Striders
From Megaman Mush Wiki
"If you see the Buddha on the road, kill him."
Contents |
Overview
There is an ancient Chinese legend about a man of superhuman ability. This man, who swords could not cut, who arrows could not strike, was the superior of all he met. His destiny was to do battle against a vast and terrible evil, which he narrowly vanquished. He had many progeny, and died in obscurity rather than risk his bones being used in obscene rituals.
Descendants of this man are said to have created the Strider order; a clan of stealth assassins who worked for the highest bidder. Strider involvement is said to be visible throughout history, but officially they do not exist. Those who become Striders possess unique physical talents that seem to transcend the boundaries of sex, race or ethnic origin. The genetic commonality between them harkens back to a single ancestor, but who this man was -- and why he was -- is unclear.
The true nature of the Strider bloodlines, and their relationship to the secret history of the world, is unknown to most. However, their recent history indicates that their true destiny may yet to be revealed.
- Striders are FC only. Strider OCs are not appable.
The Strider Wars
The Strider Wars of 2213 to 2219 were orchestrated by Meio to eliminate potential rivals while testing the strength of the active bloodlines. The near-annihilation of practicing Striders proved to Meio only that Strider training had become degenerate, and that more direct instruction was needed to teach the new generation discipline and order.
The story is well-known to any trainee in Meio's care. Yosho Roshi, in his declining years, strove to encourage his trainees to be peaceful. This spoke against everything of value to them; their culture, their training and their very genetic imperative. Those Striders who wanted to try to direct their efforts toward pro-social pursuits became Blue Dragons, while those Striders who followed the true Strider way of money, power and glory became Red Dragons.
This schism within the Striders was engineered and encouraged by Meio from behind the scenes. Many tragic events that appeared to be "accidents" or cruel twists of fate were Meio's doing, keeping the fire of vengeance burning brightly through the Strider race.
During the peak of the Strider Wars in 2216, Meio released a Sheena to collect genetic information on his behalf so to create a new composite Jade Man, the creature Hien. Sheena completed this task but also sought to build her own power against what she saw as a feeble, weak master. She used Reploids and other "trickery" to defeat the Striders who resisted her, resulting in the seeming deaths of Kain and Matic.
In reality, Meio had use for both men, and recovered their bodies when those present were otherwise distracted. He resurrected them within his laboratory, then used the Professor's neural alteration system to make them into superior Striders. They were then kept in Meio's isolated fortress, training beneath him, so to become ready for Meio's new assault.
The suffering of the Strider Wars continued after the apparent deaths of Kain and Matic. William Wiggin was badly victimized by Sheena, having become too reliant on being the lieutenant of Matic. But Wiggin too had his secrets; he had always served Meio, and knew that Sheena's actions were not in accordance to Meio's plan. Without the help of the Grandmaster, Wiggin pulled his way back up to the top, ultimately defeating both Sheena and Hien and becoming the master of what freakish "White Dragon Striders" remained in Neo Arcadia. Finding all of them wanting, Wiggin systematically destroyed each one before taking his leave, having fleeced Neo Arcadia of considerable resources along the way.
Wiggin also carried with him a great secret. When he was a younger man, he had been one of the first responders to the attack of Zero in Shanghai. Serving as a volunteer triage medic, he discovered a Strider child that had lost his parents in Zero's rampage. Wiggin saw that the child, Longwei (a name meaning "dragon" or "serpent"), bore blood red eyes. Bloody eyes are a mark of great power among Striders, as it was one of the signs of a Jade Man. Wiggin took Longwei under his wing, training him in secret as his successor. Wiggin sought to use the child as a bid for power himself... but it was not to be.
The Grandmaster sent forth a duplicate of himself some two years after the deaths of Kain and Matic to further test the Striders who were present. The clone collected DNA samples of great power from Elpizo, who knew not what horror he was helping to come to pass. A viral weapon, a test to determine who in the population would be a carrier of the Strider gene, was released on Eurasia so to see how it would behave in a controlled population. In the end, as expected, the weapon was stopped -- but by Linnea Blossom and Zero, not Hiryu. Angered, the Grandmaster began to act to seek out Hiryu, so to demand the direct attention of the Jade Man.
