War Stories

War Stories were missions in XCOM Legends that unlocked personal stories and raised level caps for Epic heroes. After completing chapter 4 of their War Stories, all Epic heroes unlocked a signature personal weapon that provided unique bonuses.

Angel

Main listing: Serena "Angel" Ricci

Homecoming

During a mission gone wrong in Rome, Serena has no choice but to get help from the family that disowned her. Her mother has her own agenda, and wants to bring Serena back into the fold; no matter the method and no matter the cost.

Chapter 1

Born the oldest son of a prominent Italian family, Marco Ricci was a teenager when Earth surrendered to the alien forces. The Ricci family supported the establishment of ADVENT, and as collaborators, they had first access to many of the perks offered by Earth's new rulers. Marco had never felt comfortable in her own body, and this gave her access to gender-affirming therapy, taking the name Serena. This drove a wedge in her family, so Serena went to work for ADVENT, grateful for the clinics that had helped herso much.

Over time, Serena realized that something was very wrong in the ADVENT and eventually defected to the Resistance, taking several pieces of Elder tech with her, which she now operates with great expertise for XCOM against her former allies.

Chapter 4

After crashing behind enemy lines, Angel fled to the only place available: her childhood home, but when her mother discovered Angel's location, she sent soldiers to capture her, in the hopes of reversing the gender-affirming therapy. Angel evaded her mother's attempts, choosing to side with her XCOM family instead.

Personal weapon

Divine Transfiguration: An advanced prototype Angel "liberated" from an ADVENT medical facility. It is able to rewrite tissue at a genetic level, and in the hands of an expert can shape flesh and mend bone with a thought.

Azure Dragon

Main listing: Jao "Azure Dragon" Liu

Honoring the Past

Under the full support and funding of XCOM, Liu embarks on a world-spanning quest to return a number of valuable historical Artifacts to the Chinese people. But things don't go according to plan when another seeks the relics for a more selfish purpose.

Chapter 1

Jao "Azure Dragon" Liu was a childhood prodigy who excelled at school, graduating from university at age nine and receiving her Doctorate in Chinese Culture and History when she was twelve. She had just begun her professorship at the Peking University in Beijing when the alien laid waste to the city with chemical weapons. Jao watched in horror as much of the population became hosts to Chryssalids or transformed into the Lost.

Jao survived in part to her burgeoning psionic abilities brought out by exposure to alien chemical weapons. Eventually, she fell in with a group of hardened survivors who came under the protection of the Templars, who recognized her talents and brought her into the fold.

Chapter 4

Azure Dragon scours the world in search of artifacts that were scattered across the world by the Elders during their rule. With the help of XCOM, she tracked down a series of fountainheads designed after the Chinese Zodiac and returned them to Beijing as part of this quest to protect the planet's history.

Personal weapon

Spirit of the Dragon: Azure Dragon's psiblades are as sharp as her intellect, as unbreakable as her dedication, and as powerful as her sorrow for all that was lost.

Blade

Main listing: Anushka "Blade"

Subterfuge

On a top-secret assignment to sow chaos between ADVENT and Shadow Clones, Anushka triggers memories of her previous life, but her desire to explore them may compromise her mission.

Chapter 1

Anushka, also known as "Blade," died at some point during the first alien war. Her head was removed and put into stasis, cryogenically stored and forgotten. The details surrounding her death and why her mind was kept preserved were lost when resistance forces attacked the facility where she was stored. XCOM scientists were able to revive her using a prototype cybernetic body, but Anuskha's memories were lost as well.

Since awakening, Anushka has remained aloof and reserved towards other people, taking a business-like attitude towards all relationships. Her lack of memories have made her unwilling or unable to bond with any of her XCOM allies, but something (or someone) is calling to her.

Chapter 4

While on a covert operation to sow chaos between ADVENT and Shadow Clone forces, Anushka stumbled across a facility that stirred up memories she thought she lost. The effort to turn XCOM's two enemies against each other proved effective, but the newly uncovered pieces of her past only brought up more questions. Are her memories not as completely lost as she'd thought? What is it she's trying to forget? And why did the Elders keep her alive?

Personal weapon

Kali's Kiss: A powerful sword forged by the Aliens to be used by their Chosen, Blade now uses it with a single goal in mind: Slay a Chosen with it!

Blossom

Main listing: Keiko "Blossom" Sasaki

Broken Mirror

Keiko Sasaki was a ruthless assassin for the Reapers, joyfully taking down dozens of high-value targets. Her talent to kill is rivaled only by her talent to get on other people's nerves, and these talents combined have made her a lot of enemies over the years. Now those enemies are seeking their revenge, led by one very familiar face.

Chapter 1

Keiko "Blossom" Sasaki was a young girl when the aliens made Tokyo one of their first terror sites. She still has nightmares about the screams, the fires, and the thin men who came into her home and gutted her father while she hid under the bed. XCOM never came, and Tokyo was left in ruins. Keiko joined a gang of kids who provided protection for each other, and they became the most ruthless and feared gang in the area, despite their young age.

After the world's governments surrendered to the Elders, ADVENT began rebuilding Tokyo, but it never achieved the level of order as many other controlled cities. Keiko continued to thrive on the fringes of society, until a large bounty was put on her head. This notoriety brought the attention of the Reapers, who recruited her into their ranks. Then, during a battle with a weakened Elder, her psionic power ignited. After the war, stories of her effectiveness in battle and devil-may-care brought her to the attention of XCOM, as well as others with devious intentions.

Chapter 4

While hunting Chryssalids for XCOM, Blossom was shocked to find a dead body that turned out to be her own. She had grown accustomed to Shadow Clones of herself, but this was something else. These copies had been created by her father to fulfill his mission to destroy all aliens on Earth. She was able to track down the lab where they were created, but she has no idea how many clones are still out in the world.

Personal weapon

Beautiful Thorn: "Everyone focuses on the beauty of the rose, when it's really the thorn they should be paying attention to."

Charon

Main listing: Rak'Tahar "Charon"

Thicker Than Water

After a chance reunion with his adopted criminal "family" on the mean streets of Manhattan, Charon struggles to keep his painfully cultivated image as a debonair gentleman from collapsing in front of his new XCOM friends. Will the failed Chosen manage to prove himself in his usual, stylish manner, or is he doomed to reveal himself as a common, two-bit thug?

