Group RP .:MechPilots:. Flesh, Steel, Honor and Fire. - Character Compendium and Lore

[WishBone]

.:Synopsis:.
Into the far flung future - where the days of Earth are but whispers of a long golden age and mankind has sailed upon that infinite sea. The empire of humanity over a millenia ago - united under a common banner, cause, industry and innovation is but a shadow of its former self. Warring factions, freebooters and deeply seated grudges, percieved slights a mirade of cultures. It wasn't fate that brough you to this hard frontier, all of you were born into houses that bestowed to you the priviledge of owning such advanced and desired war machines. Planets would go to war on a whiff that even buried vault of the golden age was left unclaimed, ancient battlefields scoured for the lost artifacts of technology and even today - a large majority cannot be reproduced only parts manufactured and some salvaged from other warmechs.

Hence the term - remove the meat, and leave the body. However - pilots - experienced ones in mercenary companies are prized.

However - things always have a destiny of getting worse. If it wasn't another titanic war between two empires - or a spat over chartered space between factions. This situation takes the cake and in this dire situation - the money is good, the honor and glory ripe for the taking. But, there's always a catch. A clause to ensure that someone at one end of the table is getting screwed and fucked - no surprise its you. Due to your choices, desperation or a dire need of the work - this pulled you here and the work is endless, plentiful as is the pay. There's risks, loss of life and loss of mechs - which is common in any warzone. T

Thing is, the enemy we are facing isnt human and its been surprisingly adaptable and instead of the remove the meat, pilots who have been deemed KIA - later are seen, days or weeks later fighting their friends, family and own allies with suits that while armoured bleed and house teeth, claws and organic projectiles. The creatures in this collective move in forces - capturing planets before advancing onto the next. The RUBIC is a coalition private military force known as : RUPIC- Registered United Planetary Interdiction Corp.- subsidized by the largest factions to hold such a threat from pouring unchecked into the reaches of space. However - fighting against our own fallen took its toll and worlds reduced to glass seemed only to delay and what victories felt often phyrric at best. Yet with war, came the allure of money and like bees to honey - the Mercenaries, the desperate and experienced were drawn to both factions. Even with competion also sprouting under the term - MTO : Minotaur Tactical Outcomes,

After eighty long years they finally did it, capture one of the fallen pilots.
While looking human, they were faster, stronger and much more leathal than expected - even after a sample while they look like us - this only goes skin deep as their makeup from the genetics rounded up are altered, changed to the point where most assessments are leagues ahead.

Interrogation resulted only getting one answer, "Surrender and become apart of something more, than you could ever dream."

As planets were swarmed, cities infested and populations from what we could understand assimulated - the victims of such attacks also became under the sway of this threat we face. This biological warfare, monitored at range revealed that they were able to communicate - co-ordinate as if a collective thought bound them to some unseen purpose. That is, until the Minitry of Intregrated Kinetics opted to glass the planet Kassien regardless of allies and enemies being on it - turning it into one of the horrific moments in this encroaching war. Many still hold the MIK with bitterness, knowing full well that they had to make the decision of billions and had the planet fallen no one knew what could have happenned next. Oddly - we now still see the same ghosts of dead pilots lost from that planet now fighting with the enemy.

Now for the catch for why you joined RUBIC. The catch is, you sign on. If you die within your tenure, your war gear becomes apart of the war effort.
If you survive six years, you will have earned more than enough to retire mostly because of the specimens you kill. THe addtional perk being you are allowed to be repaired, rearmed and have skilled technicians work upon your war machine without additional cost. You in this scenario - are someone who has watched your house, warband or fellow mech pilots that went into its together only to be torn apart, killed down to the last mech on the field in the most recent encroachment. You survived and thats whats valuable - can you handle the grief of survivors guilt and be enough to connect, set aside differences to ensure the survaval of our species.

You can quit and leave at any time, you just wont get paid and while you can leave - there will be no repairs made.





.:Lore:.
Mechs, walkers, mobile weapons platforms - call them what you will. But such weapons are indeed prized possessions of houses of power, mercenary companies that hire themselves to handle the interstellar conflicts. Some for nefarious purposes - others chasing the higest bidder and others who seek fame, fortune and glory. Only - in the past eighty years, a border threat has been growing at first dismissed as an outer fringes issue, laughed or even mocked by the larger empires over a fractured human empire. It was only when the threat had kicked down the defences for three capital planets, crippled a mustered together battlefleet did those in the inner charters start to take notice and the laugher soon died.

RUBIC and MTO began a campaign of privatising armies and hiring mech warriors, the threat was going to be a steady threat and with the inner planets and empires worried - business was good and with it came research for the specimens, but also the realisation that this style of warfare was changing. Ghost Mechs and fallen pilots also were reported and as the casualties mounted and victories too - it became clear - even when defeated, months later those who were defeated were later revealed still moving. Their mechs seemed to move to easily from what they used to.

RUBIC and MTO briefly set aside their differences in the operations around a focal point in space, a beach head Kassien. However, Minitry of Intregrated Kinetics, known as MIK, recieved mixed communications regarding approval for the firing of a superweapon thought lost to the golden age of humanity. It was at the time thought to be only powerful enough to strike the planet under the occupation of what they called them as Giest. The Giest ranged from almost alien four to six limbed drones, capable of melee and ranged combat as well as making of their own bioorganic structures, organisms within days or hours. Their forces ranged from flying creatures of bleached white skin, eyes as black as the void, biedals to more insectoid. Initially it was hard to understand what their baseline species was, only that Pilots were indeed capable of killing them. The larger ones, armoured, hard hitters the size of tanks again used biological weapons either to kill, incapacitate or liquify the enemy.

The result from Kassien was horrific, the resulting chain reaction turned the planet to a superheated surface that eliminated all forces that had been stationed there. Those able to escape only were able to just make it out before the firestorm made it impossible to retrieve initial survivors who - sadly over weeks died from the radiation and intense heat.
The aftermath as the radiation left, turned its surface to glass, what structures were horribly deformed and the only signs of human or Geist life were the ashen shadows etched into metal. A token force was left to maintain and recover what mech technology, even partially melted - to deem what was salvagable or not.

.:Mech Variants:.

- AT
<Are your Gundamn esque style Mechs, still from the golden age just younger and while able to handle most engagements - are harder to maintain and despite the myths relied more so on their armour as no such thing as shielding exists. More so depending on load out, the better option for a scalple than a full hammer. During the fall - resources became considerably hard to procure and even such weapons like this were only located in the many vaults from during the golden age, either lost to time or forgotten.

Some can stand up to almost 21 metres tall for the heavier and larger variants and as small as 10metres.

- BT
BT-MECHs <Are your heavies, the walkers that are able to take serious punishment but also dish it back if not even harder.
Think battletech, Mech warrior - Oldest, Heaviest and from before the golden age even during the golden age were prized as technological wonders. Hard hitting, a suite of sensors and weapons ranging from high calibre kinetic, Missiles and energy based weaponry.

