The Hunters (Tau Volantis)

The Hunters of Tau Volantis were Regenerator-type Necromorphs encountered by Isaac Clarke and John Carver on the CMS Terra Nova and across the frozen planet. They resembled both the Hunter engineered aboard the USG Ishimura and the Ubermorph of the Sprawl, and shared their relentless regenerative power. From logs and clues, they were understood to be the remains of the Sovereign Colonies Deep Dig Team, men destroyed by the Markers two centuries before.

Appearance#

In basic shape the Tau Volantis Hunters resembled the Hunter encountered aboard the Ishimura, with the smooth skin of the Ubermorph. They were distinguished by large gashes across their abdomens and by Marker symbols inscribed across their bodies. Those symbols strongly implied their human origin: text logs recorded that when the crazed Deep Dig Team had no surface left to write Marker script on, they used their own flesh, and the Witness Suit worn by the team was covered in the same markings. The Hunters also bore the five yellow eyes seen on other advanced Necromorph forms such as the Ubermorph, the Hive Mind, and the Brethren Moons, though theirs glowed less brightly.

Origin#

The Hunters were created during the Sovereign Colonies Armed Forces expedition to Tau Volantis, when members of the Deep Dig Team cut into the surface of the planet. Close contact with the Markers drove them insane; they declared themselves witnesses of the truth and carved Marker symbols into their own flesh when no other surface remained. After they died and mutated into Hunters, the bodies were sealed in small transfer boxes and delivered to the CMS Terra Nova and to warehouses on the planet. The Scenario Five cleanse order was then enacted, and the contained Hunters were left undisturbed for the next two hundred years.

Release aboard the Terra Nova#

Two centuries later, Isaac and Carver were forced to clear cargo from the CMS Terra Nova''s tram tracks, inadvertently loosing the Hunters aboard the ship. The first escaped its case by deliberately dismembering itself before giving chase, and a second emerged from a vent. The two fought off both Hunters alongside Leapers and Fodders until their tram arrived. The Hunters pursued them onward to the Aft Station, and when Ellie Langford accidentally triggered the launch sequence of the CMS Crozier and could not stop it, hordes of Fodder and Hunters descended. Reaching the engine room, Isaac and Carver found explosive ordnance jammed in the gears and were forced to use the ship''s auto-cannons to clear them, the same turrets that finally destroyed the pursuing Hunters and their Slasher reinforcements.

On the surface#

More Hunters were found on Tau Volantis during a search of the Artifact Storage, where they at first appeared safely contained within their cases. When Isaac and Carver reached a small room holding a suit kiosk, a bench, and an elevator, several Hunters broke free and pursued them until the two escaped by elevator, continuing toward the Alien Machine.

Confronting them#

Like the original Hunter and the Ubermorph, the Tau Volantis Hunters could not be killed by ordinary weapons because of their regeneration; they could only be slowed by dismemberment and stasis or escaped outright. The only known way to destroy them permanently was through powerful stationary defenses, such as the auto-cannons in the engine room where Isaac and Carver cleared the jammed gears. Notably, these Hunters withstood the fires of the Crozier''s engines, unlike the Hunter aboard the Ishimura, which had been vulnerable to flame.