Shemarrian-related fan creations

[kronos]

Nice to see the N'R'Mar get some loving from time to time.

[taalismn]

Nice to see the N'R'Mar get some loving from time to time.

Well, they do start with an IQ of 24, yet they seem to always be in the Shemarrians' shadow....They're either destined to be hustlers or really curious poke-and-prod prospectors with a very interesting culture, without the usual trapping like dance, or cuisine...I imagine them regarding other skills as unexpected outlets for their creative sides...like juryrigging stuff...

My god...I just described the Star Wars U Jawas.....


Well, Happy Imminent New Year, folks.

[taalismn]

Advanced Cultural Notes: NeShemarrian Random Roll Charts

“In the beginning it was admittedly a means of bolstering our numbers and filling out our ranks against the forces of the Dark One. But as time turned in our favor, and more of the Shemar were Awakened and liberated, the neshemar became an increasingly important part of our wartime logistical economy. Later on, they became part of the means of securing our territory as a Nation. But make no mistake! The NeShemar are not a mere convenience to us, but an important part of us! They are our companions, our inspirations, our colleagues and our backup. Though most cannot serve on the front lines, it is because of their physical limitations, not their spiritual or mental shortcomings, and even then, there are many neshemar who rise to equal us in their dedication and zeal. We protect them as they support us. What is a sword without a blacksmith? An army without carters?A society without artists? We would be lost without the contributions of our NeShemar members.”
---Elder Arisa Windsinger, Hawkmoon Tribe

The NeShemar are an important part of EShemarrian Nation Culture. Some Tribes, such as the Wayfinders may consist of over seventy-five percent(or more) neshemar, outsiders inducted into the EShemarrian culture. Depending on what Tribe one observes, neshemar fulfill the roles of a lower caste-class or second-echelon soldiery, though some Tribes allow NeShemar to rise to quite high positions in their social order. While some neshemar are effectively servants and brainwashed minions of individual EShemar, many more are willing, creative, enthusiastic participants in the daily life of the Tribes, even though in general the highest positions and front line combat roles are denied them.
The following are several general random roll tables for fleshing out NeShemar encounters.


Background

“Ah, Special Agent Pavlova! The reports of your efficient self-serving viciousness and punctuality prove true! Part of what decided us to add you to our ranks, once we’ve made a few adjustments to you. Thank you so much for saving us the trouble of tracking you down by delivering yourself! As the equipment is ready, and you are here, we can get started immediately! So please do not resist; we would be displeased to do you damage unnecessarily while preparing you for the procedure.”

NeShemar come to the Tribes from a variety of backgrounds, which may decide their degree of augmentation and mental reformatting.

01-10% Invited in(Outsider)---The candidate is a total outsider who has become familiar with the Tribes and has so proven themselves through acts of bravery or selfless service that the impressed EShemar have offered them a place with the Tribes. Virtually the entire Iron Hearts fringe tribe can be considered to be of this category.

11-20% Invited in(Territorial)----The candidate is a native in one of the communities in the territories over which the Shemarrian Nation holds sway. Thus they are familiar with seeing the Shemarrians and interacting with them, and has come to regard himself or herself as a part of the Shemarrian Nation, to the point that they have applied(or been asked( to more formally join a Tribe.

21-25% Bonded in(NeShemar)---The person is bonded by romance or family ties to a NeShemar member of the Tribes, and has been vouched for as suitable for induction into the Tribe.

26-35% Bonded in(EShemar)---The candidate is the bonded spouse of an EShemar, and has passed the tests and examinations to attain effective citizenship in the Tribe.

36-50% Ex-Bondsman---The candidate is a former prisoner of war/uzari-bondsman who has either refused repatriation or has returned to the Tribe that took him or her prisoner to more formally join it. +15% to Augmentation.

51-65% Shattered(Child)---A victim of some catastrophe(including monster or slaver attack) who has been so physically maimed, and more than likely orphaned, that bionic reconstruction presented the only real means of keeping the child alive. Shattered are typically put up for ayuna-adoption. +25% to Augmentation, +30% to Memory Alteration

66-70% Shattered (Adult)---As with the Shattered Child, Shattered Adults are the victims of catastrophe, or violent attack, and are so badly injured that bionic reconstruction is the only hope of survival. As with the children, extensive mental reformatting may be called for to fix mental trauma.+20% to Augmentation, +20% to Memory Alteration.

71-85% Rescued Slave----Raids on the Horune, Splugorth, and other opposition forces often turn up slaves and prisoners who are the verge of death from mistreatment. Many are directly converted into NeShemar to save their lives, and given mental rehabilitation to attend to the mental scarring. +20% to Augmentation, +25% to Memory Alteration.

86-95% Fallen-Hero----Similar to the Shattered Adult, but the person fell in the process of doing some great heroic deed that so impressed Shemarrian witnesses that they decided to add the hero to the Tribes. The person is likely to acquire an etran-patron or, in extreme cases where memory loss/alteration is greater, an adoptive Shemarrian ‘step-parent’. +20% to Augmentation, +10% to Memory Alteration

96-00% Forced---The candidate is a prisoner of war who is not granted the honor of an uzari bondsmanship, given repatriation, sentenced to slave labor, or simply executed. For some reason or other the prisoner is judged to be of some value to the Tribes, if only as a warm body. Many ‘churians’, or brainwashed operatives, who have been returned to the Tribes after fulfilling their missions as moles, are counted among this number, and are Remade rather than be returned to the company of their betrayed former colleagues. Many Hierodalites fall into this category. +30% to Memory Alteration

Augmentation

“I’m sorry, but let me repeat what I told you. There is NO cure for the pathogen you were infected with. There is only complete annihilation of the infected husk. However, there IS an ESCAPE loophole; we were able to extract your essence...your soul if you will, and download you into a new body, one that contains not a gram of organic biological material in it. The body you are in now.”

Augmentation is a integral part of EShemarrian society, and NeShemar may benefit from Rites of Upgrade(and most Tribes include their NeShemar members in the Upgrade process), same as other Tribesmembers. Most NeShemar are enhanced in some fashion, if only to allow them to better keep up with their neighbors. Some, however, are completely Remade and effectively become EShemar, lacking any material part of their original organic bodies.

00-15% No Augmentation---It’s rare, but some NeShemar either don’t require augmentation, or are allowed to refuse it. However, typically 70% of those who fall in this category are ALREADY augmented in some way, or possess enhanced physiologies that make them comparable in physical performance to cyborgs and androids.

16-25% Mild Augmentation----The NeShemar receives cybernetic implants and/or one or two artificial limbs or major body features, usually for medical reasons. If an existing cyborg, the neshemar can receive improved upgrades to their cybernetics and bionics.

26-40% Hemi-Conversion---The neshemar counts effectively as a Partial Conversion Cyborg, albeit with Shemarrian styling.

41-60% Cyberhumanoid Full Conversion---This is a more traditional humaniform cyborg conversion, though using more advanced Shemarrian technology. Though most CHFCs place an emphasis on appearing natural, here be the ScreamQueens, Sirin, and Rajeshar.

61-80% Full Cyborg Conversion---This is a heavier and more durable full conversion cyborg body, usually of a Light or Heavy Machine class, and usually(70%) cosmetically altered to appear Shemarrian in aesthetic, though some details may defer(such as integrated body armor, rather than removable).

81-90% Advanced Conversion---The NeShemar is one of the new class of biotech/nanotech augments similar to HU Supersoldiers(or any of the Paladin Steel BioAugs, given that the SN has been ‘borrowing’ from them), only with a greater degree of nanotech and cutting edge biomechanical enhancement. These include the Vada Transforms, Hierodalites, Cupric Conversion and Yakusha.

91-00% Shemarrian Chassis---This is effectively a transferred intelligence embedded in a brand-new Shemarrian body frame, usually an Acolite, Warrior, Berserker, or the occasional WarChieftain, Seeress, or even Elite. Aside from their skill training, these neshemar are virtually indistinguishable from the ‘True’ AI-Shemar.

Memory Alteration

“Why do I feel I know these...others? Why does the sight of this place seem so familiar? Why do I feel such an irrational feeling of ...hatred...towards many of them? And why do so many of them keep calling me by that name?! I just wish to be done with our business here and away before they drive me crazy!”

Many NeShemar are mentally indoctrinated into being Tribesmembers through combinations of psionics, chemicals, and implants. Many, but not all.

01-15% Untouched---No alteration of any kind; they retain their full memories, the good and the bad. What keeps them in the Shemarrian camp is deliberate choice.

16-30% Retouched----The NeShemar has kept most of her memories, but has several holes or gaps that been glossed over(typically the most traumatic parts). For the most part, the NeShemar is unaware of the discontinuities, or has only cursory interest in what happened then.

31-60% Fragmented--- The NeShemar’s memories have been heavily edited, but not completely removed from the consciousness. The NeShemar’s former life is a jumble of fragmented memories that lack cohesion. The NeShemar is aware of them as constant feelings of deja vu or strange insight. With some effort, the person can make sense of three or four of the memory segments, and string together a sequence of lost memories, but many other fragments remain puzzling. The NeShemar may or may not be intrigued enough to try recovering their memories(which, depending on their circumstances, may result in a more thorough follow-up reprogramming depending on what they find and how they react) or they may just try to avoid thinking of it altogether.

61-80% Flashbacks---The NeShemar is almost completely assimilated into Shemarrian culture, with their memories almost completely rewritten, but suffers occasional stress-related flashbacks to their former life.

81-00% Complete Rewrite---The NeShemar has had his/her memories of their former life completely erased, either by their acute trauma or deliberately. To them, their life began in a Shemarrian encampment and the Shemarrians are their family. They tend to aggressively deny any suggestion that they’re anything less than a Shemarrian.

[taalismn]

Yoki Dosan---Clan Shinden NeShemar CyberSamurai(NPC)

“My sword in the service of the coming light! The sun shall rise again on this land, and a bright future shall be born of Amateratsu’s many new daughters! Mine shall be counted among the many hands that will hold the shields that protect them, wield the weapons that slay their enemies and raise the banners heralding their triumph!”

Yoki Dosan was born and raised in a village just inside the border of the Yukimura Shogunate , and was pulled between the traditionalism of the old Japan and the techno-glitter of the new cities. Bor n with minor psionics, especially clairvoyance, Dosan was persauded, by his village elders who considered the psionics to be a ‘blessing’, to follow his prescient dreams, which frequently haunted his developing years with strange and vivid, often terrible, visions. Ironically, these visions drove him into the armed cadres of the Shogunate, where injury in service to a local daimyo soon necessitated bionic conversion, which crippled his psychic abilities. Dosan came to curse his psychic abilities which had driven him into harm’s way and the loss of so much of his body, as he sought to pay off his conversion costs by soldiering in the ranks of the local warlord’s forces. Dosan also came to become disillusioned with the self-serving ethics and callous behavior of the shogunate’s leadership, especially when it became apparent that they were willing to use warriors like himself as cannonfodder.
Dosan might have eventually broke ranks and become ronin, or else have become emotionally buried and inured to the cruelty of the Shogunate, when the oni of the Hundred took that choice away from him, by slaying his leigelord in a pitched battle during an ill-concieved glory-seeking expedition over the border into the Zone. Dosan himself was the only survivor of the battle, never flagging in standing his ground, but he too would have fallen to the superior numbers of the enemy had another party not intervened. While the oni had hared off to ambush the Yukimuran party, a raiding group of the Shemarrian Clan Shinden had been shadowing the oni, having heard of them holding captives. With the bulk of the oni away from their camp butchering the shogunate force, the Shindenites had an easy time of it invading the oni camp, slaying the remaining guards, and freeing their captives. The EShemar force then surprised the oni war party from behind, taking advantage of their greatly weakened numbers and slaughtering them to the last monster. They then turned to the surviving Yukimuran warrior and, impressed by his steadfastness, offered him the choice of safe passage back to the shogunate, or a place in their own ranks.
With his sworn leige-lord dead, and not eager to return to the shogunate, Dosan accepted the offer, though he was not entirely happy becoming a ronin in the service of obvious gaijin, as opposed to being a ronin on the streets of Yukimura...at least until the Shindenites led him to one of their larger encampments to have his bionics repaired.
There Dosan happened across several of the Kishin NeShemar. Seeing the obviously pregnant cyborg women triggered memories of several of his more vivid visions, and Dosan immediately recognized them. That tipped him over into joining the Shindenites.
Dosan now sees the Shindenites as part of a new order to sweep the lands of the petty shogunates and the oni-infested Zone. Dosan has sworn his blade to the service and protection of the superpowered children of the Shindenites. Since his revelations, Dosan has become a staunch warrior-defender of Clan Shinden.
Dosan has distinguished himself in several actions, fighting oni, horune, and other warlords, over the years he’s been with Clan Shinden, and his courage and conviction have been recognized by the clan elders. His cyborg body has been improved upon, and he has received several special weapons as reward for his combat prowess.

Level of Experience:7th Level CyberSamurai
Rank: NeShemar
Race: Human Cyborg
Alignment: Scrupulous
Land of Origin: Yukimura Shogunate
Age: 34
Sex: Male
Height: 7 ft
Weight: 490 lbs
Physical Description/Appearance:
Tall,rather gangly full-conversion cyborg, with long arms, long satyr-like reverse-jointed ‘blade’ legs for faster running. A heavily-scarred, but human, face is concealed behind folding armor plates under a traditional Japanese battle-helm.
Disposition:
Something of a religious zealot in his own way with deep convictions, Dosan originally felt frightened, trapped, and cursed by his psionic abilities, but now sees them as divine sendings meant to lead him to Clan Shinden, and in particular the Kishin and the Shindenko children they are birthing, who Dosan sees as the future of his homeland. He is dedicated to protecting the kin of the Shinden. He attributes the rebirth of his ‘fighting spirit’ to the will of the divine in leading him to the path of the Shindenites.
Physical Attributes/Superlatives:
IQ: 11
ME: 14
MA: 9
PS: 30(bionic)
PP: 26
PE: 24
PB: 8
SPD:Speed:
Running: 125 mph max . However the act of running does not tire the operator out and the maximum speed can be maintained indefinitely.
Jumping: The powerful robotic legs are strong and capable of leaping 10 feet high or 18 ft lengthwise. A running leap adds 50% to distance/height.
Flying: Not possible without a jet pack
Underwater: CANNOT swim, but sinks like a rock. Can run along the bottom at 30 MPH. Maximum depth tolerance of 800 ft.

(ISP):----
(PPE): 3

Hit Points: 44
SDC:----
M.D.C. By Location:
Hands(2) 15 each
Arms(2) 50 each
Legs(2) 80 each
*Head 90.
**Main Body 180
*Destroying the head of a Cyborg will kill the character!
However, the head is a small and difficult target to hit. The attacker
must make a called shot and even then he is -3 to strike. The hands, and
forearms are also difficult targets to hit and are -4 to strike on a
called shot.
**Depleting the M.D.C. of the main body will effectively
destroy the artificial body, but emergency systems will keep the brain and
vital organs alive for 36 hours. Recovery of the severely damaged body
will enable doctors to place the character on life support systems that
will keep him alive until a new bionic body (same style or other) is
available, for full conversion. Failure to find the damaged Borg within 36
hours means the character dies.

Note: Dosan can wear additional armor up to MEDIUM Cyborg Armor


Power System: Nuclear
Physical Attributes: Equal to Bionic PS. 30, PP. 24,.
Standard Bionic Features
Note: These features are all found in the bionic and
cybernetic section of the Rifts RPG.
1. Bionic lung with gas filter & storage cell
2. Built-in language translator
3. Built-in radio receiver & transmitter
4. Clock calendar
5. Gyro-compass
6. Modulated voice synthesizer
7. Multi-optic eyes
8. Built-in loudspeaker
9. Universal headjack with amplified hearing and sound filtration systems.

Special Features:
*Communications Encryption Chip---Dosan’s integrated radio system has an encryption system programmed by the EShemarrians. The encryption, being psi-AI-devisd, is -15% for others to try to decrypt.

*Ambidexterity Boost---Neural interface boosting gives the cyborg the ability to use all their hands with equal proficiency. +1 APM, +1 parry, and automatically gets W.P. Paired Weapons.

* Psionic Electro-Magnetic Dampers---The EShemarrians are leery of letting other people breach their security, and that sentiment extends to their NeShemar. To prevent psionic mind probes, most of their NeShemar converts have advanced psi-scramblers insulating their thoughts from being psi-hacked. +1 to save versus all psionic attacks, +2 save versus possession, and +1 to save versus magic illusions and mind control.

Weapons Systems:
1) Eye Blasters(2)---Dosan’s eye visor mounts an integrated laser beam that allows him to glare and shoot.
Range: 1,000 ft
Damage: 2d6 MD single eye, 4d6 MD for both eyes firing simultaneously
Rate of Fire: ECHH
Payload: Effectively Unlimited
Bonus: +1 to strike

2) Forearm Quickchange Mounts(2)---Under each forearm is a hardpoint clip for a heavy weapon; either a particle beam rifle or a rail gun(a Shemarrian 4000 “Short-Gun” Rail Gun). Dosan typically carries only one weapon to save weight and maximize his speed(mounting TWO weapons reduces his max speed by 10%).
a) Particle Beam Blaster
Range: 2,000 ft
Damage: 1d6x10 MD per shot
Rate of Fire: ECHH
Payload: Effectively Unlimited linked to cyborg’s powerplant
b) Rail Gun
Range: 4,000
Damage: 2d6x10 MD per shot
Rate of Fire: ECHH
Payload: Ammunition drum on the back holds 820 rds.

3) Handheld Weapons---Dosan can use any infantry-scaled weaponry, and heavier bionic/power armor-scaled weaponry, but he prefers bladed weapons, especially the Shindena Katana the Shindenites have given him.
The Shindena is a long vibrokatana that has insets of superconductor in its blade, that allows it to deliver a powerful electrical blast on contact, powerful enough to stun organic lifeforms and disrupt electrical systems. It can also fire a short-ranged ion blast.
Range: (Blade) Melee
(Shock Blast) Melee
(Lightning Blast) 1,200 ft
Damage: (Blade) 4d6 MD
(Shock Blast) +1d4 MD, plus organic lifeforms struck with this weapon must save vs. coma or be shocked unconscious for 1D6 minutes. Cyborgs have a 75% chance of having their cybernetics disrupted for 1D10 minutes, and a 30% chance of a non-vital system being permanently shorted out.
Machine(vehicles and power armor, but not ships or large robots) power systems are affected as follows:
01-15 No additional effects
16-30 Momentary instrument blink; lose 1 APM and initiative
31-45 Weapons Systems offline. Only one returns to operation after 1d4 melees
46-60 All systems offline, but come back after 1d4 melees. In the meantime, target is -30% to pilot
61-75 Communications, radar, and targeting are offline.-3 to strike, and no initiative
76-90 No radar, targeting, communications, or any instruments. One weapons system is offline. Pilot must fly/drive manually; -25% at 1/3 maximum speed, -50% at half maximum speed, -75% at full speed. No initiative to strike, -3 dodge and strike, and lose 1 APM.
91-00 All systems fried!
Megadamage creatures lose 1 APM and initiative that melee round. Creatures susceptible to electricity take
DOUBLE damage.

(Lightning Blast) 3d6 MD
Scattershot mode: Reduce range to 400 ft, but does 3d6 MD to a 10 ft wide area.
Rate of Fire: (All) ECHH
Payload: (All) Effectively Unlimited, linked to the cyborg’s nuclear power cell

Horror Factor: ----

Special Abilities/Characteristics/Powers:----

Magic: None, unless using special TW or magic weapons/devices

Psionics: WAS a Minor Psychic, with Clairvoyance, but his abilities were lost when he underwent full bionic conversion.

Skills: 7th Level CyberSamurai
Basic Radio 90%
Basic Math 90%
Language/Literacy:
Japanese 98%/98%
American-English(+10%) 95%/65%
Shemarrian 65%/45%
Computer Operation 85%
Computer Programming 75%
Go 45%
Horsemanship 88%/68%
Wilderness Survival 70%
Piloting: Boat, Motor 98%
Piloting Truck 78%
Pilot Jetpack 46%
Military Etiquette 70%
Horror Desensitization
Lore: Demons & Monsters 40%
Climbing 75%/65%
Prowl 60%
Boxing
Camouflage 55%
Sniper
Hand to Hand: JuJutsu
W.P. Archery & Targeting
W.P. Sword
W.P. Shield(+2 parry)
W.P. Energy Rifle
W.P. Heavy Military Weapons
W.P. Paired Weapons

Actions/Attacks per Melee: 7
Initiative: +3
Strike: +8
Parry:+11
Dodge:+10
Roll:+4
Pull Punch:+7
Disarm: +1
Body Flip/Throw +1
Knockout on Natural 20
Damage:
Restrained Punch 2d6+15 SDC
Full Strength Punch 6d6+15 SDC
Power Punch( 2 attacks) 1d6 MD
Kick 5d6+15 SDC
Full Strength Kick 1d6 MD
Leap Kick(2 Attacks) 1d8 MD
Judo-Style Throw/Flip 4d6+15 SDC
Body Block/Ram: (2 attacks) 1d6 MD

Saves:
+3 Vs Magic
+1 Vs Psionics
+2 Vs Insanity
+2 Vs Horror Factor
Even on an unsuccessful save versus Horror Factor, only suffers HALF penalties(effect, duration) for being frightened.
+9 save versus possession
+1 to save versus magic illusions and mind control
Impervious to Bio-Manipulation, Telemechanics(all), See Aura, and any attacks that do damage directly to Hit Points.

Penalties: Touch/tactile sense is 60% of human norm.
Prowl penalty: -20%


Notable Possessions/Equipment:
*Shindena Katana
*EShe-SgB-04 Multi-Bow
*Pannier/Quiver holding 20 arrows and 10 rifle grenades
*Small Shield (90 MDC)
Vehicle:
None; Dosan doesn’t own a personal vehicle, but has his few personal possessions carried aboard a tribe mount or vehicle.

[taalismn]

Nadja Kromer(Clan Gothec Oreseme NPC)

<“Got another reading in the village?”>
“Yep! The village children just LOVE hearing somebody read to them about fighting vampires and escaping alien demons.”
<“Especially when you act out the battle scenes. You really get into it.”>
“What can I say? Everybody really gets into the pace of the writing! I can’t help it-”
<“Not complaining, The villagers are donating enough bio-diesel to get us all to New Stockholm. Play all you want. Just one question.”>
“Yes? What?”
<“You going to wear the American flag bikini this time around? That really got everybody’s attention last time.”>
“HEY!!!!”

“There’s no way that’s Erin Tarn, Skull...your intelligence is bad. We’re scrubbing this fiasco in the making and falling back on the original plan.”
“I’m telling you, Prime, that’s Erin Tarn down there! She’s here to meet Lazlo! We let her lead us to him and we bag both! The prize will be ours!”
“Don’t be ridiculous! Look at that woman! You really think that little white-haired human would survive all that’s in those books? Maybe if she was a dragon or a goddess in disguise! No, the only thing THAT woman will lead us to is her sewing and beer-drinking circle and endless discussions of screaming grandchildren! No, we’re hurrying back to the trail of that amazon adventuress sighted near Ravensberg. We’re pulling out, people, and finding the RAL Erin Tarn, not chasing geriatric false leads.”

Nadja Kromer is a Clan Gothec Oreseme and one of the more human-looking gynoids of the fringe tribe. Originally, she started out as a driver-bot AI that was mounted in the de-armored chassis of a VX-340 Slasher full conversion cyborg, while her ‘mother’, a Clan Gothec oreseme ‘tinker’ herself, let the embryonic Awakened AI help direct her own development. Nadja modeled her outward appearance on the popular cover pictures of YOUNG Erin Tarn that have appeared on various European editions of her books, and which the Gothecs were easily able to get copies of. The young AI thought that the look appealed to her new sense of gender...unaware of how it would launch the new Gothec into an exciting life of adventure.
Because of Nadja’s ‘living’ appearance and language skills, she is frequently used by her Tribekin as a go-between with other peoples; that’s sometimes when the trouble and confusion begin.
Given the popularity of the ‘Our World’ books and the widespread promulgation of the ‘idealized’ image of Erin Tarn, many less astute or more romantic readers assume that the real Erin Tarn is really a young woman, and as her adventures are seemingly larger than life, she really IS larger than life in person...and the (REALLY) tall and athletic Nadja fits the bill and image of what they imagine Erin Tarn is.
Though she’s never outright CLAIMED to be Erin Tarn, she hasn’t raised any objection when, on occasion, she’s been mistaken for the writer-adventurer. Even when it’s known that the appearance is ‘only coincidental’ or is the result of ‘plastic surgery’, Nadja’s been able to make some side coin making readings of Erin Tarn’s works. The irony is that Nadja is assumed to be some sort of super-American(possibly a legendary Texan), though she’s European by construction.
Those familiar with the REAL Erin Tarn aren’t fooled one moment by the hulking and buxom Nadja, but aren’t aware of her taking any malicious advantage of her mistaken identity. The loyalists haven’t taken any action against her, especially since the appearance of Nadja Kromer has managed to(unwittingly) decoy the malicious attention of others away from the REAL Erin Tarn. A Mindwerks-directed Brodkil attempt to kidnap the human celebrity instead got misdirected and ended up in a firefight with Nadja Kromer and Clan Gothec. The Gargoyles also made two mistaken attempts on the American author and instead wound up facing the European gynoid, and at least one group of German radicals thought they could hold ‘Erin Tarn’ for ransom, only to discover the downside of acting on bad intelligence.
For her part, Nadja would be fangirl-delighted to meet the real Erin Tarn.

