Omni Raider
There is a person in there. Somewhere behind the predatory stillness and the jaw built for cracking bone, fragments of a Lineage still exist. You can see it, briefly, in the ten seconds after an Omni Raider finishes feeding. The eyes clear. The face shifts from hunger to horror. Sometimes the mouth forms words: an apology, a name, something desperate and broken and impossibly sad. Then the Raider state reasserts itself, the moment passes, and what looks back at you is a predator again.
Omni Raiders are the assassins of the Infected Raider subspecies. Former Lineages transformed by Bad Brain disease into something that retains their tactical awareness, their patience, and their planning ability, but strips away everything else and replaces it with an overwhelming compulsion to consume brain matter. They stalk with the discipline of a hunter who was taught by Lineage society before that society lost them. They select targets. They observe approach angles. They wait.
The physical transformation concentrates around the skull and jaw. Dense musculature wraps the neck and mandible, built for a single purpose: biting through bone to reach the cranial contents. The rest of the frame is gaunt and skeletal, all wiry sinew stripped of excess. Heightened senses give them an alert, predatory bearing that reads as focused rather than feral. Necrotic scarring marks the skin where the Infection has eaten through tissue, but the damage is less grotesque than the Aberrant types. Omni Raiders look more human than they should, and that is part of what makes them dangerous.
They operate alone or in small coordinated groups, maintaining enough discipline to work in concert when stalking prey. Unlike the disorganized hordes of other threats, Omni Raiders plan their kills. The shift from stalking to violence is sudden and total, with no intermediate warning. One moment they are watching. The next, they are on you.
The tragedy is real. Omni Raiders were people. They had names, communities, lives. Bad Brain disease took all of that and left behind a predator that remembers just enough to suffer for it, ten seconds at a time.
Omni Raiders are the assassins of the Infected Raider subspecies. Former Lineages transformed by Bad Brain disease into something that retains their tactical awareness, their patience, and their planning ability, but strips away everything else and replaces it with an overwhelming compulsion to consume brain matter. They stalk with the discipline of a hunter who was taught by Lineage society before that society lost them. They select targets. They observe approach angles. They wait.
The physical transformation concentrates around the skull and jaw. Dense musculature wraps the neck and mandible, built for a single purpose: biting through bone to reach the cranial contents. The rest of the frame is gaunt and skeletal, all wiry sinew stripped of excess. Heightened senses give them an alert, predatory bearing that reads as focused rather than feral. Necrotic scarring marks the skin where the Infection has eaten through tissue, but the damage is less grotesque than the Aberrant types. Omni Raiders look more human than they should, and that is part of what makes them dangerous.
They operate alone or in small coordinated groups, maintaining enough discipline to work in concert when stalking prey. Unlike the disorganized hordes of other threats, Omni Raiders plan their kills. The shift from stalking to violence is sudden and total, with no intermediate warning. One moment they are watching. The next, they are on you.
The tragedy is real. Omni Raiders were people. They had names, communities, lives. Bad Brain disease took all of that and left behind a predator that remembers just enough to suffer for it, ten seconds at a time.
Basic Information
Anatomy
Gaunt and skeletal, the Omni Raider's frame has been stripped to essentials by the disease that transformed it. Wiry sinew covers bones with no excess flesh, producing a physique optimized for patience and sudden explosive violence rather than sustained combat. The build is lean, almost emaciated, giving the impression of something that has not eaten in weeks. In a sense, it has not. Not the way it needs to.
The jaw and neck tell you what it hunts. Dense musculature concentrates around the mandible and cervical vertebrae, overdeveloped to a degree that distorts the lower face. The bite force implied by that anatomy is purpose-built for cracking through the human skull to reach brain matter. Necrotic scarring marks the skin where Bad Brain has advanced, eating through tissue in irregular patches that expose the corruption beneath the surface.
Heightened senses give the Omni Raider an alert, watchful bearing. The eyes track movement with predatory precision. The head tilts to catch sound. Everything about the creature's posture communicates readiness. It is always scanning, always assessing, always looking for the isolated target that satisfies both its tactical instincts and its feeding compulsion.
The jaw and neck tell you what it hunts. Dense musculature concentrates around the mandible and cervical vertebrae, overdeveloped to a degree that distorts the lower face. The bite force implied by that anatomy is purpose-built for cracking through the human skull to reach brain matter. Necrotic scarring marks the skin where Bad Brain has advanced, eating through tissue in irregular patches that expose the corruption beneath the surface.
