Samantha

The fifth Crusader, Samantha was a skilled warrior and powerful leader. Back to index

Biography
Born into a troubled family, Samantha's mother left when she was four, leaving her to be raised by her neglect father and jealous older sister Tamantha (Not to mention the birth of her son). In order to escape this unhappy family Samantha joined the Confederacy's (a interstellar government that controlled Samantha's home planet) military at a young age, becoming a member of the local defense force on her homeplanet Ulik. However, her unit was all but wiped out in the first battle between the Confederacy and the brutal scavenger alien race known as the Heretics, who invaded Ulik and overwhelmed there defenses, with Samantha losing an arm, eye and having her spine severally damaged in the conflict. Samantha was saved, however, by V.enus, an A.I program created by Ixil a hundred years prior to instruct the next Crusader. Replacing her lost body parts, Samantha agreed to become the fifth Crusader, leading the Crusader effort (as well as her own group of allies) against the Heretics and there powerful Queen. It was during this time Samantha was apparently forced to kill her sister, earning her the wrath of G.i.p, a SKID that had been working for the rouge Eternal. Eventually, Samantha and the others fought a final battle against the Heretics on the Confederate capital, with the battle being decided when G.i.p betrayed the Heretics to the Confederacy, whose preemptive strike almost completely wiped out the Heretics, with only Clar (One of Samantha's allies) and the Queen herself surviving.

Sadly, Samantha's peace after this victory was short lived: Tharon, a radical member of the Confederacy, declared the Crusaders as a whole and Samantha in particular to be war criminals and thus, a large anti-Crusader movement began, with people fearing they were secretly building an Empire. Ironically, it was at this time that Samantha discovered one of Ixils last plans: a hidden group of star systems (Which were actually artificial, created by the ancient Crusaders thousnads of years prior) and fleet under the Crusaders command, known as the "Imperial Collective". At almost the same time, the War droid Empire, isolated since Ahabs death, began expanding again. With the Confederacy (now in control of the Republic, P.T.D and Shadowmen, giving Tharon access to almost three galaxies worth of resources) and War droids about to go into all out war, Samantha reluctantly took command of the Imperial collective and lead them through the coming war, known as the Imperial Crusades. After five years of war, during which Samantha and her allies (now known as the "Emperors Guard) went through many challenges, including the return of the Assassins Guild and Samantha's unfortunate addiction to a rare combination of substance, the conflict was finally brought to a close when the Confederate and War droid fleets anthlated each other and Samantha personally killed the War droid Empress, who turned out to be Tamantha, put in power by Ixil in a unsuccessful attempt to lesson the threat possessed by the War droids.

Again, Samantha's victory was short lived as (due to her addiction and the many wounds she had suffered over the year, as well as the contraction of a fatal disease.) she was almost immediately forced to go on a hunt for an antidote. However, after a final battle against G.i.p on Serd, Samantha collapsed and was rushed to a medical space station. Although she physicaly managed to survive, her entire mind was wiped by the various injury's, permanently removing her memory. Although the other members of the Emperors Guard managed to escape, Samantha's body was imprisoned on the peaceful grassland containment world of Haven by Tharons family for "war crimes". Her soul, however, went on to the afterlife, while a "copy" joined the other Crusaders in Sanctuary, in case it was ever required she return to the Universe. As it turned out, she eventually did return to the Universe, if briefly, in order to help her son defeat the Father.

Odds & Ends
Heavily injured at the very beginning of her career, Samantha had a cybernetic left eye, spine and, originally, right arm, although she eventually replaced the latter with a bio-engineered limb. Throughout her career, one of Samantha's greatest advantages was her willingness and ability to take a lot of physical punishment, soldering through the pain via a extremely tough build and ridiculous mental discipline. However, by the end of her life, this took an EXTREME toll on her body, with many injuries and scares piling up on each other. In addition, Samantha was afflicted with a cancerous disease that attacked her mind and an addiction to a combination of Compound 42, Trioxcide and Reguliem, which slowly poisoned her but would be nearly fatal if she attempted to give it up. All of this put together lead to her constantly suffering headaches, blurry vision, shaking and exhaustion. All that being said, she could negate these weaknesses (at least somewhat) through focus, mental enhancement and sheer willpower.

Samantha's ability with the supernatural was reasonably advanced: her telekinesis at its height wiped out entire small armies (with considerable effort), she had a basic, non-lethal understanding of energy manipulation/creation, and she was even somewhat familiar with elemental powers, abilities learned from fighting the Heretic Queen. A full blown ground solder early in life and remaining true to this heritage even later in her carrier, Samantha originally favored wearing power armor under her coat, although she refused to wear a helmet, owing to a shattered face-plate being the cause behind her missing eye. She eventually eased up on both these preferences, wearing more standard clothes and a helmet with eye slits for visors. She was also quite skilled with many different blades, explosives and firearms, especially rapid fire weapons.

Although she at first wielded the same green bladed weapon as Kate and Elanor (recovered on a mission to Eriadu) Samantha eventually built her own weapon after losing the first one. Although its hilt was run of the mill, it remains the only known phaseblade known to be capable of producing a silver blade. Working with noted tech and dueling innovators, Samantha also developed a second, yellow bladed, weapon with a flexible whip-like blade with much greater length then the norm. Although she was skilled with this weapon, she mostly used it for shock value, with opponents who had prior knowledge of it. Although not a top tier, Samantha became a masterful duelist through a combination of sheer experience and another major factor: Working in a military of some kind almost her entire life, Samantha freely admitted she was a solder through and through, to the point she almost enjoyed her constant deadly engagements and chaffed when forced to lead the Imperial collective from behind a desk. She channeled this mentality directly into her skill with a blade (and whip), allowing herself to enjoy the experience of battle, allowing her to develop a aggressive attack oriented form that was backed up with a secure defense. Samantha proved her worth as a duelist time and time again during the Imperial Crusades, going head to head with the greatest members of the Sun Cult, Assassins Guild and Confederacy's martial branch many times throughout the conflict. That being said, the extremely powerful Heretic Queen was able to repeatedly and consistently defeat the Crusader, often to the point of near death. G.i.p was easily Samantha's greatest rival, with the two dueling on countless occasions, with the advantage swinging constantly back and forth between the two,although since the final victory went to Samantha (even while heavily debilitated) so she was likely the eventual better martial artist.