Current
Noble Arms is now either four years old, or three years and eleven months. The third thread had lasted for more than one year.
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1 mo ago
New Interest Check, everybody!
2 mos ago
My Roleplay, Noble Arms: The ASEAN War, will reach its 4th year in June or July. It's been a long journey.
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2 mos ago
Despite its massive flaws, my RP, Noble Arms: The ASEAN War, is still one of the longest ongoing RPs in RPGuild - It turns 4 years old in July and the current thread itself is more than a year old.
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3 mos ago
On 4/14/2026 (on my end), my RP, Noble Arms: The ASEAN War, is now three years and ten months old, and the current thread is one year and four months.
In dawn, the light of morning reached the city from across the sea, rays slowly creeping across the piers of Leviathan Port, its bay guarded by two enormous forts whose guns were always pointed outwards as a gesture of strength. With its vast rows of warehouses and machinery to move the shipments of trade, the port alone could be a city worthy of its name.
Just beyond the port, the spires of Ishtar School glow in the morning's light, close to the prison and morgues of the city. Across the city, almost equidistant and angled from its center, the towers of Marduk Academy mirror the splendor of its sister establishment, orphanages and artificing workshops around. Both of them are reputable bastions of learning in the city of magic and the rest of the world, While a multitude of smaller schools litter Iliad, those two stand out even beyond their headmasters.
The city of magic stands alone, though its historic isolation is less felt by its populace today. But walls still surround it on three sides, towards the west, their continuous enemy, the Hermannreich is still active even as the hills and forests to the north and south provide some measure of additional protection.
While there is a countryside outside the walls, with farms and livestock which feed Iliad City, a lack of other civilization gives the impression that it is alone in the world.
Iliad is like the rest of the world in miniature, one moment, it seems you are in an urban city center with apartments stacked in neat skyscrapers rising towards the sky, then one goes to the area next to it and observes single floor houses with backyard gardens arrayed in cul de sacs secluded by groves of trees. Magic can be felt all around for those who know to see, lifetimes spent pouring wonders into the city. Sadly magic does little to stem the ills of segregation and discrimination, your heritage and political influence, be it through money, might or magic a leap ahead of hard work even here.
Throughout the old city of magic, reaching higher and higher towards the sky the further into its center you travel, a few things nevertheless differ from the world at large. The heritage of the illuminated poet has shaped the path of his descendants and their fellow citizens, the pursuit of artistry, be it from magical craft or other expressions, Iliad is a beautiful city to wander.
Likewise, the philosophical and theological implications of knowing that there is a God who has actively gifted the world shape the people. Both countless places of worship towards the One Deity, and places of learning to understand the world are never more than a street away.
Like the city nation it is, Illiad has those that rule it, and where else would the power in a magical city built by and for descendants be but in the old houses of Illuminated Blood, akin to nobles. While commerce and world politics has seen new houses rise and fall, those with magic will endure. Estates appearing more often closer to the heart of Illiad. One who lives in the city will learn to know them on sight, by name and repute.
Those with bloodlines connected to the Illuminated Poet himself - The houses of Enlightened Blood - As if they are rewarded for carrying the burden they inherited, stands at the top of the city's hierarchy and are treated like the closest thing to Royalty. Though only a few hold official positions of power, most descendants, otherwise known as the Enlightened, take an indirect approach to being at the top of the food chain, such as owning essential businesses or advising those with official power from the shadows.
Like most on top, these particularly powerful families among the Enlightened tend to ensure their stay at the proverbial summit by kicking off anyone else closing in on it, making them both praised for their nobility, and scorned because of it.
It is still a rarity even among those with magic to see someone not of Enlightened Blood take a position of power, and such is done with skill and cunning, and not always through playing by the rules.
Which brings us again to the two academies: The Marduk Academy for the Mystic Arts, its headmaster an Enlightened one, Gilgamesha Ascot, and The Ishtar School for Creative Minds, heading a non-enlightened magic user known simply as "Nergal".
Like the stark contrast between the metropolis and its countryside, the cityscape and the suburbia, or the magically gifted and the non-magical in nature, the differences between these two schools is of night and day, almost literally.
For a myriad of reasons, reasons of ideology, of class and status, of the magic either school teaches. And by their differing view on the looming threats that the world places upon them. From enemies like the Hermannreich, to shadowy urban legends of those looking to slaughter and kill the Enlightened for the very thing they are burdened with. These two schools could not be more at odds with each other than they are. Theirs is a great rivalry of Light and Darkness, of the orderly and imperial, the chaotic and free. One that has lasted for many years and only now, with looming threats on the horizon has finally begun to reach a boiling point.
---
To the northernmost section of the city, as if above the rivalry of the two academies to the east and west, lay the one place where they could settle their score. An oval-shaped coliseum of marble, supported by a foundation of ebony and ivory, laced with strands of silver which wrapped around the whole stadium and unraveled near the top, looking like a vortex of silver from a bird's eye view. The crowds of hundreds of thousands cheer as they sit around the massive interior, ground level where its many events take place being 62 acres in size. Too large to see from the back rows? Giant monitors are planted above the audience section in the four cardinal directions to assist with this. Those events that happen within this stadium are usually so grand, that even those in the very back can see some of it more often than not.
Today was no exception.
The audience was restless as the sound of their voices, their cheers, and their yells came in endless waves from all directions around the stadium both inside and out, not a hint of silence to be had unless you're either within the stadium's catacombs or the commentator's box atop the north side of the stadium, and even in those you can hear the excitement as a ghostly echo.
On the ground level, many were gathered all over the area, and while there did seem to be some mingling between them, the divide was very clear. Staring at it from the north side looking south, where the horizontal length of this stadium was more clear than the vertical width, there were three very clear groups that filled the area:
To the east - the left side from this perspective - were a group of people dressed in uniforms of whites, cyans, yellows, and magentas, - bright colors to represent the school of Marduk.
To the west - the right side from this perspective - were a group of people dressed in uniforms of blacks, reds, greens, and darker shades of blue - colors to represent the school of Ishtar.
In the middle area of the field, dressed in myriads of colors with no particular uniform, were the staff of the stadium setting things up for the opening ceremony, while simultaneously making sure the bulk of the other two didn't come to blows with each other. There were of course some mingling of the three groups making the proverbial border between them blur, but so far, no hostility was in sight, any potential fights before hand, the staff were breaking up before it could be noticed, with magic if need be.
Eventually a giant platform was set up at the dead center of the arena, a golden rectangle in the form of a pedestal with three golden pillars upon it, two of equal to the left and right, with two small golden bowls atop them, and larger pillar in the center with a much larger golden bowl atop it. The students of Ishtar and Marduk were instructed - and in some cases forced - to return their respective areas of seats on opposite sides of the stadium as the staff dispersed, their job now finished.
The crowd all around began to grow loud in unison, for they knew what this meant. from the top of the twisted spires of the stadium shot out blasts of fireworks of a myriad of different colors across the sky, and loud orchestral music began to play as a multitude of dancers from both sides of the field moved to the stadium's field. The western group of dancers were motionless in the dark, as if waiting, but the eastern dancers began their dance to the melody of the orchestra, reminiscent of ballet, as if to represent a sense of nobility and order as a certain female singer of Marduk sang. Any civilian of Illiad would immediately recognize the lyrics, for they are the overture of light within the Epic of Making, the Motto of Marduk.
