The General

"My name no longer holds any meaning. I am The General, now and for the rest of eternity...for however much longer that lasts."

- The General explains why he is known only by his title "Before this is over, you will learn just how weak and pathetic you truly are. I will make you regret your choices this day, house."

- The General addresses "SDMgate" The General (real name unknown) is the alias of the supreme commander of one of the largest multiversal militaries in existence. Ruthless, pragmatic, cruel, and utterly indifferent to life, The General seeks nothing else but the destruction of all worlds and universes through the awakening of Anathemus and their eventual "rebirth." Formerly an employee of Kizeki Corp., he eventually grew to loathe existence, believing it to be corrupted. He led his own faction away from Kizeki Corp., stealing some of her technology during their defection.

Since then, The General has built up his army to a massive degree, and dominated thousands of worlds across many universes. His actions have led him to becoming a premier villain in the Anathemus Mythos after Hellgate, often having some minor involvement in any given story, be it directly or indirectly.

History
According to SDM, The General was born on a world dominated by something known only as "The Game," a competition using special machines called "Forces" for the sake of having one's ultimate wish granted. Naturally, the constant wishing by not-so-righteous people and the brutality of the Game itself leaving much damage in its wake had left the world in a ruined state. One wish was apparently even lengthening the human lifespan to more than ten times the normal, thus granting millenium-long lives to every human on that world.

This had apparently left The General very jaded, as he had noted several times how much he loathed his homeworld. He was also not the only one, as others from that world seemed to curse it as much as he did. At some point, Kizeki Corp. arrived on the world, and took with them several denizens that had grown weary of the constant warfare. The man who would later be known as The General was the leader of this group, which also included future Rebel Commander Anthony Amadeus. This group eventually became employed by the multiversal corporation, specifically as a part of its private military.

It is during this time that The General began cultivating his disgust for life and universes in general. Working as an enforcer for a rather corrupt corporation against worlds that were arguably even worse off, The General began to believe that all worlds, no matter where they were, were nothing but filfth. Though he tried desperately to justify his actions by saying he was doing the right thing, eventually he came to realize that the multiverse, and even the omniverse, was beyond help. He began to obsess over the idea of "resetting" the Omniverse, wiping it free of its supposed stains and starting over on a clean slate. This led him into conflict with the founder and CEO of Kizeki Corp., Kizeki Auf Thanatos.

After gaining more support from other employees under Kizeki Corp. (many of them the very same humans who joined him in KizCo employment), and with Kizeki's constant refusal to allow his special projects to go on, The General decided to defect. Gathering a sizable militia, he instigated a mutiny that resulted in an entire fleet being stolen from Kizeki Corp., along with a sizable portion of their weapons technology and blueprints. This first set of stolen ships, manned by The General's most trusted personnel and upgraded over the course of several years, would eventually be known as the feared and elite Alpha Fleet; a name dreaded throughout the multiverse as the most ruthless and efficient portion of his military.

Following his defection, The General decided to abandon his original name. He demanded that he only be referred to by the rank he previously held at Kizeki Corp., thus giving him the name he is currently known as. Shortly thereafter, The General began conquering other worlds and building up his own army to match Kizeki Corp.'s. He forcefully conscripted natives to his army, but after a few incidents by magic users and non-humans, The General began to detest them. He found them hard to control should they ever decide to rebel against him with their superior strength, and enforced a policy of executing or destroying the wills of any conquered species that was not purely and non-magically human.

Once he had gained a large enough power base, The General shifted his focus from pure conquest to developing ways to annihilate the Omniverse. One of his first attempts was known as Project Null, a self-replicating virus with the ability to hijack any nearby machine through indirect contact. However, a failsafe designed to keep the core of the virus intact if it was ever harmed was coded incorrectly, and instead the virus began to transmute almost anything it infected into a new core. What's more, it could not differentiate between friend and foe. As such, it began to multiple and spread rapidly throughout the multiverse. The General eventually declared Null to be a threat to even themselves, and led a campaign against his own creation.

Many battles were fought against Null. Entire worlds were conquered for the sole sake of gaining material to combat the threat. All to no avail. It wasn't until a vaccine that prevented a Core from coyping itself that the war began to turn. Even then, applying the vaccine proved to be almost as dangerous as facing the virus without it. Many ships and personnel were lost as each Core was eliminated one by one.

