Non-Civilian Aliens

[TheFaceless6]

So I'm curious on what people think about the Andromedons, Archons, and Faceless in a lore standpoint. (Leaving out the Chryssalids for obvious reasons)

Here are my thoughts and observations at this point:

Andromedons: Work with the Sacred Coil, a bunch of Advent Cultists. Their hazard suits are obviously still the XCOM 2 pattern and have that automated mode after the death of the pilot. Andromedons can't survive without the suit. The original suits are obviously too dangerous for civilian use. I doubt literally all of the Andromedons are working for the coil, but I wonder what people's headcanons are for the civilians.

Archons: Work with the Progeny, psionic cultists. So they'd likely be mind controlled by the Acolytes and Sorcerers around them. I remember vividly that XCOM 2 stated directly that the Archons were incredibly intelligent despite the Elder mind control. I'd have thought that they'd be intelligent enough to potentially work as civilians. Though at the very least they would need to lose the integrated rocket launchers.

Faceless: These are the weirdest ones for me. So they're working with Grey Phoenix, an alien scavenger group. They have a more militaristic mercenary vibe than the other two, which in my opinion makes them less likely to have something like a Psionic Network. Not due to lack of tech, but due to a lack of psionic personel. I had assumed that the Faceless were something like drones or simple mindless constructs with activated mental commands. But they're being used in heists and safe house defenses easily, which means they might be more intelligent than I gave them credit for. From a lore perspective, they would need to be heavily regulated and for all we know there *could* be Faceless Civilians pretending to be regular civilians to escape regulation.

TL;DR I find the lore fascinating and want to see what other people think of these aliens that haven't been addressed in the lore as far as I know.

[[TAG]Alblaka]

You probably had a different timeline (aka, ordering of investigation and choice of Dark Events), but in my campaign the Andromedon part was cleared up in detail: All Andromedons live in an 'Andromedon Sanctuary', a dedicated housing facility (former detainment camp) that is filled with Xenon so the Andromedons can live in peace.
Part of the Investigation then turns out that the Sanctuary was, for PR-reasons, hiding the fact that some of it's members 'had gone rogue', joining up with Sacred Coil.

As for archons, I'm not entirely certain, but at some point it's mentioned that a lot of the hybrid/alien populace does not actually have the mean to remove their psionic implants, which is why it's so important to ensure that noone rebuilds a psionic network. And Progeny does exactly that (albeit on a more limited scale), so it's fair to assume the Archons are being MCd.

As for the Faceless... yeah... nothing on that but speculation. Interestingly enough, in XCOM:CS there is no instance of them ever showing off their shapeshifting/infiltration abilities...

[TheFaceless6]

Originally posted by TAGAlblaka:

You probably had a different timeline (aka, ordering of investigation and choice of Dark Events), but in my campaign the Andromedon part was cleared up in detail: All Andromedons live in an 'Andromedon Sanctuary', a dedicated housing facility (former detainment camp) that is filled with Xenon so the Andromedons can live in peace.
Part of the Investigation then turns out that the Sanctuary was, for PR-reasons, hiding the fact that some of it's members 'had gone rogue', joining up with Sacred Coil.

I did miss that, but I figured it would be something along those lines, I just would have thought that it would be dangerous to have something like that. Like in my mind, that's a potential terror attack waiting to happen. Someone blows a hole in that facility and then you've got Xenon flooding the nearby area and Oxygen flooding *into* the facility.

I really hope the Archons do have actual Civilians somewhere in the story, Aesthetically they're really cool. I can understand them not showing up in game because they don't have cover animations to be used as civilian models plus a Civilian Archon would likely have heavy redesigns to lose the rockets and i'm not sure how safe it is for bystanders to have all those rocket boosters instead of legs

[[TAG]Alblaka]

Originally posted by The Faceless 6:

I can understand them not showing up in game because they don't have cover animations to be used as civilian models

I still have to chuckle every single time I scare up a Police/Office Viper, and they get back up into a combat-ready 'holding invisible gun' stance before remembering that they're supposed to act civilian.

[Wondervice]

Originally posted by The Faceless 6:

I did miss that, but I figured it would be something along those lines, I just would have thought that it would be dangerous to have something like that. Like in my mind, that's a potential terror attack waiting to happen. Someone blows a hole in that facility and then you've got Xenon flooding the nearby area and Oxygen flooding *into* the facility.

