The MERC faction, a rag-tag, barely functional group that roamed Nevada, constantly on the cusp of being completely obliterated. The incident at the Nexus core, however, allowed their opportunistic leaders to seize the weapons and means to train their units, as well as expand their ranks to such a degree that they present a substantial threat. They possess the ability to traverse the city's Great Walls with greater ease than even the A.A.H.W., and their swollen numbers lend to a brutal, versatile force that is to be reckoned with. Intel find that while their units fall into archetypical roles, the results they produce are nothing to dismiss.
- Krinkels: MERCs? MERCs.
The Matter Energy Reclamation Company (MERC) is a faction featured in MADNESS: Project Nexus. They are an industrial corporation that currently work under the Sheriff within Nexus City's ruined Industrial Sector as a group of survivors of the events of Madness: Project Nexus (Classic)'s Episode 1.5. With the availability of an abundance of raw materials, they manufacture their own weapons and armor to equip their work force, which come in a variety of roles.
It's worth noting that MERC operates not only in Nexus City but also in the rest of Nevada, they have their own Foundry on the outskirts of Nevada. MERC is the largest supplier of weapons to other factions, has produced products for supermarkets and shopping malls like flour, cereal, cereal bars and snacks, and refine gasoline.[citation needed] They also employ numerous mercenaries to defend themselves.
As Jebediah Christoff mentioned, it is a private company with no loyalty or commitment to Phobos.
History
Origins and Past
Their origins of foundation are unknown, however, they were confirmed to be found by Colonel Finneas.
A long time before the events of Madness: Project Nexus (Classic) Episode 1.5, MERC was employed by Director Phobos to create Dissonant Reality protection gear and weapons for the Nexus Core in the Industrial Sector. It is shown through some old emails that MERC Foremen would get into heated discussions with Phobos over their lack of subordination towards the director. This, coupled with a series of back-and-forth e-mails forwarded to the Mining Sector's MERC workforce by Dr. Christoff and Dr. Crackpot regarding installation of S-3LF Extractors in the mines, would severely test the company's loyalty to their contractor.
Some time after, Phobos sent an e-mail to one of MERC's foremen, stating that the Nexus Core no longer required MERC to provide Dissonance protection gear, as the snoopable e-mail found in one of the Industrial Sector stages later said,
"Protection against the maddening effects of Dissonant Reality are no longer of a concern to us."
The Sheriff, a discount mattress salesman at the time, received a note from Christoff, saying,
"You don't know me yet, but you're going to want to hear what I have to say. I've heard about you over the comm-comms. The nice-guy schtick seems like more than just a way to sell discount mattresses. If you really care about your people, then know this: you, they, everyone is in danger. Don't try to contact me directly; Director Phobos is having me watched. Send missives through Dr. Hofnarr. He can be trusted. I wish I had more time to explain. I'll reach out to you again soon,"
and soon after he would receive another note from Dr. Christoff, saying,
"When it happens, you'll know. By the time alarms sound, Phobos will be already dead. It will be up to you to block off the Industrial Sector from what comes next. It won't be pretty, and I wish there was another way, but what must be done will come to pass. I'll see to that. Nexus City needs a leader in the days to come. I'm sorry that you have to be the one to atone for the sins I must now commit, but I go now knowing the capable hands in which everything will be left."
In both of these e-mails, Christoff warned the Sheriff about killing Phobos, and that the Sheriff would need to take care of the Nexus City after the Director died and ally himself to the Industrial Sector's MERC members and act as their leader.
MERC also appeared in Arena Mode as an early enemy. They occupied the Foundry located on the outskirts of Nevada, where many random items were melted down for matter resources. They engaged the Arena Mode Protagonist, who fought them in exchange for payment.
Some of MERC's gear such as armor and weaponry could be bought from Q-Bert in HQ.
They also owned a bank in Nevada named First Nevadean Matter Repository, which is guarded by the Private Security.