The damage incurred by Null was so great that The General was forced to return to his former homeworld, laying waste to it and enslaving the survivors. Later that world would develop to become the single most fortified planet in the multiverse, acting as the central headquarters for The General's military. However, the brutal conquest of their home planet prompted several of his top officers to then defect from The General's military, and they would lay the groundwork for the founding of the Rebellion against The General.

The General seemed to disregard the Rebellion at first, even after they attempted to confront The General's forces directly. After re-establishing himself on his former homeworld, The General decided to prove a point to the Rebellion. To this end, he ordered the construction of one of the largest and most battle-ready warships to ever sail the multiverse: The General's Head. This behemoth of a starship soon became the symbol of The General's power, able to decimate an entire civilization by itself in a matter of minutes. Even Kizeki Corp. would find difficulties in combating the vessel. The Head was soon firmly established as The General's personal flagship, as well as integrated as the command ship for Alpha Fleet.

During a routine flight, The General and his crew aboard the Head observed a strange phenomena involving a black mass moving through two tears in reality. The General, who was still looking for a new method to reset the Omniverse, became inspired by this. He started looking through ancient texts and records, all revolving around a certain deiety: Anathemus. Upon learning that the great Dreamer was the strongest being in all of the Omniverse, The General initiated Project Anathema, with the ultimate goal of waking Him up. For the next several hundred years, The General began working towards this goal. However he soon realized he was missing certain pieces. Unfortunately for him, he was not entirely aware of what these pieces were. He only knew he needed the mind, the power, and the emptiness.

Later, The General came across a beaten and battered Black Spawn. Realizing that he could use the Spawn as a way to find one of the pieces, The General immeidately ordered its capture and recovery. Once it was healthy again, The General commanded the Spawn to eat other Spawns, adding to its own power. He then sent it out to random worlds in the hope that he would find the one that defeated it in order to find the Power of Anathemus.

Birth
Eventually, his Black Spawn made its way back to the original world. This world, an Earth, had managed to defeat that very same Black Spawn tens of thousands of years in its own past. The Earth was ready for it this time, and a few defenders prepared to meet it. During the battle, a certain house was infected, and due to his inorganic nature, he was able to use the power of the Dark Spore to not only fell, but to kill, the Black Spawn. Thus, in one swift movement, Project Anathema was permanently thrwarted.

Black Heaven
When the Black Spawn did not return for several months, The General assumed that it had met its end. Unfortunately, though he knew the universe that the Spawn died in, he did not know what planet. As such, The General spent roughly a year following his former pet's footsteps, retracing the path it took until one of his scouts found that universe's Earth. They confirmed that the world showed the scars of a Spawn attack, but it survived the encounter. The General, believing that anything that could klll the Black Spawn might make a suitable replacement, prepared Delta Fleet and The General's Head for an invasion. Naturally, he himself planned to oversee the battle.

The initial assault of the world went well. So well, in fact, that The General began to question if he had arrived even on the right world. But when a dark streak began turning the tides single-handedly, The General no longer had any doubts. On closer examination however, The General realized that the dark power tearing his fleet apart was nothing more than a simple Dark Spore-infected native. Furious, The General commanded that the Head meet their attacker head-on.

His enemy was a mansion granted sentience by the locals and mobility by Kizeki herself. Furthermore, this mansion was armed to the teeth with strong cannons and other ballistic weaponry, all given a large boost in power by the Dark Spore. In spite of this, The General was confident that he would be able to overcome this new opponent, saying that SDM relied on "fake power." The two exchanged harsh words, and then quickly began exchanging blows. The General had the Black Star Cannon start to charge up, but he would have to hold SDM off until it reached the desired output. To SDM's credit, he was able to hold up rather well against the strongest wraship known to exist. The two enemies were near a perfect match, with SDM becoming just as scarred as the Head's hull. This angered The General even more, since now even his pride and joy was suffering at the hands of what he considered to be a mere boaster.