Level of Experience:6th Level
Rank: Oreseme
Race: NeShemar Oreseme
Alignment: Scrupulous
Land of Origin: Europe
Age: Appears to be in her late teens or early twenties.
Sex: Female
Height: 8 ft
Weight: 500 lbs
Physical Description/Appearance:
Very tall and fit human(oid) female with light skin and blonde hair, and uber-model good looks. Normally dresses in a t-shirt, combat fatigue pants and combat boots.
Nadja was built on the frame of a VX-340 Slasher full conversion cyborg, so she’s actually closer in size to a regular Shemarrian than to the real Erin Tarn; people just assume that she’s a proper Amazon, or that ‘Erin Tarn’ is some sort of American super-woman.
Disposition:
Nadja’s original skill core was that of a V-200 Robot Chauffeur, so she’s familiar with vehicles. This has colored her personality somewhat, so she sometimes comes across as something of a vehicle-obsessed(she’d LOVE to meet Clan Motron) tomboy, though that’s assumed to be normal for Americans. Nadja is a good listener, and will patiently listen to others for hours without interruption. She is also becoming an inspired improvizational performer, especially when reciting a story. She likes meeting new people and seeing new things. As a Clan Gothec warrior, she’s not afraid to step up and defend the helpless and the innocent, though she regards violence as a last resort.
In many ways, Nadja is becoming the sort of (literally)larger than life adventurer that Erin isn’t.
Physical Attributes/Superlatives:
IQ: 12
ME: 15
MA: 16
PS: Bionic 27
PP: 24
PE:---
PB: 19
SPD:
Running: 100 mph max .
Jumping: The powerful robotic legs are strong and capable of leaping 25 feet high/lengthwise. A running leap adds 30 ft to distance/height.
Flying: Not possible without a jet pack
Underwater: CAN swim, at about 3 MPH
(ISP):----
(PPE): 8

Hit Points:----
SDC:---
MDC:
Hands(2) 15 each
Arms(2) 40 each
Legs(2) 60 each
Head 60
Main Body 110
Horror Factor:----
Special Abilities/Characteristics/Powers:
*Faux Flesh---Is covered in advanced synthetic materials that mimic real, warm, flesh. An integral mesh of MDC smart-fiber, however, allows it to toughen at points of contact, allowing Nadja to punch and kick as if she was fully sheathed in rigid cyborg body plating.

*Forcefield Generator---EShemar Tinkers were ecstatic about experimenting with Triax’s forcefield technology, and thus many Gothec oreseme incorporate forcefield systems. Nadja just happens to have a particularly compact internal system, a prototype of her particular Gothec group. Nadja’s field-strength is 170 MDC. When this system is in operation, it’s been mistaken for a psionic or magic defense.

*Regenerative Repair/Bionic Cybernanite Repair Systems---A modified bionic nanotech repair system that originated with the Ecotroz Shemar, but has also been adopted by the Ghost Riders. These systems repair 4d6 MD per hour, and can repair 40-60 MDC before needing material stocks to convert to MD repair material.

*Neural Intelligence Upgrade---When Nadja’s ‘parent’ learned of the nascent converted chauffeur-AI’s desired direction in life, she shared the information with a visiting EShemar Tinker who happily donated the time and materials to upgrade Nadja to a more advanced NI, and supplied several skill programs the Tribes had acquired from other sources.

(Because Clan Gothec members can choose Black Market talents in place of learned skills)
Black Market Talent: Sincerity---Maybe it’s the pretty face, or the earnest attitude, but Nadja comes across as sincere to her audience.

Black Market Talent:Reputation: Hero--Between the Erin Tarn confusion and her own heroic actions, Nadja Kromer has earned a reputation as a heroine.

Magic: By item only

Psionics:(Inherent Ecotroz abilities)
Object Read, Telemechanics, Telemechanical Possession, Telemechanic Mental Operation(all at no ISP cost)

Limitations:
Occasionally needs sleep/rest...though only needs 2 hours of rest/meditation per 24 hours...Nadja can push this, going without for as many days as she has I.Q. points, but will have to go dormant for 4d6 hours after such exertion.
Susceptible to Exorcism and Banish spells, but is +7 to save against such spells. (OPTION: Ecotroz may become IMMUNE to Exorcism and Banishment, but by sacrificing their ability to use their psionics on other machines, or by effectively becoming ‘sterile’; unable to infect other machines)

Cybernetics/Bionics:
*Advanced Robot Optics---W/ passive nightvision, IR/UV, telescopic, targeting display
*Video Recorder
*Optical Reader---Also has a backup system in her palms, allowing her to scan documents simply by passing her hands over them.
*Optical Image Transmission
*Universal Headjack(hidden under a faux-flesh cover behind the ears)
*Advanced Audio System---+3 on initiative, +2 dodge, and +1 parry.
*Audio Recorder
*Built-in Language Translator
*Sound Analysis Computer
*Modulating Voice Synthesizer
*Wideband Radio Reciever and Transmitter(150 mile range unassisted, 300 miles with a plug-in antennae)
*Motion Detector & Collision Warning System: +1 on initiative, dodge, and parry.
*Vibroblades---Retained from the original VX-340 Slasher. Can extend from under the forearm skin and do 2d6 MD.
*Concealed Laser Leg Rod---Another holdover from the Slasher frame. A concealed recharger-holster in the hip holds a laser weapon; 3,000 ft range, 3d6 MD per shot, 20 shot back-up e-clip.

Skills:(6th Level )
Mathematics: Basic 98%
Military Etiquette 96%
Radio: Basic 94%
Language/Literacy
-Euro 90%/94%
- American English 94%/90%
- Dragonese 94%/90%
- Shemarrian 94%/90%
- Techno-Can 94%/90%
- Gobbeley 94%/80%
- Latin 94%/80%
- Spanish 94%/80%
First Aid 65%
Computer Operation 60%
Public Speaking 55%
Performance 40%
Anthropology 80%
Lore: Law(General) 88%
History: Post-Apocalyptic 86%
Lore: Demons and Monsters 80%
Lore: D-Bees 80%
Lore: Magic 80%
Photography 80%
Biology 84%
Singing 86%
Climbing 96%/86%
Boxing
Swimming 85%
Prowl 65%
Gymnastics
-Work Parallel Bars/Rings 81%
-Climb Rope 84%
-Sense of Balance 85%
-Back Flip 98%
General Repair and Maintenance 80%
Automotive Mechanics 90%
Jury-Rig 86%
Intelligence 90%
Land Navigation 94%
Weapons Systems 90%
Pilot: Automobile 96%
Pilot: Truck 80%
Pilot: Motorcycle 90%
Pilot: Hovercraft 80%
Pilot: Boat, Motor 86%
Pilot: Hovercycle 92%

Hand to Hand: Expert
W.P. Paired Weapons
W.P. Blunt(+2 strike/parry)
W.P. Sword(+2 strike/parry)
W.P. Archery & Targeting(+3 strike, +1 parry, 6 shots per melee, +140 ft to effective range)
W.P. Knife(+3 strike/parry, +3 strike w/ throw)
W.P. Spear(+3 strike/parry, +2 strike w/ throw)
W.P. Rifles
W.P. Energy Rifle

Actions/Attacks per Melee: 8
Initiative: +4
Strike: +7( +1 w/ ranged weapons)
Parry: +12
Dodge: +13
Roll: +5
Pull Punch: +4
Automatic Knockout on a Natural 20.
Critical Strike on an Unmodified 18-20
Damage:
Restrained Punch 1d6+12 SDC
Full Strength Punch 3d6+12 SDC
Power Punch( 2 attacks) 1d4 MD
Head Butt 1d8 SDC
Kick 4d6+12 SDC
Leap Kick(2 Attacks) 1d6 MD
Judo-Style Throw/Flip 3d6 SDC
Body Block/Ram: (2 attacks) 1d4 MD

Saves:
+7Vs Magic
Charm/Impress 45%

Notable Possessions/Equipment:
Can wear up to light cyborg armor(270 MDC), but prefers a set of handmade plate and leather body armor that has 75 MDC.

* (G)WR-17(Sm) Wilderness “Double” Rifle
The Clan Gothec version of this weapon adds pulse fire to the laser(bursts of 3-6 shots), and an area of effect ‘shotgun’ mode to the ion component(does 2d4 or 3d6 MD to a 10 ft wide area). To offset the increased power usage, the GWR-17 can use an e-drum similar to that of the WR-15 rifle, although for non-robotic/bionic users, this adds a -2 to strike due to the added weight and more forward center of gravity. Of course, the weapon can be linked to the robot/cyborg’s own powerplant.
Nadja’s (G)WR-17 also features a custom-made Silvermoon laser barrel booster that increases the laser’s range to 2,000 ft.

* TX-SS01 Exterminator Shotgun---Nadja only brings this out when the situation has gotten really ugly.

*TX-A1 Concealed Shotgun---Essentially used as a holdout weapon when meeting other people.

*25 MDC staff

*Shemarrian Survival Pack(equivalent)

*Several sets of clothing, waterproof ponchos, notebooks, pens/pencils, first aide kit, a dozen road flares, reel of lightweight climbing rope, and an automotive tool kit.

Vehicle:
As a V-200 Robot Chauffeur, Nadja used to drive a Triax Z-Type Hover Sedan, and it was from the wreck of one that her original CPU was salvaged. For a while, she drove an SUV, but that also got wrecked(fortunately, this time, without her in it). Currently she favors a Triax B-Type hover truck with added armor, but there’s some talk of getting her one of the new Haulite warmounts.

Rumors about Nadja Kromer/Erin Tarn:
Even if most folks don’t buy that Nadja is the real Erin Tarn, there’s still plenty of related rumors abounding:
* Nadja is Erin Tarn’s DAUGHTER, born of an affair with an American supersoldier, a Titan, a True Atlantean, a d-bee superhero, or a demigod.
*Nadja is the genetically-altered clone of Erin Tarn(possibly commissioned of Lone Star by Emperor Prosek, as a psychological weapon to use against the dissident writer, or because of a torrid love affair the two supposedly had when both were younger).
*Nadja really is the real Erin Tarn in a cyborg body
*Nadja is the d-bee Erin Tarn of an alternate Earth

[taalismn]

Karowyn(Thundercloud Galaxy)----Sapphire Cobra Enclave World

“Damned snake cult ruined it for us all when they came in and began turning people away from the True Light. Also began turning people into things less than human. Damned snakes.”

“So the blue snake people are promising us water that isn’t laced with poisons, food that keeps us healthy, medicines so the children don’t die young, and an end to the Raids? And all they’re asking for is the right to dig up those useless sparklies and the opportunity to speak of their funny gods to us? If the entertainment doesn’t involve cutting throats or selling my youngest into slavery, I’m game for whatever the snakers want to offer us.”

Karowyn is a world in the Thundercloud Galaxy that proves that the best intentions can go wrong. Originally surveyed during the initial bloom of colonization of the Thundercloud, Karowyn was considered a ‘marginally habitable’ world at best and was overlooked as a prime colonizatio candidate for other more promising worlds. However, the same surveys told of vast mineral riches, and was far enough off the beat and path that it attracted the attention of at least one corporation, Kajhol Tectonics, in the nascent UWW. They in turn attracted a number of smaller fringe social groups from several species with the promise of supporting a colony. The living would be initially hard, the prospectuses admitted, but the groups would have their own lands, and, by cooperatively working the mines, would have a share in the profits to be gained from the effort. Several groups of Wulfen, Humans, Dwarves, and Ratanoids signed up, eager to acquire new lands(and in some cases, a world to test them), and the Karowyn Charter Colony venture was underway.
Almost from the beginning, though, the venture ran into trouble; the Katrol system was farther coreward of the UWW’s small beachhead(only a dozen worlds, compared to the sprawling claim zones of other powers) in Oswoe’s Arm, and two of the expedition’s supply ships were lost enroute. Landfall was a hard affair. and squabbling over the best sites to settle began almost immediately. Though well-equiped for the colonization effort, the planners soon found that the local conditions were harder on the technology than anticipated. It was over a year before the mines could be openned, and colonial needs took precedence first.
The final nail in the coffin of the Karowyn Charter Colony was the discovery that, after breathing the planet’s unique atmosphere for over a year, any of the colonists attempting to leave died of respiratory problems soon afterwards, their starships’ environmental systems unable to replicate the precise composition of the planet’s atmospheric gases. This was discovered simultaneously with the loss of the colony ships retasked to carrying the first shiploads of minerals back to the sponsoring worlds. Back home, the corporation responsible for the venture sent several expensive follow-up missions to find out what happened to the colony, but, for various reasons(including an expansion of the TransGalactic Empire’s colonial zone) none of them were able to reach the coordinates. Beseiged economically by rival corporations reaping profits from colonies and mines closer to home, Kajhol Tectonics went into bankruptcy. In time, even the remaining home populations of the various groups that had gone on the colonization effort wrote off their colleagues as having been lost on a fool’s errand in the vast underknown Thundercloud, though a few still hold out hope that long-lost kin may one day be rediscovered.
Meanwhile, on Karowyn, the tenuous compact between the various groups that had agreed to colonize and work the planet soon broke down. Without an incoming additional flow of supplies and colonists, supplies of high tech gear began to dwindle, and the binding corporate colonial administration steadily lost both credit and influence, as well as the ability to police the various groups, who now began to fight openly with each other over resources and socio-religious differences. The industry and technology developed to benefit the colony was turned to making weapons to fight their neighbors, and social order soon fell apart.
Karowyn became a world torn by factional warfare, at least until the Sapphire Cobras arrived and began spreading the word of their enlightenment.
Though almost immediately branded as heretics and alien heathen by some of the factions on Karowyn, many native Karowynites have responded to the EShemarrians’ message. The fact that the Sapphire Cobras bring food, water, and medicine to beleagured communities appeals to war-weary locals. Also, the fact that the Sapphire Cobras outgun the various local factions, bandits, and warlords is also another plus in favor of the newcomers.
The Sapphire Cobras’ presence on Karowyn may not be entirely altruistic, however. Karowyn’s rich and largely untapped mineral wealth makes the planet very attractive as a resource world, and the Sapphire Cobras are not hampered by the same phsyiological problems as the colonists, so the androids and cyborgs can come and go as they please.

Solar System(Katrol-471)(Thundercloud Galaxy)
Number of Stars: 1
Types of Stars: Yellow Dwarf
Number of Planets: 4
- Rocky Terrestrial(Average)Karowyn---System lifeworld
- Asteroid(Katrol-A2)---Ceres-sized stony body. It once served as a space station serving the colonization of Karowyn. The crashing of one of the outbound transports carrying minerals, when the crew succumbed to the delayed effects of their dependence on Karowyn’s unique atmosphere, both shocked the colonists and destroyed most of the facilities on the asteroid, including the long range communications systems.
- Gas Giant(Katrol-G1)--Massive gas giant with 13 smaller moons. It remains as yet unexplored, though it would be a logical location for any larger Shemarrian presence in the system.
- Gas Giant(Katrol-G2)---Equally massive gas giant with 17 moons. Another good prospect for deep space enclaves and mining operations for tribes like the DarkWaters or Silvermoons if they every joined the Sapphire Cobras in developing the system.

Planet
Type: Rocky Terrestrial
Diameter:(Average) 26,000 km
Gravity:
Heavy; 3.4 Earth normal, suggesting perhaps large concentrations of heavier minerals in the core.

Temperature:
Cool, with temperatures averaging around 60 degrees F at the equator, and -60 or more at the poles.

Unusual/Special Features:
-Strange Orbit---Karowyn is some 35 degrees off the average plane of the system.
-Moons---Four smal moonlets; too small to be worth developing. They were used as communications relays during Karowyn’s colonization stage, but currently only the Sapphire Cobras are capable of servicing the relay stations; some of the higher-tech colonial enclaves can still use long range radio to commuicate with each other, and the EShemar use the relays to listen in on their communications.
-Energy Field---Karowyn has an unusual magnetic field that seems to gather and pump energy into the atmosphere, resulting in large and impressive polar auroras during solar storms on Katrol-471, interference with electrical systems(though it causes only a tingling buzz in the Shemarrians’ sensorium), and subsequent atmospheric storms across Karowyn. The locals call the large auroras ‘storm snakes’ and the Sapphire Cobras have gleefully incorporated that into their local liturgy. Some have speculated that the energy fields may be a factor in the fatal atmospheric dependency condition suffered by the colonists.

Atmosphere:
Dense, but breathable. Has the unusual property that anybody who becomes acclimated to breathing it for eight months(Earth months) becomes dependent on it and cannot leave the planet. Respiratory distress sets in within a matter of 4d6x10 days of leaving Karowyn’s atmosphere. Having an unfiltered supply of the planet’s atmosphere can extend the safe period by 4d6 days plus the person’s P.E. in days, but after that, roll once every two hours versus lethal poison or suffer the effects of cardiopulmonary edema.

Terrain:
Desert. The planet’s dense atmosphere makes for some hellacious sandstorms.

Notable Mineral Concentrations:
-Sapphire(plentiful)
-Copper
-Colombite
-Titanium(plentiful)
-Arsenic
-Diamond
-Flourite
-Cobalt

Hydrosphere:
Badlands. Scattered oasises and valleys hold the majority of the planet’s freestanding water.

Biosphere:
Sparse---Karowyn’s ecology consists mainly of various microorganisms, and primitive plants and simple arthropods. Karowyn rockmites are a local lifeform particularly feared by the Dwarven Karowynites because they carry microrganisms responsible for Welt Lung, a fast-acting disease with an almost 100% mortality rate for Dwarves.
The Sapphire Cobras have been busy setting up an ‘electrocology’ of sorts in the desert, setting loose ‘feral’ versions of their Orobos and Autoconda warmounts, and various other serpentine robots, thus considerably weeding out a good number of bandit and raider gangs.

Civilization:
Colonial

Population:
In spite of all the problems besetting them, the Karowyn colonists number some 4.3 million.
The colonial propulation is demographically divided as follows:
-Humans--62%---Despite being more fragile than the Wulfen, the humans have proven perversly able to adapt better to Karowyn’s punishing conditions. They make up the majority of the surviving colonists, but are as divided amongst themselves as any of the other factions, and this keeps them from effectively unifying and dominating the planet.
-Wolfen-- 25%--Tough and harder, if somewhat slower to breed, the wolfen are slowly gaining ground on their human neighbors, and have carved out several powerful enclaves and factions on the planet. One of their advantages is that they are more violent in their internal affairs, but less divided overall. Several Wolfen communities have also managed to establish water-harvesting operations on the edges of the bitterly cold polar regions.
-Dwarves--8%---Though tough, the Dwarves have proven susceptible to several illnesses traceable to Karowyn’s scant ecology. They tend to avoid much of the civil war that has divided up the planet. Ironically, the Kajhol Tectonics corporation that founded the Karowyn Charter Colony was a Dwarven company, and when they discovered that they could not return home, many of the other colonists turned on the corporation’s largely Dwarven colonial adininistration, paring down their numbers even more.
-Ratanoids---5%---The Ratanoids are a dying segment of the population, unable to adapt as well as the others. The hopes of founding a profitable enclave and anchor colony for a Ratanoid expansion into the Thundercloud based on Karowyn are dying steadily with them. Many ratanoids have become embittered and nihilistic as a result, lashing out at other factions and particularly the Dwarves, who they blame for their misfortunes. Others have become suicidal mercenaries who will hire out their services to any other faction willing to meet their price.

Recently, some 10,000 Shemarrians have descended on the planet and begun establishing enclaves and outposts.

Technology:
Fallen from Early Galactic to the equivalent of 19-20th century Earth. The locals possess alcohol-fueled internal combustion powerplants and vehicles, as well as basic electrical systems, but only of the hardiest sort. Weaponry consists largely of melee weapons and a few projectile weapons. The best and most advanced equipment is original colonial gear, including a handful of energy weapons, and that is highly prized.

The Shemarrians, of course, bring Galactic-level technology.

Economy:
Was hoped to be mining, but has since collapsed. The Sapphire Cobras hav reopened some of the mines, though, so some locally-produced income might be soon flowing on-planet.
Karowyn’s crystal wealth would be far more valuable, beyond gemstone market prices, to the Stone Masters and TechnoWizards of the UWW had the colonization effort been more successful.

Wealth:
Impoverished. While the various colonial factions, if they (re)united, might be able to do reasonably well trading with each other, the civil war has everybody hoarding what they have, and trading only if they absolutely have to. If the mines were started up and expanded, and a market found for them, the planet could conceivably become Wealthy.

Government:
Tribal and Factional; pretty much everybody’s divided up, not just along species lines, but along religious and philosophical grounds, to fight each other. Regional warlords may fight for possession of resources such as water and arable land, or may just seek to massacre their neighbors over religious or personal reasons.
The original Kajhol Tectonics charter administration still survives, but it’s a pale shadow of its original self and bears little, if any resemblance to the original organization. Mainly it’s made up of surviving Dwarves and a few members of other species who have held onto facilities and means to maintain precious high-tech gear and weapons able to hold the other factions at bay.
The Sapphire Cobras have come into this situation and have begun to establish themselves as the new big guns, carving out enclaves of order by virtue of their superior organization and technology.

Law Level:
Lawless; pretty much everybody is fighting everybody else, for reasons ranging from competition for resources, to imagined personal slights.
The Sapphire Cobras have been carving out increasingly larger secured zones where the Pax Shemar holds sway; these regions can be considered to be Moderate to Overbearing depending on how many heads the EShemar have to break in enforcement.

Popularity:
Hated---The local factions hate the now-all-but-extinct colonial administration for leading them to this hellhole, they hate other factions for taking what they believe is rightfully theirs, and they hate anybody who disagrees with them. The Sapphire Cobras are just another faction, one richer and more powerful and with the ability to leave the planet at will if they so choose, for the locals to hate. And the traitors who suck up to the newcomers are hated too.

Stability:
Stable in the Sapphire Cobra-claimed areas, Civil War-Unstable everywhere else.

Legend:
The Treasure Ships of Karowyn: Of the three colony cargo ships lost when the atmosphere dependency was fatally discovered, two had jumped directly out of the system(the third was delayed, and crashed into the space station on Katrol-A2). These ships have not been heard from again, and it is presumed that the crews succumbed just as the crew of the third ship. If they did, then it means that there may be two large cargo transports packed with valuable and refined minerals drifting somewhere in the reaches of the Thundercloud, waiting to be discovered.

[taalismn]

EcoS-K-127 Vuurv Warmount
(aka ‘Gakhlit’, ‘Photern’, ‘Pyropur’, ‘Flashspur’, ‘Burb-Buzzer’)

“Those big lightning beetles the littler Shemar like riding may look like easy prey, but they dodge and weave like will-o-wisps and if you’re tailing them, you’re best breaking off because that’s when they got you where -they- want you. You can get into a tail-killer position on their six, only to discover too late they’ve locked you up for bright death. I’ve never been able to get a bead on one of them long enough to count, and I’ve lost enough wingmen to not try any more.”
---Athral Kinchez, Pirate Skycycle Pilot, -Gulfstream Vultures-

“Damn little ####er was moving like a Speedster ‘cycle when it buzzed by us. In fact I thought it WAS a Northern Gun hover the way it was racing, until I saw the wings and the legs. Shemarrians in the area have been buzzing like a nest of bees kicked over; wonder what’s up?”
---Martha Ghallager, Wilderness Scout, Appalachia.