"In the white light, a hand reaches through. A double-edged blade breaks your heart in two. Waking dreams fade away, Embrace the brand new day. Sing with me a song of Birthrights and Love, The light scatters to the sky above. Dawn breaks through the gloom, white as a bone. Lost in thoughts, all alone."
As the song played and the dancers danced, a single student carrying a torch lit by her own magic walked to the eastern-most bowl, placing the torch inside the container and watching as the flames filled it up, with sparks lighting up the underside and lighting a trail of gasoline towards the center bowl, whose eastern half lit up in flames.
As the instrumentals reached their end, and the dancers called themselves back to a stand still, the beating of bongo drums could be heard to replace the violins, and in place of a orchestral song of orderly sophistication was a song of chaotic passion and heat as the dancers on the west side began to move now. If Marduk's dancers were more akin to ballet, Ishtar was exotic to symbolize fluidity and freedom, as if to become the fire to oppose Marduk's water.
Like Marduk, this was a song that also had its own lyrics, and like Marduk, they would be easily recognized, sung by not just any singer, but one of its more famous idols.
The Bolero of Darkness within the Epic of Making, the Motto of Ishtar.
"Embrace the Dark, you call a home. Gaze upon an empty white throne. A legacy of lies, a familiar disguise. Sing with me a song of Conquest and fate. The black pillar cracks beneath its weight. Night breaks through the day, hard as a stone. Lost in thoughts, all alone."
Near the end of the song a fire-using student ran over towards the bowl, performing front flips before diving headfirst into the Ishtar bowl, combusting its interior as the torch did in Marduk's. The boy stood in the bowl, and raised up both fists, both as a sign of victory and a sign of being ok, despite being in the middle of an inferno.
"Show off..." some of the audience and most of the Marduk students whispered, while most others cheered him on.
As he hopped out of the bowl, the dance and song reaching its end, the Ishtar flame made its way to the center bowl and merged with Marduk flames, the fusion exploding into a flash of multi-colored lights shooting up into the sky.
The crowds cheered, the ceremony was over, and the rainbow flames of the center bowl marked the beginning… Of the Iliad Grand Flyte Games.
Up in the Skybox, a man dressed up in an ironed black suit, a rather large chin to complement the slick brown hair on his head, sat down and flipped a switch on the computer, generating a live video and audio stream for tv and radio broadcasts across the world.
"Hello Historia, and welcome to the 100th annual Iliad City Grand Flyte Games. I, Iliad City News Anchorman Alfred Crowley, has been given the honor and privilege to be your host for these games throughout the week they occur in. My Partner, Jordan Solomon, was given the honor to be at ringside, and taking his place here in the skybox with me is 5 time Flyte MVP and Might Champion, Madeline 'Madame' Blavatsky. Thank you for coming to take part in this, Madame." The man finished his words, the charisma and optimism in them dripping into people’s ears, as he turned to the lady beside him, with short-brown hair, hazel eyes, and fair skin which showed a considerable amount of muscle as she rolled up the sleeves of her white dress shirt - A hint of her exercise regime - with a pair of black jeans masquerading as dress pants.
"Happy to be here, Al. Especially with this already special anniversary of the games is getting even more interesting than ever before. It's unfortunate that this year bars the open invite though."
"That it does, Madame. For the first time in these 100 years, the open-invite nature of these games which allows citizens of the City and the country to enter for the chance for victory has been cancelled. However, the reason for this is even more fascinating, for on this one hundredth game, the Marduk Academy for the Mystic Arts and the Ishtar School for Creative Minds are settling their many year long feud - arguably even longer than these games - to rest once and for all. For what's on the line isn't just the recognition and fame of being the Grand Flyte champion, being the school housing the champion, or the 5 million dollar cash prize, but the very core of their respective learning institutions, the pages of the Epic of Making itself!"
"Pretty damn risky move, speaking as an Alumni from Marduk myself, the pages each school holds are the very foundation of their lessons and training regimens, everything their students and graduates ever learned in their classes were thanks to the pages housed by those schools. If one school holds both sets of pages, the other becomes irrelevant, it could even put them out of the job. The schools had been at each other throats for as long as I could remember, probably even for as long as they were around. It's pretty hard to believe they're finishing it here of all places."
"That it is, but considering those rising tensions, they've been having with each other as of very recently, what with fights between their students across the city, this might just be the only way they could settle this without causing any damage or bloodshed."
"Probably more damage to the city than bloodshed. Some of the competitions here can get real brutal sometimes. I remember the battle of champions last year was a [BEEP]-ing warzone, not a lot of contestants got out of there in one piece, I remember cutting off a guy’s [BEEP]-ing arm at one point!" Madame smiling happily as she says this, Al leaning away from her as she did, before clearing his throat and again turning to the camera.
"...Which, uh, brings us nicely to the introduction for those new to these Grand Flyte Games. After all, every game's a person's first. So let's go over the rules and formation of the games at hand. The Grand Flyte Games takes place in a series of five events spanning the next five days in a row. These competitions are within five categories. The first four categories are randomly selected throughout the first four days, and the two headmasters of Marduk and Ishtar, Gilgamesha and Nergal respectively, get to decide the competitions of the four categories, with Marduk choosing the Light and Flight, and Ishtar choosing the Night and Write. The partaking contestants score a number of points for accomplishments made in the competitions, such as a goal reached, or getting some extra points for achieving impressive feats while within the competition, such as eliminating a number of students in a row or using clever ways of thinking outside the box to meet certain goals. The point distribution and the goal depends heavily on the competition, but generally the one that achieves the goal first wins that competition with the points added to the collective pot of the two schools. Normally individuals unaffiliated with either school get their own collective pot as well, but seeing as the open-invite nature of this has been cancelled, we need only worry about the two schools' pots. Moving on, Here are the four categories and the selected competition for each one.” Al said, a small glowing yellow orb appearing just above the tip of his index finger which he then uses to draw a rectangle, a trail of yellow light marking the movement made. When the rectangle was completed, it grew and became a slim holographic monitor appearing in the center between the two commentators. As Al began to speak once more, the monitor supplemented his word with images.
The Light - Representing a person's intellectual and strategic learning, generally resulting in a test of knowledge and wisdom while sometimes encouraging quick thinking and clever commands to students that could be fighting within. Sometimes it's a grand puzzle that has to be solved as quickly as possible, sometimes it's a trivia game show where the fastest buzzer and the quickest wit wins the whole thing, and sometimes it involves commanding other students to do the bidding of the Light representative and guide them on a path to victory.
This year's Light Competition has been chosen as a popular classic returning to the games, "The Tactic Kings!" A game of war and strategy as two teams of contestants battle it out in a fort battle where Tacticians and support teams guide their attackers through traps and opposition, while evading the plans of their opponents tactical strategist.
The Flight - Representing the speed, agility, and quick reactions of the individual. Running, jumping, climbing, and yes, sometimes even flying, it is a competition that focuses less on one's magical prowess, and more on the Athletic capabilities of the contestants and the ability to think on their feet. It's not enough to be magically capable here, you have to also be physically healthy and mentally adapt if you have any chance of winning any competition of this category.
This year's Flight competition is a doozy, another old classic we haven't seen since GFG 75, "The Fly Trap!" A game in which our contestants climb to the skies and race their way through an ever moving obstacle 5 miles up to grab a golden fly that will net them a ton of points and a cash prize of its very own.
