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The character sheet of Universe At War: Earth Assault.

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Humans

    General Tropes 
The human military forces, caught off guard by the Hierarchy's invasion and otherwise outmatched in every way fail to mount any serious resistance against the Hierarchy's forces. Still faced with the prospect of their own extinction, the human race will fight to the death for the slim chance of victory.
  • America Saves the Day: Hilariously averted, the human race is kicked to the curb in almost every engagement and the US military (although holding out the longest) still fail to put up a decent fight.
  • Curb-Stomp Battle: Constantly on the receiving end of this trope, courtesy of the Hierarchy's superior technology and military, it isn't until they ally with the Novus and the Masari that they start winning and even then it's the latter two that do the heavy lifting.
  • Humans Are Warriors: Orlok notes that the human race refuses to surrender and keeps on fighting to the last man despite already sustaining heavy casualties and losing on every front.
  • Nuclear Weapons Taboo: Broken as the human race reached it Godzilla Threshold. What remains of the human military in North America tries (in a shocking display of strategy and forward thinking) to nuke the Hierarchy's command ships in Earth's orbit. Unfortunately it doesn't work well enough to destroy them before the Hierarchy destroys their launch facilities.

    Characters 

General Randal Moore

A US Marine Corps Colonel leading the remaining US forces in Washington DC. He manages to evacuate the US President from the White House and is rewarded with a promotion to General.


  • Badass in Distress: Gets captured by the Hierarchy after they destroy the Florida nuclear launch facilities. Gets rescued by Prince Zessus and the Masari after he breaks out of the prison facility they were kept.
  • BFG: He wields a huge-ass minigun in the field.
  • Catchphrase: "Aw, hell".
  • Colonel Badass: Initially, he's promoted to General in Mission 2.
  • Deadpan Snarker: How he handles being in over his head in an Alien Invasion and keeps running into increasingly outlandish sites.
  • Embarrassing Nickname: Gets dubbed "General Peasant" by Prince Zessus after his comment that he's "a pissed off peasant" during their first meeting.
  • Four-Star Badass: After his promotion for saving the President.
  • More Dakka: He leads from the front, relying on a huge-ass minigin to keep him alive.
  • Plucky Comic Relief: Thanks to his snarky attitude and repeatedly being caught in over his head.
  • Screw This, I'm Outta Here: His reaction to the Novus showing up is to order his forces to high-tail it out of DC.
  • You Are in Command Now: He leads what's left of the American forces after the Hierarchy's invasion.

Sergeant Woolard

A former Tank Commander that in Moore's words was "dusted out for the fight."


  • Big Damn Heroes: Saves Moore from a pair of Reaper drones in the first mission with his tank brigade. Moore ends up paying him back in the second by sending coppers to cover his retreat from a Walker.
  • More Dakka: is prototype triple-barreled tank can spin its barrels like a Gatling gun and shower a target with rapid shell fire.
  • Tank Goodness: Pilots the aforementioned triple-barreled tank.

Novus

    General Tropes 
The robotic servants of a race rendered near-extinct by the Hierarchy. They are driven to seek vengeance for the deaths of their masters, engaging the Hierachy's forces wherever they are found.
  • Body Uploading: Their Flow Conduit network allows them to not only power their buildings but also swiftly move their troops through it by digitizing them at the flow conduit closest to the origin and reassembling them at the one closest to the destination.
    Will these machines ever cease?!
  • Cool Gate: Their interstellar portals.
  • Everything Is An I Pod In The Future: Their visual design is all white and sleek.
  • Fragile Speedster: As a general rule Novus units are the fastest in the game, but also the least durable. They are even faster with their Flow Conduit network.
  • Mecha-Mooks: An entire race of them.
  • Portal Network: They have a network of interstellar portals, allowing them to swiftly move their forces from one planet to another, however their portals appear to be one-way necessitating they be built on every planet they go to in order to be able to return.
    • Their Flow Conduit network is a smaller-scale version.
  • Roaring Rampage of Revenge: They stop at nothing to avenge their creators, Kamal R'ex even lampshades this.

    Units 

Constructor


  • Worker Unit: Constructors build and repair all Novus structures.

