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"So after the COG shut you down, why come all the way out here?"
"Our family needed a place to continue our work in solitude.
"
—Cpl. Kait Diaz and Dr. Niles Samson.

The Mount Kadar Laboratory was a secret COG biogenetics laboratory established to create genetically enhanced super soldiers for the Army to use in the Pendulum Wars against the Union of Independent Republics. Built in the caverns of Mount Kadar by a fringe political group within the COG, its was used to relocate Doctor Niles Samson and his research from the New Hope Research Facility after it was shutdown by Chairman Monroe due to unethical experimentation. Samson's work at New Hope started as an effort to study Imulsion's effects and cure children ill with Rustlung, but he became obsessed with mutating the children into creatures he called Sires in order to evolve the human race. The fringe group believed Samson's work had military potential and could be used to end the Pendulum Wars.

Continuing his work from the Sires, Samson created the Locust by hybridizing Sire DNA with the embryonic stem cells of Myrrah, a human born with a genetic immunity to Imulsion. During this time, Myrrah entered a relationship with geneticist Doctor Torres and had a child named Reyna. Torres feared the experiments being done to their daughter and escaped the facility with her. Samson, unable to prevent their escape, lied to Myrrah that Reyna had perished in the escape attempt. In her grief, Myrrah led the Locust to an uprising - slaughtering Samson and the other scientists. They escaped the facility and moved deeper into the caverns of Mount Kadar to build their own civilization known as Nexus. The facility was never found by the COG, but was later discovered in 42 A.E. by Cpl. Kait Diaz, the granddaughter of Myrrah, to trace her family origins and fight against the Swarm, an evolved form of the Locust.

History[]

Pendulum Wars[]

Prelude[]

In the early years of the Pendulum Wars, it was discovered that overexposure to Imulsion fumes led to a fatal condition known as Rustlung. Those most afflicted were Imulsion miners and their families. The Coalition of Ordered Governments feared the economic and political ramifications of producing and selling a toxic fuel source. Thus, the New Hope Research Facility was opened under the Department of Health in the Monroe Administration to house and treat the Imulsion miner's children sick with Rustlung in order to find a cure. The project was under the direction of famed geneticist, Dr. Niles Samson.

The research initially began with injecting the children with concentrated doses of Imulsion to study its effects. While it caused immediate and intense cell stress, other cells underwent point mutations. While most of the children continued to suffer and perish from Rustlung, a female child named Myrrah exhibited no symptoms. She was not only revealed to have a genetic immunity to Imulsion, but also benefited from Imulsion exposure. Imulsion caused her to have a perfect immune system and decelerated her body from aging by 50%. However, Niles was unable to replicate the same results in the other children.

Niles then began to experiment in cross-species genetics. By using the DNA of indigenous creatures from the Hollow, he mutated the children into hybrids he called Sires. However, the Sires were genetically unstable, distempered, aggressive, highly uncontrollable, and unable to reproduce. Also, the employees of New Hope suffered attacks from the Sires, which caused them to resign and leak information to the public. Chairman Monroe learned of New Hope's experiments and ordered the facility shut down and all involved to be indicted.

Construction[]

Unknown to Chairman Monroe, a fringe political party hidden within his administration believed in the work of Niles Samson. As pragmatists, they believed that his work could not only cure Rustlung but help end the Pendulum Wars. Aware of New Hope being shut down, the fringe party employed miners and construction workers from Nethercutt Mining to build a facility inside the caves of Mount Kadar for Niles and his work to be relocated. After completion, the fringe party lined up all the contracted workers and executed them for knowing the truth about their operation.

After Niles was exposed, the fringe political party reached out to Niles Samson and relayed to him their belief and trust in him as opposed to Chairman Monroe and his "false sense" of morality and ethics. They informed him that they had constructed a hidden facility nearby and were ready to relocate him, his research, his remaining loyal employees, and his subjects to the laboratory so that he could continue his work and end Rustlung and the Pendulum Wars. Niles Samson still left dozens of Sires behind at New Hope, but created a semi-sentient security system based on his personality to protect the Sires and facility.