The Night - Representing stealth, deception, and disguise, arguably another case that involves one's mental wit to elude and trick your way to the goal at hand. That in mind, competitions of the Night are arguably the most difficult of the 5 categories. You can't brute force your way out of anything from here by physical or magical prowess. You have to rely on being able to get to your target with as little commotion and few people noticing you as possible, a test that requires wit like Light, but in a different way from it.
This year's Night Competition's a fun and adventurous course run we've seen many a time throughout the century, and it's back by popular demand, the "Grand Labyrinth Raid!" Contestants have to sneak their way through a multi-layered maze to get the treasure in the middle, outsmarting both the treasures' guardians and other tomb raiding contestants.
The Write- The odd one out of the five, but one we hold in respect to the Illuminated Poet, and generally serves as a breather of sorts for the rest of the Games. The Write competition's all about creativity, imagination, and art. Usually competitions in these categories involve painting portraits, conducting theatrical plays and musical orchestras, creating ingenious inventions and yes, writing literature like poetry in honor of the great Poet himself.
This year's Write competition is looking to be one of the most exciting yet, for we have the stunning battle of musical bands, the "Orpheus Duel!" Judged by the grand Musical judge Orpheus, two bands of grand talent battle it out in a magical spectacle of musical wonder." Al explained, after which pushing the hologram's sides against each other and making it disappear. Once finished, Madame, who was watching the hologram as Al explained the games, looked to the camera once more to speak.
"All these games lead up to the final day of the games, the main event everyone is waiting anxiously for, the Might Category's "Battle of Champions!" A Free-for-all every man and woman for themself battle royale where the winners of each of the other four competitions fight to win the title of Grand Flyte Champion, and all the rewards that come with it. As mentioned before, the competition for this title is even more intense for the ones involved, for it's not just the title, the fame, or the cash that is on the line, but the continued existence of one of the two schools here in Illiad City. Much like the Battle of Champions itself, only one will be left standing by the end of this week." She said.
"We now turn you to my partner at Ringside, Jordan Solomon, as the Opening Ceremony concludes, and the first roll of the slot of games is about to be underway. How's it lookin down there, Sol?" Al asked. The TV would then switch scenes from the skybox to the ground floor of the arena as a well-built middle-aged man in a Teal suit, with brown slick back hair in contrast to a rather bushy beard and blue eyes looks towards the camera nervously, as people in the background behind him started to fight once again, albeit in smaller quantities in comparison.
"Well let's just say I wish I was in there with you two, Al. The opening ceremony just ended and a couple of hot heads from the two schools decided to try and fight each other again. The staff are breaking up the fighting once more and things are calming down for the roll is about to begin, but it's definitely lookin' like both schools are out for each other's blood. ...It looks like the slots for the first game is about to begin." Jordan "Sol" Solomon said in response as he looked behind him during the pause. The Camera turns over to a giant monitor showing a 4-part wheel. The four parts have four marks on it: a wing for Flight, a sun for Light, a moon for Night, and a pen for Write. Atop the wheel is an arrow that seemed to serve as both the stopper for the wheel and the winning area. The screen shows the number 5 and starts counting down, and as it did, the cheering crowd began to countdown along with it. When the countdown ended, the wheel began to spin, the arrow on top eventually causing it to slow down to a stop.
And the arrow points to....
The Pen.
The audience cheered loudly as the pen came off the wheel and became a giant logo that covered the screen.
"There you have it, folks, the The first competition of this year's Grand Flyte Games will be the Write. The crowd seems to be really excited, as are the students seemingly getting fired up for the Orpheus Duel. The Staff is now prepping up, I'm being told the competition will be ready to begin in about 30 minutes. Back to you, Al."
"Thanks Sol, and good luck out there you trooper, I do not envy you one bit." Al said as the camera turns to him, smiling and containing a giggle at the potential harm that could befall his partner.
"I do though, I'd like to go down there and kick some [BEEP]-ing Ishtar [BEEP]." Madame said with a smile of her own, cracking her knuckles as she did, once again making Al give her a slight look of composed worry.
"*Ahem* You heard it here folks. The Write competition will begin in about 30 minutes, and of course we here in Illiad City Arcanum will be broadcasting the whole thing as it happens. For now though, we'll be right back after these messages." Al said. The camera fades out of the sky box to a view of the stadium itself for about 5 seconds, a footer at the bottom of the screen showing the Pen logo and the word "Write" before it fades to black and cuts to commercials.
Letter Bee’s Portion
Participate in the Competition or I cut off Jacob from the Inheritance, William remembered his mother saying as a last-ditch attempt to have him join Marduk’s side in the Tournament. It worked - Gilgamesha Ascot had counted on her son’s desire to reconcile their family in order to get him to fight for her cause one last time before William picked his own path - Not that William was going to wait for her assent.
He looked at the bandmates he had for the ‘Write’ Competition - Nika, Lizzie, the two Magical Girls and perhaps one other student - who were outnumbered by the Ishtar students who had chosen to participate on the opposing side. A sigh, Wiliam had expected to be the underdog before, but as his own faction, not a part of his mother’s. Didn’t she see how her part in the rivalry between Ishtar and Marduk was leeching off promising students from the latter?
Then the boy grit his teeth, and said to Nika and Lizzie, “We are going to need to use a loophole in the rules - Nothing says that all of us have to sing - The rest of us can work on setting the stage and increasing our song quality. I dislike how mother insists on ‘cheating without actually breaking the rules’, and I’ll be open with it - She’s become corrupted by vengeance.”
A pause, as he handed a packet of acorns and a bar of high-calorie food to Lizzie and said, “I need you to grow oak trees around our stage to focus the sound from both bands to the audience - Call it sportsmanship.” Then to Nika, “As for you, I need you to ward off our opponents’ own attempts to prevent our song from being heard - I know Nergal told them to cheat.” Then to the two Darvon sisters, William handed them a note saying, “Here are the lyrics of the song I want you to sing. Use any tone and melody you want as long as you leave the words themselves unaltered.”
He then turned to the one remaining student, assuming she had not just vanished, “As for you, I need someone to guard me while I observe, copy, and forge into an item every enchantment that our allies and opponents are using. But if you don’t want to do that, I can’t fault you - After all, I have ulterior motives..."
If one can hear George Allen, CEO of Denver-Vegas, talk, one can see that he genuinely believes D-V is the legal and cultural heir to the United States of America and its principles of 'Freedom'. However, that sincere belief does not detract from the fact that 'Freedom' in Denver-Vegas is mostly enjoyed by the wealthy, with the poor receiving only the barest amount of its fruits. While not starving, the lower classes of Denver-Vegas' arcologies are seen as a backward and primitive group that should be kept complacent through bread and circuses. Any form of initiative is swiftly crushed by the corporate establishment, including genuine entrepreneurship - Anyone who develops a new idea or invention is forced to sell it to Denver-Vegas at a lower price, and any new business that grows beyond a Mom and Pop store is swiftly bought by the Corporation to avert competition.
Bread and Circuses typically take the form of 'free television', 'free access to CEO-approved websites', and countless races, professional wrestling events, beauty contests, and lotteries. Little to no breaks are given between every event in order to make sure that the constant surge of entertainment is taken for granted. Bright colors, loud music, and constant spectacle greet those who enter the cities, disorienting them and making it hard to form dissident thoughts.