Ohm Robot


  • Cannon Fodder: Ohm Robots are the cheapest and weakest buildable unit in the game. They understand that they are meant to be cannon fodder and see no problem with filling that role.
  • Suicide Attack: The Swarm ability has the Ohm Robot leap at an inorganic, non-hero, non-flying enemy and blow itself up at the face of the target.

Hacker


  • The Cracker: The Hacker can lockdown an inorganic target, preventing that target from moving or acting, take control of a turret, cleanse nearby friendly units of infections and mind control and remove stealth and phasing from nearby enemy units.

Blade Trooper


  • Jet Pack: Blade Troopers use a jetpack to move quickly over long distances.
  • Self-Duplication: Blade Troopers can create two clones from nanites that behave like themselves except they cannot flow, use a speed boost, or activate special abilities.

Variant


Antimatter Tank


  • Hover Tank: The Antimatter Tank is mounted on a mobile, hovering chassis.

Amplifier


  • Dual Mode Unit: The Amplifier can switch between sonic resonator and harmonic pulse modes. The sonic resonator deals damage over time to a ground object, gains power the longer it focuses on said target, and prevents the target from activating special abilities or firing. The harmonic pulse deals high point blank area of effect damage and knocks back infantry, but cannot move while using it.
  • Gathering Steam: The Amplifier's sonic resonator attack gains power the longer it focuses on a target.
  • Reflecting Laser: Cascade Resonance upgrades the Amplifier's beam weapon, allowing it to jump to nearby targets of the same type.
  • Siege Engines: Amplifiers have extraordinarily long range and their weapon is good against structures, allowing them to demolish bases from afar without having to deal with base defences.

Field Inverter


  • Barrier Warrior: In Shield Mode, the Field Inverter erects a shield that absorbs enemy attacks at the cost of its own health.
  • Dual Mode Unit: The Field Inverter can toggle between two modes in which it uses its railgun to attack or its shield to protect other units.
  • Magnetic Weapons: The Field Inverter is designed to manipulate magnetic fields, both to fire metal rounds at enemies and to defend against enemy projectiles.

Corruptor


  • Ray Gun: The Corruptor's main weapon is a laser effective against light targets.
  • See the Invisible: The Corruptor can see through stealth.

Dervish


    Heroes 

Mirabel and Viktor

The sole survivor of her race after the Hierarchy destroyed her homeworld, she was cloned by the Novus from genetic material found by them. Mirabel is a capable military field commander and a powerful asset on the field, being housed inside Viktor, a 50-foot tall mech and her protector and friend.


  • Action Girl: Mirabel is not one to shy away from a fight.
  • All-Loving Hero: She wastes no time developing a kinship with the Humans due to them being the only sapient race they've ever been able to find before the Hierarchy destroyed and sacrifices the security of their portal back to their homeworld to save a few human vilages from the Hierarchy.
  • Artificial Human: She was cloned by the Novus after her species went extinct so that there would at least be some part of them left alive.
  • Commanding Coolness: Has the rank of field commander in the Novus military.
  • Due to the Dead: It's implied that she would preform some ritual to honor the species the Hierarchy destroyed by her comment that she's "tired of digging graves."
  • Human Aliens: Despite being stated that she's an alien, she looks completely human.
  • Lightning Bruiser: Viktor is fast, takes a lot of damage, and can dish out plenty as well.
  • Last of Her Kind: Due to her being cloned long after her species was rendered extinct by the Hierarchy.
  • Never Tell Me the Odds!: Despite talking in gibberish, Mirabel's retorts imply that Viktor is not concerned with being sent to "suicide missions" and is in fact looking forward to them.
  • Shout-Out: Their visual design, abilities, and function together form a blatant homage to Japanese Gundam-type Humongous Mecha.
  • The Unintelligible: Viktor's speech sounds like indecipherable electronic noise that barely even sounds like syllables, but Mirabel always understands him perfectly.

The Founder

The leader of the Novus and the creator of their new purpose, to avenge their creators.