-- BT Mech Combat:

In short, its hit for hit trade. Not much dexterity as they are just big bricks hitting each other with tremendous firepower.

I could see the AT mechs performing more fast manuvers - akin to that from armoured core but smaller and surgical. While not as heavily armoured, they have their role in the battlefield.
Even soldiers with boots on the ground usually have some exosuits - depending on environments etc.

-- AT Mech, just not the stupid overkill guns and small legs etc.

While slower on the ground, such units are able to be the back bone of an encroaching force, or the progressive tip of a spearhead assault. Fitted with layered armour, the BT excells in its mixed roles. However - parts and maintenance are a mainstay for such old beasts of war. The smaller and more nimbler can be as tall as up to 8 metres and trade firepower and durability for speed.

The Tallest Mechs can range up to over 18 - 21 Metres in height and heaviest greater than 90 Tonnes.

Pilot Slots:
1. Kerra Astra Veliti - Callsign: Princess - Humon
2. Callsign: Hamelin - MisterBrown
3.
4.

 

[humon]

Kerra Veliti

Spoiler: Sheet

Kerra Astra Veliti
Age 26 | Height 5'9" | Alias: "Princess"
Born to House Veliti of Myssanea Colony

Once upon a time, House Veliti was the ruling family that administered a mid-sized mining colony called Myssanea, located on planet AEX-1278, in the Tyrrhenian Sector on the ass end of nowhere. The colony consisted of three major cities and several peripheral towns clustered around a mountainous coastal area rich in rare earth minerals. House Veliti initially got rich by shipping these minerals off-world, but when the miners discovered bunker vaults full of ancient war machines buried under the mountains, Myssanea colony quickly became a minor player in the astro-politics of the Tyrrhenian Sector. Five generations later, every scion of House Veliti was being given mandatory mech training as part of their noble education, whether male or female. While custom dictated that only the men were deployed into military service, Kerra found herself forced to take to the cockpit when Myssanea came under attack by... y'know, those things.

While Kerra's older brothers and cousins were assigned to the heavier main battle mechs, Kerra accompanied them in one of the smaller and nimbler Stalking Spider models to provide fire support (the Myssaneans called them Quads, since they were the only models in the fleet with four legs). The family fought as best they could, but their forces were simply not strong enough to resist the invaders. During a succession of losing battles, her brothers were killed one after another, their mechs destroyed beyond repair. Ultimately the decision was made for Kerra to evacuate by starship with the rest of the colony's population while the remainder of Myssanea's forces launched a costly operation to cover their escape.

The survivors of Myssanea linked up with the nearest armed faction, which was the Tyrrhenian Coalition, and they pledged to their service to the Coalition to fight the swarm. Those who were able bodied joined the war effort, and Kerra added her Quad to the coalition's growing fleet of battle-ready mechs. For the next four years, she fought against the creatures that destroyed her home, and sometimes against other humans. She fought on three different planets--Obrovia, Tanguul, and Metarkia--making friends and losing friends along the way, including her lover, a man named Loki Ezrahi, who was the commander of the first lance she joined. It was called Viking Lance, and it was based out of a Coalition troop carrier ship called the Auriga, which was crewed by men and women from House Katari, one of the major coalition members.

Viking Lance was annihilated six months ago when they were ambushed during a raid on planet Metarkia. Kerra only survived the massacre because her mech had become crippled during the battle and she fled on foot into the surrounding jungle where she was able to hide from sight. For four days she narrowly evaded enemy patrols and scavengers by moving on foot and hiding in the shadows among the ruins of the battle, until on the fifth day a lance from the RUPIC company arrived and put the enemy to flight. Kerra flagged down the RUPIC mechs with some flares and learned that they were working on contract with the Tyrrhenian Coalition. Her Quad had already been disassembled for parts by this point, but RUPIC was able to recover all of the salvage and rebuild the mech to its original configuration. Since RUPIC was now in possession of Kerra's mech, they offered her a contract to fight with them, and if she survived after 6 years the mech would be hers to keep.

The RUPIC dropship brought her back to Coalition space where the Auriga was waiting, and Kerra resigned from the Coalition. But before she left the Auriga, she convinced two technicians she trusted to follow her and join RUPIC as well.


Mech Dossier

Stalking Spider model :: 50-tons :: Callsign "Talaris"
Armour: 8 tons ferro-fibrous
Heat sinks: 11 double
Top speed: 86 kph (119 kph using MASC)
Jump Jets: 150m vertical
Armament:
- 1x ER-PPC (15 damage, 15 heat, range 1-7/8-14/15-23)
- 2x SRM-4 (2 damage per missile, 4 missiles per launch, 3 heat per launch, range 1-3/4-6/7-9, 25 ammo per ton)
- 2x Medium Pulse Laser (7 damage, 4 heat, range 4/8/12)
- 1x Infantry Machinegun
*The Sarna wiki sometimes lists two figures for a given state, for IS and Clan. I'm using the Clan numbers.

This mech was one of a group of eight that were uncovered from a vault underneath the Myssanean mountains. They were initially given identifiers "Quad 1" through "Quad 8", due to their having four legs instead of the usual two. Kerra took Quad 5 as her personal mech while she was training and operating with the Myssanean army reserves. During exercises, the spiders would typically deploy in packs of four, with the individual mechs rotating back and forth between active duty and maintenance.

When Myssanea had to be evacuated, Kerra took Quad 5 with her onto the transport ship that took her and the other refugees off planet. Upon joining with the coalition, she was advised by her lance commander to give her mech a more personalized callsign to distinguish it within her lance and the broader war band, and so she called it "Widow", after the species of venomous spider that once existed on Earth. She also redid the paint job, from the original olive drab that the Myssanean army had been using to a black-grey-brown camouflage pattern suitable for mountain and urban environments.

After the defeat at Metarkia that saw Widow dismantled by the enemy for salvage, the machine was rebuilt from the recovered parts and upgraded a little to tweak its layout and take advantage of some more efficient parts and systems that became available to Kerra through RUPIC's internal marketplace. The resurrected spider was renamed "Talaris", which is the latin name (in singular form) for the winged sandals of Hermes, which is the symbol of House Veliti. Kerra redid the paint job as black and blue tiger stripes, matching the colours of Myssanea, and she dedicated this reborn spider-mech to the purpose of avenging her lost family and colony.


More Background Details

Tracing their name to the ancient "velites" class of skirmishers in the Roman Republic, House Veliti's symbol is a winged sandal, usually depicted in gold upon a circular white background representing a parma shield. The family's colours are white, gold, and blue, representing virtue, ambition, and temperance. Myssanea's flag often has the house symbol superimposed on the center of it, though not always. The background of the flag is a white diagonal cross dividing the flag into four triangular quadrants, with the top and bottom quadrants being black, and the left and right quadrants being blue. The colours are meant to represent space and sea, referring to the two elements that had always sustained the colony: off-planet trade, and the life-supporting nature of the planet's oceans.