When the Black Star Cannon was nearly at the charge limit, The General had three of his drones sacrifice themselves as they led the mansion to the bow of the ship. The Cannon opened up, and the mansion charged in, hoping to force the charge to backfire and take out the Head. It became a race, then, between how fast the cannon could fire and how fast SDM could go. In the end, the Black Star Cannon managed to fire first, and sent the mansion hurtling to the earth below.

The General commanded his men to fire on the house again, this time at minimal power. He demanded this repeatedly, until the house was no better than a pile of rocks. The General expressed his utter disdain for SDM and others like him, as well as his fury that someone so "pathetic" managed to destroy half of Delta Fleet and deal significant damage to the ''Head. ''Unaware of how a house's soul works, The General opted to let SDM's ruins stand as an ever-present reminder of his true worth.

Once the house was taken care of, The General had Delta Fleet spread out across the world, and take it over in order to make up for the losses the mansion had caused. In less than a week, The General had obtained total dominance over Earth M717. He set himself up in the White House of Washington D.C., the former capital of the United States, and oversaw the occupation of the world.

Seeing as Delta Fleet itself had lost most of its own occupation division, a large percentage of the surviving ships were reassigned to occupational duty. Based on their class, they were assigned to one of three divisions: Scout, Patrol, or Pacification. Following that, six Warp Net Generators were set up around the globe, all equidistant from the other. These Generators projected a field around M717, which would forcefully pull any enemy vessels out of warp and into normal space, disabling their inventions. One Generator, in order to complete the field, had to be built under water at Point Triple Zero, and as such took additional time to construct.

Meanwhile, The General began enslaving Earth's population. Those he deemed unworthy to serve his military were left to perform the manual labor. These people gathered materials, refined them, and constructed The General's new buildings, including the Urbanization Centers. Those who were able and willing to serve The General became the Elite, and were granted special privliges in addition to their assinged duties. Lastly, those who were able but not willing to serve were Conscripted, and had a special chip installed in their brain that forced loyalty to The General.

As for the non-humans of the world, the youkai, The General had them rounded up and either executed or taken to an Urbanization Center where they would face the true power of the Conscription machine. Their entire cognitive centers were completely removed, being replaced by a basic artificial intelligence unit that was only capable of following orders and moving the body. A Conscript named Houston was in charge of the group that was handling a special sealed-off region of the world that was nearly filled with youkai. To help contain them, The General ordered a Watchtower be built on the Border, effectively turning the land into a prison.

As for The General himself, at first he was extremely displeased at his current situation. He despised the fact that Project Anathema was over, he despied that he had not found a suitable replacement, and he hated that he had to watch over a backwater planet for the sake of making up losses. However, his tune began to change over time, and he started to find the experience relaxing. Away from all the annoyance and business back at his headquarters, he began to like having a smaller work load (comparatively speaking) as well as directly controlling one of his many worlds.

Red Earth
The new Net Generators kept the Rebellion away from M717 for about two months, when the Rebellion was able to design new SlipNets in order to bypass the field. The General had known they would arrive eventually, and spent the intervening time plotting out the several ways the Rebellion might try to take him down. Once the Former Village Prison fell along with the Watchtower, The General managed to piece together the rest of R.A.G.'s Operation Payload. After the underwater Net Generator was destroyed, The General moved the Head out of position to meet the incoming Rebel Fleet, just as he expected they wanted him to. Meanwhile, The General began to prepare a countermeasure.

He encountered a snag when he attempted to teleport onto the Head, and realized that Commander Houston had begun malfunctioning. Accessing a back door, he managed to make it on board, without the Rebellion realizing that he had left the White House. He later confronted Houston outside of the engine core, along with a youkai resistance leader named Patchouli Knowledge. He terminated Houston himself for the Commander's actions, and then turned on Patchouli. Though he admitted that Houston had done much more damage to him, he could not deny the nuisance that Patchouli had become back on Earth. Leading a refugee camp that frequently rescued other non-humans from his collection crews was not something he was willing to forgive.

She attmpted to fight him, but The General managed to knock her out with a stun blast. He did not intend to kill her becuase of the light spell she still carried with her. Having become aware of SDM's possible return, The General installed her in his newest creation to use against him should he appear.