Chapter 1

Rak'Tahar "Charon" was one of the thousands of experiments churned out by the Elders when attempting to create the Chosen. While most of their dead ends were eradicated, a few had enough to develop and train. Rak'Tahar's failure came not because of flaws in his capabilities but because he refused to kill children, so the Elders had no use for him.

ADVENT disposed of Rak'Tahar in New York, where he was discovered and raised to adulthood by Mother Toth' Quor, leader of the infamous crime syndicate known as the Gray Phoenix. Feeling boxed in by a life outside the law, he followed his dreams to the stage, touring the United States as an actor. Traveling the country, he witnessed the suffering caused by ADVENT first-hand and decided to put his entertainment career on hold to join XCOM to fight back.

Chapter 4

Finding himself at odds with the criminal organization that raised him, Charon battled the Gray Phoenix for control of New York City. Forced to choose, he proved his loyalty to XCOM over his old allies and breaks the gang's control over his adopted home.

Personal weapon

Phlegethon's Promise: Carefully modified by Charon himself, Phlegethon's Promise blazes with all the flaming fury of its namesake; a burning river that winds through the Underworld.

Cyclops

Main listing: Sigma "Cyclops" Five

Old Grudges

Responding to a series of alien attacks, Cyclops revels in the opportunity to punish his old enemies, until he realizes someone may be using his past rivalries for their own gain.

Chapter 1

Sigma-Five, or "Cyclops," was the prototype for a ultra heavy ADVENT shock trooper, but it was discarded by its alien creators and scheduled for destruction. Before it could be eliminated, an XCOM operation in the same city disrupted the power grid, allowing it to escape from its cell. Free from imprisonment, Sigma-Five's first impulse was to returns months of torture back on its captors. When the Skirmishers found Sigma-Five, it was sitting on a throne made from the corpses of thirty aliens.

Since then, Sigma-Five has committed itself to the Skirmisher cause only enough to gain the chance to kill more aliens. It hates all off-worlders with an undying passion, and its greatest wish is to see ever one of them removed from the Earth.

Chapter 4

Reveling in an assignment to clear up hostile aliens, Cyclops was unaware of the truth behind his mission. The requests for aid came from a small community of humans plotting to frame aliens and steal their homes. Facing down its own prejudices, Cyclops must become the off-worlders' surprising defender.

Personal weapon

Havoc Engine: This rocket launcher was built to tap into a host's biometrics for external power, like a weaponized parasite. It increases its strength or offers protection based on Sigma Five's physical condition.

Dreamweaver

Main listing: Isabella "Dreamweaver" Thornfield

Open Contract

Normally happy to work alone, Dreamweaver reluctantly accepts XCOM's help in finishing off the last assignment she received as an assassin for hire.

Chapter 1

A descendant of Chief Si'ahl, the Native American leader who gave the city of Seattle its name, Isabella "Dreamweaver" Thornfield grew up on tribal land in the American Pacific Northwest. During the day, she made a living as a tattoo artist specializing in native symbols, but by night, she was a sought-after assassin, eliminating targets with her twin blades for anyone who could pay her fee.

A narrow escape after a botched assassination of an ADVENT commander led to Dreamweaver triggering her latent Psionic abilities. Members of the Templar recruited her into their fold, but she never fully assimilated into the group. This "lone wolf" attitude continued as she joined XCOM, but Central kept close tabs on her actions, sending in squads when she required assistance.

Chapter 4

XCOM dispatched the Commander to assist Dreamweaver, only to discover she was on a mission to complete the final job she took as an assassin during the ADVENT War. Her target went rogue after the Elders fled Earth and had teamed up with local mercenaries, endangering civilians, so Central aided Dreamweaver in closing the contract.

Personal weapon

Stitch & Poke: Named for two tattooing techniques, Dreamweaver's dual blades focus her Psionic powers into razor-sharp attacks that her enemies never see coming.

Echo

Main listing: L.E.K.S.A. "Echo"

Automatic Updates

Damage Critical.

Corporeal Structure Compromised.

Attempting Corporeal Reinitialization. Failed. Attempting Backup and Overwrite. Failed. Psionic Network not Found.

Attempting to Access Internal Backup. Internal Backup Found. Scanning Database. Database Corrupted. Overwriting... Overwriting...

Chapter 1

L.E.K.S.A. "Echo" is a Codex. These strange mechanical entities were created by the Elders to exist in their data stores, protecting them from unauthorized access. While primarily energy, a Codex can take limited physical form.

Using knowledge stolen from the XCOM existence, EXALT operatives managed to liberate L.E.K.S.A. from the ADVENT network and used them to infiltrate their enemy's security systems. When the EXALT cell that kept L.E.K.S.A. was wiped out by an ADVENT attack, they uploaded themselves into XCOM's computers, only to be discovered and recruited into their ranks. Having committed to XCOM's mission of protecting the Earth, L.E.K.S.A. works to shed all the protocols implanted by the Elders or EXALT and become pure information once again.

Chapter 4

During a system scan, conflicts within Echo's memory files disabled their abilities, forcing them to relive tragic moments from their past. By confronting the mistakes of their past, Echo revealed that new systems had been added to their code, keeping them from forgetting their fallen allies. Could this be the first step to them evolving emotions of their own?

Personal weapon

Overdrive Protocol: After gaining more control of their internal systems, Echo has been able to manifest advanced weaponry of greater power.

Fiesta

Main listing: Maria "Fiesta" Rios

From COLOMBIA with Love

Maria attempts to hide her own EXALT ties without losing her new place at the table with XCOM.

Chapter 1

Maria "Fiesta" Rios grew up in relative peace and safety within an ADVENT city. She became more rebellious when she hit her teens, angry about the control they put on her life, but she had no idea the truth depths of ADVENT's dark side. Instead she got involved in petty crime and drugs, including using psychedelics designed to test for latent psychic abilities. The drugs activated her Psionic powers, which led to her recruitment by EXALT.

Maria was happy to put her natural hatred for authority to good use, phoning her Psi-abilities to perfection on the battlefield against ADVENT. When the war ended, her EXALT commanders ordered her to join XCOM as a double agent, and she happily complied, excited to undercut their command, but the more she fought alongside her new allies, the more she began to buy into XCOM's mission.

