Arnorian

Lancer [Mechs, Magic, and Intrigue]

Hey, I'm sick and so not up to doing much but I will post as soon as I feel better.

Lancer [Mechs, Magic, and Intrigue]

I'll have a post up tomorrow

Lancer [Mechs, Magic, and Intrigue]

Titus:

Titus' screen had flared green and then red with multiple warnings and target displays across his helmet's integrated HUD. Before they'd had time to discuss anything like a plan, their shuttle had been fired on and now the Baron was hurtling through the void to engage the enemy. Titus was no officer but he dearly wished at this moment for something like a staff or even an operations' section.

Still, he had his duty. So Titus checked the seals around his mech's engine and the oxygen mix tanks that kept the turbine fed in the vacuum of space. Not for the first time, he wished that the empire's procurement officials would get around to installing reactors in the Cataphract class. But if wishes were mechs, then all would men would be lances.

"Black Knight, Hippo 7 copies all, moving in at your three o'clock, middle." That said, Titus ignited the pulse jets built into his mech's lower body and went hurtled out into the darkness, carefully guided by stabilizing pulses from his core's maneuvering thrusters.

In the space there was no up or down but at least this way, the Baron would know where Titus was, relative to his own mech's position. Assuming the old man had heard his transmission, judging by his speed, the man had to be on the verge of blackout from the resulting amount of g-forces.

All across his display was a scene from hell, ships traded missiles and energy beams, silent explosions flared like the heart of the sun and clouds of debris spun through the void with deceptive slowness.

The Baron's aid looked to be all that could be done for Onyx-9 and so Titus grimly hefted his maul and raised his ancient void-magicked shield into place. The brightly glowing runes seemed to flare even brighter in the darkness of space. The Cataphract streaked through the dark and into the light of the distant sun and the flaring radiance of the duel between rival ships.

Titus adjusted his speed and angle just enough to lightly touch down on the outer hull of the beleaguered vessel. The mech's armored feet locked into place magnetically and Titus took a series of leaping steps towards the three enemy mechs. One mech with the white outline of a skull across its chassis turned and opened fire at almost point-blank range. Beams flared wide, harmlessly dispersing, missiles detonated short or skipped off into the darkness. The runes along Titus' black shield seemed to grow in size and brilliance.

Titus advanced, crouched behind his shield, teeth gritted against the storm of firepower that was raining down on him. At last, he closed the distance between his core and that of his tormentor. As his foe ignited his own jump jets and attempted to dodge the oncoming attack, Titus raised his dreadful maul and brought the massive weapon up and then around in a brutal arc.

Lancer [Mechs, Magic, and Intrigue]

I'll have a post up later on this evening.

Lancer [Mechs, Magic, and Intrigue]

Titus/Hippo 7

Titus had been in a sound sleep and dreaming of home, when the familiar claxon-like call of the alarm filled his quarters. Though not an officer, Titus was a senior NCO and a Lancer of the Emperor's Tagmata and so rated his own quarters. Before he was fully awake, he had rolled up from his bunk and was already pulling on his uniform. His task completed, he spared a moment to check his appearance in the mirror. He adjusted the fit of his black uniform, checked his sidearm and ID badge and then proceeded out the armored door and down to the mech bays at a dead run.

He slowed as he reached the slatted catwalk above the bays and glanced down below. As he'd feared, his maintenance section were still clustered around the looming bulk of his Cataphract class mech. The Maintenance Sergeant in particular looked frustrated and utterly exhausted under his coating of grime and grease.

The left leg was still steadily dripping hydraulic fluid, the armor plating clustered around on the deck or still hanging from chain hoists alongside the eleven meter tall machine.

Still, despite her state of disrepair and after all these years, Titus still felt a certain awe as he gazed at the silent menace of the old mech. A feeling crawled up his spine, not unlike what a person felt when looking at the fossils of prehistoric monsters. Black and crimson banners hung fore and aft, like the surcoats of the horse riding warrior class from millennia ago. A crimson crest stood transverse over the sensor suite that made up her "head."

Her form wasn't elegant or streamlined some of the newer designs, it was the brutally functional and simple bulk of an apex predator. A metal demon crafted by man to rend and tear his foes.

Titus shook himself from his reverie and leaned over the railing and shouted down at the team's leader.

"What's your sitrep, Sergeant Morne?"

The Maintenance NCO glanced up at the Imperial Champion and shook his head wearily.

"The damn thing is fucked, Staff Sergeant. I've had artillery mechs that weren't as temperamental, it's still leaking like a sieve and the engine stalls every time I try to put it in reverse."

Titus nodded slowly, there was no way that the team could reverse those kinds of faults in a hour. Still, the mission came first and he highly doubted that whatever caused the alarm would be polite enough to wait for his mech to come back online.

"Can you reroute the APU from the right leg?" He said to Morne.

Morne paused, sucking air through his teeth. After a moment, he shrugged.

"I can but you won't have full speed and it'll have the turn radius of this ship if you try and go to your left."

Titus smiled grimly. "I'll be in zero or low g for a lot of it, I imagine, we're not close to any worlds right now and so that means ship to ship.

"Get it done, you have twenty minutes."

