Violence - Detour : DESTRUCTIVE RHAPSODY

LOCATION: The Violent Night Ferry is the ship that goes through the blood red tides of Phlegethon with Rudashka as the current Ferryman and captain of this ship. Like most other Ferrymen, Rudashka had to earn this ferry in a deathbattle with the Ferryman that was the current owner of said ferry. It resembles a cruiseship, with a dark hull and floors out of dark hardwood. On the inside, it is very polished, with dim lighting, golden trims and red carpets layed across the floor. The ship posses a large bar area, complete with a second story on which a Stray playing a piano can be found along with other seats. The cellar, which harbors the drinks for the bar and the shelves are stocked with many beverages and barrels. There's of course guest rooms for people who stay longer than just one trip on the ferry or when their destination takes some time to get to. The hallways are large and harbor many murals and paintings, such as paintings of the glorious Archangel Gabriel, fight scenes between Rudashka and the former Ferryman wich are also pressent as stutes. A library with contains very large bookshelfs which reach the cealing so there's definitly a book for everyone. Last are the dinning areas which are spacious in design and there're large comunal areas too to meet a friend or just relax there.

HUSKS: Husks are physical manifestations of the souls of the damned.

The physical form is based on the value of the original soul, which is determined by the strength of its will and its prevalence in public consciousness: the living souls that remember it. Husks varey in appearance and strength as there are many different types of Husks.

Filth: Filth are the lowest form of Husk, whose souls were too weak and unimportant to even form a complete physical body. Filth mostly charge mindlessly at their opponents, with them only being able to lunge at them due to their lack of arms. Even among Husks, they have the lowest intelligence, driven purely by hunger. Filth appear as rather short emaciated humanoids that lack arms, eyes, and noses. Their only facial feature is a large gaping mouth lined with jagged teeth, used to bite and tear. Their flesh is greyish brown, with dried blood covering their bodies.

Stray: While their tall stature may seem intimidating, Strays are afraid of most danger and will try to stay at a safe distance, only attacking via projectiles formed with Hell Energy.

Although controlling and manifesting this energy is a complicated task, Strays have very low intelligence and are only able to do so via pure instinct. Strays are tall, skeletal humanoids. Their bloody muscle and bones are exposed, giving them a notable red color, and they seem to lack internal organs and eyes.

Soldier: Soldiers are an augmented version of Strays, whose technological implants have been scavenged from broken machines to channel Hell Energy with greater efficiency, instead of one orb Soldiers can channcel 4-6 orbs of Hellenergy simultainiously.

This increase in power gives Soldiers more self-confidence, causing them to act more aggressively than normal Strays.

Despite the enhancements, their intelligence remains low. Soldiers are an improved iteration of the Stray, with new attacks and mechanical additions such as an arm cannon, a metallic mask, and a mechanical leg. They also appear to be cleaner, with less blood smearing them, and their body appearing whiter. They are also slightly smaller than Strays, which curriously indicates that there are different size ranges within Strays.

Schism: A Schism is the result of two souls attempting to manifest in the same space, causing an amalgamation of two physical bodies.

Due to the doubled body mass, they’re quite resilient to damage, but have very poor motor control and thus cannot aim with any degree of accuracy, resorting to barrages of energy orbs in the general direction of their opponent. These Hellorbs, however, appear to be chained together by residual Hellenergy from the Schisms attack, macking them rather dangerous despite their obvious weaknesses. Schisms appear to be horribly mutated humanoids with an irregular amount of limbs, featuring two flimsy left arms. Their right arm has an energy cannon fixated onto it that appears to merge with its thick fleshy arm; the creature's skull is merged with the shoulder of this arm. They also have a mechanical device inside their chest cavity. Schisms appear to be horribly mutated humanoids with an irregular amount of limbs, featuring two flimsy left arms. Their right arm has an energy cannon fixated onto it that appears to merge with its thick fleshy arm; the creature's skull is merged with the shoulder of this arm. They also have a mechanical device inside their chest cavity.