Chapter 4

Fiesta accepted a mission to hunt down a spy within XCOM to conceal the fact that the spy they're hunting for is actually her. Along the way, she did her best to keep her role hidden, but when the truth comes out, her allies in XCOM are more understanding than she expected, but what EXALT wanted with the intelligence she gathered remains a mystery.

Personal weapon

Long Shot: Psionic weaponry converts the will of the wielder into conventional energy, and Fiesta is more willful than most.

Galahad

Main listing: Six Gamma "Galahad"

Tall Tales

Galahad finds things are not always as they appear.

Chapter 1

"Galahad" Six Gamma was a grunt in the ADVENT army, but he always had an independent streak. The details surrounding how he gained freedom from his control chip are unsure, since he changes the story every time he tells it. Once free of ADVENT, he fell in love with human languages and literature, often mixing the tall tales that he's read with his own history. He is upbeat and friendly, often using misusing large words he doesn't completely comprehend and making references to the stories he has read.

Chapter 4

Galahad fought to protect human colonies who still see him as the ADVENT killing machine that he once was. In the process, he uncovered a plot to ferment anti-alien hatred at the cost of human lives.

Personal weapon

Flamebringer: Galahad's obsession with fantasy novels borders on delusional. That said, no one can deny the raw power of his Flamebringer.

Geist

Main listing: Yuri "Geist" Rasputin

Song of the Fates

When an alien ship trying to escape Earth crashes into the Arctic, Geist leads a team to investigate, guided by a mysterious call only he can hear. Strangeness abounds as aliens roam the frozen wilderness and entire villages are found dominated by an unknown psychic presence. As his companions begin to succumb to the mental influence, it is up to Geist to do what must be done.

Chapter 1

Yuri "Geist" Rasputin is the mysterious and enigmatic leader of the Templar. He was one of the original psionic soldiers in the first alien war, barely escaping when XCOM's base was destroyed. From there, he worked in the shadows, tracking down and recruiting others who showed psionic abilities.

For a long time, the Templars valued their independence from XCOM, but as the ADVENT war reached its peak, they realized that strength lies in numbers, and the only way they'd defeat the Elders was to work together. Even now that the war has ended, Geist still serves with XCOM, believing that fate has more twists in store for the Templar's affiliation.

Chapter 4

After XCOM shot down an alien warcraft in the frozen north, Geist and his squad were dispatched to investigate the crash site. The ship's survivors attacked the rescue crew, but Geist's Psionic powers detected a puppet master behind the scene. They followed the trail to a powerful Sectoid manipulating the minds of others in its attempt to bring the Elders back to Earth and put an end to its evil plan.

Personal weapon

Mind over Matter: Yuri uses his psychic energy to heal himself and increase his defense as he manifests psychic shards.

Greyhound

Main listing: Lisa "Greyhound" Davis

Tying a loose end

Greyhound fears that her old research subjects might cause a biological hazard if they manage to escape and run loose. Thus, she turns to the Commander's help to prevent a disaster from happening and solve this problem once and for all.

Chapter 1

A former Olympic sprinter, Lisa "Greyhound" Davis was working for a pharmaceutical company in research and development when the ADVENT War erupted. She left the lab to take her skills onto the battlefield, and hundreds of surviving resistance fighters owe their lives to her expertise in combat triage. As the war raged on, she set up multiple secret research facilities across the eastern United States to study the enemy. Her discoveries from dissecting and analyzing the different species under the Elders' control rivaled that of XCOM's Dr. Shen.

Now that the war is over, Greyhound joined with most of her fellow Reapers within XCOM's ranks, but she has refused several requests to take a promotion into their science division. She continues to act primarily as a field medic, but recently, Greyhound requested assistance in recapturing one of her research facilities that is under siege from rogue ADVENT forces.

Chapter 4

With the Commander's assistance, Greyhound was able to reclaim her research facility, but the rogue ADVENT forces storming the lab released an experimental breed of Chryssalids that she had created during the war. Fortunately, the creatures were stopped before any of them escaped into the wild, but this raises questions about what other secret research Greyhound could be hiding.

Personal weapon

Nurse's Aid: In the heat of battle, there isn't time to swap between weapon and treatment applicator, so Greyhound built the Nurse's Aid to be both. Don't worry, she hardly ever gets them confused.

Guile

Main listing: Mila "Guile" Leclercq

No War Story was written for Guile, as XCOM Legends shut down before she was added to the game.

Personal weapon

Mind Slayer: This highly-specialized sniper rifle has been carefully attuned to Guile's Psionic abilities, granting her lightning-fast reflexes when aiming or reloading and making it unusable for anyone else.

Harrier

Main listing: Makeda "Harrier" Onai

Elysium Has Fallen

A distress call from Makeda's childhood home has her hellbent on rescuing her father and friends at any cost but when XCOM arrives at the crashed alien spaceship turned hidden resistance base known as Elysium Colony, there is no one around but hostile aliens. The young genius fears the worst, but the truth of the situation will end up being far worse than any of her fears.

Chapter 1

Makeda "Harrier" Onai grew up as part of a resistance cell in South Africa that brought down an alien spacecraft and built their colony within the wreckage. Smart, charismatic, but over-confident and addicted to danger, Makeda yearned to fight ADVENT control on a larger scale, so she eventually left home to join XCOM. Raised by her scientist father while surrounded by alien technology, she managed to engineer her own gear, raining down destruction on anyone who stood in her way.

Chapter 4

After receiving a distress signal from her father, Harrier rushed to the Elysium colony only to find it overwhelmed with violent aliens. The spacecraft in which the colony had been built was a carrier of cryogenically preserved ADVENT forces, and her father was desperately trying to prevent all of them from being released on the unexpecting human population. Reunited with her father, Harrier and her XCOM squad held off the awakened hostiles long enough to stabilize the hibernation system.

Personal weapon

Soaring Wing: Using alien tech salvaged from her old workshop, Harrier has charged her ion rifle to dangerous levels. It requires constant adjustments to avoid overloading.

Headliner

Main listing: Johanna "Headliner" Wagner

Greatest Fan

Headliner teams up with her greatest fan, Tyche, to stop an ADVENT prison transfer.

Chapter 1

The daughter of a German ambassador, Johanna "Headliner" Wagner grew up learning ballet and opera, but in her teenage years, everything changed when she fell in love with modern music. She had an aptitude for any instrument she tried to learn, which came from her dormant Psionic abilities. Johanna quickly became one of Germany's biggest pop stars, and while her ambassador father began secretly against the ADVENT as an EXALT member, she was able to use her tours to hide her work undermining the Elder's regime, joining in when the full ADVENT War erupted.

