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Description
The BEETLE is an original character from my current story project - the time-consuming IN LAK'ECH Mythos, still in initial stages of development.
As you can tell by his armor's design, it's inspired by an Eupholus schoenherrii Snout Beetle and some science fiction and tokusatsu influences. It's also partially derived from another design, that of the original " RHO" armor, one of the 27+ armors from the Alpha-Omega series that I've designed last year in collaboration with . Each of them has an unique power and also play a major role in the IN LAK'ECH Mythos. The Beetle's customized RHO armor allows him the ability to transform his own body into liquid and control it.

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THE INSECT SYNDICATE BEGINS
In the IN LAK'ECH Mythos, the BEETLE is a member of the Insect Syndicate, a semi-official enforcement/security group headquertered in Chinchaysuyu (equivalent to the northern Peruvian Coast), a State/district of Tahuantinsuyu (named after the original Inca Empire, in the IN LAK'ECH Mythos a larger modern State which spans from Colombia in the North to the northern regions of Chile and Argentina in the South, encompassing areas from Ecuador, Peru and Bolivia. It's divided into four "suyus" or regions, and the capital, Moche, is located in Chinchaysuyu). The Syndicate's leader and founding member, the ICHNEUMON, is himself the major military authority of the Chinchaysuyu region, and an official " MALLKI" Cyborg General (named after the Inca royal mummies, the Mallki are the highest military authorities of Tahuantinsuyu, each one is assigned to a suyu) from Tahuantinsuyu.
The Insect Syndicate was officially founded in September 2009, when riots had just resumed in the metropolitan area of Chinchaysuyu after Tupaq Amaru III, a popular, yet controversial figure who was a guerrilla leader, revolutionary indigenous socialist captain during the era of the Peruvian Empire (that was replaced by the Socialist Republic of Tahuantinsuyu in 1969, following the victory of Tupaq's fellows and the capture & execution of the Peruvian emperor, Urcon Verbo, a dictator who was more like a CIA puppet) and the eventual President of Tahuantinsuyu from 1979 to 2000, when he went missing (and reports of his supposed death began to rise). He returned on March 2009, and on April 1st was appointed by Tahuantinsuyu's current president, Herrera Humala (from the traditional Communist Party of Tahuantinsuyu, Humala took the position in 2006, shortly after Julio Huanca, the current president since 2005's elections, from the left, social-democratic opposition party PSP has resigned), as Prime Minister. This move was poorly received by several sectors of the international community as a threat to democracy, but the Tahuantinsuyuan government, like all others, really didn't let its own population take charge of any effective measure over the decisions that concerned their own living (can democracy even exist, if in the end most of the people that compose a mass society are rather obliged to live in these conditions than they do it willingly?), and through its security forces often committed human rights violations, supported by its own corrupt law system and perpetrated by it's police (it's what police does, afterall).

THE SAQRARUNA
Between 2009 and 2011, the ICHNEUMON and the FIREFLY were the only two members of the Insect Syndicate, however their main sponsor, SPECTRO, the head of the secret intergalactic    Saqraruna Organization (that operates in Tahuantinsuyu for centuries), already had interest in capturing, customizing other super-powered Alpha-Omega armors and recruiting genetically fit users to don these armors and operate within the Insect Syndicate, thus expanding it into an internattionally operating, semi-official/secret military & intel agency. Until May 2010, most of these were owned by the AXIS Institute, a private military academy (or rather bounty hunter academy), sponsored by the armors' so-called developers, the american military technology corporation ABEL Inc. and the Teutonic (German) Ulhaden Corporation. Because of inner disputes and the threat of exposing its darkest secrets, including it's role on international slave labor, the breeding of non-human hybrids and their release on "fringe areas" across the world for the political agenda of their own sponsors (basically, neo-liberalism, enhancement of dependence between "third world communities" and centralized corporations), the AXIS was closed and the ownership of each armor divided between different figures, some more and some less related to the aforementioned military companies. Before SPECTRO's minions could start the harvest, however, some armors (Psi, Iota, Epsilon, Alpha) have been previously located and stolen by traditional enemies of AXIS, like the inhuman lizard-man Cuetzpalin Paynal, and ultimately fell to the hands of independent, paramilitary anarchists across the globe, leading to the creation of an informal network of armed affinity groups. Other armors (Ni, Mi, Sigma, Pi) were held tighter by far-right nationalists.
The members of the Insect Syndicate operate accordingly to the orders given by their leader ICHNEUMON, who in turn operates accordingly to "the interests of the State of Tahuantinsuyu" as the MALLKI Cyborg General of the province of Chinchaysuyu. These interests are dictated by Tahuantinsuyu's Council for Advanced Scientific, Technological, Industrial and Energy Development, a not so public organ from the State which most recent public relations manager as of 2009 is a cyborg ("post-human") named Choque Illa. From behind, the council is merely a mask for the Saqraruna Organization, which leader, SPECTRO (reputedly, a "Yakuruna" alien. But in truth, a centuries-old Artificial Intelligence), has been a long-time ally of Tupaq Amaru III (even before he was called as such or had a human face. Tupaq the Tahuantinsuyuan leader is actually a vessel for an ancient Elemental God of Darkness). But that's a story for another day.
  Like with the MALLKI Cyborgs, the identities behind each Insect Syndicate member (if they have one) are hidden even among their own. Most of them live in Chinchaysuyu as citizens, but while activated for a mission, they dress up and only refer to each other with their respective "Insect identities". The public also have absolutely no contact to the IS missions or goals, all they've got to know is that they're some kind of Tahuantinsuyuan secret agent. Despite that, each member have a very different background, several of them aren't even of Tahuantinsuyuan nationality, and have been recruited under equally different circumstances (all, however, have been meticulously chosen and approached, and surpassed life-threatening tests).
  The true loyalty of the Insect Syndicate is to SPECTRO, someone they don't even know (save perhaps for Ichneumon, and after some time, the Firefly, the SCORPION and the HORNET). Like all, they also aren't used to the fact that their very armors haven't actually been developed by ABEL Inc or Ulhaden Corporation, instead they were given to personnel of these enterprises by a secret supplier named Archimedes (from a secret organization, the Novus Civilizatio), and both ABEL and Ulhaden were merely tasked to modify them and adapt them to human usage (the armors' raw material secretly comes from biomechanical aliens, the Dzolob and Aluxob, from the planet of Sothis, colonized by Archimedes and his sponsors). Of course they turned the armors' customization into their latest products, promising generations of super soldiers for the West (as long as the human subjects survived the usage of such armors. In several cases, they resulted in side effects, and that's why the AXIS Institute employed so many scientists and spent so many resources on investigating the armors, rather than just handing it to any physically apt agent), what inadvertently subverted the armors' original goal (at least according to the cryptic Archimedes) - these armors are symbiotes that interact with their users, and were "meant to bound to the most genetically apt human vessels". They have a major role to play in the ongoing process of Human Automation, and Archimedes has an untold connection to the Saqraruna.