And appear he did, as The General brought the Head back to Earth and started decimating the Rebel Fleet. The mansion tried to confront him, but The General's new weapon was enough to hold him at bay. When SDM learned that The General might have Patchouli, he flew right back at the damaged Head, intending to get her back.

The General, unaware of his fuel source's importance to SDM, offered the house a deal. A challenge of strength, against The General's Soul. If SDM won, The General would force Delta Fleet to abandon M717. But should The General win, he would get SDM himself. Learning from his previous mistake, The General had no intention of letting the mansion escape him this time. Instead, he wanted to capture him, and then copy KizCo's design to use for his own personal army of war houses.

SDM accepted, and was immediately led into The General's trap. Just as SDM attempted to call on the Spore's power, The General unveiled the Cleanser, an attachment designed to forcefully remove an infected's Dark Spore. The Cleanser was fueled by Patchouli herself, and this proved to be detrimental to the Cleanser's operation. Using her magic, Patchouli attempted to and succeeding in slowing the Cleanser down. When The General learned of this, he realized he held the mansion's pilot in his machine. He attempted to both punish and bypass her magic, accidentally knocking her out in the process. This birefly shut off the Cleanser, allowing SDM time to rescue his operator and release her into safer arms.

With his trap ruined, The General decided to move forward with the deal anyway. He summoned Delta Fleet and had them hold R.A.G. off while he and the Soul fought SDM alone. At first the battle seemed to be going in The General's favor, but then SDM tried to summon the Dark Spore's power once more. Fearing another rampage like he did during the initial invasion, The General attempted to forego capturing the mansion abd just destroy him before that day could be repeated. Unfortunately, SDM managed to completely indulge himself in the black power, and used it to completely annihiliate the Soul.

The General emerged from the wreckage in a smaller robot, and warned SDM that should he continue to utilize the fake power of his, that he, The General, would not be that Earth's biggest threat. With those ominous words, The General left M717.

Hellgate 2 Part II
The General was first introduced at the very end of the Hellgate 2 Part II roleplay, as the last post of the RP. In the altered timeline that the Hellgate Saga takes place in, the SDM of the previous timeline wound up fulfilling The General's prediction, becoming Hellgate. Hellgate used his new powers to travel back in time, thus granting the inhabitants of Gensokyo advanced information on the Black Spawn and the nature of the Dark Spores.

As such, special precautions were taken to prevent SDM from becoming infected again. Thus, the Gensokians were forced to face the Black Spawn without the dark power, and therefore were unable to kill it. However, they were able to defeat it, and it retreated back to its master, exactly as he intended. While the Spawn recovers from its beating, The General ordered Zeta Fleet to prepare to invade the planet, while also ordering the preparation of his flagship's newest weapon: the Black Star Cannon.

Hellgate 2 Part III
After two months of preperation, the invasion began. On arrival, he was primarily met with disappointment, as M717 was not only completely overwhelmed by his forces--in fact, the only location that had any real success in defense was on land--but was also comprised mainly of magical beings. He invited some the stronger defenders of the planet onto his ship to see them up close for himself, among which were Kanako Imrah, Sebastian Jebediah Aurion, Arachnos, and Kizeki Auf Thanatos. He wasn't very impressed by their power or appearance, and promptly dismissed them from the ship after talking down to them.

Elsewhere, The General managed to shoot down SDM. Realizing that SDM held the component he had been looking for, he abducted the mansion along with everyone in it. To further distract his enemies, he then turned the Black Star Cannon against the Hakurei Border itself, destroying it and thus exposing Gensokyo to the Outside World. On recieving confirmation that one of his teams had found the "Secondary Objective," The General took the Head and Zeta Fleet back to headquarters.

With the Power of Anathemus in his hands, Project Anathema entered its final stage. No longer feeling the need to "humor" R.A.G., he ordered the systematic destruction of every known Rebel base, even using the Spawn to assist with their annihilation.

Other Appearances
Though the General has made his presence known in the Xat Rp sessions since the Anathemites's arrival in the fourth Equestria, he himself has not made any direct apppearances; the only mentions of him are indirect, pointing to a war between himself and Mr. Hood that the latter is slowly losing.