House Veliti was originally one of five families that ruled over Myssanea as a governing council when the colony was first founded 167 years ago. As the colony expanded from one city into three, the five families branched out into different commercial enterprises and built their own mercantile empires within the colony's little bubble. House Veliti was the first to be involved in the creation of the city of Delphi in the mountains to support more intense mining operations (the city was so named because of the surrounding gas deposits reminiscent of the original Delphi on Earth). The discovery of a fleet of ancient mechs buried under the mountain radically shifted the balance of power between the five houses, and House Veliti seized on what they had found in order to carry out a coup and seize complete control over the colony, during the time of Kerra's great-grandfather.

Where Myssanea had up until that point been a member of the Tyrrhenian Coalition for its own security, the newfound strength of House Veliti made this alliance no longer necessary, and they formally cut ties 86 years ago. Their membership in the Coalition was only restored four years ago when Myssanea came under attack by the swarm, and Kerra's father reached out to the Coalition for help.


Some friends among the ground crew:

Bruce Carmack, age 48
Technical background is in particle physics and the maintenance of energy weapons
Carmack comes from the same planet as Loki and was the foreman for Viking Lance's ground crew, being also one of Loki's inner circle. After the lance was destroyed at Metarkia, he stuck by Kerra as a friend, joining RUPIC as a senior technician. He was instrumental in getting her Spider salvaged and rebuilt, and in finding the right parts that they needed to replace the ones that had been destroyed. It is also thanks to this man that Talaris' ERPPC functions as cleanly as it does, even after all these years of use. He has had to completely rebuild the weapon and it's complex cooling system three times in the past four years to keep it functional.

Hiro Onoda, age 29
Technical background is in electrical systems
Hiro manages one of the ground crews on the RUPIC ship that picked Kerra up. He was the one overseeing the reconstruction of Talaris, and Kerra soon made friends with him. Thanks to Onoda's ingenuity, Talaris' laser targeting systems can track a laterally-moving target just a little bit faster than before, increasing Kerra's ability to maintain a beam on point during a fast-paced engagement.

Brianna James, age 39
Technical background is in materials science and myomer repair
Brianna is a refugee from Myssanea who used to work as a technician at Delphi base and had spent a lot of time on the Quad mechs, including Kerra's. After joining Viking Lance, Kerra pulled some strings to get Brianna a position on the Auriga's mech maintenance crew that was well-suited to her abilities. After Metarkia, she followed Kerra and joined RUPIC, so that they could continue working together. When Talaris was rebuilt, it was Brianna's expertise and lateral thinking that allowed the myomer fibers to be strengthened to adapt to the higher stress of an upgraded MASC system that the crew had found and wanted to install. This solved a lot of the problems of wear and tear that the old system was causing, which had been one of the factors in Widow's breakdown at Metarkia.

Colton James, age 18
Technical background is unspecialized
This is Brianna's son. He was young enough to be evacuated from Myssanea four years ago, and after he finished school aboard the Auriga, his mother arranged for him to work in the mech maintenance department as a junior tech. This was short-lived, and he inevitably followed her over to RUPIC, where he now works directly under Onoda's supervision.

Aliyah Serkani, age 23
Mech Traffic Control Operator
One of the many rank-and-file workers who operate the comm channels at CanTan to co-ordinate mech traffic in and out of the base. When Kerra was returning to base in a severely damaged state, Aliyah got a bit sassy with her on the comms, which was memorable enough that Kerra spent part of her time off to track down who that was. While Kerra was originally going to bitch Aliyah out in person, she found herself disarmed by the girl's subtle charm, and they soon hit it off as friends.

Additional specifics on the mech's design (deviating from the battletech model)

Spoiler

View attachment 75251

Dark grey means you're seeing the mech's exterior, light grey for the interior.

I used green to mark the location of heat sinks, and orange to show the path of the hot air being pumped out (or whatever fluid the mech is moving in). There are 11 in total: Four connected to the PPC (left side, right side, aft side, and dorsal), two connected to each laser (barrel and base), one connected to each missile box, and one at the aft for the reactor. The rear heat sink on each laser also services the cockpit and jump jets, while the heat sinks on the missile box can also draw heat from the reactor.

Red is where the weapons systems are: Medium pulse lasers embedded into the fore, using those two fang-like projections as gun ports; Missiles in the rear, angled to shoot up into the air; PPC on the roof, on a swiveling turret. The PPC itself is not shown, but it would extend forward from the red X, hanging over top of the periscope. The fang-like nodes on the front contain lenses that can be moved side to side or adjusted for tighter or narrower spread based on the distance to the target. This is how the lasers are aimed, using the mech's computer to auto-focus on whichever target has been acquired by radar lock.

Blue is for the cockpit area, and lighter blue shows the FOV for the periscope, main forward sensors, and machinegun camera. There are also smaller sensors all around that can project a 360-degree view onto the inside of the dome-shaped cockpit, onto which the targeting HUD is also projected. This is the default display, but the pilot can also zoom in on the two fang-sensors for more precise aiming of the lasers. She can also switch temporarily to a camera on the underside for aiming the machinegun, by holding a thumb button on the trigger system. Finally, the periscope can be brought directly to the pilot's eyes when targeting with the PPC at range, with its own crosshairs and zoom feature, and a separate trigger system for the PPC alone.

Maroon is for the reactor at the aft, and the central jump jet on the belly (four other jump jets exist, one on each of the legs, not shown). The armour plating behind the reactor can be unfastened and removed by crane for ease of maintenance. There is also a small hatch connecting to the cockpit through which the pilot can take emergency action, for example spraying it with a tank of coolant in a meltdown scenario. This is normally not advised except in emergency, as opening that hatch would flood the cockpit with heat and radiation.

Brown is for ammo storage an maintenance hatches. The square boxes are where you load ammo into the mech (missiles at the aft, machinegun bullets at the fore). The circles are where you can open up the chassis to do maintenance on the lasers. The long hollow rectangle between the lasers is another maintenance hatch, but accessible from the floor of the cockpit, in case a malfunction needs to be cleared in the field.

Shown at the aft on the lower images is the path of the ladder that you take to get in and out of the cockpit, which runs underneath the reactor.

The grey boxes on the lowest image are the hardpoints where the chassis can rest on the ground without relying on the legs. This is the parked position that you want to be in when you open the cockpit up. The supports are five feet long, so that one needs to hunch over to walk around underneath the mech.

As a rough estimate, you could say that each layer represents about 4 to 5 feet of height (~1.5m). So the mech in total is about 20 feet tall (~7m) when parked, but can rise to around 30 feet (9m) when the legs are fully extended. The knee joints come up to about 20 feet off the ground, give or take depending on whether the spider is coiled or in mid-stride. And by extending the legs differently, the chassis can be tilted up or down by about 30 degrees, which is crucial for aiming the lasers at taller or shorter targets, and also important for maintaining balance during a jump in order to stick the landing. The width of the mech is around 30 feet (9m), so it would span most of the way across a four-lane highway, but on a two-lane road it would be occupying both shoulders.