Once the Elders were driven away, Johanna remained one of the few people who felt the EXALT shouldn't disband, and instead, they should continue to control the world from the shadows. She works with XCOM to maintain the peace, but behind the scenes, she vows to use her Psionic powers to expand EXALT's reach.

Chapter 4

Headliner returned to Germany to aid the locals. Little did she know that XCOM was sending one of her biggest fans as backup.

Personal weapon

Megaphone: Headliner can do it all: sing, dance, and rebuild weapons on the fly. Over the years, she tinkered with this gun to make it amplify her Psi powers in battle. Now she doesn't go anywhere without it.

Hex

Main listing: Wish' Ta "Hex"

All for One

Hex responds as the only backup to a pinned-down XCOM squad and must battle internally to keep their splintered personalities working as one for a desperate hostage rescue attempt.

Chapter 1

Another failed Chosen project and precursor to the Warlock, Wish'Ta or "Hex" was infused with the psychic fields of multiple humans in hopes that it would create a powerful hive mind. While it succeeded expectations in power, it also left Wish'Ta very unstable, with multiple personalities floating around in their head. In a training mission, one of the human personalities managed to take control and fled the ADVENT facility. When they returned to their base personality, Wish'Ta knew they would be terminated upon returning to their creators, so they went into hiding, fighting against ADVENT oppression until the Elders fled Earth.

After the war ended, Wish'Ta turned to XCOM in the hope of finding a way to separate the many minds within them. Dr. Tygan has made progress in his attempts, but in the meantime, Wish'Ta has learned to make peace with their inner voices by focusing on fighting to protect the planet.

Chapter 4

Hex was on a mission to rescue prisoners taken by the Shadow Clones when the personalities within her head revolted. Instead of fighting against them, she learned to appease them, stabilizing herself and completing the mission with a new sense of self.

Personal weapon

Siren's Song: When Hex's Shattered Psyche kills a victim, they emit a psychic scream that damages all other enemies around them.

Hulk

Main listing: Kappa Nine "Hulk"

This War Story was never implemented, as XCOM Legends shut down before Hulk was added to the game.

Critical Damage

Hulk comes to the rescue of an XCOM squad pinned down by Shadow Clone forces, smashing everything in his way.

Chapter 1

At the height of the ADVENT War, Elder scientists unleashed their newest creation: a massive Muton pushed to the limits of genetic manipulation. Designated "Kappa Nine," the creature existed in a constant state of blood rage, and it eventually turned on its Sectoid handlers during battle, nearly destroying an entire ADVENT platoon before it was taken down. One of the Sectoid that was paralyzed in the fight managed to form a psychic link with Kappa Nine. The ADVENT forces left them both for dead, but Templar agents found their bodies. Geist used his Psi abilities to communicate with the Sectoid and taught it to control the Muton's body. Together, they act as one, fighting joining the Skirmishers against their Elder creators. The paralyzed Sectoid stays strapped to the Muton's back, but its control is tenuous, and at times, the creature's blood rage seeps through.

Chapter 4

While few members of XCOM feel comfortable fighting aside the monstrosity that is Kappa Nine, they soon learn to not judge the massive Muton by his appearance.

Personal weapon

The Felling Axe: The Elders doubted their monstrous Muton would be capable of wielding complicated artillery, so they constructed this blunt weapon with kinetic boosters to amplify the creature's brute strength.

Hyperion

Main listing: Zhao "Hyperion" Huiwen

Unexpected Mutations

Hyperion hesitantly joins a mission to search for the scientist who manipulated his genetics only to find out more about himself.

Chapter 1

Zhao "Hyperion" Huiwen worked as a lab assistant/ bodyguard for Dr. Moira Vahlen, the infamous XCOM scientist who went missing just before the ADVENT War. Zhao was part of Dr. Vahlen's team when they located an abandoned Elder genetics lab, containing several of their cryogenically frozen experiments from which she created the creatures that would later be known as the Berserker Queen, the Viper King, and the Archon King.

Zhao and Dr. Vahlen had a turbulent romantic relationship, and when he was critically injured while protecting her from her own creations, Dr. Vahlen performed a procedure on him that saved his life but combined Chryssalid DNA with his own. His mind and upper human body remained intact, but his lower half and strange alien impulses remind him that he is no longer entirely human.

Chapter 4

XCOM deployed Hyperion to Germany after hearing rumors that Dr. Valhen had returned to her home country. Although he doubted the sources himself, Hyperion and his team soon discovered that there were others who were searching for the doctor. The trail ran cold, but the fact that there was a trail proves that Dr. Valhen is still out there, somewhere.

Personal weapon

Scorpio: Hyperion's trusted companion for many years. Since becoming a hybrid, he started attaching all kinds of chryssalid pieces to the weapon so it feels more like an extension of his body.

Hypnos

Main listing: P'ier "Hypnos" P'ort

Down Country Home

Hypnos leads a squad into rural Kentucky to stop a Shadow Clone incursion of his adoptive home.

Chapter 1

During the ADVENT occupation, P'ier "Hypnos" P'ort was one of the Elders' most notorious interrogators. His name struck fear in their prisoners, and there wasn't a mind strong enough that he couldn't break it, until he was assigned to a captive XCOM team. Over the course of weeks, he slowly infiltrated their minds, extracting crucial intelligence, but the deeper he delved, the more he began to change himself, dredging up emotions normally suppressed in the Sectoid race. P'ier P'ort's bond with the XCOM team members grew to the point where he aided in their escape. During the jail break, one soldier was fatally wounded. P'ier used his Psi abilities to ease the man's pain and remained connected to him as he died. This left an imprint of the man's personality and a few of his"colorful" personality traits into P'ier's mind. Since then, he joined XCOM in their fight to free Earth from Elder control.

Chapter 4

Hypnos called in support while visiting the Kentucky home of the lost XCOM soldier imprinted on his mind. He never stopped defending the adoptive home, even if the locals don't see him as one of their own.

Personal weapon

The Wildcat's Pad: A piece of armor from his fallen XCOM friend that Hypnos refitted to cleanse himself of any residual conditions that might inhibit his Psionic powers.

