Cosmic baron

Baron in reveal trailer of the Cosmic Realm.

The cosmic baron is an enemy in Doom: The Dark Ages. A brute creature with two blades and psionic abilities, which is one of the results of an unholy union between Hell and the Cosmic Realm.

Appearance

The cosmic baron is an original creation of the cosmic realm's denizens who were inspired by the physical form of the barons of Hell. As such, the cosmic baron retains the baron of Hell's satyr-like body shape with an eldritch twist, having some features found in invertebrates. Similar to other denizens of said eldritch dimension, its rubbery skin is a sickly green and some of the skin on its parts that are surrounded or concealed by its green skin are violet. The texture of its torso's skin on the ribs resembles a mollusk shell's exterior, while its inner thigh's skin looks like that of an echinoderm, especially certain species of starfish.

Its head is covered by a natural hood (shaped like an executioner's) made of its own skin, fused with skin on its torso that's almost shaped like an open jacket. The face only consists of a mouth with jaws like those of a human skull's, lined with unsightly teeth. It also has teeth in places where they shouldn't be, like on its forearms, the edges of its hood surrounding its face, and the big crevice on its chest. Small dark spikes of a bony material jut out of shoulders and upper arms, while a larger dark spike rests on top of its hood and both of its elbows.

Its arms end in crescent-shaped blades formed of a hard bony material, completing the executioner image that its body was designed to convey. Instead of hooves, the cosmic baron's feet resemble the ones found on some insects, having claws instead of toes.

Tactical analysis

The cosmic baron is designed to pressure the player at close range with powerful melee attacks that it can sustain with its preference for staying up close by running up to the player. All of its melee attacks are hell surges that must be parried thrice in a short window to falter the cosmic baron.

• Blade swipe: Once close, the cosmic baron will deliver a series of three swipes using its bladed arms at fast intervals.
• Ground smash: Up close, the cosmic baron will slam the ground with its bladed arms. Instead of three swipes, it may do two swipes and one ground smash.
• Jump smash: From afar, the cosmic baron will initiate a long windup animation before leaping towards the player to slam the ground using its bladed arms. Unlike the other two attacks above, it can be parried just once to falter the cosmic baron.

The cosmic baron will occasionally attack from range with psionic purple projectiles, both containing a hell surge that the player must find to parry.

• Guillotine projectiles: The cosmic baron conjures a stack of five, swirling ring blades of psionic energies, before spreading them horizontally to hurl them at the player. Only one of them can be parried, and this hell surge's location among the five projectiles is randomized. Parrying it will not falter the cosmic baron.
• Wall projectile: The cosmic baron swings its bladed arms towards the player's left side to throw a wall of psionic energy with a hell surge at the center that can be parried to falter it.
• Dash: Although the cosmic baron may prefer to stay close to the player to maintain its pressure on them, it may occasionally dash away from the player when they're close, moving towards a far range where it is inclined to use its projectile attacks if it goes far enough from the player at the end of the dash.

Lore

The cosmic baron is a monster constructed and designed by the eldritch techno-sorcerers of the Cosmic Realm. Forbidden gene-splicing techniques were used in its creation, allowing it to mirror the form of the barons of Hell while serving as a monument to the unholy alliance between Hell and the Cosmic Realm.

Executions

Two executions exist against the cosmic baron.

• From above in front of the baron, the Slayer lands on it to slam its back to the ground, before throwing his shield saw between its jaws to bisect its head laterally.
• From above behind the baron, the Slayer tosses his shield saw into its upper back before landing on it, cutting a lethal diagonal cut.

Development

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  "Cosmic fodder" ideation sketches by William Bao.

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  "Cosmic fodder" ideation Sketches by Emerson Tung, inspired by gas masked soldiers and deep sea divers.

According to id Software artist William Bao, the cosmic baron was originally conceived as a cosmic reskin of the soldier, also known as the "cosmic fodder", but evolved into a super heavy unit. The challenge during conceptualization was to find a balance with the Lovecraftian style which would feel appropriate within the bounds of the Doom franchise. The conceptualization process spanned several months.

The artist took inspiration from works by H.P. Lovecraft like Shadow Over Innsmouth and At the Mountains of Madness.

Also according to William Bao, the cosmic baron's head, which was carried over into the final design, which was created by him, was inspired by the hood of a medieval executor. The unused element of design, the light emanating from the creature's mouth in the artist's concept arts, was inspired by Sacha Schneider's painting "Hypnosis" (1904).

Other artists also worked on the visual design of the monster, including the game's art director Emerson Tung.

According to Emerson, some of his sketches were inspired by gas masked soldiers and deep sea divers. Other sketches for the cosmic fodder A. K. A "Cthulhu fodder" and early sketches for the baron were inspired by deep sea life such as shellfish, echinoderm and others. Another source of inspiration for Emerson Tung was the kaiju monsters from the Ultraman franchise.

Artist Alejandro Mirabal finished the baron's visual design, borrowing some of the design elements introduced by Tung and Bao, and also tried to make it look more aggressive and agile.

Pre-release

This creature first became known in one of the frames of the Xbox developer deep-dive, where the whiteboard was leaked with a list of monster names, which includes the cosmic baron.

Gallery

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  The cosmic baron's collectible toy.

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  The codex entry image.

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  The size comparison of the Slayer and the cosmic baron in the Ripatorium's encounter manager.

Concept art

All concept art by Emerson Tung, unless noted otherwise.

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  Ideation sketches by Emerson Tung, inspired by deep sea life.

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  Ideation sketch by Emerson Tung, inspired by Cthulhu .

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  Concept art by William Bao, close to final design, the light from mouth inspred by Sacha Schneider's painting "Hypnosis" (1904).

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  Concept art by Alejandro Mirabal, final design.

External links

• Cosmic Baron and other Cosmic Realm creatures concept art at William Bao's ArtStation profile
• Concept art of cosmic fodder and baron at Emerson Tung's ArtStation profile