Why It Sucks to Be Born as a Viltrumite

you open your eyes for the very first time and here we are you've just been born a full-blooded viltrumite on the planet vrum congratulations several tour figures dressed in battle armor check your vital signs in the monitors as they decide your fate yep he's strong says the doctor maybe he's just a regular guy with a stethoscope who knows you're a baby it's hard for you to tell your parents who are also still in their uniforms breathe a sigh of relief you see the vmes have a strong policy about childbirth which means that Only the Strong

children are allowed to survive the rest are well don't worry about the rest this means that you get to go home to your parents but V my babies don't really get to watch CoCo melon with the stuffed animals instead they place you in a gravity chamber four times the strength of Earth where every muscle in your tiny body is forced to adapt to intense pressure your cries Echo off steel wars as you try to lift your head but no one comes to comfort you on vilum weakness will never be rewarded even as a baby now

that you've made it to 2 years old you're already showing signs of the power within you the average full grown Vite can lift at least 400 tons but as a toddler you're not quite there yet your quote unquote toys are really just heavy weighted blocks and you're doing pretty well with them you've also started showing signs of levitation already which means your fight training begins immediately your parents watch your progress like Hawks and carefully measure each metric to make sure you don't fall behind they don't help you up if you stumble instead they watch from

a distance with their arms cross as you struggle to get back on your feed a true Vite stands on their own always thanks Dad everyone in this species are raised as Warriors from birth so vter Mars have no comprehension of what genuine parental love is like now 5 years old you seem to be holding up well so far so it's time for you to be thrown into the juvenile combat initiative it's full of other kids your age but this isn't a playground it's a battlefield for children basically just a todler fight club on your first

day you're matched against a boy named Laro who's a little older than you and twice your size there's only one way to win these matches incapacitate your opponent good luck at there kid as the match begins Laro charges at you and knocks you off your feet those extra years of conditioning have given him an advantage in strength but around these parts there's no excuse get up one of your instructors growls you pull yourself up again and drive your tiny fist into L's jaw when he stumbles backwards you take the opportunity to knock him to the

ground the crowd of children and parents erupts into Applause at 5 years old you've earned their respect for now the vites believe that they're the most Superior being in the universe destined to rule over everyone else so every part of this Society exists to breed the perfect soldiers to feed this Galactic takeover your first day of school on vum is pretty straightforward every subject ties back to the Empire's ideals history class only exists to glorified past conquests science focuses on weapon development and even mathematics is taught through the perspective of warfare Logistics your PE class

is really just combat training with a side of cardio and every failure is punished you better be perfect kid or you're not going to make it much longer school still has some memories that will stick with you forever though in History Class you're now old enough to learn about the events of the purging when Vats called the weak from their population to ensure Only the strongest survived hundreds of thousands of years ago before they set off to conquer the Stars vilam was rocked by a horrific Civil War this War began when vs that varied strength

and believed in their natural superiority got together and decided to kill all the weak members of the species anyone who opposed them or de unfit were executed in a global blood bath called the purging years later the planet lay in Ruins and half the population had died but at least the weak had been eliminated from that point on vites adopted a brutal doctrine of eugenics meaning Only the Strong were allowed to survive on VTR vilum was rebuilt by its superhuman population a planet targeted for assimilation would be offered a chance to willingly join the empire

in patronage those that refused were destroyed by an army of flying Supermen it's a tough lesson to swallow as a kid but it's important to your survival that you understand you may no longer be a baby but it's never too late to abort you now at 10 years old your training escalates you're sent on your first observation mission to a freshly conquered Planet as you fly down the air is thick with the scent of burning rubble and the skies are black with smoke Villages burn and cities lie in Ruins you follow your squad leader a

towering figure named General Corf as he surveys the aftermath of the conquest he sets your squad down by the captured Rebels kneeling in Chains with their heads Bowing in defeat cor points at the prisoners decide their fate he says with a voice devoid of any emotion whoa whoa whoa whoa whoa what why does this have to be on you your heart pounds as you look at their terrified faces but you know all too well that hesitation is dangerous and a form of weakness with Trembling Hands you point to the execution Squad Corf nods and the

prisoners are no more that night for the first time and the last time in your life you lie awake haunted by the memory don't get used to it though because we don't do guilt here at 15 you're given your first solo Mission leading a squad to raid a rebel Outpost it's a relatively small operation but it's a test of your leadership capabilities and you better be able to pull this off because you remember what happens to failures it's on a nearby planet and you get there the same way anyone else on vum gets across the