The mech has 8 tons of ferro-fibrous armour in total: 1.25 tons on each front leg, 0.75 tons on each back leg, and 4 tons on the body. The weight distribution balances out when taking into account the weight of reactor and missile ammo in the rear.

The reactor has a 250 rating, and so it weighs 12.5 tons, with the weight distributed slightly rear of center.

The chassis weighs 2.5 tons in total, and the jump jets amount to 1 ton distributed over five jets (one on each leg, plus a large central jet underneath the body).

1/4 ton of machinegun ammo amounts to 5,000 bullets divided into 10 boxes of 500 each, with each box containing 5 belts of 100 rounds.
1/2 ton of missile ammo amounts to 50 missiles, divided into two compartments serving 25 missiles to each SRM unit (enough for 6 salvos plus one missile left over).

Detailed weight and balance breakdown:

Front legs (per leg): 0.25 tons chassis, 0.15 tons jump jet, 1.25 tons armour = 1.65 tons total
Front legs together: 0.5 tons chassis, 0.3 tons jump jets, 2.5 tons armour = 3.3 tons total

Rear legs (per leg): 0.25 tons chassis, 0.15 tons jump jet, 0.75 tons armour = 1.15 tons total
Rear legs together: 0.5 tons chassis, 0.3 tons jump jets, 1.5 tons armour = 2.3 tons total

All legs total: 1 ton chassis, 0.6 tons jump jets, 4 tons armour = 5.6 tons total

Front end: 0.3 tons chassis, 2 tons lasers, 0.25 tons machinegun, 0.25 tons bullets, 2 tons heat sinks, 1 ton armour = 5.8 tons total
Front center: 0.3 tons chassis, 2 tons lasers, 2 tons heat sinks, 1 ton armour = 5.3 tons total
Center body: 0.3 tons chassis, 0.4 tons jump jet, 6 tons ppc, 3 tons heat sinks, 5.8 tons reactor, 0.8 tons armour = 16.3 tons total
Rear center: 0.3 tons chassis, 4 tons SRM, 0.5 tons missiles, 1 ton heat sink, 6.7 tons reactor, 0.6 tons armour = 13.1 tons total
Rear end: 0.3 tons chassis, 3 tons heat sinks, 0.6 tons armour = 3.9 tons total
Body altogether: 1.5 tons chassis, 0.4 tons jump jets, 4 tons lasers, 0.25 tons machinegun, 0.25 tons bullets, 6 tons ppc, 4 tons SRM, 0.5 tons missiles, 11 tons heat sinks, 12.5 tons reactor, 4 tons armour = 44.4 tons total

Mech total weight: 2.5 tons chassis, 1 ton jump jets, 4 tons lasers, 0.25 tons machinegun, 0.25 tons bullets, 6 tons ppc, 4 tons SRM, 0.5 tons missiles, 11 tons heat sinks, 12.5 tons reactor, 8 tons armour = 50 tons total

Front balance ~= 3.3t * 4m + 5.8t * 2m + 5.3t * 1m = 30.1 ton*metres
Rear balance ~= 2.3t * 4m + 3.9t * 2m + 13.1t * 1m = 30.1 ton*metres

Cockpit layout

Spoiler

The controls are divided into a main console in front of the pilot's chair; additional controls on the ceiling; pedals under foot similar to those in an automobile; and display panels to the left and right.

Ceiling:
- On the ceiling directly above the pilot's chair is the ignition switch. To start the engine, the pilot flips a safety latch (which can be locked), and then turns a lever clockwise. To shut down, the safety latch must again be lifted, and the lever turned counter-clockwise by two positions. Turning counter-clockwise by only one position puts the engine into "ghost mode", where it uses minimal power and only supports cockpit electronics but does not drive the legs.

- Hanging from the ceiling directly in front of the pilot's chair is the control system for the PPC. This consists of a periscope that can be pulled down to eye level, and an attached joystick that is used to control the PPC turret. Tilting the joystick side to side will make it swivel left/right. Tilting forward or backward will raise or lower the pitch. There is an index finger trigger for firing, and a vertical switch under the thumb for analogue control of the periscope's magnification level. A switch on the left side of the periscope allows the pilot to toggle between infrared, nightvision, and normal view.


Main Console:
- Directly in front of the pilot is a dual joystick system, where the two joysticks are connected as a single unit that moves together. The index finger triggers control the left and right lasers independently. Thumb buttons on each joystick control the left and right missile pods. A pair of buttons lower down on the joystick can be held simultaneously with the ring/pinky fingers of both hands to cause the cockpit HUD to switch to laser-targeting view, which means the forward display will be lined up directly with where the lasers are pointing instead of showing things from the relative perspective of the pilot's chair.

- Tilting the dual joystick controls the rotation of the mech. By turning the joystick on the yaw axis (one stick forward and the other stick back), the mech will rotate on the yaw axis (the onboard AI will move the legs as needed in order to maintain balance during this rotation). Tilting the joystick system forward or backward will raise or lower the pitch of the mech's body, enabling the lasers to aim up or down. Tilting the joystick side to side will cause the mech to move laterally.

- Behind the joysticks there is a block console with the gear shift on the left side and the parking brake on the right side. The gear shift is a simple lever that can be popped up to go forward or down to go in reverse, or centered for neutral. The parking brake is a lever that can be pulled out and twisted to engage, or twisted and popped back in to disengage. Unlike a wheeled vehicle, this is not a brake per se, but a system that forces the mech's body to lower down until the prongs contact the ground. This system must be engaged in order to open the cockpit door, unless an override is applied at the door panel itself.

- Underneath the joystick system, by the pilot's right knee, is a sub-trigger system that controls the machinegun. It is shaped like a gun trigger and can be moved about to control the swiveling of the forward machinegun. The index finger trigger fires the gun, and there is a button for the thumb that switches the cockpit view to display from the gun-sight camera for as long as the button is held down.


Foot Pedals:
- Like an automobile, there are gas and brake pedals for the right foot. The brake essentially signals the mech legs to halt all movement, while the gas pedal signals acceleration and can be eased off to allow for coasting on flat terrain.

- There is also a pedal for the left foot which activates the jump jets to an intensity level proportional to how far the pedal is pressed. In this way the pilot can precisely control how much thrust is used when jumping and when landing. When the dual-joystick system is tilted during a jump, the computer automatically shifts thrusting force between the four leg jets in order to carry out the desired tilt. This kind of mid-air maneuvering takes a good bit of practice to become fluid with, but an experienced pilot can do some interesting tricks with it, such as wall-jumping and mid-air dodges.


Left Panel:
- On a console to the left of the pilot's chair is the diagnostic readouts for all of the mech's subsystems, showing heat buildup, structural damage, reactor status, electrical malfunctions, and so on. Diagnostic tests can be run from this console. Climate control for the cockpit area is also handled from this console.