Sisyphean Insurrectionist: The Insurrectionist is a large light-brown human-like Husk with a large cut across the body, leaving it without a head or right arm. The husk only wears white loincloth for clothes. Below its fragmented ribcage, large incisor teeth appear to be growing out of its open wound. The feet are soaked in blood, allowing it to travel the dunes of Greed without injury. Its left arm is stretched and clutches an allegedly-deceased Malicious Face, which will still give fresh blood when damaged. Insurrectionists are physicly powerfull, with them being able to haul and smash the Malicious Face to the ground or in their opponent's direction, despite them possessing no head they retain theor spacial awareness. Furthermore, they can also jump large distances being able to haul their boulder from above or directly bodyslam into their opponent.

Stalker: Stalkers are shriveled, dark grey humanoids with spindly legs and a perpetually hunched appearance, appearing to walk backwards with its head completely reversed. They are clothed in gold-lined black cloth that hangs downward from their side, with golden rings that circle around their wrists and legs. The Stalker's head is covered by a hood and a gas mask with yellow lenses and a long oxygen tube that dangles from the mouth. It carries around a big cylindrical bomb on its "back", trembling as it shambles towards other enemies. When detonating this bomb, the Stalker dies as it's frail body can't withstand the force, making them a sort of kamikaze fighters when they cover other husks, demons or even machines in sand. This sand actually hinders blood from escaping injuries as the sand acts as a sort of coat which blocks the way of blood when injuries occur.

About the Red Ferryman: Appearance wise, Rudashka is a tall skeleton who has absolutely no flesh to speak of, even double the hight of the average Ferryman. They, like other Ferrymen before them, have chosen to rend their sinful flesh from their bones in pure hatred of their human form. For they do indeed hate the fact that they were human. Their very body is a reminder of the fact that their transgressions barred them from Heaven. It is anathema to the faithful. This particular Ferryman has dark red bones, which is very rare and unusual as the majority have blue to a deep teal in colouration. Their bones were not always so colorful, but exposure to the holy cloth they wear has changed them over time. Their wrists are girded with thick golden bracers and their ankles have matching golden greaves. The white cloth shields their upper body, for it is draped over their head and shoulders with the longer parts extending down to cover their torso and their pelvic bones. Their cloth is secured to their body by a heavy golden band that rests upon their shoulders. The back of the band has a half moon crescent extending from the back of it that gives the Ferryman the appearance of having a halo. It is a poor replacement for the real thing, for nothing could compare to the radiant halos of Heaven. But like any good servant, they soldier on regardless of the reminder of that which they were not good enough for.

In terms of combat, they are exceedingly good at beating absolute stuffing out of other Husks with their oar if they really have to. Given the savage nature of their inheritance system, it’s only right that they are good fighters. Any Ferryman seen steering a ship is one who has won their right to ferry through battle. The bones may look frail, but they pack a decent punch and they are capable of summoning bolts of lightning down upon those who engage them carelessly. Their combos are deceptively fast and they are very good at spacing when it comes to the sort of distance they’d like to keep between themselves and their foe.

Aside from that, their nature is aimless devotion mixed with an abundance of blind faith. With humanity extinct, there are no souls left to ferry. None to pay passage with a gold coin or perhaps to order another's drink at their built in bar for the passengers, save perhaps for the odd machine or two. The Ferryman doesn’t discriminate against the robots if they’re willing to pay. Though they will not hesitate to put them down if they choose violence first. For all that they believe in the holiness of Heaven, there is no real order left to serve. Wrath has become a sea, for the river Styx is now the Ocean Styx. There is no water to speak of. Only death and millions upon millions of writhing souls. Well, there is the Leviathan. That suffering creature is a menace, but it is not really relevant.

This Ferryman in particular has left Wrath and primarily ferries across the river of boiling blood, Phlegethon in the Violence Layer of Hell. While other Ferrymen continue carving statues to show their devotion, this one has found a much better first hand purpose. That being that these small Statues grant a protective light, which won't let any harm to the one these statues bless unless they are destroyed first.

DEMONS: Demons are creatures born from the mass of Hell. They are most easily recognizable by their hard stone-like exterior and slow movement.

Demons have higher intelligence than Husks, but are still incapable of rational thought and communication. No demons have been able to pass the mirror test, though studies are limited due to their hostility.

Malicious Face: Malicious Faces are the most common type of demon, but are incredibly dangerous, especially in swarms, due to their mastery of the use of Hell Energy as a weapon. They fire barages of Hellorbs or shoot a singular laser with causes an explosion at the contact point. Malicious Faces appear to be fairly large stone heads with faces carved onto them. Though at first glance they seem to float in the air, a closer look reveals that they stand on four translucent, spider-like limbs. Upon death, these limbs seem to disappear, causing the head to drop down onto the ground.