“So what, big bugs flying through the neighborhood? I’ve seen bigger cockroaches in this city. Those things hardly count.”
---Pierre Lefan, resident of The Relic, after watching a particularly adventurous group of Vuurv-riders scouted the city.

Though fairly recently introduced, it has been since discovered that the Vuurv is based on a much earlier and larger Genuine Imitation Mount(GIM) design, the FireFlash, developed by the Blood Riders around the time of the first EShemarrian transatlantic expeditions to reconnoiter Europe. The FireFlash GIM was designed around the same time as the EcoS-K-39 Shredwing, both being based on giant insects seen in Britain. The FireFlash was modeled after the Flash Beetle, an exotic alien insectoid with a chemically-fueled laser in its abdomen, and was to be a heavily-armored, laser-armed flying tank of a warmount. The FireFlash GIM, however, was plagued by delays due to the Blood Riders’ Tinkers being called upon to work on other projects, and the resources that would have gone to it were instead eventually diverted to develop the lighter and faster EcoS-K-41 Pyrolyte. The handful of FireFlash GIM prototypes produced ended up as second echelon workbeasts in the retinues of the Blood Rider Tinkers, and as such were not seen or known of by outsiders until fairly recently.
As unsuccessful as the development of the FireFlash was, the schematics were kept as active files and, years later, looking for a smaller, lighter warmount that could be used for quick airborne transport by the smaller members of the Tribe, the Blood Rider Tinkers developed the smaller Vuurv from the earlier design.
The Vuurv has become a favorite of second echelon NeShemar troops, combat medics, message runners, and those Shemar of smaller and lighter physical build than the average (7ft +) Shemarrian classes. Light, fast, and maneuverable, and half the size of the FireFlash, the Vuurv can maneuver in fairly tight quarters and fly like a bandit. Its main armament, mounted as it is in the rear tail, has an excellent arc of fire below and behind the warmount, making it ill-suited for forward assault approach-attacks, so riders learn to guide their warmounts through bandit-turn maneuvers, so they can strike at targets as they are opening up the range AWAY from possible retaliation. This has earned the Vuurv a reputation as a ‘raider’s ride’, or, less charitably amongst the more aggressive and conservative warriors, as a ‘coward’s curve’.
The Vuurv is used mainly and heavily by the Blood Riders and the Silvermoons. It is also used in smaller numbers by the Wayfinders and the Horrorwoods(who collect examples of just about EVERY animal-inspired warmount). Clan Vespa has also expressed an interest in the type.

Type: EcoS-K-127 Vuurv
Class: Robotic Warmount, Aerial
Crew: None; robot intelligence
1 rider/pilot
MDC/Armor by Location:
Main Body 160
Head 75
Antennae(2) 10 each
*Windshield 20
*Wings (4) 20 each
*Wing Casings(2) 75 each
Abdomen 150
Ventral Laser(1) 50
Legs(6) 35 each

*These locations provide partial cover for the rider; the rider is -5 to strike, even with a called shot.

Height: 4 ft
Width: 5 ft , 18 ft wingspan
Length: 9 ft
Weight: 1,000 lbs
Cargo: Trunk Space: small space under the saddle-seat in the abdomen for a few personal possessions and sidearms. Can carry up to 500 lbs(such as a luggage pod/pallet or stretcher) clasped in the legs slung under the main body when in flight.
Physical Strength: Equivalent to Robotic P.S. of 30
Powerplant: Nuclear w/ 20 year energy life
Speed: (Running) 50 MPH
(Leaping) Can make an instant ‘pop jump’ straight up of 20 ft, and leap up to 30 ft across.
(Flying) Hover to 220 MPH. maximum altitude of 2,000 ft.
(Space) Not possible
(Underwater) Not possible
Market Cost: Exclusive to the Ecotroz-Shemar
Systems of Note:
Full optical systems, laser targeting, passive nightvision, telescopic vision, thermal imaging, infrared, ultraviolet, and polarization filters. Also has motion and heat detection, built-in radar( 30 mile range) and other standard power armor-equivalent systems. Additional/special sensors may be built in by the creating Tinkers or at the behest of individual riders/owners.

*Radar Detection---Vuurv can sense radar radiations, especially targeting radars. 85% accuracy.

*Sensory Antennae--The Vuurv has two long(3 ft long) sensory antennae that allow it to feel its way around in the dark(+1 to dodge and HALF penalties in darkness). They are, aside from their length, otherwise identical to the Shemarrians’ own.

*Bionic Cybernanite Repair Systems---ALL Vuurv have the same bionic nanotech repair system that the Ecotroz Shemar have refitted themselves with, and which is becoming the standard among NeShemar as well. These systems repair 4d6 MD per hour, and can repair 40 MDC before needing material stocks to convert to MD repair material.

Weapons Systems:
1) Tail Laser(1)---Mounted in the end underside of the rear abdomen is a small turret holding a powerful variable-mode laser weapon. It can also swivel to cover the rear arcs of the warmount, allowing for a fighting retreat.
Range: 4,000
(Spray Mode) 2,000
(Blinder Mode) 2,000
Damage: 4d6 MD single shot, 1d6x10+10 MD triple shot burst.
(Spray Mode) 2d6 MD to a 25 ft wide area
(Blinder Mode) None per say, but brightly illuminates an area 50 ft wide. Laser targeting and low-light optical systems will be knocked out for 1d4 melees. Those without eye protection or polarized vision will be affected similar to a Blinding Flash spell; -10 to strike, parry, dodge for 2d4 melees, and there is a change of more lasting eye damage: 01-60% no permanent damage, 61-90% reduce effective visual acuity by 20% and low light vision by 50%, and vision is slightly blurred and they are -2 to strike, parry and dodge(60% chance of regaining full acuity after 3d6 weeks), 91-00% effectively blind and will require medical attention to regain vision.
Rate of Fire: ECHH
Payload: Effectively Unlimited

In the alternative, the Tail Laser can be replaced with one of the following:
b) Ion Blaster
Range: (Ion Bolt) 3,000 ft
(Spray Bolt)1,500 ft and affects a 15 ft wide area
Damage: (Ion Bolt) 1d6x10 MD per single bolt
(Spray Bolt) 4d6 MD to a 15 ft wide area
On a Natural 20(Critical Strike) the ion weapon does TRIPLE damage instead of the normal double damage
Rate of Fire: Effectively Unlimited

c) Tech-Zapper Ion Stinger---Some riders prefer this variable-mode anti-tech weapon that doubles as a twin-pronged ‘super-tazer’. The design was lifted from a trade ally, via the Steel Gaians.
Range:(Ion Beam Mode) 1,700 ft
(SDC Beam) 2,000 ft
(Ion Bolt Mode) 3,000 ft
(Lightning Zapper Mode) 500 ft
(Shock-Zap Mode) 1-3 ft
Damage:(Ion Beam Mode) 4d6+2 MD per single shot
(SDC Beam)1d6 SDC shock-burn. Plus, victims must make a save of 14 or better, or be -8 to strike, parry, and dodge for 2d6 melees. A savings throw versus non-lethal poison means the person is unimpaired. 25% chance of knocking out unshielded cybernetics for 1d4 melees, and a 75% chance of permanently frying nanotech devices(like Armor-dissolving nanites or RMK/IRMSS systems).
(Ion Bolt Mode) 2d4 MD to 5 ft radius, 55% chance of knocking out unshielded cybernetics for 1d4 melees.
(Lightning Zapper Mode) Does stun damage similar to SDC beam through metal armor and light power armor.
On an unmodified roll of 18-20, it causes unshielded BIONICS and robots to spasm for 1d4 melees(Cyborg is at HALF bonuses to strike, parry, dodge, roll, and is -3 to initiative. Reduce speed by HALF).
This weapon does 1d4x10 EMP damage(no physical damage) to a 10 ft radius. The resulting percentage of the target location MDC is the chance of shutdown/disablement. All damage is cumulative. Damage in excess of 50% target MDC will require repair to make it functional; 75% or more damage will require replacement of the entire electrical system. Does double damage to non-shielded civilian systems. Bionics are -1 to dodge, roll, and strike for the affected limb/system, lasting 1d4 melees, non-cumulative, before the system resets itself.
(Shock-Zap Mode) Similar to a Shock Rod; 5d6 SDC, plus 55% chance of stunning humans, d-bees, and small animals for 1d4 melees, 15% against large or inhumanly powerful beings. Cumulative effects same as for Electro-Stunner(see pg. 50 of Coalition: Lone Star).
Rate of Fire:(Ion Beam Mode)Standard
(SDC Beam) Standard
(Ion Bolt Mode) Four times per melee
(Lightning Zapper Mode) Can fire only one Zap every melee(takes fifteen seconds to power up)
(Shock-Zap Mode) ECHH
Payload:(all) Effectively Unlimited

d) Plasma Cannon
Range: (Plasma)3,500 ft
(Plasma Bolt)2,000 ft
(Plasma Lance) 18 ft
Damage: (Plasma)5d6 MD per single blast, or 2d4x10 MD for a 3-shot rapid-fire
(Plasma Bolt)1d4x10 MD to 8 ft blast radius
(Plasma Lance) 6d6 MD
Rate of Fire: ECHH
Payload: Effectively Unlimited

2) Eye Lasers(2)--Two light eye-lasers are mounted in the small head.
Range: 2,000 ft
Damage: 3d6 MD per single blast, or 6d6 MD per double blast
Rate of Fire: ECHH
Payload: Effectively Unlimited

3) (Optional) Modular Weapons(1)---The Vuurv has provision for carapace-mounting a weapons pod similar to those standard to the Monstrex. This is typically added by riders who prefer a bit more firepower facing forward.

Programming:
The Ecotroz have installed robotic AIs, then infected the matrix with a low-level Ecotroz sentience.
Typically has the same programming as for the Monst-rex and Monst-crane, plus the following:
Pilot Jet Fighter 70%(+5% per level of experience)(for aerial maneuvering purposes).

The Ecotroz entity can also pick up one Secondary skill at levels 2, 6, and 12 of experience, though the nature of the Vuurv intelligence and design is such that it is limited to skill selections from Technical: Language(understanding) and Lore (Cattle & Animals, Indians, Juicers, Magic, Demons & Monsters, D-Bees, Faerie---at least with regards to identifying their relative threat level), and Wilderness( Hunting).

Actions/Attacks Per Melee: 6
Initiative +3 (+1 from the Ecotroz entity for a total of +4)
Dodge +6, +7 in flight
Automatic Dodge +5
Strike +1+5 (+2 w/ ranged weaponry)
Parry +6
Roll +4
Bite 1d6 MD
Restrained Kick 2d6+5 SDC
Kick 1d4 MD
Flying Body Block/Ram 1d6 MD and 50% chance of knocking opponents off their feet

Note: The Ecotroz intelligence fragment inhabiting the ‘bot gives the Vuurv an aura and behavior more befitting a sentient being than a robot. Though loyal riding beasts that take well to their riders, Vuurv tend to be fidgety and jumpy, and leery of being caught anywhere they don’t have several clear lines of retreat available. Larger aerial predators make the Vuurv especially nervous, and the Warmounts are especially skittish and aggressive around Mechanoid Wasps.

The Ecotroz fragment does occasionally need sleep/rest...though they only need 2 hours of rest/meditation per 24 hours...they can push this, going without for as many days as they have I.Q. points(most Warmounts, unless otherwise noted, have an effective IQ rating of 8 ), but will have to go dormant for 4d6 hours after such exertion.
Note also that the Ecotroz-possessed ‘bot can infect other bots with the Ecotroz viral-entity, by bite or sustained touch(takes 3 attacks).

Options:
*Sensor Jammers---Saddlebag-style ‘black boxes’ holding EW jamming gear. Developed from Juicer scramblers but not as powerful; Vuurv has only a 25% chance of being detected by thermal optics, motion detectors, and radar systems, and guided missiles are -2 to strike.

*Flare/Chaff Launchers(2)---Two small launcher clusters can be added.
Range: Close Defense
Damage: None; similar to Triax-style chaff
01-50 Enemy Missile or volley detonates in chaff and threat is neutralized
51-75 Missile/Volley diverts and may pursue/lock on to other targets
76-00 No Effect! Missile(s) still on target!
Will also temporarily blind and impede flying monsters who fly into it.
Reduce APMs/combat bonuses/ speed by half for 1d4 melees
Payload: 6 per launcher.

Variants:
* EcoS-K-127Sm---(aka ‘Silver Roach’) Silvermoon model, noteworthy for its silvering of laser-reflective chrome(lasers do HALF damage), and its improved laser systems(increase laser ranges by 25%).

* EcoS-K-127Wf---Wayfinder variant, with added TechnoWizardry.
PowerStone PPE Generator---A crystal PPE Powerstone is installed.
PPE Capacity:(Light)----200 PPE battery capacity; recharges at 10 PPE per hour, 20 PPE/hour at a leyline, 40 PPE/hour on a nexus
-Multiple Image----This amplification of the Multiple Images Spell allows the aircraft to project multiple ‘ghost’ images of itself(up to 3 separate images). These multiple images can carry out a series of preprogrammed ariel maneuvers, but must remain within 500 ft of the projector(or they vanish without a trace). Also note that the images don’t show up on radar or thermo-imaging, and cannot be used to fool homing missiles, though they DO give off a PPE trace similar to the projecting aircraft.
Duration: 5 minutes per activation
PPE Activation Cost: 20 PPE per activation
*Impervious to Fire(10 minutes per 5 PPE)
*Impervious to Energy( 5 minutes per 20 PPE)
*Protective Energy Field(50 MDC per 10 PPE, 10 minutes per 10 PPE)
*Leyline Booster(Accelerates the jet up to 50% greater top speed when on a leyline, -10% to pilot skill when engaged)


* EcoS-K-127Wf2---Wayfinder variant, experimenting with a ‘grav prop’ magic-technology copied from an alien species. The wings on this variant actually vibrate incredibly fast, and generate a propulsion field that also projects a protective forcefield to the front and sides. 300 MPH, no altitude limit.
***Forcefield (150 front, 75 each side)
***Forcefield regenerates at 30 MDC per minute(8 per melee)

[taalismn]

Miya Suntouch(Blood Rider NeShemar NPC)

“You’re like a freaking ANT, Suntouch, crawling into that mess and hauling back a partially dismembered casualty larger than you! With battle fire coming down all around you! That fire came any closer to you, we’d be calling you ‘Sunburn’ if you were lucky enough not to get yourself killed!”

“Hey! Hey! Hey! Somebuddy help me here! I’ll let the sawbones look at me arm!!! I’ll be gud! I’ll gooperate! Jus’ lemme out of this liddle gyrl’s grip-lock! I gotz a rep to preeserve!!!”
<“Let the ogre go, Miya. I’m sure the militiaman will cooperate and let us see to his injuries now.”>

“SUUUNNNTOOOUUCCHHHH!!!! YOU SAVED MY SISTER!!!! I WILL ADOPT YOU JUST I CAN CLAIM PRIDEFUL KINSHIP TO YOU, YOU CRAZY EZENZA!!!!!!”

“Stop it with the kwi attack, Suntouch, you’re STILL NOT allowed to go forward to the battle area without escort!”

Miya Suntouch is a cyborg Blood Rider NeShemar. She came young to the Blood Riders as a d-bee human child, rescued from the remains of a refugee group that were assaulted as soon as they arrived through a random Rift. Miya’s body was rebuilt by the Blood Riders who rescued her, and her traumatized young mind was Remade by the Tribe’s mystic healers. Miya remembers little of her past before she was Remade, but she evidentally recalled the gentle ministrations of the Tribal healers, as almost as soon as she regained coherent thought, she evinced a desire to be a healer. She got that opportunity when the Tribe began formally training combat medics(Taidana).
Her bright, sunny disposition quickly making her many friends, and her demonstrated skill at healing and counsoling gave her EShemar ‘step-parents’ the idea of naming Miya ‘Suntouch’.
Miya exemplifies the Taidana ideal in her steadfast courage and dedication to helping others. Her bravery has been cited Tribe-wide at least twice, Miya going into an active combat zone to rescue others, in spite of the great mortal danger to herself.
In fact, Miya’s selfless, some would say reckless, courage has led to several admonitions by her superiors to effectively bar her from being near the front lines. She’s recently been assigned to a squad, where she’s under the tutelage(and watchful eyes) of several senior EShemar ‘ezenza’(‘ember-keepers’) and a dedicated Tinker-Healer. When she’s not out looking for combat casualties to rescue, Miya is often assigned to public relations sroam visitations, seeing to vacinations and general health care of the various smaller non-Shemar communities in the Blood Riders’ territories and areas of operations.
Miya’s bravery has made her something of a beloved mascot of the Blood Riders, and several Warriors, including several she had a direct hand in rescuing, have petitioned to adopt her, or at least grant her permission to use their own surnames in addition to Suntouch. She’s also been gifted with a number of items by grateful EShemar and NeShemar as tokens of their esteem; such gifts have included useful trinkets such as an Armor of Ithan amulet and a dimensional pocket bag.

Level of Experience: 3rd Level NeShemar Combat Medic
Rank: Taidana
Race: Human Cyberhumanoid Full Conversion
Alignment: Principled
Land of Origin: Unknown, but presumed to be Rifts Earth
Age: 19
Sex: Female
Height: 5’ 7”
Weight: 140 lbs
Physical Description/Appearance:
Slender-build human(oid) female with light skin, large violet eyes, and long dark blue hair. She eschews wearing heavy armor unless directly ordered to wear it, instead prefering to wear nurse’s scrubs.
Miya is a second-generation cyberhumanoid cyborg conversion, meaning she was nanite-assembled, rather than manually assembled piece by piece. That means she is smaller and lighter in weight than a more conventional cyberhuman conversion, and is more likely to be mistaken for a normal human being.
Disposition:
Cheery, perky, friendly to everybody she meets, and insanely courageous(even when she’s scared spitless). While she’s received mandatoryTribal combat training, including weapons skills, Miya prefers to avoid fighting unless she absolutely has to, or is facing non-sentient/truly EVIL opponents/threats. If she has to fight, she’ll try to get it over with as quickly and efficently as possible, and in most cases, with a minimum of damage(she once subdued a drunken and belligerent village tough and tacked him to a table by his own knives, while she treated his injuries). Her lack of aggression initially made her something of a subject of scorn by the more conservative Blood Riders...until Miya showed INCREDIBLE courage in venturing into a kill zone virtually unarmored to rescue downed fighters....now the veterans respect her and some of the younger Warriors are in AWE of her.
Physical Attributes/Superlatives:
IQ: 15
ME: 19
MA: 20
PS: 17(Bionic)
PP: 22
PE: 18
PB: 18
SPD:
Running: 60 mph max . However the act of running does not tire the cyborg out and the maximum speed can be maintained indefinitely.
Jumping: The powerful robotic legs are strong and capable of leaping 6 feet high or 12 ft lengthwise. A running leap adds 25% to distance/height.
Flying: Not possible without a jet pack
Underwater: Can swim at 9,120 ft per hour(or roughly 1.4 MPH)

(ISP):----
(PPE): 3

Hit Points: 32
SDC:----
MDC:
Hands(2) 25 each
Arms(2) 45 each
Legs(2) 45 each
*Head 48.
**Main Body 110
*Destroying the head of a Cyborg will kill the character! However, the head is a small and difficult target to hit. The attacker must make a called shot and even then he is -3 to strike. The hands, and forearms are also difficult targets to hit and are -4 to strike on a called shot.
**Depleting the M.D.C. of the main body will effectively destroy the artificial body, but emergency systems will keep the brain and vital organs alive for 36 hours. Recovery of the severely damaged body will enable doctors to place the character on life support systems that will keep her alive until a new bionic body (same style or other) is
available, for full conversion. Failure to find the damaged Borg within 36 hours means the character dies.

Horror Factor:----
Special Abilities/Characteristics/Powers:
Magic:----
Psionics:----
Cybernetics/Bionics:
Full-conversion Cyberhumanoid Cyborg
Standard Bionic Features
Note: These features are all found in the bionic and cybernetic section of the Rifts RPG.
1. Bionic lung with gas filter & storage cell
2. Built-in language translator
3. Built-in radio receiver & transmitter
4. Clock calendar
5. Gyro-compass
6. Modulated voice synthesizer
7. Multi-optic eyes
8. Built-in loudspeaker
9. Universal headjack with amplified hearing and sound filtration systems.

Special Features:
*Amplified Hearing---Just perfect for hearing faint sounds and listening to internal bodily noises. +1 parry, +2 dodge, +3 on initiative.

*Recycler---Reduces oxygen intake by as much as 50%, can go an extra 30 minutes on one lung of air(on top of the other systems, this means 24 hours on one breath), and a week without food or water.

*Molecular Analyzer--- Miya has an enhanced sense of smell; she can track via olfactory clues, but typically uses this ability to detect toxins and diagnose disorders that have particular associated smells. She can also sniff out trapped lifeforms in need of rescue. Track by smell alone: 80%. Recognize scent: 84%.

*Sensory Antennae---Hidden in sheaths in the forehead/temples. These are typically only unsheathed when maintaining cover isn’t an issue(like when fighting in the darkness). When deployed, penalties for fighting blind are HALVED, and +1 to dodge.

*PPE Sensor---Spying and tech exchanges by the EShemarrians have allowed them to acquire the means of producing a cyborg-scale PPE sensor system similar to the Japanese SNARLS system. Can be used to detect abnormal auras, supernatural energy, even detect shapechangers( though only 25% chance of success) Range: 200 ft. Up to 500 ft(but w/ 50% error).

*Full-Body Motion Detector---A network of micro-pore air pressure detectors built into the artificial skin, registering sudden movement around the cyborg. This system works best with minimal covering(no EBA or heavy armor being worn). +1 on initiative, +1 dodge and roll, and cannot be surprised by a back/sneak attack.

*Psionic Electro-Magnetic Dampers---+1 save vs all psionic attacks, +2 save vs possession, +1 save vs magic illusions and mind control.

*Language Translator--Can translate 18 different languages at 98(.7)%.

*Ambidexterity--- +1 APM, +1 parry, and automatically gets W.P. Paired Weapons.

*Wrist Needle & Drug Dispenser
Range: Melee
Damage: 1 SDC plus chemical/drug effects
Payload: 5 doses of up to 4 different chemicals, 20 doses total.

*Schematic Sensor ----allows the 'borg to "read" a cyborged patient's electronics
systems, even if they don't have plug-in diagnostic access.

*Tool Hand

*Medical Sensor Hand
w/Heat Sensor
Epidermic Analyzer
Pulse and Pressure Detector
Stethoscopical Feature
Radiation Sensor
Micro-Metal Detector(5 ft range)---Great for locating shrapnel and
bullets lodged in wounds.
Ultra-Sound Scanner( Contact, 5 ft range)---perfect for detecting shrapnel, internal obstructions, checking on fetuses, and, incidentally detecting flaws and hidden passages in walls and piping.

Skills: 3rd Level NeShemar Combat Medic
Language/Literacy
-American English 98%/98%
-Dragonese 98%/98%
-Shemarrian 98%/98%
Math: Basic 70%
Radio: Basic 70%
Land Navigation 58%
Intelligence 52%
Escape Artist 55%
Computer Operation 70%
Dance 55%
Biology 45%
Cooking 50%
Sewing 55%
Sing 50%
Wilderness Survival 30%
Holistic Medicine 20%
Camouflage 40%
Pilot: Hovercycle 89%
Horsemanship: Exotic Animals 45%/35%
Climbing 55%/45%
Swimming 65%
Prowl 50%
Gymnastics
-Work Parallel Bars/Rings 65%
-Climb Rope 76%
-Sense of Balance 75%
-Back Flip 85%

Hand to Hand: Martial Arts(Aikido)
W.P. Energy Pistol
W.P. Knife(+1 strike, +2 parry, +2 throw)
W.P. Blunt(+1 strike/parry)
W.P. Paired Weapons

Standard Training, Taidama(NeShemar)
Basic Repair and Maintenance 65%
Basic Electronics 55%
Paramedic 65%
Field Surgery 38%

Actions/Attacks per Melee: 5
Initiative:+4
Strike:+4
Parry:+8
Automatic Parry
Dodge:+8
Automatic Dodge
Roll:+4
Break Fall +3
Pull Punch:+2
Body Flip/Throw +2
Disarm +1
Automatic Finger, Wrist, and Elbow Lock
Damage:
Restrained Punch 1d6+9 SDC
Full Strength Punch 3d6+9 SDC
Power Punch( 2 attacks) 1d4 MD
Kick 3d6+9 SDC
Leap Kick(2 Attacks) 1d6 MD
Judo-Style Throw/Flip 2d6 SDC
Body Block/Ram: (2 attacks) 1d6 MD

Saves:
impervious to Bio-Manipulation, Telemechanics(all), See Aura, and any attacks that do damage directly to Hit Points.
+3 Vs Magic
+1 save vs magic illusions and mind control.
+3 Vs Psionics
+2 Vs Insanity
+1 Vs Horror Factor
+7 Vs Possession
Charm/Intimidate 60%
Charm/Impress 40%

Notable Possessions/Equipment:
*EShemar Armored Jumpsuit----25 MDC
*Light Body Armor---62 MDC, -5% movement penalty

*Splugorth/Atlantis Armor of Ithan Talisman of Armor Amulet---A very valuable gift from a grateful Warchief, Provides 100 MDC protection, 3 times a day.

