Progenitors

Prometheus, a progenitor

CAUTION: This page contains heavy spoilers for both The Conduit and Conduit 2.

The progenitors, also known as the Annunaki are a race of aliens who arrived on Earth thousands of years ago. In The Conduit, it is discovered that John Adams and Prometheus are both progenitors. In Conduit 2 it is discovered that there are several other progenitors secretly controlling other countries throughout the world, such as China, England, and Russia. Michael Ford is tasked with finding and warning these progenitors before Adams can reach them, killing them and stealing their power for his own.

Background

Thousands of years ago, the progenitors arrived on Earth in Atlantis, their spacecraft, and pretended to be gods to the primitive humans. The progenitors helped them in creating Sumeria, the world's first civilization. They then provided the humans with some of their advanced technology, and became the basis for the Annunaki, a group of Sumerian deities. The progenitors used the humans as labor and entertainment, having the humans serve them and build monuments in their honor. Things continued like this for a long time until a progenitor named Prometheus instigated a rebellion among the humans, hoping to free them from their abusive masters. Prometheus planned to use a human designated as The Destroyer to kill The Pathfinder, and any other progenitors who stood alongside him. He also assigned a human named Andromeda to aid the destroyer in his task to destroy The Pathfinder. However, Prometheus's plan did not work out, and eventually almost all of the humans were wiped out in what became known as the Deluge (it is possible that the Deluge was actually a race of progenitor-human hybrids, possibly the Ducaz, see "Hybrids" below). In order to protect the remaining humans, Prometheus offered himself as a captive to The Pathfinder in exchange for the humans' safety. Andromeda was sent into cryostasis in Atlantis, and The progenitors scattered themselves throughout the world, becoming much less prevalent though silently controlling and influencing their respective areas. Eventually they faded into myth.

Thousands of years later, The Pathfinder bonded with a human, taking up the alias of John Adams and helping to spark the American Revolution. Adams became the second president of the United States and established The Trust, a sleeper organization that would cover up extraterrestrial activities in the country (such as Roswell and Kecksburg)..

The Conduit

In 2012, Prometheus managed to gather a small group of Trust scientists to steal the ASE from Adams. Adams then recruits Secret Service agent Michael Ford to help him retrieving it. Adams provided Ford with a special visor that would record everything he saw. He then filled Reagan National Airport (the area where Prometheus was escaping), with his own puppet soldiers posing as Prometheus's men, hoping to make it appear that Prometheus was a terrorist who had been able to gain control of Adams Trust agent. Ford retrieves the ASE from Prometheus's band of scientists after one detonates a subway car. Adams then assigns Ford, with ASE in hand, to infiltrate Bunker 13, which he tells Ford that Prometheus is using as a base of operations. Adams also connects Ford's visor with president Charles Thompson, allowing him to watch everything Ford sees. The bunker is, in reality, controlled by Adams and his men, and while Ford is searching the bunker, Adams initiates his plan to fake a massive alien invasion of Washington D.C. using a species of progenitor-human hybrids created from Prometheus's DNA called The Drudge. Adams plans to use Ford's situation to both cover his tracks (by having Ford destroy Adams own cache of neurotoxin), and blame Prometheus for the neurotoxin and Drudge invasion.

When Ford surfaces from the bunker at the Jefferson Memorial, the invasion has already begun. Adams, hoping to use Ford as a martyr to rally support for The Trust, betrays Ford, leaving him to die at the hands of The Drudge. Ford is rescued by a helicopter sent by Prometheus, who, communicating with Ford via the ASE, then reveals that Adams had been lying to Ford the entire time. Prometheus provides Ford with a stolen set of Trust armor, that helps protect Ford and heal some of his damage. After destroying a Drudge nest beneath the Library of Congress, Ford arrives at the White House and saves President Charles Thompson, who escapes on Marine One. Thompson, believing Ford to be a Trust agent after seeing him in his armor, signs over executive control to Adams, believing that only the Trust can handle the invasion and that the country is in good hands.

After venturing to the pentagon, Prometheus is able to help Ford locate a massive Conduit in the subway system underneath Georgetown. Prometheus reprograms the conduit, allowing Ford to enter it and arrive at the Trust Headquarters, where Ford discovers that the Drudge are of Trust creation and that they are being deployed from the headquarters. Ford eventually locates Prometheus in person, and Prometheus confesses that he is the template for the Drudge. Prometheus urges Ford to destroy his body, which will prevent Adams from creating more Drudge. Ford does as Prometheus says, and chases Adams down to the bottom of The Trust base. Adams, disappointed at Ford's multiple refusals of Adams offers to join The Trust, reveals to Ford that he has already escaped via conduit and activated the base's self-destruct sequence. Prometheus then reveals to Ford that he has uploaded his conscious into the ASE, and helps Ford to reroute enough energy to re-power the conduit through which Adams had just left. Ford enter the conduit shortly before the Trust base detonates.