Outside the Arcologies, Denver-Vegas cements control by giving a surprising amount of power to the smaller towns and hamlets in the new rural America. These smaller towns and hamlets are allowed ‘the right to bear arms’, as long as they have nothing that can bring down an NC, and are also allowed to set their own laws. This, of course, is in exchange for selling their products to Denver-Vegas only, setting their televisions and the internet solely to Denver-Vegas' entertainment network, and giving D-V the rights to any new inventions developed outside the arcologies, even if it is something as simple as an electric windmill made of scrap.
And finally, Denver-Vegas’ CEO is one of the few people left in the world who technically controls two companies, not just one. In a decision made during the surrender of the last Independents on the former Continental United States, George Allen, in his capacity as a private individual, founded a smaller, more private corp on what was once the Independent Alliance of New California. This corp, Paradise Garden Company, was ostensibly meant to research agricultural tech but is rumored to be researching the ‘restoration of biodiversity to Earth’, aka making new forms of mutated life to replace the species Humanity drove extinct...
Denver-Vegas relies on two things: Durability and Firepower. Note however that due to a decree by the President-CEO during one of his days of madness, the Corporation is forbidden from using Energy Weapons, or at least, visible ones. Thus, most forms of offense rely on the use of railguns, missiles, and high explosives, delivered via numerous, durable, vehicles and NCs. However, they do not neglect the need for speed, and a small but notable percentage of D-V NCs are ‘Hunter-Killers’, fast humanoid machines who launch volley after volley of heat-seeking micro-missiles at a target, before closing in with sharp, building-sized blades.
Fairbanks LTD:
Fairbanks rules over the most northern third of the Americas, with a few holdings in Greenland. Believing that the only ‘wrong’ field of inquiry is Nuclear Research (and only because it resulted in the apocalypse), Fairbanks is structured around supporting a ruling class of technocrats and scientists - Descendants of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and similar institutions. This ruling class is supposed to research terraformation, infrastructure, health, and other positive-sounding things, but being sandwiched between Denver-Vegas and Paragon has made sure that much of their budget is spent on ‘super weapons’, some of which include biological weapons and other inhumane means of warfare.
However, all the wonder-weapons in the world would not compensate for lack of resources and manpower, and that is where true pragmatism rules in Fairbanks. Instead of subjugating Independents outright (and thus drawing the suspicion of Denver-Vegas), it instead gives their people a deal; give them resources and volunteers and get medicine and agriculture in return, or have their crops and livestock suffer 'coincidental' plagues. Needless to say, it proves an effective bargain...
Their NC’s are few and far between, making standardization a difficult prospect at best. But there is a focus on the weird parts of 'super-science', such as biological bodies (built around a metallic NC Core) that regenerate wounds in mere minutes and project barriers of 'hard light'. The latter is immensely expensive and is kept only as a weapon of last resort.
Paragon Industrial & Nuclear:
The Aristocratic Corp, Paragon Industrial and Nuclear is ‘Neo-Feudal’ in its outlook and values, materialistic, capitalist, and possessed of a strong belief that if ‘innate superiority’ is nonsense, then ‘artificial superiority’ must not be. And so Paragon uses biological enhancements to make its ‘Middle Management’ better than others, forming a ruling class of aristocrats who are smarter and stronger and better-looking than the ‘gene-serfs’ who make up most of the population, which, despite their name, are just baseline humans.
This ‘class system’ also manifests itself in the allotment of NC Cores and Bodies. Baseline Pilots are allowed to pilot Cores that require a low level of connection between Mecha and Human, for those are seen as ‘useful but expendable’. These ‘Serf-Pilots’ take second-fiddle to the vat-grown ‘Angel-Knights’, who pilot the faster, better mechs. Occupying a position in-between the two are the ‘Agents’, baselines with a high ‘Sync Ratio’ and thus able to connect to very good NCs, but whose ‘low-born’ status prevents them from associating with the ‘Angel-Knights’. These ‘Agents’ are assigned to black-ops jobs all across the globe, in order to act as ‘assassins with mechs’.
Life for an average Paragon citizen is mostly good, with guaranteed protection from the grand majority of diseases. Food security is also seen as important, with Paragon citizens receiving better diets than their peers in other Mega Corps. They also receive secure housing and the right to own personal property, with the more intelligent among them serving as 'Stewards' for the ruling class - Sub-managers who are increasingly doing the actual management instead of the Middle Management.
Of course, the downside is that theoretically, an aristocrat can do anything to them, even torture and murder, and get away with only a minor fine paid directly to the CEO’s office for the destruction of her property. The aristocrats themselves are prone to manipulating, backstabbing, and murdering each other, using their own children as pawns in their schemes and raising said children to backstab, manipulate, and murder as well, all for a slight increase in stock shares...
Their NC’s are sleek and barely resemble actual human beings. Their legs and arms are little more than moving counterbalances, and feather-like heatsinks dominate the standard Paragon NC’s back. This makes them look simultaneously Angelic and Alien, and both impressions are reinforced by the fact that they favor energy weapons - A few even have Fusion Cannons which can fire superheated hydrogen.
Al-Amir Group of Companies:
Urbane, Elegant, and Sophisticated, Al-Amir prides itself on having at last bridged tradition and modernity. Having cast aside past centuries’ reputation of terror and bloodshed, Al-Amir, under its ‘Sultana-CEO’, Raiza Agha Khan, is now as a place for sanctuary, where all those with useful skills are welcome. Governed from the city of Shiraz in Iran, Al-Amir extends its reach from Afghanistan to Thrace, having rebuilt the Middle East in its own image.
However, there is a price to pay for peace and prosperity, and Al-Amir makes it known when it exacts the ‘genius tax’, a requirement for each major city and community, regardless of religion or ethnicity, to hand over to the Ruling Corp’s officials all children who show above-average physical or mental talent. These children are then made ‘property of the corporation’, and educated as warriors or civil servants, before being ‘redistributed’ back to the corporate territories to serve as defenders or administrators.
In other, less savory, but still ‘normal’ ways does Al-Amir remind people that the world is not beautiful, as despite being a Corporation, it bases its economy on exports and high tariffs — the latter which it can afford because it has the Suez Canal — as well as ‘self-sufficiency’. The outcome of this is that foreign goods enter Al-Amir territory less, and local goods are more expensive, thus, despite peace and relative freedom, the standard of living for the average citizen is poorer than in other places, giving them an incentive to give their children away to the Corporation, which gives those who are willing to part with their flesh and blood a hefty pension and other privileges in response.
The life of a child made the property of Al-Amir Group of Companies is materially luxurious, with better treatment than 'ordinary folk'. Though abuse and exploitation exist, children are permitted visits to their family and encouraged to pay for improvements to their home communities like water purifiers, grain mills, hospitals and houses of worship (reflecting the tradition of Mamlukes and Janissaries paying for Churches in their home communities despite converting to Islam - Such a conversion is not required for current Al-Amir 'property').
Al-Amir is a Ruling Corp that relies on defense-in-depth, not just lines of static defense. Behind the borders lie networks of fortresses, behind the fortress networks are heavily-entrenched cities, and behind the cities lie a hostile countryside where every mountain, forest, or stream hides landmines or punji sticks or even just rows of IEDs. All the while, Al-Amir’s main armies shadow the enemy forces, waiting for a decisive battle against worn-out and decimated foes.