Jackal

Main listing: Faheem "Jackal" Mashini

Rescue Ops

Tyche learns more about the EXALT as Jackal joins her on a search for a missing XCOM operative.

Chapter 1

Faheem "Jackal" Mashini was a young man when he watched the alien ships fly over his hometown of Isfahan on their way to level Tehran. His mother and father were part of a secret group who made a deal with the aliens to spare Iran from further destruction. In exchange for peace and access to advanced technology, they formed one of the first EXALT cells to help destabilize XCOM and Earth's governments.

When the ADVENT war broke out, Faheem took the alien technology that his family had gained in this relationship for espionage and sabotage against the Elder's rule. He wrestled away control of the EXALT cell from his parents and turned them to resistance as well. Now that ADVENT has fallen, Faheem seeks to establish a new worldwide government with EXALT in a leadership position.

Chapter 4

Depatched on a rescue mission for XCOM, Jackal freed Moise "Judge" Ilunga from an ADVENT facility. Though rivals for the future of EXALT, the two men worked together to escape, giving them each a bit of empathy for the other's point of view.

Personal weapon

Zamburak Bracer: Designed by the Persian EXALT cell to battle ADVENT control, this bracer analyzes enemy movements to anticipate their tactics.

Judge

Main listing: Moise "Judge" Ilunga

Judge, Jury, and Executioner

Moise Ilunga has waited many years to bring justice to the man who caused great suffering and death to Moise and hundreds of other Congolese children. While on special assignment for XCOM, he is faced with the shadows of his past - and may finally get the chance to be judge, jury, and executioner to his own personal devil.

Chapter 1

Moise "Judge" Ilunga lived a life of war even before the aliens arrived. He was a child soldier, forced to fight for the ruthless warlord Antoine Lumumba, where he learned to survive through famine, bullet wounds, and snake bites in the mountains of the Congo. When the invasion began, Lumumba saw the aliens as an opportunity, turning his civil war faction into an EXALT cell, climbing the food chain of the new world order.

Lumumba began to trade his child soldiers, including Moise, for favors and influence. Most were killed in the fighting, but others were used for experimenting with alien technology. When ADVENT began eliminating EXALT, only Moise and Lumumba escaped. Moise went on to become a key figure in the resistance, and Lumumba vanished into the Congolese mountains.

Chapter 4

Lured back to Africa to defend locals against alien hostility, Judge discovers that Lumumba, the man who trained him to be a child soldier, has been recruiting disenfranchised aliens to continue his grab for power. Judge was able to defeat this new army, but Lumumba evaded him once again.

Personal weapon

The Ashen Hand: "I may be the Judge, but this will be the executioner."

Legion

Main listing: Three Delta "Legion"

The Grift

After receiving intel about a secret Elerium stash, Legion and Blossom set out to retrieve the precious mineral for their own gain. Bonesaw butts in and tries to get them back on the straight and narrow, realizing too late that not all is as it seems.

Chapter 1

Three Delta, or "Legion," was made to be a grunt. Brutal. Amoral. His primary purpose was to kill, and he became very good at it. He was assigned to the rough streets of City 18, once known as London, to deal with the continued unrest there under ADVENT RULE. In time, he grew sympathetic of the locals, and during the Thames Riots of 2015, he turned his weapons on ADVENT forces to save a group of rebels.

Since then, Legion has worked with the Skirmishers and human resistance cells in the United Kingdom to bring liberation and peace to the British Isles. He later joined in with XCOM with the other Skirmishers in order to expand their fight against ADVENT around the world.

Chapter 4

Searching a stronghold in the Amazon, Legion and his squad uncovered a stockpile of Elerium that could be used to power XCOM's peacekeeping efforts. Instead, he chose to deliver the stolen Elerium to his former allies in the resistance to support their fight against remaining ADVENT forces.

Personal weapon

Bloody Basher: Legion's rocket launcher isn't just a weapon, it's part of him. The tougher and stronger he gets, the bigger and more powerful it becomes.

Lionheart

Main listing: Edward "Lionheart" Marshal

Nightmare Scenario

Terrors prey on the people of London. Horrors stalk the halls of the United Commonwealth Parliament. With the Princess and Prince in danger, Edward Marshal is the first to rush into the nightmare to save the children he raised from babies. What awaits within those twisted dreams is far worse than he ever could have imagined.

Chapter 1

Edward "Lionheart" Marshal worked as a personal guard to the British Royal Family when the aliens struck Earth and London became a terror site, swarmed with Chryssalids and other horrors. One-by-one, the guards fell as they tried to get the Royal Family out of the city, until only Edward escaped with the last two baby heroes. Knowing there would be no safety in civilization, Edward took the children into the wilds of Scotland, away from the war.

Templars who were investigating strong psionic activity in the area found Edward and the children. At first, Edward refused to leave, not wanting the children to become soldiers in a hopeless war, but when their protection was assured, he joined the Templars in battle against ADVENT, becoming one of the best soldiers on the battlefield.

Chapter 4

Still in service of the Royal family, Lionheart joined XCOM to represent the interests of a resurging Commonwealth of Nations, but when he came face-to-face with a Shadow Clone determined to kidnap the royal heirs, he dropped everything to protect them. In the process, he was forced to admit that he allowed experimentation on himself and the children to give them psionic powers capable of defending them against any threats.

Personal weapon

Excalibur: Just as the Lady of the Lake provided King Arthur with his fabled sword, the psi-infused lake that Lionheart drank from for 20 years while in hiding provided him blades of great power.

Mamba

Main listing: Quetzalcoatl "Mamba"

Song of the Fates

Quetzalcoatl must put aside her long-standing dislike for Dr. Tygan to help rescue his research team which has gone missing in the field.

Chapter 1

Quetzalcoatl or "Mamba" was a leader of the Vipers when the Elders attacked her home planet. Since they lacked the advanced technology to defend themselves, the Vipers were overpowered quickly. Their commanders were seized to subdue the remaining population and integrate them into the alien war machine. Most of the captured leaders were killed by the Elders' experiments. A few were stored in cryostasis for later use and promptly forgotten.

When Mamba was found and reawakened, she faced much hostility from XCOM personnel as many of them had lost loved ones from Viper operatives. After a chance meeting with Betos, who immediately saw her potential, Mamba joined with the Skirmishers, but her long-term goal is to return to the Viper homeworld.

