History VideoGame / Starsiege

* IDidWhatIHadToDo: Most of Petresun's scheming and empire-building was for the purposes of defending humanity from Prometheus and ITS minions. This was also the driving force behind the Fortification Proclamation--which included the stripping of colonial resources. Petresun reasoned that Earth was far more valuable to human survival then Mars, Venus, or the outer moons. [[LaResistance For obvious reasons, this didn't sit well with a lot of people.]]

* LargeHam: In ''[=EarthSiege=]'' 2, Gierling has a MASSIVE amount of this to throw at the player, complete with overacting gestures and expressions, if they fail a mission or do particularly poorly (Such as allowing their HERC to come back falling apart or squadmates to die.) to the point of comedy.
-->'''General Gierling:''' That mission was a '''''COMPLETE''''' disaster! ''Whose side are you on, anyway?!''

* ReportsOfMyDeathWereGreatlyExaggerated: The Imperial Police once made a news report that they killed Harabec in a raid. But Harabec revealed that he is still alive, and says the trope himself.

* TheRevolutionWillNotBeCivilized: The Martian rebels are not magnanimous in victory, and waste no time in giving Imperial Security Director Ernesto Navarre a [[KillItWithFire candlegun]] [[FacialHorror facial]] once they get their hands on him. He ruled by [[AssholeVictim violence and terror]], however, so it [[PayEvilUntoEvil wasn't a surprising outcome]].

* BodySurf: The "Immortals" do this, transferring into new bodies periodically when their old ones aren't good anymore. Petresun refuses to do this because each surf causes the user to take on traits of the host, so he instead lives on life support to avoid that.

* BigGood: General Ambrose Gierling, supreme commander of the Terran Defence Force, was the BigGood of The Fire--he is, in fact, your commanding officer in both ''[=EarthSiege=]'' games. In ''Starsiege'' he is practically the patron saint of the TDF with an entire space fortress named for him; the Cybrids, too, remember him as a particularly dangerous "predator" instrumental in the evolution of "the NEXT."
** Petresun was also a Big Good in the time of the ''[=EarthSiege=]'' games--but it is only in Starsiege's {{Retcon}} that [[GreaterScopeParagon we learn of his role during The Fire.]] He and his Immortals are probably who Gierling refers to whenever talking about the TDF's Intelligence unit. In the Compendium we learn that Petresun worked very hard to save humanity from his rebel creation, and this is what makes him a FallenHero by the time of ''Starsiege''.

* AlwaysChaoticEvil: Cybrid society has an entire caste dedicated to the experimentation on and torture of humans--the Dissector Sect. The splinter faction of "Metagens" are the only Cybrids shown not intent on exterminating humanity. They're given a very brief role in a Cybrid-only mission, in which they are fighting both Cybrid and human forces while trying to make an escape. Individual attitudes toward humanity by Metagens appear to differ--some do not regard humans as even warranting any attention by their species, while others admire "human" activities such as art and seek to emulate them.

* ImmortalRuler: EmperorScientist Solomon Petresun lived and ruled Earth for at least several centuries via BrainUploading technology he and his company, Sentinel Cybertronix, had invented before The Fire. Those that worked with him on this project have also joined him in immortality.

* OrcusOnHisThrone: Prometheus spent the last two wars hidden away from the frontlines, and avoids fighting on its own. When cornered on his main base on Pluto, it comes out to fight the humans personally.

* PlutoIsExpendable: [[spoiler:End of the human campaign.]]

** Petresun was also a Big Good in the time of the ''[=EarthSiege=]'' games--but it is only in Starsiege's {{Retcon}} that we learn of his role during The Fire. He and his Immortals are probably who Gierling refers to whenever talking about the TDF's Intelligence unit. In the Compendium we learn that Petresun worked very hard to save humanity from his rebel creation, and this is what makes him a FallenHero by the time of ''Starsiege''.

* KarmaHoudini: Prometheus is capable of such precise statistical calculation that IT can essentially predict the short-term future, which is what allowed IT to escape destruction during The Fire. [[spoiler: Prometheus manages this ''again'' at the end of the Human campaign--though IT is destroyed, [[FlingALightIntoTheFuture IT sends out Cybrid agents in the hopes of resurgence.]]]] Given what goes on in the ''{{VideoGame/CyberStorm}}'' and ''{{VideoGame/Tribes}}'' series, this didn't entirely work.