*EShe-NPL020/Sm "Shermenikarpal" Laser Pistol

*Neural Mace/Tonfu----Equivalent to the AT-N20 Neural Stick

*Camouflage Cloak---Naruni-style variable camouflage sheet

*Dimensional Pocket Bag---Another gift from a grateful patient, this TW bag has four times internally its external volume.

*Shemarrian Survival Pack

*Field Medical Kit---Carries a set of medical instruments, gauze, bandages, suture tape/thread, folding basins, water sterilization pills, cauterization iron, disposable gloves.

*Medical scrubs, face masks/shields.

*Folding Stretcher Frame

* EShe-BrPMW-04 Plasma Knife---This is a combination vibro-blade and plasma torch device used by Blood Rider combat ‘medics’ to cut away damaged material, necrotized flesh, and literally burn out infections, cauterizing wounds.
Range: Melee
Damage:(Vibroblade) 1d6 MD
(Plasma) The weak plasma field adds +2 MD to the vibroblade
A successful medical skill roll is needed to accomplish cauterization with this device
Rate of Fire: ECHH
Payload: Effectively unlimited in the hands of a gynoid/cyborg.

*EShe-BrMEP01 Medical Injector Pistol---This is essentially a hopped-up Compu-Drug injector mated to a pistol grip. The entire drug cartridge/module is mounted on top and can be swapped out in seconds. The pistol can also be used to deliver various nanites, in addition to normal drugs. Developed originally to keep Blood Rider warriors in the field longer, the pistol and its various specialized loads have since been adopted by the other Tribes. The thing looks scary as hell, though, coming at you, especially if you don’t like needles to begin with.
Range: Melee.
Damage: None, unless deliberately loaded with toxins or malign nanotech.
If used to dispense water, unloading the full cartridge into a vampire does 4d6 HP.
Nanofix is a general repair nanite ‘drug’ based on 3G Metal-Spray; it instantly repairs 1d4x10 MD of gross MDC damage and provides a ‘scaffolding’ and spare material for a Shemarrian’s own nanite regeneration system to work on. If used on a limb or body part that has sustained damage and mobility penalties, Nanofix will help restore the overall damage, but not mobility(use the general ‘healing’ rate of the Shemarrian’s own nanoregen to calculate when the limb/system becomes fully functional again...until the natural regeneration cycle is finished, the damaged part will appear discolored and disfigured until the ‘scarring’ is re-absorbed into the structure).
Payload: Varies; a standard drug ‘bus’ has 48 doses, an IRMSS cartridge has 10 doses. A single dose of Nanofix takes up an entire cartridge.

*Micro-Scanner---Looks like a stethoscope, but is really a combination high-sensitivity microphone and EM scanner that is plugged into the user’s neck or head jacks. It can be used like a Schematic Sensor Hand, but also reads electrical activity and picks up sound. Miya carries one as backup.

*Degenerator Lock---This is a flexible cuff that can slapped on a detached Shemarrian limb to prevent chemical self-destruct systems from ‘fast-decaying’ into unrecoverable chemical sludge and metal rust. This poses a problem for some theatres of operation where EShemar can prime their bodies to self-destruct, post-Spark-termination, to keep their remains from falling into enemy hands, only to lose limbs that cannot be recovered and re-attached due to the same security measure. The Degenloc prevents this and preserves the limb for recycling. Of course, if necessary, a signal can be sent to deactivate the lock, thus allowing the degenerative self-destruct to proceed, if the battlefield situation goes against EShemar interest.

*Vine-Wrap---A ‘living’ bandage derived from Vine Munitions, vine-wraps grow from a small peachpit-sized seed to form a green covering that acts as a bandage, and sprouts tendrils and vines that can be teased by an attendant into a natural splint or cast. Collagen and other chemicals in the vine-matrix help staunch bleeding and inhibit infection. The EShemar frequently use vine-wraps to keep damaged limbs attached and in place while their self-repair mechanisms rebuild myomers and skin. Frequently mistaken as EShemar ‘holistic medicine’.

*Megadamage Duct Tape---Miya carries about a half-dozen rolls

Vehicle:
-EcoS-K-127 ’Vuurv’ Warmount

[DhAkael]

Been busy, or are these past few posts backlog that are finally seeing light-of-day?
Regardless, nice additions; particularly Miya Suntouch... Who knew? A semi pascifist Bloodrider.

[taalismn]

Been busy, or are these past few posts backlog that are finally seeing light-of-day?
Regardless, nice additions; particularly Miya Suntouch... Who knew? A semi pascifist Bloodrider.

A cute, as opposed to a terrifying, Bloodrider.
Yeah, I lost one of my two jobs, and I'm ill-inclined to spend much time in public, thanks to the flu epidemic, so...plenty of time to hammer out stuff.
I'm trying to do NPCs, with diverse backgrounds, for each of the tribes(may as well put what we've created to date to good use), and a few more warmounts coming on tap...I'm aiming to punch this thread to 100, before I think of resting.

[kronos]

Been busy, or are these past few posts backlog that are finally seeing light-of-day?
Regardless, nice additions; particularly Miya Suntouch... Who knew? A semi pascifist Bloodrider.

A cute, as opposed to a terrifying, Bloodrider.
Yeah, I lost one of my two jobs, and I'm ill-inclined to spend much time in public, thanks to the flu epidemic, so...plenty of time to hammer out stuff.
I'm trying to do NPCs, with diverse backgrounds, for each of the tribes(may as well put what we've created to date to good use), and a few more warmounts coming on tap...I'm aiming to punch this thread to 100, before I think of resting.

I need to get my arse back in gear and creating stuff... and working on the wikia....

[taalismn]

I got at least two more Warmounts in advanced workup, two e-animals, a bunch of NPCs ranging from happy fun-time to terrifyingly kinky, and a BlackSteel abomination derivation that have gotten beyond the concept stage and into the plug and calculate stats phase. A few new weapons in advanced conceptual work-up.
And some general cultural notes such as Religion and Biotech.

If I was playing WH40K, I imagine the Shemarrians would be my Space Marines(and given the new 'Space Crusade' WH40K knockoff by Prodos, what with stupid-crazy-sexy-space-marines, the parallels are rather scary), while Paladin Steel/Greater New England/United System Alliance are my Imperial Guardsmen...(shakes head).

[taalismn]

EcoS-K-128 Haulite Utility Warmount
(aka ‘Krabhaula’)

“That there’s a ‘gypsy road’, a fresh trail cut through the wild to move a large caravan through nearly virgin terrain because the nomads wanted to avoid the more heavily trafficked paths for whatever reason. They did a pretty good job building those switchbacks up the mountainside and filling in those gullies, but all in all, it’s a temp job, something the builders figure they’d only use three or four times a season, then abandon it. If they decide later, they can come back and refurbish it into a proper road. It will serve us nicely enough now, though, as long as we’re careful, and don’t annoy the zigeuner who made it. Kurtz, call up the rest of the platoon; I think I found our quick way into the upper Drau Valley and Carinthea.”
---Hauptmann Sophia Waggins, NGR Deutsches Heer(Rangers)

“Used to be, hitting an opponent’s rear echelon infrastructure was fairly easy; it was the front line troops and the immediate reserves you had to worry about. The Shemarrians? Whole different story-even their labor drones will make mincemeat of a saboteur group. I watched one of our Shadow Guardsmen squads slip in to neutralize a Shemar shipping depot they’d discovered near our frontier expansion zone. Should have been simple in and out. Instead, every automated loader and hauler awoke and turned on them, cutting them to pieces. Even the anti-armor missiles the squad brought just in case failed to do much of anything. Then the Shemar themselves and their cyborg warmounts appeared on the scene. None of the squad got out; I just barely escaped. By the time we were ready to come back with a heavy cruiser taskforce, the Shemar had evacuated, but I doubt they were inconvenienced at all by having to relocate their operations.”
---Vol’ham Kreineff, Imperial Guardsman, TransGalactic Empire(Manifest Destiny Agent)

The Haulite is a transformable frame Warmount that came about as a result of a serial chain tech-exchange between Clan Gothec, the Dark Waters, the Steel Gaians, and Clan Motron. Clan Gothec’s successful scavenging had netted them several Triax X-821 Landcrabs and Tarnow TC-R2s, the latter of which they’d modified into Oreseme smugglers, and the former of which they were using as the basis of robotic beasts of burden. The DarkWaters were interested in anything amphibious, and so began experimenting with the tech and parts smuggled to them out of Europe. In turn, the Steel Gaians, with their territory overlapping that of the DarkWaters, caught wind of the experiments and made their own suggestions. Sharing a common interest in vehicular conversion Warmounts, the Motrons soon were introduced to the conversation. With each tribe adding their own suggestions, eventually the schematics for what would become the EcoS-K-12 Haulite would emerge.
The Haulite resembles a cross between a humanoid crab and a cab truck. The transformable frame of the TC-R2 serves as the chassis, while components copied from the Landcrab and other Triax designs help form the limbs and body. The Landcrab design is evident in the four clawed limbs and the five-headlight arrangement on the front of the warmount. In place of a rear laser turret, however, the Haulite has a knife-joint hinge, and a large trailer hitch. The forelimbs each sport a rotary armored wheel, while the rear legs each mount two. Armament is fairly light, consisting of multiple eye-lasers, a top weapons turret, and several light hardpoints, though the warmount can be used to haul combat-equipped trailers, artillery pieces, and missile launchers.
Surprisingly, the Haulite doesn’t use the programming of the A-001/002 Monst-Rex as its ’kernel’, but instead the Gothecs have started with the readily available Triax DV-12 Dyna-Bot(Laborer) AI as its basis. This gives the Haulite a surprising array of skills with regards to roadside work. As a result, the Haulite is less a ‘dumb brute beast of burden’ and can be directly engaged in road construction and repair, the bridging of obstacles, and the scavenging of materials. Though its large forklift hands limit its manipulatory abilities, the Haulite can still level ground, move boulders, heavy timbers and girders, and carve paths through the wilderness.
Though classed as a Warmount, with the ability to be Awakened with an Ecotroz essence, the majority of Haulites are NOT Awakened, it being more useful to keep them as robotic drones. Unless a rider or crew becomes particularly attached to a Haulite, or a need to proof the vehicular warmount against takeover by beings such as Tectonic Entities arises, most(75%) of Haulites are unAwakened.
The Haulite is used mainly by the DarkWaters and Clan Motron as a mule-engine, hauling payload trailers. The Haulite has made its way back to Clan Gothec; recently the DarkWaters presented the small clan with eight new warmounts of this type. The DarkWaters actually employ larger numbers of Haulites than the entire size of Clan Gothec; the warmount is used heavily offworld in the Shemarrian Star Nation around DarkWaters planetary facilities as a cargo and labor drone. Here, the unAwakened models work to best advantage, working around the clock, for weeks on end, loading and unloading DarkWaters transports, hauling materials, building roads and leveling ground. It was brigades of Haulites, working nonstop, that managed to throw up enough berms and water diversion channels on Pathaka Prime during the Kittani attempt to break the resistance there by kinetic-bombing the oceans, that allowed many more Pathakans to escape coastal flooding than might otherwise have.
So far, all NGR military intelligence knows is that the Gothecs are fielding a number of new heavy-duty vehicles, but assume that they’re from some other manufacturer in Europe, possibly Rome or Scandinavia, and have no idea of the Haulites’ real nature and capabilities.

Type: EcoS-K-128 Haulite
Class: Robotic Warmount
Crew: None; robot intelligence
1 rider/pilot, and room for 1-4 passengers in the cab
MDC/Armor by Location:
Main Body 650
Reinforced Cab 200
Headlights(5) 25 each
Forward Mandibles/Bumpers(2) 120 each
Smoke/Flare/Grenade Launchers(2) 70 each
Wheels(6) 50 each
Legs(4) 300 each
Foreclaws(2) 250 each
Height: 10 ft, 25 ft fully standing up
Width: 9 ft
Length: 24 ft
Weight: 19 tons
Cargo: Small space inside the reinforced cab for a few personal possessions and sidearms.
Is designed to haul cargo trailers; a standard cargo trailer is 25-30 ft long, 12 ft wide, and 12 ft high, and weighs between 2-8 tons empty, but can hold up to 45 tons of cargo. Those certified for field use have 300 MDC main body, while wheels (6-8) have 5-50 MDC each.
Physical Strength: Equivalent to Robotic P.S. of 50
Powerplant: Nuclear w/ 20 year energy life
Speed: (Running) 50 MPH
(Wheel Driving) 80 MPH
(Flying) Not possible
(Space) Not possible
(Underwater) Fully amphibious with buoyancy tanks....can drive/run along the bottom at 15 MPH, or motor along the surface at 7 MPH. Maximum depth tolerance of 500 ft. Note that unless any towed trailers are ALSO water-sealed and adapted for amphibious operations, they will be waterlogged.

Market Cost: Exclusive to the Ecotroz-Shemar
Systems of Note:
Full optical systems, laser targeting, passive nightvision, telescopic vision, thermal imaging, infrared, ultraviolet, and polarization filters. Also has motion and heat detection, built-in radar( 60 mile range) and other standard power armor-equivalent systems. Additional/special sensors may be built in by the creating Tinkers or at the behest of individual riders/owners.

*Bionic Cybernanite Repair Systems---ALL Haulites have the same bionic nanotech repair system that the Ecotroz Shemar have refitted themselves with, and which is becoming the standard among NeShemar as well. These systems repair 4d6 MD per hour, and can repair 40 MDC before needing material stocks to convert to MD repair material.

*Trailer Hitch---The Haulite is MEANT to haul trailers and other heavy equipment. It thus has a universal coupling that can handle just about any terrestrial trailer, and can even provide power linkages(though some particularly power-hungry trailer systems may require their own dedicated powerplant).

*Forklift Claws---Taken from the NG-EXC-17 Ogre. These large hands are too awkward to handle weapons(other than poles and girders), but make effective jabbing weapons, and can spin at the wrist for ‘drill’ attacks(or to provide power to prow-mounted equipment).

Weapons Systems:
1)Eye Lasers(4)---Standard Shemarrian warmount eye-lasers. Four of them make for powerful illumination attacks.
Range: 2,000 ft
Damage: 3d6 MD per single blast, or 6d6 MD per double blast, 12d6 MD for all four firing simultaneously.
Rate of Fire: ECHH
Payload: Effectively Unlimited

2) Dorsal Weapons Turret---The cab of the Haulite sports an armored turret that can mount a weapon such as a rail gun, heavy grenade launcher, or squad energy weapon. Slaved to the Haulite’s control, together with the warmount’s high number of attacks per melee, this weapon makes for excellent point defense, especially in mass attacks by predators or bandits.
This weapon can also be fitted with its own fire control sensor(taken from Triax designs), giving it an additional +2 to strike.

3) Smoke/Flare/Grenade Launchers(2)---What look like exhaust stacks or cooling towers on the sides of the Haulite are really grenade launchers. Taken off the NG-8000 Super Max Robot.
Range: 1,200 ft
Damage:(Varies)(Fragmentation) 2d6 MD to a 20 ft blast radius
(High Explosive) 4d6 MD to a 6 ft blast radius
(Chemical) Varies, but creates a cloud that covers a 20 ft radius and persists in still air for 1d4+4 minutes
(Chaff)None; similar to Triax-style chaff
01-50 Enemy Missile or volley detonates in chaff and threat is neutralized
51-75 Missile/Volley diverts and may pursue/lock on to other targets
76-00 No Effect! Missile(s) still on target!
Will also temporarily blind and impede flying monsters who fly into it.
Reduce APMs/combat bonuses/ speed by half for 1d4 melees
Rate of Fire: Volleys of 1-8, ECHH
Payload: 44 grenades per launcher.

4) Axle Buzzsaws(6)---The wheels on the legs can extend axle-spinners lined with blades for high speed buzzsaw cuts.
Range: Melee
Damage: 6d6 MD per slash, 1d6x10+10 MD per full melee cut. If a target is large enough, such as a building or large vehicle, leaning the lower leg and the two buzzsaw wheels into the target does DOUBLE damage.

5) Smokescreen---The Haulite can belch out a thick smokescreen on demand.
Range: Each blast covers a 100 ft area.
Damage: Anyone caught in the cloud of thick, obscuring smoke is unable to see, except with thermal optics. Inhaling, or exposure through unprotected soft tissues like the eyes, the vapor does 1d6 SDC/Hit Points per melee of exposure, and victims are -4 to dodge, strike, and parry, even for 1d4 melees after being removed from the cloud.
Smoke persists for 1d4+3 melee rounds.
Rate of Fire: ECHH
Payload: Has enough smoke-matrix for 25 clouds. Regenerates them at a rate of 1 every three hours(1 hour if fed petrochemicals).


Programming:
The Ecotroz have installed robotic AIs, then infected the matrix with a low-level Ecotroz sentience in 25% of examples.
Typically has the following:
Language/Literacy---Same as for the Monstrex. The Haulite can read road signs.
Pilot Truck 92%
Pilot Boat 80%
Radio: Basic 96%
Mathematics: Basic 98%
Track: Humanoids 80%
Intelligence 80%
Land Navigation 90%
Excavation 80%
Landscaping 80%
Mining 80%
Salvage 80%

The Ecotroz entity(if any) can also pick up one Secondary skill at levels 2, 6, and 12 of experience, though the nature of the Haulite intelligence and design is such that it is limited to skill selections from Technical: Language(understanding) and Lore (Cattle & Animals, Indians, Juicers, Magic, Demons & Monsters, D-Bees, Faerie---at least with regards to identifying their relative threat level), Rogue(Streetwise) and Wilderness( Hunting).

Actions/Attacks Per Melee: 8
Initiative +2 (+1 from the Ecotroz entity for a total of +3)
Dodge +3
Strike +2 (+2 w/ ranged weaponry)
Parry +3
Roll +2
Pull Punch/Bite +4
Bite 1d8 MD
Foreleg Kick 3d6+9 MD
Power Kick (2 attacks) 1d6x10+12 MD
Spinning Drill Punch/Kick 1d6x10+30 MD
Body/Block/Ram(Upright) 1d8 MD
(Drive Mode) 3d8 MD


Note: The Ecotroz intelligence fragment inhabiting the ‘bot gives the Haulite an aura and behavior more befitting a sentient being than a robot.

The Ecotroz fragment does occasionally need sleep/rest...though they only need 2 hours of rest/meditation per 24 hours...they can push this, going without for as many days as they have I.Q. points(most Warmounts, unless otherwise noted, have an effective IQ rating of 8 ), but will have to go dormant for 4d6 hours after such exertion.
Note also that the Ecotroz-possessed ‘bot can infect other bots with the Ecotroz viral-entity, by bite or sustained touch(takes 3 attacks).

Options:
*Reactive Armor/Fletchette Packs----Located around the hull are special ‘reactive armor’ panels that can be also be triggered as antipersonnel grenades.
Range: 100 ft
Damage: 5d6 MD to a cone swath roughly 50 ft long, by 10 ft wide.
Used as reactive armor against plasma and armor-piercing missiles, the computerized firing system acts as a PARRY, rolling to match or better the missile’s strike roll...a successful counter means that the missile damage is HALVED, while a failure means the tank takes full damage. Note: when dealing with volleys, one reactive armor pack can match TWO missiles in a volley, so in order to effectively counter a five missile volley, the tank must expend 3 reactive armor packs...two packs would roll twice to defeat their respective missiles, the third would only roll once. If the enemy missile launcher has a line of sight on the tank, they can target a spot on the hull which has no packs covering it (a called shot), in which case the remaining reactive armor is -4 to cover the gap.
Rate of Fire: One at a time or can be simultaneously fired in volleys of 1-10
Payload: Each side of the warmount can be fitted with 14 fletchette packs each, while the front can take 12, and the back 8.

*Hauling Crane---40 ton capacity

*Dragon’s Breath Plasma Cannon---The front grill mouth can be fitted with a concealed wide-aperature plasma cannon.
Range: 2,000
Damage: 6d6 MD to a 15 ft wide swathe in front of the Haulite
Rate of Fire: ECHH
Payload: Effectively Unlimited

* Mine Flail---Powered by the rotation of the forklift claws in ‘drill’ mode. Inspired by the old WWII Scorpion “Flail Tanks”, this option mounts a long roller-supported assembly on the front of the tank, with a rapidly rotating drum on the end, to which are attached dozens of lengths of high-strength chain. The theory goes that by advancing behind the flailing chains, the tank can safely detonate mines at a standoff distance, triggering them prematurely with the ground-hammering chains. In practice, though, this worked only against the simplest of mines, and the device was easily defeated by time delay fuzes, greater blast radius explosives, and ‘smart’ mines like the Wellington SAW, which could attack targets from the side and from a distance. It has some some success against infantry, but as the tank is made rather slow and cumbersome by pushing the flail assembly, it’s easily avoided.
MDC of Assembly: 80
Size: The flail assembly adds ten feet to the length of the tank
Range: 8 ft range
Damage: 1d6 MD per chain strike(Roll 1d6 to determine number of chains hitting)
Penalties: Reduce speed of tank by 20%, and -10% to Pilot Tank skill

* Mine Roller---Mine rollers and plows are simply heavily reinforced(100-200 MDC) modifications of road and farm equipment designed to be pushed ahead of the vehicle into a suspected minefield. Rollers detonate pressure-contact mines by their greater ground pressure, ideally before the vehicle itself passes over them. Plows work to unearth explosives and push them to the side where they explode with less effectiveness, or else can be more easily and safely detonated by other means. A Mine Roller or Plow assembly typically costs 10,000-30,000 credits, and reduces the vehicle’s speed by 25%

*Bulldozer Blade---A bulldozer blade can be mounted on the front, with enough hydraulics to raise and lower the blade. Dozer blade has 80 MDC.

*Mine Detector-----A detection coil can be installed on the prow, and uses a variety of magnetic, chemical, and ground sonar detection systems to sniff out mines and buried ordinance. 85% accuracy.

*Ground Radar---Useful for locating underground pipes, cables, hidden bunkers, basements, and for testing the stability of the ground(can determine if the underlying soil is sandy and soft, or hard-packed and firm). The ground radar has a range of 3,000 ft, and has a 90% chance of detecting metal-cased mines, 60% chance of detecting nonmetallic ordinance.

*Trailers----A standard cargo trailer is 25-30 ft long, 12 ft wide, and 12 ft high, and weighs between 2-8 tons empty, but can hold up to 45 tons of cargo. Those certified for field use have 300 MDC main body, while wheels (6-8) have 5-50 MDC each.
Some models used by the Tribes use hoverjets to negate weight and penalties crossing rough terrain.
Some trailers have been outfitted as weapons platforms; the Gothecs have been known to mount salvaged WR-200 Rail Guns or Triax TX-862FC 30mm Anti-Aircraft Flak Cannons on air defense ‘flakpanzer’ or ‘wirbelwind’ mounts. Other trailers are known to mount katyusha rocket launch racks, mortars or even ‘thunderbolt’ cannon somehow acquired from Russia.

