[center][img]https://fontmeme.com/permalink/221215/683398db0b6b5bfd654ad073f2e94b28.png[/img] [img]https://fontmeme.com/permalink/221215/a73da0b0154c3cd8adb40576d46f739e.png[/img][/center] [center][img]https://www.this-is-cool.co.uk/wp-content/gallery/andree-wallin-digital-sci-fi-artist/andree-wallin-scifi-robot-image-gallery.jpg[/img][/center][indent][color=807F7F][b][h3]Have Suit. Will Travel.[/h3][/b][/color][/indent] [color=white][indent][indent][indent]The year is 2678 and the people in the northernmost stretch of the Sea of Thieves find themselves in a concernable situation. The region has always been dangerous and tumultuous, but in the last few months the people of Last Hope and its neighbors have seen a change in the balance of power. New packs of raiders have encroached right in the middle of their trading lines, manipulating power stations and defense mechanisms that have kept their settlements safe for the last fifty years with no rhyme or reason. Their connections with the old guard have gone dark and with few mechs to defend themselves of their own they have hit the timer on the proverbial doomsday clock. A bunch of credits have been scrounged up and Jonas Ray has left Last Hope to go and recruit the best mech pilots he can find. Hopefully he finds enough to turn the scales before it is too late. [/indent][/indent][/indent][/color][indent][color=807F7F][b][h3]Overview[/h3][/b][/color][/indent] [color=white][indent][indent][indent]The world of [b]Polaris[/b] is a dark one. The remains of the planet Earth sit in dystopia following a devastating war that left survivors scrambling for resources. Not long after the smoke cleared, the corporations soon took advantage of the chaos and carved out territories where they could no longer be dictated by the declining state governments of the world. After nearly five hundred years, the status quo they dreamed of has become true. Corporate executives reign from their castles in their megacities, casting stones for sport while the people on the outside live in harsh, almost unlivable conditions. Cruel mercenaries far from these centers of society prey on the weak, stealing resources, killing whoever tries to stop them, and selling the rest to whoever is willing to buy. In the middle of this fight between corporations, scavengers, raiders, and everyone else is the one thing that ties them all together: the [b]Neural Combatant[/b]. These machines, piloted by extraordinary individuals with cybernetic implants, are both the destroyers of this world and the saviors. What role will your pilot take by their end of their lives on this neverending battle between the forces of good and evil? And how will they cope with the mental strain of the machines they have tied their lives to? [/indent][/indent][/indent][/color][indent][color=807F7F][b][h3]Neural Combatants[/h3][/b][/color][/indent] [color=white][indent][indent][indent]A normal bipedal tank is dangerous, but oftentimes the power sources of these machines are not adequate for large armors or weapons. In the earliest days of the post-apocalypse they were a dangerous force to be reckoned with, but ultimately their use was overshadowed when the megacorporations dug up something far more powerful. The Neural Combatant, or NC, is the pinnacle of military engineering. The antimatter generator runs through its frame into a unique neural node. A neural node that can only be accessed by a pilot who has synchronized completely with the strange and mysterious neural net, a network that links the pilot to a space that even today cyberneticists still can’t make heads-or-tails of. Without a compatible biochemistry these cores cannot be accessed and as such, the neural combatants themselves become effectively useless. The one benefit of a mech is anyone can pilot it with the right hands on the wheel. The cockpit inside the neural combatant’s frame has no such wheel, only an ignition. If you don’t have the right “key”, you’re out of luck. But if you do, not a single mech on this world can compete with a neural combatant one-on-one. For five hundred years, the neural net is still unknowable. Another issue has found itself in the realm of commodity. There is no such way to replicate the design of the combatant’s core and attempts to do so have resulted with utter failure; the only way to acquire a combatant is to find one. The megacorporations have done everything they can to claw out the secrets of these combatants and to acquire any they can find. For years, the corporations have had their way in this arms race. Independent paramilitary companies have merged with them, or contracted their services to their business model. Neural Combatants that don’t fall into corporate hands are with these companies or among the wastes. A handful of neural combatants have been found in the Sea of Thieves, coined for its large population of independent settlements of scavengers and violent, raider encampments. Far and