Cerberus: Although they do not resemble the mythological three-headed dog, this name was chosen due to their nature as protectors of Hell. However, it’s not yet known why some stay dormant despite provocation.

Despite the fact that keeping an energy orb stable takes a considerable amount of focus and effort, they seem to always keep one in hand, most likely as a display of their power to scare off intruders.

Cerberi are massive, featureless humanoids with stone-like skin. They hold a yellow-orange energy orb which they can throw at foes. They serve as the guardians of Hell, even guarding the door bearing the famous quote from Dante's Inferno: "Abandon hope all ye who enter here." The majority of Cerberi are completely dormant, little more than motionless statues. In this state, the Cerberus will remain stationary on its pedestal, pondering its energy orb. Cerberi rely more on brute strength rather than taktical assessment to overwhelm their opponents. Due to their physical prowess, they mostly stomp the ground, creating shockwaves or tackle their opponents head on by dashing into them. Though, they'll not shy away from using their energy ball and throw it which explodes upon contact with the ground or walls. If there are more than one Cerberi in the current encounter, and one of them dies, all remaining active Cerberi will become Enraged, moving and attacking much faster. This Enraged state is permanent, lasting until death. Enraged Cerberi can fall off ledges when attacking, meaning they can be tricked into falling into Hazards, like open holes or ledges that leads to a fall off area.

Idol: Although they can easily be mistaken to be of divine origin, Idols were created using the same process as other demons. Unlike their larger kin, their shells were too small to contain a useful amount of Hell Mass, creating life, but leaving it unable to move or act.

The Idols did not originally look divine, but were painstakingly carved to such shapes by Ferrymen who collected them during travels across the layers of Hell. This was done as both an act of compassion and as a tribute to angels, particularily Gabriel, whom Ferrymen believe to have similarily granted them mercy.

Close proximity to a Ferryman's holy cloth during the long and arduous carving process caused its holy power to seep into them, allowing them to continue the chain of compassion by protecting others from physical harm.

It is fortunate for them that Gabriel is the only angel of Heaven's higher order to watch over Hell, since if the Council had found out about such beings, they would have been labelled perversions of the divine form and ordered to be destroyed by the Ferrymen who so lovingly had granted them a chance at life.

Idols are statues of a robed figure cradling a child, resembling Mother Mary and the infant Jesus Christ, though Jesus is confirmed to not exist in universe. The head of the statue is encompassed in a radiant blue light. They contain a large spiraling base that tends to be concealed beneath the floor. When active, the Idol will shine a light on the blessed enemy, as well as turning to face their current threat. Blessed enemies can be identified by a white glow, a blue sheen covering their body, and a beam of light connecting the enemy to the Idol. This blessed state does not make the enemy immune to knockback from weapons or crushing hazards, including a Malicious Face's falling corpse, providing potential options for killing a blessed enemy. Piercing shots will also go straight through blessed enemies, dealing damage to those behind them. Using a grapple will also not wrok as it passes through both the Idol and the enemy it blesses.

Mannequin: During the departure of the angels after the Disappearance of God, many sinners attempted to escape the Violence layer, braving the labyrinth that lay at its edges, thinking they could find a way out in the absence of Heaven's wardens.

The fools who attempted would realize far too late that angels were not all that kept them from freedom, as the Garden of Forking Paths is no ordinary labyrinth, but with malicious intent, overseen with cunning cruelty.

The halls, similar enough to give no sense of direction, but different enough to grant no familiarity, would eventually exhaust each escapee, and as they fell into a deep sleep, their metamorphosis began.

Each sinner was torn apart joint by joint, their broken and shattered limbs shoved into hollow statues, starting them to life as the flesh and blood of Mannequins.

The gift of death is a rare privilege in Hell, so sinners who attempted to control their fate now lie in eternal agony, unable to now control even their own bodies, which now continue to carry on the same punishment to other unfortunate fools.