As shown in a flashback, the Sheriff and Christoff met in person at some point and the doctor explained how the MERC would listen to the Sheriff given his good reputation and that the Industrial Sector would be a great place to hold once the city fell into chaos. Incidentally, just outside the Industrial Sector's gate, a MERC Captain foreman could be seen scolding a MERC Gunner trucker for not organizing the delivery properly and being late.
In another flashback, as Nexus City fell into peril after the release of infectious zombies into the streets of the city, Christoff ordered a group of MERC Laborers to barricade themselves into the Industrial Sector, as the city was lost before he reunited with Dr. Hofnarr in order to issue him with orders of keeping watch of the city.
In the teaser trailer "On the Wall.mp4", MERC Laborers were shown sealing the doors to the Industrial Sector, cutting off the escape for Nexus Agents fighting in the Commercial Sector. A pair of MERC Snipers were seen accompanying Sheriff and Dr. Christoff atop the wall.
Present
In Story Mode, MERC occupies the Industrial Sector in the southern-most part of Nexus City; its outer perimeter is sealed with heavy metal doors, and defended by snipers stationed on the outer wall. They are first encountered in the stage Road to Nexus City as the Sheriff's escort, who denies entry to Hank J. Wimbleton and company. When the Mag Bandit shows up and fights with Hank, it eventually barges through the front door, convincing the Sheriff to flee to his fortress. Prior to this encounter, the snipers will attempt to pick off Hank from a distance before Hank cuts off the power of their spotlights.
When inside the Industrial Sector, Sanford and Deimos are tasked by Hank to capture the Sheriff and interrogate him for access to the city's transit hub. To do this, they have to fight through the majority of MERC's forces to gain access to the fortress itself, including a Warehouse Raid to shut down the fortress security system, and then infiltrating The Boom Factory to acquire ordinance for blowing down the fortified gate at the entrance. After fighting their way through heavy MERC opposition, defeating the Gunner Twins, Church and Jorge, and a duel with the Sheriff himself, Sanford and Deimos gain access to the transit hub. After letting the Sheriff go, he warns them that MERCS will still be after them.
After the events in the Industrial Sector, MERCs are sporadically encountered throughout the rest of the campaign, showing up as backup for the Gunner Twins in their recurring boss fights.
Units
Recruit
MERC Recruits are simple mercenaries and workers for MERC with little to no combat experience. They wear the standard MERC uniform, and sometimes wear helmets when assigned to security. They come with light armaments, and are overconfident in their fighting abilities.
Laborer
MERC Laborers are MERC workers equipped with a hard hat and a welding mask to protect them from workplace accidents. Their hardhats can be knocked off if the protagonists aim for the head, but this protects them from the fatal blow, requiring a second headshot to dispatch. They often come equipped with power tools, and are most commonly seen in The Boom Factory.
There is a unique variant of MERC Laborer that appears during the chase sequence of The Station Fortress that come equipped with C-4 and must be killed in order to obtain the explosives and blow up The Sheriff's sandbags.
Merczerker
Merczerkers are crazy melee combatants-for-hire with boggle eyed masks, darker uniforms, body armor and blaze orange mohawks. They are extremely easily irritable, which often provokes them into attacking their own colleagues. In combat, they can psyche themselves up and charge at the player, throwing themselves with a tackle in an attempt to knock them down. They almost always use dual melee weapons (but rarely some of them can carry dual guns), and are the most dangerous MERC with them thanks to their aggressive close quarters combat style. They also appear to have heightened senses, since during the stage "Warehouse Raid" some of them apparently managed to smell out Sanford and Deimos coming to them, whilst the other MERCs didn't notice it.
Sniper
MERC Snipers are marksmen-for-hire wearing orange and gray caps. True to their name, they are long-ranged fighters, preferring to set up camp and engage from far away. They can be difficult to approach as they have a long engagement distance, have weak TAC-BARs, and frantically dodge the player up close. Snipers will occasionally zero in on their target with a visible sniper reticle on the UI, and fire a shot that ignores TAC-BAR and has to be physically dodged.