William Wiggin waxed in power, finding hidden scrolls that taught him some of the techniques that Meio had mastered. He began to plot to become a Grandmaster himself through rigorous training, believing that he was already immortal. With his son-lieutenant "Rufus" at his side (a name meaning "red"), Wiggin began to rebuild the Strider organization, as Meio had known he would. New trainees were brought into Wiggin's system, without the impurities of Yosho Roshi's weakness in their minds. Meio saw this effort and found it good. The Strider Wars had served their purpose; only the most ruthless, most powerful Striders remained on the world stage.
Finding the other, hidden Striders and gathering samples from them was much easier once most of the active competition was out of the way. Meio deployed his agents, including the Aesir, to find Striders by searching genetic databases for their tell-tale signatures; gene sequences that would be meaningless to the layman, but to Meio's eyes would clearly show one to have superhuman potential. They infiltrated blood banks and the UN ID database itself to create a master list, systematically tracking down others through birth records to determine their worthiness. Many new recruits were found in this way, taken from their old lives before they could determine any other way to live.
But this perfect arrangement would be disrupted. Wiggin had become hated, and his own research had drawn attention to himself. Wiggin clashed with many rival organizations, until some of the last surviving Striders finally attacked him en masse and brought him down. Wiggin made all but one pay with their lives for their betrayal, with only the Blackguard Linnea Blossom escaping. This was, again, part of Meio's plan; in truth, he allowed knowledge of Wiggin's facility to leak out so that Wiggin would finally be consumed, putting Rufus on a path of vengeance. Wiggin had to be sacrificed for the greater good of the Strider race. Some say Wiggin willingly accepted this fate, knowing that Longwei would rise to greatness and honor him.
Longwei walked the path of vengeance, rampaging through the world and destroying anything in his path. Meio watched as Longwei's hatred consumed him from the inside out, burning ever hotter as Mai Atsuki helped Linnea escape his wrath. He struck out at furious anger at people around Linnea, trying to flush her out -- but his first target was his last, as he struck at Teresa Magrevich, employer of Shield Shellfish.
Longwei believed that Shield Shellfish's payment to Linnea Blossom for the death of Wiggin was fulfillment of a contract that the Magrevich heiress had set (for reasons, Longwei assumed, relating to her kidnapping by the affiliated Triad of the Red Dragon Striders, the Crimson Serpent Triad). It was revealed only after the fact that Shield Shellfish had acted alone, but Longwei apparently faced two opponents of great power; Shield Shellfish herself and Teresa's present boyfriend, a Maximillian Rothchilde -- the disguise of Gemini Man, a double agent for both the Robot Masters and Nebula.
After falling in battle, Longwei was recovered, and taken by his trainees to the Grandmaster to be mended. On hearing Longwei's tale, the Grandmaster was said to have smiled more broadly than he had in ten years. Meio knew that Teresa was the daughter of his hated enemy, 'Super Joe' -- the codename of Gaus Magrevich. As Super Joe had once again become a thorn in Meio's side, it would be easy now to incite Longwei against Super Joe's family to put pressure on him. And even if Longwei lacked the fire to do the task himself, Meio had his own business with the Magrevich family... but little did Meio know then of Teresa's own secret identity: Number One, the master of Nebula.
There would be interesting times ahead.
Those of Red Eyes
Longwei Rufus now goes by the name of 'Serpent', and acts as the master of Ouroboros' armed forces. Serpent has received additional biological upgrades in line with the collection of other genetic material from many more Striders. Serpent is "perfected" in the eyes of Grandmaster Meio, and is much beloved. Meio treats Serpent as a son...because unknown to everyone but a few, Serpent is of Meio's bloodline.