RHO
The armor which was modified into BEETLE's since his recruitment in November 2013 is the original RHO armor, catalogued by the ABEL Inc since 1999, supposedly developed in ABEL's facility at Manaus, Amazonas, Brazil. The 17th armor of the series and the 11th owned by ABEL Inc, it was originally trusted to agent Callum Kelley, who alongside the current Agent KAPPA (Jake Jones) and THETA (Yao Wu), survived ABEL's catastrophic Operation: MILLENNIUM. Alongside the american ABEL Inc (which owned other super-powered Alpha Omega armors), the Ulhaden faced successive diplomatic failures that damaged it's reputation to the CIA and international security forces, including the traditional INTERPOL, and those would only be healed by a corrupt agreement between both corporations, that would become the sponsors of a Gallia-headquartered, international, private military academy - the AXIS Institute, the next legal owner of most of the super-powered Alpha-Omega armors. Like with ABEL, the Ulhaden corporation was a facade to the secret origin of the armors and even then suffered the deaths of several agents in the late 20th century, during the failed Operation: RED ISLAND, which ended with the destruction of Bermeja, an island at the Atlantic region of Mexico - the same event where Tupaq was trapped into the Absolute Darkness by some of his brothers and rivals, the Elemental Gods. This operation happened months after MILLENNIUM. A great intel was lost as well, and traditional corporations like the Catholic Church and private military forces under public facades, headed by UN's current secretary of security, Wagner K (a traditional ally of Ulhaden), were instrumental to forge AXIS and its own role in the international politics, while ABEL and Ulhaden should keep working on more armors and more tests. The secret breeding and enslavement of "demonoids" (non-human hybrids which AXIS claimed to be natural or supernatural, intelligent threats to humanity) within AXIS' grounds would keep its own atmosphere less suspicious to its inner staff. Under the AXIS Institute, the Rho would pass from agent Callum Kelley (who suffered an accident or side-effect which turned him into a human blob) to agent Kai Lee Taylor, who has been operational in several missions involving a smart "demon" widely known as The Triton, and who also participated in the disastrous Mission: ATLANTIS, which outcome marked AXIS' irreversible downfall in 2010. After the mission and the institute's dissolution, the Ulhaden Corporation, one of AXIS' direct sponsors, failed to cope with international demands, and representing both ABEL Inc and the CIA, former agent NI, Lana Bridges (the adoptive daughter of ABEL's CEO, Joseph Bridges), has arranged with an international court special rights transferring the ownership and usage of some Alpha-Omega armors to trusted ex-AXIS agents, including Kai Taylor, who would pursue a civilian's life in Australia after four years serving AXIS.