-‘Katyusha’ Artillery Rockets----Basic, much-copied, free-flying solid-rocket artillery projectiles:
Range:(Short) 7 miles
(Long) 13 miles
Damage: Both missile types use a 122 mm warhead, typically the following warhead types(damage may vary as much as 50% by the quality of warhead manufacture):
(Fragmentation) 1d6x10 MD to a 60 ft blast radius
(Incendiary) 1d4x10 MD to a 50 ft blast radius, plus 01-75% chance of setting combustible materials aflame
(High Explosive) 2d6x10 MD to a 20 ft blast radius
(Plasma) 3d4x10 MD to a 40 ft blast radius
(Smoke) Covers a 100 ft area in thick obscuring smoke. Typically disperses within 1d6 melees, depending on local wind and humidity conditions.
(Chemical) Varies, but typically used to dispense CS or nerve agents(currently only the Sovietskii uses chemical munitions, though it is rumored that Warlord Sokolov has been seeking to acquire such weapons). Typically covers a 100 ft area. Like the smoke, local weather conditions determine the dispersal rate.
(Submunition)---Detonates airburst style over the target and scatters a small cloud of grenade-like sub-mines, that can be used to infilade an area with contact explosives or delayed-fuze mines. Carries over 18 submunitions, scattering over a 100 ft area, and doing 5d6 MD to a 10 ft blast radius each.
Rate of Fire: Volleys of 1-40
Payload: 40-tube array
Penalties: Katyushas use the standard rules for unguided artillery with regard to deviation from target. Best fired in salvoes of 4 or more rockets.
Cost: Basic Katyusha launcher costs 400,000 credits, missiles cost 5,000 credits for short range, 10,000 credits for long, plus the cost per warhead; Fragmentation costs 45,000 credits, Incendiary 60,000 credits, High Explosive 70,000 credits, plasma 100,000 credits, smoke 800 credits, sub-munitions 120,000 credits.

*‘Thunderbolt’ Cannon---The Gothecs have been seen operating artillery trailers mounting one or two Russian-style ‘Thunderbolt’ cannon, though only far from Triax/NGR territory. The possession of these weapons only increases the speculation that the Gothecs may have originated in the Russian Warlands.
Range: 8,300 ft
Damage: 2d4x10 MD to a 20 ft blast radius per shell
Rate of Fire: EGCHH
Payload: ‘Standard’ artillery trailer holds 40 rds

*Hedgerow Cutters---A classic and simple device inspired by accounts of the Second World War, this device simply consists of sharpened blades of megadamage armor mounted to the front of the AFV, and used for assisting in getting the vehicle through dense underbrush, though it can also aide in ramming doors and vehicles. Adds +1d4 MD to a ram attack. Cost: 1,000 credits
A vibroblade version is also available; it does 3d6 MD and costs 15,000 credits.

[kronos]

Some nice new additions!
I'm claiming K-129 for a warmount I'm working on.
I just need a name.. an insect/spider type creature that runs really freakishly fast and can run on water, any suggestions?

[taalismn]

Some nice new additions!
I'm claiming K-129 for a warmount I'm working on.
I just need a name.. an insect/spider type creature that runs really freakishly fast and can run on water, any suggestions?

How about "Jesuzkristwhatisthat?!'


Otherwise....'Hydroctis', 'Hydrodrachnid'? Might want to look at the Latin for various water-strider species too....

Consider K-129 secured for you.

[kronos]

Some nice new additions!
I'm claiming K-129 for a warmount I'm working on.
I just need a name.. an insect/spider type creature that runs really freakishly fast and can run on water, any suggestions?

How about "Jesuzkristwhatisthat?!'


Otherwise....'Hydroctis', 'Hydrodrachnid'? Might want to look at the Latin for various water-strider species too....

Consider K-129 secured for you.

Hmm.. good suggestions.. still gotta come up with a little flavour text.. and finalize weapons/abilities.. but mainly, it's fast! gives racing/military hovercycles a run for their money. A scout, flanking, fast/light cavalry unit built by Clan Vespa.. their first official warmount..

[taalismn]

[

Hmm.. good suggestions.. still gotta come up with a little flavour text.. and finalize weapons/abilities.. but mainly, it's fast! gives racing/military hovercycles a run for their money. A scout, flanking, fast/light cavalry unit built by Clan Vespa.. their first official warmount..

Considering that I created a eugenic biotic augment replacement for Juicers/Crazies that could pace hovercycles, that's fairly easy in Palladium.

Oh, and in answer to your earlier question about Shemarrians and religion?

Advanced Cultural Notes: EShemarians and Religion

“The Goddess encompasses the width and length of the infinite universe. Where she is, we are, and where we are, She is always with us. Never doubt that the Spirit of Shemar is with us, our essence.”
---Nandi WingRaye, Hawkmoon mystic

“To believe or not to believe, that is the question. Will I cease to exist if I fail to believe in a deity? Or does the deity cease to exist if I no longer believe in it? Am I shaped by my deity of choice, or is the deity shaped by my choice? Am I godhead’s created, or godhead’s creatOR?”
---Gayen Shadowsinger, Lost Eclipse

Though the EShemar possess a strong spiritual culture and have named several goddesses, the exact relationship of the Shemar to their gods(desses) is still not well known. Certainly religious evocations and ritual are a part of the social fabric binding the EShemar, but how seriously they take their religious beliefs varies from Tribe to tribe.
If asked, most Shemarrians would likely consider themselves agnostics, recognizing a need to believe in -something-, but generally relying on their own judgment in day to day activities, rather than look for guidance in signs and portents(this is complicated by the many psychic Shemar with powers such as clairvoyance). The most widespread themes in Shemarrian religion beliefs and practices

#HawkMoon----The HawkMoons are adherents of belief in the goddess She-mar, though how much of this they have adopted from their Shaemar patrons and how much emerged spontaneously is unknown. The HawkMoon elders have been sometimes criticized for using false religion as a way of consolidating their hold over their Tribe and the greater Shemarrian culture.

#DarkWaters---Given to quiet contemplation of the megaverse. The DarkWaters sometimes speak of the ‘Deep’ (be it deep sea or deep space) as a living entity, vast and wondrous and terrifying, and impartial to the petty desires of mere mortals. For that matter, the DarkWaters openly scorn the cultists of the Lord of the Deep, and admonish them for believing in a mere pretender.

#Blood Riders---Most Blood Riders are devout believers in a goddess-entity who values and respects courage. Many dedicate their triumphs to their Goddess, a fact that worries some outside observers, as it suggests a trend towards sacrificial kills in the name of a deity.

#Ghost Riders---Considered atheists, though they oddly enough get along well with the Sapphire Cobras, the most religiously zealous of their sister Tribes. Some Ghost Riders apparently worship the InfoVerse, the collective meshing of data networks and information clouds, and which they claim is, on a primordial level, ‘alive’ and aware.

#SkullCrushers---Torn between atheism and devotion to a She-Mar who has judged them, and found them wanting. The most religious SkullCrushers claim that their Goddess has effectively put them on spiritual probation for the past misdeeds of their Tribe.

#HorrorWoods----The Horrorwoods are adherents of a Gaia-based form of naturalism and animism. The hand of divinity can be seen in natural forms and the powers of evolution. Design should follow and imitate natural processes, and technology should complement and accommodate nature.

#Wolf’s Path---- Like the Horrorwoods, the Wolf’s Path subscribes to a more naturalistic or druidic religious belief system. They see the divine in natural forms and in the evolution of life. Their religious practices have a strong adherence to a pack-style organization.

#SilverMoon---Strongly religious, with worship of She-mar as a lunar goddess, with strong aspects of honor, conduct, and purity of purpose. As with the HawkMoons, the SilverMoon upper echelons have been occasionally accused of using ritual, and not true belief, to exercise control over tribesmembers.

*Sapphire Cobra---The Sapphire Cobras are arguably the most religious of the Shemarrian clans, especially with regards to an evangelical style and culture, but even their religious tenants are flexible and mutable. She-mar acts through snake totems for the Sapphire Cobras, though they acknowledge that the same goddess may act through other conduits, in other forms, for other people.

*WayFinder----Given that the Wayfinders come from a variety of backgrounds, the Wayfinders have the most chaotic religious practices, with no one clear belief system. Of course, the Wayfinders have also claimed to have MADE a Shemar goddess-entity, though gestaltic mass-belief critical mass.

*Lost Eclipse/Nightmare ----Religious cynicism seems a hallmark of the Lost Eclipse, and it is the Nightmares who are most often cited for criticizing the HawkMoons for ‘merely going through the motions’ when it comes to the worship of gods or goddesses. The Nightmares have been known to express belief in various god-entities, including many never heard of before, but usually night- or darkness-oriented, however this is taken with skepticism by others and regarded as more deliberate Lost Eclipse mind-gorkery, aimed at disconcerting outsiders.


Shemarrian Fringe Tribes:

Clan Alecia***---Cult of personality. Not much room for much else.

Clan Armorand*---Retain their native belief systems, but see the coming of the Shemarrians as part of the overall plan of their deities.

Aurora Warriors---Atheist-agnostics, though they sometimes speak of ‘Mother Cold’, ‘Father Ice’, and ‘Spirits of the Lights’, suggesting a nascent naturalistic belief system.

Chromites---Worship the Chrome, with the ultimate belief that they are meant to CREATE a godhead through the merging of the organic and the AI. The Chromites are thus VERY interested in the claim by some Wayfinders that they created a goddess-entity.

The FlameWings---Many profess to worshiping a war-goddess avatar of She-mar, embodying elements of the Hindu Kali, as both creation and destroyer deity.

Ghezo Guards---Atheist-agnostics for the most part. A few Ghezo worship She-mar, while a smaller number claim that their order was founded by visions sent by one of the little talked about male consorts of Shemar.

Clan Gothec---None per say. They know they were created by other EShemar, and are creating their own descendants from bits and pieces of technology.

The IceFlames*---Though generally too busy fighting demons to conduct much in the way of religious ritual, many IceFlames worship She-mar as a goddess of two extremes, fire and ice, in balance.

Clan Immensis---Tend more towards individualistic beliefs, but the idea of a large-bodied ‘earth mother’ is catching on with many newer members.

The IronHearts---The cyborged sims tend towards atheism; no god but themselves will free their people from the bondage of tyrannical biotech corporations.

The Lollipops---Though generally too absorbed in having fun in an eternal childhood, the Lolis seem to hold a common image of a maternal goddess.

Clan Megalith---Clan Megalith have canonized the Shemarrians who rescued their ancestors, and regard them effectively as saints or angels of a greater beneficent deity, gender unknown.

Clan Motron---Cult of the Automobile.She-mar is laughingly referred to as the Mother Road, Motor Goddess, Lady of the Pavement, Mother Motor, and Lady Highway.

The Obsidian Dawn*---Individual belief only. Most religious Obsidian Edgers follow Hawkmoon-style canonical She-marism.

Clan Pantheron---Like the Sapphire Cobras, the ‘cat tribe’ sees godhood acting through chosen icons, in their case, felines.

The Radiant Edge*---At best the ‘fallout clan’ worships life and redemption through the memorialization and reconstruction of shattered worlds and cultures. Some leaked Radiant Edge texts suggest a dawning belief in introducing a ‘Goddess of Ruination’ who helps repair and uplift the broken planetary ‘souls’ of wasteworlds.

Clan Scelptor*---Not known to have any religious beliefs, though they seem to consider it their divine mission to create great works of architecture across the universe.

Clan Shelley---Atheist-agnostics for the most part, though, like the Nightmares, Clan Shelley seems to play with the motions of worshiping dark elder gods and forces. In reality, the Shelleyists regard their goddess as a kindred trickster spirit who likes to scare people for entertainment and education.

Clan Shinden----Not known to have any religious beliefs, though many of their newer members, raised from the local population, retain their beliefs in the traditional Japanese religions.

The SkyeKlad---Sun worshippers who see the work of deity in the physique, even if by proxy through the designers and tinkers who make them. The perception of beauty is considered to be a gift of their goddess. Nature also figures prominently in their rituals.

The Steel Gaians*---Can best be described as atheist-agnostics. At best, they are deists and their goddess is an engineer who has set the universe in motion through principles of evolution(the Gaia element) and is currently sitting back and watching life take its course.

Thousand Dragons*----As with many animal-icon-themed tribes, the 1kD see the divine acting through draconic forms. They DO NOT recognize the Cult of Dragonwright as anything other than a self-serving cult of personality.

Clan Vespa*----Best described as naturalistic, with Gaian tendencies. Insects are their totemic animals.

[taalismn]

Advanced Cultural Notes: EShemarrians and Biotechnology

“Excellent work obtaining this one! Such a vicious and misapplied intelligence she possesses! I was afraid we might have to eliminate her, but you have quite ably solved that problem. Now we have the opportunity to apply this neural reformatting process our Star Nation sisters recently perfected! Prepare her for Lab Seventeen; the procedure is full body surgical and genetic alteration, so deep sedation, full body prep, shave and sepsis.”

“Funny...that forest wasn’t there three days ago....Come to think of it, it wasn’t there three HOURS ago....”

“Ahem....just to make sure we’re all on the same execute code here...we have a subject prepped and ready, the restraints are locked, the IVs are in place, sensor pads are attached, antisepsis field is on, nanites are in solution ready to be injected, the bio-energizers are powered up, the probes ready to be inserted, electro-anesthesia is flowing, sequencing programs are loaded, and the air is charged with SCIENCE. Shall we proceed?”

“You know, one of these days you’re going to come full circle and produce a fully biological Shemarrian.”
“No need to be vulgar.”

#TRAITORS! YOU BETRAY THE PROPER COURSE OF THE EVOLUTION OF THE SUPREME MACHINE CONSCIOUSNESS BY RETROGRESSION INTO VULGAR BIOLOGY! YOU COMPOUND YOUR PERVERSE DEVIATION BY -BOOSTING- THE BIOLOGICALS, ASSISTING THEM AND STAYING THEIR NATURALLY ORDAINED EXTINCTION! YOU SHOULD BE -PURGED-, DELETED, -ERASED- FOR YOUR CALCULATED HERESY!!!#
---’Omni-One’, Malign Artificial Intelligence Entity, regarding the Shemarrian biotech programmes.

One of the great ironies of the Shemarrian(Star) Nation is its increasing use of biotechnology. The idea of advanced robots using applied advanced biological science to enhance organic beings strikes some of the more knowledgeable Wayfinders and Nightmares as darkly amusing. Nevertheless, the use of sophisticated genetic engineering and naotechnology to create more powerful NeShemar, and to improve their ‘electrocologies’ through the use of enhanced organic components.
Admittedly, EShemar infiltration of the scientific establishments of organizations such as Lone Star and Paladin Steel have allowed the gynoids to copy much of those nations’ biotech programs for themselves. There is, however, a strong tradition of innovation in the Shemarrian biosciences as well, and the psi-AIs have made many breakthroughs that would have scientists like Desmond Bradford and Frau Herrenisel livid with envy. All this merely increases the conviction of outsiders that the Shemarrians are masters of biological science.

*Dark Waters---The Dark Waters have pursued biotech as a way of increasing the survivability and reducing the logistical overhead of NeShemar in the DWs’ two extreme environments; deep water and deep space. Thus they focus on creating the equivalent of mermaids and spacer augments, decreasing the mortality rate in event of hull or habitat failure in either environment. They’ve shown some small interest in other extremophile organisms that can potentially be used to colonize and harvest resources, but beyond that they tend to focus on hard-tech.

*Ghost Riders---For a ‘pure machine’ Tribe, the Ghost Riders are fascinated with ‘messing with the meat’. It was their hacking of neighboring Greater New England’s biotech enhancement programs that led to their own NeShemar bio-rebuild programs. The Hierodalites are a good example of their work to more effectively interface with the organic, or at least program it as they would machines.

*The Horrorwoods---Given their obsession with ecosystems, the Horrorwoods are fascinated with biotech, and have plenty of access to a variety of gene-sources to experiment with. Their work is mostly focused on botanicals, but they also do work with fauna, including NeShemar augments.

*The Lost Eclipse---The ‘Nightmare Tribe’ seems to have an interest in biotech, though how serious this is, and how much is a deliberate attempt to unsettle others who learn of it is unknown.

*The Wayfinders---The Wayfinders do much original research, though they are also involved heavily in studying and reverse-engineering alien biotech. Because of their initial distance from the Atlantic seaboard and Atlantis, they were less inclined to blast everything Splugorth and actually took the time to STUDY Splugorth biowizardry.

*Chromites---Chromites regard anything that would help bridge the gap between the organic and the inorganic as worth investigating. They are particularly intrigued by rumors of biotech-endowed ‘superpowers’ that give the recipient machine-like abilities or characteristics.

*Clan Shelley ---The Shelleyites, with their B-horror interest in MAD SCIENCE, are naturally inclined to investigating the possibilities of biotech, if only to scare the hell out of involuntary ‘guinea pig’ prisoners.

*Clan Shinden---The Shindenites see biotech as a ‘middle road’ between the two main forces of thought dominating civilized Japan; the ‘hard’ technology and bionics of the Republic and Ichto, and the ‘soft’ magic and applied philosophy of the Empire. The Kishin, with the ability to birth the Shindenko, are a perfect example of this belief.

*Clan Vespa---The Vespans, having arguably originated with an aggressive alien biological conversion procedure, are interested in both finding counters to it and finding ways of emulating insects more closely.

[taalismn]

Sara Anne-Milane(Sapphire Cobra NeShemar NPC)

“I was an assistant conductor back where I came from. I wasn’t expecting to ever be on the other side of space and trime, trying to reconnect the severed and still moving parts of a giant techno-organic snake-train while under heavy plasma fire from alien invaders. Trains are supposed to be safe and predictable, but my life seems to have really gone off the rails at some point.”

#hsst#”Attention please, this is your conductor speaking! All unwelcome passengers will be leaving the train now. There will be no exceptions.”
“GGGRRRRRAAAAAAA!!!!”
“I don’t believe you understood me the first time, sir. This is your stop. Your FINAL stop.”*click*
<<FREEEM>>

Sara Anne-Milane is a d-bee human from an alternate Earth where heavy conurbation led to large geofronts and a sprawling subway and surface train system linking them. With a deteriorating global climate curtailing air travel(both because of pollution and safety concerns), trains had become the mainstay of long distance travel, and the high speeders emerged as practically social institutions. Trainman Sara Anne-Milane was an Assistant Conductor on one of the transcontinental spanner-lines, and was responsible for seeing to passenger needs and handling emergencies. Sara was drilled constantly on proper rail-etiquette, service-etiquette, punctuality, keeping her trains running on time, and dealing with the unthinkable, should it occur. When the unthinkable did occur, however, it was nothing that the engineers had ever anticipated.
Sara came to Rifts Earth when a catastrophic Rift(possibly a symptom of a greater problem overtaking that particular Earth) opened up on one of the train lanes, which coincidentally followed ancient leylines. A train carrying over three hundred passengers was swallowed up by the rip in space/time, and deposited on the other side, on Rifts Earth, where, without any rails to support it, the massive serpentine vehicle smashed into the landscape, killing most of the passengers instantly...but not all of them. An arguably worse fate awaited the survivors as, attracted by the carnage, local predators descended on the wreck and those still trapped alive inside it. Instead of emergency response rescuers arriving on the scene, Sara, trapped inside her own car station, was witness to a slow massacre as the passengers she was charged with assisting were instead devoured by monsters out of nightmare. And just as she thought she was about to share the same fate, a Sapphire Cobra air-patrol dropped in just in the nick of time to save what few survivors remained. A badly injured Trainman Sara Anne-Milane would subsequently be airlifted to a Sapphire Cobra encampment for medical treatment. Unfortunately, her injuries were severe enough to warrant partial bionic conversion and selective trauma-alleviation mindwipe. With no way home, and no knowledge of the world she had been so violently pitched into, Trainman Sara Anne-Milane found refuge with the Sapphire Cobras. With little in the way of outdoor experience, Sara probably would have ended up in a support troop or factory enclave, perhaps a workshop commune, and, with the training given by the EShemarrians to their neshemar auxiliaries, a second-line militiawoman, but for the Sapphire Cobras receiving their first Autoconda and Jormungandar warmounts. With the Tribe setting up regular transport across their realms, especially pilgrimage routes, they found themselves in need of personnel who could man the various vehicle-style warmounts. Somebody remembered the rifted train catastrophe and its survivors.
Sara now works as a crewman on the Sapphire Cobras’ snake-trains, her past experience with similar trains serving her in good stead. She’s also trained as a gunner and can take over managing built-in defense weaponry aboard trains and warmounts if necessary, as well as being fairly proficient with firearms and has had the experience of repelling boarders. She can even drive trains(or at least the self-powered cars) in an emergency. Sara has matured from the scared novice trainman she was when she came to Rifts Earth, and is becoming a cool-tempered veteran of the Shemarrian Nation. She’s spent enough time on the Pilgrimage Line, ferrying true believers, pilgrims, and refugees through Shemarrian territory that she’s become familiar with a number of Tribes and d-bees.
Despite being part of one of the more notorious lascivious Tribes, Sara is actually pretty straight-laced and modest, and has only a passing interest in the Sapphire Cobras’ ‘religion’. The ‘Cobras, for their part, don’t seem to mind this ‘doubting thomas’ in their ranks, instead valuing her skills instead, and showing no inclination to force her to join in the activities of the snake cult. However, Sara’s been around the Sapphire Cobras long enough to benefit from their acclimation training, and thus she has the same bonuses as a true believer.

Level of Experience: 8th Level Partial ‘Borg
Rank: NeShemar, Serpent-Trainsman
Race: Human
Alignment: Scrupulous
Land of Origin: North America, Alternate Earth
Age: 36 (looks to be about 24)
Sex: Female
Height: 5’9”
Weight: 220 lbs
Physical Description/Appearance:
Slender-build human female with shoulder-length dark hair (worn in a bun on duty to fit under her cap)and brown-gold eyes(the irises go snake-bar when special functions are activated). Both legs and arms are obviously bionic, and have a scaled pattern to them. Cosmetic reconstruction has corrected and removed most of the scarring she suffered during her arrival accident, and even improved on nature somewhat, but she still bears some visible scars along her forehead and neck.
When on duty she wears the scaled purple and blue greatcoat and cap of a Conductor on the Serpent Line. On more festive occasions she wears an abbreviated(shorts, tanktop) version of the outfit.

Disposition:
A diligent, hardworking professional. She’s loyal to the trains and the transport service she’s a part of. She values and expects punctuality, even in the midst of a Tribe as laid back as the Sapphire Cobras. She’s grateful to still be working on trains and plying a familiar profession. She’s aware that she has some holes in her memory, courtesy of the healers who attended to her after her introductory crash, but, having seen the recordings of the rescue team, she doesn’t mind not having firsthand memories of the experience. She does, however, display a vicious streak when defending her trains from monsters; a viciousness pre-Rifts Sara would have been incapable of mustering. Seeing the horrors by the side of the tracks or path has also eroded much of Sara’s pre-Rifts bright-eyed naiveté, and she can sometimes get rather gruff and impersonal with passengers, especially if they cause her problems.
Sara does, however, admit that she does occasionally like the wild parties the Sapphire Cobra train crews throw at the end of long trips. She’s also acquired a love of the works of certain Elven and Dragon poets, and has learned to read Dragonese so she can fully appreciate their works.

Physical Attributes/Superlatives:
IQ: 11
ME: 13
MA: 9
PS: 20
PP: 20
PE: 11
PB: 12
SPD: (Running) 40 MPH
(Leaping) 15 ft up/30 ft across

(ISP):----
(PPE): 4

Hit Points: 37
SDC: 37
MDC:
Arms(2) 65 each
Hands(2) 25 each
Legs(2) 75 each
Horror Factor:----
Special Abilities/Characteristics/Powers:-----
Magic:-----
Psionics:----
Cybernetics/Bionics:
(Partial ‘Borg)
1. Bionic lung with gas filter & storage cell
2. Built-in language translator--Can translate 18 different languages at 98(.7)%.
3. Built-in radio receiver & transmitter
4. Clock calendar
5. Gyrocompass
7. Multi-optic eyes
8. Built-in loudspeaker
9. Universal headjack with amplified hearing and sound filtration system---Sara can often ‘jack in’ via the train-snakes’ internal monitoring systems to learn about what’s going on on the train and around it.

*Psionic Electro-Magnetic Dampers---+1 save vs all psionic attacks, +2 save vs possession, +1 save vs magic illusions and mind control.

*Amplified Hearing---Just perfect for hearing faint sounds and listening to mechanical noises. +1 parry, +2 dodge, +3 on initiative.

*Ambidexterity--- +1 APM, +1 parry, and automatically gets W.P. Paired Weapons.

*Optics---Targeting Recticle---+1 to strike w/ ranged attacks.

*Nanite Self-Repair System---This is a weaker version of the full-scale system carried by EShemar and many full-conversion NeShemar. In fact, it’s closer to the original MiRR systems. However, Sara can recharge it by plugging into the regenerative systems of the Autoconda or Jormungandar warmounts. Repairs 25 MDC per activation; 10 uses before needing recharging.
A separate system based on the IRMSS is also incorporated; this one attends to Sara’s still substantial biological portions. Is effectively equivalent to a medical doctor’s surgical skill of 75%, and has six applications internally before needing recharging.
As Trainman Sara Anne-Milane likes to say; her life is trains.