Heightened senses give the Omni Raider an alert, watchful bearing. The eyes track movement with predatory precision. The head tilts to catch sound. Everything about the creature's posture communicates readiness. It is always scanning, always assessing, always looking for the isolated target that satisfies both its tactical instincts and its feeding compulsion.
Biological Traits
As an Infected Raider, the Omni carries skills that reflect its origin as a former Lineage. Cannibalism (Triggered Memories) is the feeding mechanic that triggers the moment of clarity. Wolf Among Sheep and Feign Mediocrity allow the Omni to move among non-Raider populations by suppressing outward signs of its Raider nature. Tainted Kin provides interaction with Tainted and other Infected in ways non-Raiders cannot access.
Combat focuses on brawling and targeted strikes aimed at the head and skull. Armor values range from 20 at Rank 1 to 50 on the Rank 3 Skull Cracker variant. The assassin variants at Rank 2 carry enhanced stealth and ambush capability, while the Rank 3 Sniper variant adds ranged precision to the already dangerous close-quarters toolkit.
Unlike Aberrant Raiders, Omni Raiders can pass through the Mortis Amaranthine. The passage is chaotic and violent, leaving residual disease in its wake, but it means that killing an Omni Raider is not necessarily permanent. They come back, changed, corrupted further, but functional. This makes them a recurring threat in ways that Aberrant types cannot be.
The moment of clarity after feeding is technically a vulnerability window, a brief period where the Raider state recedes and the creature is not actively predatory. Whether this represents an exploitable tactical opening or a moment too suffused with tragedy to weaponize is a question each survivor answers for themselves.
Combat focuses on brawling and targeted strikes aimed at the head and skull. Armor values range from 20 at Rank 1 to 50 on the Rank 3 Skull Cracker variant. The assassin variants at Rank 2 carry enhanced stealth and ambush capability, while the Rank 3 Sniper variant adds ranged precision to the already dangerous close-quarters toolkit.
Unlike Aberrant Raiders, Omni Raiders can pass through the Mortis Amaranthine. The passage is chaotic and violent, leaving residual disease in its wake, but it means that killing an Omni Raider is not necessarily permanent. They come back, changed, corrupted further, but functional. This makes them a recurring threat in ways that Aberrant types cannot be.
The moment of clarity after feeding is technically a vulnerability window, a brief period where the Raider state recedes and the creature is not actively predatory. Whether this represents an exploitable tactical opening or a moment too suffused with tragedy to weaponize is a question each survivor answers for themselves.
Behaviour
Calculating and patient in a way that other Raiders are not. Omni Raiders are assassins, not berserkers. They do not charge. They do not swarm. They watch, select, and execute with the kind of methodical precision that comes from retaining tactical awareness across the transformation from Lineage to Raider.
The stalking phase can last hours. An Omni Raider will observe a target from concealment, tracking movement patterns, noting when the target is alone, when their guard drops, when rescue would be slow to arrive. The decision to strike is deliberate. When it comes, the transition from stillness to violence is instantaneous. There is no warning growl, no territorial display, no escalation.
After feeding on brain matter, the moment of clarity arrives. Roughly ten seconds of lucidity where the former Lineage surfaces. Survivors who have witnessed this describe it as the most disturbing thing about the encounter: the sudden humanity in the creature's eyes, the flash of recognition and horror at what it has done. Some try to speak. Some weep. Then the window closes, the Raider state reasserts itself, and the predator resumes scanning for its next target. Whether these moments represent genuine consciousness or a neurological echo is a question that haunts anyone who has seen one.
The stalking phase can last hours. An Omni Raider will observe a target from concealment, tracking movement patterns, noting when the target is alone, when their guard drops, when rescue would be slow to arrive. The decision to strike is deliberate. When it comes, the transition from stillness to violence is instantaneous. There is no warning growl, no territorial display, no escalation.
After feeding on brain matter, the moment of clarity arrives. Roughly ten seconds of lucidity where the former Lineage surfaces. Survivors who have witnessed this describe it as the most disturbing thing about the encounter: the sudden humanity in the creature's eyes, the flash of recognition and horror at what it has done. Some try to speak. Some weep. Then the window closes, the Raider state reasserts itself, and the predator resumes scanning for its next target. Whether these moments represent genuine consciousness or a neurological echo is a question that haunts anyone who has seen one.
Scientific Name
Homo insurrectus morbidus
Lifespan
Chaotic Mortis passage (not permanent death)
Conservation Status
Recurring threat (Mortis passage)
Average Physique
Gaunt, skeletal; wiry sinew
Body Tint, Colouring and Marking
Necrotic scarring; dense jaw musculature