Gears 5 Mount Kadar Laboratory specimens

Specimen stasis tanks inside the lab

Unable to request transport from Chairman Monroe to avoid capture, Niles Samson, along with his remaining loyal employees, Myrrah, and dozens of Sires, had to walk from New Hope to the facility at Mount Kadar during the night in the snow. They were successful in reaching the facility and Niles and his people were able to continue their work. Before the last of the scientists left New Hope, the lab sent a message back to the old facility that was recorded by the AI, but the message's origin point was scrambled after passing through the lab's comm tower and the North and East Comm Towers in Kadar Valley.[1]

Experiments[]

At the facility, Niles hoped to repair and perfect the Sires. He then used the embryonic stem-cells of Myrrah and combined them with Sire DNA to create the very first hybrid, a female called the Matriarch. The Matriarch was then able to produce offspring, and gave birth to the Locust Horde. The Locust Drones were healthy, genetically stable, and able to reproduce. It was then discovered that a pyschomagnetic link called the Hivemind connected all the Locust mentally, including Myrrah, and was able to control them. The Matriarch was then discovered to amplify Myrrah's abilities, and a brain-computer interface was built to connect Myrrah's mind with the Matriarch's to grow Myrrah's ability to control the Locust.

Meanwhile, Myrrah grew a romantic relationship with geneticist Dr. Torres, and the two conceived a human daughter named Reyna. It was discovered that Reyna had inherited Myrrah's immunity to Imulsion, her decelerated aging, and connection to the Locust Hivemind. However, Dr. Torres feared that his daughter would be experimented on like the other children and fled the facility with her daughter. Niles Samson was unable to recapture Reyna, and in order to placate Myrrah, he lied that Reyna died during the escape attempt. Myrrah became grief-stricken and grew a hatred for the scientists and humans in general, as she began to sympathize more with her Locust children who felt imprisoned, oppressed, and tortured by the scientists.

Uprising[]

Myrrah began to test her own powers and grew her abilities to control the Locust, as was evidenced by other scientists when the Locust obeyed her. Niles began to experience fear doubt of his work at Mount Kadar and questioned whether he and his colleagues deserved to be punished for what they did.[2] Realizing the Locust longed for independence, Myrrah became their Queen and promised to lead them to salvation.

Myrrah then finally took control of the Locust and led an uprising against the researchers and guards, slaughtering everyone. Niles sustained a fatal injury, but he lived long enough to trigger the lab's cryogenic purge protocols, which flooded the entire lab with cryogenic gas in attempt to prevent the scientists from escape. Myrrah and her Locust escaped and traveled deeper into the Mount Kadar catacombs, where they later established a civilization: Nexus.[3]

Swarm Invasion[]

Rediscovery[]

In 42 A.E., Myrrah's granddaughter Kait Diaz eventually located the facility in hopes of discovering her origins and connection to the Locust Horde. Having discovered the message sent to the New Hope Research Facility, Kait and Delmont Walker managed to track it through the comm towers to in Kadar Valley to the hidden lab.Baird discovered that just before the last of the scientists left New Hope, someone sent them a message from a lab in Mount Kadar. However, the message's origin point was scrambled, forcing Kait and Del to locate the comm towers it passed through to track the message back to the hidden lab.[1] There, the entrance responded to Kait's DNA and granted her and Del access where they were greeted by the Niles AI. After the two deactivated the cryo jets, Niles led them through the facility, explaining the history of his research and the origins of the Locust. After reaching the terminal containing Niles' research, Del has JACK download all of the data.