NECOC YAOTL, HOLY ROMAN EMPIRE AND THE INQUISITION
In June-July 2010, starting with heatened urban guerrillas taking place in urban centers across the globe formerly owned only by social inequality, distinct informal groups, armed with equipment previously only owned by official military or private bounty hunter associations have led to the destabilization of several nation States and the authority of bourgeois, "representative democracy". This process spread like fire, and the sponsors of slavery and a "modern colonization", such as the mass media which runs most countries and manipulate "public opinion" became confused with the lack of leadership or formal organization to frame this international revolutionary process, appealing to make a serious conspiracy from some facy prank accidentally thrown away by one of such paramilitary soldiers. In no time, the " NECOC YAOTL" (nahuatl for "enemy of both sides) became the name of any insurrectionary enemy of State persecuted across the globe by the alliances of diverse dictatorships masked as democracies. During this time, some of the Alpha-Omega armors have been stolen, salvaged or appropriated by unaffiliated personnel which the CIA deemed as an "urgent matter" under request of ABEL Inc, that also lost several equipment to looting by locals around some of their private, multinational warehouses. The Ulhaden, or what's left of it, under Vitorio and his new butler Marco , have rather sided with economically liberal think-tanks, alongside eurosceptic, nationalist and even neo-nazist/fascist fronts in Europe, supported by traditional and not so traditional sponsors, including a new Pope, Leo XIV, who replaced the last one, killed by Paynal on sight in April 2011. With growing support and a fear-based campaign, Leo founded international "Inquisitory Offices" on several so-called modern republics, handling weapons and authorities to shadowy, bigoted figures that used the "threat of terror" to justify their own terror and bring back the Dark Ages.

In 2011, at the height of a "world war", Kai was already involved into a complex network of informal resistance alongside some few people he found trustworthy, such as ex-AXIS Agent KAPPA (Melissa Walker), what earned his life a difficult turn. Kai started working as a hacker and a "tech-man" to some cells of a larger, international anarchist resistance network commonly refered to NECOC YAOTL - Arima Division. Kai was dragged into this because of what he learnt from his time at AXIS, an interest pursued by other ex-agents who became targets for influential, enemy institutions because of their curiosity. Not only the origin of their armors was unknown, that of the "demons" they were forced to fight, as well the suspicious conditions which they were revealed, were secrets he wanted to understand. As for AXIS' role, it was about time he and other agents accepted the fact they were playing the role of expendable test subjects for an organization specialized in forming bounty hunters, a role that still existed before and after AXIS, as with time they started to see how small their biggest efforts could look from some perspectives. This, tied to personal conflicts inside the Arima Division (including the Triton's, or rather Gus' apparent focus on extremely risky missions trampling the emotional factor of others, or his playing with their lives) and other resistance groups, has led Melissa to walk away from that burden. This helped Kai to sever his ties with his former work, or so he thought - sometime after 2012, he was jailed by the Australian police force after being framed for illegal activities including hacking. His armor, however, remained under his ownership, and wasn't even mentioned on his judgment - the first thing he thought was that Lana, working for the CIA, could possibly have arranged this to get his armor, but the ABEL Inc was seemingly uninterested in messing up this situation, and in no time, with some lawyer, he managed to find relief from the original penalty. He was personally tired of this fight for the truth, however, and after some time he didn't manage to get any progress, so he really didn't see him using his armor - despite he kept it.