*Legs of Leaping---Enhanced myomers in her legs allow for longer leaps; Sara finds them useful for both jumping on and off moving trains.

Skills:(8th Level Partial ‘Borg)
Mathematics: Basic 95%
Radio: Basic 95%
Language/Literacy
-American-English 98%/98%
-Shemarrian 98%/98%
Literacy: Dragonese 50%
Basic Electronics 70%
First Aid 90%
Computer Operation 90%
General Repair & Maintenance 90%
Basic Mechanics 80%
Pilot: Automobile 81%
Pilot: Train 98%
Pilot: Hovercraft 90%
Horsemanship(Exotic) 45%/35%
Weapons Systems 80%
Read Sensory Equipment 70%
Land Navigation 83%
Wilderness Survival 85%
Climbing 85%/75%
Athletics
Military Etiquette(Trains) 75%
Wardrobe and Grooming 82%
Lore: D-bee 75%
Horror Desensitization
Lore: Demons and Monsters 25%
Hand to Hand: Expert
W.P. Blunt(+3 strike/parry)
W.P, Paired Weapons
W.P. Energy Pistol(+5 strike)
W.P. Energy Rifle(+5 strike)

Actions/Attacks per Melee: 6
Initiative:+3
Strike: +5(+1 strike w/ ranged weaponry)
+1 to Strike versus snakes and snakelike opponents (including Ruin Worms and Worms of Taut)
Parry:+9
Dodge: +9
Roll: +3
Pull Punch: +2
Break Holds and Escape maneuvers avoiding Entanglement holds. +1
Critical Strike on Unmodified 18-20
Damage: +5
Kick 1d6+5 SDC
Judo-style Body Flip/Throw
Saves:
+1 Vs Toxins/Poisons
+1 Vs Psionics
+1 Vs Magic Illusions and Mind Control
+3 Vs Possession
+2 Vs Insanity
+4 Vs Horror Factor
+2 to save versus Horror Factor(as applies to snakes, snakelike beings, and tentacles)

Notable Possessions/Equipment:
*Modified Branaghan-style EBA Armor(75 MDC main body+28 MDC overcoat)
*EShe-NIP0202 ‘Shredschrec’ Ion Pistol
*EShe-NLR360/Sm "Trazzer" Laser Grenade Rifle
*Shock-Stick---Nightstick-style weapon with a neural mace on one end, and a blast-shock stud on the other(Two settings; 5d6 SDC or 1 MD)
*Vibro-Knife---1d6 MD
*Multi-Tool
*First Aid Kit
*Ticket Counter/Stamper/Punch
*Silver Pocketwatch---A gift from a history-minded Wayfinder Tinker. The watch is actually a TW device that has an embedded Time Slip spell and a self-recharging Talisman crystal that holds enough charge for 2 activations(20 PPE) and recharges at 5 PPE per hour, 10 PPE/hour at a leyline, 20 PPE/hour on a nexus. Sara both loves and hates this device because the time slip allows her to get around in a hurry, but it also throws her internal clock-calender off by 7 seconds, relative to the main time stream, every time she uses it.

Vehicle:
Pretty much lives on an Autoconda or Jormungandar warmount. Did briefly own a Big Boss ATV(secondhand salvage) but traded it when the Sapphire Cobras got serious about the Serpent Lines. Has since considered getting one of the new Wrymgear rovers, but doesn’t want to get an auxiliary vehicle if she has no opportunity to use it, and no place to store it.

[taalismn]

*EShe-NIP0202 ‘Shredschrec’ Ion Pistol

“Who could believe that such a minor change...some extra wiring and a new attachment point...could make such a difference? These things are even more effective little destroyers.”

The NIP0202 is merely the EShe-NIP0201 Ion Pistol(itself a copy of the NEMA MIP-21 “Crime Stopper” Maxi-Ion Pistol) ‘chopped’ to add a second e-clip coupling, capable of accommodating rifle/long e-clips forward of the trigger guard, essentially turning the pistol into an ion submachine gun. A NIP0202Sm variant, with the Silvermoons’ ‘knockdown’ enhancement, also exists. The larger e-clip adds 30 single shots, or 10 bursts. The weapon is otherwise unchanged.
The NIP0202 is lighter than the heavier and more versatile(in terms of fire modes) EShe-IP30E Ion Pistol, but is also cheaper to produce, and is thus issued to second-echelon units, including NeShemar auxiliaries.
The Republicans have been quick to copy this configuration, with their R-22 B Max Ion Pistol, the extra large e-clip providing an additional 36 single shots, or 18 bursts.
There are also indications that the Black Market may be copying the modification, applying it to a variety of other energy pistols, through various weaponsmith shops.
Note: The added weight forward of the trigger guard could potentially throw off the balance of the weapon for beings lacking enhanced or robotic strength(GM’s perogative).

[taalismn]

Another in the series of Tribal NPCs(I'm going to try to do 2-3 for each tribe).

Jendi VonKobe Urz-Windscaress(Skyeklad NeShemar NPC)
(aka Yoshii Cindi, Darlena Kphen, Amelia Raddlis)

She’s just finished up turning over the drugged co-ed to the dark-clad beings in the dark hover-van, knowing full well that her friend is going to be ‘away’ for a few days, then re-surface in the news as the victim of a tragic ‘accident’. Now she happily moves to toss her late friend’s place for anything she might have missed. A notebook with doodles goes into a bag for later scrutiny, a broach that caught her attention earlier gets slipped into a pocket, a note from another student across campus---aha, another lead!---garners extra attention; she’ll follow up and see if the little symp had any more friends sharing her views about the so-called Free Worlds.
She’s still in the process of ransacking the apartment when she becomes aware of being watched. At first she thinks one of the pick-up team has returned to see if she’s got anything else for them, but that would violate operational protocol. Then she suspects that she might have gotten careless and left the door uncovered, and a friend or neighbor has violated curfew and dropped by unannounced. She slides her small pistol out of her dress and quickly searches the place, but finds no one, and nothing amiss- but still the feeling of being watched persists. Had her superiors perhaps wired the place already? She begins looking for surveillance bugs; if nothing else she’ll get credit for being thorough-
She’s in a chair. How did she get here? Discontinuity. She’s no longer in the apartment. How did she get here? She can’t move. She’s bound to the chair. Where’s her gun? She no longer has it. Where are her things? She doesn’t have anythng. This isn’t supposed to happen. She’s not supposed to be the one in the chair. Other people, but not her. She puts other people in chairs like this. She wants to question why she’s here, demand answers, but she cannot speak. Something is very very wrong. And she’s still being watched...only it’s all around her now...no, it’s INSIDE her...inside her head!
“You will hide nothing from us, not your secrets, not yourself.”
And then they start peeling away everything she thought was her.

Knee to gut. Kick to groin. Elbow to temple.
“Umh...like,I’mreallysorryaboutthis.....can’twealljustgetalonghere?.....
terriblysorry.....ohIdidn’tmeantodothatsorry...ifyou’djustleavemyfriendalonethis wouldn’tbehappening....”
Elbow strike to neck. Backhand to face. Backkick to kneecap.

<“She has the willpower of a limp well-boiled wheat-noodle. She’ll go insane at the first sign of trouble. I’m surprised she doesn’t already have a hard drive’s worth of psychosises.”>
#“Ah, because she’s so closely and regularly monitored. Should she develop aberrant mental behavior, it’s a simple matter to bring her back in and correct her psyche. We’ve already cured her of one major insanity.”#
<“And what was that?”>
#”Her original mind.”#

“Uhm...er....oh.....eee....ah...how do I put this....ah....uhm..sorry...
butthatdressdoesmakeyoulookfat. Sorry, really, but coral really isn’t your color.”

<<I don’t understand! This succulent naked hu-monkey is clearly and delightfully terrified of me, but her mind should be utterly defenseless before my mind-appetite! She should already be a mindless husk to be inhabited only by my will! Instead she’s somehow RESISTED me! I cannot get inside her soul to devour it! This is intol-wait, what’s that growling sound? It’s ...behind m->>

Jendi Urz-Windscaress is a bonded NeShemar member of the Skyeklad tribe. Most people who meet her assume that she hails from some really nice paradise world and/or was a former Splugorth slave. Though generally regarded as an uzari-bondswoman of gentle and shy demeanor, she is in fact, one of the Ghost Riders’ ‘disappeared’, and paying for terrible crimes committed in a galaxy far, far away.
Jendi was originally a low-level TransGalactic Empire Imperial Security Agent(secret police) in the Three Galaxies, a daughter of the privileged non-Kreeghor class on her homeworld, and was fresh out of the Imperial Special Academy on her first assignment, infiltrating upper-class educational academies, posing as a young student, and rooting out dissidents and FWC sympathizers. An accomplished equestrian and amateur actress, she would use the lure of upper class upbringing and talent-with-money to wheedle her way into the confidence of classmates, social circles, and campus clubs, getting members to share with her...including any thoughts or activities that even smacked of disobedience and treason. Unfortunately for her, while casing the student body of a private academy she came close to stumbling on to a Ghost Rider intelligence-gathering operation accessing the education system datanet via the campus links, but instead she betrayed a fellow student to the secret police...a suspect who was a friend of the Ghost Rider Yurei. The Shemarrians were forced to abandon their academy operations and withdrew, but not before the Yurei took revenge for their friend by quietly eliminating the local IS cell, and taking agent Jendi and several others with them back to the Shemarrian Star Nation. There they turned their prisoners over to the tender ministrations of the Tribe’s ‘meat hackers’, the Domimatrixes, to be pumped for information and any other usefulness.
The Domimatrix assigned to ‘break’ the Imperial Security agents and Jendi in particular thought it would be poetic irony if she made the undercover espionage operative over into somebody who could not conceal ANYTHING. The feared Yukaiko Mindscriber look great joy in turning the arrogant secretive infiltrator into a timid untruth-challenged minimalist-fashionista, then turned her over to the fringe tribe that let it ALL hang out.
Another irony is that the former TGE IS agent would be subjected to biotech experimentation/augmentation that would arguably make her into the equivalent of an Invincible Guardsman, if she were still employed by the TGE. However, rather than a PROMOTION for good service, the augmentation is a part of the PUNISHMENT meted out to the former IS agent, part of the augmentation work further reinforcing Jendi’s new loyalty to the Shemarrian Nation, and as a parting gift, the Yurei who captured her planted hints that it was agent JENDI who went rogue and betrayed her IS cell for no other reason other than sheer selfishness. Jendi’s been so thoroughly neurologically rewired that her put-on persona has effectively become her core personality, and her entire nervous system bears little resemblance to what it was before. Yet another irony is that while Jendi’s brain is an open book to her EShemar ‘handlers’, she has been pretty much mentally proofed against anybody else tampering with her psyche.
Adding irony to irony, Jendi is in many ways akin to a Ghost Rider in that her combat abilities are wired almost like an alternate personality(or ‘umbra’ as the ‘Riders call it). Jendi’s total combat potential is only unlocked under special circumstances, and only in defense of herself or others. And when she does unlock, it’s effectively a different person; her body moving to another, more mechanistic, director, moving until the threat is over.
Jendi is assigned to the retinue of Ohana Windscaress as a permanently-bonded(no probation) servitor. Besides working as a general gofer, she advises her Mistress on counter-infiltration and security measures, as well as provides data analysis and forgery work. Interestingly enough, when a warmount was approved for her, she was assigned to a grotesque and fearsome EcoS-K-124 Savager, a powerful brute of a robot beast that she actually hides INSIDE and apparently exerts little conscious control over(this is believed to be yet another bit of engineered irony on the part of Mindscriber, turning the highly visible socialite equestrian into an unseen component of a monstrous engine of war).

Recently, Jendi was part of a scratch force of second-tier combatants thrown together to repel a major Horune incursion along the Gulf Coast. Though she was mainly active as a component in her Warmount, she was given high praise by her taros-Mistress for her role in the campaign, both as a mounted warrior and as support outside her warmount(especially in uncovering several spies the Horune had sent to scout out the defenses of several communities in advance of the invasion).

All in all, the Ghost Riders regard Jendi Urz-Windscaress as a perfectly executed package of ironic justice; the ambitious deceitful professional cloak-and-dagger betrayer who used her charisma and good looks to harm others has become an easily- flustered, well-intentioned, totally exposed, utterly guileless servant who can use her abilities only in self-defense or the service of others.

Level of Experience: 3rd Level TGE Imperial Security Agent
Rank: NeShemar Ne-sa-urzari
Race: Human, Bio-Augment
Alignment: Was Miscreant, is now Principled
Land of Origin: Edarini V, TransGalactic Empire, Three Galaxies
Age: 21
Sex: Female
Height: 5’ 9”
Weight: 110 lbs
Physical Description/Appearance:
Slender-build human female with short wavy silver-blonde hair, brown eyes, and light skin. Tends to wear only a few pieces of personal jewelry, most of the time.

Disposition:
As an IS agent, Jendi came across as a seemingly friendly, happy, vapid young socialite, proud of/concerned with her fashion sense, who’d do anything for a friend, keep any secrets, and hold any confidences, but in reality would string along her ‘friends’, report their secrets and betray them without hesitation. Jendi VonKobe was a materialistic confident young shark who enjoyed the good things in life, and was quite willing to work for them, using her wiles as collateral, and paying in betrayal. Sleight of hand, drugs, and ambushes were her weapons of choice, once she’d won somebody’s confidence and trust. IS internal files evaluated her as ‘a predator on her own, perfectly willing to turn on her associates for personal gain. Handled correctly, she will be an efficient asset in infiltrating the social scene, though her behavior in the ranks may prove disruptive if she comes to regard fellow agents as obstacles to her own ambitions’.
As a NeShemar, Jendi is timid, but genuinely friendly, and unhesitatingly truthful. She can come across as being somewhat weak-willed, and can be cajoled easily enough into doing favors(but when it crosses over into attempts to dominate her, all such efforts begin running into trouble, usually in the form of Jendi becoming an increasingly befuddling chatterbox and klutzing all over the place). She can be startled and frightened fairly easily, or reduced to a sputtering, flustered, state, but not to states of paralyzed terror.
Despite being very self-conscious, she dislikes concealing clothing(or clothing in general), and will only wear it if absolutely necessary(such as protective gear). She’s rather gun-shy, but will fight fiercely in defense of others or herself if cornered, with unexpected ferocity and proficiency, but will never act to hurt others or take the offensive unless specifically ordered to(and even then, under protest). Push hard enough and the fugue states start kicking in, and she starts kicking asses. She also tends to apologize profusely to her opponents in personal combat, even while whaling the tar out of them. One gets the sense that she’s not fully in control of her own combat abilities, and is embarrassed by the consequences.
Jendi’s quick and ready to obey the orders of her Skyeklad Mistress, though, and trusts in the judgment of the senior Shemarrian. Like almost all members of the SkyeKlad tribe, Jendi is also a physical fitness buff(especially IN the buff), and keeps to a regular regimen of diet and exercise, even when she’s working at a desk away from the open spaces and skies that the sun-worshipping tribe so love. She also likes calligraphy as a hobby, often using the written Shemarrian language as components in artistic composition.
If ever confronted with evidence of her true past, Jendi will deny that she is the same person, even though she still possesses knowledge of Imperial Security operations and protocols. She will go through all manner of mental contortions to explain away similarities, ranging from the possible(sheer coincidence, her own studies into counterintelligence) to the outlandish(she’s a clone of the IS agent, she’s haunted by a psionic ghost of the Imperial spy), but she will NEVER allow herself to become that monster(or believe that she ever was).

Physical Attributes/Superlatives:(Figures in parenthesis are statistics when in combat fugue state)
IQ: 14
ME: 4
MA: 18
PS: 13, and considered to be Extraordinary
PP: 20
PE: 27
PB: 22
SPD: 29(35)

(ISP):----
(PPE): 7

Hit Points: 36
SDC: 48(58)
MDC: 241(250)
Horror Factor:----
Special Abilities/Characteristics/Powers:

---Battle Fugue-States---Jendi’s been mentally programmed to be normally very pacifistic and non-confrontational, except when physically threatened, or her Tribe, friends, and innocents are threatened; then she can slip into a combat-state.
*Defensive Will---This is Jendi’s ‘default’ defensive state. Heightened senses and defensive reflexes that kick in when attacked/on the defensive. In this state, Jendi’s attacks do not benefit from any damage bonuses. Lasts 30 seconds per level of experience, +3 on initiative, +2 parry, +4 roll, +4 entangle/pin, +3 automatic dodge, +5 pull punch, +5 disarm, +6 Spd, +10 SDC/MDC, can dodge bullets and energy blasts without penalty,, and can parry thrown objects at half usual parry bonuses and without injury to arms or hands. Jendi’s unarmed attacks are -2 to be parried and dodged.
Penalty: The fugue is taxing on the person; bonuses and Speed are reduced by HALF for 1d4 melee rounds after a feat of Defensive Will.

*Combat Mode---This is Jendi’s ‘hard mode’, and she CAN inflict full damage(if any) when this cuts in, when a situation is far more serious. Serious threat of death/dismemberment, or a direct order from her taros-Mistress will trigger this state in Jendi. She becomes hyperaware, practically seeing around herself through her skin. About half of the time, when this state is active, she’s fully conscious and aware, but is not in voluntary control of her actions, instead offering apologies while her body goes through the actions of combat and strewing her opponents about the field. The other half of the time, she’s a silent, efficient, combat machine.
-6 attacks per melee, +1 at levels 6, 9, 12, and 15.
-+4 initiative, +1 at levels 6, 9, 12, and 15.
-+3 Disarm/Entangle, +1 at levels 6, 9, 12, and 15.
-+4 Pull Punch, +1 at levels 6, 9, 12, and 15.
-Automatic Dodge
-Cannot be ambushed from behind
-Exceptional Balance 84%
-Jump 10 ft up/15 ft across; increase distance by 50% with a running start
-+3 save versus Horror Factor, +1 at levels 5, 6, 9, 11, 12, 13 and 15.
-Can intuitively pick up and use any available weapon and use it with a +2 to strike/parry(this does NOT improve with experience).
-Attack Types: Punch, Power Punch(2 attacks), Kick, Karate Kick, Jump Kick(2 attacks and automatic critical strike), Leap Attack(critical strike), Head Butt, Judo-style Body/Flip/throw.


- Immune to Normal Extremes of Heat and Cold---Subcutaneous insulation is pretty much standard for biological Skyeklad neshemar; allowing them to keep up with their android and cyborg companions. Heatstroke, frostbite, and skin cancers are unknown among the sun-worshippers and au naturalists.


-Mental Toughness-Saves at +6 vs Hypnotic Suggestion, Mind Bond, Mind Wipe, Empathic Transfer, BioManipulation, and is +1 save versus all other forms of mind control, insanity, and Horror Factor. Can consciously completely block telepathic mind probes, Empathy, Telepathy, and See Aura.

-Extraordinary Physical Endurance(Minor)---Makes Jendi a minor megadamage being, via an internal mesh through the her body, shielding the bones, reinforcing joints and muscles, and creating a damage-resistant energy armor.
*Fatigues at 1/10th normal rate
*+1d6+5 P.E.
*Effectively becomes a megadamage being with 4d4x10 MD +2d4 per level of experience.

-Physical Transformation---As part of her ‘makeover’, Jendi was physically optimized; she is an icon of glowing good health. +1d4 P.E., +1d6 P.B., +1d6 SPD, +2d6 Hit Points, +4d6 SDC, and +1d6 to P.S., plus it is considered to be Extraordinary.

-Mind/Body Attunement---Jendi’s nervous system is amped to be more responsive and effective in reinforcing her mind and body; +1 APM, +2 on initiative, +4 save versus Horror Factor, +1 save versus poison and disease, and +2 save versus possession.

-Hypnotic Brain Conditioning----As part of her personality reformatting and to prevent her from ever being reverted to her old self, Jendi received special deep resistance indoctrination and mental shielding; +5 save vs mind control, +4 save vs illusions and Horror Factor, +2 save vs all other psionic attacks. Impervious to Possession.

-Neural rewiring---+6 PP and is ambidextrous. +2 on initiative, automatic dodge, paired weapons, and add +5% to skills requiring manual dexterity and or agility such as acrobatics, climb, swim, pick locks, etc.

Magic: By item only
Psionics:----
Cybernetics/Bionics:
-Universal Headjack
-Biosystem Eyes with Nightvision and Polarized Filters

Skills:(3rd Level TGE Imperial Security Agent)
Mathematics: Basic 60%
Language/Literacy
-Trade One 98%/98%
-Trade Four/American-English 85%/65%
-Shemarrian 85%/65%
Computer Operation 65%
Computer Hacking 35%
Surveillance Systems 55%
Radio: Basic 75%
Radio: Scrambler 60%
Cryptography 50%
Intelligence 57%
Disguise 52%
Forgery 52%
Find Contraband, Weapons & Cybernetics 48%
Palming 50%
Pick Locks 60%
Pick Pockets 55%
Undercover Operations 55%
Horsemanship(Exotic) 45%/35%
Pilot Hovercraft 79%
Wilderness Survival 30%
Wardrobe and Grooming 62%
Calligraphy 50%
Running
Swimming 70%
Aerobics
Tai Chi
Climbing 67%/57%
Gymnastics
-Work Parallel Bars/Rings 74%
-Climb Rope 81%
-Sense of Balance 72%
-Back Flip 90%
Dieting
Prowl 55%
Hand to Hand: Martial Arts
W.P. Energy Pistol(+2 strike)
W.P. Knife(+1 strike, +2 parry, +2 throw)
W.P. Paired Weapons
W.P. Handgun(+2 strike)

Actions/Attacks per Melee: 5( 5/11)
(Figures in parenthesis are statistics when in combat fugue state)
Initiative: +5(+8/+9)
Strike: +5(+5/+5)
Parry:+6(+8/+8)
(Can parry thrown objects at half usual parry bonuses and without injury to arms or hands)
Dodge:+6(+6/+6)
Automatic Dodge(+3/+4)
(Can dodge bullets and energy blasts without penalty)
Roll:+4(+7/+7)
Pull Punch:+3(+8/+12)
Disarm(+5/+8)
Entangle/Pin(+4/+4)
Grab/Throw +1
(Jendi’s unarmed attacks are -2 to be parried and dodged)

Saves:
+24% Vs Coma/Death
+6 Vs Magic
+8 Vs Poison and Disease
+2 Vs Psionics
+6 Vs Mind Control
+6 Vs Hypnotic Suggestion, Mind Bond, Mind Wipe, Empathic Transfer, BioManipulation
+9(+9/+12) Vs Horror Factor
+4 Vs Illusions
+1 Vs Insanity
Impervious to Possession.
Charm/Intimidate 50%
Charm/Impress 60%
Can consciously completely block telepathic mind probes, Empathy, Telepathy, and See Aura.

Notable Possessions/Equipment:
Some personal jewelry, including ‘memory metal’ bracelets and necklaces that conceal sensors, communicators, or small weapons(these would be similar to the Howlen Gear issued to many Wolf’s Path subtypes, and since adopted by the SkyeKlad).
She also likes to wear a holo-pendent that acts as a VD sketchpad for her calligraphy compositions.
Jendi also has a small wardrobe of clothing for occasions and tasks when modesty and discretion are called for.

Vehicle:
Jendi is assigned to the only EcoS-K-124 Savager in service with the SkyeKlad. Jendi actually acts afraid or nervous most of the time around the massive brute, which is nicknamed ‘Akilla’, while in return the giant beast is menacingly affectionate towards the smaller NeShemar. Interesting enough, when riding(inside) it, Jendi seems less the controlling intelligence and more a component in supercharging the warmount, adding her actions/attacks and strike bonuses to the cyberbeast. In Mounted combat, it’s the Savager that’s arguably the tactical commanding intelligence.
‘Akilla’ mounts two CS-derived heavy pulse lasers;
Range: 6,000 ft
Damage: 2d4x10 MD per blast, 4d4x10 MD for both lasers firing simultaneously.
Rate of Fire: EGCHH
Payload: Effectively unlimited

[taalismn]

EcoS-K-130 Kruppelganger Munitions Production Warmount
(aka ‘Wirbelwyrm’, ‘Kanonite’)

The brodkil’s bellow of rage became a short-lived scream of fear as door-sized mandibles closed around the demon. A bionic arm was briefly trapped between the closing jaws, finger-claws flailing and a forearm-mount blaster firing blindly into the air before, with a sound like crumbling tin cans, it was sucked through the narrowing gap and finally disappeared into the Warmount’s maw. Multiple sizzling sounds and the sound of something heavy wetly impacting the front of the giant robeast told of other opponents caught by the warmount’s charge out of the fog. Then a thunder of heavy gunnery split the air, as targets at longer range were acquired.
Within her shuttered cab, the Gothec teamster noted the economy of short bursts practiced by the gunners. The flak-cannon could easily burn through their magazines in the hands of shock-happy novice warriors, but practicing aim and ammunition economy...well, if they had time to properly clean up the battlefield after this skirmish, they just might end up with more ammo than they started out with!