  • Cool, but Inefficient: He's a melee hero but he's less durable than Viktor while dealing less damage. Being able to create Ohm Bots from resources sounds useful on paper but in practice is a waste of resources since most resource piles are worth more than the Ohm Bots his ability creates from them, plus Novus' Collectors can fly and are replaced for free so it's generally better to send them into areas where there might be resources. His ability to turn into a Flow Conduit is situational since the player can easily set up one themselves due to their low cost, though he does have the unique and powerful benefit of being an infinite range conduit to which all other conduits automatically have a direct connection to regardless of distance, eliminating the need to move between more than three conduits to travel between any two points so long as he's in this stance.
  • Enemy Summoner: Can create Ohm Bots from resource piles.
  • Heroic Sacrifice: Dies at the end of the Novus campaign keeping the home portal from destroying Earth and Novus' homeworld.
  • Large and in Charge: The leader of Novus, and is tied with Viktor for their largest machine.
  • The Leader: Of the Novus.

Vertigo

A former guidance software, Vertigo is now a field commander for the Novus, specializing in stealth and information warfare.
  • Body Uploading: His ability to "upload" and "download" objects creates a similar effect.
  • Cool Plane: A jet with a cloaking device, the ability to digitize objects and carry them across the battlefield and to hack into enemy mechanical units and gain control over them.
  • Flat Character: He doesn't play any large role in the campaign so there isn't much to his personality beyond quotes.
  • Fragile Speedster: He's the single fastest-moving unit across all factions (discounting the Hierarchy Monolith's ability to flat-out teleport), but is also the only air unit hero, meaning he gets curb stomped by anti-air defenses just as quickly as any other air unit.
  • Invisibility Cloak: Is equipped with a cloaking device.
  • Single Specimen Species: He seems to be the only unit of his model line Novus ever bothered constructing. Nobody ever comments on this ingame.

Hierarchy

    General Tropes 
A race of Planet Looters who have rampaged throughout the galaxies and exterminated countless races and civilizations. They are currently targeting Earth.

  • Aliens Are Bastards: They Planet Looters who have wiped out a thousand worlds by their boasts, and the Founder states they consume all resources in the galaxy if not stopped.
  • Alien Invasion: A love letter to old-timesy B-movie martians. Crop Circles, abduction of cows and people, and war machines that are either tripedal or disk shaped. Love of nuclear power that leads to ecological devastation and a Zombie Apocalypse cocurrent with their assault.
  • Attack Its Weak Point: Walkers (except the Purifier, which only has a single, huge HP bar) have hardpoints on the hull that must be destroyed in order to reveal their reactor or coolant systems, which, if destroyed, destroys them too. These hardpoints can be strengthened with armor at the cost of additional functionality.
  • Base on Wheels: Or Base On Legs. The Hierarchy leadership sees no point in building permanent structures on planets they are going wipe out, so they use their huge walkers in place of buildings. Even their megaweapon is a giant robot.
  • Curb-Stomp Battle: How their invasion goes until Novus arrives. And they were holding so the invasion would last long enough to draw Novus out, on a normal day humanity would have been wiped out well before Novus arrived.
  • Damage Over Time: They can upgrade their walkers and infantry to have their Plasma Cannons doped with radioisotopes, causing lingering damage.
  • Evil Is Bigger: A trait across the faction. Their units are for the most part bigger than those of Novus and the Massari. That's without taking into account their walkers.
  • Flat Character: They're given a completely bare-bones, paint-by-numbers characterization as an empire of Planet Looters.
  • Flying Saucer: Their strategic transport in campaign/Conquer the World (complete with inexplicable spinning), and a smaller version armed with plasma globules.
  • The Greys: How they look underneath their Powered Armor.
  • Heal Thyself: The Repair Chamber can generate 3 blue plasma orbs like those of a Saucer that repair the host Walker.
  • Lightning Gun: The Arc Turret module fires lightning bolts at enemy aircraft.
  • Mighty Glacier: The Hierarchy units are generally the most powerful but are also the slowest. Their walkers are especially slow, but are the strongest units in the game and can instantly destroy buildings by stepping on them.
  • More Dakka: Loading walkers up with weapon hardpoints. In addition to their main guns, they can also mount an extra gun each leg. Habitat and Assembly Walkers can also mount bigger and stronger guns on their upper hardpoints.
  • Planet Looters: They invade planets and strip mine them once they've wiped out the indigenous life forms.
  • The Unintelligible: Even though their heroes speak intelligible dialogue, most of their units don't.