BEETLE
In Noveber 2013, during what seemed to be a normal day, Kai's home has been invaded by an inhuman agent using an armor he recognized as EPSILON, and she demanded his armor, as he let her have it, and slightly escaped death from her hands - he got in big trouble, but the "MOTH" didn't care about him anymore - the armor was meant for someone else, the next recruit of the Insect Syndicate. Since July, Tahuantinsuyu's government has been facing a crisis on its own capability of uniting the Suyus (regions), and the expansion of the Insect Syndicate came as a reasonable program under these circumstances. Oddly enough, several recruits aren't even of Tahuantinsuyuan nationality - despite not even IS' members know that - their true operational teleology is decided by the leaders of the intergalactic Saqraruna Organization, it just happens Tupaq is crucial to SPECTRO's plans and vice versa (this plan is converting Earth into a new, self-sustainable, endless energy producing mobile satellite/mass destruction weapon inhabited and operated by select groups of post-humans. These IS members were chosen to become some of the post-humans, and as well guards in this new "utopian" project that has been five centuries in the making. Before they can do that, though, they have to prove these symbiotic armors can merge and modify basic organic structures to make them self-sustainable and "automated". It's also worthy to mention that this mobile mass destruction satellite is built over a domesticated Black Hole, set to replace the Earth's Core. All of this, though, is just a plan B which Tupaq and SPECTRO have decided to immediately put into practice after the original project, called "Topakhon Mobile II" has been seized by an enemy months before and just been forcefully destroyed by a resentful Tupaq, a day before the Beetle's recruitment).
The man behind the Beetle armor is a miraculous, ancient immortal which the Saqraruna identified on Tahuantinsuyuan/Peruvian territory, and whose origins date back to the dawn of the Fifth Sun Era (12th Century a.I). It's a man from Huarochiri, part of the Quntisuyu Province, whose name is Uathiacuri, and who's actually a son of the water god Pariacaca, months ago revealed to be one of Tupaq's Elemental God "brothers", Pariacaca was believed to be an indirect supporter of the Saqraruna, as it has helped the organization in achieving some of its goals - including freeing Tupaq from his imprisonment in March 2009, and on other occasions destroying enemy ships - until he revealed his true intentions and identity, and took advantage of Tupaq's current "mortal conditions" (his godly abilities were taken by an usurper) to end him. The fight between the both of them, however, was interrupted by one of Tupaq's sons, Charon , who was a deadly enemy to both figures, and Tupaq tried to use this to escape. Charon and Pariacaca, despite enemies, had another enemy in common, who's Tupaq, and could put aside their differences in the moment as the opportunity to take the life of a former Elemental God was at hand - Tupaq had nowhere to run.
It was Uathiacuri that came, he who has lived many lives throughout time, as a mysterious wandering man that used to roam the water bodies of Tahuantinsuyu like the Lake Titicaca, where many years ago he may have met Yakuruna working for the Saqraruna Organization - whose interests seemly followed those of the Tahuantinsuyu, to build a large empire and benefit it's ruling class. Uathiacuri's abilities (manipulating water and weather, to create floods and storms, like he has caused across history on those who stood against him for some reason) have been observed in battle, and he was considered a genetically fit user of the Beetle armor from a long shot, but his intentions were still to be tested. Uathiacuri and Charon, the estranged sons of dark Elemental Gods, have stood against those who abandoned them - and in doing so Uathiacuri helped Tupaq in his escape. After accomplishing his mission - destroying the mass destruction mobile satellite Topakhon Mobile II, alongside the source of his previous power - Tupaq searched for the mysterious, ageless young man, as he could (and was indeed) of interest to the Saqraruna. Within a month, Uathiacuri has been located and "gifted" with the Beetle armor - the only condition being he should work for the Insect Syndicate, considered the same organ and sharing the same interests of the Tahuantinsuyuan State and also it's "people", to which he agreed - around this time, large mechanic units called "Biochrons", produced by the American ABEL Inc and used by the CIA, were using the junle bordering Tahuantinsuyu and Brazil to hunt down some people whom Uathiacuri knew, and this prompted him to rather side with the Tahuantinsuyu - even though Tahuantinsuyu also privileged some peoples over others, even among those regarded as "indigenous".
  The usage of the armor makes Uathiacuri closer to a water entity than a human, even though he can naturally be considered a water demigod (some of Pariacaca's offsprings are born with special, water-related powers). On some occasions, he can also reportedly take control of enemy's bodies by turning into water and fusing with them. While Uathiacuri's intentions doesn't necessarily match those of the Saqraruna or the Insect Syndicate, he seemingly has a misguided sense of national duty towards Tahuantinsuyu, which helped him in accepting the recruitment, not to mention his latest family has just been killed in the civil war taking place on the land, after some of the NATO forces have decided to strike and hunt down "pro-Tupaq guerrillas" (that are actually Tahuantinsuyu's official army). Some people would rather blame Tupaq for the civil war (Uathiacuri's father couldn't care less, and seeing how close Tupaq got to destroy the planet months before, that seemed a reasonable position), however Uathiacuri stood for the Inca leader as long as he protected the land and its people - and while that's not necessarily SPECTRO's plan, the original Topakhon Mobile preserved part of the planet's landscape and wildlife (albeit genetically modified) back then, so it could do now. For how long Uathiacuri will keep his word also depends on how much SPECTRO will be able to keep his - to protect the Tahuantinsuyuan people. So far Saqraruna has been able to protect it's people from NATO's bounty hunters, but who can protect them from the Saqraruna?

Eventually, Nina Roux, ex-AXIS agent YPSILON and current WASP, finds out ex-agent ALPHA, Marvin Chad, and ex-Necoc Yaotl supporter, Jacob Mills, have spent the last years after AXIS' "Mission Atlantis" investigating the origins of the Alpha-Omega armors, what brought them deeper into the technological complex of Chinchaysuyu, Tahuantinsuyu's capital province and Insect Syndicate's headquarters. During one of the Insect Syndicate's missions that take place in Australia, during February 2014, she tries to reach out to Kai Taylor and Melissa, in hopes she can expand the network of new information she's collecting alongside Marvin and Jacob, sharing with them these investigations and building a safe espionage from inside Saqraruna, that seems to be the face behind all of Tahuantinsuyu's unearthly security, as piece by piece they seem to find out the actual role of the Alpha-Omega symbiote armors is modifying humans, and that its origin is actually extraterrestrial. The mysterious supplier who acted as a bridge between this origin and the ABEL & Ulhaden corporations, however, remain to be found. Will Nina be able to follow its traces on another planet, or the Saqraruna's interest in acquiring all these armors, as well their surveillance over its' agents will get hold of Nina first?

