Tale of Diep:Belisarius

Belisarius is one of the three main villains of The Tale of Diep, serving as the head of the Praetorian Legion, the Archprophet's personal guard. He is a recurring encounter, being the big brute the Archprophet first sends after any Tank Empire soldier who dare try to be a hero and battle against him. The Archprophet puts great trust in Belisarius, relying on him for taking down intruders in the Tower of Gladii, leading legions of his army, heading his personal guard and secret police, and a lot of other minor tasks such as exterminating entire populations single-handedly... his massive cannon hand. Fear the name and do not step into the bright blue gaze of the ever-powerful guardian Belisarius.

(Note that the art is clearly not in Diep.io tank form, and is instead his Curtain of Steel design)

Backstory
Belisarius is one of the oldest-serving members of the Archprophet and his Cult of Panzer. Belisarius wasn't always a robotic warrior, beginning as your average high-ranking cultist serving the Archprophet. It wasn't until a fateful Cult Raid near the dawn of The Middle Era following the end of the Dormancy Period where Belisarius would truly begin to rise prominently. Belisarius was severely wounded by the great Tank Empire hero, Aero (protagonist of Curtain of Steel), who brought him to the edge of death in battle.

Through the miracle mechanical work of the terrible Dr. Lacus, Belisarius was restored but not without the cost of most of his biological body. Replaced by much machinery, loss of vocal communication, and reliance on the large packs on his back to breathe, Belisarius was made a massive, intimidating, cyborg. This caught the Archprophet's attention, who soon made him the head of the Praetorian Legion after blood had been spilled unto his name. Belisarius now remains a silent but ever strong and loyal menace who stands taller than two men and can fight ten times that at once. His two main characteristics are his titanic gauntlet on his right hand, and the powerful cannon on his left, which can switch between different types of weapons, but he prefers to keep it in its large single energy shot form.

Design
Tank form currently under progress

Encounters
Belisarius is encountered multiple times throughout The Tale of Diep, and fought thrice. When he's not fought in a battle, he's usually chasing players down hallways doing simple attacks as players flee. We'll start with chase sequences since they're less frequent and easily explainable:

Chase Sequences
Chase sequences are areas where Belisarius will run down a hallway or multiple hallways while using simple attacks and forcing the players in said direction. Chases usually end with him being too large to fit through certain doorways or compartments. The main gamemode this chase sequence mechanic appears in is Mad Science (but does happen elsewhere), with him usually breaking in through the walls and chasing the players through a section of the level.

During a chase sequence the camera will be locked to where it is faces Belisarius' front, with him in the back of the screen and players running automatically toward the screen. Players have no control over this but can effect how fast they run, and players that fall too far behind will be grabbed by Belisarius and thrown like a projectile, dying. Players will have to move left and right entirely on their owns, and if a hallway turns, the turn will happen automatically. Belisarius always moves at the same speed, and players cannot travel too far ahead, as forward is 'off screen' since the camera is directly focused that way.

Belisarius will use very simple attacks during the chase sequence, choosing one relatively three seconds after the last one. This gives some strategy to the encounters other than just running away and trying to stay fast enough. These attacks, despite the gamemode of encounter, are:


 * Sweep Blast: His cannon will retract and reform into a Vulcan, and he will sweep the barrel from left to right. Despite the barrel looking like a Vulcan, this is only aesthetic, and the shots themselves will be normal-sized and there will be about eight of them in a spread made one at a time as he sweeps his cannon, that players can squeeze through.
 * Target Shot: Will place a red target marker on the ground where players are which will flash red and yellow quickly. Two seconds later, it will become solid orange, and a powerful Annihilator shot will be fired there from his large cannon, dealing incredible damage to players caught in, and within 2 tiles of the blast, which explodes on contact with the ground.
 * Rocket Fist: His gauntlet's blue sigil will flash white before he moves to the left, right, or center, aims it in front of him, and fires it off in a straight line, piercing through players and dealing damage, before boomeranging back into his wrist socket.
 * Power Throw: If a player falls too far behind and comes within Belisarius' reach, he will grab them with his fist, and throw them like a projectile forward toward the players. Anyone hit takes damage equal to that player's body damage, and the thrown player rarely survives.