Right Panel:
- On a matching console to the left of the pilot's chair is everything related to weapons systems, radar, and communications. Remaining ammunition is tracked from this display, as well as specific heat profiles for each individual weapon. Long range sensor readings such as radar are displayed here, and a range of buttons allow the pilot to select between targets for acquiring missile locks: the AI by default acquires a lock on the closest one or two targets, but this can be manually overridden, and there are switches to control whether for each SRM box the computer should try to target one bogey with all four missiles, or try to lock onto four separate targets. It can also be adjusted whether each SRM box should launch four missiles per trigger press, or just one missile at a time (the former is the default, the latter is handy for mercs who are trying to save money). This console also hosts the radio transceiver, an old-school unit with speakers and a microphone on a cord.

 

[MisterBrown]

Judgement Before Eventual Redemption

Spoiler: Sheet

Spoiler: art credit

face: https://www.artstation.com/weilai
mech: https://www.artstation.com/eutimiogarcia

Name: Judgement Before Eventual Redemption
Call Sign: Hamelin
Age: 46 //see: ​coercive eugenics​
State of Origin: The Reach of Man //​crimes against humanity​ status: ​annulled​
Service Record: 27 years, Relic-Recovery and Border Operations
Machine: AT-type, Model 09 Infiltrator
Specifications: 10 meters, 14 tons, humanoid design

• Sensor Suite
  • Full-spectrum sensor package
  • EMP hardened
  • Shoulder-mounted parascope
• Countermeasures
  • ECM - radio and microwave jammer
  • Launchers - chaff, smoke, and flare
• Mobility
  • Jump thrusters - lunar escape grade
  • Enhanced bipedal locomotion

Function: Infiltrate defenses. Conduct multi-role operations including sabotage, breakthrough operations, intelligence gathering, and high-dexterity tasks. Operational loadout is per-mission adjustable, coinciding with articulated extremities. Hardpoint weapons NON-COMPATIBLE.

History: Judgement hadn't given up. He still believed, despite his troop dissolving and his nation close behind. They'd never recover on their current track, he decided. It was hard enough to maintain a militant technocracy before the specimen. Now imagine a third of your best warriors volunteered to be consumed.

Fools. They believed they could short-cut the overcoming. Delusion. Now their impure forms impede our progress. No matter. Let it be our final obstacle, or let it be the first of a thousand again. It shall make us strong.

Upon retreat, Judgement did not rejoin his countrymen. He left this time for the growing coalition against the organism; lesser men but in great number. It would be his dishonor to serve with them and to protect their worlds over his, but it would allow him valuable resources, materials, and - most importantly - proximity to the specimen. He would learn of it, dissect it, discover the source of it's strength. Meanwhile, the sneering from the small-kind wouldn't deter him an inch. The acceptance of their old enemy into their ranks was proof enough of their baseness. He needs now only to win, alongside vagabonds, somehow.

Spoiler: Nation: The Reach of Man

To some, the point of humanity was to expand, grow, or be happy. That was not opinion of the Reach. Man was born to become greater, to become next-man, stronger, smarter, more powerful, noble. The preceding empires of men were cancerous and stagnant, prone to dissolution under their own weight. History was evidence enough of that.

A small community of homesteaders and veterans quickly spread across systems. What arose was a complex web of military and science personnel forming a semblance of government. Even after becoming overt, staking a claim in the galaxy, their structure was obfuscated and clandestine. However, it was none-the-less effective.

Abandoning the arbitrary treaties of other nations, they were able to make great strides in technology and warfare. But soon they had strong enemies. The Reach would find itself condemned, as they knew they would be, and restricted to hastily gained borders. There was not to do but small raids, shipping attacks, and infiltrate the relic strongholds in their territory. With the power of their systems, the Reach's goals could be completed. Even isolated and cut off they would get stronger, experiment, become something greater in nature than men. That was, until they were interrupted by the specimen.

Many of the Reach believed the specimen to be exactly the reason why they had discarded rules; to make a superior lifeform out of man to ward of the competition, when it came. Many thought otherwise. They were convinced the specimen could shortcut their goal. As the Reach had begun to stagnate in it's own company, a third of the best minds and warriors then voluntarily joined the specimen. Their borders couldn't hold. The remaining would seclude themselves to a few systems and otherwise go underground.

 

[WishBone]

Name: Jassen Elsreck
Age 37 | Height 6.7" |
Callsign: "Dooms Day"
Former Lance:
Mech Warrior Mercenary Band - Ashen Mastiffs.
Lone Survivor.
Description:
Jassen has mismatched eyes, one a deep dark stormy grey/ blue, the other an electric discoloured green. His hair, long and dark is often bound back, with the sides shaved revealing the tattoos of his past origins along his neck that spread across his back, upper chest and along his upper arms. He is lean, well toned and standing at a height of 6.3. Between options he tends to wear a Ashen Mastiff issue hoodie which is faded black, leather tan shoulders and elbow pads worn from time. Zip up and places to rest his hands within. Around his neck he wears the tags, that at most times also remain in his bunk. As for build, he isnt bulky - more lean and well toned prefering endurance over brute strength.

When suited up, he tends to have the tags like trinkets in his cockpit and a small burning incense stick mostly to keep his mind centered. His combat suit is a flight suit, fitted with fireproof fabrics, anti-electrostatic components and kevelar weaves to catch and prevent injury from shrapnel and other serious injuries that can result. To prevent teeth fractures and head injury he also wears a full HUD-K helmet - which interfaces with the Jackhammer and its targetting system. The flight suit tends to have the same ashen black, the helmet fitted with the etchings to personalise that of his mentor. The helmet has a O2 system and seal for zero g environments and direct connect to the mechs life support systems within the cockpit.

Personality:
Quiet and cautious. Most who know him, know of history and he's grown used to the distance many place in being near him or operating along side him. Even as a mentor to not as experienced pilots - its clear despite the distrust others are aware - he isnt afraid to kill even if there is a chance of emotional attachment. Confident in his actions - but under the facade of collected, calm and altogther he is a man wearing a facade. Only held together now to ensure he kills the geists who now wear the faces of his former lance.

Psychological assessment has indicated two amber flags that of pre-existing PTSD and acute psychosis, resulting him being assigned to observation and debrief from engagements. That and medical tech handling to enusre the PTSD injury is assessed and medication handled and administered to reduce risk. Three Amber Flags results in most pilots being taken off rosters for a time - however due to the need for experienced pilots he hasnt shown a considerable risk and has been compliant with the medical routine.




