Warden (parasite)
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| Classification | |
|---|---|
| Structure | Field |
| Origin | Fabricated |
| Class | Pure |
| Characteristics | |
| Height | 4–5 m |
| Mass | 6–10 t |
| Leap | 30–50 m |
| First recorded | March 2026 |
The Warden is a Pure field parasite of Fabricated origin that attacks armoured vehicles and fortified positions. It leaps into the air and lands on its target, and the impact releases a shockwave that damages vehicles and collapses structures around the point of landing. It was among the first Pure organisms recorded, in 2026.
Wardens destroyed about 300 armoured vehicles of the European Defence Force in their first year, and their appearance changed the design of the Federation's vehicles and field fortifications. They are engaged with RTG ammunition, anti-tank missiles and anti-aircraft guns, and are most vulnerable at the head.
Description
A Warden stands 4 to 5 metres tall and weighs 6 to 10 tonnes. It has a massive body on four heavy limbs, the hind pair long and folded for leaping, and a broad, plated underside on which it lands. The body is near-black. Its membrane is thick, and small arms and most heavy machine-gun fire have no effect on it.
The head is small for the body and carried low between the forelimbs. It holds the main nerve cluster and is covered by the thinnest membrane on the animal, and it is the Warden's most vulnerable part. Wardens have no eyes and find targets by vibration through the ground, and are drawn to the heaviest sources of it: engines, generators and the firing of heavy weapons.
Behaviour
A Warden can leap 30 to 50 metres and 15 to 20 metres high. Before a leap it crouches for two to three seconds, and the crouch is the usual warning to crews and observers. It lands on a vehicle, a bunker or a building, and the shock of the landing is spread through the plated underside into the target and the ground around it. Crews inside a tank hit by a Warden landing are commonly killed or disabled by the shock without the hull being breached, and unreinforced buildings collapse.
Between leaps a Warden moves on the ground in short dashes of 20 to 40 metres. Wardens attack in small numbers, usually one to three, alongside larger groups of other organisms, and target the strongest points in a defence.
The Marauder, another Pure organism, is built for the same purpose and attacks in the same way, but moves evasively on the ground between leaps.
Effects on warfare
From the second half of 2026 the European Defence Force's tanks and armoured vehicles were fitted with overhead frames of steel slats and with suspended crew seats that absorb shock, and armoured units in areas where Wardens are active were ordered to keep their vehicles dispersed and moving and to switch off engines when halted. Bunkers and command posts in contested ground have since been built deeper, with roofs of earth and timber over the concrete to absorb the force of a landing.
Countermeasures
Federation armoured units are accompanied by infantry and by anti-aircraft guns that can engage a Warden in the air, where it cannot change course. RTG anti-tank rounds and guided missiles with RTG warheads are effective against it, and fire is aimed at the head. A Warden on the ground can be stopped by mines laid in its path, which it does not detect.
History
Wardens were first recorded in March 2026, on the eastern front in southern Poland, as one of the first organisms of the Pure class. By the end of 2026 they had been recorded on every front of the European Defence Force, and in East Asia.