MORE INSECT SYNDICATE MEMBERS:

ICHNEUMON | FIREFLY | FIREFLY (2) | SCORPION | MOTH | MANTIS |
SPIDER | HORNET | LOCUST | WASP |

Description
The BEETLE is an original character from my current story project - the time-consuming IN LAK'ECH Mythos, still in initial stages of development.
As you can tell by his armor's design, it's inspired by an Eupholus schoenherrii Snout Beetle and some science fiction and tokusatsu influences. It's also partially derived from another design, that of the original " RHO" armor, one of the 27+ armors from the Alpha-Omega series that I've designed last year in collaboration with . Each of them has an unique power and also play a major role in the IN LAK'ECH Mythos. The Beetle's customized RHO armor allows him the ability to transform his own body into liquid and control it.

LIKED IT? Then FOLLOW ME and support my work throughout the social networks!
Behance | tumblr | instagram | facebook

THE INSECT SYNDICATE BEGINS
In the IN LAK'ECH Mythos, the BEETLE is a member of the Insect Syndicate, a semi-official enforcement/security group headquertered in Chinchaysuyu (equivalent to the northern Peruvian Coast), a State/district of Tahuantinsuyu (named after the original Inca Empire, in the IN LAK'ECH Mythos a larger modern State which spans from Colombia in the North to the northern regions of Chile and Argentina in the South, encompassing areas from Ecuador, Peru and Bolivia. It's divided into four "suyus" or regions, and the capital, Moche, is located in Chinchaysuyu). The Syndicate's leader and founding member, the ICHNEUMON, is himself the major military authority of the Chinchaysuyu region, and an official " MALLKI" Cyborg General (named after the Inca royal mummies, the Mallki are the highest military authorities of Tahuantinsuyu, each one is assigned to a suyu) from Tahuantinsuyu.
The Insect Syndicate was officially founded in September 2009, when riots had just resumed in the metropolitan area of Chinchaysuyu after Tupaq Amaru III, a popular, yet controversial figure who was a guerrilla leader, revolutionary indigenous socialist captain during the era of the Peruvian Empire (that was replaced by the Socialist Republic of Tahuantinsuyu in 1969, following the victory of Tupaq's fellows and the capture & execution of the Peruvian emperor, Urcon Verbo, a dictator who was more like a CIA puppet) and the eventual President of Tahuantinsuyu from 1979 to 2000, when he went missing (and reports of his supposed death began to rise). He returned on March 2009, and on April 1st was appointed by Tahuantinsuyu's current president, Herrera Humala (from the traditional Communist Party of Tahuantinsuyu, Humala took the position in 2006, shortly after Julio Huanca, the current president since 2005's elections, from the left, social-democratic opposition party PSP has resigned), as Prime Minister. This move was poorly received by several sectors of the international community as a threat to democracy, but the Tahuantinsuyuan government, like all others, really didn't let its own population take charge of any effective measure over the decisions that concerned their own living (can democracy even exist, if in the end most of the people that compose a mass society are rather obliged to live in these conditions than they do it willingly?), and through its security forces often committed human rights violations, supported by its own corrupt law system and perpetrated by it's police (it's what police does, afterall).

THE SAQRARUNA
Between 2009 and 2011, the ICHNEUMON and the FIREFLY were the only two members of the Insect Syndicate, however their main sponsor, SPECTRO, the head of the secret intergalactic    Saqraruna Organization (that operates in Tahuantinsuyu for centuries), already had interest in capturing, customizing other super-powered Alpha-Omega armors and recruiting genetically fit users to don these armors and operate within the Insect Syndicate, thus expanding it into an internattionally operating, semi-official/secret military & intel agency. Until May 2010, most of these were owned by the AXIS Institute, a private military academy (or rather bounty hunter academy), sponsored by the armors' so-called developers, the american military technology corporation ABEL Inc. and the Teutonic (German) Ulhaden Corporation. Because of inner disputes and the threat of exposing its darkest secrets, including it's role on international slave labor, the breeding of non-human hybrids and their release on "fringe areas" across the world for the political agenda of their own sponsors (basically, neo-liberalism, enhancement of dependence between "third world communities" and centralized corporations), the AXIS was closed and the ownership of each armor divided between different figures, some more and some less related to the aforementioned military companies. Before SPECTRO's minions could start the harvest, however, some armors (Psi, Iota, Epsilon, Alpha) have been previously located and stolen by traditional enemies of AXIS, like the inhuman lizard-man Cuetzpalin Paynal, and ultimately fell to the hands of independent, paramilitary anarchists across the globe, leading to the creation of an informal network of armed affinity groups. Other armors (Ni, Mi, Sigma, Pi) were held tighter by far-right nationalists.
The members of the Insect Syndicate operate accordingly to the orders given by their leader ICHNEUMON, who in turn operates accordingly to "the interests of the State of Tahuantinsuyu" as the MALLKI Cyborg General of the province of Chinchaysuyu. These interests are dictated by Tahuantinsuyu's Council for Advanced Scientific, Technological, Industrial and Energy Development, a not so public organ from the State which most recent public relations manager as of 2009 is a cyborg ("post-human") named Choque Illa. From behind, the council is merely a mask for the Saqraruna Organization, which leader, SPECTRO (reputedly, a "Yakuruna" alien. But in truth, a centuries-old Artificial Intelligence), has been a long-time ally of Tupaq Amaru III (even before he was called as such or had a human face. Tupaq the Tahuantinsuyuan leader is actually a vessel for an ancient Elemental God of Darkness). But that's a story for another day.
  Like with the MALLKI Cyborgs, the identities behind each Insect Syndicate member (if they have one) are hidden even among their own. Most of them live in Chinchaysuyu as citizens, but while activated for a mission, they dress up and only refer to each other with their respective "Insect identities". The public also have absolutely no contact to the IS missions or goals, all they've got to know is that they're some kind of Tahuantinsuyuan secret agent. Despite that, each member have a very different background, several of them aren't even of Tahuantinsuyuan nationality, and have been recruited under equally different circumstances (all, however, have been meticulously chosen and approached, and surpassed life-threatening tests).
  The true loyalty of the Insect Syndicate is to SPECTRO, someone they don't even know (save perhaps for Ichneumon, and after some time, the Firefly, the SCORPION and the HORNET). Like all, they also aren't used to the fact that their very armors haven't actually been developed by ABEL Inc or Ulhaden Corporation, instead they were given to personnel of these enterprises by a secret supplier named Archimedes (from a secret organization, the Novus Civilizatio), and both ABEL and Ulhaden were merely tasked to modify them and adapt them to human usage (the armors' raw material secretly comes from biomechanical aliens, the Dzolob and Aluxob, from the planet of Sothis, colonized by Archimedes and his sponsors). Of course they turned the armors' customization into their latest products, promising generations of super soldiers for the West (as long as the human subjects survived the usage of such armors. In several cases, they resulted in side effects, and that's why the AXIS Institute employed so many scientists and spent so many resources on investigating the armors, rather than just handing it to any physically apt agent), what inadvertently subverted the armors' original goal (at least according to the cryptic Archimedes) - these armors are symbiotes that interact with their users, and were "meant to bound to the most genetically apt human vessels". They have a major role to play in the ongoing process of Human Automation, and Archimedes has an untold connection to the Saqraruna.