Chapter 4

Putting aside her hatred of Dr. Tygan, Mamba agreed to be part of a rescue mission going after a lost XCOM squad. She soon learned that Tygan sent this squad to find other Viper commanders trapped in cryostasis by the Elders. Driven feral by the experiments performed on them, these Vipers viciously attacked anyone who comes near them, which forced Mamba to battle her former allies in order to save her new XCOM friends.

Personal weapon

The Queen's Sting: A gift from her subjects on their home world, this disrupter rifle is coded to only respond to Mamba's DNA. It has sentimental value, both as a reminder of her loyal subjects who presented it to her and of all the foes she's vanquished with it.

Medusa

Main listing: Gabriela "Medusa" Saldana

Reprogramming

On a mission to track down an abandoned ADVENT squad, Medusa discovers her old resistance cell is still active in the Amazon, but their new tactics shake her to her core.

Chapter 1

Gabriela "Medusa" Saldana suffered major injuries in the collateral damage from a stray XCOM grenade when she was just a child during the first War. ADVENT scientists equipped her with cybernetic enhancements to replace the limbs she lost, making her a true believer in the cause. She rose through the ranks of human collaborators, eventually becoming the mayor of São Paulo. That's when she learned the truth about the Elders' invasion and their plans to permanently enslave human kind.

Taking her most loyal soldiers, Gabriela fled into the Amazon, raising one of the most feared resistance cells in the Western Hemisphere until the newly reformed XCOM made contact. She reluctantly joined, still holding a grudge over her childhood injuries but willing to do whatever it took to defeat the Elders once and for all.

Chapter 4

Searching for a team of ADVENT deserters, Medusa returned to the Brazilian rainforests that were once her base of operations while fighting in the resistance. At first, the renegade ADVENT appeared to be on a rampage of destruction, but in truth, a mysterious rage-inducing signal was hacking into their control chips. Medusa and her squad managed to free the deserters, but the signal's origin still remains unknown.

Personal weapon

Tank Buster: Gabriela's robotic arm allows her to hold this anti-tank rifle in one hand. Increasing her Focus, it blasts through her enemy's defenses.

Minx

Main listing: Bian "Minx" Nguyen

With a Vengeance

Minx destroys cybernetic labs across Vietnam with a vengeance that might be personal.

Chapter 1

Little is known about Bian "Minx" Nguyen's history, and direct questions to her on the subject are met with a mixture of deflection and exaggeration, leaving anyone that wonder how much of that is the truth. The complexity of her cybernetic enhancements can only be from an ADVENT "cyborg laboratory," which are infamous for abducting unhoused runaways and orphans for use in testing experimental hybrid technologies.

For five years, Bian lived in the shadow of ADVENT cities, working as a high-tech thief-for-hire and occasional assassin. There was no alarm system she couldn't infiltrate, and clients were guaranteed complete discretion to the point where she refused any contact with them once a job was complete. Then Lynx recruited her into the Reapers and a reluctant partnership with XCOM by promising her missions to constantly challenge her skills and expand her cybernetics, which has grown into almost an addiction for her.

Chapter 4

When an XCOM squad is dispatched to assist with ADVENT attacks on cybernetic facilities in Vietnam, Minx joined their investigation, but it soon became clear to the other team members that these attacks have been instigated by Minx in revenge for the experiments performed on her as a child.

Personal weapon

The Two Ladies: Minx named her two favorite guns after the Trung Sisters, two Vietnamese warriors who rebelled against Chinese domination in the first century, celebrating their legacy of resistance and freedom.

Mortis

Main listing: Seara "Mortis" Samca

Dark Secrets

Trapped in an ADVENT blacksite, Mortis must delve into the darkness of the facility to escape while haunted by a voice from her past.

Chapter 1

Seara "Mortis" Samca was rescued by the Reapers from a stasis pod hidden deep within an Avatar Project blacksite. They took the young woman in to protect her, as she had little memory of her past, who she was, or who her family might be. The Reapers found that she was capable beyond her years, with knowledge and abilities that rivaled their most veteran assassins, and she became their youngest recruit.

Because of her grim past, Sears developed a fascination for all things dark and gothic. She became known for her cryptic nature as much as her effectiveness on the battlefield. Throughout the ADVENT War, scattered flashes of memory returned during battle, but the truth behind her origins remains a mystery.

Chapter 4

Leading her team to an ADVENT blacksite, Mortis began receiving messages from her old master: the Creator. She struggled with the voice talking directly into her mind, but when the Creator commanded her to turn on her new allies in XCOM, Mortis broke free of the Creator's control and vowed to destroy her.

Personal weapon

Hungering Eternity: Originally a standard issue rifle, Mortis' unique energies gradually warped the weapon, granting it a basic sentience devoted to a single urge: "to feed."

Nebula

Main listing: Phe'lan "Nebula" Krell

Stomping Grounds

Nebula returns to Oceania, where he served as Governor under the ADVENT, to help protect the humans he once ruled.

Chapter 1

Phe'lan Krell, a.k.a."Nebula," conquered many worlds for the Elders, slaughtering and enslaving hundreds of sentient species without another thought. Then he came to Earth. Phe'lan was among the ADVENT commanders tasked with subjecting human kind, assigned the whole region of Oceania. Over 20 years of occupation, he grew to like the inhabitants of Earth and did everything he could to protect his subjects from the Elders' experiments and their wrath.

When humanity rose up in the second alien war, Phe'Lan sabotaged ADVENT operations from within and welcomed the resistance with open arms. He was captured and imprisoned by his former masters until XCOM came to his rescue. Since then, he has been devoted to protecting the Earth even if many of its inhabitants still see him as the enemy.

Chapter 4

Nebula set out to respond to a distress call from the region of Earth he once ruled only to find that it was a trap set by those who still blame him for the ADVENT's actions. He cleared his name, making amends for the terror executed in his name and building new friendships along the way.

Personal weapon

Split Shot: Modifying Andromedon technology, Phe'lan Krell has expanded the barrel to split his shot among multiple targets.

Needle

Main listing: Han "Needle" Seo-yun

House of Knives

Years after her mother's execution, Needle gets a lead on the ADVENT official that ordered her mother's death. This sets her on a path of revenge, joined by some of XCOM's deadliest, as she works through her past. One body at a time.