After learning the truth about her origins, Kait demanded to be severed from the Swarm Hivemind. After Kait threatened to destroy his research, Niles apparently complied and hooked Kait up to the device Myrrah had used to first learn how to control her power. However, in doing so, Kait awakened the Matriarch and Reyna Diaz as the Swarm Queen while Niles tried to escape and enacted another cryogenic lockdown. However, Kait and Del found his corpse and used it to deactivate the lockdown. Chasing Niles through the facility, the two were forced to fight off Locust Drones and Sires released by Niles from their containment tubes. Niles was destroyed by the Matriarch after the two caught up to him and Kait and Del managed to kill the Matriarch. After the destruction of the Matriarch and Niles, Kait and Del left the laboratory and were picked up by Marcus Fenix, Damon Baird and Samantha Byrne outside.[3]

Documents[]

Nethercutt Helmet
Del here.

Miner's helmet. Hole straight through it.

These people were lined up and shot for the crime of knowing there was a dig here.

Rest in peace, brother. Your story won't be lost.

Subject Analysis: UL-119-2
UL-119-2 remains our most physically dominant and remarkable specimen, surviving longer than any hybrid developed with embryonic stem cells. I remain baffled as to why this is so.

The bond she seemed to have developed with EV-184-9 continues to intrigue me. All at once, this mighty, matriarchal beast can be calmed into quiescence by no more than a glance!

Dr. Torres has developed a containment module for UL-119-2. He believes that by suspending her in cryptochromic fluid, the pyschomagnetic bond she and EV-194-9 appear to share could be amplified. I am skeptical but willing to entertain his flight of theoretical fancy.

Dr. Niles Samson

Subject Analysis: TE-872-3
I tolerated Dr. Torres' unseemly designs upon EV-184-9 mainly due to my hope that their dalliance could produce a child. And now it has: TE-872-3.

Let me dispense with these chilly medical appellations, as Myrrah has proved my colleague and collaborator in every sense.

Her selfless cooperation has brought me much joy, but not nearly as much as this: Myrrah's daughter has inherited her unique genomic constellation. What this means I do not yet know, but it proves that what I have created here is, astonishingly, inheritable.

All throughout our facility dote upon Reyna already. Only Dr. Torres seems ambivalent. I suspect he is jealous of the attention his special child is receiving.

Dr. Niles Samson

Lexigram Board
Del here.

It looks like a lexigram board. The same kind primatologists use to communicate with apes.

This one's strange, though. Jack's trying to translate some of the symbols. He thinks they're Locust runes.

I'd better show this to Baird.

Subject Analysis: EV-184-9
Myrrah's mood remains bleak. I confess I underestimated the depth of her feelings for her daughter.

I have had to curtail her exposure to the Matriarch as well, for I and others have noticed that, the more frequent their interaction, the more it affects the behavior of our test subjects.

They have become... not docile, not exactly, but somehow... mindful, perhaps. Sometimes they seem to murmur in unison or simultaneously face the same direction. Dr. Van Neil remarked that it almost looked as if they were praying.

I worry Myrrah's influence has allowed our test subjects to develop novel and unhelpful ideas.

For the first time since I began this work, all those years ago, I am concerned for our safety.

Dr. Niles Samson

Sketchbook
Kait here.

This was my grandmother's. I feel a lot of anger in these drawings.

If I had grown up like this - in this place, with these people - I don't know if I can say I would have done things differently.

What's the saying? You reap what you sow.

Known Occupants[]

Employees

Subjects

Behind the Scenes[]

  • This lab is the true location Niles Samson referred to in the recording found in Gears of War 2 when he mentioned the trip to Mount Kadar.
  • Kait Diaz's DNA was capable of opening the genetic lock to the main door. This is because she descended from both Myrrah, a test subject, and Dr. Torres, one of the scientists. However, this suggests that the DNA lock on the door didn't require an exact match since Kait Diaz was two generations removed from Myrrah and Torres, and thus wouldn't have the exact DNA the system was programmed for.

Appearances[]

Gallery[]

Exterior

Sire Stasis Area

Hybrid Stasis Area

Locust Stasis Area

Matriarch Stasis Area

Myrrah's Private Quarters

References[]

  1. 1.0 1.1 Gears 5: Act II: The Source of It All
  2. Gears of War 2: Act 3: Gathering Storm: Rude Awakening
  3. 3.0 3.1 Gears 5: Act II: Dirtier Little Secrets
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