Caulder

Caulder in Advance Wars: Days of Ruin.
Caulder
Species	Human
Hair color	White
Debut	Advance Wars: Days of Ruin

Caulder (or Stolos in the PAL release) is the founder of Intelligent Defense Systems and sells weapons to the warring factions before and following the Meteor Crisis in Advance Wars: Days of Ruin.

Background

Clones

The original Dr. Caulder was a scientist who studied genetics, but was thrown out of the medical academy for his unethical experiments. He went onto found the Intelligent Defense Systems, a company designed to provide the latest military weaponry to Rubinelle and Lazuria, two warring countries always looking for the edge. Caulder's enterprise flourished and allowed him to conduct all kinds of experiments. Among these was his cloning project, where he would meticulously study his own clones be killed. He would harvest them for organs and what other use he found for them. However this treatment of the clones ultimately broke out into a struggle until only one survived - a single clone that carried on the name of Dr. Caulder. At that point he continued to create clones, though he seemed to only create children at that point, which he treated as his children - though they were all expendable due to the backups he kept. There were four altogether - Tabitha, Lutaria, and Penny were his daughters. His 'son' was Cyrus, a model created for the possibility of transferring his mind to a younger body as a means of achieving immortality.

Meteor Crisis

Then one day, the meteors fell. Secured in The Nest, the base of IDS, he and his children were safe. The ash from the disaster blocked out the sun and provided the impetus for one of Caulder's previous experiments to work - the Endoflorescens terrbilis virus, commonly known as the Creeper. At one point one model of Lutaria was lost and presumed dead when Tabitha was too hard on her during a training mission. Although an insignificant matter at the time, she was saved by a boy named Will who renamed her Isabella. Not long after, Caulder let loose some of his units against the military unit Will and Isabella were in. After the IDS forces were defeated, Caulder decided to conduct his experiments further by using The Beast. He gave him new units as well as an injection that strengthened him, but eventually taxed his system and killed him.

Eventually Caulder moved on and focused his efforts on the budding war between the remaining Lazurian and Rubinelle armies. At first he offered special weapons to General Forsythe of the Lazurian army, but the man proved to be too stubborn to accept some of Caulder's extreme weapons. Later after Lazuria had lost significant ground to the new Rubinelle army, Caulder once more offered his services, though it came at the risk of Forsythe's own men. Again he was refused, so Caulder instead turned his attention to Admiral Greyfield of the Rubinelle army, who proved to be far more receptive to Caulder's offers. After Captain Brenner had freed the Lazurian prisoners, Greyfield used Caulder's weapon to wipe out the area Brenner was in - even though it killed scores of Greyfield's own men.

After Will became the new commander of the 12th Battalion, Caulder came to visit him personally. He congratulated him and revealed that everything he was doing was out of his own scientific curiosity. Will was enraged by his treatment of the situation and Caulder noted the presence of Isabella, perhaps for the first time. He left shortly after, as he had provided Greyfield with a super weapon that would wipe out Will's forces. The weapon was his own Caulder Missiles, a stockpile of weapons located in both Rubinelle and Lazuria that had once acted as deterrents, but were now in the possession of one man. When he returned to Greyfield, the frantic Admiral demanded that Caulder deliver him the antidote to the Creeper virus, which had been spreading throughout the Rubinelle forces. Caulder noted that Greyfield's methods of executing soldiers with the virus had been detrimental to morale, but eventually admitted that he had nearly 'perfected' an antidote. He then escorted Greyfield to a room that would allow him access to the world's supply of missiles... after they had been repaired in forty days. Ultimately that proved to be enough time for Brenner's Wolves to overrun the Rubinelle army and disable the missiles.

The Last Stand

Caulder was shocked at the ability of a smaller force to defeat a larger, better armed one. However despite the end of the war, he had no intention of ending his scientific investigations. He turned his own army against Brenner's Wolves, immediately after the defeat of Greyfield. Before the battle, he met Will one on one to discuss the battle. However his only request was to make Will's troops wear a special device to monitor their heart rates and fear levels. Will refused, but Caulder offered him a twisted choice - to hand over Isabella or be defeated by the IDS army. Caulder had no intention of relenting nor did he have an interest in Isabella, but it provided a dilemma that Caulder found fascinating. Although Will's army survived the onslaught and the Great Owl's bombing run, morale quickly began to slip. Caulder struck a deal with the Mayor of Freehaven to drive Isabella away and spread discontent. In the next battle, Caulder directed the Great Owl to attack the enemy directly, but his son Cyrus, who was flying the plane, refused to cooperate and took it out of the battle, allowing Brenner's Wolves to score another victory.

However Caulder's plan with the mayor had worked and he captured Isabella. When the mayor demanded his payment for the deed - the antidote to the Creeper - Caulder obliged him, though it turned out to instead be poison. He did the same to Cyrus as well to punish him for his betrayal. At the time he was certain of the death of Will and his troops, due to the crash of the Great Owl which he had ordered Penny to conduct. Caulder was surprised by the sudden betrayal of his daughter, who had stopped the plane and aided Will. After Tabitha failed to hold off the enemy forces, Caulder declared all his children to be failures and retreated to the safety of the The Nest. It was not long before he was tracked down and confronted by the 12th Battalion. He exchanged words with Will before the battle as Caulder argued for his philosophy of science, which Will refused to accept. In the end, his Nest was destroyed and Caulder was caught in the explosion. In that moment he panicked and cried for help, but there was no one to save him.

Gameplay

• CO Zone: 3
  • Boosts: All Units
  • Effect: Attack up: *****
  • Effect: Defense up: *****
• CO Power: None
  • All units in CO Zone recover each day.