away from the megacorporations, they are left alone. Until they aren’t. In 2155, a group of scavengers found two neural combatant cores. They are now living in a megacity in the lap of luxury. In 2117, a small settlement found a core of their own. They were killed by raiders who took the core for themselves. There are many such fates in the Sea of Thieves. But even if you procure a neural combatant’s core, fitted it with weapons, and found a compatible pilot the universe still spits on you from on high. Pilots who are compatible with the neural net meld their mind with the obscure network, becoming one with the machine. In moments of true, complete synchronization a lasting echo thunders in their mind causing damage that corporate psychologists have theorized is irreparable and severe. This effect has been thusly named a “Polaris Shift”. Every time the synchronization warps the mind, the shift occurs, and while it grants them even more control of their suit the effects outside are variable and unknowable. Long time pilots report mental lapses, psychoactive fits, nerve damage, and other such things. No pilot’s burden is the same. It is a terrible irony. To survive in this hellish world, you have to go a little insane to do so. [/indent][/indent][/indent][/color][indent][color=807F7F][b][h3]The World That Is[/h3][/b][/color][/indent] [color=white][indent][indent][indent]The dissolution of old world state governments and the rise of corporation rule came after the war ended and survivors scrambled back to city centers. Corporations had burrowed deep within shelters underneath the surface where their wealth, capital, and resources could be hoarded for when the war inevitably ended. These corporations took to rebuilding these city centers, to which they would eventually create cities atop the ruins of what once was. These cities would eventually become megacities, walled cybertech marvels where the only government was done by a corporate committee. Many survivors accepted the new status quo. Those who didn’t moved further away, hoping to find solace in their independence. This schism divided survivors into three denominations: dweller, settler, and raider. The corporations didn’t care. They had their mecha battalions, food, and clean water. Those who didn’t accept the new pecking order would be checks on a form eventually. This was true in many respects as corporations expanded century-after-century. They waged war against one another and with the discovery of neural combatant cores became even more bold. Dwellers thrived as they met quotas and supported their executives. Settlers were caught in skirmishes and crossfires. Raiders picked off scavengers in the chaos. Time carried on further. More war. More technological developments. The megacities adopted new power sources such as the thermodynamics of microwave power plants, fabrication factories allowed for more processing of metalworks, and eventually plasma and thermal batteries were devised. Datatools replaced computers and communication devices. A new age of cybernetics. Cities such as Seattle, Denver, Las Vegas, and others became titans of the new world. Beyond technology, the corporate boards that ran these cities began funding paramilitary factions and becoming more-and-more apathetic toward anybody they could step on for security and prosperity. All while the settlers that refused to become dwellers survived by a hair as they dealt with new world monstrosities and raiders aplenty. [/indent][/indent][/indent][/color][indent][color=807F7F][b][h3]The Megacorps[/h3][/b][/color][/indent] [color=white][indent][indent][indent]While there are many megacorporations of varying size around the new world, in the North American area there are five who are in a constant power struggle as they look to expand, secure, and protect what they view as capital gain assets. They are as follows: [b]The Blackstone Corporation[/b]: - - [b]Denver-Vegas Industry Group[/b]: - - [b]The Elysian Dream[/b]: - - [b]Fairbanks Incorporated[/b]: - - [b]Lone Star Technologies[/b]: - - [/indent][/indent][/indent][/color][indent][color=807F7F][b][h3]Components & Armaments[/h3][/b][/color][/indent] [color=white][indent][indent][indent]Manufacturers have created armors for NCs since the era of the Neural Combatant began in the new world. Many of these were built as subsidiaries of the megacorporations, though some operate independently, hoping that their use provides enough capital to give them the freedom to do as they please. Quality ranges from group to group, as does price, though they all more or less get the job done. The standardization of weapon types are [color=f26522]ballistic[/color], [color=92278f]thermal[/color], [color=fff200]ion[/color], and [color=0072bc]plasma[/color]. They are listed from cheapest and most available to expensive and least available. Reinforced armor additions to NC frames are not uncommon to protect the electronical infrastructure of