Parastice

Parastice as he appeared in Dark Confrontation

**PX-02**, also referred to as **Parastice**, was the secondary antagonist in the SOTE short story, *Dark Confrontation.* He was a Golden Empire warforged that attacked a Kingdom outpost near Starlight City, in an effort to draw out BG to face him in one-on-one combat. Although his plan was to defeat BG in a duel, his creator made Parastice just as an experiment and had Garth back him up after PX-02's destruction.

## **Biography**

### *New Generation of Warforged*

Because of the profound effect the BG-8253 had on the Empire in terms of being seen as a threat, great minds akin to Dr. Mobius began crafting their own warforged to capitalize on the perceived danger of them. PX-02 was created using the blueprints of PD-7041, albeit with no good intent. His programming was made for one goal and one goal only. Finding the blackguard and removing him from the board. All of his training, all of his preparation was for that single objective. Once PX-02, now going by Parastice, was finally ready, the Empire set a trap for BG using his own rage against him.

### *Dark Confrontation*

The Empire informed Parastice of an outpost belonging to the Legion of the Damned and its allies and sent him there to destroy it. The warforged did so without hesitation and completed his task. However, one of the lizardmen stationed there got away and traveled to Schattenreich to warn BG of the attack. BG was enraged by Parastice's assault and traveled to the outpost to deal with him robot to robot.

Once he arrived, BG sauntered through the remains of the place, wondering where the perpetrator was hiding. Parastice came from the shadows, confusing BG with his appearance. The golden warforged explain that the Empire was creating new robotic soldiers to challenge BG's reign in the Wastelands and remove the threat from existence. BG saw an opportunity to try to sway the warforged out of the Empire's control, but it didn't work. Parastice attacked! BG defended himself and their clash began.

In between blows, Parastice explained his sickening mindset while BG retorted statements of his own. Certainly a battle of wits and brawn. Even though Parastice had more raw strength than BG, the blackguard's experience in combat made him triumph over the newer warforged. In their final collision of weaponry, BG ended Parastice by cutting him clean in half.

## **Description**

### *Appearance*

PX-02 was very pristine and shiny compared to his sworn enemy. Since he was a product of the Golden Empire, his creators put a lot of effort not only into his function, but also his looks. Similar to BG, he was a hulking beast of metal, able to stand over the tallest of men and be bulkier than most muscle heads. He also had a square-like head with narrow yellow slits for shining eyes. Although Parastice's metal was shiny, his form was grotesque, with elongated arms and legs. Additionally, there was a metallic tail attached to his back.

### *Personality*

Though Parastice's metals shined with a refined glow, his personality was anything but glowing. He admitted to BG that he had no inner conflict of morality in his mind and only wanted to destroy the Empire's enemies. He loved to kill and any excuse to do so was pleasing to him. But, when things weren't going his way, he tended to burst into rage. Sometimes these tantrums would power him up or they would make it harder to fight for him.

That being said, Parastice did have a habit of slurring his words either due to faulty programming or a conscious choice. Moreover, he was capable of deception and deceit when needing to trick his enemies.

## **Relationships**

### *Unnamed Creator*

Parastice understood that he was an experiment and wasn't created for anything more than to destroy the blackguard, but he didn't care. So, he had no real connection to his creator, besides thanking him for a chance at sentience and to cause suffering for those deemed unworthy by the Empire. Parastice knew his place as a tool for his creator, but it didn't bother him in the slightest. Kind of toxic, not gonna lie!

### *BG-8253*

PX-02's entire existence was to prepare him for his inevitable duel with BG, King of the Wise One's Kingdom. With that preparation came a healthy dose of hate and intolerance towards to the royal warforged. When he finally did meet BG and engaged with him in combat, he mixed in loathsome comments to complement his devastating attacks. Spewing his despicable remarks, Parastice made himself a formidable enemy for BG. But, his repugnant nature ended nearly as soon as it arrived.

## **Trivia**

* Parastice would have been classified as a **minor antagonist** if he was met in the campaign, but because he faced BG in a designated story, he earned the right of a **major antagonist** instead.
* Parastice was the only character in *Dark Confrontation* to be introduced AND killed off within the span of the story.