Mannequins have a white, humanoid, vaguely feminine body stained with blood, which leaks from the joints in their exterior. The most prominent feature is their upside down face, which has a neutral expression. The Mannequin's limbs are made up of multiple arms holding onto each other, the end point of their arm consisting of two merged hands splitting out. Their feet are also replaced by hands held by hands. When near an inactive Mannequin, faint breathing noises can be heard within them.

Mannequins are very fast combatants, being able to clear large amounts of distance in a fraction of a second by crawling on the ground in a spider-like fashion. They can also freely climb and crawl on walls and ceilings. Mannequins are additionally able to launch themselves to the ceiling where they attack with projectiles at a distance. However, when standing upright on the ground, Mannequins walk around at the same speed as a Schism. Notably, they are affected by knockback slightly.

Mannequins can fire a single homing Hell Energy projectile identical to Mindflayer projectiles. This projectile starts out slow, but speeds up as it travels through the air. The projectiles can be interrupted, although the charging projectile needs to be targeted directly.

If close enough, Mannequins will tend to engage in hand-to-hand combat, dealing a two-hit combo melee attack.

MACHINES: Origanlly, they were used in warfare using blood of the soldiers as fuel. At first machines were deployed against people, the soldiers in war, after that, a machine built to counter the first one was deployed, leaving human soldiers obselete and thus the armsrace of autonamous warmachines began. The conflict spiraled out of control as it lasted 200 years with humanity barely surviving. After that an era of peace was established, though blood powered machines were still the norm, now being used for securty rather than bloodshed. During this time mankind discovered the gates of Hell and embarked on exploring Hell's interal layout with humanity looking for energy sources. Now though, mankind is dead, the earth is still in ruins and there's no more blood on the surface so the machines head to Hell to gather blood in order to continue functioning.

Drone: A mass-produced security device built as both a surveillance camera and a security guard.

Though originally built to only use non-lethal ammunition, they have scavenged parts from the defunct machines on the surface for greater efficiency at collecting blood.

Curious by nature, but to keep production costs low, their intelligence is very limited. Drones are small, purple machines with a single hot pink eye, accompanied by glowing pink lines on the sides resembling blush. They will occasionally make chirping noises.

Drones are aerial enemies that will slowly move toward the player until they are at medium range. If approached, they will quickly back away until they are at medium range once more. Drones will frequently dash from side to side, which makes them hard targets to hit. However, they dash on a random basis and do not dodge in reaction to any attacks.

Their primary attack consists of three Hell Energy projectiles that fly in a vertical column toward the player. It is telegraphed by particles around the drone accompanied by a short charging sound, with the drone changing the color of its eye and face lines to orange. During this charging window, the Drone can be parried by hitting its body. The projectiles themselves can also be parried.

When killed, a Drone will fly toward their target in a suicide dive attack, exploding on contact. In this state, the Drone can be parried to redirect it into other enemies, or can be shot to make it explode prematurely. Sufficient damage or an explosion will bypass this kamikaze attack, causing the Drone to instantly explode.

Streetcleaner: Originally built as a way to purify the tainted air of cities after the climate catastrophe, Streetcleaners were made obsolete during the New Peace, and were repurposed as scouts for Hell expeditions.

However, their urge to clean remained, and after the fall of mankind, they began burning any organic matter they came across in an effort to purify the world. Streetcleaners are black and brown humanoid robots. Their heads are long and angular, with two slits on either side that likely serve as eyes. They have hazard stripes on their According to recent chest and red markings on their upper arms. Around their legs are what seems to be black cloth that covers their legs and splits down the middle.

Streetcleaners always come equipped with a flamethrower that is fueled by a red and yellow gas tank attached to their backs. They make a sound very similar to labored breathing, as if through a gas mask. Upon death, they make a distinct "beep" noise. When blown up via their gas tank, this death noise has a warbling tone to it.

Streetcleaners will constantly chase the player on foot, trying to get within close range in order to effectively flame them down. Their flame attack is signified by a blue flash before the fire spews out, dealing continuous damage as they track the player with the flames. When moving far enough out of range, the flames will cease. The fire from the Streetcleaner's flamethrower cannot be parried.

Streetcleaners have the unique ability of being able to dodge projectiles fired by the player. When a projectile is about to hit them, they quickly dodge to the side. This dodging ability has a cooldown of three seconds, during which the Streetcleaner is no longer able to dodge projectiles. In addition to projectiles, Streetcleaners also dodge grapples from grablinghook like weapons and ground slams and shockwaves.

