Tyler Wat (died 430 IE) was a former war criminal who fought for one of the Goshenite factions in the Polygamy Wars. He surrendered to Lucius Kray after the Battle of New Kirtland, which ended the conflict.
After serving five years hard labor on Io, he settled on Amargosa. During the Gelt Incursion, he joined the resistance and participated in the mission led by Suicide to reach the Ban Ki-moon.
A native of Metis, his background suggested to Davra Andraste that he might have resented his native world’s matriarchal society.
During the mission to reach the Ban Ki-moon, Wat had to discipline his fellow former Goshenites for harassing the women on the team. Wat implied that he no longer shared the beliefs that led to the conflict.
After the team’s stay in the Edoras Transit Center, JT Austin and Eric Yuwono brought in a Gelt female they had taken prisoner. Dubbed “Trixie” by Connor Duffy, the woman apparently could not extrapolate Humanic despite Davra Andraste spending hours talking to her. Wat suggested killing her as the Gelt were not taking human prisoners. Suicide declined, saying she could be useful to them.
As they approached the ruins of Lansdorp, Wat argued with Suicide over poisoning the water table. Wat argued that such a move would drive the Gelt off planet. Suicide blocked the idea as humans would have to have clean water when the occupation ended.
When Cannon died after attempting to rape the Gelt prisoner Trixie, Wat expressed no sympathy for him nor Hauser. Wat presided with Suicide over the Section 11 hearing charging Davra with manslaughter and Hauser with military abuse. Both were found guilty by the rest of the team, but Davra went into exile. Suicide personally shot Hauser in front of everyone.
When Riley had to be pulled away from Trixie as the team moved again, Wat expressed contempt for the Gohenite and agreed with Suicide’s threat of a Section 11. As they moved into the tunnel beneath Lansdorp, discussion of the bunker came up. JT pointed out that Earth, Mars, and Tian maintained multiple bunkers. Wat said that Deseret had three, one for the Compact presence, one for the planetary government, and one created by the parent Mormon Church to house the presidences and bishoprics of the major established sects and religions on the planet. He further stated that Goshen‘s deposed president hid out in his for three years after the Polygamy Wars ended. He added that most people, including former followers like him, thought he was “bat-shit insane.”
Wat was present when Governor Anton Croix attempted to scuttle the mission to reach the Ban Ki-moon. When Croix revealed he had been collaborating with Lucius Kray, Wat pointed out that Kray was a bigger war criminal than he ever was. With Suicide, he implemented an escape plan, using Boone as a second.
At the ravine between Lansdorp and the Anaronda Lake, the found the maglev bridge collapsed. However, switchbacks and paths from its construction remained. Wat explained that bridges that high could not be grown from nano-cultures. They had to be built manually, thus the footpaths. These the team used to transfer supplies across the river below.
Wat continued to have discipline problems with Riley and counted on Boone to help keep him in line. He took JT Austin on a scouting mission to find a second bat wagon after Austin and Duffy salvaged one left by Kray‘s militia. Austin voiced his disgust for the former Goshenite, but Wat revealed he wasn’t a true believer. He wasn’t even part of the parent Mormon Church, which both spawned and disavowed the movement on all of Deseret’s colonies. He compared himself at a young age to Austin when he landed on Amargosa, though he hoped no prison cell awaited the boy. They found a second bat wagon near Anaronda Lake.
When they returned, Duffy worked up a plan to run both as one of the wagons had been stripped of its solar wrap. Suicide assigned Wat to take JT, along with Tishla, with him as they headed for the coast. During the trip, Wat asked whether the heat dishes were experimental or standard weapons. Tishla revealed that they were a favorite weapon of the Laral family, coupled with using transported criminals to fight for them. They both noted the better trained and equipped Warriors used targeted energy weapons and fewer aerial bombs. She also was the first to suspect Marcus Leitman, whom she knew as “Marq,” might have been behind Lucius Kray’s insurgency, possibly the invasion.
Wat led a charge against Kray insurgents when the convoy came under fire. After repelling the insurgents, they reached a fishing village where they spotted Kray himself taking a boat out to sea. Only one boat remained in usable condition, but it had a large hull breach. Suicide had him, JT, and Eric Yuwono work on getting its engine back together and its portable reactor back online.
Once the team reached the Ban Ki-moon, Suicide discovered Acting Captain Maurice Boko intended to scuttle the ship. She took JT, Duffy, and Tishla with her, along with two crew members to get off the planet aboard one of the ships she had hidden for Governor Croix. Wat, meanwhile, would feign defection with the remaining troops. He explained the ruse to Yuwono and told him his cover story was his anger over his father’s imprisonment at the Founders' Mine. As Kray came aboard, the crew of the Ban Ki-moon scuttled their ship.
Wat and his moles traveled to Riverside with Kray. He went on the mission to meet Colonel Diana Jovann as she approached the city to meet with Kray.
When the ceasefire broke down, Wat openly fought alongside Jovann’s troops. He learned of Jovann’s death at the same time Yuwono and Andraste warned him of the nuclear warhead Riley intended to set off. Wat announced he was now in command of both the resistance in Riverside and Kray’s remaining forces, ordering an evacuation. Kray and Boone commandeered a barrow to scale the mountain just north of the city, intending to use the backside to shield them from the blast. The barrow stopped near the peak, and they fled on foot. On the far side of the peak, they discovered an army of mechs marching up the hill, herded by what looked like lycanths.
Wat was injured by the blast, absorbing rads and breaking his thigh in the fall. Boone and Yuwono stayed with him, which resulted in their capture. However, they had spotted encampments by both Kray and the Northern Resistance. Wat ordered Davra Andraste to make for the Northern Resistance camp.
Captured, he, Boone, Yuwono, and the rest of the militia moles with him were taken to Kray’s camp. There, Kray killed him. JT Austin, upon discovering his death, said Wat would have erased his war crimes if he’d have survived the liberation.
Appearances: Second Wave, Storming Amargosa, Suicide Run