Chapter 1

Han "Needle" Seo-Yun was the daughter of a highly-placed operative in the EXALT organization during the first war who became a figurehead of ADVENT during the occupation. Seo-Yun grew up under strict training, preparing her to take her mother's mantle. As she grew older, Seo-Yun doubted her path and considered rebelling, but her mother's duplicity was discovered by ADVENT, and Seo-Yun.watched them publicly execute her.

Obsessed with revenge, Seo-Yun finally took her training seriously. She fully stepped into her mother's role, leading the EXALT cells of South Korean against ADVENT control. Even after the Elders were driven from the Earth, Seo-Yun continued her quest to bring down the person who exposed her mother: her own brother Ji Hoon.

Chapter 4

Journing back to Seoul so she can protect the city from an encroaching ADVENT threat, Needle learned about the involvement of her brother Ji Hoon. Unable to resist her desire for revenge, Needle risked the mission to capture him. Ultimately, she was unable to take him down, but in the process she learned of his desires to rebuild EXALT for his own gain.

Personal weapon

Divine Pivot: Her mother's pistol, taken from the ruins of the Han ancestral home. Seo-yun has sworn to use it to correct her mother's mistakes and bring balance and healing to the world, one needle jab at a time.

Nephilim

Main listing: Ariel "Nephilim" Blakewell

Buried History

Nephilim requests assistance from XCOM in keeping EXALT secrets from falling into Shadow Clone hands.

Chapter 1

Inspired by the Elders' CHOSEN experiments, EXALT scientists attempted to perfect human genetics and create advanced individuals using mythological references. Their first success was Ariel "Nephilim" Blakewell. Every piece of her genetic code was crafted to result in a highly-evolved human, enhanced with cybernetic implants to resemble religious depictions of angels. She was trained to hover over combat, supplying aid and inspiration to soldiers so they would push themselves to their very limits.

As a result, Ariel developed an aloof and judgmental personality. She saw herself as the next stage in human evolution through guiding the rest of mankind to a better future, even if it means cleansing the earth of any alien influence.

Chapter 4

Nephilm led an XCOM squad hunting for a hidden EXALT stash, but she did not reveal her true motive, extracting EXALT intelligence before any Shadow Clones could find it. After turning this information over to XCOM, she also shared a copy with members of her old EXALT cell.

Personal weapon

Reckoning Scythe: EXALT engineers wanted a weapon to inspire dread in Nephilim's enemies, so they created this scythe to reap the negative effects inflicted on her soldiers and inspire their furor in battle.

Polestar

Main listing: Øystein "Polestar" Saba-Fjellner

Frozen North

Polestar guides Nebula and Needle through the frozen tundra on a hunt for former ADVENT with nefarious intentions.

Chapter 1

Øystein "Polestar" Saba-Fjellner spent his youth working with his father herding reindeer while planning to study environmental science at college like his mother until he saw the home he loved destroyed. As ADVENT extracted the precious metals and natural gas beneath his tribal land, Øystein appealed through every legal path, but his words fell on deaf ears, so he took matters into his own hands and turned to industrial terrorism.

Øystein's fervor in the face of insurmountable odds brought him to the attention of the Reapers, who recruited him into their ranks. They gave him the nickname Polestar due to his unwavering beliefs and devotion. While the Elders may have been repelled, the Earth is still dying from the damage they caused, so Øystein joined with XCOM in an effort to repair the world.

Chapter 4

When Polstar contacted XCOM for assistance dealing with genetically-altered Chyrssalids in the Norwegian wilderness, he wasn't pleased with who they sent. Phe'lan Krell may have converted to the Resistance during the ADVENT War, but Polestar could only see him as one of the Elders' most infamous enforcers. By working together, Polestar faced down his own personal prejudice in order to end the Chryssalid treat.

Personal weapon

Arctic Cranequin: In harsh conditions, even weapons must supply levels of protection. This advanced crossbow has built-in shields for its user.

Prophet

Main listing: Hator' con Ra "Prophet"

The Cult of Sirius

Prophet hunts down their former followers to find they have an unexpected new leader.

Chapter 1

There were many Chosen, each with their own specific purpose. Hator Con'Ra, also known as "Prophet," was created with the purpose of manipulating humanity through the trappings of faith and religion to make them easier for the Elders to control. This focus on belief, mysticism, and the unknown put Hator in direct conflict with the Chosen known as the Creator, who held science as the only true path.

Seeing themselves as a messiah of the human race, Hator split from the Elders during the ADVENT War. They fought alongside humans, though mostly as their leader on the battlefield, and once XCOM proved victorious, they reluctantly continued to work with them in order to protect her believers.

Chapter 4

Prophet worked with XCOM to track down a Shadow Clone who was using their appearance to grow the Cult of Sirius, a devoted pack of eager followers. Together, they defeated the false Prophet, and by imitating them, Prophet took command over the cult.

Personal weapon

Staff of Kaladanda: Prophet was created to rule, her staff amplifying her innate psychic abilities. Further refinement of the crystals has allowed her to lull her subjects into a dreamlike state, reducing their awareness.

Red

Main listing: Alexander "Red" Dolvich

Out of Mind

Alexander "Red" Dolvich has always been one of XCOM's more odd recruits - a mean, lean, Russian fighting machine with amnesia who prefers to let his weapons do most of the talking while still dropping the occasional big brain idea that catches his comrades off guard. Now after many years of blissful ignorance, Red is forced to face his past, and it's not one that he or anyone else would have ever expected!

Chapter 1

Alexander "Red" Dolvich fought for Russia during the ADVENT War. While a signatory member of XCOM in the first alien invasion, Russia did not commit to its ongoing mission of a unified Earth protection force. Instead, they established their own secret bases, funneling in technology from XCOM to build their own defense force. As XCOM scientists developed training for Psionic powers, Russians experts began their own program, and Alexander was their first recruit.

After a string of failed experiments, Alexander left the laboratory with massively upgraded Psi abilities but no memory of his former life. Even his personality had changed from a merciless brute to a more introspective and quiet version of himself. But his fighting skills hadn't diminished one bit. If anything, he proved to be even more effective on the battlefield, using his enhanced abilities to help liberate his homeland from ADVENT control.

Chapter 4

Returning to Russia to investigate ADVENT raids on psionic-related labs, Red learned the truth about the experiments that gave him his heightened Psi abilities. Russian scientists were using captured Sectoids to draw out latent psionic powers in human subjects, but during one of their trials, the real Alexander Dolvich's mind was swapped with a Sectoid named Cricket. The scientists wiped Redstar's mind, then convinced him he was Alexander before sending him to battle.