--------------------------------
Backstory:
Not born of noble Birth, it was blind luck that he caught the eye of a Battlemech Pilot as a infantry man in his young years. Eventually progressing to using small battlesuits to climb on enemy mechs to eventually breach the cockpit and remove the pilot. A daring and high casualty option, even if your allied mechs were there - often you were caught in the crossfire. After assisting in one campaign he was sponsored to become a scion of a noble house Elsreck, since he never had a last name other than his serial number - he was brought into the fold to become an aspiring mech warrior pilot. Showing prowess and quick thinking, his mentor walked him through the training process even through his first enagement. However, his mentor and sponsor was murdered by rival family members after learning that his Mech, was to be entrusted to him and not his heirs.

Eight years on, he still pilots his former mentors Mech after ensuring he joined another Lance for almost ten years known as the Ashen Mastiffs. A mercenary who also - in time earned respect, loyalty and friendship from all the encounters, even opting to stick on despite the moments where they were short on cash. But no training or experience was enough for him when they were hired to face a threat that wasnt human.

It was here Jassen Elsreck - a Mech Warrior Mercenary of the Ashen Mastiffs and lone survivor of an operation turned sour against a Geist Incursion. The Op went sour when their dropship was struck and landing hard three of their lance was able to handle the mission. One of their own injured in the crash was unable to take part, initially paired with an infantry group and mechanised division - thinking that their side was safe was a costly mistake. For Jassen encountered first hand what the Geist were capable of in first seat terrifying fasion, twelve hours in the Geist had overrun their position and crippled two out of the three Mechs. Over live vid, he watched as their broke through one of the cockpits of a crippled pilot, the audio was lost but the video burned itself into his brain.

With his Mech knocked out due to an internal failure which - at the time he was trying to resolve. In vivid detail he got to watch as they devoured the pilot within - it wasnt tearing of flesh and gore. Instead they infested and sent parasitic tendrils through the now paralysed pilot, to the point that their appearance became nothing fully obscurred. He watched as they thrashed as the paralysis made each struggle worse. Eventually able to get his mech to some level of stable, the Geists satisfied began to withdraw - only a far worse surprise was waiting for him at the dropship. All the crew, the technicians and his former lance were waiting there for him in some sort of twisted nightmare.

There were three survivors out of this crash, a Head Tech Dennis Ohale, who had been stationed elsewhere and due to communications failure watched it unfold.
Marie - A Medical Tech who had been on leave due to a personal request. With a Mech barely functional, later revealed to be deliberate sabotage - the pilot who had acted injured in the crash had been the catalyst for the Geist to get the drop. Their goal he surmised was to create sleeper agents, when advised to stand down - in that moment knowing he was going to die - he killed his own lance with the exception of the two. An act almost akin to killing your entire family.

Marie never forgave him despite understanding why he did what he did.
Even in the end, they spoke to him over the radio asking him - no fear or concern only twisting the knife in his already emotionally wrecked state of mind.
"Death is not the end." They said, as he destroyed their mechs and the infested personell along with it. The fact that he survived a three to one battle - was enough for RUBICON to give him an offer - with nowhere else to go - he agreed. However, he requested a longer term with no change on bonus. This still hasnt changed the perspective most pilots have towards him, either being incredibly cautious, confrontational over the rumours that he murdered his own mentor and lance. Despite it all - he does nothing to deny it. Because in his own eyes, he did murder his lance because they were already dead. But he never murdered his mentor. Even to this day, Dennis knows the truth as an independant witness as does Marie.

Eight weeks later, the same ghost lance was reported stalking the battlefield accompanied by Geist forces. No longer bearing the insignia of the Ashen Mastifs.




Mech Dossier

Spoiler: BT-MASQ

Model: BT-MASQ
Nickname: Jackhammer.
Description:
Sitting at 100 Tonnes, this assault Mech leaves little to contemplate why its called Jackhammer. Fitted with three mounted AC10 Autocannons upon its shoulders, for each arm, an AC5 and pulse Medium lasers. Most Mechs find that a front encounter with a jackhammer will either be a high repair cost, or almost a guaranteed knockdown. If the enemy gets close, the Jackhammer pulls no punches in throwing its weight for a slugging match - fitted into its chest are six, three, by three small pulse lasers and two Batteries of SRM6 <short range high yield missiles>, these can be repalced with LRM <long range launchers..>

Being the typical assault mech, this unit can dish it out as much as it can take a beating. The catch being, the BT-MASQ at stock struggles with heat management for prolonged engagement and while slower than other assault Mechs in its field - it takes a mixed role of heavy support and can, if refit handle preferably longer ranged roles - at the cost of its armour and reduced firepower. In this case, it has been fitted and modified alittle <mostly due to how costly this mech is to upkeep due to its old age and despite it, its still a formidable and intimidating opponent.

Armour: 75 Tonnes of layered Stanard Issue armour,
Heat sinks: Eight Single Heat Sinks - These are situated at the back of the legs and rear centre torso.
Additional Quipment:
Thermal Bank - draws heat from weapons
Range Finder Sensor Suite Deluxe <Costs a pretty coin, allows for computer assisted range finding however due to a previous engagement, the sensor suite has been prone to malfunction during electrical storms. Also tempermental due to age and is in dire need of an overhaul <however, no tech has the electrical knowledge of how to maintain a unit. From a golden age, best option is restarting and hoping for the best.
Top speed: 37.4 km/h - subjective to environment.
Jump Jets: NONE
Armament:
3x AC10 - Right Shoulder, Upper Torso and Left Shoulder.
LA / RA - AC5 / Medium Lazer
LA / RA - HIG-MARK-ARM Mod - replaced storm arm servos and additional force for Melee strike and force for Close hitting.
Torso - 6xSmall Pulse Laser
LEFT Torso - LRM 10 <Long Range Missile Launcher with Tandem Charge Warheads

 

[WishBone]

Location:
Terityr

Biome:
Terityr is a terraformed world - while on the edge of the goldilocks zone - Terityr has nights that are a cool -3 degrees celcius and days that rang in summer from 15 - 29 degrees celcius and winters as bitingly cold as -13 to -24. As for foilage being a terraformed world, the planet was done this way inititially to establish a permanent collony to ensure deep extraction of rarer earth minerals and also strip mine various precious metals and minerals. Later - Terityr was abandoned due to the instability of the planet and later - such a planet was apart of a solar system of continued rarer mineral extraction sites. Escantyr and Morrotyr while one closer to the sun and the other further from it also showed that these colder and warmer places shared the rich abundance of these resouces neccesary for the expansion. In the aftermath of the fall of mankinds original empire - the population dwindled to become a shadow of its former glory days and while the minerals are still rare and plenty. Logistically without the original technology of the golden era - this was both expensive and tedious even if it did have rarer resouces.

However with the encroachment of the Geist drawing near, such a solar system has also proven to be a place to set a first forward line of defence. As the geist seemed to fall from the skies and spread, originally the local populations were terrified of the alien creatures - terrified for what they were only to be hunted and assimulated. The force used to far push the Geist back from this world was a costly one and while its earthen environment now littered with the various amounts of machinery and overgrown forests. Now are lined by armed automated defences and a firebase to house all and many arriving pilots recruited into RUBIC. Firebase CanTan - built ontop of what was a deep strip mining facility and various tunnels - now secured - armoured and allowing for multilevel dwelling is very much its own city. Mining, refining and manufacturing to cover mech parts and repair, arming bays and ammunition depots along with Drop Ships that land and take off on a regular basis in dropping off or collecting for other missions.