Conduit 2

Ford arrives on the other side of the conduit on a trust-owned oil derrick in the bermuda triangle. The derrick had been repurposed to locate Atlantis and its guardian, the leviathan. Adams had been hoping to kill the leviathan, thus allowing him access to the sunken alien spacecraft. Ford pursues Adams, who makes his way full circle back to the derrick's conduit, escaping through it shortly before the leviathan destroys it. Prometheus, after Ford deactivates several primers scattered throughout the rig, hones the leviathan in on Ford, who is swallowed by it and taken to Atlantis before being regurgitated. Prometheus, guides Ford to the Destroyer Exoskeleton suit, which he dons, becoming the new Destroyer. He then proceeds to Atlantis's Hub, where he awakens Andromeda from cryostasis. Andromeda, though believing Prometheus to be a traitor for surrendering to Adams after the deluge, helps Ford as it is part of her duty.

Ford travels to D.C., foiling Adams plans to destroy the city, and finds the locations of two other progenitors within the Smithsonian. Prometheus reveals to Ford that Adams and the Trust are seeking out and killing the progenitors throughout the world, allowing Adams to steal their power and increase his own. Ford makes his way to China, attempting to warn another progenitor named Li, who has remained isolated from the rest of the world since the Deluge. Li, underestimating Adams and believing that Prometheus has sent his new Destroyer to do what the previous could not, scoffs at Ford's attempt to warn him and aggressively attacks Ford. Ford, left with no other choice, kills Li and absorbs his energy into the ASE at Prometheus's command. Ford then heads to Siberia to find a progenitor named Kalarina. Kalarina, already capture by The Trust (who are awaiting Adams arrival), sacrifices herself and her power to Ford so that he can destroy Adams. Ford then arrives at the Lost City of Z in Central America where the last Progenitor (aside from Prometheus and Adams) is located. Finding only a corpse, Ford absorbs the progenitor's power into the ASE. Prometheus then merges his power and that of the other progenitors into Ford's destroyer armor so that he can defeat Adams, sacrificing himself in the process.

Ford returns to Atlantis only to discover that its defenses are about to be breached by The Trust. Arriving through Atlantis's conduit, Adams realizes that Ford has absorbed the power of Prometheus and the three other progenitors. He then attacks Ford, seeking to finally gain the power of all of the progenitors. Ford kills Adams' bonded human, forcing him to reveal his true form. Andromeda reprograms the conduit's coordinates to Agartha, a location at the center of the earth, in order to prevent Atlantis's destruction. Ford tackles Adams into the conduit, and both arrive on the other side in Agartha. Facing Adams' true and most powerful form, Ford is finally able to kill him, and absorbs his power (as well as the power of the other progenitors Adams had taken) into the ASE. The ASE signals to Tiamat, who lies dormant far out in space, that all of the progenitors are deceased. Tiamat awakens and begins making her way towards Earth as several other Destroyers, wearing armor identical to Ford's, arrive through the conduit in Agartha, telling Ford that they have come to help him in the upcoming fight.

List of Progenitors

It is likely that there are ten progenitors in total. This is based off that Ford had absorbed the power of four progenitors (including Prometheus) at the end of Conduit 2 and that after killing Adams, Ford absorbs six progenitor souls into the ASE, implying that Adams had absorbed the power of five other progenitors. The following is a list of all the known progenitors.

• Enlil/The Pathfinder/John Adams
• Prometheus
• Li
• Katarina
• Donar
• Claudius
• Chriakan

Characteristics

Progenitors are extremely powerful alien beings. They possess advanced technology, and are especially knowledgeable of bio-technology. They often go by several different names, depending on their current alias. Progenitors control and influence the governments and humans of the areas they control, and sometimes engage in conflict with each other using said governments (such as the Cold War, which was fought between Adams' controlled United States and Kalarina's controlled USSR). All of the progenitors are also siblings, though most seem to have a strong hatred towards eachother. Progenitors are also able to bond with a human, allowing them to take the form of that human for as long as necessary.

Hybrids

Two Drudge drones, an example of a progenitor-human hybrid

Well-versed in biotechnology, the progenitors have created several variations of progenitor-human hybrids, made by combining progenitor and human DNA, in order to do their bidding.. The most well known example of a progenitor-human hybrid are The Drudge. The Drudge are progentior-human hybrids created by John Adams using Prometheus's DNA in order to fake a massive alien invasion of Washington D.C. Though the drudge are genetically programmed to obey the Trust, some of the Drudge, known as Free Drudge, break free of Trust control after the events of The Conduit. It is unknown how they were able to accomplish this, though it is likely that it had something to do with Michael Ford as the Free Drudge hail him as "The Liberator" and a Trust scientist in Siberia notes that all of the Free Drudge have had some form of interaction with him. Adams had previously created a progenitor-human hybrid from his own DNA, but according to Prometheus, it did not turn out how he had expected. This is why Adams used Prometheus's DNA for the Drudge instead of his own.

The Ducaz were another race of progenitor-human hybrids who predated the drudge, though little is known about them.

It is also possible that the Deluge was actually another race of progenitor-human hybrids, used by Adams to nearly wipe out the humans. The Ducaz and the Deluge may be one and the same.

Trivia

• It is possible that the Unknown Alien is a progentitor or Adams' hybrid. However this is uncertain.
• Progenitors are referred to as Annunaki in a few hidden messages in both The Conduit and Conduit 2.
• Adams progenitor form is a multiplayer character model for Conduit 2, available for purchase from the store after completing the single player portion of the game.
• Katarina is the only Progenitor that speaks via telepathy, it´s unknown if this ability belongs to all the Progenitors or she is the only one who can do it.