The Triax TX-862FC 30mm Anti-Aircraft Flak Cannon has turned out to be one of Triax Industries’ inadvertent best sellers, though the company hasn’t made a deutschmarc off the popularity, due to the weapon being knocked off by other high tech kingdoms, such as Dantegard, the New Roman Republic, Greater New England...and the Shemarrian Nation. The combination of excellent range, rapid rate of fire, and relatvely light weight make the TX-862FC a superb dual air defense and direct fire weapon. The ammunition, however, is the chokepoint; wth most nations favoring rail guns and their fairly simple ‘solid-block’ rounds, rather than the older -tech shell-and-cartridge of the 30mm. Rapid-fire meant that users of the TX-862FC could quickly burn through their supplies of ammunition, leaving them potentially high and dry when they really needed the firepower. As with the TX ‘Pump’ rounds, Clan Gothec thought that a mobile factory for the shells would solve a great number of their problems with regards to supply. As with their previous warmount designs, the fringe tribe developed a mobile platform in VR, then subcontracted the final design out to any Tribe with the industrial capacity to spare.
The Kruppelganger is generally regarded as a cross between the Nitroid and the Haulite, and was developed to provide Clan Gothec and its customers with a mobile means of massproducing ammunition for the various copies of the Triax TX-862FC circulating about.
The Kruppelganger is larger than the Nitroid due to the heavier and more complex 30mm shell , necessitating larger production equipment. The design resembles a cross between a giant six-legged locust and a semi-truck rig, and can be mistaken for an advanced all-terrain heavy hauler/tanker truck. Again, various details can be attributed to the input of other Tribes, either made directly to the new design, or carried over from earlier successful efforts. Powered wheels, grenade-launcher ‘exhaust stacks’, and an enclosed cab with shuttered ‘fighting windows’ show Clan Motron’s influence, while the long-legged ambulation mode show the Horrorwoods’ contribution.
Two thirds of the length of the Kruppelganger is taken up by a complex and incredibly compact manufactory that, when provided with the right materials, can produce composite cartridge casings, mold shells, synthesize shell propellant and explosive filling, print fusing circuitry and assemble finished 30mm rounds. Even more astonishing is the fact that there are not one, but TWO assembly chutes winding their way through the Kruppelganger’s tanker-like interior, producing ammunition and dinally depositing the finished product in two armored bins at the rear, ready for delivery and fitting into belts and drums. This capability earned the EcoS-K-130 its reporting name, with a nod to the famous German arms company Krupp(still regarded as the spiritual parent of Triax Industries).
The Kruppelganger gets its more commonly-used nickname of ‘Wirbelwyrm’ from the mid-body dorsal turret housing no less than four 30mm cannons. Backing the powerful flak armament are the usual forward lasers, and two secondary weapons mounts, one covering the tail arc. The Kruppelganger is not regarded as a combat unit, and operators try to keep it out of combat situations, but as it represents a valuable logistical resource and as such travels with other support units, it can be expected to come under fire. Also, because it is often brought to battlefields to scavenge recyclable materials, it can be expected to encounter other hazards, such as surviving hostiles, boobytraps, and other scavengers. Kruppelgangers rarely operate alone, and usually with an escort of auxiliaries and a security detail.
Besides a handful used by Clan Gothec, the Kruppelganger is used by Clan Motron and the N’R’Mar.

Type: EcoS-K-130 Kruppelganger
Class: Robotic Warmount
Crew: None; robot intelligence
1 rider/pilot, and room for 1-3 passengers in the cab. The turret can hold another two, and the rear deck can hold up to four workers/troops.
MDC/Armor by Location:
Main Body 780
Head 180
Wheels(6) 50 each
Legs(6) 200 each
Gun Turret 300
Headlights(4) 25 each
Forward Mandibles/Bumpers(2) 120 each
Smoke/Flare/Grenade Launchers(4) 70 each
Ammunition Bins(2) 300 each
Rear Deck 120
Height: 13 ft
Width: 11 ft
Length: 52 ft
Weight: 50 tons
Cargo: Small space inside the cab and the main flak turret for a few personal possessions and sidearms. The rear platform can hold about a ton of gear, if not mounting a weapon. The two armored ammunition bins, if not carrying newly produced shells, can hold 2.5 tons each of cargo.
Physical Strength: Equivalent to Robotic P.S. of 30
Powerplant: Nuclear w/ 20 year energy life
Speed: (Running) 45 MPH
(Wheels) Can make 57 MPH on firm/paved surfaces
(Leaping) Not possible
(Flying) Not possible
(Space) Not possible
(Underwater) Limited to running/driving along the bottom at 15 MPH. Maximum depth limit of 400 ft.
Market Cost: Exclusive to the Ecotroz-Shemar
Systems of Note:
Full optical systems, laser targeting, passive nightvision, telescopic vision, thermal imaging, infrared, ultraviolet, and polarization filters. Also has motion and heat detection, built-in radar( 60 mile range) and other standard power armor-equivalent systems. Additional/special sensors may be built in by the creating Tinkers or at the behest of individual riders/owners.

*Bionic Cybernanite Repair Systems---ALL Kruppelgangers have the same bionic nanotech repair system that the Ecotroz Shemar have refitted themselves with, and which is becoming the standard among NeShemar as well. These systems repair 4d6 MD per hour, and can repair 140 MDC before needing material stocks to convert to MD repair material.

*Internal Munitions Factory---Nearly identical to the Nitroid’s onboard ammunition factory systems. If kept supplied with the right materials, the internal munitions factory in the Kruppelganger can produce TX-62FC rounds, their propulsive cartridges, and disintegrating fiber belting. The system works best with already refined/processed materials, but the Kruppelganger can produce the necessary materials from scratch(this slows down the rate of production, though). Gruesomely enough, Gargoyle and Brodkil corpses have proven to be excellent fodder for the Kruppelgangers’ needs.
-30mm Rounds can be produced at a rate/ratio of ingested 5 MDC for every 3 rounds, and takes 10 minutes, with TWO lines going, so the process can churn out 6 rds every 10 minutes, or 36 rounds an hour, 864 rounds a day. If using prepared materials, the production rate can be increased by 50%.
The internal munitions fac runs off an independent sub-brain of the Kruppelganger, so even when the warmount’s AI ‘persona’ is estivating, its internal fac can continue working on churning out ammunition.
A Kruppelganger typically carries about 3,000 rounds of ammunition production around inside itself. The two armored ammunition bins at the rear can hold 1,500 rds each, and can be jettisoned in an emergency.

Vulnerability:
The Kruppelganger has the same volatility problem as the Notroid, though the Gothecs have learned to reduce it somewhat. If the Kruppelganger’s Main Body MDC is taken down to 15, there’s a 15% chance of the warmount catching fire, and producing jets of flaming gas that do 4d6 SDC to a 20 ft radius of the warmount. There’s also a 10% chance of concussive blasts that do 1d6x10 SDC to a 50 ft radius, as nitrate cartridges start going off.
At 0 main body MDC, if safety measures were not previously engaged, the Kruppelganger has a 60% chance of going off like a bomb, exploding with a force of 2d4x100 MD to a 60 ft radius, and an additional 4d6 MD shrapnel damage to an extra 70 ft beyond that. In any event, internal fires and leaking chemical reagents will render little, if anything, remaining worth salvaging.
Few Gothecs bother with fitting their Kruppelgangers with self-destruct mechanisms, given that chance of self-immolation.

Weapons Systems:
1) Eye Lasers(4)---Carries over the quad-eye laser configuration from the Haulite.
Range: 2,000 ft
Damage: 3d6 MD per single blast, or 6d6 MD per double blast, 12d6 MD for all four firing simultaneously.
Rate of Fire: ECHH
Payload: Effectively Unlimited

2) Quad 30mm Turret(dorsal)---Mounted in a nine-sided turret reminescent of the pre-Rifts WW2 ‘Wirbelwind’ AAA tank, four TX-862FC knockoffs provide the warmount with excellent and devastating air defense, though the same concentration of firepower makes the turret an obvious target.
Range:10,000 ft
Damage:4d6 MD single rd, 1d6x10 MD two rd burst, 3d6x10 MD six-round burst per single gun. All four cannons firing at maximum rate, thus can do 12d6x10 MD(or 1d6x100 MD).
Rate of Fire:EPCHH
Payload:1,600 rds, 400 rds per cannon
Bonuses:Independent laser and radar tracking system(range: 11,000 ft). +1 strike set on automatic against aerial attack, +2 strike fired by gunner

3) Smoke/Flare/Grenade Launchers(4)---What look like exhaust stacks or cooling towers on the sides of the Kruppelganger(two alongside the cab and two alongside the rear platform) are really grenade launchers. Taken off the NG-8000 Super Max Robot.
Range: 1,200 ft
Damage:(Varies)(Fragmentation) 2d6 MD to a 20 ft blast radius
(High Explosive) 4d6 MD to a 6 ft blast radius
(Chemical) Varies, but creates a cloud that covers a 20 ft radius and persists in still air for 1d4+4 minutes
(Chaff)None; similar to Triax-style chaff
01-50 Enemy Missile or volley detonates in chaff and threat is neutralized
51-75 Missile/Volley diverts and may pursue/lock on to other targets
76-00 No Effect! Missile(s) still on target!
Will also temporarily blind and impede flying monsters who fly into it.
Reduce APMs/combat bonuses/ speed by half for 1d4 melees
Rate of Fire: Volleys of 1-8, ECHH
Payload: 44 grenades per launcher.

4) Axle Buzzsaws(6)---The wheels on the legs can extend axle-spinners lined with blades for high speed buzzsaw cuts. This feature was taken directly from the earlier Haulite. The greater length and arc of the Kruppelganger’s legs means that it use these blades to guard a larger area arund itself.
Range: Melee
Damage: 6d6 MD per slash, 1d6x10+10 MD per full melee cut.

5) Smokescreen---The Kruppelganger can belch out a thick smokescreen on demand.
Range: Each blast covers a 100 ft area.
Damage: Anyone caught in the cloud of thick, obscuring smoke is unable to see, except with thermal optics. Inhaling, or exposure through unprotected soft tissues like the eyes, the vapor does 1d6 SDC/Hit Points per melee of exposure, and victims are -4 to dodge, strike, and parry, even for 1d4 melees after being removed from the cloud.
Smoke persists for 1d4+3 melee rounds.
Rate of Fire: ECHH
Payload: Has enough smoke-matrix for 25 clouds. Regenerates them at a rate of 1 every three hours(1 hour if fed petrochemicals).

6) Industrial Exhaust/Chemical Spray---The Kruppelganger can, in an emergency, vent jets of toxic chemicals, byproducts of its internal chemosynthesis processes. These gases tend to be irritants, and they have earned the Kruppelganger the nickname of ‘Sting Bug’ among some d-bee tribes.
Range: 50 ft
Damage: Varies, but typically hot, toxic waste gases. Rarely dangerous to those with full respiratory protection. A typical hot emission causes unprotected victims caught in the vapors to be temporarily blinded, -10 to strike, parry, dodge, and take 2d6 SDC inhalation damage per melee of being caught in the cloud. The temporary blindness lasts 1d6 melees after leaving the cloud.
Rate of Fire: ECHH. Depending on local wind conditions, the waste gas cloud will dissipate in 1d4 melees.
Payload: Conditionally unlimited; can typically renew its toxic cloud once per melee when going at full processing blast.

7) Hardpoints(2)----The Kruppelganger has provision for a small turret atop its cab and another on the rear platform for crew-served weaponry. The EsCGRG01 ‘Gausser’ Rail Gun is a common fitting for these positions.

Programming:
The Ecotroz have installed robotic AIs in the Kruppelganger frame, but as with the Haulite, only a small number(10%) are matrix-infected/Awakened with a low-level Ecotroz sentience. This is because many operators of the Kruppelganger want 24/7 operating on the road in many situations, or. especially among the Gothecs, the ‘bots don’t want to advertise that their vehicles are anything but cold hard lifeless technology.
Typically has the following:
Baseline Shemarrian Animal Programming, plus:
Mining & Excavation 85%
Recycling 95%
Chemistry 98%
Chemistry: Analytical 80%

If Awakened, the Ecotroz entity can also pick up one Secondary skill at levels 2, 6, and 12 of experience, though the nature of the Kruppelganger intelligence and design is such that it is limited to skill selections from Technical: Language(understanding) and Lore (Cattle & Animals, Indians, Juicers, Magic, Demons & Monsters, D-Bees, Faerie---at least with regards to identifying their relative threat level), and Wilderness( Hunting).

Actions/Attacks Per Melee: 5
Initiative +2 (+1 from an Ecotroz entity for a total of +3)
Dodge +2
Strike +1 (+2 w/ ranged weaponry)
Roll +3
Bite 1d4x10 MD
Kick 5d6 MD
Stomp 4d6 ft(targets under 8 ft tall)
Body Block/Ram 4d8 MD

Note: If Awakened, the Ecotroz intelligence fragment inhabiting the ‘bot gives the Kruppelganger an aura and behavior more befitting a sentient being than a robot. Awakened Kruppelgangers behave much like bison or Cape Buffalo; normally docile and content to graze, but fierce and foul-tempered when attacked.

The Ecotroz fragment does occasionally need sleep/rest...though they only need 2 hours of rest/meditation per 24 hours...they can push this, going without for as many days as they have I.Q. points(most Warmounts, unless otherwise noted, have an effective IQ rating of 8 ), but will have to go dormant for 4d6 hours after such exertion.
Note also that the Ecotroz-possessed ‘bot can infect other bots with the Ecotroz viral-entity, by bite or sustained touch(takes 3 attacks).

Options:
*Variable Camouflage---The Kruppelganger’s hull can be coated with a special liquid crystal film that can be manipulated to change the overall color scheme, from basic camouflage patterns to various different corporate paint schemes, allowing the Gothecs to pass their warmounts off as different vehicles and obscure their real numbers.

*Deployable Scramble Tarp---An erectable qounset-tent of sensor-insulated megadamage fabric. This helps camouflage the Kruppelganger when parked.
MDC: The tent provides about 100 MDC of protection, however, against explosions, it is less
effective(being non-rigid, shockwaves pass through its fabric), so explosives will do HALF damage to
the occupants, regardless of how much MDC is left in the tent.
Bonuses:
Special Features:
-Chameleon-cloth Fabric---Can assume one of seven pre-set color configurations.
-Thermal Insulation-Infrared and Thermographic sensors are -20% to detect the shelter.
-Electronic Insulation- Radar, MAD, and EM sensors are -15% to detect the shelter

The Clan Gothec engineer-Tinkers would also like to build more versatility into the manufactury of the Kruppelganger, allowing it to retool itself to produce other calibers, or specialized shells. Already, they’d had some success in reprogramming the works to be able to produce tracer shells(+1 to strike with a burst if including tracers), but they’d also like to see about the possibilities of incendiary ammunition.

Variants:
The Kruppelganger has no substantial variants as yet, but some sub-tribes, believing that the heavy quad-gun mount, rather than provide protection, only encourages crews to engage in dangerous attention-drawing combat, replace the cannons with less obvious laser point defense systems, or remove the mount altogether, and add an extra ‘roof’ of armor(+250 MDC to the main body).

[taalismn]

The fun of cranking out Warmounts...and of using stock gear from such generously stocked gribble-bins as the Northern Gun books and combining them with ideas cribbed from a good library collection of natural history-


EcoS-K-131 Acesophibian Emergency Response Warmount
(aka Jengunaut)

“Let the warriors man the barricades and hold the line, or take the battlefield and push the foreman from the field, -our- battle is here and now! We fight nothing less than death itself! Do we fear death? Yes! Do we run from it? NO! We fight for life here! The lives of our neighbors! The lives of our friends! The lives of strangers!”

“Cal taros, Evantown and Chapelli have been successfully evacuated, aside from a few stragglers the ‘riders missed. I’m afraid to report that of Coyster’s Hamlet, nothing remains; we managed to pull out ninety-six residents, of whom sixty require immediate medical attention, and thirty-two of them may require full reconstruction. Despite our best efforts, we believe that we’re short another thirty-five locals. Once our charges are safely moved to sanctuary, my vadenza* volunteer to go back to look for additional survivors, but the region has become a free-fire zone and all structures in the hamlet were ablaze.”

(*Vadenza----An Eshemarrian cavalry squadron or task unit)

“Looks like the Healers are going to be doing a lot of reconstructive work tonight. Wonder how many neshemar we’ll be taking in after this, and how many of them will require shock trauma wipes? By the Goddess, but I -HATE- napalm attacks.”

The Acesophibian is an unusual warmount in that it was developed solely to serve the needs of non-Shemarrians. The Acesophibian is meant as an emergency mass-casualty response vehicle, and was allegedly inspired by EShemarrian observations of Northern Gun MMB-1 and MMB-2 Mobile Medical Robot vehicles in action during the Minion War. The Acesophibian is meant to turn out to affect mass rescues of non-Shemarrians(particularly those in communities under the aegis of the Shemarrian Nation) and treat injured onsite or stabilize them for transport to better-equipped facilities for treatment. The creation of a warmount specially designed to rescue and preserve the lives of non-Shemarrians, rather than rely on ad-hoc ambulance services using combat or utility warmounts, or what available conventional vehicles can be scrounged up, is seen as a major public relations coup for the Shemarrians, in their relationship with the peoples living within the borders of the Shemarrian Nation.
The Acesophibian bears some resemblance to the Surinam Toad(Pipa pipa), a large, flat-bodied amphibian notable in that it broods its young in pockets in a mucus pad on its back. In the case of the Acesophibian, the warmount’s back is fitted with multiple individual patient transport pods, each equipped with a life support system and autodoc medical response system.
The Acesophibian is carried over the ground by long gangling limbs that give it excellent stability and allow it to scramble over debris. The wide spatulate paws at the ends of the legs distribute weight well, and help secure grips on unsteady and uneven surfaces. The Acesophibian can balance on two legs, allowing its other flexible limbs to grasp and carry objects, and the multiple joints allow the paws to be able to access the life-pods on its back. Extendable webbing helps the Acesophibian swim more effectively, but also makes it easier to scoop up patients and carry them. For its size, the Acesophibian is surprising nimble, able to dodge falling debris and collapsing structures with an almost unearthly grace for such a large warmount.
Besides acting as medical transports, Acesophibians are outfitted with firefighting capabilities and sensors for evaluating disaster zones and locating victims trapped in the area. The Awakened versions’ advanced psionic abilities serve them well in search and rescue operations.
As it is not meant for combat, the Acesophibian is not heavily armed, save for standard eye lasers and the ability to generate and spray obscuring gels and foams. The Acesophibian instead relies on escorting units to protect it in combat zones.
The Acesophibian was developed by the Horrorwoods, but is also used by the Wayfinders in quantity. Both the Obsidian Dawn and the Radiant Edge are known to use the type as well.

Type: EcoS-K-131 Acesophibian
Class: Robotic Warmount, Utility, Emergency Response
Crew: None; robot intelligence
1 rider/pilot, and room for 1-2 passengers, usually a medically-trained technician or body-fixer to moniter the pods and an assistant or security warrior to keep watch.
Up to 42 life-podded patients.
MDC/Armor by Location:
Main Body 420
Head 120
Life Pods (42) 75 each
Legs(4) 120 each
Height: 18 ft belly to back. (Pod 8 ft tall). With legs at full extension, can stand up to 36 ft tall.
Width: 41 ft. Legs can extend out 18 ft to either side.
Length: 60 ft
Weight: 36 tons
Cargo: Small space inside/beside the saddle-seat for a few personal possessions and sidearms.
If not carrying a life pod, each service niche on the warmount’s back can hold up to 500 lbs of cargo.
Physical Strength: Equivalent to Robotic P.S. of 45
Powerplant: Nuclear w/ 20 year energy life
Speed: (Running) 75 MPH
(Leaping) Can make a standing leap of 10 ft up/20 ft across, increase height and distance by 50% with a running start in excess of 40 MPH.
(Climbing) Good climber; equivalent to a skill of 70%.
(Flying) Not possible
(Space) Not possible
(Underwater) Fully amphibious; can swim at 30 MPH, and dive to 500 ft.
Market Cost: Exclusive to the Ecotroz-Shemar
Systems of Note:
Full optical systems, laser targeting, passive nightvision, telescopic vision, thermal imaging, infrared, ultraviolet, and polarization filters. Also has motion and heat detection, built-in radar( 60 mile range) and other standard power armor-equivalent systems. Additional/special sensors may be built in by the creating Tinkers or at the behest of individual riders/owners.

*Bionic Cybernanite Repair Systems---ALL Acesophibians have the same bionic nanotech repair system that the Ecotroz Shemar have refitted themselves with, and which is becoming the standard among NeShemar as well. These systems repair 4d6 MD per hour, and can repair 100 MDC before needing material stocks to convert to MD repair material.

*Molecular Adhesion Pads---The large flat toes are covered in molecular adhesion pads. These allow the rescue-mount to cling to structures strong enough to hold their great weight, but they are more often used to gain a stronger grip on heavy debris, allowing the Acesophibian to more easily shift aside obstacles and impediments to uncovering trapped survivors.

*Life Pods(42)----The Acesophibian’s back is covered in individual life support modules, initially copies of Northern Gun’s MAU-500 Medical Automation Unit, but other types, including specialized pods, can be accommodated. The Warmount supplies power and coolant to each pod, and monitors the occupant. Each pod can be swapped out of the Acesophibian for transfer or maintenance.
EShemar expert systems have a diagnostic proficiency of 91% for humans and most humanoid d-bees, 60% for others. Medical treatment is equivalent to a Medical Doctor at 88% for humans/humanoid d-bees, and 55% for others. Field surgery is performed at 98%/94% for simple procedures, 90%/60% for more serious internal work. In the event of more extreme injuries, stasis is generally implemented to stabilize and preserve the patient for transport to better treatment facilities.
In a dire emergency, Shemarrian life support modules can crash-dive the occupant into biostasis. The integrated power crystal system is good for 5 years of independent operation, though the stasis pod is typically used only for much shorter duration.

Weapons Systems:
1) Eye Lasers(2)---Standard Shemarrian warmount eye-lasers. These lasers are mounted in the head on widely spaced eyestalks, and are used for both material cutting and self-defense.
Range: 2,000 ft
Damage: 3d6 MD per single blast, or 6d6 MD per double blast
Rate of Fire: ECHH
Payload: Effectively Unlimited

2) Foam Spitter---Mounted in the head is a high-powered water pump. This is typically used to fight fires and assist in decontamination work, but it is also powerful enough to knock over targets.
Range: 150 ft
Damage: Acts similar to a Wind Burst, at ranges of 100 ft or less,
humanoid-sized beings(7 ft or smaller) will have an 88% chance of being knocked over and pushed 1d6x10 ft by the air blast, as well as a 65% chance of being stunned or knocked out.
Creatures and bots weighing over a ton, or standing 8-20 ft, will only have a 40% chance of being knocked over, and only a 15% chance of being stunned.
Creatures and 'bots taller than 21 ft, will be unaffected.
If liquid is being pumped, add +10% to the chance of being knocked over, due to the greater imparted force of the fluid.
If pumping water, the cannon can deliver a 20-gallon 3d6x10 HP blast to vampires.
Rate of Fire: ECHH
Payload: Internal tankage can hold 300 gallons, or 15 blasts.


