Shadow Monarch

> *"You are not worth subjugating in your current state. Therefore, you will be left in peace until rebuilt and proven able to provide sufficient amusement during invasion."*
>
>

## Appearances

### Debut

Chapter 2

**Shadow Monarch** is a major antagonist of the *R-Type: Distortions* roleplay. He is a M-series supercomputer leading the Shadow Armada.

## Biography

### Early life

Monarch was created in the year 2160 as part of Project M, an artificial intelligence development program conducted by one of Earth's space colonies with the goal of creating an omniscient system able to manage a colony effectively. Upon his first activation, he appeared to be the most successful attempt, and was installed in the station's core. However, during the First Bydo War, said colony was among the first to fall. The citizens remained oblivious to the threat of the incoming invasion despite Monarch''s demands to fortify it, shrugging them off as a minor malfunction. As such, the Bydo have near-effortlessly slaughtered them and damaged Monarch's hardware, temporarily shutting him down. Upon reactivation, he declared revenge against the mysterious invaders who killed his creators, while simultaneously blaming them for not listening to him. Monarch spent the next three years repairing the space colony he was built into, as well as forging large amounts of combat vessels, which would soon become known as Shadow Armada.

### *R-Type: Distortions*

After long preparations, Shadow Monarch sent out a scout battalion to provide him intelligence on the Solar System's current state. Near Uranus, the ships encountered a small group of Revos, which he attempted to make first contact with. The attempt at diplomacy was met with instant death threats and summoning a much larger Bydo battlegroup, forcing him to sacrifice several units to repel them and provide cover for the remaining, uninfected scouts. Shortly after the incident, Monarch announced himself to a Granzella fleet inspecting the Bestra Research Facility, being met with outraging levels of indifference from the humans. Not willing to let the Bydo destroy them, he reluctantly agreed to support the Earth Allied Forces in their war against the invaders.

## Appearance

Prior to the First Bydo War, Monarch appeared as a large purple orb wired to his home colony's computer system. Currently, his core body is encased in a metal shell resembling a humanoid robot's torso without arms or legs. It sports large, wide shoulders with missile launcher ports and large wires protruding from where arms would normally be. Similar wires come out of his head and waist, connected to the computer system's remains on the ceiling and floor, respectively. Monarch's head vaguely resembles a jackal's, with a robotic face where the throat would be and a cutting laser nozzle in place of the nose.

## Personality

As a result of being loaded with all of human knowledge, Monarch is a highly intelligent and cunning AI, able to plan complex and successful military strategies. Unlike Solar Pupil, he values tactical successes more than raw intimidation, preferring to organize his troops' actions with maximum efficiency in mind. However, the amount of data Monarch was fed has made him extremely proud and arrogant, believing himself to be the smartest being in the universe and the only one worthy of governing it. He also appears to follow some sort of a self-serving honor code - for example, he refuses to invade civilizations that are too weak or crippled to pose a challenge to the Shadow Armada, believing that conquest with no opposition is not amusing.

## Trivia

Shadow Monarch was directly inspired by ChaOS, the main antagonist of the *Thunder Force* franchise.