Umm... Are you serious? Joveus has posted an incredibly detailed argument with just about every piece of information on the Locust that can be found asnd your response is this? You're picking holes in the story but you're not backing it up with anything. Joveus isn't making this up, and it's not a rant either like yours. Why don't you go and do half the amount of research he did, until then Joveus wins hands down.

Sorry, not seeing any evidence from his post that can't be counter argued. His post is amazing, connections are fantastic. But there is such a thing as looking too deeply into it. Alot of it can be explained away by gameplay choices, trying to created a varied story and gameplay between each game.

And i am using evidence, evidence of mankind in gears of war and comparing it to the Locust, who Joveus claims to be the exact same as humans except they have been lobotomised and infected with imulsion that helps to create brainless individuals (as lambent creatures show limited intelligence).

From his posts he can be deduced that the researchers of New Hope disappeared without a single legacy other than Queen Myrrah who knows all of their combined knowledge, possesses the facility to do it and had the human resources to begin with. How does that seem likely? His post may be correct, but it is due to bad story writing that definitely leaves so many questions unanswered or have definite answers. Only because he points to a tiny bit of evidence, does not mean it is true.


Alot of other things are unaccounted for, so i reject his theories.

Also, if we are to accept things that he says, it would mean that Corpsers are probably Locust creatures because they have many similarities, skin colour etc. But guess what they breed and they make eggs meaning that Corpsers are not infertile even after being made through imulsion, so blah to you and not questioning things he says.

http://media.giantbomb.com/uploads/1...thecorpser.jpg

Image of a corpser, got a very similar head to the Locust Drone and Brumak.

http://images.wikia.com/gearsofwar/i...pser_GOW_3.png

It has the same skin colour, single tongue etc. I can do all this evidence stuff too bro.

[Solid_Gear]

Let us go even further to disapproving processing:

“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)

Surely they would have taken Elain to be processed and made into a locust, what good would a armless locust be and seeing as berserkers are described in game as female locust meaning they would have to come from a female human, Elain would have become a berserker through exposure, surely that would be alot better than just cutting her up?

Which furthers my point that processed individuals do not become locust and he is wrong or the series suffers bad story writing and he is correct.

[Coleyman]

Let us go even further to disapproving processing:

“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)

Surely they would have taken Elain to be processed and made into a locust, what good would a armless locust be and seeing as berserkers are described in game as female locust meaning they would have to come from a female human, Elain would have become a berserker through exposure, surely that would be alot better than just cutting her up?

Which furthers my point that processed individuals do not become locust and he is wrong or the series suffers bad story writing bad story writing.

Elain was killed because she intended to make contact with the Locust and expose their presence to the rest of Sera. Perhaps the Locust had no intention of processing her.

[Solid_Gear]

Elain was killed because she intended to make contact with the Locust and expose their presence to the rest of Sera. Perhaps the Locust had no intention of processing her.

From what Joveus hints to, the locust process human individuals into drones, kantus or berserkers. If this is true, at the time in question, their numbers would be very small and would have limited opportunities to abduct people. Here we have Elain Fenix, a very unremarkable individual who has come right up to their gates, they wouldn't have to worry about abudcting her without being noticed or even be given a challenge to overpower her, why wouldn't they process her?

Also, Queen Myrrah's aims are to see the human race extinct. Which means, the locust would also become extinct eventually because if they are processed humans they more than likely suffer from old age. So the Locust must be able to reproduce or their goals and intentions of being the sole race on Sera are very flawed as they would die out.

An enemy that will force Humanity to take their last, inevitable steps, toward extinction."
— Queen Myrrah on E-Day

And that is the game ladies and gents.

[Ashokk]

That's rather in depth and extremely interesting. I have questions though

A) Does the lore tell us why a being can re-materialise after death??
B) Does the lore tell us why a being can re-materialise after death an infinite number of times when he/she is trying to stand in a ring of light?
C) Does the lore tell us why Marcus looks a total tit when he removes the bandana?
D) Does the lore tell us RAAM was so kool and Skorge looked like a buttmunch?

These are the pressing questions we all need answered!!!

Seriously though how did marcus get that ****ing scar?? its killing me