Stoker
The Stoker is a variant of the Cinder-type zed found in and around the Dead Furnace of Rust City. Its hands have been replaced by cages of jagged, bent metal that glow hot enough to ignite armor and ammunition on contact. Pipes have been crudely shoved through its ribs and back, serving as vents for the toxic, infection-laden smoke that pours from its interior. The Stoker feeds debris into its own rib cage to stoke the internal fire that gives it both its name and its killing power.
In combat, the Stoker closes to melee range and attacks with its scorching metal claws. When pressed or surrounded, it can emit a dense cloud of superheated black smoke in a wide radius, forcing opponents to choose between suffocation, fire damage, and retreat. Any physical contact risks igniting heat-sensitive materials. Even well-armed and coordinated squads have trouble facing one down, because the standard response to a dangerous zed, surrounding it and concentrating fire, plays directly into the Stoker's smoke-cloud ability.
The Stoker emerges from the crumbling ruins beneath Rust City, a place where the Dead Furnace has consumed countless undead to generate power for Rail City above. No one is certain how the Stoker evolved. The prevailing theory is that it represents a zed that adapted to fire rather than being destroyed by it, internalizing the combustion process and weaponizing it. Whether that adaptation is a mutation or evidence of directed Gravemind evolution remains a matter of debate among the Ironworks' zombologists.
In combat, the Stoker closes to melee range and attacks with its scorching metal claws. When pressed or surrounded, it can emit a dense cloud of superheated black smoke in a wide radius, forcing opponents to choose between suffocation, fire damage, and retreat. Any physical contact risks igniting heat-sensitive materials. Even well-armed and coordinated squads have trouble facing one down, because the standard response to a dangerous zed, surrounding it and concentrating fire, plays directly into the Stoker's smoke-cloud ability.
The Stoker emerges from the crumbling ruins beneath Rust City, a place where the Dead Furnace has consumed countless undead to generate power for Rail City above. No one is certain how the Stoker evolved. The prevailing theory is that it represents a zed that adapted to fire rather than being destroyed by it, internalizing the combustion process and weaponizing it. Whether that adaptation is a mutation or evidence of directed Gravemind evolution remains a matter of debate among the Ironworks' zombologists.
Civilization and Culture
History
Stokers appear to have emerged from the same process that fuels the Dead Furnace of Rust City. The Furnace consumes enormous quantities of undead to generate power for Rail City, and the Stoker may be what happens when a zed survives that process rather than being destroyed by it. The internal fire, the crude metal claw-cages, and the smoke-venting pipes all suggest a creature that has adapted to combustion at the most fundamental level. Ironworks zombologists continue to debate whether this is random mutation or evidence that the Gravemind is actively engineering fire-resistant variants to counter the Furnace's defensive purpose.
A fire-adapted zed with scorching metal claws and choking smoke-cloud attacks.
Type
undead