RHO
The armor which was modified into BEETLE's since his recruitment in November 2013 is the original RHO armor, catalogued by the ABEL Inc since 1999, supposedly developed in ABEL's facility at Manaus, Amazonas, Brazil. The 17th armor of the series and the 11th owned by ABEL Inc, it was originally trusted to agent Callum Kelley, who alongside the current Agent KAPPA (Jake Jones) and THETA (Yao Wu), survived ABEL's catastrophic Operation: MILLENNIUM. Alongside the american ABEL Inc (which owned other super-powered Alpha Omega armors), the Ulhaden faced successive diplomatic failures that damaged it's reputation to the CIA and international security forces, including the traditional INTERPOL, and those would only be healed by a corrupt agreement between both corporations, that would become the sponsors of a Gallia-headquartered, international, private military academy - the AXIS Institute, the next legal owner of most of the super-powered Alpha-Omega armors. Like with ABEL, the Ulhaden corporation was a facade to the secret origin of the armors and even then suffered the deaths of several agents in the late 20th century, during the failed Operation: RED ISLAND, which ended with the destruction of Bermeja, an island at the Atlantic region of Mexico - the same event where Tupaq was trapped into the Absolute Darkness by some of his brothers and rivals, the Elemental Gods. This operation happened months after MILLENNIUM. A great intel was lost as well, and traditional corporations like the Catholic Church and private military forces under public facades, headed by UN's current secretary of security, Wagner K (a traditional ally of Ulhaden), were instrumental to forge AXIS and its own role in the international politics, while ABEL and Ulhaden should keep working on more armors and more tests. The secret breeding and enslavement of "demonoids" (non-human hybrids which AXIS claimed to be natural or supernatural, intelligent threats to humanity) within AXIS' grounds would keep its own atmosphere less suspicious to its inner staff. Under the AXIS Institute, the Rho would pass from agent Callum Kelley (who suffered an accident or side-effect which turned him into a human blob) to agent Kai Lee Taylor, who has been operational in several missions involving a smart "demon" widely known as The Triton, and who also participated in the disastrous Mission: ATLANTIS, which outcome marked AXIS' irreversible downfall in 2010. After the mission and the institute's dissolution, the Ulhaden Corporation, one of AXIS' direct sponsors, failed to cope with international demands, and representing both ABEL Inc and the CIA, former agent NI, Lana Bridges (the adoptive daughter of ABEL's CEO, Joseph Bridges), has arranged with an international court special rights transferring the ownership and usage of some Alpha-Omega armors to trusted ex-AXIS agents, including Kai Taylor, who would pursue a civilian's life in Australia after four years serving AXIS.