Galaxy you don't need Rockets or teleporters vites can fly through space and hold their breath for several weeks they also move at incredible speeds so hopping in a spacecraft would just be inefficient your team descends on The Outpost but things go wrong almost immediately the rebels are better armed than expected and the simple Skirmish devolves in the chaos you manage to turn things around and complete the mission by destroying the Outpost but not without a cost several of your squadmates are killed with their bodies Left Behind as you Retreat when you return to vilum the

loss of life is gloss over a victory is a victory your instructor says patting you on the back what a wholesome life lesson at 16 the accumulation of everything you've ever trained for arrives the Vite trials with without exaggeration it's the biggest event of your life these aren't ceremonial rights or symbolic tests they're brutal challenges designed to weed anyone out who doesn't embody the Empire's ideals and anyone who is deemed weak failing here doesn't just mean humiliation it means death this is your last chance to prove you deserve to survive your trials begin on a

distant moon with gravity three times the strength of vtrs you and 30 other candidates are dropped there with nothing but the clothes on your backs the goal is simple survive for a week while completing a series of grueling challenges but just surviving isn't enough you have to dominate the first task is a Race Across the moon's Rocky surface the terrain is Jagged and unstable and every step sends sharp painful vibrations through your legs you feel the gravity's pull with every movement and after just a few minutes your muscles scream for relief but there is no

relief falling behind isn't an option those who do are left for dead the body's claimed by the unforgiving landscape as you cross a ridge you see the next challenge a combat Arena carved into the ground the instructors announced that the top 20 finishers will advance to the next round you make it in time but barely you turn to face your first opponent Laro who's admittedly a lot bigger than he was back in the toddler Fight Club he's taller broader and has a reputation of Cruelty you dodge his first swing and counter with a blow to

the temple dropping him immediately the fight is over in seconds the instructor not approvingly but their expressions remain cold there's no praise here just acknowledgement that you've done what's expected by a third day only 12 candidates Remain the trial shift focused the teamwork an ironic twist given the vilms emphasis on individual strength you're paired with two others Corvin a quiet but fiercely skilled fighter and Vetra an impulsive recruit with a talent for improvisation your task is to infiltrate a simulated Rebel stronghold and eliminate its Defenders the simulation is anything but simple the quote unquote Defenders

are seasoned Vite soldiers task with stopping you at any cost as you approach the stronghold veter rushes ahead ignoring your orders she's caught in the Ambush and Corvin pulls her back just in time the three view regroup and devise a new strategy you take the lead coordinating an assault that outmaneuvers your Defenders it's messy and chaotic but it works by the end of the exercise youve secured the stronghold and eliminated the targets back at the trial grounds the instructors debrief your group they commend your leadership but criticize veterans impulsiveness a team is only as strong

as its weakest link one of them says fixing her with a Steely gaze vet draw Titans but she doesn't respond the lesson is clear even teamwork on vilum is a tool not a virtue the last test is the most brutal of all a freefor all where Only The Strongest Will emerge Victorious the instructors release you into a sprawling Battlefield a maze of cliffs caves and treacherous terrain there is one objective be the last one standing the first few hours of chaos alliances form and dissolve in minutes as candidates betray one another for the chance to

survive you stay on the Move avoiding direct confrontations while picking off weaker opponents by the third day only four of you remain you Corin a candidate named tarck and a brutal fighter known simply as the Beast tck and the Beast form an uneasy Alliance forcing you and Corin to do the same the four of you clash in a brutal Skirmish every blow shaking the ground Beneath Your Feet T is the first to fall his chest caving under corvin's Relentless assault the Beast turns on you his fist like hammers you manage to outmaneuver him lending a

blow to his throat that sends him staggering Corvin seizes the opportunity and finishes him off now it's just you and Corvin for a moment you hesitate the two of you have fought side by side saved each other's lives and forged a bond In the Heat of battle but Bond means nothing here with a swift decisive strike you knock him unconscious the instructors declare you the Victor when the trials are over you're one of the only three candidates who survived you're bloodied exhausted and battered but you've proven your worth the instructors present you with the Insignia

of a Vite Warrior a simple Emin that carries the weight of everything you've endured you've earned this one of them says their tone as cold as ever don't make us regret it by your mid 20s War has become second nature every day feels like a repetition of the last descend upon a planet Crush its defenses pacify its population and move on to the next the Galaxy is vast and the Vite Empire demands total dominance you barely have time to process one battle before you thrust into another you also now have a mustache and so does