an armor. With the advent of fabrication factories to make metal effectively out of nothing getting fitted for more armor is relatively inexpensive for pilots, given they are paid in more than pennies. A list of common components will be listed below: [hider=Weapon Types] [b]Ballistic Weapons[/b] Every single corporation makes ballistic weapons for personnel defense vehicles, mechsuits, and neural combatants. They are the easiest weapon types to create ammunition for and the most common on the battlefield. Most ballistic weapons are cost efficient and rely simply on reloading the feed of ammo into the weapon. Heat sink costs are generally low in comparison to higher end weapons, but that’s the price of lower damage. For the corporations that specialize in ballistic weapons (such as Blackstone, Lone Star, and Volkov), these weapons are often designed with high capacity auxiliary bins in the shoulders in mind. They range from heavy-to-medium in weight depending on how well the guns were manufactured and their intended use. [b]Thermal Weapons[/b] Developed to reduce fabrication time on dozens of ballistic rounds, thermal weapons rely on a thermal battery that serves as a microwave fission-based emitter that magnifies space into raw energy, melting through enemy armor. Generally displaced today by well-built shield generators, thermal weapons are still one of the more weight efficient and versatile weapons available for purchase. Most of these weapons are also at a benefit for medium-to-long range due to them largely being fitted into designated marksman rifles, sniper rifles, and long range cannons. Many corporations look to improve thermal weapons in many ways. For the companies that specialize in taking the weapon type to the ‘next level’ (ala Denver-Vegas, Elysian Dream, Fairbanks, Akahoshi, and Paragon) the goal is to decrease the time it takes for the emitter to microwave energy into matter and increase the damage by making it microwave at higher temperatures. Denver-Vegas prefers higher damage whereas companies like Fairbanks prefer the wait time to be decreased. [b]Ion Weapons[/b] With the invention of advanced radar, shield generators, drone hangars, and stealth systems so too came a new weapon type. Ion weapons are similar to thermal weapons except instead of heating up the air they choose to ionize it instead, causing extreme damage to electrical systems. They chew through shields, destroy auxiliary equipment, and even can cause damage to the central electrical systems of a neural combatant causing in-net seizures and blackouts. Due to their specific purpose they are almost always fitted for long range cannons, sniper rifles and the like. Ion weapons control the battlefield and many corporations are trying to figure out how to make them even better (examples include Lone Star, Magen, and Akahoshi). Ion weapons take an even longer time to build up energy for a shot than conventional thermal energy-based weapons, shoddy fabricated versions stall out, and essentially don’t deal any direct damage outside of very specific applications. Improving the reliability and reducing the ion generator’s charge-up time is key to improving the weapon type going forward. [b]Plasma Weapons[/b] One of the rarest things to see on a tank, mech, or combatant is plasma armaments. Relying on experimental power cells has lended toward the viability of plasma but only in short and rare bursts. Given its extremely expensive pricetag it is not often seen outside of elite corpo units, but once you see it everything clicks. Plasma is like ion, except instead of eating through shields (though it does that, too) it eats through armor-plating like a knife through hot butter or a kitten in a vat of acid. Truly the stuff of nightmares. These weapons, as rare and powerful as they are, do have drawbacks, though corporations are still pondering how to make them more viable and less costly to their fabrication factories. Only a few handful of these companies have access to the right materials and facilities to try to advance something that is already quite advanced (such as Elysian Dream, Akahoshi, and Fairbanks). The goal lies in its energy costs and instability. A badly made plasma weapon explodes, leaking all of the corrosive plasma onto its wielder. A not-as-badly made plasma weapon simply has too short of a timer. Is it worth the cost? You decide. [b]Other Weapons[/b] While less common or not-as-effective, other weapon types do exist on the battlefield. Some examples include corrosive acid refined from toxic waste, phosphorus, a “telsa cannon”, various melee weapons fashioned out of several metal alloys–the list goes on. [/hider] [/indent][/indent][/indent][/color][indent][color=807F7F][b][h3]Significant Events[/h3][/b][/color][/indent] [color=white][indent][indent][indent][b]2240 CE:[/b] Survivors congregate at city centers, looking to rebuild. [b]2678 CE:[/b] Starting Date. [/indent][/indent][/indent][/color]