In addition to its dodging, the Streetcleaner is unable to be directly hit by Core Eject Shotgun cores and Rocket Launcher rockets from the front. When making contact with a core or rocket, the Streetcleaner will knock aside the projectile with its right arm. This ability has no cooldown. Despite this, the Streetcleaner is still vulnerable if it is caught in the explosion after deflection.

The gas tank on the Streetcleaner's back is a weak point, and can be shot to make the Streetcleaner explode, instantly killing it and damaging nearby enemies, including the player. The gas canister is still able to explode after the Streetcleaner's death, even if gibbed. Killing the Streetcleaner by splattering it, either by crushing it with a ground slam or causing it to take fatal fall damage, will always result in an explosion.

Swordsmachine: The Swordsmachine is a large, humanoid machine with a tall rectangular head. Its armor is painted yellow with black joints, with a damaged, burnt appearance that is likely caused by battling with the residents of Hell. Its eyes are on the top of its head, mismatched in positioning, which glow blue. Its lower right arm is a Shotgun, despite it having a handle and trigger. Held in its left hand is a large sword that constantly revs with the sound of a motor. As the Swordsmachine swings this sword, it glows orange and leaves behind a lingering yellow trail of light.

The Swordsmachine makes vocalizations as it gets hurt. When hit, it produces a robotic "grunt" noise. When fighting for an extended time and taking too much damage, it falls to one knee and makes a pained keening noise. When one of its melee attacks is parried, it Enrages and produces an extended, high-pitched whirring noise. Upon death, it lets out a beep identical to a Streetcleaner. When parried, the Swordsmachine will be stunned and Enrage, letting out an angry screeching noise and turning red. When enraged, its attacks are faster and performed more frequently, though a Swordsmachine will only use its melee attacks while enraged. Enraged Swordsmachines can also fall off ledges. Its Rage eventually runs out, ending early if it transitions to its second phase. However, parrying an already Enraged Swordsmachine will extend the duration of the Rage, rather than stunning it again.

Its original form is unrecognisable after years of scavenging scrap and rebuilding itself, but among scrapheads, the Swordsmachine is quite famous due to its combat prowess and selfmade[sic] form, ugly to most but beautiful to enthusiasts, spawning many copycats.

It wields a selfmade sword with a motor on it that, when revved, will heat the blade, cutting through most organic matter with ease.

Due to its possessive hoarding behavior, it's one of the few machines still capable of vocalization -- an ability most have discarded for more efficient resource management.

The Swordsmachine is incredibly fast, relentlessly chasing its target on foot. It has two phases; in the first phase, the Swordsmachine will attack the player at range with a Shotgun and try to close the distance to use its sword. After the Swordsmachine takes sufficient damage, it will lose its Shotgun and transition into phase two, gaining a new variety of attacks with its sword. While transitioning into phase two, the Swordsmachine will be stunned for a moment, leaving it vulnerable. In its first phase, the Swordsmachine has three attacks: a three-hit sword swing combo performed within melee range, a running jump-slash, and a Shotgun blast when the player is outside of the sword's melee range. All of these attacks can be parried, with each swing of the Swordsmachine's sword and the Shotgun's pellets able to be punched.

In its second phase, the Swordsmachine loses its Shotgun, making it unable to shoot it at the player from long range. However, it gains two new attacks with its sword: a long-range spinning sword throw that leads ahead of the player's movement, and a spiraling sword throw performed within melee range. The sword throw will cause the sword to travel straight ahead before returning back to the Swordsmachine, leaving Swordsmachine without a weapon until the sword comes back. The sword can hit multiple times, and the sword projectile can be parried, dealing massive damage if it lands. The spiraling sword attack causes the sword to loop around the Swordsmachine itself, increasing it radius as it loops. The sword can be punched to parry it into the Swordsmachine, and the windup itself can be parried to prevent the attack altogether,

Sentry: Sentries are humanoid-esque robots lacking arms. The plating of their body is green, with their knee joints and feet being a metallic grey. Their upper body consists solely of the barrel of a sniper rifle, with an antenna protruding from the back of it. To the right of the barrel is a small camera with pink lens, most likely the Sentry's eye. A small ammo box is attached to the back of Sentry's hip.

