It's about to get real, because you're listening to Know the Lore, Overwatch. Hey everyone, it's your Loremaster, Spartacus here. I hope you're all doing well, and not too down in the dumps over my announcement last episode. I promise that the last few episodes of the podcast will be fun and informative, especially this one today, which has a ton of info all about our new favorite tactical ace, unless you're playing against her, Sojourn.
So let's get into it. Vivian Chase was a military brat. That doesn't mean she was a brat, that just means she was born into a military family, with both her parents having served. She grew up with them and her twin sister, Valentine, in Toronto, Canada.
However, it was not an easy life. Vivian had a rare terminal autoimmune disease that caused her body to attack its own organs, which meant that she was weak and sickly the majority of the time, and spent many of her formative years in and out of the hospital. The family background she had led to her own interest in the military. So with her long stays in the hospital, she spent lots of time reading books or playing games that often revolved around strategy, or military strategy to be specific.
Her grandfather, who was a retired admiral, taught her how to play Shammat, which I believe is supposed to be an in-universe equivalent to chess, possibly with some variation. However, the term Shammat, spelled differently than how it's used here in Overwatch, is Persian for, the king is in distress, and is the origins for the term, checkmate, used in chess. Hence, I'm guessing this was basically supposed to be chess. Back on track.
Vivian spent lots of time developing new strategies, but her grandfather passed away before she was ever able to beat him. Her grandfather, however, was the owner of an Omnic, which was then gifted to her family, and she programmed to play Shammat against her, but she was never able to beat the Omnic. As Vivian grew older, her condition worsened and caught the attention of Dr. Elaine Assat, who was attempting to pioneer experimental treatment using cybernetics at the time.
Her family was really running out of options, so they turned to Dr. Assat for help. Therefore, at the age of 13, Vivian's lungs, heart, and most of her bones, including her spinal column, were replaced with cybernetics. The surgeries were successful, and Vivian was able to finally begin a normal life, although kids her age treated her with a lot of apprehension and mistrust due to her strangely enhanced body.
At age 16, she enlisted in the Canadian Primary Reserves and joined the Canadian Army directly after completing university. After already having received numerous enhancements and wanting to be the best soldier that she could, Vivian volunteered for additional surgical enhancements, which included replacing her eyes. Still, Vivian was often treated as an outsider by others within the Canadian Armed Forces, including her direct superior, Major Campbell, making her have to work harder to prove herself. Around age 23, Vivian attended an amusement park with her sister and her now young niece, Bonnie, along with Bonnie's Omnic caretaker named Julietta.
Much of the staff of the amusement park were themselves Omnics, which wouldn't be an issue on any other day. However, this was the day the Omnic crisis began. In a rush of chaos, a plane dropped out of the sky, slamming into the island where the amusement park resides as the Omnic workers all around them began to massacre the humans. Even Julietta, her niece's caretaker, was attempting to drown the child in a nearby lake.
Vivian's training kicked in. She assessed the situation and began to fight back. However, she was no match for the Omnics. After receiving a significant head wound, Vivian passed out.
She awoke later in a holding bay surrounded by the bodies of Omnics as she was being scanned by a device that was struggling to determine if she was human or Omnic due to her cybernetic implants. She was eventually rescued by her superior officer, Major Campbell, who explained the extent to what was happening. Toronto was burning. The entire world was under attack, and millions were already dead.
They headed towards a field hospital at Hanlon's Point Beach where Vivian was reunited with her sister and niece, who was in critical condition. Vivian, among many others, was assigned the rank of captain as the CAF had lost nearly 5% of its fighting forces within the last 12 hours. Now as a captain, Vivian served as a troop commander leading detachment specializing in rescue and retrieval, initially in Toronto as well as Ottawa. It was around this time that Captain Chase first heard rumors of the Overwatch task force.
After a slew of successful missions, the Omnium in Detroit began sending waves of Omnics across the border, putting amidst pressure on the CAF, which quickly began losing the war and had to shift from rescue missions to scouting and strategy. As problems mounted, Captain Chase became aware of a detachment holdup in an area known as Underground City within Montreal. However, Montreal was swarming with Omnics. Chase was determined to liberate Underground City, though her direct superior, Major Campbell, did not agree.
However, top brass above the Major liked Chase's plan and gave her permission to carry it out. As the operation began, things took a wrong turn rather quickly, and her team found themselves pinned down by a large Omnic force. However, another battalion of troops bearing blue unicorns swept in to their aid. It was Overwatch, led by Jack Morrison and Torbjorn Lindholm.
Together, Overwatch and the CAF beat the Omnics back and made it to those trapped in Underground City, getting them to an extraction point. Afterwards, Chase learned that she had helped to save 117 lives, and that's not including those of her own squad. However, she was quick to thank Overwatch for their aid, to which she said things would have gone differently had they not shown up. Captain Chase was also able to meet Dr.
Mina Liao, another Overwatch member after the battle who helped repair some of her cybernetics and whom Vivian was able to openly converse with about her enhancements for the first time. With this latest victory, it was decided that Overwatch, with the aid of the CAF, led by Captain Chase, would concentrate on taking back each of the large southernmost cities and then establish a permanent line of defense against the Detroit Omnium. Part of this plan involved the retaking of Quebec. However, this mission did not go well, and eventually Chase had to make the call for retreat as the Omnics broke through their flanks.