As for their NCs, Al-Amir specializes in reliable Mecha that can be refitted to run in the desert, the mountains, and even the steppe and undersea. In short, they are the all-terrain specialists who can fight anywhere without engine or electronics failures. As for armor and armament, Al-Amir focuses on light but strong armor that can blend into the desert sands, as well as digital camouflage, assault rifles, obsolete Volkov rocket designs, and grenades.
Tshwane Mining Inc:
Led by Katlego Kgosi, the transhuman CEO of the South African Corporation, Tshwane, also called the ‘Blacks and Whites’, rules directly over the southern half of Africa, and has taken the Independents of the northern half as its protectorates, with the exception of Egypt which is ruled by Al-Amir Group of Companies, their ally. Actually and actively benevolent thanks to years of ‘therapy’ on the open surface, Katlego rules over Tshwane with a fair hand, investing in his workers in the belief that keeping them healthy improves productivity.
However, not all is well. Not all approve of the alliance that Katlego forged with the African Independents, where they are essentially liberated as their own 'states' as long as they accept Tshwane’s ‘diplomatic protection’. Basically, the African Independents count as part of Tshwane in legal terms, meaning that the other Ruling Corps cannot invade them willy-nilly. But in exchange for this, the obligations by the African Independents to Tshwane are very low, just permission for Tshwane to buy supplies and recruit volunteers in their territory.
And of course, there is factional warfare within Tshwane’s main structure itself, with two dominant factions jockeying for power. The first one is the 'Human Investment Faction', which believes that happiness is the goal and that profit must be used to serve Human wellness, physical and mental. The other is the 'Hybrid Vigor Faction', which was formed as a hostile reaction to the idea that one race should rule over everything. Instead, the Hybrid Vigor Faction advocates that the best way to prevent apartheid or post-apartheid racial divides is to elevate Mixed-Race people to positions of power. Katlego Kgosi sees this movement as dangerous, but as he himself is Mixed-Race, he allows it to exist.
Tshwane Mining Inc’s most fearsome weapons are 'Artificial Diamond Munitions', which use Tshwane's mastery of material sciences to mass-manufacture diamonds for use as armor-piercing weapons. These weapons are provided to the NCs of Tshwane en masse, allowing each Tshwane NC armor-piercing capability. For melee range, Tshwane NCs also keep chainsaw blades with teeth made up of the finest artificial diamonds that the company can provide.
Bahadur Raj Corporate Pact:
India has had a long and storied history, and the Bahadur Raj Corporation of Sovereign India reflects it. Actually a conglomerate made up of three ‘lesser’ companies; the manufacturing giant Tata, the energy company Bharat Power (formerly Bharat Petroleum), and the Corporate Bank of India (formerly the State Bank of India), the Pan-Indian Corporate Pact is bound together by a complicated series of guarantees and agreements that make sure that every part of the larger whole makes a contribution while remaining autonomous. Or at least, it’s supposed to work that way.
In practice, whenever the CEOs of the Pact — three brains-in-jars that count as one member of the Cabal for counting purposes — aren’t giving things their direct attention, corruption and cronyism are rife, with the ranks of Middle Management hoarding luxuries from all over the world while exploiting the workers. These workers are plentiful thanks to the rapidly growing population of the Subcontinent, and although the Tata section of the Pact still remembers to treat them well, the other sub-companies are far less caring. Nevertheless, if one ended up with the right Middle Manager or in Tata, there is a real chance at a better life.
The Pan-Indian Corporate Pact can field NCs just like any corporation, but the underlying theme of their military is not centered around said NCs, but rather on their NC Carriers, vast flying/hovering fortresses that can carry wings of Mecha and Aerial Drones.
Not to say that Pan-Indian Mecha don't have a unique theme; almost all of them have antigravity engines that allow them to fly, and those that don't have other ways of being launched from the air and surviving the drop. Thus, most NC weapons are either light railguns and coilguns or energy weapons and blades, with heavy weapons being confined to 'deep strike' Mecha or support naval ships.
Red Star Shelter Solutions:
"As the People's Republic of China showed, there is no contradiction between Capitalism and the State, Free Enterprise and The Party. Collective unity is the best environment for worldwide security, and security is the backbone of the business." This was a statement from Red-Star's Board of People's Directors when asked about the contradictions within their ideology and its fusion of Communism and Capitalism.
Red Star controls the majority of Mainland Asia, Japan, and until Haven became a trusted provider of mercenaries to other Corporations, held a claim over Australia. They are a proud collective where the people at the bottom rung are supposedly happy with their lot in life, kept in line through brainwashing or peer pressure - Their ideal is that the individual should not exist and that all are part of one larger organism. Thus, below the executive 'nobility' and military officers, they are effectively a communist ‘state’, ironic for a Corporation.
They are highly interested in Neural Nets’ very nature, and if any strides are being made in the Neural portion of NCs, they are the most likely source. Their pilots have a superb connection with their NCs, which have the highest number of melee weapons in any Ruling Companies’ NC forces. Their Neural Combatants resemble ancient warriors or demons, with these terrifying forms made less impractical by their pilots' high Sync Ratios. And because of their focus on capturing enemy pilots, they also carry stun rods, EMP weaponry, or even electrified nets that can paralyze an entire Mech.
Volkov Nuclear Security Systems:
Volkov Security. The very strongest of the Ruling Companies, nothing goes on without them interfering in some form, either openly or secretly. They make certain that everything in their territory is used, as they have control of the world in their sights at all times. The Board of Directors is constantly infighting, seeking to please their mysterious C.E.O. who has been controlling them from outside any Burrow or installation, away from prying eyes. Nobody knows where exactly he is, but he makes sure his direct inferiors know who’s in charge, in charge of rebuilding civilization and setting it in the path of progress.
Life in Volkov is harsh, but those who prove themselves to be of value are not discarded for as long as they show their value. Harsh punishments and cruelty are rife, same for inhumane experiments that break all rules of scientific ethics. Happiness is ignored and put to the side in favor of 'progress', which is defined as an increase in strength and technological power and sophistication, and the ability to overcome obstacles through optimization and brute force, with lateral thinking and approaching the problem from another point of view being seen as weakness, along with cooperation outside one's small group of compatriots and the larger corporation.
Their NCs are all highly specialized machines, making an overview moot. However they’re constructed, they have one ultimate goal in mind and are built to be as best suited for that purpose as possible. Note that Volkov Mecha have every technology that all the other MegaCorps have, whether Fairbanks' biological bodies, Paragon's energy weapons, or Red-Star's Melee weapons and EMPs. The only designs it hasn't acquired or duplicated yet are Haven's, and that's because Haven hasn't developed a standardized style of NC Combat yet.
Haven/Free Australia:
Haven City is a Burrow underneath Sydney, Australia where much-lost knowledge and technology remains, ruled over by the Federal Assembly of Haven, which in turn is elected by lesser councils that are in turn voted into power through direct democracy. The 'Three Idealists' who had taken control from the UN Commission of Refugees; Afrin, Kobane, and Qamishlo, managed to set up a system based on the legendary 'Old Rojava', which from their view was a bastion of gender equality, equal rights for all ethnic groups, and coexistence between religions that had been ruined only by outside intervention. And their system not only continued to work for centuries, but also caused a flowering of art, thought, and discovery that emulated the best aspects of the Old World.