They're one of the many war machines created during the Final War. Although there were attempts to find new purpose for them during the New Peace, their streamlined design made them unable to be repurposed until the start of the Hell expeditions.

Their extremely powerful legs and feet allow them to dig into the ground, making them immovable by most forces and allowing them to easily line up any shot without interruption.

Despite their size, they were built to be extremely light, which when combined with the power of their legs, allows them to move at extremely fast speeds. Such power and lightness have made their legs one of the most sought after parts by scrapheads.

Most machines will only render a simplified approximation of their visual surroundings for faster processing speed, but Sentries use full renders instead, giving them perfect accuracy even over extremely long distances.

Sentries will move until they have found a decent position and will then dig into the ground with their legs to charge their attack. While charging, they are completely stationary and a pink laser appears that tracks the player, alongside a high-pitched beeping that will get progressively faster the closer they are to shooting. Just before firing, their antenna and camera light colors will change orange. Breaking line of sight by going behind a wall will also cause the Sentry to cancel the charge, causing it to get up and relocate.

If the Sentry is not charging its attack and their opponent stays too close to a Sentry, it will kick them, doing a considerable amount of knockback and damage. This attack cannot be parried, but does have a considerable amount of start-up and has very poor range, making it relatively easy to dodge. Sentries will not kick the player if they are already dug in and charging their shot. Its antenna and lights turn blue during this attack.

Mindflayer: Mindflayers are floating, humanoid machines with teal, humanistic bodies and robotic heads. Typically the Mindflayer's body is feminine, however there is a very chance that one might encounter one with masculine bodies. The machine itself is integrated into the head and upper body, having a blocky "head" with two shoulder segments and a pair of rectangular protrusions that jut from its back. Lines along the metal glow with teal light, and five tentacle-like cables extend from different points, ending in glowing stingers that leave behind trails of teal light.

The rest of a Mindflayer's body is shaped like a human's, made up of teal plastic. The chest and abdomen (typically) take upon feminine contours, with the abdomen possessing abdominal muscles, while the lower arms and legs are augmented with metallic parts. The entire body gives off a faint teal-colored aura. The Mindflayer is meant to be slightly sexually appealing, acting "as a sort of succubus equivalent".

Rare but extremely dangerous, the Mindflayer is a machine that has adapted and mastered the use of Hell Energy alongside its own technological prowess.

The machine itself is only the top part of its apparent body, the rest of which is a plastic shell in the form of a human, which they seem to have built themselves.

The plastic body serves no function and is only for aesthetic purposes.

Despite it being a waste of resources, Mindflayers will use everything in its power to protect the plastic body from harm, even if that means destroying itself in the process.

Mindflayers seem to prefer a female form, though very rare occasions of male forms have also been recorded.

Mindflayers levitate in the air, frequently teleporting near their target to attack. They remain stationary while using their ranged attacks, making high-pitched vocalizations as they prepare attacks and take damage. They curl up and emit an anguished shriek as they die. The Mindflayer's primary attack is a spread of five homing Hell Energy projectiles all fired at once, telegraphed by a low-pitched charging sound alongside the Mindflayer audibly breathing in and clapping its arms together. These projectiles home in on their target, starting off slow before gradually accelerating during their traveling time. These projectiles can be parried back at the Mindflayer, or deflected with explosions.

Alternatively, the Mindflayer can charge up a laser beam attack that sweeps across the air in the general direction of the player. A thin, teal line indicates where the beam will start. This is a good attack to guide other enemies into, as the beam can cause friendly fire towards other threats that are around.

Getting too close to a Mindflayer, or the Mindflayer teleporting within melee range, will cause them to perform a quick melee slap. This slap is telegraphed by a shorter charge period, and getting hit by it will knock the player back. The Mindflayer will only perform this attack if they aren't already charging up another attack of theirs.

Once a Mindflayer dies, it will curl up in place within the air and shriek before exploding, dealing massive damage to the player and any enemies within its radius. Before the explosion, the Mindflayer will also spill blood as it dies, making it risky to get it on low health due to the explosion soon after. Though, one can redirect them with either V2's Knuckleblaster or the Excavator's Jackhammer while in this state will also launch them in the direction of the punch, exploding instantly upon contact with a surface.

