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"Sarge?...I hurt."
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- "Guys, that sounded like there were dozens of em'. Hundreds. Like a... like a swarm."
- —Delmont Walker to Kait Diaz and JD Fenix, after an attack on their village
The Swarm are a race/group of creatures that were active over twenty-five years after the Lambent Pandemic.[1] They are the successor of the Locust Horde. How exactly the Swarm was created after the destruction of the Locust Horde is still a mystery. Futhermore, it is unknown how the Locust managed to evolve to the Swarm from the effect of the Imulson Countermeasure Weapon whilst the Lambent were vaporized by the radiation of the weapon.
History
Post Lambent Pandemic
After the Imulsion Countermeasure Weapon was deployed at the end of the Second Battle of Azura, it was thought that members of the Locust Horde were wiped out, thus freeing Sera from the grips of apocalyptic war and allowing it to slowly blossom back to life. However, shortly after the Countermeasure was deployed, all of the Locust 'corpses' were quickly encased in an incredibly dense yellow colored crystalline structure, unlike the Lambents that were disintegrated into dust. This crystalline shell proved to be impenetrable and harder than diamond. Being unable to burn or otherwise dispose of the Locust dead because of the Locust Shells, the newly reformed Coalition of Ordered Governments decided to do the next best thing: dump them all deep underground in mass graves.
Marcus Fenix and Anya Stroud were present at one of these burials, located in an abandoned osmium mine beneath the ancient fortress city of Fort Reval at some point following the end of the war.
Over the next twenty-five years, Sera was at peace and life began to cover the surface of the war-ravaged planet once again. The newly reformed COG was successfully rebuilding human civilization and constructing new cities, while former Stranded camps and other members of the surviving populace that chose not to join the new COG formed peaceful communities on the fringe of the COG's territory, becoming known as Outsiders. However, this peace was soon disrupted as COG citizens went missing in large numbers. With no other explanation available, COG First Minister Jinn blamed the disappearances on the Outsider community, and began a large scale mobilization, starting with the attempted capture of Marcus Fenix's son JD Fenix during an Outsider raid on the unpopulated and still under construction Settlement 5, where it was guarded by DeeBees and a new DeeBee was encountered: the DR-1. Despite this, the Outsiders managed to escape with a Fabricator. Undeterred, Jinn sent a large DeeBee force at the Outsider village, but were repulsed.
Swarm War
However, that night, mysterious creatures raided the village and abducted everyone except James, Delmont and Kait, who were in the generator room and locked inside by Kait's mother, Reyna, for their safety. James noticed a hand that Reyna had cut off from one of the mysterious creatures and takes a chunk of crystal off, and Delmont suggests they go to Marcus, JD's estranged father, for help. The three make their way to Marcus' house, where JD shows him the crystal. Marcus later accompanies them to the osmium mine beneath Fort Reval.
Along the way, the group encounter a strange red biomass and pods. After discovering the remains of a COG citizen within one pod, the group quickens their pace, only to shortly be ambushed by a much larger creature that abducts Marcus. Soon after, JD, Kait and Del find themselves in a frantic battle against The Swarm, which initially consists of many small, agile creatures called Juvies which resemble humans, to much larger versions called Drones that are capable of speech, use of fire arms, and coordinated tactics. The battle eventually culminates against large predatory creatures called Pouncers.
Later on, deep within the mine, the group discovers the once long forgotten Locust bodies, still contained within their Locust Shells. However, soon after discovering the pods, the group stumbles across many opened pods, and soon after fight a Scion, a former Locust. It is then revealed that the Swarm are in fact evolved versions of the Locust Horde.
The connection of the Swarm and the Locust Horde is unclear, but it would appear that the creatures are tamed by the surviving locust that evolved into scions and are treated as disciples under the scions. Juvies are made in pods from humans remains, who enter nests to become a type of Drone known as an Imago. These Imago eventually harden up and turn into different classes of a Swarm Drone. Such a pace is rather incredible for nesting speeds. Excluding Drones, the exact formation process of the species such as a snatcher are not known. It is possible that these creatures undergo a different type of process to achieve their formation or of similar to that of a human's.
Known Types
- Juvie
- Drone
- Scion
- Scion Boomshot
- Scion Buzzkill
- Scion Dropshot
- Scion Mulcher
- The Speaker
- The Warden
- DeeBees
- Pouncer
- Snatcher
- Carrier
- Canker
- Swarm Flock
- Swarmak
- Hive Beast
Behind the scenes
- The idea of the Swarm existed as early as Epic Games's original version of Gears of War 4; at least one Swarm monster type existed in this version. The Coalition retained the name of "the Swarm," but the nature of the faction itself changed between developers.[2]
- The Swarm have their own race-specific execution in multiplayer, consisting of smashing a COG's face into the ground multiple times before a final head smash that bursts their head.[3]