I really hope the Archons do have actual Civilians somewhere in the story, Aesthetically they're really cool. I can understand them not showing up in game because they don't have cover animations to be used as civilian models plus a Civilian Archon would likely have heavy redesigns to lose the rockets and i'm not sure how safe it is for bystanders to have all those rocket boosters instead of legs

Xenon is harmless though. :)

Wasn't it a point somewhere that floaters were creatures in a state worse than death? As in they are in constant pain and suffering.
If so, it's possible that all archons were put to death except the ones the psykers managed to control.

As for the faceless, it seems like they are just there for their model to be used, they are not using their mimicry and act like totally mindless monsters.
Presumably they are at least somewhat intelligent as they were supposed to blend into human puopulations for who knows how long.

[utilityguy]

With the faceless that work for Grey Pheonix , I think the concept of eventually leaving the hellhole that is earth for a new and/or better planet is enough for them to follow orders from the Mutons. I mean, out of the three groups, Grey Pheonix seems like the faction that has the easiest time spreading their message--what with strategically stepping in to help make the alien living manageable when the city couldn't do it in order to keep their members loyal and stuff, so I wouldn't have been surprised if all the high tier aliens joined up for them.

Granted, I dunno how intelligent a Faceless is. But going by how they can flawlessly mimic a human form for long enough they get access to the location of a resistance base of operations long enough to call in an Advent fire team, I would think Faceless at least possess a similar standard of intellegence to a human.

Andromedons, like other members of the Coil, are just fed up that they now live the slum life because XCOM took down all the gene therapy clinics that apparently did make life better for everyone--despite the Elders making the humans the newest source of their liquid/medical assets.

Arkons? No idea. There's this one mission location that takes place in a back alleyway where there's the remains of an Adromedon suit impaled by an Arkon saber within a caged arena, so I'm guessing these guys are just... edgy and want superpowers?

[TheFaceless6]

Originally posted by Wondervice:

Xenon is harmless though. :)

Right but the stuff in the Andromedon suits is caustic, so I figured that there was something in their atmosphere that would have mixed with the Xenon to cause that. I'm not a chemist though so I wouldn't know.

[SamBC]

Originally posted by The Faceless 6:

Originally posted by Wondervice:

Xenon is harmless though. :)

Right but the stuff in the Andromedon suits is caustic, so I figured that there was something in their atmosphere that would have mixed with the Xenon to cause that. I'm not a chemist though so I wouldn't know.

Getting xenon to react with anything at all is... a challenge.

[Mikey]

Andromedons live in the sewers and are not affiliated with Sacred Coil unless you choose to let them in the Dark Events. They are ousted from society, used as a labour force in the sewers probably for maintenance due to their hazmat suits.

Archons as a whole are not affiliated with the Progeny. Just as with Andromedons you get an option to allow some archons to be "broken in" by the Progeny which increases their numbers in the Progeny ranks. Outside of it the Archons were rehabilitated and removed from their shells instead living out their lives in tranquility inside what is known as the "Sanctuary". From what I understood it is sort of a virtual domain.

Faceless are a bit of a mystery. We don't really hear any details on why they stick with Gray Phoenix though it may very well be tied into the entire theme of that faction. Being pariahs in society due to their role during the initial invasion and the resistance as sleeper agents let loose again unwitting civilians it makes sense for them to team up with those wanting to leave Earth behind.

[Turbs]

There was a mission quote stating that all the former advent aliens agreed to one thing: house the Andromedons first. Why? So they know where NOT to go.

While their rogue members have gone off to cause some chaos, their base population is pretty happy and situated with the advice of at least the Sectoids, Vipers, and Mutons. The hazard suits make them especially useful for jobs that are involved with dangerous material so they got themselves a secure job area and living environment for the future.

I'm not sure about the Archons. Their very being is an odd one to predict since they could be too far deep into the Elder's tinkering to have a recovery.

The Faceless are a potential for clever additions to the acting industry. What better than to have a person that can be anyone you need for a movie? For exploring new designs and entertainment, they could be there to provide. I imagine the initial years are going to be a bit rough though. Like how the sectoids and psionic populace need dampeners, the Faceless are very likely tagged and kept close watch whenever possible.

[TheFaceless6]

https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/473509204536328203/704149877931769926/b3n6rn7tw8v41.png

So I found this and I guess that answers the question about the Faceless at least partially. I'm assuming this means they're either civilians or this is a Smokey the Bear equivalent.