The first time he brings any sort of influence into the RP Is when the Special A Unit is infiltrating the Shadow Factory. They notice some of the automated defenses bearing The General's logo, hinting that his military played some role in the Shadow Factory's design. This makes sense, however, seeing as the Nihilius Clan is not particularly tech-savvy.

The next instance was when Vocus-6, the leader of the Clan Remnant, took over Cloudsdale and revealed a special new defensive device on his chest that was given to him by The General, which in turn required a visit from the Rebellion to provide ERAC with a way to destroy it.

It was revealed that Valis Ail sought help in the Lunar Cell's design, hinting that The General may have yet again lent them their assistance. When considering that the Shadow Factory was designed by his forces, it is not far-fetched to consider it happening with the similarly-mechanical Cell.

The final time he is mentioned is following a message from the Mr. Hood of that universe stating his full retreat. At the end of that episode, The General has a meeting with another person who is revealed to be Mr. Hood as well. The General gives him command of The General's Head and direct him to give it a "test run" on Equestria, which also gives him the chance to respond to the Remnant's call for aid in one go. His voice is also heard again to order Hood's retreat from the planet.

Though that is the last known mention of him as that session closed off the last "episode" of the RP, SDM has made it clear that The General, this Hood under his command, and The General's forces will be a central opponent if not the main antagonists for the upcoming season.

Personality and Traits
Normally, The General is a very cold man who almost seems disinterested in anything he does. His cynicism even extends to his own forces, finding the day-to-day management of his military to be taxing and obnoxious. When he speaks, he reveals himself to be a very arrogant and condescening person, believing only a handful of individuals to be worth his time. He shows no remorse, or in fact, any emotion at all when he and his army conquer or destroy a world. The General doesn't even seem to gain any sort of sadistic joy out of his actions; he maintains that disconnected persona at almost all times.

Only a handful of times has he shown something other than indifference. When he first learned of Hellgate's ability to destroy his fleet granted to him by a Dark Spore, The General became angered that his endeavors were for nothing and his plans stopped by a boaster. All further interactions with the house were of an explicitly hostile nature, driven by The General's inability to accept someone that could match him and yet be so different from him. When meeting with Kizeki at the beginning of Hellgate 2 Part III, The General actually seemed to enjoy mocking his former employer. He flaunted his positiion before her, even laughing without provocation. This hints at possible mental instability.

The General's attitude can most likely be attributed to his goal of resetting the Omniverse. Because he believes all will be erased by Anathemus' hand, he does not attach himself emotionally to anything. This also enables him to defy any common moral beliefs, having no qulams at all about commiting genocide after genocide if it furthers his plans. It is unknown if he sees himself as a "necessary evil" or if he has no regard for the concept whatsoever. Given the evidence, the latter seems more likely.

As a human, The General exhibits no special abilities or traits besides his incredibly long lifespan. With that sole exception, The General is physically no more unique than an ex-soldier. He has the appearance and stance of a military man in his early 60s. He dresses in a chrome uniform with a red and blue sash running across from his right shoulder to his left hip. His breast is decorated in several medals, some of which appear to come from Kizeki Corp.

Skills and Abilities
The General cannot perform magic himself, and seems to despise other creatures (even other humans) that can. This is apparently because he finds that those can use it are given a potential advantage over him, and as such takes great pains to eliminate any and all species that may pose a threat to him. This takes the form of mass xenocide of an entire species, with only a few left alive to be experimented on. Even then, most have their cognitive abilities removed and replaced with a very basic AI core that virtually eliminates any possibility of rebellion.

What The General lacks in physical power (at least compared to his usual opponents), he more than makes up for with his cunning and ruthlessness. The General has gained a lot of experience in battle and in life thanks to his lifespan, and he uses that knowledge to create complicated schemes that rival those of Hellgate. In fact it was The General's counterplan to Operation Payload that convinced Hellgate of the importance of planning. He has a brilliant tactical mind that is more than capable of predicting the possible moves his enemies might make, and he will often intentionally appear to be falling into their trap only to reveal that he was leading them along the whole time.

In addition to his strategic abilities, he is also an adept engineer, having designed (or at least assisted with the design of) many of the machines he and his forces use. He will also happily employ his own personal machines against threats that manage to reach him. Some things he had a hand in creating include The General's Head, The General's Soul, the Cleanser, and pretty much everything else in The General's X line of ships and mechas.