NECOC YAOTL, HOLY ROMAN EMPIRE AND THE INQUISITION
In June-July 2010, starting with heatened urban guerrillas taking place in urban centers across the globe formerly owned only by social inequality, distinct informal groups, armed with equipment previously only owned by official military or private bounty hunter associations have led to the destabilization of several nation States and the authority of bourgeois, "representative democracy". This process spread like fire, and the sponsors of slavery and a "modern colonization", such as the mass media which runs most countries and manipulate "public opinion" became confused with the lack of leadership or formal organization to frame this international revolutionary process, appealing to make a serious conspiracy from some facy prank accidentally thrown away by one of such paramilitary soldiers. In no time, the " NECOC YAOTL" (nahuatl for "enemy of both sides) became the name of any insurrectionary enemy of State persecuted across the globe by the alliances of diverse dictatorships masked as democracies. During this time, some of the Alpha-Omega armors have been stolen, salvaged or appropriated by unaffiliated personnel which the CIA deemed as an "urgent matter" under request of ABEL Inc, that also lost several equipment to looting by locals around some of their private, multinational warehouses. The Ulhaden, or what's left of it, under Vitorio and his new butler Marco , have rather sided with economically liberal think-tanks, alongside eurosceptic, nationalist and even neo-nazist/fascist fronts in Europe, supported by traditional and not so traditional sponsors, including a new Pope, Leo XIV, who replaced the last one, killed by Paynal on sight in April 2011. With growing support and a fear-based campaign, Leo founded international "Inquisitory Offices" on several so-called modern republics, handling weapons and authorities to shadowy, bigoted figures that used the "threat of terror" to justify their own terror and bring back the Dark Ages.

In 2011, at the height of a "world war", Kai was already involved into a complex network of informal resistance alongside some few people he found trustworthy, such as ex-AXIS Agent KAPPA (Melissa Walker), what earned his life a difficult turn. Kai started working as a hacker and a "tech-man" to some cells of a larger, international anarchist resistance network commonly refered to NECOC YAOTL - Arima Division. Kai was dragged into this because of what he learnt from his time at AXIS, an interest pursued by other ex-agents who became targets for influential, enemy institutions because of their curiosity. Not only the origin of their armors was unknown, that of the "demons" they were forced to fight, as well the suspicious conditions which they were revealed, were secrets he wanted to understand. As for AXIS' role, it was about time he and other agents accepted the fact they were playing the role of expendable test subjects for an organization specialized in forming bounty hunters, a role that still existed before and after AXIS, as with time they started to see how small their biggest efforts could look from some perspectives. This, tied to personal conflicts inside the Arima Division (including the Triton's, or rather Gus' apparent focus on extremely risky missions trampling the emotional factor of others, or his playing with their lives) and other resistance groups, has led Melissa to walk away from that burden. This helped Kai to sever his ties with his former work, or so he thought - sometime after 2012, he was jailed by the Australian police force after being framed for illegal activities including hacking. His armor, however, remained under his ownership, and wasn't even mentioned on his judgment - the first thing he thought was that Lana, working for the CIA, could possibly have arranged this to get his armor, but the ABEL Inc was seemingly uninterested in messing up this situation, and in no time, with some lawyer, he managed to find relief from the original penalty. He was personally tired of this fight for the truth, however, and after some time he didn't manage to get any progress, so he really didn't see him using his armor - despite he kept it.

