Southers

File:Souther insignia.gif

Souther insignia

For other meanings, see Souther.

Southers are the "good guys" fighting the Norts in Rogue Trooper. Their country is called the Souther Confederacy. They receive orders from Milli-com, their military command complex. It was Souther army scientists who developed the G.I.s in an attempt to produce a soldier more suited to the toxic conditions on Nu-Earth.

History

Please note that this paragraph's information is based upon speculation and information found throughout the stories.

After an unamed war ended on Earth, the war torn remnants of America and Britain quickly took control of the Americas, Western Europe and parts of Africa to create a new country and proceeded to promote peace and stability on Earth. Colonising other planets, they formed the "Souther Confederacy". When Nu-Earth was discovered, they built Fort Neuropa as a base of operations. When it was discovered that the black hole near the planet led to other parts of the Galaxy, tensions mounted between both sides. Eventually, the Norts attacked Fort Neuropa so the Southers were forced to retaliate. By the time of Rogue Trooper, Souther Gene-Scientists had created the G.I. Project in a desperate struggle to win the Nu-Earth Future War.

Fort Neuropa

Fort Neuropa was a Souther fort in the "Fort Neuro" story in the Rogue Trooper stories. Completely isolated since the beginning of the war, its garrison developed bizarre customs (as a result of watching old historical movies and neglecting their Robe-Runners) resulting in its inhabitants aping the manners and clothes of various Earth nations and groups from centuries earlier.

When Rogue Trooper arrived at "Fort Neuropa", he discovered that everyone was suffering "Siege Mentality". After losing Bagman, Helm and Gunnar to the "Fort Neuropans", he discovered a plot by the Norts to capture the fort by playing on these neuroses. After foiling an assassination attempt on his life, he recruited the Robe-Runners to help him foil the invasion. Afterwards the neuroses cleared and the garrison were all back to being ordinary Southers.

Rogue had to rescue each sector of the fort separately:

• French sector: Here the garrison had developed a Napoleon-period French mentality and were trying to talk in French (spelt phonetically, e.g. "Kee valla?" for "Qui va là?" = "Who goes there?"). A Nort had played on this by impersonating Napoleon Bonaparte. Rogue, with help from the Robe-Runners stopped this invasion while Gunnar killed the fake emperor.
• Lim-Ee sector (Camp Reveille): Here the garrison had developed a holiday camp format. Their self styled elite, who had taken on a personality similar to stereotypical English hunt parties, quickly wiped out the Norts.
• Rom Sector: Here the garrison had developed a disco format hence "Rom" meant Romeo. Norts were using Dreamweavers and their own women.
• Scan Sector: Here "Scan" stood for "Scandinavian". Some girls from this sector attacked and wiped out the enemy who were attacking the Rom Sector.

Admiral Torpitz then used his Scum Legions to attack all four sectors at once, bringing in their "Amoks". All the sectors attacked the Nort forces destroying all the Amoks and killing the majority of the Norts which resulted in the rest of the Norts surrendering. During the battle, the resulting explosions and force-fields make a break in the chem-clouds which resulted in sunlight reaching the ground and as a result, the garrison lose their format obsessions. Before Rogue leaves, the Fort Neuropans reward the Robe-Runners with a new redesign and vow to protect Fort Neuropa from the Norts.

As a result, the Nort commander in charge, General Vagner went insane from the shock of defeat.

Realpolitik

Shortly afterwards, Fort Neuropa was destroyed. Its remnants reverted to the World War II era with the leaders modelling themselves after Winston Churchill, Josef Stalin, and Harry S. Truman.

Military

Their armed forces include:-

Armed forces

File:Aa southers fort neuro.gif

Souther troopers, from the Fort Neuro story

Unlike the Norts, the Souther military have at their disposal:

• 86th Air Support Reconnaissance Squadron
• Chem-sisters
• G.I.'s
• S3 Agents
• Troops

War machines

• Attack Hoppers
• Carter Class tanks
• Deploy Hoppers
• Drop pods
• Hover trains
• Landing Crafts
• Robe-Runners
• Space-Attack Crafts
• Stomper Rigs
• Submarines
• The War Golems (Scrapped after initial tests failed)

Allies

Numerous allies have included:

• Anthropomorphic creatures
• Insectoids
• Reptilian Dragoids

Other

• The Bioware Units
• medics
• Military Intelligence
• Military police
• The pay-corps
• scientists
• Vid-Vultures (Remote controlled war correspondents)

Equipment

Their usual chemsuit has a hard helmet, often with a big anti-gas filter like in gasmasks but bigger, on the front of the chest, connected by a wide breathing tube to the bottom of the helmet faceplate. All the wearer's face can be seen from outside.

Famous Southers

Notable Southers that appeared in the Rogue Trooper fictional universe include:

• Star Marshal Lamel - Supreme Commander
• Colonel Kovert - Military Intelligence
• Doctor Friedkin - Physician
• Colonel Logan - Commander in charge (G.I.s)
• Various G.I.s have included:
  • Rogue
  • Friday
  • Tor Cyan
  • Venus Bluegenes
  • Azure
  • Major Magnam - A GI Officer found in a weapons auction with his bio-chip implanted into a GI Officers sidearm.
  • Rafaelle Blue

Trivia

• The Southers were inspired by the Southern Confederates from the American Civil War (including the rebel yell of "South Side, yeah!") and the Allies from World War II.
• Their protective suits (showing their faces) reinforce the "Good Guy" delineation.
• Female G.I.s are known as G.I. Dolls

See also

• Norts
• The 86ers
• Rogue Trooper (PlayStation 2)