Gutterman: Built in the early days of the Final War, the Guttermen were one of the first successful experiments in using blood as a fuel source, as well as the first automatons to be deployed in wide-scale conflict.

During the War's first phase, an era of trench warfare, these seemingly unstoppable walls were airdropped into enemy trenches, which they would then slowly and systematically clear out as all opposing soldiers would have to choose between being minced by the Gutterman, or running out of the trench and getting mowed down by machine gun fire.

Researchers had not yet found a way to keep blood inside the machine fresh, so a live fuel source was strapped inside, kept alive by minimal life support, before the Guttermen were welded shut. Although publically these fuel sources were claimed to be volunteer patriots, most were deserters, battle-fatigued returnees or prisoners of war.

Forces from far beyond took notice of the cruelty man was capable of, and the suffering of these human blood supplies served as an inspiration for the creation of Mannequins. Guttermen are bulky humanoid machines. Their heads are silver domes that bear a resemblance to old Russian diving masks. Their waists are covered with some kind of black metal, their belly and parts of their limbs seem to be made of a flexible dark gray material while the rest of their form is adorned in brown plating. Red lines, markings and lights detail their bodies.

Guttermen wield large miniguns and riot shields, and a coffin with a skeletal body inside which is attached to their backs. Guttermen will slowly move and skedaddle towards their opponents while firing their miniguns. They are inaccurate at first, but their tracking will gradually improve the longer they are allowed to fire away at their target. If their opponent comes to close, the Gutterman will attempt to bash their target with the shield or their fist of their shield has been destroyed. While increadably sturdy, the shield is not unbreakable as it can be destroyed by tossing a mine at it, trowing a Mindflayer which is mid self destruction at it, using V2's Knuckleblaser arm or the Excavator's Impacthammer/ Jackhammer. Once defeated, these machines will fall flat on their frontside, crushing anything beneath them.

Guttertank: Guttertanks are bulky, humanoid machines with bright red armor, bearing a strong resemblance to WW2 era German tanks. They have horse-like legs with square-shaped metal "hooves" that help prevent the machine from getting stuck in patches of mud on the battlefield. On their right forearm is a large rocket launcher, which is connected to a white steaming tank mounted on their back, presumably used in the process of synthesizing ammunition. Meanwhile, their left arm is more human-like, with only three fingers and a thumb, which is used for punching and placing landmines. As Guttermen singlehandedly ended the trench warfare era of the Final War, armies scrambled to create countermeasures, leading to the creation of more machines of war.

Built from the foundations of Guttermen to save time, Guttertanks were equipped with highly efficient explosives and arms capable of damaging and destroying thick armor. The slow, lumbering walls that once dominated the battlefield had now become obsolete.

As human soldiers had quickly become useless in war, utterly outclassed by machines, they were almost entirely phased out. This led to the second era of the Final War, where machines fought machines in a back-and-forth tide as new designs were phased in and out at a feverish pace, each designed specifically to counter the last.

Although at first the soldiers celebrated returning home, they soon found that the pointless, endless arms race left little in its wake. All resources were used on machines of war, and impoverished civilians had to struggle to survive. Home was just another battlefield, a war of all against all.

Conquest leads to war - War leads to famine - Famine leads to...

The Guttertank primarily attacks by firing rockets at the player, which if missed, freeze upon getting close and explode after a short duration. These rockets function largely the same as the player's Rocket Launcher rockets, including how magnets attract rockets. Rockets fired by Guttertanks can be frozen with the Freezeframe Rocket Launcher, and act in a similar fashion.

Occasionally, it may decide to lay down a landmine on its current location instead of firing a rocket. These mines will linger even after the Guttertank gets killed. Landmines can be parried and once it bounces before detonation, which launches it in the direction of the punch. Landmines launched in this fashion create red explosions. The Guttertank is completely immune to its own rockets and landmines, except if they are redirected through Attractor Nailgun magnets, parries, or rocket riding.

If theur target gets close, the Guttertank will swing its fist at them after a short windup. This melee attack has considerable knockback, range, damage, and cannot be parried. However, with the right timing, the Guttertank will trip on itself in the event that the punch is successfully dodged, taking a small amount of damage and making it vulnerable to a parry. This attack predicts the player's movement, which means if the player is grappling towards it with the Whiplash or approaching it, the Guttertank will prepare it's punch sooner. Close-quarters combat against the Guttertank can be dangerous and is ill-advised if unprepared.

