Vorticon - History

History

Commander Keen first encounters the Vorticons on Mars in episode 1, Marooned on Mars, when he discovers they have disassembled his spaceship and scattered the pieces across the planet.

In the second episode, The Earth Explodes, Keen encounters a Vorticon mothership stationed above Earth, armed with eight X-14 Tantalus Ray cannons, each of them preparing to destroy eight of Earth's major cities. Using blueprints of the Vorticon Mothership he took from one of the Vorticons he defeated, he was able to infiltrate the ship. Keen fights the Vorticons and their robots, and eventually disables each of the Tantalus Rays in the Mothership, foiling the Vorticon attack. The Vorticon Elders, who are wise, peaceful beings kept in stasis chambers, reveal on the mothership their race's history; the Vorticons were originally a peaceful race, but became enslaved through telekenesis by the "Grand Intellect" and were turned evil and belligerent.

In the third episode, Keen Must Die!, Keen travels to the Vorticons' home planet, Vorticon VI to search out the Grand Intellect. Keen travels across different islands on the planet, through caves and Vorticon homes, battling additional Vorticons. In the end of the game, the Grand Intellect is revealed to be Mortimer McMire, Keen's arch-rival at school. Mortimer built a device called the "Mangling Machine" inside his castle to protect him, but Keen is able to defeat the Mangling Machine and Mortimer, setting the Vorticon free. The Vorticon King awards Keen the "Big V" in order to show him his gratitude.