Helghan Armed Forces

helghast insignia the iron band

Helghast Triad

The **Helghast Military** is the military armed forces of both the Helghan Empire and the State of **New Helghan**. it is the main military force of the Helghasts and new helghan. Following the Terricide and the destruction of Helghan, the Helghast military have been reduced to a Defense Force as a result of population depletion. Its successor is the Helghast Security Forces.

## History

### Early Years

During the early years, the Helghast military was an underequiped but large organized militia to fight for the Helghan Corporation and soon discovered and colonized Vekta and Helghan and amassed vast amounts of wealth and angered the UCN. Following the colonization of Vekta the Helghan Corporation had attempted to succed from United Colonial Nations rule and had a small corporate backed organized militia which was well armed and won multiple battles during the early days of the war due to their large numbers but were poorly trained. By the year 2204, the UCN won and the milita had comletely disbanded. 143 years later in 2347, the refugees had fled to Helghan where the UCN oppressed the colonists which led to the rise of Scolar Visari. And after Visari seized power and declared himself Autarch, he founded the Helghan Empire and began mass remilitarization following Visari's rise to power.

### Military Growth

Following Visari's assention to power, Visari began to implimate military first policies and thus the Helghasts now had a strong powerful military force which began to casue tensions and fear back at Vekta. The Helghast Third Army was created and was used as a secret police force to help silence/kill all who opposed and spoke out against Visari and his reign over Helghan. In 2357, 10 years after Visari seized power he ordered the helghast army to invade Vekta after Generals Stuart Adams and Dwight Stratson had completely disabled the ISA SD platforms orbiting Vekta allowing the Helghasts to invade the planet without delay and soon the Helghasts launched an all out assault on the planet wreacking mayham and havoc throughout the planet despite diplomatic efforts by the Vektan Government.

## Second Extrasolar War

### Invasion of Vekta

With the orbital defenses down the Helghasts had marched on Vekta nearly unopposed as Armin Metrac had invaded southern Vekta and had been unstoppable as his tactics had pushed ISA resistance back tramatically and Colonel Vyktor Kratek had conquered the strategic city of Diortem. The ISA forces on vekta were overran and soon the Red Dust nuclear bomb was aquired during the invasion and was transported back to Helghan. As Metrac and his forces ravaged Vekta, ISA reinforcments had managed to arrive on time only to witness the massive damage done to the plant and the took 2 years to fully repeal the Helghasts who finally retreated in 2359 but manged to aquire the Red Dust nuclear bomb and palnned to use it when needed.

### Operation Archangel

Following the ISA/UCN victory on Vekta, the UCN had ordered the Interplanetary Strategic Alliance to invade Helghan and oust Scolar Visari from power. Visari had known of this ahead of time and had threatened to repel all invading forces from Helghan if the invasion had been launched. Operation Archangel had begun and the ISA had expected a quick victory only to relize the bloody reality that the Helghasts were not only ready fro them, but were hungry for revenge. Helghast military forces led by Colonel Mael Radec had launched a massive defensive attack against the incoming ISA Forces as the planetary defense systems were able to shoot down much of the incoming ISA Fleet but were eventually disabled by a crashing cruiser. Eventually the Red Dust was used and Visari was killed much to the ISA's dismay. Following Visari's death and the retreat of the ISA Forces from Helghan, the Helghan Senate led by Admiral Orlock had led the Helghan Empire while Chairman Stahl had competed for the title of Autarch, the Head of State and leader of the Helghasts. By 2360, the Helghan Empire had collapsed following the Terricide attack and the destruction of Helghan

### *Killzone: Shadow Fall*

In the years following the destruction of Helghan and the collapse of the Helghan Empire, the remaining Helghast survivros were given refuge on Vekta and took the eastern half of the planet as the Helghast refugees had settled in and declared the establishment of New Helghan as their new home. The Helghast military soon went under a series of radical reforms as the Helghast Armed Forces were renamed the Helghast Security Forces and now rely on small squads of professionally trained and heavily armed soldiers to defend New Helghan as a result of massive depletion of the Helghast population. In 2381 a terrorist organization by the name of The Black Hand had emerged and led by Helghast fundimentalist Vladko Tyran, the Black Hand launhed an insurgency in against both New Helghan and Vekta but was crushed in 2390.

## Military Structure

### Army

The Helghast Army relys on advanced weapons, armoured support, and large numbers being a large military force compirsed of large batallions supported by endless troop movements to overwhelm the enemy and capture their territory. Helghast soldiers are heavily armed and well trained using their vast numbers to their advantage and use mines and other lethal explosives to set up defensive positions against their enemies. By the events of Shadow fall however, the Helghasts use small squads of troops but rely more on technoloy to achieve their goals.

### Navy

The Helghast Navy is never mentioned but it is seen in action as Helghast Cruisers have proven to be very powerful. Helghast Fleets are seen in the Killzone series to be very powerful as their ships are able to attack both enemy fleets and ground forces. Many of their cruisers are usually never seen unless it's during a planetary invasion.

## Notable Members

### Leaders

* Scolar Visari - Founder and De Facto Leader
* Admiral Orlock - Commander-in-Chief and Admiral
* Mael Radec - Commanding Officer and High-Ranking member
* Jorhan Stahl - Weapons Developer and Supplier
* Armin Metrac - General
* Joseph Lente - General and Third Army leader
* Vyktor Kratek - Colonel and Weapons Developer
* Tendon Cobar - Head of the Colonial Guard
* Helghast Officer - Military Officers
* Base Commanders- Commanding Officers

### Infantry Divisions

* Helghast Infantry - Ground Forces
* Helghast Sniper - Support Troops
* Assault Infantry - Primary Infantry
* Shock Trooper - Special Forces

## Military Sub-Factions

* Stahl Arms - Corporation and weapons supplier
* Helghast Third Army - Military Division
* Elite Guard - Autarch's Guards
* 9th Division - Military Division

## Enemy Archetypes

* Killzone
* Killzone: Liberation
* Killzone 2
* Killzone 3
* Killzone Shadow Fall

### Basic Soldiers

 Mounted Gunner | Trained specifically to man and defend mounted guns.

### Close Quarters Soldiers

 Capture Trooper | Use their body armor to absorb impacts while charging enemies and prefers to knock them to the ground in order to deliver a devastating blow.

### Long Range Soldiers

 Sniper | Use a high power VC32 Sniper Rifle to pick off enemies at long range, and use cover where possible.

### Specialists

 Jetpack Trooper | Specially trained Helghast soldier that uses a StA-X6 Jetpack to engage enemies. Fly above enemies to engage them in aerial surprise attacks.

## Trivia

* The Helghast's distinctive gas mask and goggles are based on a conceptual art depicting World War I-era goggles on a soldier's face, over a World War II-era Russian oxygen mask. The goggles were later added with a reddish orange after test players complained how enemy soldiers were hardly visible against some of the backdrops in *Killzone*. Furthermore, the dehumanizing effect of the Helghast's masks and goggles are deliberately evocative of World War I in order to bring to mind the intensity of trench warfare and the way soldiers were viewed as utterly expendable, which matches the Helghast's views on their people.
* The Helghast's uniforms and attire are purposely developed to mimic the German forces of the First and Second World War. However, their attire and gas masks are also based on Russian uniforms and designs from Stalinist Russia.
* Occasionally when the player is killed in *Killzone 2*, *3* and more often in *Mercenary* and *Shadow Fall* the Helghast soldier responsible will taunt the player's corpse as they die, provided the soldier is close by and facing the player.