Meio has not been idle as an immortal. His potency has not diminished over his lengthy lifetime, sustained by ancient taoist ritual and blasphemous science. Meio has had many children, and his lineage has spread across the world as his sons and daughters have, knowingly or otherwise, acted to cultivate a superior Strider bloodline. It is said that William Wiggin himself was one of Meio's descendants, as he too shared the red eyes that are the mark of his sinister legacy.
Serpent has a sister named Pureri. As her eyes were not naturally red, she was thought to be a weaker, less suitable child, and ignored by Meio. Pureri was lost for many years, trapped as 'Alouette' by Ciel. Pureri was badly traumatized by her experience, and being swept away by a smothering adoptive mother did not help her mind. She kept learning, but her growth and development was arrested by genetic alterations so that she would not outstrip her cybernetics. Such a thing is anathema to the Grandmaster, and when he learned of it through Wiggin's investigation, plans were made to put her on course to become a worthy sister to Longwei.
Alouette was taken in by Wiggin when offered her by Daryn. Wiggin quickly set about removing Alouette's cybernetics and accelerating her growth back to where it should have been. Pureri blossomed into a beautiful young woman overnight, showing signs of her strange heritage; Chinese women do not have long blonde hair and striking blue eyes as a general rule.
Pureri set about having adventures while being observed by the Grandmaster and his agents. Tales of her exploits seem to be able to warm the heart of the ancient villain, as if he were hearing of the antics of favorite children. Efforts have now begun to confront Pureri directly and to bring her into Ouroboros, so that Serpent may have her at his side as they conquer the world.
The Aesir
The Aesir are a part of an overall initiative by Grandmaster Meio to develop a new, superior humanity. Meio's struggle to create a master race began long before the Robot Wars. Long ago, Meio attained incredible power, being the Jade Man of that age, and unlocked the secrets of immortality. Seeking to make more men like him, Meio became a master geneticist, striving to unlock the hidden power within his own genes in his minions.
Meio's incredible power allowed him to conquer China alongside his Strider allies. They created the Chinese Empire of the 22nd century, which ultimately fell before the power of Meio's enemies in the Illuminati. Meio was brought into what became Black SHIELD as a concession in exchange for his surrender, which allowed him access to the super-science the conspiracy controlled. Meio's work was able to accelerate by leaps and bounds with the assistance of the Professor, and their collaboration led to such things as the creation of the first generation clone army of "Solos".
While Meio worked alongside the Professor to create bioweaponry for the conspiracy's use in their desire to create constant, controllable, low-level warfare, he continued his own projects. He cultivated the Strider Hiryu, the Jade Man of this generation; a super-being with awesome physical capabilities like Meio's own. To expedite this process, Meio secretly oversaw Hiryu's training in an isolated monestary in China. All the while, Meio plotted and schemed, hunting down pieces of the lost Strider bloodlines that had spread all over the world to try to create a synthesis of all of them -- an individual who would be the progenitor of a new humanity, a humanity made in Meio's own perfect image.
The story of Project Aesir begins in the early part of the 23rd century. The six primary Aesir subjects were the product of Black SHIELD bio-engineering, a culmination of the research of the Professor and Grandmaster Meio. Meio in particular had been slowly cultivating the Strider bloodlines over two centuries to encourage the creation of even more Jade Men.
The Aesir subjects were another step along the way of creating this "Jade Man" in greater numbers. They approached but did not quite attain the power of the Strider Hiryu, but this was more than adequate for Black SHIELD's war machine. They were raised inside secure laboratories, trained from birth to be perfect assassins. Their physical training was superhuman, with simple games designed to train critical combat skills gradually becoming more and more complex as they grew older. They were given the finest education possible, though it was through the philosophical lens of the Grandmaster; war was seen as an inevitable, necessary and enjoyable fact of life.
There are six Aesir; Atlas, Aeolus, Thetis and Siarnaq are "complete", and have been engaging in missions for the Grandmaster outside of his fortress for some time. Two others, Vent and Aile, have remained in a laboratory somewhere in China for "further development". It may be possible that in Vent and Aile, Grandmaster Meio has achieved the perfection he has been seeking for many years, but he does not speak of it to anyone in Ouroboros.
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