Skaarj Warlord

The Skaarj Warlord is one of the bosses of Unreal (video game) and Unreal Mission Pack: Return to Na Pali.

Overview[]

The Warlord is at the top of the militaristic side of the Skaarj presence on Na Pali. The Warlord towers over even a Skaarj Berserker, wears a full-body armor suit with a dark green and black color scheme, wields a large, heat-seeking missile launcher, and possesses the ability to fly with a pair of large, bat-like wings on his back.

The Warlord is as agile in the air as other Skaarj are on the ground, avoiding incoming fire and dodging out of the line of fire of instant-hit weapons before you even fire at him. His missiles do significant damage, and their ability to track the player makes them a formidable attack. Up close, the Warlord will bash the player with his launcher, a surprisingly clumsy seeming attack from such an agile race. When getting lower on health, the Warlord will also teleport away to regain its health.

The Skaarj Warlord is the leader of the attack on Na Pali. Although his feet are not so big for kicking, he can do a lot of damage if he is gets a direct hit with his rockets. In Unreal, you will have a teaser fight with the Warlord in a lava-filled cave beneath the Nali Castle called Demonlord's Lair and finally finish the battle inside the Skaarj Generator inside the Skaarj Mothership.

The Warlord returns in the Invasion gametype in Unreal Tournament 2003 and Unreal Tournament 2004. It doesn't usually appear until late in the game, and the final wave often consists only of Warlords.

Appearances[]

Unreal (video game)[]

Demonlord's Lair
Skaarj Generator
Votlan bonus level (and cut appearance from NyLeve)

Unreal Mission Pack: Return to Na Pali[]

Escape from Na Pali

Trivia[]

The Warlord has an own theme that plays whenever Prisoner 849 fights against it, Alexander Brandon's "Warlord Theme".
If he is the Unreal equivalent of the Cyberdemon from Doom and the Skaarj Queen the Spider Mastermind, one wonders what Icon of Sin of Unreal would be like...

Development[]

There is a screenshot of an earlier model in the creature guide from late 1996. This model amongst others was never recovered, however it reveals that the Cyberdemon/Baron of Hell like creature in the "crypt/crypt2" texture pack belongs to the original Warlord.
There are at least two skin variants from Unreal development for the Warlord that were never recovered. Remnants of one are seen in the gibs textures, and another is fully shown in a pre-release screenshot not far from game's release. For unknown reasons, they reverted back to the skin they kept using since May 1997.
The Warlord used to fire homing rockets, and versions prior to the May07 beta version had even a barrage of three rockets at once while flying-in-place. Those rockets, however dealt way less damage than current ones. The homing rocket idea was restored when the Warlord returned as one of the Invasion monsters in Unreal Tournament 2003 and Unreal Tournament 2004.
The idea of the Warlord got probably carried over a little to the Karrikta character from Hard Crash, who was simply assumed to be a high ranking Skaarj Warrior, most likely the original Skaarj Lord (who had a Skaarj Warrior skin with a sherpa as seen on a single screenshot/magazine cover), though he kind of replaced the warlord in the story.
At the very very beginning, the Warlord started life as the Big Minotaur creature (as the Minotaur boss). The regular Minotaur with its different torso instead ended up evolving into the Krall. Parts of the Gargoyle creature also ended up influencing both, the feet for the Krall and the wings for the final Warlord design. The 1996 description mentions him flying, its unknown whether he'd grow/lose wings or it was a jetpack work at that point.
The gibs of the Warlord are a bizarre combination of multiple development versions, including the minotaur. A hoof and a minotaur fist are included among the strange mixture of gibs.
He originally appeared in versions of NyLeve's Falls for a scripted sequence. This was cut right before release, the sequence still being possible to recreate as the alarm points are all there. The May07 beta still has this sequence, though the Warlord is rotated differently.
In the May07 version, his appearance in Skaarj Generator has it being revived/irradiated, having a radiation fog around him.
In the UnBible, he was meant to have multiple appearances, one of them being nailing a final Nali of a crucified Nali before taking off. This idea predated the idea of the G-Man from the Half-Life series for at least two years.
His gun used to be called Swarm Missile Launcher.

Design Notes[]

"The warlord is the commander and chief of the skaarj population. Encountered at the players ship, after it crash-lands, and several others areas during your journey; he will ultimately be confronted at the skaarj fortress. His weapon of choice is an alien, shoulder mounted, swarm missile launcher; which he will continue to fire until you are dead. He has the ability to fly and is agile to the highest degree. This makes him nearly impossible to hit with conventional projectile/missile weapons."

– UnCreature

Gallery[]

Unreal Deleted Scene

Skaarj Warlord

Contents