Gunner
MERC Gunners are large imposing mercenaries adorned in heavy armor and equipped with dual submachine guns. Gunners are physically strong, immune to being stunned from light attacks thanks to their size. Heavy Gunners will spray their target with weapon fire (albeit inaccurately), and will kick away enemies that get up close. When damaged heavily, Gunners fall to one knee in a stagger and are stunned temporarily, allowing for a free execution. Should the gunner be left alone, they will recover and rejoin the fight.
Sargeant
MERC Sargeant act as squad leaders for the MERCs, and in the campaign have the responsibilities of a foreman. They are distinguishable by their orange berets and single pauldrons. Defensively, they possess two corpus blocks and full TAC-BARs.
Captain
MERC Captains are high-ranking MERC commanders and experienced fighters. Captains sport TAC-BARs and are very aggressive. They wear officer caps, aviator sunglasses, and sport a double pair of pauldrons. They are a direct upgrade to MERC Sergeant with 3 corpus blocks, an upgraded TAC-BAR, and the ability to execute dizzied opponents. Captains are only encountered 3 times in Story Mode, guarding the Sheriff's Station Fortress.
Nerd
A trio of seemingly MERC-affiliated characters who make an appearance in the end of "Waterhouse Raid" and in the charter box one of them was referred to as simply "Grunt". They mostly look like normal grunts, but with hairs and glasses. They don't possess any unique combat skills and carry poor weaponry. It is possible that they are former Nexus City's citizens who were rescued by M.E.R.Cs during City's downfall.
Mercenary
In the games files can be found an obsolete MERC unit named "Mercenary", wearing a gray balaclava, Sanford's outfit, and random military armor. The Mercenary is leftover from an old concept where the MERC were going to be more militarized. Despite not being used anywhere in the game, it can still be spawned in interactive mode where it will attack the player. Although no different stat-wise from a MERC recruit, it behaves like a Nexus agent, moving tactically and using cover.
These units were then revealed and used in Madness Project Nexus' trailer, shown as some of Hank's opponents, with one of them being shown in a live-action sequence limping in an attempt to shoot Hank. Aside from this they make no canon in-game appearances yet.
Known Members
- Colonel Finneas (founder and first leader)
- Sheriff (second leader)
- Church
- Jorge
- Bossman (Former owner of the Power Station in MADNESS: Project Nexus/Power Play
- Rich
Known Products
- MERC Battle Rifle
- MERC Rifle (Heavy)
- MERC Rifle (Light)
- MERC Sniper
- Retro MERC Rifle (Heavy)
- Retro MERC Rifle (Light)
Trivia
- According to some documents in The Station Fortress, many fatal workplace accidents have happened to the same workers over the course of many years. This is an early indication that MERC is a client for Nexus Life Insurance Pro. Further evidence of this in chasms can be found in the form of old emails from Dr. Crackpot attempting to sell them on the idea.
- Originally, in older versions of the game, MERC was entirely gray scale with the exception of dull red pauldrons for the Sargeants and Captains.
- In the concept art, the Sargeants and Captains were planned to be the opposites of one another, with the Sargeants being stronger than the Captains. They have since swapped roles.
- When asked if MERCs were going to become canon in the animated series, Krinkels replied with "everything from mpn is canon".
- The MERC Battle Rifle is based on the M1 Garand (even making the famous ping noise when its ammo is drained), while the MERC Sniper is loosely based on the CheyTac Intervention.
- The MERC faction used to have their own Scientists (at least they had them in their faction, and so actually those scientists were reassigned to S.Q. and to Nexus Core).
- The MERC members seen through the Madness: Project Nexus Cinematic Trailer use the same appearance as the A.A.H.W. and Nexus Core in the trailer, being generic grunts in grey balaclavas.
Gallery
Members and Units
Misc
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BETA
Live Action
Kickstarter/Concept art
Weapons
