Spires: Mimetic Assassin

The Directorate has long sought to produce the perfect assassin clone, but their efforts have been incessantly stymied by the Sovereign. He has made it a matter of personal interest to ensure that all Ark vaults containing pertinent data to this research fall squarely under his direct supervision, denying the Directorate access to chameleonic strand sequences and certain personality traits, which it has sought for so long. They have instead been forced to adapt and improvise with those strands they already possess: agility, strength, aggression and some limited biomechanical functions.

While this formula would result in an impressively enhanced clone, it would nonetheless need to be trained and outfitted, further draining the Directorate’s limited resources. To overcome this limitation, the Directorate has turned to one of their core techniques: pheromonic manipulation. In addition to its unrivaled speed and ferocity, the Mimetic Assassin produces a very specific range of pheromones designed to induce lethargy in any complex organism, as well as making them more compliant and suggestible.

True to the origin of its design, therefore, this clone’s mimetic abilities derive from form and function, rather than training. Each segment of its carapace is individually articulated and razor sharp, allowing it to change its body shape, stance and outline to masquerade as any clone (or humanoid biped with minimal effort in disguise) or even produce claws and weapons made from its own body. Coupled with its pheromonic field, these attributes grant the Mimetic an unprecedented edge in infiltration and ambush situations. Easily overlooked in the dead of night or heaving mass of combat, the Mimetic Assassin can close within range of its chosen foe unnoticed before it springs into action, transforming into a whirling, stabbing monstrosity in the flash of an eye.