Cryo Legionnaire

The Cryo Legionnaire is an infantry unit exclusively deployed by the Future Alliance in When the Cold Breeze Blows Away. They are armed with cryo-ray freeze weapons which freezes and immobilizes enemies cold.

Although the Grand Alliance's decision to deploy its peacekeeper divisions to the front lines of their conflicts against both the Coalition of the Red Star and the Global Liberation Union raised eyebrows at the time, in retrospect this was inarguably one of the bold, calculated risks that helped ensure the Allies' victory in the war. The Peacekeepers proved resilient and disciplined as their enemies recklessly attacked, and the peacekeepers—true to their name—ensured the relative safety of civilian populations as conflict raged on. As a result, the Allies became relatively popular among war-torn nations seeking relief. In spite of all this, peacekeepers were ill-equipped to deal with the worst of what the Union and the Empire had to offer, though many of those brave men lost their lives trying anyway. So when the Allies partnered with Amsterdam-based defense contractor FutureTech Corporation to launch the Legionnaire Initiative, in one sense, no one was surprised. The surprise came only once the Allies' Cryo Legionnaires were finally unveiled in all their cold blue glory.

Years before they get fitted for their custom-tailored X-1 Instinct armored suits, the men called Cryo Legionnaires undergo an extremely intense training program designed to simulate the harshest weather conditions Allied forces ever experienced fighting in the Coalition of the Red Star. Though prospective Cryo Legionnaires represent the top one percent of fittest, strongest men from across Europe and the United States, of these, only two percent of these applicants successfully complete FutureTech's classified training program. Those ultimately taken into the ranks of the Cryo Legionnaires must demonstrate not just the peak of physical fitness and dexterity, but also a specific psychological profile that FutureTech claims is optimally suited to the rigors that these men will face defending the Allies' and all the multiverse's freedoms. And although most aspects of the Legionnaire Initiative are well-protected military secrets, initial reports of the Legionnaires' stunning battlefield victories and single-digit casualty rates seem very promising indeed.

Part of the appeal of the Legionnaire Initiative is in the nonviolent nature of its approach to conflict resolution. Cryo Legionnaires eschew any conventional weapons in favor of a semi-portable "cryo-cannon," whose technology was co-opted from FutureTech's own Cryocopter design. This device quickly absorbs 99 percent of all heat in a fixed, conical area out in front, essentially causing everything in the vicinity to quickly freeze over. The effect is so rapid that living creatures go into a fugue state, such that their frozen bodies can be detained, collected, and later revived in time for a speedy and fair war-trial.

Understandably, the enemies of the Cryo Legionnaires often refuse to go quietly, and for this reason, their armored suits can withstand explosive and concussive blasts better than any personal defense systems ever developed—including, FutureTech spokespeople point out, the Coalition of the Red Star's notoriously resilient Tesla suits. In addition to this, the X-1 Impulse (sic) armor effectively heightens the wearer's reflexes, paradoxically allowing him to move much faster than an unburdened man ever could. At the same time, back-mounted airbooster not only absorbs and dissipates heat, but is used for short-range flight and various tactical maneuvers. FutureTech has firmly denied allegations surrounding a controversial incident in which a frozen Soviet combatant was shattered to pieces when struck by a Cryo Legionnaire's heel coming down from a boost-jump, citing that battlefield conditions are naturally unpredictable and that Cryo Legionnaires are already responsible for many thousands of lives saved. Whatever the case, the widely-reported incident proves that all eyes are on the Legionnaire Initiative, which FutureTech promises will be the future of law enforcement.

During the Uprising, it became apparent to Soviet Resistance fighters that Cryo Legionnaires' 'psychological profiles' were largely selected to suit Futuretech's needs, not the interests of the general population; Cryo Legionnaires were witnessed willingly testing their weaponry on captured civilians for research purposes. These activities were conducted at remote, privately controlled FutureTech bases where the majority of the Earth's population would not be aware of it.