Roleplay / Blood of the Chozo

"The True Chozo are here. Submit."

In the mid-1990s, Nintendo of America launched an official AOL page called Nintendo Power Source. In the Epic Center, Power Source staffers initiated the interactive story known as Blood of the Chozo, based upon the Metroid franchise. While billed as an "interactive story", it was likely one of the early pioneers in online Play-by-Post Games: fans came together and wrote over 6,000 posts in collaborative storytelling.

The premise, as laid out in the story's introduction written by Power Source staffers, takes place two years after the events of the then-recent Super Metroid. A mysterious group known as the True Chozo have emerged, waging war upon the Messina star system. With Samus Aran being shot down by the invaders, four guilds (and the Trogs) must unite to protect the universe from the villainous Chozo faction before it is fully conquered. After that, the rest of the story was completely up to the fans and their imaginative writings, although the Power Source staffers would occasionally provide additional direction and exposition through the in-universe Overdog supercomputer.

With Nintendo Power Source no longer active, no complete archive of Blood of the Chozo is known to exist. Short excerpts were published in a Nintendo Power article in May 1996, following the story's conclusion. One of the story's writers, Cerberus, compiled a personal archive of "The Rebellion" plotline, which was shared with FanFiction.Net in 2001 and Metroid Database in 2008; this archive is often known as the "Cerberus Document". The Cerberus Document can be read on FanFiction.Net here, and Metroid Database's archive can be downloaded as a ZIP file here.

It should be noted that, while Blood of the Chozo was run by Nintendo Power Source staffers, it is essentially a collaborative fanfic and was never part of the official Metroid Canon. However, fan interest in the story remains years later, especially after Metroid: Samus Returns and Metroid Dread formally introduced antagonistic Chozo to the series.

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This story provides examples of:

