The Desolator Soldier


Designation: Advanced Anti-Personnel Infantry
Manufacturer: Ministry of Experimental Science, Omsk
Country of origin: USSR
Trained at: Soviet Barracks

Key features:

• Dual Deathspray sprayers
• Splattershot splatter cannon
• Unbreakable liquid tanks
• Armoured breathing apparatus
• Battery-powered life support


In Russia, it is often said that mistakes are only made when they are admitted. And on this occasion, the Soviet Union’s renowned Ministry of Experimental Science made a mistake when it introduced the Desolator Soldiers. Their poisons are so dreadful that most other Soviet forces quickly learnt to keep their distance from these soldiers. Those who failed to do so tended to meet a rather gruesome end.


The Desolator Soldier is quite likely the most twisted and terrifying creation of the Union’s Ministry of Experimental Science. Yet its results on the battlefield are undeniable.

The history of the Desolator Soldiers is almost as grim as they are. As times grew ever darker for the Soviet Union and its government, the leaders of the Ministry of Experimental Science considered several options and paid little heed to public opinion. Some sought to flee the country, or tried to do so in vain. Others surrendered to the Allied Forces; their current whereabouts remain unknown. The Ministry’s most dedicated officers, however, resolutely continued their research, even in the face of imminent defeat. After all, with many of their colleagues gone, several layers of bureaucracy had vanished, allowing these officers to swiftly continue what they had been preparing in the Ministry’s secret halls. The only known product of this desperate time is the Desolator Soldier Programme (DSP), which renders frontline soldiers so terrifying that their very existence violates the code of military conduct.

Although the officers in charge of the PSD turned out to be among the first victims of the Desolator Soldiers, these soldiers ultimately (and surprisingly) proved to be pleasant enough to voluntarily join the Soviet resistance, as they had no other place in society. Nor did the Soviet resistance have the luxury of turning anyone away.

The Desolator Soldiers, of course, take their name from the toxic liquids they use as weapons. The poisons evaporate quickly and leave little residue behind, so it is impossible to know exactly what they are made of, although it is believed they are the product of poorly maintained Soviet Super-Reactors. In other words, the discovery of the Desolator Soldier is linked to a series of appalling accidents, although the ever-resourceful Soviet army soon found a way to turn it into a money-spinner. Air strikes using the Desolator have been a staple of Soviet offensives on the front line for years; however, the Ministry has recently found a way to transport these liquids in a portable form. I admit, the average man could never lift the liquid tanks. But Desolator Soldiers are more than human, and the hydraulics in their armour probably help them, too.


Above: A prototype Desolator Soldier suit. After several test soldiers were found dead upon exposure to the open air, the Desolator suits were upgraded to include much heavier grilles covering the face.

Little is known about the men inside the Desolator Soldiers’ armoured suits. They themselves have no logical memory of their past lives and seem content to fight. They require neither rest nor food, although they live in their suits for only about a year or two, or until the batteries in their life-support systems run out. And so, given the numerous unresolved reports of patients suffering from incurable diseases disappearing from the triage centres at the Ministry’s headquarters in Omsk, there is a distinct possibility that these ‘Walking Men’ are precisely those patients. Whatever the Ministry did to the Desolator Soldiers, they have become extremely resistant to both their own poisons and all types of injury, to such an extent that even a single Desolator Soldier could effectively hold his own against a skilled Allied platoon and emerge victorious... in a sense.


Reconnaissance on the battlefield has at least revealed the following facts about the Desolator Soldiers:

• Deathspray canisters– Desolator Soldiers fight using two pressurised canisters that spray litres of a toxic liquid capable of corroding flesh almost instantly and disintegrating bone a few seconds later. As such, this unconventional weapon is considered extremely dangerous to targets made of flesh and blood, even more so than bullets or bombs.

-The armour-piercing Splattershot pistol– The Desolators also have the means to combat armoured vehicles. The corrosive droplets fired from the Desolator’s Splattershot not only clog mechanical parts (thereby reducing speed), but also act as a catalyst for Deathspray. Essentially, once a vehicle has been ‘splattered’, it becomes as vulnerable to Deathspray as a heavyset man on the beach.

-Virtually immune to injury- A welcome side-effect of the Desolator Soldier’s resistance to all manner of toxins is his high tolerance to pain in general and physical injury. This does not mean that these men do not feel pain; they are simply accustomed to enduring a constant, negative sensation.

-A costly experiment - After the war, the Ministry of Experimental Science had desperately spent most of its remaining funds on developing the Desolator Soldier’s suit and weaponry, and although the results proved effective-albeit blasphemous-the costs associated with these forces make them extremely rare.