[b]Name:[/b] Titus Ulpius Marcellus [b]Age:[/b] 41 [b]Archetype: [/b]Soldier/Mechanic [b]Gender:[/b] Male [b]Appearance:[/b] Titus scowling countenance and heavy features bely a cheerful demeanor and gentle soul. Though the veteran soldier is tall and severe looking, his scars and flat, high cheekboned face transforms whenever he smiles. [b]Occupation:[/b] Lancer [b]Affiliations:[/b] The Immortals Regiment of the Tagamata, the Imperial Bodyguard and elite lancer units. [b]Skills and Abilities:[/b] Growing up an isolated dustball moon, on the fringes of Imperial space Titus grew up tough and grew fast. He learned from an age how to do basic repair work, tooling and welding on the gigantic farming and mining machines of his family's liege lord. In the Gynamsia, Titus often neglected his other classes in favor of wrestling, grappling, marksmanship and swordsmanship. Skills which carried over well when he enlisted into the Imperial Army. Faults and Limitations: Though easygoing in general and certainly approachable, Titus isn't particularly imaginative and is hidebound by decades of service. His role is to serve his Emperor, to innovate and think outside the box or challenge the current state of things is something well above his station. [b]Biography:[/b] Titus was born to a family of former Imperial Army, who'd been granted a small mining claim on the Terra-class moon of Clearchus. From an early age, the boy worked alongside his eight other siblings. They had little in the way of leisure time, for life on a dead moon, that was in the process of being terraformed, was no easy task. Still, when Titus attended school or stayed up late for remote courses, he dreamed of the great deeds of the lancer pilots before him. The men and women who had forged an empire. But for most of his youth, his days were spent working alongside his father, driving ore trucks, repairing welds, harvesting shelf farms and all the many other tasks that life on a colony demands. Titus' friends found him a stolid and reliable sort, if seemingly slow and often distracted. But few knew that when his mind wandered, it was because he was imagining himself into the cockpit of a mech, out waging war against the Emperor's enemies. But for the meantime, he had to content himself with maneuvering the various mining rigs his liege lord owned. While he was a competent, if unimpressive student, Titus found his favorite subjects where things like grappling, swordsmanship, jousting and the use of firearms. So, it came as no surprise to anyone that Titus joined the Imperial Army, like his father and mother before him. There, he continued to hone his skills and after many sleepless nights and tedious hours of forcing himself to study, the young soldier was able to pass the entrance exams and be awarded a slot for Armored Core training. Though, he came from humble origins and was never going to be officer material, Titus proved himself to be a very skilled pilot. More so when he reached his first unit and found himself in a desperate battle against a massive alien raid. It was there that he made a name for himself, in that unnamed battle. His commander had fallen, his mech's leg shot out from under him. So Titus caught up the Imperial banner the left hand of his mech and maintained fire with his mech's right hand. He stood over his trapped commander's mech until a maintenance team could extract the man from his cockpit and carry him back to the nearest aid station. Still, Titus fought in the counter-attack, despite the injuries he'd suffered. After that, he was recommended by his commander attend selection for the Imperial Bodyguard. And so for the last eight years, Titus has served his Emperor and the Imperial household, whether at home on Terra or abroad on the vast frontier in the void, he has never once flinched from his duty. Though he no doubt is well aware of the Prince and Imperial heir's many weaknesses, Titus is loyal and will not entertain any thoughts or comments on the subject. Not even from his own doubts and worries. [b]Mech:[/b] Heavy/Melee [b]Designation/Callsign: [/b]Hippo 7. [b]General Description: [/b]A towering, brutal hulk with boxy angles and a dark camouflage pattern. The mech stands a little over eleven meters in height and is almost as broad across its sloping "shoulders." Titus' mech is an unmistakable member of the Cataphract class. A mech that sacrifices firepower for its armor, surprising speed over short distances and its brutal melee weapons in place of ranged systems. [b]Role and Doctrine:[/b] Cataphracts were originally designed off a fire support mech's chassis. However, instead of trading between the usual traditional choices of speed, firepower or armor, the Cataphract was instead equipped with a giant, void-magicked shield. Where other mechs would scout, engage in long-range fire or provide artillery support, the Cataphract's role was to close with the enemy and deal out devastating melee attacks, until the rest of the mech force could arrive. In addition, it can also served as a sort of gigantic mech equivalent to the old Pioneer/Sapper role of infantrymen from days past. As such, it was built to be well-armored, festooned with all manner of scaled up melee weapons. Besides its more mundane defenses, the enchantments on its shield would hopefully allow it to survive the enemy's firepower and get within fighting range. [b]Notable Armaments or Systems:[/b] Titus mech stands a little over 11 meters in height, with a boxy "head" covered in angled reactive armor panels. Across the "head" is the transverse crest of an NCO. It stands in a slightly hunched over looking fashion, lending it an air of brooding menace and gorilla-like strength. The arms terminate in gigantic, articulated fingers that can allow the mech to grab on to or crush things. The entire mech is covered in dark camouflage of a rippling, striped pattern. It's equipped with a thirteen meter-long large axe/mattock, a six meter-long broad-bladed cleaver, a large maul and a prybar. These tools serve both as its primary melee weapons and its breaching/pioneer tools. However, the most distinguishing thing about the Cataphract class mech is the 7 meter high shield it carries on its left arm. The shield itself is just armored alloy but what makes it stand out are the glowing blue runs across its surface. Some of the newer Cataphract models have sacrificed armor on the right arm for a small flamethrower and a set of light machine guns. [b]Known Limitations or Vulnerabilities:[/b] While Cataphracts are relatively light on their feet and well protected, they're greatest strength is also their main weakness. They're too heavy to be air dropped and only the largest dropships can move them, and not in any great number. Their hydraulics and articulation systems are a mechanic's nightmare and prone to wear and constant leaks. The optics are only the most basic, making them poor choices for scouting or reconnaissance. The engine is not a reactor but a small turbine, based off a miniaturized aircraft design. As such, these massive metal beasts guzzle massive amounts of fuel, even when they're idling. The fuel mixture itself is also highly caustic and must be handled with care and full layer protective suit. In addition, that means that the mech is limited to an operational range of a little over 600 kilometers before it has to be refueled.