Recalling her shamat games, she spoke in confidence to Jack Morrison about being too predictable. The Omnics would logically be able to determine each move they made, so they needed to become unpredictable. They next took aim for a less exposed area of Toronto that was deeper into Omnic territory. This certainly surprised the Omnics.
However, the mission took a turn when a Titan, a gigantic Omnic, was deployed to cut them off. As Chase gave the order for retreat, the Titan destroyed their means of transportation. They instead had to take shelter and face a siege until a new mode of evacuation could be established the next morning once the area was more secured by CAF and Overwatch forces. After a night of bonding between Morrison and Chase, comparing and contrasting their different, yet very similar lives, they were able to take the Titan down and evacuate.
After debriefing, Chase began brainstorming with Dr. Liao of Overwatch about the Omnic strategy and if an Omnium could be taken down. Liao pointed out that the Omnic tactics seemed to shift simultaneously across the globe, which would indicate some form of hierarchy calling the shots. Chase then theorized that there could be an outside force taking in data than transmitting orders to each Omnium.
We now know that this was in fact the god AI, Anubis. Liao then determined that if that was the case, if they could infiltrate an Omnium and shut down any internal access ports, they may be able to quarantine the Omnium from any external control, though it would be extremely dangerous and likely a suicide mission. Dangerous or not, they brought the idea forward. However, Major Campbell was not happy with Chase's performance lately and honestly had quite a bit of prejudice towards her cybernetic enhancements and decided to put her on leave.
Chase's team, though, refused to participate in the mission without her and Overwatch also backed her up. Therefore, Campbell's superior went above him and reinstated Captain Chase to lead the mission to infiltrate and shut down the Detroit Omnium alongside Overwatch. In preparation, Dr. Liao performed additional enhancements on Captain Chase's arms and legs with even more upgrades.
This mission included not only the CAF and Overwatch, but also the United States military as well and actually began rather well. Too well, which Chase knew something was amiss and she was right. As they began to infiltrate the doors of the Omnium, the Omnics ambushed them using one of the largest Titans ever seen which began tearing through their ranks with ease. In a desperate attempt, only three soldiers were going to be able to make it inside the Omnium to shut things down and that included Overwatch Commander Jack Morrison, Dr.
Liao whose expertise was needed to pull off the mission successfully although she had never been in a battle scenario up to this point and then finally Captain Chase who was very reluctant to leave her troops behind but she knew the only way to save them at this point was to succeed with this mission. They made it to the first access point relatively unscathed but once it was shut down, their presence inside the Omnium was made known and coming under fire they were forced to split up and reconvene at the final point. All ports were shut down save one and Dr. Liao was too injured and unable to make it to the final point.
A firefight ensued with an explosion that also severely injured Morrison. Captain Chase fought through the destruction and the onslaught and finally destroyed the last access point where she fell into unconsciousness due to injuries and smoke inhalation. She awoke later to find herself and her two companions receiving medical attention. Torbjorn Lindholm informed her that she was successful.
The Omnium was shut down and reinforcements were arriving to take out the last Omnics and dismantle the Omnium. Morrison offered her a position with Overwatch but Chase turned the offer down choosing to continue serving her country for the time being. Captain Chase received several commendations for heroism and leadership before transferring to a counter-terrorism unit in the years following the Omnic Crisis among the Canadian Special Forces where she helped to take down Ontario United and Anti-Omnic Hate Group. Once the war was officially over Morrison once again extended his offer and this time Chase accepted adopting the call sign Sojourn.
There she became one of Overwatch's most trusted leaders and filled in wherever she was needed whether it was Operation Command or Running Point with boots on the ground along with her agents. One of her more notable operations was the capture of the talent operative and accountant Maximilian. Sojourn commanded a strike team consisting of Tracer, Mercy, Winston and Gingy tracking Maximilian and ultimately detaining him in Havana. This victory is what would eventually lead to the downfall and capture of talent leader Doomfist.
Sojourn however hated politics and Overwatch became so embroiled in controversy over the years that it became synonymous with the job leading to her dismay and attempt to stay out of the political back and forth leaving that kind of stuff to Commander Morrison. However after the battle at the Swiss HQ resulting in Morrison's apparent death Sojourn was made acting commander of Overwatch. She was then brought before the International Justice Commission to testify on behalf of the organization. She answered everything truthfully the good and the bad.
It was partially her testimony that led to the Petrus Act which banned any Overwatch activity and therefore disband the organization. Once that happened Sojourn turned to a quiet retirement in Canada with her rescue dog Murphy. That is until years later when Winston activated Recall. Whatever went through her mind Vivian Chase hopped back into action.
Hearing about the jailbreak of Doomfist and the young girl and her omnic that fought Talon off in Numbani Sojourn showed up in person to meet with little Efi Oladele and her guardian Orisa to provide guidance and encouragement. She was next seen joining back up with the newly rounded out Overwatch team with new recruit Lucio at her side in their new yet old HQ at Watchpoint Gibraltar. And there you have it folks that is the hero Sojourn. As always you can find me getting up to no good at nerdsloth.com youtube.com slash nerdsloth or live at twitch.tv slash nerdsloth which needs more follows and subs if you feel inclined and if we get enough interest maybe we can do an Overwatch like, subscribe, comment or share this episode as every little bit you do helps the show and helps me out tremendously.
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