Chase sequences usually end when Belisarius is too large to fit through a gap that players can (like players entering the ventilation shaft to escape his first chase sequence in Mad Science). There are instances where he will 'fake end' the sequence, by acting like he's stuck behind a wall or something, before breaking through it with a swing of his gauntlet.

The exact chase sequence layouts will be listed when they better come to completion.

Fights
Coming Soon to a theater near you...

Trivia

 * Inspired in part by Victor von Ion from the 2016 Ratchet and Clank reimagining (which I hate with a passion when compared to the original 2002 game which was so much better, but I have to admit the chase sequences I inspired by the Belisarius chase parts from are quite cool), in the chase aspect at least.
 * Belisarius doesn't go spewing cringy quotes as he chases or battles you though, since he's mute due to his backstory. That makes him like... ten times better. ;)
 * Belisarius himself was quite an originally shoehorned in concept, but it's going to grow dramatically into something I think people will love.
 * Belisarius contrasts both the Archprophet's goofy but terrifying and competent nature and Dr. Lacus' generally hammy nature with his mute and serious stature. He is also the only big three villain who gets no dialogue whatsoever, once again, due to his condition.
 * Belisarius is the second villain in The Tale of Diep who draws inspiration from a Ratchet and Clank character, but this time in a much higher regard. Both Belisarius and his inspiration, Victor von Ion are giant robots who chase players through sequences of various levels. Unlike Victor though, Belisarius actually sees some combat with the players themselves, and even then in design, Belisarius is large and awkwardly clunky due to his large back fuel packs.
 * The other mentioned villain only partially inspired by a R&C character is the Archprophet, kind of taking off of Dr. Nefarious, but only in his tendency to shout things and getting a butler. The connections really end there between them, though the Archprophet does get his own "ANNIHILATE THEM!" during his battle in a somewhat rarely said line when entering Last Hurrah mode. Its more a reference, while Belisarius only exists because of his inspiration. Archprophet still would even without his.
 * The Curtain of Steel design of Belisarius came far before the tank design for him, making him the first Tale of Diep character whose humanized art came before their Diep.io variant. This was because Belisarius' design was much easier to portray in such a state, and due to him originally going to be a Curtain of Steel EXCLUSIVE character. He wasn't going to originally be in the game at all.
 * Because of this, some aspects of his backstory will be altered between adaptations. While his backstory in-page now says he lost his ability to breathe without the packs, this may change in the Tale of Diep game to just being how he powers his body. The breathing exposition will only come to fruition in Curtain of Steel.
 * Belisarius' very first design featured cannons on his back instead of upward fuel packs. Originally those only stretched downward with a large jetpack thruster connecting them. This has obviously changed in recent artwork, now with him having four fuel packs, two stretching upward and two stretching downward.
 * Other design changes came in his height. Originally Belisarius stood no taller than the Archprophet himself in Curtain of Steel art (which features humanized versions of the three villains), but now he stands taller and larger than many of the other characters in-and-out of The Tale of Diep game, as well as Curtain of Steel.
 * Belisarius is one of the few bosses to appear and be fought more than once (not counting Boss Frenzier), with other offenders of this being Royale, the Polygon Mother, and the Glimpse of Panzer, if you count the Avatar of Panzer Phase 2 that is almost identical to the Glimpse of Panzer battle a second encounter.
 * While not a creation of Dr. Lacus, Belisarius owes his life to him, and is almost more loyal to the doctor than he is to the one he's trying to protect.
 * This is why Belisarius not appears once, but THREE different times in Mad Science, trying to stop players from reaching Dr. Lacus.