every other Vite man it's legally required by the government that all men have a mustache kind of like Australia by your 40s the cracks in the Empire's facade become harder to ignore the conquests continue but the resistance gross fierer rebellions that once took days to crush now drag on for months you stopped aging years ago the older you become the more powerful you grow and the slower you age you can live for thousands of years in your 50s you return home from that we Conquest after receiving word that your father has died the official report

says he passed during a training exercise but Whispers suggests something darker an act of defiance punished by the Empire at his funeral they didn't mention anything about his personal life only the things he did to serve the Empire they just relive his Glory Days as a military leader the doubts that have plagued you for years resurface was he truly a loyal servant of the Empire or did he question the path laid out for him shortly after your father's funeral you were summoned to a me with the high command they congratulate you on your years of

service and inform you that it's time for you to take on a new role in the Empire's master plan reproduction they think your genetics are exemplary and that it's your duty to carry on that strength to the Next Generation except that generation won't be born here you were given a file with information about a distant resourcer planet called Coralis you see one of the high command's most effective war strategies is sending Scouts Across the Universe to infiltrate the world and most importantly reproduce with the member of the dominant local species Vite genes are extremely adaptive

they're so potent that a vomite can reproduce with almost any other race in the universe humanoid or not and their genes will almost completely overpower the genetics of the non viltrumite parent making the resulting Offspring almost purely Vite themselves one of the few rules of this reproduction program are that you're only allowed to procreate with genetically similar species the more naturally compatible the mates race is The Sooner The Offspring will inherit all of the standard Vite abilities humans of Earth for example are so genetically close to vites that a human vomite hybrid is nearly identical

to a pure blooded vomite and will eventually become just as powerful but why are they doing all this to create more vites and take over that planet looking at the file the population of coralus is humanoid very good and the world has been deemed the prime candidate for genetic integration your mission is to establish yourself among the coralin produce Offspring and solidify Vite influence on the planet at first this feels like a break from the endless battles go live a normal life and start a family for G like you that sounds almost too easy but

this isn't about building a family it's about the Empire's agenda the children you father won't belong to you they'll belong to VTR when you arrive on Coralis you see it's quite beautiful not that you'd ever admit that the coralin are peaceful people and their culture is centered on art community and harmony with nature which is pretty different to everything you've ever known your initial interactions are all very cas calculated and designed to gain their trust you present yourself as a traveler seeking Refuge it's a pretty good play when it comes to Vite infiltration it's one

of the oldest tricks in the book over time you integrate into their society forming bonds and learning their ways despite your mission to destroy them from the inside out you can't help but admire the coralin the values are so different from the Vite agenda years from now your people are coming to either coner or destroy this planet but for the first time in your life you begin to experience peace eventually you fulfill your duty and form a partnership with a coral and woman named AA vites are taught from an early age to view their mates

as nothing more than tools for breeding or combat purposes yet you're beginning to see aara as much more than a pet together you had two children both of whom inherit your superhuman strength and resilience raising them is unlike anything you've ever experienced for the first time you understand what it means to nurture and to protect yet the Empire's Shadow hangs over you you know that one day the high command will call for your return and your children will be expected to join the Vite ranks that day finally comes and the high command Praises your progress

and orders you to return to VTR with your children but can you do it that night as your family sleeps you make a decision you contact the high command and inform them that you've encountered some unforeseen complications it's a big fat lie but at least it buys you time over the next few weeks you prepare you teach your children how to harness their abilities instilling them in the values you've learned from both vilum and Coralis you know that when the Empire finds out what you've done they will come for you but for now you're giv

your family a Fighting Chance the vonts finally arrived led by an aged and battle scar General KF you see a few faces you know but most faces you don't the invading Army attacks and the battle was brutal you're completely outnumbered fighting with everything you have and you know you're not winning this battle all those years of combat experience have served you well but in the end you were just no match for the Empire and are killed leading the planet's Last Stand but not for ensuring your family's escape ilera and the children disappear into the Wilderness

their future is uncertain but at least it's free from the vilum Army the same can't be said about Coralis though which is now the Empire's newest edition your death is recorded as a betrayal and your name is quietly removed from the Vite history but to those who knew you you're remembered not as a conqueror but as a father who chose Freedom over Millennia old Galactic Empire not bad for a kid in a gravity chamber [Music]