ANGELS: The basis of a lesser angel's forming are quite similar to that of the Husks', wherein the physical manifestation of the soul is dependant on its value, though unlike for Husks, virtuousness also acts as a factor for angels.

Lesser angels come from human souls, which are formed into abstract or animalistic shapes, making them distinct from the humanoid bodies of greater and supreme angels, who were created as such and are considered purer and placed higher on Heaven's societal hierarchy.

Greater angels also come from human souls, though unlike the Virtues or Providences, they are much closer to a human form, though often lacking certain body parts such as an arm or an leg with also smaller, less developed wings of which most only have one.

Virtue: Virtues are abstract representations of angelic beings, likely based off of the biblical description of Ophanim. Upon spawning, a Virtue will give off a faint blue glow that fades over time. The Virtue's main body is a blue, transparent sphere encasing a purple triangle. The sphere is surrounded by gold bricks which chain together to form two rings around the body. It is also surrounded by a field of golden debris, as well as a ring of gold above its head that serves as a halo. Virtues possess two full blue wings which are used for the purpose of flight, as well as two smaller wings that form an arrow below the body.

Due to their past lives as humans, Virtues are often sent to complete tasks that greater angels deem below them or otherwise uninteresting, such as acting as wardens in Hell. There Virtues use heavenly fire to punish sinners who aren't acting out their punishment, in order to not waste Gabriel's time with minor offences and fluctuations.

Virtues are normally known to have a multitude of eyes, though for unknown reasons, these eyes are hidden or removed for ones that become wardens in Hell. Some have speculated this may be related to why almost all husks lack eyes, with the only verified exception being the previous Judge of Hell, King Minos.

Little is known about the specifics of angels, as Heaven is exclusionary and segregated due to wanting little to no direct contact with God's human experiment.

Virtues use a light beam as their only means of attack. The beam is summoned by a spinning glyph which will follow their target for a short while. As it is about to fire, the glyph locks in place and spins rapidly before sending down a beam of heavenly light that deals damage and can ignite husks into flames as well as ignite oil and gasoline. The beam lingers for about a second and is not affected by height or cover. Right before the Virtue is about to initiate its beam attack, it will emit a brief pink glow from its body, which can be parried. Parrying the Virtue won't cancel the beam attack.

When killed, the Virtue's sphere will fall to the ground and break, releasing a shockwave that knocks the player back. This can be avoided by overkilling the Virtue, causing it to simply explode in midair. Any projectile hitting the falling orb will destroy it, making the Alternate Revolver a bad choice if one wishes to use the orb for the shockwave or to parry it. Parrying it will make the orb function identically to the S.R.S. Cannon Rocket Launcher's cannonball without the bounce, which includes the extra damage against Cerberus.

If a Virtue fires multiple beams and is still alive, it will become Enraged, turning from a holy glowing blue to a fiery red. Typically, it will fire five beams before Enraging. When an Enraged Virtue attacks, the glyphs that follow their target and will attempt to predict where they're moving next, causing unwary opponents to walk directly into the beam.

Virtues can only become enraged if there are less than three alive, and a Virtue protected by an Idol will be prevented from Enraging. A Virtue with its Rage inhibited by either factor will still keep track of the number of attacks it performed; reducing the number of live Virtues or breaking the Idol after a Virtue has met its rage threshold will cause it to Enrage upon the next attack it initiates.

Blood tree: Blood trees are simular to the trees that are in the thrid subcircle of the Violence Layer with the exception that those are taller and can summon Puppets, not only to attack but to use the blood of defeated Puppets to grow and bloom. Usually they resemble the pale dead wood of the forset but once its been fed with sufficient blood from Puppets, it changes. The tree turns a blood red colour and its leaves and crown top grow rapidly with the same blood red colour untill its a healthy looking tree.

Puppets: Puppets are humanoid creatures made entirely out of blood, lacking any distinguishable features. The blood trees can give them mimicing forms such as having the Puppets appear in the shape of Filth, Strays, Soldiers or Schisms. Puppets spawn endlessly around the blood trees. Killing them in the tree's vicinity will "water" it. Once the tree is fully coated in blood, all remaining Puppets will immediately die and no more will spawn.