Shvein Hax

Shvein Hax was the lead member of the Berman Empire's army and the final boss of Fuga: Melodies of Steel. He returns as the Tarascus's & Exo-Taranis's AI in Fuga: Melodies of Steel 2.

Appearance

Hax is a tall Doberman Caninu with an extremely threatening aura, which is exaggerated with his large black cape. He keeps a cane on hand and chews a bone adorned with a "cigarette" holder. At an unknown point in his life, he suffered an injury that gave him a large scar on his stomach, several smaller scars on his arms and chest, and a burn in his right eye that needed an eyepatch to cover it.

After he is assimilated with the Vanargand, his clothes and eyepatch fall off to reveal his scared stomach, arms, and eye. His body begins glowing blue as he is absorbed and becomes one with the Vanargand, with fleshy purple tendrils starting to sprout from his body.

Biography

Hax is the senior Colonel General and commander-in-chief of the force tasked to invade the Free Lands of Gasco. For the sake of his homeland, he always has a cool head, no matter what. Hax was a very gullible Caninu back in his childhood. Due to the fairy tale Jeanne's more vengeful half created and retold to him by his grandmother, he believed that a lost God resided beneath Gasco's capital Paresia, defeated and separated from its heart by a powerful Steel Devil. Since then, he had his heart set on reawakening that God, who is actually the Titano-Machina named Vanargand, even if it meant terrorizing the continent. At one point in his military career, he was Colonel Pretzel's second in command, before ultimately rising up to become the Supreme Commander of the Berman military. He used his influence to recreate the Devil of his stories, in the form of the Tarascus.

This would change drastically in Fuga 2, where he is confined to the Tarascus and Exo-Taranis as the tanks' AI. As an AI, he is never shown in full, though it is implied he was bound to the tanks in his more disheveled, corrupted state.

History

Upbringing

Hax was a very gullible Caninu back in his childhood. He believed that a God had truly resided beneath Paresia due to the fairy tale Jeanne's more vengeful half had told all of Gasco through their radios. Since then, he had his heart set on reawakening God, who is actually the Titano-Machina named Vanargand, even if it meant terrorizing the continent.

He was originally a protégé to Colonel Pretzel, but quickly rose through the ranks of the Empire before becoming its Senior Colonel General (likely also being influenced by Jeanne's Radio Women counterpart).

Fuga: Melodies of Steel

During the events of Fuga, Hax had already deployed the Berman army to take over the entirety of Gasco. While he was originally tasked by the emperor to simply regain the land the empire had supposedly lost, his ulterior motive was to take full control of Paresia while making use of other towns & villages to further progress reaching his goal. This included destroying every occupied space of the continent, the mass murder of Felineko for Bio-Energy, and enslaving citizens into mining out Vanargand's "heart" named the Tarascus.

Hax's plans are succeeded due to Jeanne fooling the children aboard the Taranis to approach the Tarascus. With this, he tests the power of his tank and is able to demolish the Gasco Army members who came in to help the children. What was left in the area was nothing but fire. He then makes his grand escape to Paresia and awakens Vanargand who creates mass destruction to all of Gasco, causing the continent to become an archipelago. During this, Hax becomes corrupted with his newfound powers and is almost unrecognizable. He becomes coated with a striking blue aura and reveals scars that were previously unseen.

The children of the Taranis make haste to Paresia and manage to climb into Vanargand's previous Soul Cannon wound from the third World War on Earth. When they confront Hax, he goes into a power-tripped rage and attempts to kill anyone who gets in his way with the Tarascus. The only way to end his life and Vanargand's was to once again fire the Soul Cannon, which in the true ending involves sacrificing an unknown child hidden inside the tank. This event marks the end of Hax's life.

During the events of Fuga, Hax had already deployed the Berman army to take over the entirety of Gasco. While he was originally tasked by the emperor to simply regain the land the empire had supposedly lost, his ulterior motive was to take full control of Paresia while making use of other towns & villages to further progress reaching his goal. This included destroying every occupied space of the continent, the mass murder of Felineko for Bio-Energy, and enslaving citizens into mining out Vanargand's "heart" and installing it inside the Tarascus.

Hax's plans are succeeded due to Jeanne fooling the children aboard the Taranis to approach the Tarascus. With this, he tests the power of the Managarm and is able to demolish the Gasco Army members who came in to help the children. What was left in the area was nothing but fire. He then makes his grand escape to Paresia and awakens Vanargand who creates mass destruction to all of Gasco, causing the continent to become an archipelago. During this, Hax becomes corrupted with his newfound powers and is almost unrecognizable. He becomes coated with a striking blue aura and reveals scars that were previously unseen.

The children of the Taranis make haste to Paresia and manage to fall into the Vanargand's previous Soul Cannon wound from the third World War on Earth, thanks to a sudden cave-in. When they confront Hax, he has been long since merged into the fleshy insides of the Vanargand on top of the Tarascus. Shvien Hax, in a state of power induced megalomania and rage, attempts to kill the children for getting in his way with the Tarascus.

At this point, the only way to end his life and stop the Vanargand is by using the Soul Cannon, but the children refuse to sacrifice themselves to power it. As Jeanne sought a way to fire it without sacrificing the children, she finds Jihl's stasis pod and realized he was overflowing with spare bio-energy that could fuel the Soul Cannon. Deciding to use his energy, Jeanne fired the Soul Cannon and struck down the empowered Tarascus, shooting it out of the Vanargand and vaporizing Hax in the process. This would also destroy the Vanargand, and the Gasco-Berman war would end shortly afterwards in an armistice.

Fuga: Melodies of Steel 2

After being obliterated within the Vanargand, Hax's soul became one with the Tarascus thus becoming its new AI. It is revealed at the start of the game that Shvein Hax's consciousness and personality was absorbed into the Tarascus and converted into an AI personality. This occurred when the Tarascus, Shvein Hax, and the Vanargand merged into one, and the Vanargand's AI core was moved into the Tarascus and combined itself with the personality and memories of Shvein Hax shortly before the Tarascas was launched out of the Vanargand by the Soul Cannon. Hax makes it implicitly clear however that he has no ulterior motives, and does not hold a grudge against the children despite the fact that they originally killed him.

He takes on a more neutral and robotic personality in this state, and even supports the children in their endeavors to rescue their hypnotized crew mates from Jihl. Here it is also revealed that he can manage the tank's transportation & restorative powers.

Not too long after the loss of Hanna Fondant, the Tarascus and Taranis fuse together to form the Exo-Taranis. Despite his more welcoming demeanor, Hax inherits the Taranis' more nefarious functions, particularly auto-loading the Soul Cannon. This creates friction between him and the children, though they come to terms with his more automated behavior and push forward.

In Fuga 2's true ending, Hax follows the children's plan to not use the Soul Cannon to put an end to Cayenne Riesling. To make up for this, he instead channels all of the power of the Exo-Taranis' Tarascus half into usable data as a substitute for Soul Cannon bio-energy to land the final blow. Despite emerging victorious, this attack melts down the Tarascus and the Vanargand's core within, which includes Hax himself, to be completely melted down into usable Cannon energy (this also returns the Taranis to its original state). He leaves his final goodbye in a pre-recorded video message for the children, leaving them to be somewhat remorseful of an old enemy.

Gallery

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  Illustration by Haikimaru
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  Hax as depicted in the Fuga manga
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  Hax merged with the Tarascus and Vanargand in the manga
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  AI Hax in the manga

Concept Art

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