BEETLE
In Noveber 2013, during what seemed to be a normal day, Kai's home has been invaded by an inhuman agent using an armor he recognized as EPSILON, and she demanded his armor, as he let her have it, and slightly escaped death from her hands - he got in big trouble, but the "MOTH" didn't care about him anymore - the armor was meant for someone else, the next recruit of the Insect Syndicate. Since July, Tahuantinsuyu's government has been facing a crisis on its own capability of uniting the Suyus (regions), and the expansion of the Insect Syndicate came as a reasonable program under these circumstances. Oddly enough, several recruits aren't even of Tahuantinsuyuan nationality - despite not even IS' members know that - their true operational teleology is decided by the leaders of the intergalactic Saqraruna Organization, it just happens Tupaq is crucial to SPECTRO's plans and vice versa (this plan is converting Earth into a new, self-sustainable, endless energy producing mobile satellite/mass destruction weapon inhabited and operated by select groups of post-humans. These IS members were chosen to become some of the post-humans, and as well guards in this new "utopian" project that has been five centuries in the making. Before they can do that, though, they have to prove these symbiotic armors can merge and modify basic organic structures to make them self-sustainable and "automated". It's also worthy to mention that this mobile mass destruction satellite is built over a domesticated Black Hole, set to replace the Earth's Core. All of this, though, is just a plan B which Tupaq and SPECTRO have decided to immediately put into practice after the original project, called "Topakhon Mobile II" has been seized by an enemy months before and just been forcefully destroyed by a resentful Tupaq, a day before the Beetle's recruitment).
The man behind the Beetle armor is a miraculous, ancient immortal which the Saqraruna identified on Tahuantinsuyuan/Peruvian territory, and whose origins date back to the dawn of the Fifth Sun Era (12th Century a.I). It's a man from Huarochiri, part of the Quntisuyu Province, whose name is Uathiacuri, and who's actually a son of the water god Pariacaca, months ago revealed to be one of Tupaq's Elemental God "brothers", Pariacaca was believed to be an indirect supporter of the Saqraruna, as it has helped the organization in achieving some of its goals - including freeing Tupaq from his imprisonment in March 2009, and on other occasions destroying enemy ships - until he revealed his true intentions and identity, and took advantage of Tupaq's current "mortal conditions" (his godly abilities were taken by an usurper) to end him. The fight between the both of them, however, was interrupted by one of Tupaq's sons, Charon , who was a deadly enemy to both figures, and Tupaq tried to use this to escape. Charon and Pariacaca, despite enemies, had another enemy in common, who's Tupaq, and could put aside their differences in the moment as the opportunity to take the life of a former Elemental God was at hand - Tupaq had nowhere to run.
It was Uathiacuri that came, he who has lived many lives throughout time, as a mysterious wandering man that used to roam the water bodies of Tahuantinsuyu like the Lake Titicaca, where many years ago he may have met Yakuruna working for the Saqraruna Organization - whose interests seemly followed those of the Tahuantinsuyu, to build a large empire and benefit it's ruling class. Uathiacuri's abilities (manipulating water and weather, to create floods and storms, like he has caused across history on those who stood against him for some reason) have been observed in battle, and he was considered a genetically fit user of the Beetle armor from a long shot, but his intentions were still to be tested. Uathiacuri and Charon, the estranged sons of dark Elemental Gods, have stood against those who abandoned them - and in doing so Uathiacuri helped Tupaq in his escape. After accomplishing his mission - destroying the mass destruction mobile satellite Topakhon Mobile II, alongside the source of his previous power - Tupaq searched for the mysterious, ageless young man, as he could (and was indeed) of interest to the Saqraruna. Within a month, Uathiacuri has been located and "gifted" with the Beetle armor - the only condition being he should work for the Insect Syndicate, considered the same organ and sharing the same interests of the Tahuantinsuyuan State and also it's "people", to which he agreed - around this time, large mechanic units called "Biochrons", produced by the American ABEL Inc and used by the CIA, were using the junle bordering Tahuantinsuyu and Brazil to hunt down some people whom Uathiacuri knew, and this prompted him to rather side with the Tahuantinsuyu - even though Tahuantinsuyu also privileged some peoples over others, even among those regarded as "indigenous".
  The usage of the armor makes Uathiacuri closer to a water entity than a human, even though he can naturally be considered a water demigod (some of Pariacaca's offsprings are born with special, water-related powers). On some occasions, he can also reportedly take control of enemy's bodies by turning into water and fusing with them. While Uathiacuri's intentions doesn't necessarily match those of the Saqraruna or the Insect Syndicate, he seemingly has a misguided sense of national duty towards Tahuantinsuyu, which helped him in accepting the recruitment, not to mention his latest family has just been killed in the civil war taking place on the land, after some of the NATO forces have decided to strike and hunt down "pro-Tupaq guerrillas" (that are actually Tahuantinsuyu's official army). Some people would rather blame Tupaq for the civil war (Uathiacuri's father couldn't care less, and seeing how close Tupaq got to destroy the planet months before, that seemed a reasonable position), however Uathiacuri stood for the Inca leader as long as he protected the land and its people - and while that's not necessarily SPECTRO's plan, the original Topakhon Mobile preserved part of the planet's landscape and wildlife (albeit genetically modified) back then, so it could do now. For how long Uathiacuri will keep his word also depends on how much SPECTRO will be able to keep his - to protect the Tahuantinsuyuan people. So far Saqraruna has been able to protect it's people from NATO's bounty hunters, but who can protect them from the Saqraruna?

Eventually, Nina Roux, ex-AXIS agent YPSILON and current WASP, finds out ex-agent ALPHA, Marvin Chad, and ex-Necoc Yaotl supporter, Jacob Mills, have spent the last years after AXIS' "Mission Atlantis" investigating the origins of the Alpha-Omega armors, what brought them deeper into the technological complex of Chinchaysuyu, Tahuantinsuyu's capital province and Insect Syndicate's headquarters. During one of the Insect Syndicate's missions that take place in Australia, during February 2014, she tries to reach out to Kai Taylor and Melissa, in hopes she can expand the network of new information she's collecting alongside Marvin and Jacob, sharing with them these investigations and building a safe espionage from inside Saqraruna, that seems to be the face behind all of Tahuantinsuyu's unearthly security, as piece by piece they seem to find out the actual role of the Alpha-Omega symbiote armors is modifying humans, and that its origin is actually extraterrestrial. The mysterious supplier who acted as a bridge between this origin and the ABEL & Ulhaden corporations, however, remain to be found. Will Nina be able to follow its traces on another planet, or the Saqraruna's interest in acquiring all these armors, as well their surveillance over its' agents will get hold of Nina first?

MORE INSECT SYNDICATE MEMBERS:

ICHNEUMON | FIREFLY | FIREFLY (2) | SCORPION | MOTH | MANTIS |
SPIDER | HORNET | LOCUST | WASP |