Weapons and Combat Gear
As a former soldier and current military head, The General is adept in practically any weapon that falls into his hands. He is not commonly seen with any specific weapon, but during his confrontation with Commander Houston and Patchouli Knowldge in the depths of the Head, The General carried a large rifle-like weapon capable of both disintegrating the rogue commander's head and stunning the magician.

The General also has an affinity for large mechanical devices, and the few times he brings himself personally into battle he is often at the helm of these things, sometimes even piloting them himself.

Weaknesses and Flaws
Given the fact that, besides the long life, The General is just an ordinary human, it is most likely that he is as vulnerable as any human. He can be hurt and he be killed with just about anything, especially if the cranial region is targeted. Of course, he is aware of this, and almost never appears without something to protect him, whether it be a robot or a personalized shielding device. He has also shown traits of being slightly mentally unhinged, and this could potentially be exploited in order to subvert whatever defense he has.

Relationships
Anathemus - Anathemus appears to be the only being that The General appears to even like, let alone revere. Though it can be surmised that they have never met, The General believes Anathemus is the key to resetting the Omniverse and erasing all the "filth" within it, and has made His awakening as the ultimate goal of Project Anathema. The General is either misinformed or willfully ignorant of Anathemus' goal to eliminate everything and make sure nothing replaces it.

Hellgate - Though the two are similar in many ways, especially in skill, Hellgate and The General are incapable of civility in the other's presence.

Kizeki Auf Thanatos - Due to Kizeki's opposition to his goals and their confrontations over it, The General holds nothing but enmity for his former employer. In fact, during their brief reunion, The General seemed to enjoy rubbing his overall success in her face, almost breaking his usual demeanor in order to do so. She, along with Hellgate, remain the only known two beings to actually make The General show an emotion other than indifference.

Design and Influence
The General's affinity for technology, and it being the force that supersedes the Nihilius Clan (magic) and Hellgate (both) seem to reflect SDM's personal belief in the superiority of technology over the mystical. This is also reflected in The General's suppression of magic-enabled species and his overall devastatingly powerful military.

When planning Hellgate 2, SDM wanted The General to be a villain that didn't need to be seen to be felt. This is why he is directly and indirectly responsible for the previous events of the RP, and also why the majority of Part III is set in the middle of the Rebellion's war against him. This forces the players and their characters to witness The General's power and complete disregard for life for themselves, overlaying the RP with a constant sense of dread. The idea of a Rebellion that opposed him was inspired by Star Wars.

The General's connection to Kizeki Corp. was established early on and made a part of his character in order ot justify him as a threat. Particularly against Kizeki Corp. itself. Additionally, the rest of his backstory was additionally blank as SDM didn't feel the need to justify The General's beliefs. As the Saga went on and the Mythos expanded, however, SDM decided to include him in the Battlegame concept, and the devastation it wrought would very understandably color the worldview of a native.

The General's appearance seems to be based off the GUN Commander from Sega's Shadow the Hedgehog, an installment in their Sonic franchise. He even retains the sash. His ultimate goal, the great reset of everything, also appears to be an Omniverse-scale expansion to the ultimate goal of Master Albert (and Master Thomas) from the Megaman ZX series.

Appearances
The Hellgate Gaiden The Hellgate Saga Xat RP (Mentioned Only)
 * Black Heaven (Main Antagonist)
 * Red Earth (Main Antagonist)
 * Hellgate 2
 * Part II (Brief Appearance at end) (First Appearance)
 * Part III (Main Antagonist)

Trivia

 * The General insists on having "the" be included in his name, so that all who talk to him refer to him as "The General". In cases where using that title would be problematic as far as making a proper sentence goes, he is usually referred to as "sir".
 * The General's emblem is based off the Japanese kanji gun (軍), which means army. The character is edited so that the radical 車 appears as a capital G.
 * The General's personality has evolved a little over the course of the roleplays. In the epilogue to Hellgate 2 Part 2 and the start of Hellgate 2 Part 3, he is presented as somewhat less cold and emotionless than in later depictions of him, openly displaying some satisfaction and finding cruel pleasure in tormenting a subordinate.