* TheEmpire: The full name of Emperor Petresun's empire is the Great Human Empire. [[HundredPercentAdorationRating This empire formed peaceably and with unanimous approval, with Petresun essentially putting the issue to a vote]]. The problems came later--see IDidWhatIHadToDo below.

* AwesomeMomentOfCrowning: Caanon Weathers is crowned [[TheEmperor Emperor]] sometime following the events of this game--this is mostly inferred from supplementary information in ''VideoGame/StarsiegeTribes'' about the Blood Eagles. "One story claims that the ancient Emperor Caanon I, on his deathbed, sent the Blood Eagle to find his immortal brother the Phoenix and return with him to Terra." The sanctioned (but canceled) FanSequel ''Starsiege: 2845'' was going to expand on this, with Caanon being crowned Emperor after Imperial forces retook Nova Alexandria and confirmed that the Cybrids left no trace of Petresun. ''SS: 2845'', in fact, would have focused on "The Chase," a star-hopping crusade led by now-Emperor Caanon to exterminate the fleeing Cybrids--which in turn would link to the ''VideoGame/{{Cyberstorm}}'' series.

* AwesomeMomentOfCrowning: According to trace elements of WordOfGod, Caanon Weathers is crowned [[TheEmperor Emperor]] sometime following the events of this game. He leads a crusade to track down the remaining Cybrids.

* BlueBlood: As part of the dictates of his new Empire, Petresun restored a system of nobility. However, only those who had earned their keep during the ''[=EarthSieges=]s'' and their families would hold this honor, and each new generation would have to earn it anew.

When Hi-Rez Studios (the makers of ''{{VideoGame/Smite}}'', ''{{VideoGame/Paladins}}'', and ''VideoGame/GlobalAgenda'') acquired the IP rights to the entire ''Metaltech'' franchise, they happily made this game (and much of the franchise, excepting ''Battledrome'' and the ''VideoGame/CyberStorm'' games) [[http://www.tribesuniverse.com/ available for the entire internet as freeware.]] In 2023, an offshoot of Hi-Rez called Prophecy Studios planned to revive ''Starsiege'' franchise again, but so far their titles (''[[https://www.playdeadzone.com/ Starsiege: Deadzone]]'' and ''Starsiege: Raiders'') are {{Distant Sequel}}s without any gameplay connection to ''Starsiege''.

When Hi-Rez Studios (the makers of ''{{VideoGame/Smite}}'', ''{{VideoGame/Paladins}}'', and ''VideoGame/GlobalAgenda'') acquired the IP rights to the entire ''Metaltech'' franchise, they happily made this game (and much of the franchise, excepting ''Battledrome'' and the ''VideoGame/CyberStorm'' games)[[http://www.tribesuniverse.com/ available for the entire internet as freeware.]] In 2023, an offshoot of Hi-Rez called Prophecy Studios planned to revive ''Starsiege'' franchise again, but so far their titles (''[[https://www.playdeadzone.com/ Starsiege: Deadzone]]'' and ''Starsiege: Raiders'') are {{Distant Sequel}}s without any gameplay connection to ''Starsiege''.

When Hi-Rez Studios (the makers of ''{{VideoGame/Smite}}'', ''{{VideoGame/Paladins}}'', and ''VideoGame/GlobalAgenda'') acquired the IP rights to the entire ''Metaltech'' franchise, they happily made this game (and much of the franchise, excepting ''Battledrome'' and the ''VideoGame/CyberStorm'' games)[[http://www.tribesuniverse.com/ available for the entire internet as freeware.]] In 2023, an offshoot of Hi-Rez called Prophecy Studios is reviving the ''Starsiege'' franchise again, but so far their planned titles (''[[https://www.playdeadzone.com/ Starsiege: Deadzone]]'' and ''Starsiege: Raiders'') are {{Distant Sequel}}s without any gameplay connection to ''Starsiege''.

When Hi-Rez Studios (the makers of ''{{VideoGame/Smite}}'', ''{{VideoGame/Paladins}}'', and ''VideoGame/GlobalAgenda'') acquired the IP rights to the entire ''Metaltech'' franchise, they happily made this game (and much of the franchise, excepting ''Battledrome'' and the ''VideoGame/CyberStorm'' games)[[http://www.tribesuniverse.com/ available for the entire internet as freeware.]] More recently, an offshoot of Hi-Rez called Prophecy Studios is reviving the ''Starsiege'' franchise again, but so far their planned titles (''[[https://www.playdeadzone.com/ Starsiege: Deadzone]]'' and ''Starsiege: Raiders'') are {{Distant Sequel}}s without any gameplay connection to ''Starsiege''.

