"A soldier dies a thousand deaths..."
...but that's not always how it used to be. An atrox goes through a lot in their life... or lives, thanks to insurance. I've read about the solitus soldiers from Earth's history... before OT knew how to make the clones for insurance. Dying for a cause seemed to mean more back then... and the wars didn't last as long.
I can't say that I've died a thousand deaths yet, but I've died more times than I can count. I'm not even sure if this is me anymore. This... clone... couldn't be more than a few days old since that last mission went wrong, but I could remember things prior to that. These days it's no longer heroic for a soldier to give up their life; it's just part what is expected of you as a soldier. I die so that others can live... and all of us fight another day.
Ancient history used to call this idea reincarnation... except you never knew what you would come back as. I might be a leet or a bronto in my next life. It was part of their philosophy back then, attributed to their gods or something... I don't know. Some of the solitus still believe in a God. Makes sense for them... or at least it used to before "life after death" meant something besides somebody that buys insurance.
I wonder though... does an atrox have a God? I was created by the scientists at OT. I have my life(s) after death because OT discovered the way to make it possible. Does a being with no ancestry also have no future? OT can't take away the aging process... at least not yet... and I'm getting old. I've still got plenty of fight in me though, with the help of those surgical implants and nano capabilities.
Maybe some of the solitus are still hiding their knowledge of an after-life in that Temple of the Three Winds I've been investigating. I'm still working on my investigation there, but as of yet I have found no answers. Maybe they're just ticked off at the rest of Rubi-ka because so many people are looking for answers there... or because of those that go there to loot the place. I'll admit I've picked up a few things there too, but it's usually the cultists that are starting the fight.
I'd better get some R&R before the mission tonight.
"A soldier dies a thousand deaths..." ... just another day at the office.