After an intelligence campaign meant to gain information about the surface, Haven built up a network of secret allies among the various techno-barbarian tribes, independent settlements, and warlord states of the Australian Continent, slowly unifying the territory around a shared dream, a dream of cooperation and compassion. Red-Star, the 'owner' of Australia during that era, would have retaliated, but Haven offered their services and that of their NCs as mercenaries to Red-Star's competitors, granting them protection from an immediate attack.
Now, organizing themselves into a series of Federal Cantons and Communes, Haven has become a land of rebuilt cities sporting mud-brick meeting houses and cafes, along with bathhouses, hospitals, and urban farms. Energy is provided by power plants that use human and animal waste, as well as the natural power of the sun and wind, while the defense is provided for by the people themselves, who are both armed and disciplined in the use of arms.
There are also special 'all-female' units of Mecha Pilots and conventional troops, the Havenite Women's Protection Forces, whose job it is to act as a memory of 'Rojava's Glorious Days'. For in Haven, Old Rojava, the stronghold of democratic confederalism and limited capitalism born in the Syrian Civil War, was an exemplar of Humanity's best attributes.
Haven Mechs are made from designs stolen from various MegaCorps, as well as ‘Original Generation’ blueprints crafted for their Aces - These are specialized for each Ace’s personal psychology and skills. Basically, anything you want.
Note, however, that despite all this, Haven is torn between two desires; the need for the egalitarianism of worker-owned businesses, small but prosperous peasants and communes, and the necessity of defending this revolution and spreading it abroad (as a buffer against invaders). To do the latter, Haven's Federal Government uses the structure of Limited Capitalism to build the economies of scale necessary to build the small but professional force which the paramilitaries of Australia can rally around. But due to this, Haven has developed what it abhors most; a small concentration of elites with increasing wealth and economic privilege. This 0.1% poses a problem in the future...
Neural Combatantants (NCs) are this setting's term for Mechs, bipedal (mostly) humanoid war machines driven by pilots. These Mechs' shapes are made practical by a 'Neural Net', a man-machine interface that connects the pilot directly to the vehicle's computer core, allowing them to conduct nigh-supernatural feats with their Mech and demolish dozens of conventional tanks, artillery, and warships. To establish this connection, the Pilot is implanted with a device at the back of their neck in order to be able to access an NC's interface.
The most vital part of an NC is the Core, a combination of Cockpit, Fusion Reactor, and Supercomputer which cannot be duplicated. However, the Core can have any sort of frame built around it, although humanoid ones are preferred. When an NC's frame is changed in any way, even if it is just repaired, the pilot gains phantom pain when plugged back in, due to his neural connection causing him to think that his mech is his body. This makes Non-Humanoid Machines hard to use unless one has a low Sync Ratio (more below).
The effectiveness of an NC depends on the synchronization score of the neural net with the pilot. Both ends of the spectrum offer advantages and disadvantages, with the lowest, 50% synchronization, giving higher pain tolerance and lower mental strain when the Mech is changed. Not merely that, but 50% Sync also makes it easier to pilot Non-Humanoid NC Bodies, although it is still not recommended as one can gradually suffer the paralysis of one's normal limbs when outside the Mech.
The other end, 90 - 100%, enhances the senses and speed of the Pilot inside the Mech, allowing them to dodge bullets. The alternative, however, is that they feel pain when an enemy manages to hit their Mech and their armor, and in time, their ability to feel it is enhanced outside as well as inside the mech, to the point where eventually, every touch causes blistering pain and they have to take painkillers or receive neural surgery just to live a normal life.
Note: As said, Inkarnate gave me permission to run NCQuest on Roleplayer Guild.
|HISTORY|
It is the year 2677, half a millennium after a nuclear war ended the Modern Age and its dreams of a rational and humane future bound by mutual respect and cooperation, at least for a while.
There were two groups of Survivors: First was the Independents, a motley band of unimportant cities, rural towns, and even entire countries that were too unimportant or neutral to be directly targeted by nuclear weapons during the war. The people who lived in them lived a hardscrabble life, filled with hardship and loss but also true freedom and the potential to rebuild what had been lost.
Second were the Burrows, large underground cities filled with advanced technology, where the old elite of the world had retreated, ready to take back the surface once the radiation had died down. Controlled first by the remnants of the Great Powers of the pre-war era, then by the ‘Nuclear Security Firms’ that had built and operated the bunkers, the Burrows became company towns in all but name. This was made worse by the fact that the CEOs of the Nuclear Security Firms were losing the belief that a happy and content populace were more productive or even a worthy objective to attain.
The War was taken as proof that the only values which matter mattered were strength, talent, and power, and that ‘Protecting the Weak’ was a luxury at best, an obstacle to true virtue at most. That the future belonged in the hands of an elite that was automatically better than the common masses of Humanity and that said elite should not be questioned or opposed for any reason. The plutocracy was rich because they were better - If the poor wanted a voice, they should stop being poor.
And so when the Burrows opened to allow the newly-minted Ruling Corporations through, their meeting with the Independents inevitably led to conflict...
During the months of conflict proceeding the launch of nuclear weapons, a new technology, the ‘Neural Net’, had made war machines based on the human form somehow practical, as this mysterious innovation allowed the pilots of said humanoid mechs to call forth feats of impossible prowess, a prowess that cannot just be attributed to perfect communication between man and machine. The name of this type of weapon, the first Mecha, was the Neural Combatant, or NC, and it soon became a name to be feared.
While it was true that even the Burrows and Ruling Corporations cannot duplicate the technology of the NCs’ cores, they can, however, make better bodies for said cores, meaning that whenever the Corps' acquired a stash of them, they can outpower any jury-rigged Mech used by an Independent. But to acquire Cores or stashes of Cores, the Corporations had to play nice at first, offering security, medicine, and a better life before revealing their true face. And so many Independents willingly, but foolishly, bent the knee to the Ruling Corporations.
But a few, such as Fortress Switzerland and the Underground State of Israel, who had Burrow-like redoubts and the facilities to upgrade their own NCs’ bodies, resisted. These were joined by the Independent Alliance of California, the Guangzhou Clique, and the New Japanese Republic, as well as New Nigeria and the Second Ethiopian Empire, which had enough resources to take the fight back to the Corporations. And so the First NC War started.
Said war lasted for twenty years, but in the end, the Ruling Corporations cemented their domination of most of the World, with Fortress Switzerland and the Underground State of Israel forced into hiding while the larger Independents were disarmed and dismantled - Those among their people who were willing to collaborate and accept the new order were given privileges and allowed to join the Corporate Elite, while those who refused were punished with the most abject forms of slavery.
In time, however, attitudes slightly softened as the Corporate Elite realized that they cannot rebuild the world with broken tools. Because of this, there was some genuine interest in improving lives and working conditions, but only to make sure that the Elite had capable servants to help them with their grand project of 'progress and development'. But underneath this veneer of conciliation and concessions was the old corruption and brutality, only better-hidden.
Then one day, one Corporation decided to go still further, and actually Invest in the Human Race...
It all started with Katlego Kgosi, the CEO of Tshwane Mining Inc in South Africa. The first one to return his headquarters to the Earth's surface, Katlego saw the broken and shattered landscape around him, a broken and shattered landscape that he wanted to restore to its pristine state for reasons which started out selfish. These efforts to restore the past led him to come into direct contact with the lower masses he had taken for granted back in the Burrows, and it led him to realize once more that his workers were other Humans, possessed of their hopes and dreams.