Four defensive lines allow for segregated areas such as ammunition dumps and manufacturing on the surface along with dedicated areas for mechs to be moved to and drop the main forward operations of the base.
The base itself is massive one of nine main firebases designed to house, hold, repair and maintain the various AT and BT mechs that come to such a place. As well as feed, maintain and care for the wellbeing of its pilots.

The First wall, which is the more central is the living areas, kitchen, landing, loading and unloading for large scale dropships to collect units for off world missions or drops to various combat zones.

The Second wall, next line out - is the repair wings, bays and underground the various moving platforms that can move a mech from each area to another. This is where Mechs are refitted, repaired, placed into storage after being stripped back. This also includes corpse disposal, medical wings, barracks for the infantry and mechanized divisions along with their machine workshops.

The Third Wall, being closer to the front this is where all mechs combat ready are stored and more controlled areas for reserved defenders both to handle the defensive turret positions, secondary communication points and interstellar long distance communications. The primary is housed in the landing and loading areas to assist with automated land, load or unload assistance.

The Fourth Wall, while some might make the snide joke. This wall has the compass direction gates, 01 North, 02, West, 03 East, 04 North. Here is also housed wider roads for various mechs aready assigned for the defence and wall patrols. Its also here there are also repair bays, rapid reload wings for pilots to utilize during prolonged attacks. The gates are designed to magnetically lock closed and these are at various kill points. The firebase has already been underattack four times in its service. The second had been the closest the site had been to going under - right before the loss of planet Kassien. The result of pilots drawn to a cause had been enough to stabilise its originally dwindling numbers. Most of the surface outside of the firebase has been turned to burning back the encroaching foilage.

Under the surface, the firebase goes deeper. With three of the levels accessable via an elevator platform. The deepest areas reserved for actual base admin and control. Those more to the surface find its mostly housing, realestate and actual growing the firebases food and machine shops. However recently added was also a brig to hold the recent new addition to the prison.

Watch Commander:
Watch commander is the one who handles the outer operations and Fourth Wall defences. Its no easy task to know who you are sending to their deaths to buy time and who you know might be the difference between ensuring the wall doesnt fall. Or - if this occurs who is assigned to taking it back.
Watch Command Reilly Machero -
Callsign Ashton

First Response Commander:
First response is those who are assigned with the reassignment of lances to assist in arming, shipping and getting sent both off and on base. But also to the firebase defence.
If and when a first response commander takes the com, its in these situations that can break and maintain force cohesion in both relieving the Watch Commander and assigning forces to respond to a Geist attack, encroacment or attack on a patrol. The Geist are merciless and sometimes the first Response have to make the tough call. Getting those into the fight and out of the fight.

First Response Commander:
Natalia Reichessen
Call Sign - Ghostwolf

Master Task Master:
Strip it, Fix it, bend it, break it, scrap it or slag it.
The Master Task Master is the man who manages the team that supports both Commanders and all Mechs on base. Whether its operations outside of base, resources, repairs, shipments, logistics or the influx of forces in and out of duty. The Task master is the one who ensures all mech techs either area as professional as they are, but also prioritising the work tickets and handling of work. WIthout the MTM - the whole supply and work chain falls. Whether its salvaged mechs from dead pilots, repair bays working day and night or even to the food quality on your plate. The MTM is what makes the stuff flow through both logistically and work wide for site. The MTM is someone who wants results over personal complaints that things are impossible.

Michelle Beckett
You want to give attitude, she'll dish it back hot enough to melt your face off.
A woman who gets and makes results, speaks her mind and cares little for the niceties and more so tell you to fuck off if you try to make idle conversation.
An assett, a neccessity and no nonsense. While not a mech warrior its clear, she got to her position through the blood, sweat, tears and skin off her own work.
Not even afraid of telling pilots or hitting them if they get out of line if the mech isnt finished and they have the nerve to complain.

 

[WishBone]

Current Timeline of Events:
2483 - Expansionism after the fall continues with various factions utilizing ships for new collonies, eight are sent out to later discover former lost discovery vessells stripped and later a facility upon a moon with its own atmosphere. After making contact four months later - all communication was lost. All signals and calls for updates went unanswered. While an often occurance, this was deemed a catastrophic loss and recovery vessels were later sent to find the information on the loss of three ark ships. These two later resulted in further loss despite the ships being able to handle electromagnetic space storms, gravmatic anomalies and radiation. A no fly order was given and the sector known as the outer fringe was mapped and deemed as unsafe. A research station at the boarder line was next to go dark - the brief communication was that there were salvage vessels returning before signal loss. Sentry probes revealed something attaching itself to the station and along with strange technorganic vessels arriving from a jump along with dropships with no insignia. Hails for contact were met with silence and a fear in the outer regions began to grow.

2488 - Incursions. Without warning incursions began along multiple boarders and planetfall. Some smaller population worlds fell within minutes and others who had little to no protection surrendered in the hope to avoid bloodshed. From recovered and uploaded broadcasts the ones who surrendered were injected with organic organisms that whether or not seemed to swarm and force a victim into a paralysis before a complete change. To counter this, fortifications incorporated projected fields that was able to disrupt on a sound level the beings ability to sense or hear while also cooking them. Once the infection was completed, the Geist had access to all the memories and information of each indivudal even skills that they didnt possess but others had were also now available to them.

Resource worlds began to fall and while the nobles at first were ignorant and slow to act, the private mercenary quater seeing the threat starting to grow began to make plans with more proactive factions resulting in the creation of RUBIC but also the competion of MTO. Engagements began with these creatures and insectoid beings and infantry engaged others from secure positions along with AT and BT mech assistance. However what began to change the war was each play - the Geist learned and adapted. Each casualty and mech warrior lost was the Geist in gaining those skills.

2500 - RUBIC and MTO enage one another in open hostilities. Neither willing to co-operate or acknowledge the others presence on occupied worlds results in what is known as Quater Massacre. So caught up in their own differences, the Geist were able to surround them from a neighboring system and gradually close. The casualties incurred during this time while less that the Kassien incident - was also one of the worst horrors as it was here that ghost pilots of now converted Geist were revealed. Their own mechs cripping their own, not outright killing them and the pilots trapped within or ejected later captured assimulated or consumed. Even the dead - still had memories they could access. It was here that even after the central command of Alemind - a frozen ice world - they were able to broadcast their first message of demanding "Surrender and become apart of something more, than you could ever dream." Later revealed to have despite the commander opting to end his life by gunshot, the Geist were able to consume what remained to gather open channel access codes. These codes were later blacklisted - forever killing any dialogue with the alien threat.

