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Solomon Maru is the main antagonist of ArmA 3's Apex Protocol campaign.

Background[]

Maru was the former leader of the Syndikat guerilla organisation.

He was once a member of the Red Tiger paramilitary group that had sought to bring about a violent coup in an unknown North African country. Prior to his death, he was one of the group's few surviving remnants. Following the coup's failure, Maru went into hiding and eventually founded a new group now based in the South Pacific nation of the Horizon Islands.

Dubbing it as the "Syndikat", it had been founded as a drugs and firearms smuggling ring. Gradually, however, it grew into a powerful anti-government insurgency force thanks to the covert assistance of CSAT.

He is codenamed as Warlock by CTRG, and is a highly sought-after fugitive wanted by the black ops unit.

Apex Protocol (2035)[]

« Solomon Maru. One of the few living remnants of the failed 'Red Tiger' coup.
CTRG liaison Major A.J. Dutton on Maru's background
»

Supplied by a steady influx of weapons and virtually limitless funding, Maru's organisation continued to gain influence and power. From their strongholds in Sosovu Island in the country's west, Syndikat terrorised the country's citizens and (with the backing of a CSAT black ops unit called "Viper Team") wrested large portions of the western islands from government forces.

Maru's reign of terror continued for many weeks and months, and government forces were simply unable to stop his relentless advance. That is, until NATO forces were invited at the request of the civilian government to intervene as part of the so-called "Safe Horizon" joint exercises aimed at curtailing Syndikat's growth.

Initially, the counterinsurgency exercises were largely disregarded by Maru. Syndikat could easily blend back into the thick jungles of Tanoa whenever they were threatened and government forces; even with NATO's help, did little to prevent Syndikat's continued activities.

However, Maru had not realised that "Safe Horizon" was merely a cover for an elite black ops unit operating in the Horizon Islands. The unit surgically hunted down and destroyed every single one of his supply caches, losses that were beginning to mount up quickly. Maru appealed to Viper Team to handle the interlopers, who were proving to be too much for the organisation to handle. Despite setting up an ambush at Namuvaka for their new "visitors", Viper Team were unable to counter CTRG and even took heavy causalities in the process.

Frustrated with his inability to handle CTRG, Viper Team demanded an immediate explanation for his organisation's continued failures. Maru dispatched his senior lieutenant to deal with the operatives, but found himself executed at Viper Team's hands, who told the surviving members to relay their impatience back to Maru.

For Maru however, this was nothing less than a declaration of war from CSAT. Knowing full well where Viper Team had stowed their prized possession; a seismic WMD called "Eastwind", Maru launched a full-scale counterattack against the operatives. Syndikat forces raided every single one of Viper Team's hideouts and "black sites". Maru himself personally went to their field command centre and executed one of Viper Team's officers, vowing that he would not allow such an act of transgression to go unanswered.

Death[]

« Fucking ghosts. Think you can disappear? This is our home. Our home! One step too far. The jungle is a dangerous place. We'll take your toy. And you will pay for it, ALL OF IT!
Maru
»

Maru presented an ultimatum to Viper Team: agree to his new terms and provide continued funding and arms, or he would sell Eastwind and secrets regarding the 'Apex Protocol' to the highest bidder. Viper Team reluctantly agreed to his terms and dispatched representatives to negotiate with him at the Blue Pearl Industrial Port on the main island, where Maru and his remaining forces had holed themselves up at.

Both as leverage and to preempt any possibility of treachery from Viper, Maru had already begun Eastwind's arming process. He personally held onto the device's primary disarm codes to ensure that no one besides him could prevent its activation.

Once again, what Maru had not accounted for was CTRG assaulting the site of the deal just as the "negotiations" commenced. Power to the harbour was suddenly cut and in the midst of the chaos, Maru was shot several times by CTRG and was instantly killed.

Personality and Appearance[]

A middle-aged looking male of unknown origins, Maru has black head of hair shaved in a buzz cut. He has a tattoo on the right side of his neck and a scar on his left cheek. His standard attire consists of simple, maroon-coloured tigerstripe camouflage fatigues with rolled-up sleeves. On occasion, he prefers to don a pair of aviator sunglasses.

Maru was a warlord who ruled with both conviction and ruthlessness. His brutal "tactics" stoked fear amongst the populace, and those who attempted to stop him (Gendarmerie officers being notable examples) would find themselves facing grisly ends.

Despite his organisation's relatively small stature, Maru was not the kind of person to be trifled with. He kept both his foes and "friends" at arms length, and those who attempted to betray the self-styled warlord would quickly find themselves as targets of retribution. Through cunning alone, he had managed to force CSAT's elite Viper Team to acknowledge the situation according to his terms; quite an impressive feat for someone that Viper had merely considered to be nothing more than a puppet.

Notes[]

  • The third party-developed Creator DLC, Western Sahara, specifically states that Solomon Maru has ties to the Tura insurgency. It also states that the unnamed North African country is Argana, and that Red Tiger's coup d'etat took place there.
    • However, as the DLC is only considered a "canon-compatible" but not explicitly canonical product, the DLC's statements concerning Maru's history currently remains non-canonical.

Achievements[]

  • Arma3-achievement-warlockdown
    Warlock Down

Trivia[]

  • Prior to Tac-Ops, Maru was the only other antagonist aside from Georgious Akhanteros who retained a speaking role (albeit only in cutscenes).
    • He is also the only antagonist in ArmA 3 that is canonically killed by the player(s).
  • His nationality is never actually specified in-game, though he is heard speaking French during the sole cutscene where he has voiced dialogue.

Gallery[]

See also[]

Characters of ArmA 3
NATO TF Aegis Andrew MacKinnon† • Ben KerryConway† • Lacey† • Martinez† • Mitchell† • Thomas Adams
7th MBCT, 111th ID David Armstrong
21st BCT, 111th ID Adam GrantCarl OwenJared SpenderJeremy CollinsJohn SturrockLouis BarklemStephen KulanskyTerry Simpson
Pacific Vince Broadale
CTRG A.J. DuttonDonald SnoweGrimmHardy† • JamesMcKayNorthgateO'ConnorRadcliffe† • RikerRoberts† • Robinson† • SalvoScott Miller* • Smith† • Truck
Exercise Electron Aiden RudwellDon Homewood† • Jack StypeJed DillonJohn KingslyKurt Spender† • Max BakerRichard LaneRichter
CSAT Abdul-Wahhab FahimVahid NamdarXu Haifeng
Russian Spetsnaz Boris KrupinIvan Severov
Loyalists Hektor Anastas* • Kael Mavros* • Loukas Thanos* • Rouvin Carras*
FIA Alexis Kouris† • Kostas Stavrou† • Nikos PanagopoulosOrestes
AAF Georgious AkhanterosKostas DimitriouKyros Kalogeros* • Thanos Gavras
LDF Aleksy NowakZbigniew Stolarski
Syndikat Solomon Maru
L'Ensemble Oringo MadakiSamjo

IDAP

Andy PatersonNathan MacDade

Civilians

Arthur* • Benjamin HopeDrábek* • Howard* • Ian KessonJohn* • Katherine BishopLucas* • Mark ColeMarkos Kouris† • Renly* • "Santiago"Šimon Čapek
indicates deceased characters | * indicates character status is unknown
DLCs that the character was first introduced in:
Marksmen DLC | Apex DLC | Laws of War DLC | Tac-Ops DLC | Tanks DLC | Contact DLC
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