And he began to think... Were not healthy and happy workers an end in and of themselves? Did they only have to improve lives when there was a direct increase in productivity as a result? Katlego wrestled with these moral questions for a while and decided to do something heretical for a CEO - Follow his heart. And so the philosophy of 'Human Investment' was born, in which Humanity and its happiness were seen as the main objective, and money spent improving the lives of other people was an investment towards its fulfillment.
And so Humanity found respite in the first Ruling Corporation to recover its sanity...
Before The War, the UN Commission for Refugees built its own ‘true’ Burrow in Australia, as an experiment in resettling the increasing number of refugees and asylum seekers across the globe. This Burrow, Haven, was originally meant to be a glorified ‘detention camp’, where the undesired people of the globe were to be kept out of sight and out of mind as they worked for the ‘True Citizens’ above-ground.
But Australia was struck by Nuclear Missiles, and Haven was spared that fate. Even then, things weren’t easy: Resources were short, ethnic tensions were high, and the UN Commission for Refugees’ leadership was more corrupt than ever. For a brief moment, it looked like everything would fall apart.
Then, a miracle happened; the discovery of a large stash of NC Cores, and three NC bodies, by three idealistic teenagers. These three took on the names of Afrin, Kobane, and Qamishlo; the three Democratic Confederalist cities that had brought light to North Syria, and fought the corrupt UN Commission of Refugees to institute a new and fairer system that diminished suffering.
Haven would reemerge later into the world, and find out that while it had enough NC Cores and NCs to keep itself independent from the Ruling Corps, it did not have enough to attack in turn and spread its philosophy to the surface. So after much debate and deliberation, it offered a deal to the Corporations - They would contribute mercenaries to their wars in exchange for the freedom of Australia and New Zealand. Of course, there was a bias towards Corporations that embraced 'Human Investment' as a philosophy, but that was easily negotiable.
Now, the world shifts - Will this shift lead to greater despair, or to hope?
Age: 58 (but looks much younger due to transhuman upgrades).
Personality: General Julius Lee is the usual sadistic prick that ends up hired by the MegaCorps due to their cost-effectiveness and perceived skill in battle. His employers, however, disregard the fact that while Colonel Julius Lee is somewhat competent, he steals from the achievements of his subordinates more often than not, in order to build up his own reputation. An exception to this are operations to capture as many prisoners of war as possible, as Julius sees capturing potential slaves of all races as an art form - Unlike his ancestors, Julius believes that slavery should be blind to matters of race.
Backstory: General Julius Lee was a descendant of Virginian survivalists who were the first to swear fealty to Denver-Vegas when they proclaimed themselves the continuation of the 'Old US Government'. Because of this, many of his family received high rank, some due to nepotism, others due to skill. And so, Julius Lee had high expectations going for him growing up, although he had nothing to lose by disappointing them. Joining in slaving operations in the regrown Amazon Forest at the age of 18, then shifting to attacks on Fairbanks (where he was part of an operation that briefly sacked the Massachuets Institute of Technology) and Tshwane.
Eventually, he was promoted to the rank of General, where he participated in the War of the North Pacific against Red-Star, where in the closing months of the conflict, he turned against the Japanese Rebels he was supposed to be supporting and carted them off as slaves to Denver-Vegas when the peace treaty between them and Red-Star was signed. He thus got the hatred of Natalie DuPoint, one of his own ace pilots, because of that, but the General didn't mind her feelings. Instead, he deepened the wound by taking credit for her achievements in an operation against rogue bandits in the Andes.
Then one day, it was discovered that Tshwane Mining Inc. was on the verge of rediscovering NC Core Technology, and seeing a chance to gain glory for himself and more slaves of all races, Julius got himself the plum position of leading not just the Denver-Vegas force, but the Paragon and Fairbanks ones going to besiege Cape Town. There, he will either get glory, infamy, or both.
He has not considered the possibility of defeat.
Tactical Preferences and Skills: General Julius Lee is almost like his Red-Star Foes in that he prefers the use of flanking manuevers, EMP weapons, sleeping gas and intimidating the enemy into surrender in order to capture as many people as possible.
Notes: Julius Lee has a Sync Ratio of 50%, making it easier for him to use Non-Humanoid NCs.
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NC Character Sheet
Code-name: Intimidator
Appearance:
Body Type: (Bipedal, Hover, Tank-Tread, .etc) Tank Tread
Type of NC: (General-Purpose, Interception, Assault, .etc) Heavy.
Equipment & Armaments:
Twin-linked Railguns - Intimidator can fire hyper-accelerated metal shells that, like Natalie's Mecha, can pierce through an entire 21st-century Aircraft Carrier from bow to stern, even if fired from half a kilometer.
Giant Resonance Cannon - Intimidator's third main gun was once another railgun, but Colonel Julius Lee has replaced it with a Sonic Gun that fires concentrates sound waves that can shake apart most metallic objects, including NCs.
Anti-Air Autocannon Side Platforms x3 - Three side platforms with 'conventional' chemical-propelled guns which thanks to a unique, hard-to-produce explosive compound, can propel bullets at equivalent speeds to a railgun. Though mainly used as Anti-Aircraft defense, these guns are also useful against infantry, mowing even the power-armored elites down in huge numbers. However, the price for this is that these weapons explode when shot, causing 'Sync Pain' to Julius...
EMP Missile Side Plantforms x3 - Three side platfoms with EMP Missiles.
Pilot Character Sheet
Name: Natalie DuPoint
Appearance:
Age: 18
Personality: Natalie is a brash, fun-loving girl who loves her twin brother a lot; this love has resulted in a grudge against people who had previously hurt them, like Alexander Sky and Haven as long as they keep the former within their ranks. This grudge, however, does not prevent her from treating her enemies with honor, including Alexander if he ever falls under her power; Natalie is aware that this makes her the better person. Note however that her sense of honor clashes with Denver-Vegas and the common corporate ideology except when it makes for good PR, but Natalie does not really care; she feels that her ability to pilot well benefits the executives more than her 'unruly' behavior.
Backstory: In a small town on the Great Lakes were born two twins, Nathaniel and Natalie, who lived happily in said town and grew up watching the Reality Games together. Despite being normalized to accept violence and death as part of their entertainment, it seemed as though they'd grow up 'normal'; stuck together as humble farmers and fisherfolk... Until a local privately-ran hospital discovered that they had an average Sync Ratio (55% for both), enough to operate the man-machine interface of an NC. They were 13 then, and were promptly packed off to an NC Pilot Academy; their parents were promised millions of dollars for handing them over.
Three years later, Nathaniel and Natalie were deployed to support a rebellion in Japan against Red-Star, the Chinese-Controlled Corp that was controlling the archipelago. It was a disaster, as Nathaniel was captured on his first engagement by Alexander Sky of Red-Star and his Phoenix Inferno, and promptly taken to their torture rooms. Natalie, in her grief and rage, killed many Red-Star conventional forces herself, and also took down several of the enemy pilots. Nevertheless, Denver-Vegas was forced into a draw against Red-Star, and was barely able to demand its captured pilots back. But what did it matter? It meant Nathaniel would be given back!