2501 - 2520 - RUBIC and MTO begin operations while now respecting each others space, prefering to work independant of the other and not with. A bitterness lingering regarding the former conflict.
RUBIC and MTO secure further support from founding houses and vast resources, Mechs and Pilots continue to enlist and while the war at first seems to go off at a head start - there is considerable lack of bodies to throw against this encroaching threat.

2521 - 2540 - MIK establishes itself as working towards a superweapon project designed to burn back planets that are fully under the control of Geist. In short, turning the planets into a firestorm erradicating all threats and denying Giest to control systems within its range. MIK also begins to manufacture and ship Kinetic weapons of high quality to both MIK, RUBIC and other Mercenary forces and key faction backers. Research is slow and specimen access and bounties continue. The war against the Geist goes on with a horror as both sides enter a serious stalemate. But also where soldiers and some pilots, seeing their former clan and mercenary friends trying to communicate with them to convince them to join. Communications black out reveals that pilots and techs should not have devices to communicate to ally with the enemy. A restructure of base leadership comes after the fall of a forward fortress is lost when a commander grieving for the loss of family is contacted and promised to be with his family. With the gates open the Geist enter and while the defenders fight, its a massacre - those captured are added to the collective and those guilty and dared to escape are tried and under a court - executed.

2550 - 2559 -
RUBIC and MTO continue to refuse to work collaboratly but this soon changes when MTO assist in the defence of core worlds under RUBIC after a logistics error leaves them without ammunition and supplies.
Relations thaw and its revealed that MTO and RUBIC are having just as much luck. Eventually distrust changes to a more collaborative effort however, bias for either side still is there in the pilot side with rivalrys running hot.


2560 - Glassing of Kassien a focal point where the Geist had made landfall and had began to almost occupy 67.3% of the total planet surface. Minitry of Intregrated Kinetics - MIK admitted full responsibility for the catestrophic loss of pilots, infantry and personell at that site. Those furtherest from the impact point of the impact of the super weapon were able to make their escape however had only an hour to do so, resulting in the loss of extensive hardware, resources and mechs. The aftermath now has an ongoing salvage mission on such a now dead world, the fires burned away almost all of its atmosphere and reduced its once fertile soil to a coarse silica sand. The Geist that occupied due to there being no value, was able to move on and proceeded to push further through the system - RUBIC and MTO were forced to secondary fortified systems. The hit and run tactics of the Geist continued.

Both Nobles, Inner planetary governments, factions who knew, this was one of those decisive battles that could have possibly been a victory. Further investigations revealed that communications were distorted or unclear resulting in the misunderstanding to fire the superweapon. After this event, all factions agreed in the discontinuation of planetary superweapons to prevent further accidental loss of life. MIK went dark after various allegations of criminal activity, information trading was discovered and any MIK operatives seemingly vanished.

2563 - Current:
Eighty years since engagement with them - a single Geist Pilot was captured Albeit at a serious cost.
Taken first to TanCan - before being prepared to be handed to a dropship for extraction and handover to research and development corporations. TanCan is also in the midst of a rampant winter weather and unseasonal storms. The lances responsible have been returning here for repair and rearm and the pilots for much needed rest and recovery. Already with the captured individual for over a month, there has been noted delays in moving the prisoner next due to the change in the Geist to now recover their stolen pilot.

 

[WishBone]

Threads up. Get postin.

https://writerssanctum.com/threads/mechpilots-flesh-steel-honor-and-fire-character-compendium-and-lore.32882/

 

[WishBone]

Ok - Gonna start work on the Beastiary of what Geist are --- Gonna go it after I finish my 10 hour shift ----

 

[WishBone]

Know Your Enemy:
The Geist - what most refer to them as can look as human as you or I. Regardless of ethnicity origin and even though they seem to be a replica of those who we know were taken by them - they possess almost all of the memories that the original has. Their organic matter can replicate that of mechs right through to organic almost alien techno-hybrid beasts. Whats understood is that how they infest is almost in appearance to that of how a second skin that grows over the infected akin to that of a ribbon worm's ejection of its stomach. The victim is enveloped and from how this occurs it isnt sure but there are other creatures capable of doing this or inducing this on humans. In short, there are two stages of which a victim neither has time for either stage.

1 stage initial infection through piercing of the skin or injestion of the matter.
2 victims temperature increases as the body undergoes a chemical change of which the victim becomes enveloped by a crystalis generated by the human body and secreted from the repurposed sweat glands.

Medical Tech advises - no Pilot should ever allow a breach in their flight suit and any soldiers in field will be inspected for risks of possible infection. Mostly hints from breaches in armour.

Most can be found out from the typical heated metal in blood test as this can and will cause a reaction with a blood sample.

--------------
Field Intelligence has noticed that the mechs they use while they replicate what BT and AT mechs are - these can bleed and seem to react faster than their mechanical counterparts. Its also been shown that they can operate independantly without a pilot but less accurate and with a pilot within - its almost as if they have a symbiotic relationship.

-----------------------------

Surrendering forces are either infected in mass and handled by the various Drones, which can resemble a poor design of humnaoid appearance without a face to almost an insectoid which can illicit a subconscious terror.
Drones are not able to communicate - tend to work based off unknown signals which to this point no one has been able to capture. Some call the other types jellyfish, which fall into this role of converting assets to their side - unwillingly or willingly.

Soldiers, eight limbed and terrifyingly fast. Infantry report needing AT assistance to handle fast and sometimes numerable attackers. These creatures tend to operate as defensive or in handling downed pilots and mechs.
Some report while they can look like terrifying spiders, other times they can mimc, look like projected friends and family to either cause hesitation. However - engaged most will fight and fight to the death and can on occasions swarm heavier mechs opting to aim for joints, servos and working as a collective force. Some are armed with ranged bio-organic weaponry from leathal to incapacitating.

Heavy, bigger ones, non-mech mimics.
Most pilots havent encountered them - most never will as such beings are able to ambush most mechs and easily remove pilots from their mechs either by using biochemical weaponry to burn through the protective armour of a mech or with a multi-taloned claw rip them out.

Converted Geist / Ghost Pilot /
You've seen the brief parts of what they have but never have you encountered someone so dangerous as a geist ghost pilot.
Intelligent, aware, faster and stronger than a normal humanbeing. Emotionally projective - most have the mask of what lets them look almost human.
Where most cant let go of the memories of who they once were, its clear even if killed they will return with the same memories missing only the few moments before they were killed.

----------------------------

What is understood is that what they use is a strange mixture of bioorganic technology and calls to negotiate are often met with silence until an area is captured with zero possibility of resistance.
There is no recorded information of what occurs after they have taken over a planet or region of space.

---------------------------
Excerpt from Debrief of last encounter with a Ghost Pilot:

We had it surrounded - and it - she, he I dunno what the fuck. It seemed to grow a weapon before cutting through us and yet - for some reason I dont know why it let us go.