Exploder

The Exploder was a Necromorph form that fought as a living bomb, much like the Crawler. Its defining feature was a large glowing pustule grown at the end of its arm, filled with a volatile chemical that it detonated among its prey at close range. Slow and unwieldy on its own, the Exploder relied on numbers and on ambush, and its presence was a recurring hazard across the Marker outbreaks.

Form#

Exploders appeared to be created from a single human host. The cranium of the host was split open vertically, the brain cavity filled with connective tissue so that the two halves of the head could work as a set of jaws. The left arm became stiff, losing all articulation except at the shoulder, and at its end grew a large pustule that made the limb heavy and unwieldy. The substance inside the pustule was extremely reactive to blunt and ballistic force, and it produced a powerful explosion when struck hard enough.

To counter the weight of that arm, the Exploder's body was reshaped to shift its center of mass away from the pustule. The right forearm was heavily modified, with the right hand and foot fused and extended to act as a leg, while the original legs and left foot fused and twisted into a single muscular limb. The result moved sluggishly and limped, though an Exploder could manage occasional bursts of surprising speed once it had closed some of the distance to its target.

Behavior#

Once within reach of a victim, an Exploder swung its pustule at the target or into the nearby ground, producing a blast lethal to anything caught in its radius. The explosion carried enough force to dismember a human and usually destroyed the Exploder along with its prey. Because each attack was effectively suicidal and the creatures moved slowly, Exploders tended to attack in large groups, trying to overwhelm a target through sheer numbers. Their approach was easy to detect by the distinctive wailing they made when near, and the pustule glowed brightly enough to be seen from a long way off.

Survivors learned that the pustule was the creature's great weakness as well as its weapon. Striking it from a distance detonated the Exploder and killed any other Necromorphs caught in the blast, while the pustule arm itself was fragile and could be severed, leaving the Exploder to fall back on a feeble headbutt. A severed pustule could even be carried off and thrown at other creatures, where its blast was more destructive than any handheld tool. An Exploder that lost its limbs but kept its pustule would commit a final act of self-destruction, falling to the ground and slamming the pustule down where it lay.

Variants#

During the events on Tau Volantis, a faster form called the Crawling Exploder appeared. It moved low to the ground with its pustule dragging behind it, making it far harder to keep at a safe distance, and it could pin a survivor before detonating. A darker-skinned Enhanced Exploder, marked by a dark orange pustule, was recorded on Titan Station. Each variant carried the same essential threat: a creature whose only purpose was to reach its prey and detonate.