    Units 

Glyph Carver


  • Crop Circles: Glyph Carvers can create crop circles by carving out glyphs in the ground (not necessarily in crops). These are actually "bar codes" which the orbiting motherships scan and drop/teleport in the appropriate buildings/walkers.
  • Worker Unit: Glyph Carvers 'etch' glyphs on the ground, which are then 'scanned' and then the Walker or building is dropped in.

Reaper Drone


  • Human Resources: Hierarchy Reaper Drones can collect resources from breaking down biological materials, including people, be they alive or dead.
  • Worker Unit: Reaper Drones collect resources by gathering humans, cows and inorganic objects and breaking them down for materials.

Monolith


Detection Drone


  • Defog of War: The Detection Drone's Pulse Scan lifts fog of war and reveals cloaked units and structures in the target area.
  • Status-Buff Dispel: The Detection Drone's Pulse Scan dispels some harmful status effects from allies and phase from enemies.

Grunt


  • Arm Cannon: The Grunt's plasma shotgun is integrated with its right arm.
  • Blood Knight: Grunts seem to enjoy combat, as they will laugh or chuckle when ordered to attack.
  • Pistol-Whipping: When at point-blank range with a hostile infantry unit, the Grunt can use its shotgun as a club to knock back the enemy.
  • Plasma Cannon: Each Grunt is armed with a massive plasma shotgun.

Lost One


  • Conscription: Lost Ones are criminals and psychopaths used by the Hierarchy as cheap Cannon Fodder or for suicide missions.
  • The Greys: A Lost One resembles a classic gray alien, with a massive head, glowing eyes, hunched body with spindly limbs and a plasma pistol.
  • Plasma Cannon: The Lost One is armed with a light plasma pistol.

Brute


  • Dash Attack: When using Charge, a Brute rushes at the target and deals high damage on impact (possibly sending the target flying) but is stunned for 5 seconds afterwards.
  • In a Single Bound: The Brute's strength allows them to leap incredibly long distances.
  • Shockwave Stomp: With Assault Suite 2 researched, a Brute's Leap is upgraded to Death From Above, which creates a large shock wave upon the Brute's impact on the ground.
  • The Speechless: Perhaps due to their extensive mutations, Brutes are unable to speak.

Saucer


  • Dual Mode Unit: The Saucer can toggle between having plasma orbs repair friendly vehicles or attack enemies.
  • Flying Saucer: The Saucer's design is reminiscent of the flying saucers in sci-fi B-movies.
  • Mook Medic: In repair mode, the Saucer's plasma orbs attach to a friendly vehicle and repair it over time.

Defiler


  • Enemy Summoner: The Defiler's radiation can mutate killed humans and Masari into Mutant Slaves.
  • Mook Medic: The Defiler heals friendly infantry with its radiation bleed.
  • Tripod Terror: Defilers are tripods armed with a radiation-based beam cannon that leaves a radiation cloud behind, and their secondary fire mode bleeds nuclear waste, turning organic units into Mutant Slaves.

Phase Tank


  • Hover Tank: Phase Tanks float a short distance above the ground and can traverse almost any terrain and cross deep water with no difficulties.

Habitat Walker


  • Attack Its Weak Point: The Habitat Walker has four crown hardpoints, each of which covers a coolant node. The Walker is destroyed when 2 coolant nodes are eliminated.
  • Cognizant Limbs: The Habitat Walker has 4 body hardpoint sockets and 4 leg hardpoint sockets. When a leg socket is destroyed, the Walker's speed is reduced by 10%. When a body socket is destroyed, a Coolant Node is revealed. If 2 Coolant Nodes are destroyed, the Habitat Walker's core overheats and explodes.
  • Dirty Bomb: The Radiation Artillery module launches a radiation warhead that emits radiation in the area around the point of impact.

Assembly Walker


  • Attack Its Weak Point: The Assembly Walker has three crown hardpoints. The middle one protects the core, while the left and right one cover a pair of shield generators. The shield generators must be destroyed before the core can be attacked.
  • Cognizant Limbs: The Assembly Walker has 3 body hardpoint sockets and 4 leg hardpoint sockets. When a leg socket is destroyed, the Walker's speed is reduced by 10%. Destroying the front panel, left arm, and right arm sockets reveal the Walker's core, left shield generator, and right shield generator respectively. The shield generators must be destroyed before the core may be attacked. When the core is destroyed, the Walker collapses.
  • Ray Gun: The Beam Cannon module fires a powerful beam that sweeps the targeted area, dealing massive direct damage to objects in the line and causing secondary explosions along the ground behind the beam.

