SOLDIER

SOLDIER was the elite fighting force of the Shin-Ra Company.

Formation
Born from the experiments that produced Sephiroth, members of SOLDIER were created by taking promising candidates, showering them in Mako energy and injecting them with Jenova cells. This gave them powers beyond those of a normal combatant, though they were still eclipsed by Sephiroth's strength. e The Sephiroth 'clones' were an extension of the process to create a SOLDIER, though it showed no effect on subjects who had already undergone the SOLDIER transformation, such as Zack, and incapacitated those who hadn't, such as Cloud Strife and the former inhabitants of Nibelheim.

Equipment
SOLDIER are equipped with a set of combat fatigues, coloured blue for Third Class, red for Second Class, and purple for First Class. They also wear body armour on the chest, head and arms, and wield a lance-like sword. They also have a smaller, Buster Sword-like weapon in their possession, called a Hardedge.

Techniques
Third Class SOLDIERs are armed with a flying sickle, which they employ in combat. They are also equipped with Sleepel materia, and level 2 Bolt and Ice materia.

Second Class SOLDIERs use no materia, but employ a technique known as the Sword of Doom, which combines a physical attack with a Braver-like move.

First Class SOLDIERs also employ the Sword of Doom technique, and are equipped with Silence materia.

It is likely that SOLDIER equipment also depends on the situation.

Trivia
For much of his journey, Cloud Strife believed himself to have been a member of SOLDIER. Ironically, at the time of the discovery that he never made SOLDIER, Cloud is able to compare to at least a Second Class SOLDIER in skill.

Deepground
The Deepground SOLDIERs were a top-secret branch of SOLDIER. Their existence was known only to President Shinra himself, as well as executives Scarlet, Heidigger, and Hojo. The program was carried out beneath the streets of Midgar, in the secretive Mako Reactor 0.

In contrast to the normal SOLDIER program, Deepground SOLDIERs were an extension of the Genesis Project, rather than the later Jenova Project. Stagnated Mako, known as G-Substance, was used in the creation process.

After the elder President Shinra's death at the hands of Sephiroth, events progressed so rapidly that his son and successor, Rufus, was never informed of Deepground's existence. The combined force of Meteor and Holy crushing down on the city trapped the SOLDIERs beneath the Shin-Ra Tower, stranding them there until their escape three years later, during Dirge of Cerberus.