However, Nathaniel was no longer the same person he was before. Due to his low Sync Ratio, Red-Star saw no value in Nathaniel beyond turning him into a mining slave, and he had been worked to the brink of death before the news arrived that he was to be given back to Denver-Vegas. Outraged at how the enemy had literally broken her brother, Natalie was one of those who argued that Alexander needed to be punished for his crimes, and she was surprised that Red-Star actually followed them up on the recommendation, publicly humiliating and flogging Alexander before Denver-Vegas' ranks as a sign that they were willing to do anything for peace.
She remembered turning to Nathaniel then, hoping that the latter would smile, that it would be like the old days when they watched the Reality Games. But there was nothing, nothing but brokenness.
In time, Nathaniel recovered some of his will to live, but he was forever changed by his experiences. "All of us are mere tools, even Alexander Sky," he would up saying to his sister, and Natalie was surprised at that. She was even more surprised when he said, "I want to forgive him; he didn't know what he was doing."
Nathaniel then entered a seminary afterwards, a seminary ran by loyalists to the Pope-in-Exile in Independent Fortress Switzerland. But Natalie was aware that he was happy, that he had achieved a happy ending. Not so for her; she still needed to fight for Denver-Vegas and one day, confront Alexander Sky about what he did.
Said confrontation did not have to end in death...
Tactical Preferences and Skills: Outside of her NC, Natalie prefers to hit fast and hit hard, using carbines, assault rifles, and even a light flamethower before beating a quick retreat. In her NC, however, she prefers to wade into the middle of battle, searing infantry and conventional vehicles alike with a Flamethrower whose heat barely skirts the restrictions on Energy Weapons, before engaging lighter Mechs in Melee, crushing them with her claw.
Notes: N/A
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NC Character Sheet
Code-name: Firestarter Charlie
Appearance: Yes, it's a Contemptor-Pattern Dreadnought from 40k.
Body Type: (Bipedal, Hover, Tank-Tread, .etc) Bipedal
Type of NC: (General-Purpose, Interception, Assault, .etc) Assault
Equipment & Armaments:
Twin-Linked Railguns (Left Arm) - Twin-linked Railguns that propel hyperaccelerated bullets against a close-by enemy; these giant 'slugs' can pierce through an entire 21st century Aircraft Carrier from bow to stern, even if fired from half a kilometer. In NC-to-NC combat, their purpose is to deter Melee-inclined NCs from approaching Firestarter head-on, forcing them to try and flank it.
Close-Combat Claw (Right Arm) - A giant claw-like device built for close-combat that can grab enemy NCs and tear off their limbs, and which also carries a Flamethrower attachment in the middle of the 'palm' (See below).
Flamethrower Attachment (Also Right Arm) - This flamethrower attachment vomits out flames so hot that it is rumored that its builders used an illegal Energy Weapon; a Fusion Gun, to be exact. This rumor is true but no one dares confirm it out of fear of reducing Natalie's effectiveness.
Head-Mounted Jammers (To each side of the Head) - To prevent missiles and drones from coming near Firestarter, an ECM Suite is installed in Firestarter's head that causes most forms of electronic communication to go haywire for 30 seconds, with a cooldown of 5 minutes. This does not work against other NCs or her own missiles (see below).
Back-Mounted Missile Launchers (Back) - Two sets of four long-ranged incendary missiles filled with chemical compounds that produce toxic smoke as well as fire; these are used to preceede Firestarter's approach and cover it with chaotic environmental hazards.
Concealed Heavy Machine Railguns (Inside Armor) - Two sets of weaker railguns (able to only pierce one-third of the way through a 21st Century Aircraft Carrier) that extend from the front armor of Firestarter and fire a steady stream of shots against a distant enemy.
Name: Colin Summer
Appearance:
Age: 18
Personality: Colin is a kind and compassionate person who is easily appaled at the callousness and brutality of the Fairbanks Corporation, or all Corporations in general, but manages to hide it beneath a veneer of lies and omissions as well as his own usefulness to Fairbanks. Due to the discovery of his unique 'gift', he can afford to question or even cross Fairbanks and the Anti-Tshwane Coalition more than the usual NC Pilots, as Fairbanks is aware that he is in a position to suddenly rebel against them if they mistreat him.
However, Colin knows this; that despite this relatively fair treatment, Fairbanks will not stop creating new races of man to live as slaves, Paragon won't stop enslaving the old races of man, and Denver-Vegas will just explot old and new equally. So, he has secretly pledged himself to Theodore Narra and Haven in exchange for a world where all sapient beings can live in harmony and symbiosis; mutual aid and support in an uncaring universe. But if Theodore is just another exploitative would-be master, he will turn against the General Commander and Haven.
Backstory: Born in an Independent Settlement close to Fairbanks territory, Colin was given over to Fairbanks at the age of 13 as part of the town's tithe of 'volunteers'. His unprecedentedly high Sync Ratio (100%) was discovered, but psychological exams showed that while he was no pacifist, he was not a born killer either, and trying to turn him into one using training and drugs would destroy his psyche, his brainstem, and with the latter, his Sync Ratio. In short, making him just another NC Combat Pilot was a waste of his potential.
Fairbanks being Fairbanks, however, they found another use for him. Noticing the correlation between Virtual Reality and NC Piloting, as well as having gotten some Red-Star Resarch Papers about the Neural-Net, the head of the Massachuets Institute of Technology decided to create a new type of NC that was just a core, an armored chassis, and an anti-gravity system. This new NC will use a combination of Neural-Net and Virtual Reality to enter computers and the minds of humans 'hooked' onto man-machine interfaces, like Virtual Reality Pods and Neural Combatant/NC/Mecha systems. However, unlike a certain Red-Star Artificial Human, this NC cannot control other Mechs; merely hack them for information.
But when Colin was hooked up to the NC, the results were not what he expected, he tapped not into computer networks and NC Cores, but inside another part of the Universe entirely; a compedium of all knowledge of the past, present, and possible futures. But due to such knowledge being too much for any human mind to comprehend, he was only able to return with bits and pieces. Not just that, but he knew that Fairbanks was going to misuse the knowledge he had, so Colin decided to lie to his superiors, saying that he was able to access several computer systems ran by other Corporations, but only acquired some information due to their firewalls.
He then gave Fairbanks' Professors several tidbits about their enemies' plans, which satisfied them enough to allow him to be the sole pilot of the NC. And he promptly began trying to contact Haven...
Tactical Preferences and Skills: He knows basic marksmanship and how to punch, but is otherwise unprepared for violence.
Notes: No, I have not watched Natusme's Book of Friends.
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NC Character Sheet
Code-name: Panopticon
Appearance:
Body Type: (Bipedal, Hover, Tank-Tread, .etc) Other.
Type of NC: (General-Purpose, Interception, Assault, .etc) Utility.
Equipment & Armaments:
Akashic Reader - Colin Summer can tap into the Akashic Records, a plane of existence containing information about past, present, and multiple possible futures. Not just that, but he can communicate, but not control, with any mind hooked up into Virtual Reality or an NC Core. However, the Akhasic Records are not a public library; much of the information within is incomprehensible to a single mind, meaning that Colin only has bits and pieces of important information. Not merely that, but should he spend too long in his NC, he can go into a comatose state where he forgets to eat...
Member
esqueleto,
Digmata,
QJT,
Aisede,
PrinceAlexus,
DarkNight612,
ASDAValueMilk,
IAmTheIsland,
tadcfnaf,
Byrd Man