Science Walker


  • Attack Its Weak Point: The Science Walker's core is exposed and can always be directly attacked. Instead, it is protected by an energy field that regenerates at a continuous rate and is maintained by three crown hardpoints that can be destroyed. Destroying these will decrease its shield's regenerating rate.
  • Cognizant Limbs: The Science Walker has 3 body hardpoint sockets and 3 leg hardpoint sockets. When a leg socket is destroyed, the Walker's speed is reduced by 10%. The body sockets regenerate the shield that protects the Walker's core from destruction. When one of them is destroyed, shield regeneration is reduced. It is possible to attack the Walker's core directly and destroy it if enough firepower is available.
  • Enemy Exchange Program: The Mind Magnet and Machine Magnet upgrades allow the Science Walker to take control of enemies.

    Heroes 

Kamal R'ex

The Underseer of Hierarchy remote mining operations with clear ambitions to advance beyond his current position. In an attempt to destroy out and destroy Novus, he holds back the Hierarchy invasion on Earth.


  • Ambition Is Evil: Very much so. Leading operations that exterminate planets isn't enough for him, even though he relishes in the destruction. He wants to advance all the way top of the Hierarchy leadership and will sacrifice anything or anything to do.
  • Bad Boss: He sees all soldiers beneath him as existing only the advancement of the Hierarchy and if they die they fulfill their purpose.
  • Big Bad: The leader of the Hierarchy invasion on Earth, though he takes his orders from the Overseers. He's ambitious that he doesn't aim to get promoted to their level, he wants to become their boss.
  • General Ripper: Not only does he hold back his invasion to draw out Novus, he sacrifices his command ship and everything on it just to kill Mirabel and Viktor.
  • Godhood Seeker: Makes several remarks about attaining godhood over the course of the game.
  • It's All About Me: Kamal does nothing to hide his ambitions. He openly boasts about how fighting the Masari will make him a legend and that destroying them will lead to the Overseers promoting him to the leader of the entire Hierarchy.
  • Jerkass: He delights in the extermination of races by the Hierarchy, his own men mean nothing to him and he will gladly sacrifice any number of them for his own advancement.
  • Large Ham: Evil Is Hammy. Almost everything he says involves showing off his massive ego.
  • Psychic Powers: The source of his attacks and abilities.
  • Small Name, Big Ego: He makes several A God Am I remarks, but his official title is the somewhat unimpressive "Underseer of Hierarchy remote mining operations". In the leadership of the Hierarchy, which in his own words is extremely cutthroat, he thinks his victories will lead to the Overseers promoting him to their master.
  • Villainous Valor: He's all about himself, but he's no coward. He's brave enough to face Orlok himself and even when beaten at the end of the campaign he doesn't beg for mercy.
  • Twinkle in the Sky: One of his abilities is an AoE where all affected units are psychically launched into space, and then converted into resources.

Commander Orlok

The officer in charge of the Hierarchy ground troops. On a particularly difficult invasion he was mortally wounded and to prevent the moral blow that would have crippled the invasion, the Overseers put his mind into a giant robot body. While he has led the Hierarchy to countless victories, he has more recently grown to realize how the soldiers of the Hierarchy are seen as expendable tools and remorseful of the world destroyed.
  • A Father to His Men: Hence why the Hierarchy army follows him.
  • Dark Is Not Evil: He's a black painted machine but he's a Noble Top Enforcer who sees the Hierarchy's invasion as the pointless slaughter they and wants to the waste of life in them to stop.
  • The Dragon: To Kamal Rex.
  • Four-Star Badass: The general of the Hierarchy's armies under Kamal.
  • Heel Realization: Has undergone one prior to the game. In his own words he sees the Hierarchy as a disease.
  • Humongous Mecha: Even bigger than Viktor.
  • Large Ham: Not as much as Kamal, but it's pretty clear his able to inspire his men also comes from his use of words and being able to fight.
  • Mighty Glacier: The slowest hero in the game, but also the strongest.
  • My Species Doth Protest Too Much: He used to provide the page quote.
  • Non Indicitive Name: Assault "Mode" is really just a specific cooldown attack of his, as he immediately uses up all of his ammo when he enters it and automatically exits it aftwerards.
  • Shoulder Cannon: His main weapon is a back mounted one.
  • The Starscream: A heroic example. He starts plotting with Nufai to overthrow Kamal, and eventually the Overseers. Fails after being beaten by Kamal and Nufai turns on him.
  • Unusual Weapon Mounting: Assault Mode involves him firing artillery shells out of the top of his head.