When Hi-Rez Studios (the makers of ''{{VideoGame/Smite}}'', ''{{VideoGame/Paladins}}'', and ''VideoGame/GlobalAgenda'') acquired the IP rights to the entire ''Metaltech'' franchise, they happily made the entire Franchise (with the notable exceptions of ''Battledrome'' and the ''VideoGame/CyberStorm'' games), including this game, [[http://www.tribesuniverse.com/ available for the entire internet as freeware.]] More recently, an offshoot of Hi-Rez called Prophecy Studios is reviving the ''Starsiege'' franchise again, but so far their planned titles (''[[https://www.playdeadzone.com/ Starsiege: Deadzone]]'' and ''Starsiege: Raiders'') are {{Distant Sequel}}s without any gameplay connection to ''Starsiege''.

The entire ''Metaltech'' franchise is currently owned by Hi-Rez Studios, the makers of ''{{VideoGame/Smite}}'', ''{{VideoGame/Paladins}}'', and ''VideoGame/GlobalAgenda'', and they have happily made the entire Franchise (with the notable exceptions of ''Battledrome'' and the ''VideoGame/CyberStorm'' games), including this game, [[http://www.tribesuniverse.com/ available for the entire internet as freeware!]] You have no reason not to play it now, so get to downloading!

* ShootTheDog: In a setting in which humanity fights tooth and nail against an inevitable metal tide, many cases of this are to be expected. Caanon Weathers' actions during the Cybrid campaign particularly stand out. Instead of going to Venus to rescue refugees for the Dies Irae program, he (and Harabec) go to Earth to help fight against the Cybrid invasion. When the Cybrids step up their Trojan Horse program, in spite of the Emperor providing scanning equipment to identify Cybrid brains in human bodies, he orders the TDF to shoot on sight any refugees from territory held by the Cybrids as the TDF doesn't have the resources to scan every refugee. In a more literal "shoot the dog" case, when the Cybrids unleash a "nanophage" plague and use "non-human animals" as an infection vector, Caanon orders a killzone around every remaining city and base camp, and to shoot anything that moves.

* MerryChristmasInGotham: It's ''really' debatable whether the "Last Christmas on Mars" counts as this or a TwistedChristmas. On one hand, everyone across Mars, Imperial and rebel, duster and dirtborn, came together on Christmas Eve in 2829. (The Human Alliance had already formed earlier in the year, so it wasn't quite a HolidayCeasefire.) On the other, it was not a pleasant affair--the fragment of the Cybrid Armada heading for Mars would be arriving shortly after the new year. So rather than joy and good cheer, people on Mars prayed, wept, or stood silently with their thoughts--and kept their eyes on the skies, toward Earth and the impending Cybrid invasion.

** The [=StormKeepers=] ([=[SK]=]) get mentioned in both the Scannex and Timeline as the Stormkeeper Order, an enigmatic organization that seems to better understand Cybrid society more than other human groups. (This seems to reflect the squad's [[http://www.jump-gate.com/xacom/starsiege/about.htm lore for themselves]] fairly well.)

** The New Terran Defense Force--to hear them tell it--are actually descended from survivors of a TDF rescue expedition that crashed on an orbital station near Neptune. (The [[PromotedFanBoy original player organization]], though, [[http://web.archive.org/web/20000106011552fw_/http://ntdf.com/Heritage/index.htm claimed descent from the player's team]] in ''[=EarthSiege 2=]''.) The Empire hires their services to act as a garrison on Titan, rather than stationing actual TDF forces there. (Aside from the Long Patrol, that is.)

** The New Terran Defense Force--to hear them tell it--are actually descended from survivors of a TDF rescue expedition that crashed on an orbital station near Neptune. (The original player squad, though, [[http://web.archive.org/web/20000106011552fw_/http://ntdf.com/Heritage/index.htm claimed descent from the player squad]] in ''[=EarthSiege 2=]''.) The Empire hires their services to act as a garrison on Titan, rather than stationing actual TDF forces there. (Aside from the Long Patrol, that is.)