Although he's not the original Dolvich, Redstar has no memories of his Sectoid past. Instead, he has chosen to forge a new path as his own person, dedicating his life to XCOM.

Personal weapon

Guiding Light: After discovering his true self, Red's powers manifested from his psi-scepter with even greater brilliance. Its otherworldly light invokes hope in his allies and fear among his enemies.

Tariff

Main listing: Prototype 159 "Tariff"

Horse of Another Color

Colonel Kelly reluctantly escorts the clone of XCOM's former enemy, Tariff, on her first mission as an ally.

Chapter 1

Prototype 159, now going by the codename "Tariff," was an early attempt by the Elders to build what would later become the Creator. Prototype 159's purpose was to control movement between teleportation Archways, but when the Elders discovered her ability to manipulate the Umbral energy between portals, they shelved this model and began construction on an upgrade which could fully utilize these powers. The new model became the Creator, and Prototype 159 was locked away for future use.

In their hunt to discover more information on their new enemy, XCOM teams raided an ADVENT facility and liberated Prototype 159, giving her an opportunity to seek revenge against her replacement.

Chapter 4

On her first mission as a member of XCOM, Prototype 159/ Tariff was put in a position that tested her loyalty to XCOM. She chose to not betray her new allies, but she realized she still had a long journey to earning their full trust.

Personal weapon

Phylasphere: Tariff transferred a piece of their own technology and lifeforce into this free-floating orb that can act and react without her direct conscious control.

Uno

Main listing: Betos "Uno"

Freedom's Promise

Betos finds herself on the trail of other hybrids who escaped the ADVENT, but their ultimate goal turns out to be a test of her loyalty to XCOM.

Chapter 1

Betos "Uno" was the first of her kind. Once another cog in the ADVENT military machine, the control chip that made her an obedient soldier malfunctioned, and she was able to see the world around her for what it really was - a false utopia built on lies an slavery. She used her new freedom to release others from ADVENT control and rose up against her former masters as the leader of the Skirmishers.

Betos has fought with XCOM ever since the later days of the ADVENT War and slowly grown to believe in XCOM's goals herself. While other Skirmishers have begun to doubt the need for cooperation, her commitment to the cause threatens her role as leader.

Chapter 4

While under official examination evaluating her commitment to XCOM, Betos responded to a devastated lab only to discover it was attacked by ex-ADVENT deserters like herself. She tracked down the renegade unit only to find out that they had stolen an Elder weapon of mass destruction and planned to use it to create their own utopia. Conflicted, Betos stuck with XCOM allies, eliminating the deserters before they could destroy any more innocent lives.

Personal weapon

Dogs of War: Betos' bullpup used to be an ADVENT standard issue rifle. After breaking free of Elder control, she's modified it. Turning this new weapon on her former alien oppressors.

Void

Main listing: Specimen "Void" ZERO

Mind Games

Void was created by the Elders to be the ultimate psionic vessel and is potentially the most powerful being on the planet. There are those within XCOM that fear the danger that Void represents should they join the enemy, and so have tasked Geist to put Void to the test.

Chapter 1

Specimen Zero, now called "Void" by XCOM, was the first model of the AVATAR Project. It was discarded after a failed attempt to transfer an Elder's mind into its neural net. The Elder's personality partially imprinted on the model, evolving into a personality of its own, rejecting any further attempt to be controlled or erased.

Realizing that the only way to ensure its own survival was to expel the Elders from Earth, Specimen Zero joined XCOM to aid in the Resistance. The leadership of XCOM doesn't fully know whether they can trust Specimen Zero, but it has proven highly capable on the battlefield.

Chapter 4

While assisting XCOM on a rescue mission, Void saw the error in the Elders' methods of control. The mission proved successful, but it raised questions about Void's loyalty.

Personal weapon

Null Point: A powerful weapon that channels Void's prodigious psionic energies into a single devastating point. The resulting release of power warps space and time in ways beneficial to Void and their allies.

Wendigo

Main listing: Charles "Wendigo" Cardinal

Frozen in Time

While escorting a young Templar investigating Psi activity in the frozen north, Wendigo discovers a secret ADVENT facility that may hold information about his wife's disappearance.

Chapter 1

Charles "Wendigo" Cardinal was the pride of his village, leaving to attend college in Toronto when the first alien war erupted. He quickly volunteered to help the injured, but soon the war was lost and ADVENT took over the government of Canada. Charles returned to his village to act as the isolated community's connection to the ADVENT.

All the while, Charles engaged in secret missions against their oppressors. After a series of anonymous strikes, he and his drone Frostbite caught the attention of the Reapers, who recruited him into their ranks. Once the Elders were defeated, he continued to live mostly in isolation but agrees to assist XCOM when necessary.

Chapter 4

During a mission to escort Templar into the frozen tundra of Canada, Wendigo and his team picked up a weak Psionic signal. They investigate, hoping it may lead them to the numerous locals who were kidnapped by the Elders for their experiments. Instead, they came across an Avatar feeding off humans with Psi abilities. They defeated the creature, but it got them no closer to finding Wendigo's missing wife.

Personal weapon

Frostbite: A custom drone built by Wendigo. Frostbite can now slow enemies to a crawl when attacking, allowing Wendigo to pick them off at his leisure.

White Eagle

Main listing: Edson "White Eagle" Fidencio

The Escort

White Eagle comes to the rescue of an XCOM squad pinned down by Shadow Clone forces, smashing everything in his way.

Chapter 1

"Protection" is the word that mattered most to Edson Fidencio aka the White Eagle Growing up near Mexico City, he was barely an adult during the ADVENT WAR. He chose to protect an orphanage, in which he was raised. Later he became a trusted companion of Geist who recognized his psionic potential. His ability to draw the enemies' attention has often led to a decisive tactical advantage.

Edson began as a mercenary, hiring out on missions to earn money for his orphanage, but he grew into a full member of the Templar and a reliable agent for Geist.

Chapter 4

White Eagle agrees to deliver a package, which turns out to be an overly-chatty companion, Tyche, who he begrudgingly befriends.

Personal weapon

The Prickly Pear: The best defense includes a bit of offense. This shield was inspired by the Opuntia cactus, providing protection from predators along with thorns to deter those who get too close.