Commander Nufai

An alien whose planet was invaded by the Hierarchy. Seeing the invaders were going to win he betrayed his race in exchange for a position in Hierarchy leadership. He still looks out for the best opportunity for his own advancement.

Masari

    General Tropes 
An ancient race of godlike aliens, the Masari took pity on the aliens who would one day become the Heirarchy. The Heirarchy attacked them, slaughtering most of them. The Masari escaped in a city-sized starship and went into hiding on Earth.

  • A God Am I: Their air force consists of angel mechs. Their vehicles are based off of the angelic machine Ezikiel witnessed when he met God. Their Architects even say that "We are gods once more!"
  • Crippling Overspecialization: Great against vehicle-heavy armies, not so much against infantry.
  • Damage Over Time: In Light mode, their basic attacks set enemies on fire.
  • Dark Is Not Evil: They can switch between Light and Dark alignments. In Dark mode, they become a Stone Wall, and their attacks slow the enemy.
  • Deflector Shields: In Dark mode, they gain a regenerating layer of Dark Matter that ablatively deflects incoming harm.
  • Human Aliens: They look like middle-eastern people.
  • Humanity on Trial: They noticed that Earth has gotten a lot more hydrocarbons in the atmosphere since they went to bed, and they're not happy about it. What they plan to do isn't stated because they are too busy with the Hierarchy.
  • Large Ham: A hat for them. The see themselves as gods and talk the part.
  • Royals Who Actually Do Something: The Queen, the Prince, and their most trusted advisor constitute their trio of Hero Units.
  • Sufficiently Advanced Aliens: They're able to turn energy into matter at-will (albeit slowly).

    Units 

Architect


  • Worker Unit: Architects can build, repair Masari structures and boost the speed at which they are built or work. They can also boost the firing range and rate of turrets.

Disciple


  • Anti-Vehicle: Unlike other basic infantry, Disciples are particularly effective against vehicles and walkers, but quite ineffective against other infantry.

Seer


  • Defog of War: Instead of attacking an enemy, the Seer creates a link that provides access to the target's vision.
  • See the Invisible: The Seer can see through stealth.
  • Status-Buff Dispel: The Seer's aura cleanses friendly units and structures of mind control and virus infections.

Sentry


Conqueror


Figment


  • Trap Master: The Figment can lay a mine, which deals damage in Light Mode and briefly immobilises enemy units in Dark Mode.

Peacebringer


  • Fixed Forward-Facing Weapon: The Peacebringer has no turret and must turn the whole vehicle to face a different target.
  • Mighty Glacier: The Peacebringer is slow, but can crush smaller vehicles, and its main gun can fire at air units, making it an anti-everything-that-moves unit. It can get an extra bit of firepower if its tractor beam, which normally just slows units down, gets upgraded to a disintegrator.

Inquisitor


  • Status-Buff Dispel: The Inquisitor's Destabilize removes all status effects from the target unit.

Sky Lord


  • Siege Engines: The Sky Lord is a heavy-hitting artillery unit. It pummels enemy ground targets with powerful energy blasts but often needs escort units for covering fire.

Avenger


  • Emergency Weapon: Avengers are armed with a simple pistol-like weapon that can help shoot down aircraft, but is too weak to fight back against actual combat units.
  • Multiple Life Bars: When any crewed Masari vehicle is destroyed, there is a chance that an Avenger (the pilot or driver) will emerge from the wreckage. If Balance 2 is researched, Architects can heal Avengers to rebuild their vehicle.

    Heroes 

Queen Altea

Price Zessus


  • Half-Human Hybrid: Zessus was the result of an unusual union between his mother and a human consort that she had fallen in love with.

Lord Charos

The leader of the Masari armies.

  • Flat Character: He only appears in a couple scenes so he doesn't get much development.
  • Four-Star Badass: He is the general of the Masari's army and their offensive hero, being the strongest one in a direct fight.

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