Morne laughed and gestured for his crew to resume their work.

"You heard the man, get the right leg APU rerouted and get the armor back in place." He roared.

Titus opened the gate at the end of the gantry and slowly lowered himself into the cockpit with a series of half-turns and a small twist of his upper body, before he could finally ensconce himself in his ejection seat. He pressed a plastic stud and the HUD flared into life, its dull green background lighting up the narrow confines of the cockpit.

Per what Morne had told him, the touchscreen flared with amber and red as caution and warnings scrolled past. Well, if a mech worked fine that was because something truly awful was about to happen. Or so they'd told him when he'd began his training.

Titus lifted his helmet with its integrated display from its armored case, beside his seat and checked the seal and his suit's life support systems were online. That done, he raised the toggle cover and flipped the power switch that ignited the mech's engine. The turbine started with a sound like a giant vacuum cleaner and then spun up into howling life.

"Engine online, main weapons online, suspension operable." His mech's computer reported in her soothing voice.

"Well thanks, old girl." He said, though he knew she couldn't truly hear him.

Titus checked the engine health panel and nodded shortly, at least the sealed oxygen mix tanks that kept the engine fed in vacuum were still working correctly. The Cataphract had been hurriedly produced in a many ways and it showed, especially with the engine. Instead of an atomic battery or a small reactor, the engine had been installed as a stop-gap design. One that was still waiting for its replacement, decades after the fact. The modifications to protect from and let it operate in space had been welded on under the carapace armor, as an afterthought.

Still, it was good enough for right and that would have to do.

Titus scrolled through his display, while he waited and carefully reviewed the data picket from Lucia. Already, he could feel the deep thrum of the ship's engines rise, even through the armored bulk of his mech. No doubt they were changing course and headed for intercept of what or who had attacked the good ship Venture.

His comms crackled as Morne's voice came through his helmet.

"That's as good she's gonna get."

Titus glanced down via an exterior camera and used his mech's waldos to raise the right hand in salute at Morne.

Morne waved up at the camera and grinned sourly. "Best of luck, boss."

The gantry rose out of the way with a whine of hydraulics and Titus engaged his systems. The Cataphract's armor was pitch black and it gleamed dully beneath the flashing light. The plating was scored and lined with dozens of old hits, the grim souvenirs from countless fights. Some from Titus' time and others from the men and who women had ridden the mech into battle before him.

There was a pause as Morne hurriedly stalked across the bay to grab a hoist control and carefully ease a gunmetal gray case down from the massive racks that served to house parts and weapons for the mech. The object within was kite-shaped, though the bottom was actually squared off instead coming to a point. Morne paused to lower his flash goggles and then keyed the switch. The coffin-shaped case slowly swung open and Titus' mech reached out to take up the massive shield that let the Cataphract serve its grim purpose on the battlefield.

With its crimson field over a black background and the three ravens around the ovoid boss in its center, it could have been an oversized recreation of a shield from days long since past.

But as Titus grasped it, the thing flared into coruscating life, the jagged blue runes hissed and crackled with unnatural life. But for all their brilliance, the shifting symbols never once cast a shadow or changed the ones that stretched throughout the bay.

Titus, his helmet's visor lowered, mirrored Morne's salute and stepped out on to the gangway that led to the dropships and airlocks. With his mech's right hand, he readied the brutal shape of the massive maul and breaching tool, that served as his primary melee weapon. Finally, he lowered the cockpit cover with a hiss of seals.

Now, his mech rose to her full height. Like some primordial horror from the flickering shadows and turned to the right with an agility that belied her bulk and maintenance issues. No longer a crouched and shambling thing, she stalked down the alloyed deck with a series of cascading rumbles.

As he drew to close the assembly point, he could the unmistakable shape of Baron Wilhelm's Black Knight. Titus quickly scanned the comms channels and checked for any relevant traffic before making a comms check. As he did so, he heard Onyx-9 report in and he smiled grimly. This bunch of murdering pirates was going to be in for an unpleasant shock indeed, if that was the team leading their counter-boarding efforts.

"This is Hippo 7, REDCON 1, standing by." Titus said.

Lancer [Mechs, Magic, and Intrigue]

I'll have a post up tomorrow evening.

Lancer [Mechs, Magic, and Intrigue]

Name: Titus Ulpius Marcellus
Age: 41
Archetype: Soldier/Mechanic
Gender: Male
Appearance: 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.
Occupation: Lancer
Affiliations: The Immortals Regiment of the Tagamata, the Imperial Bodyguard and elite lancer units.
Skills and Abilities: 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.

Biography:

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.

Mech: Heavy/Melee
Designation/Callsign: Hippo 7.
General Description: 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.

Role and Doctrine: 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.

Notable Armaments or Systems: 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.

Known Limitations or Vulnerabilities: 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.

Lancer [Mechs, Magic, and Intrigue]

<Snipped quote by Arnorian>

Love the app. Consider Titus accepted! Feel free to add him to the character tab.

@Bentus

Will do, thank you!

Edit: CS is up

Lancer [Mechs, Magic, and Intrigue]

@Bentus

PM sent

Lancer [mechs, magic, and intrigue]

Count me interested