• Adaptation Name Change: The Cerberus Document notes that Houston Barrimonde is actually Armstrong Houston, a character from the Super Metroid comic. The reason for the name change is unknown.
• Adventure Guild: The four main guilds are the Bounty Hunter's Guild, the Engineer's Guild, the Marshal's Guild, and the Merchant's Guild. Player characters could join one of these guilds and receive special missions and adventures assigned to their specialty.
• Aerith and Bob: The Allimandus family includes Corajus, Mellastile, and... Luke.
• Ascended Extra: The Chozo in the games at this point were only mysterious precursors who left behind statues and artifacts and were never seen, although the Super Metroid comic did feature Old Bird as a reclusive surviving Chozo. Blood of the Chozo heavily features living benevolent Chozo (even listing them as one of the playable races) and the antagonistic True Chozo.
• Back for the Finale: Thanks to Jippykid's writings, Samus Aran returns at the end of the story after having been absent since the introduction.
• Bounty Hunter: Members of the Bounty Hunter's Guild uphold justice by bringing in wanted criminals, working outside the law enforcement (which earns them the ire of the Marshal's Guild). In addition to Samus Aran and Houston Barrimonde, other bounty hunters include Sullust, Sybern, HWCASE, Imega, Natasha Wolfe, Jerome Wolfe, Oralus Clayborne, Ravenloft, Reba Fett, Robine Asmar, Shiva X, and Xetrox.
• Brainwashed and Crazy: Kraid boasts about the Horned Lizards' technology and their ability to brainwash Sarius into a Face–Heel Turn.
  Kraid: Thanks to some pre-planning, we have the ability to brainwash her into an exact opposite of Samus Aran. From an honest do-gooder to a ruthless evil specimen.
• By-the-Book Cop: Unlike the Bounty Hunter's Guild, members of the Marshal's Guild are official law enforcers who follow the rules and view themselves as the true defenders of the law. These marshals include Dark Panda.
• Clone Angst: Luke Allimandus suspects that Sarius Dallas must feel worthless after learning that she is actually a clone of Samus Aran.
  Luke Allimandus: Well, I pity her. I mean, here she is, forced to spend her life prior to this in the slums of Charybdis. And now.. she learns that she is nothing more than a clone... a made up pawn used as a tool by evil. She must feel worthless... and for that I pity her, and feel compassion towards her to no end...
• Death by Adaptation: Old Bird is killed by a True Chozo that latches its tongue onto him.^note The Metroid manga would later imply that Old Bird was killed during the Space Pirates' invasion of Zebes prior to Metroid: Zero Mission, retroactively making this Dies Differently in Adaptation.
• Depending on the Writer: With over 6,000 posts written by different fans, a Continuity Snarl was bound to happen. In the posts archived in the Cerberus Document, the True Chozo are stupid and violent artificial hybrids created by the Third Chozo. But in one of Joshman773's posts quoted in Nintendo Power, the True Chozo are instead depicted as an ancient group of exiled Chozo.
• Dumb Muscle: The True Chozo, as portrayed by the Cerberus Document, are violent and unintelligent minions of the Third Chozo.
• Embarrassing Nickname: The other plebes mockingly call Sullust "Mr. Adventure".
• The Engineer: Members of the Engineer's Guild are tech-savvy freelancers who create and/or repair technology, including weapons and starships. These engineers include Luke Allimandus, Corajus Allimandus, Mellastile Allimandus, Cedric, Grolier, Emalf, Jaime Wolfe, Maccaly, and Oily. The Tarsists are another group of renowned engineers whose ability to combine alien technology with their own turned the tide against the Quarians in the war.
• Expositron 9000: Out-of-universe, the Overdog is used by the Nintendo Power Source staffers to provide in-universe exposition and direction for the story.
• Genetic Abomination: The True Chozo are hybrids of Chozo, human, and Metroid DNA, created as violent monsters by the Third Chozo.
• Homeless Hero: The Trogs do not belong to the four organized guilds, and are therefore often homeless beggars and scavengers struggling to get by. Trogs include Sarius Dallas, Shniff, and Shnort.
• Intrepid Merchant: Members of the Merchant's Guild regulate commerce across the Messina system, using money and resources to influence the other guilds. These merchants include Captain Jack, Grendal, Mara, and Miranda Cooper.
• Kill and Replace: The Third Chozo have a Clone Army, with which they plan to kill the originals, take their place, and wreak havoc. Houston and Samus were both cloned, with Sarius Dallas being the latter's clone.
• Mad Scientist: Dr. Vincent is described as the mad brother of Dr. Wiley and Dr. Lugae, and he plans to become the most famous scientist using his knowledge of robotics and genetics.
• The Man Behind the Man: The True Chozo are revealed to be violent mutants created as pawns by the real masterminds, and Houston deduces that Kraid and the Horned Lizards aren't intelligent enough to be the masterminds. It is eventually revealed that the true villains behind both factions are a group of genetically-enhanced Chozo known as the Third Chozo.
• Master Computer: The Overdog is a supercomputer with a vast network of information and the ability to even predict the future, making it a key resource in overseeing the fight against the True Chozo.
• My Species Doth Protest Too Much: Delta is a Zebesian who was arrested due to the crimes of the Zebesian Space Pirates, although he himself is innocent.
• Non-Indicative Name: In the Cerberus Document, it is revealed that the True Chozo are anything but "true Chozo", being genetic aberrations and artificial mutants instead of the original members of the Chozo race.
• Planet Spaceship: The True Chozo fly a massive spaceship built within a hollowed-out asteroid.
• Psycho Prototype: The Imidians first created the Second Chozo in their goal to create the Ultimate Life Form. The Second Chozo proved to be too violent, and the Imidians were forced to destroy them. Unfortunately, their next creation, the Third Chozo, proved to be even worse...
• Pun-Based Creature: One of the species introduced by RawleyCoop is known as "dust bunnies", a real-world term used to refer to clumps of dust.
• Put on a Bus: With Samus being critically injured after being shot down by the True Chozo, she is written out of the story and spends the entire True Chozo crisis in a secret hospital in rehabilitation, only coming Back for the Finale.
• Shout-Out:
  • Dr. Vincent's brother Dr. Wiley, as well as the "Dr. W" symbol on the reploids' chests, references the antagonist of Mega Man.
  • The Bounty Hunter Reba Fett is clearly named after Boba Fett.
• Shout-Out Theme Naming: Many names are pulled from Greek mythology, including Achilles, Ulysses, Scylla, Charybdis, and Cerberus.
• Spared by the Adaptation: Although Kraid was apparently killed along with the other Space Pirate leaders in Super Metroid, he is revealed to have survived two years later in Blood of the Chozo.^note Metroid Dread also reveals that Kraid apparently survives in canon, although this obviously could not have been known by fans 25 years earlier.
• Turned Against Their Masters: The Third Chozo proved to be more intelligent than the Imidians who created them. Combined with their powerful and violent natures, the Third Chozo turned against the peaceful Imidians and easily overtook them, conquering planet Imidia.
• Ultimate Life Form: The Imidians wished to create a powerful and intelligent life form that combined all the greatest traits of all races, ultimately resulting in the Third Chozo. Although the Imidians sought peace with their creations, the violent Third Chozo Turned Against Their Masters and conquered the Imidians.
• Unexplained Recovery: No explanation is given for how Kraid survived the events of Super Metroid, during which he was apparently killed by Samus and then left on an exploding planet.
• The Worf Effect: In the introduction, Samus Aran is shot down by the True Chozo and is left out of commission for the rest of the story. With Samus being the badass protagonist of the Metroid series who single-handedly could do what an entire Galactic Federation police force could not, this establishes the True Chozo as a true threat.
• Xenomorph Xerox: Continuing the Metroid series tradition of paying homage to the Alien films, the True Chozo have weaponized tongues with which they suck blood, similar to the Xenomorph's Nested Mouths.
• You No Take Candle: Dust bunnies speak in broken English.
  Dust bunny: Nice guild boss say you have ship need fixing. We help. We fix. Where ship?

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