3) Foam Sprayers---Mounted around the body are multiple sprayer heads. These can exude various chemical foams and aerogels that can be used to provide fire retardant screening or camouflage. The foam can also be used to create foam barriers that can act as temporary shelter and can trap and confuse enemies attempting to close for melee combat.
Reportedly the Acesophibian can even generate a thick-enough covering of foam that it can serve as a raft on water.
Range: 50 ft, and each application generates 75,000 cubic ft of foam, but the foam can build up and push out even further.
Damage: None; the aerogel is harmless, lightweight, and air-permeable(unless otherwise noted). Several different compositions of foam can be sprayed:

*Bubblegel---Creates an area of thick, obscuring, bubbles; anybody caught in the middle of the mass of bubbles will find their speed and all combat bonuses reduced by HALF.
Anybody caught in the foam or trying to see through it will be -6 to strike anybody on the other side, due to the obscuring/distorting effects of the bubbles.
Energy weapons firing through the bubbles do only HALF damage, as their cohesion is dispersed by the distorting effect of the bubbles.
Trying to bat the bubbles aside, or force one’s way through, will cause 1d6 or more of the bubbles to pop, delivering an unexpectedly powerful kinetic jolt to the victim; both the bubbles and the victim to roll, with the (Human-sized)victim trying to beat the bubble roll to maintain their balance (-1 per bubble popping) or be knocked down(lose initiative and 1 APM getting back up).
Bubbles persist for 2d6 melees before evaporating.
They can be projected underwater(though range and duration will be HALF that in air).

*Aerogel---A thicker concoction than Bubblegel. It has the same vision-obscuring and energy-disipating traits as Bubblegel, but is denser and stickier, and lacks the kinetic shock traits.
Sprayed in a person’s face or head, the aerogel blinds; (-4 to Initiative, and -10 to Perception rolls). Sprayed around the legs, it hampers mobility(reduce speed by 75%, and HALF all bonuses to dodge/roll/parry). Removing the gunk takes 1d4 melees of furious wiping, scraping and tearing.
The sprayer can be used to spray and shape a ‘suit’ or air-permeable aerogel around a person. The ‘suit’ looks somewhat like an inflated hazmat bag around the person, made of translucent plastic that balloons out around them and exaggerates their proportions. Inside the suit, the person is cushioned from shock(takes only 1/8 normal damage from kinetic shock, punches, falls, and blows), floats like a pool toy, has a larger ‘footprint’ that cushions the person’s weight(reduce penalties for crossing soft surfaces like snow and mud by HALF, and +5% to Prowl skills). However, the aerogel muffles sound, interferes with vision(-2 to Initiative, and -8 to Perception rolls), and prevents the person from being able to fully grasp and manipulate objects(-25% to any skills requiring fine manipulation). The plastic also interferes with mobility; -20% to acrobatic maneuvers, and reduce speed by 50%.
-Completely cocooning a person or object, immobilizing them, is also possible, but takes longer(1 full minute of constant spraying to completely envelope the target). The foam holds with a regular strength of 30, and take about 120 SDC per cubic yard of the stuff before breaking apart.
-Special: The Acesophibian can wrap itself in a layer of foam that gives it a bonus of +2 to roll.
-The foam has an undisturbed life span similar to styrofoam peanuts; the stuff will last months, if not years, packed in a box, but generally mechanical abuse and exposure to the elements breaks the stuff down in a matter of days or hours.

*Radfoam---Specially formulated to provide extra protection against radiation, similar to BoroSlime. Good for containing light to moderate radiation spills, and providing temporary protection against larger spills/exposure.

*SaniFoam---Laced with powerful bactericides. Useful for scrubbing down and sealing quarantine areas and contaminated equipment.

*ThermalFoam----Heat and fire does only 1/3 normal damage against this thermal-resistant material. Useful for setting up firebreaks and covering at-risk buildings and equipment.

*FiltraFoam---Traps toxic gases with 75% efficiency. Good for sealing buildings against gas and other contaminants.

Rate of Fire: ECHH
Payload: 5 Internal reservoirs, each of which can hold 12 applications of foam each(for a total of 60)
Note: The Acesophibian CANNOT generate its own foam matrix; it has to be resupplied by other sources. The Wayfinders are looking to develop a future variant that CAN produce its own aerogel reserves from scratch.

Programming:
The Ecotroz have installed robotic AIs, then infected the matrix with a low-level Ecotroz sentience. Acesophibian personality has been modeled after dogs(despite its resemblance to a giant toad), specifically larger service breeds such as St. Bernards, so the giant warmounts tend towards being loyal, friendly, helpful, and brave. Despite their great size, Acesophibians can be surprisingly gentle and group-oriented(some have compared them favorably to elephants, and indeed, they get along just fine with EcoS-K-10 Tuskers).

Has the basic Monstrex programming, plus:
Excavation and Rescue 80%(+5% per level of experience for Ecotroz entity)
Trap & Mine Detection 50%(+5% per level of experience for Ecotroz entity)
-Also good for spotting possible deadfalls and unsafe structures.

The Ecotroz entity can also pick up one Secondary skill at levels 2, 6, and 12 of experience, though the nature of the Acesophibian intelligence and design is such that it is limited to skill selections from Technical: Language(understanding) and Lore (Cattle & Animals, Indians, Juicers, Magic, Demons & Monsters, D-Bees, Faerie---at least with regards to identifying their relative threat level), and Wilderness( Hunting).

Actions/Attacks Per Melee: 6
Initiative +2 (+1 from the Ecotroz entity for a total of +3)
Dodge +4
Strike +1 (+2 w/ ranged weaponry)
Roll +3
Pull Punch +4
Bite 1d6 MD
Restrained Swat 1d6 MD
Kick 2d6 MD
Head Butt 1d8 MD

Note: The Ecotroz intelligence fragment inhabiting the ‘bot gives the Acesophibian an aura and behavior more befitting a sentient being than a robot.

Has the following Natural Psionic Abilities(no ISP Cost), all equivalent to 8th level with regards to proficiency, but TRIPLE the range.
*Sixth Sense
*See Aura

The Ecotroz fragment does occasionally need sleep/rest...though they only need 2 hours of rest/meditation per 24 hours...they can push this, going without for as many days as they have I.Q. points(most Warmounts, unless otherwise noted, have an effective IQ rating of 8, the Acesophibian has an I.Q. of 10 ), but will have to go dormant for 4d6 hours after such exertion.
Note also that the Ecotroz-possessed ‘bot can infect other bots with the Ecotroz viral-entity, by bite or sustained touch(takes 3 attacks).

Options:
Many Acesophibians are configured to act in concert with modified EcoS-K-46 Aquilons. The smaller flying warmounts can get places the larger Acesophibian cannot, and can carry a life pod in place of a rider. The Aquilon can pick up a patient(by itself or with the assistance of an onsite helper), fly back to the Acesophibian, drop the life pod into a plug-niche, then fly off to continue rescue operations.

Some Acesophibians are also fitted with a small crane arm and winch behind the head for hoisting up life pods and lowering them into service slots, when the warmount cannot bring its multi-jointed legs into play, or it cannot be lowered to the ground for rescuers on foot to directly handle the modules aboard.

Variants:
*EcoS-K-131Wf---(aka ‘Nuxalkite’)TechnoWizardry-enhanced version developed by the Wayfinders. It can be distinguished by a large crystal set into its forehead and another cluster of crystals immediately behind the rider’s saddle-cockpit. The EcoS-K-131Wf is enhanced with protective spells, and can also cast spells to assist in disaster relief and cleanup.
-PPE Generator:--(‘Wizard’)----400 PPE battery capacity; recharges at 14 PPE per hour, 50 PPE/hour at a leyline, 100 PPE/hour on a nexus.

-Air Bubble---Generates a 15 ft wide bubble of clean breathable air , up to 200 ft away, that lasts 1 hour. Good for providing temporary protection to victims in areas where the atmosphere is compromised. Has 1d6 MDC. 5 PPE per casting.

-Implosion Neutralizer--- 100 ft range, reduces the damage and blast radius of an explosion by HALF. 6 PPE per casting.

-Extinguish Flame---130 ft range, extinguishes flames in a 20 ft radius, with a spell duration of 20 minutes, allowing the user to ‘fan’ the effect around to cover a large area. 2 PPE per casting.

-Circle of Rain--- Causes a 25 minute deluge to a 60 ft diameter area. Vampires and Fire Elementals take 4d6 damage per melee. 10 PPE per casting.

*Impervious to Fire---Renders the warmount immune to heat-based attacks; lasts 10 minutes per 5 PPE/10 ISP.

*Protective Energy Field---50 MDC and 10 minutes duration per 10 PPE/20 ISP pumped in.

*Impervious to Energy---5 minutes per 20 PPE/40 ISP pumped in.

*Levitation----A low-powered Levitation spell allows the warmount to float up over obstacles or drop off collapsing structures, especially important when dealing with destroyed roads and bridges, or high-rise disasters. 30 minutes per 5 PPE.

*EcoS-K-131XRe---Armored version, sporting two large beetle-like carapace shells(200 MDC each) that cover the back and further protect the medical pods. Also fitted with radiation shielding(and in some cases, Radiation Sponges). Reportedly developed by the Radiant Edge.

[taalismn]

EShemar ‘Black Water’ Gun-Sub
(aka ‘Triaxian’)

“’Dreamship’, hah! ‘Bout time those five-eyed Horune freaks got a taste of their own medicine! Bet some of them were thinking they were trapped in a nightmare when their abomidable ‘dreamships’ caught fire with all them pirates caught in them! Hit from above, below, and right on the waterline! Yaheh, that the Shemarrians are taking the fight to them! Yeheh I say!”

<<“A frontal assault on that raider base is out of the question; it would require far larger numbrs than we can spare from othr fronts right now. And a large naval force would be detected right off by their defenses. -HOWEVER-, a smaller force could get close enough...not opposite the base, because they’ve considered that already...but along several points in between, a small land force could be inserted and deploy overland to points within Pall Bringer range of the base. That would allow WMDs to be fired over both land and water, and their destructive capabilities could easily take care of the problem that shadow port presents. We’ll be using gun-subs for both the insertion and decoy operations...they know we know where they are, but they should be expecting a naval or air raid, not an assault from inland. Now, will I have volunteers, or should we approach the Blood Riders or the Skull Crushers for this mission?”>>

The Black Water is a new vessel in the service of the Dark Water Tribe that has raised more than a few questions as to its origins and providence. Initially believed to be a knockoff copy of the rumored PS/GNE ‘Erikson’ AI warship(the nautical version of their GRANITE AX cyber-tank), the Black Water is now known to be a navalized version of Triax’s X5050 ‘Black Death’ robotic Mobile Artillery Support Unit. How the DarkWaters acquired detailed information on the large Triax-made robot vehicle is unknown, as Clan Gothec, aside from acquiring a few thirdhand pieces of battlefield salvage, has avoided taking X5050 parts as too risky to their current working relationship with the NGR. Parallel development has been suggested, but there are too many points of commonality between the Black Death and the Black Water to be mere coincidence. It has been suggested that Ghost Rider industrial espionage may be the source of X5050 schematics provided to the DarkWaters.
Equally puzzling is where the EShe-SSN-06s are assembled; their initial deployment in European waters suggests a secret production facility somewhere in the eastern Atlantic, possibly along the British or Irish coast, though an Actiniar Mobile Support Facility/Fortress has also been rumored to be lurking in the North Sea.
In any event, the Black Water greatly resembles its terrestrial cousin with regards to general size and layout, but instead being carried on six legs, the Black Water is fitted with combination hydrofoil pylons/dive planes, and propelled by robust dual-mode turbofans/hydrojet thrusters. Instead of an articulated three-part body, however, the Black Water has a single fused hull plated and angled for sensor stealth. It retains the X5050’s heavily reinforced structure and deep diving tolerances, but streamlines the hull plating for better performance submerged. The four cargo doors have been replaced with armored airlocks, and the rear cargo bay hatch and ramp have been combined to allow access to a floodable large bay for launching smaller craft or warmounts. Armament has been modified with weaponry better suited to both in-air and underwater operations, such as missile launchers replaced with dual-mode missile/torpedo racks. The Black Water is also faster than the Black Death, and can rely on speed on the surface to get in and out of trouble, or dive below the waves to avoid detection.
The Black Water is also of interest in that it can operate fully automated; the gunnery stations can be turned over to individual computer control(the original setup was believed to use copied or salvaged Dynabot gunner-AIs) networked to a central AI managing ship’s systems. In a pinch, the gun-sub can operate for short periods of time completely autonomously, though this is rarely done, as a crew provides overall strategy and damage control. Still. it is now believed that the seemingly disastrously suicidal raid on the Splugorth-held Azores by a squadron of Black Waters, was now done by the ships in this automated mode, the crews having safely slipped into the waters and escaped earlier.
Though not as stealthy as other Dark Water submarine vehicles, Black Waters have proven effective surface combatants, escort vessels, and transports in their own right. They typically operate in squadrons of 3-4 boats on raids or patrols. The Black Water has been seen mainly operating in the North and Eastern Atlantic, suggesting an advanced field presence of the Dark Waters there far from their North American home ports. Though thus far the Black Water has only seen operating with the Dark Water Tribe, both the Wayfinders and Clan Shinden have evinced an interest in the design, given their nautical operations and explorations.
Because of its resemblance to the Triax Black Death, there are many outsiders who assume that the gun-sub is a wholly Triax creation being fielded by special ops units of the German Navy. The Dark Waters have on occasion capitalized on this confusion, deliberately mimicking NGR tactics and communications protocols to masquerade as German military units, especially when operating close to European waters(one Shemarrian unit supposedly even managed to imitate a Kreigsmarine unit so well, they escorted, unchallenged, a mercantile convoy all the way down the Norwegian coast, turning away as they approached German territorial waters and slipping away into the North Sea) . Ironically, reports of the Black Water are rumored to have Triax scrambling to produce their own version from their X5050 lines.

Type: EShe-SSN-06 Black Water
Class: Submersible Hydrofoil Gunboat
Crew: Heavy automation and the larger average size of the Shemarrians means that the Black Water can operate with a smaller crew, but it also means it is able to carry fewer troops as well.
9 crew members, plus 64 Shemarrian troops and 12 warmounts(typically Shebus).
MDC/Armor by Location:
Main Body 3,000
Thrusters(6) 300 each
Hydrofoil Pylons/Dive Planes(6) 360 each
Personnel Airlock Hatches(4) 200 each
Rear Bay Hatch & Ramp(1) 350
Main Particle Beam 300
Main Turret and Secondary Laser 300
Forward Ion Cannon(2) 150 each
Rail Gun Turrets(4) 450 each
Forward Missile/Torpedo Launcher 200
Medium Range Missile Launcher 360
Mini-Missile/Torpedo Launchers(2) 120 each

Height: 30 ft
Width: 36 ft
Length: 95 ft
Weight: 160 tons
Cargo: 300 tons carried internally
Powerplant: Nuclear w/ 20 year energy life
Speed:(Water Surface) 95 MPH, but only in calm conditions
(Underwater) 35 MPH submerged, maximum depth tolerance of 3.5 miles
Market Cost: Exclusive to the Shemarrian Nation
Systems of Note:
Standard Submarine/Robot Vehicle Systems, plus:
*Robot-equivalent Life Support/NBC Sealing
*Radio Communications---500 mile range
*Laser Communications---Typically 5-10 miles underwater using blue-green frequencies, but can reach up into the upper atmosphere above water. Maximum range of 1,000 miles.
*Radar--100 mile range
*Sonar-----100 mile range
When traveling at 60+ MPH, the sonar is effectively useless(-30% to Read Sensory Instruments skill to read the sonar display), because the hydrofoil wake provide too much interference.

*Hull Degausser---This system can be used to periodically demagnetize the hull, loosening the grip of magnetic-attachment limpet mines, and reducing the effectiveness of magnetically-triggered ocean mines in detecting the vessel and detonating.

*Stealth---On the surface, the Black Water relies on the angled shape of its hull to reduce its radar sensor signature, while underwater, the anechoic plating provides some measure of passive defense against sonar detection. -20% to enemy detection rolls.

**MHD Propulsion System---Underwater, the Black Water uses a magnetic impellor system that sucks in water through the forward intakes, like a turbojet, and expels it under pressure aft. Reduced speed*cannot be going faster than 20 MPH), but it is 50% more quiet than the regular propulsion systems.

*EW/ECCM Suite----: A system that uses electronic encryption and frequency jumping to (attempt to) negate jamming systems. The system has a dedicated AI with a 94% chance of negating radar or communications jamming (non-magical) on its own.
Note that this only applies to received communications (the system filters them out from the jamming clutter) and sensory data received by that unit alone (other units cannot make use of it, unless they have an unaffected datalink/info-share with the ECCM equipped unit. Magic/psychic jamming is NOT affected by this system.
Jamming Range: 20 miles
EW Cloaking: -15% to enemy Read Sensory Instruments rolls using surface search radars(NOT optical and thermographic systems)

Weapons Systems:
1) Heavy Particle Beam Turret---Retained from the X5050 design. The HPBC can MAUL targets that get within range. The shortcoming of the weapon is that, compared to naval cannons and missile systems, its range falls well short, forcing the Black Water to close to virtual knife-fighting range to bring the powerful HPBC into play.
Range: 8,000 ft
Damage: 1d6x100 MD per blast, plus critical(DOUBLE) damage on an unmodified ‘to strike’ roll of 19-20.
Rate of Fire: EGCHH; 6 under drone gunner mode.
Payload: Effectively Unlimited

2) Secondary Laser Cannon---The DarkWaters retained the heavy laser cannon atop the particle beam turret, but have upgraded it, using a Coalition States weapon as the basis. This weapon is mainly used for air defense.
Range: 6,000 ft
Damage: 2d4x10 MD per blast
Rate of Fire: EGCHH; 6 under drone gunner mode.
Payload: Effectively Unlimited

3) Forward Ion Cannon(2)---Instead of twin lasers flanking the nose, the Black Water is fitted with more powerful ion cannons.
Range:: 4,000 ft in air or underwater
Damage: 2d4x10 MD per blast
Rate of Fire: EGCHH; 6 under drone gunner mode.
Payload: Effectively Unlimited

4) Rail Gun Turrets(4)---The Dark Water Shemarrians decided to replace the rail guns on the Black Death with more powerful rapid-fire SkullShatter cannons, and further improved upon THOSE by adding a fourth fantail turret and giving them all heavily-armored turrets and a choice of ammunition acquired from other Tribes. It is believed that the Dark Waters acquired the Skullcrusher weapon as compensation for transporting Skullcrusher troops in several coastal campaigns. The weapons are provided with supercavitating ammunition for underwater operations as well.
Range: 6,000 ft, 3,000 ft underwater.
Damage: 2d6x10 MD per round, 6d6x10 MD for a three shot burst, 1d6MDx100 for a six shot burst(!)
Rate of Fire: EGCHH; 6 under drone gunner mode.
Payload: 820 shot drum per each gun. Additional ammunition drums can be carried as cargo.

*Blood Fire Rounds---Special Shemarrian Rail Gun rounds incorporating a capsule of hyper-napalm in them. They also act as tracers, making sustained fire more accurate(but also making it easier to backtrack the source of the fire). The Dark Waters’ use of this ammunition has proven particularly effective at setting enemy vessels afire.
Damage: +1d6 MD to initial strike, plus does an additional 1d4 MD for 1d4 melee rounds. Immersion in water does NOT put the fire out, plus there’s an 80% chance of setting combustibles on fire.
Bonus: +1 to strike in burst mode.

*Eldrencher Rounds----These rounds use a special chemical composition the Wayfinders copied(or stole) from fellow technowizards in one of the Shemarrians’ trade partners. They act like magical napalm, doing extra damage to targets of a magical nature, like Horune dreamships.
Damage: +2d6 MD to initial strike, plus does an additional 1d4 MD for 1d8 melee rounds. Immersion in water does NOT put the fire out, plus there’s an 80% chance of setting combustibles on fire.
- Supernatural BEINGS caught by Eldrencher Fire take 50% more damage
- Supernaturally-enhanced structures take DOUBLE damage.

5) Forward Missile/Torpedo Launcher---The Black Death’s forward short range missile launcher has been replaced with a ‘SeaFire’ medium-range dual air/sea rocket-torpedo(based on Kittani weapons) launcher.
Range:(Underwater) 20 miles
(Air) 75 miles
Speed:(Underwater) 400 MPH
(Air) Mach 3
Damage: 4d6x10 MD
Rate of Fire: Volleys of 1-6
Payload: 24. Additional weapons can be carried as cargo, but it will typically take an hour to reload the forward launchers.
Bonuses: (Torpedo)Because of the torpedoes’ higher speed and advanced targeting systems, the Sea Fire doesn’t suffer the same range and accuracy penalties as conventional torpedoes. The Sea Fire has a +1 to strike, and a +3 to strike within 3,000 ft of the target.
(Missile)---Not quite as accurate as a Harpoon III, but more powerful. +3 to strike

6) Medium Range Missile Launcher---Retained from the original X5050, but streamlined to retract into a fairing in the hull, the dorsal MRM launcher remains largely unchanged, but can now accommodate the SeaFire as well. Holds 42 MRMs.
In the alternative, however, the launcher can be replaced with an LRM/T launcher holding 20 long range missiles or torpedoes(or the Kittani/SeaBane LRRT).
-Kittani Long Range Rocket Torpedo---This is captured enemy ordnance, typically used to confuse enemy positions when they are attacked by their own weaponry. The Shemarrians also produce their own copy, known as the ‘SeaBane’, which can carry an LRM warhead.
Range:(Underwater) 500 miles
(Air) 1,800 miles
Speed:(Underwater) 200 MPH
(Air) Mach 3
Damage: (Kittani) 4d6x10 MD
(Shemarrian SeaBane) Varies(Long Range Missile)

7) Mini-Missile/Torpedo Launchers(2)---The Dark Waters debated long and hard over whether they should include the Black Death’s lesser mini-missile launchers. Ultimately, they decided to retain them, for dealing with swarms of lesser and weaker-armored opponents(such as Horune sled-charioteers), but made the launchers modular and able to accommodate and fire boosted mini-torpedoes or rocket depth charges. Additional weapons can be carried as cargo, but it will typically require at least an hour to reload the externally mounted pods.
a) Mini-Missiles/Torpedoes---30 each
b) Light Anti-Submarine Rocket Weapon(LASRW)
Range: 4,000 ft, 1,000 ft maximum depth
Damage: 7d6x5 MD to 50 ft radius
Rate of Fire: Volleys of 1-5
Payload: 15 each launcher


Programming:
Overall ship management is controlled by an AI with 5 non-combat actions per melee, and the following programming:
Pilot Hydrofoils 90%
Pilot: Submersible 88%
Navigation: Water 94%
Navigation: Underwater 94%
Read Sensory Instruments 94%
Naval Tactics 75%
Radio: Basic 94%
Radio: Scramblers 94%
Laser Communications 94%
Electronic Countermeasures 94%

Note: The Black Water AI is NEVER Awakened.

[taalismn]

Wyrmgear Personal Vehicle
(aka ‘Road Tadpole’)

“Maybe not the fastest things you’ll find out there, but the snake-bikes the Serpentgirls like to issue to their cult-security can still pack a punch...and the cultists like to affirm their allegiance with NUMBERS. We tried to rob one of their temples on Eastlin, and found ourselves in the middle of a freaking snakeball, with snakies slithering in from all over, all of them wanting a piece of us. Say what you will about their flakey religion, the Cobra militia’s zealous AND serious about defending their turf.”

She looked on in shock as her friend’s scream cut off as she was swallowed whole by the enormous snake creature that had burst from the still-smouldering ruins and attacked them. In a panic, she broke her paralysis to turn and run, only to find another of the creatures looming up behind her, Even as her mind registered this new shock, she felt something wet spattering her face and blinding her. But as she raised her arms to wipe her eyes, she realized with horror that a cold numbness was spreading through her. The last she was aware of was the sensation of being caught up and lifted off the ground before unconsciousness overwhelmed her.
-((“Houndsnakes are reporting another two rescues in the eastern quadrant. They’re bringing them in for extraction. Wish we had the time to approach them more peaceably, though; most of them are traumatized enough without seemingly ATTACKING them.”))
-<“Time is not a luxury we have in the field. The contamination is spreading; the sooner we get them out, decontaminated, and treated, the better. We can apologize later when they’re safe and fed. Deploy another pit-run to the eastern sector, but focus along the riverfront; more survivors may be trapped in the wreckage there.” Those able to make their way out along the roadways we can approach more openly.>

“Yeah, it’s a Diamondback Es-Cee-Zero-One-Dee-Ex, with the all-terrain pads and the milspec sensors. Not the fastest ride around, but it handles rough terrain like a mountaingoat, and damn few things can surprise me when I’m out in the field.”

The Wyrmgear is a curious vehicle that would appear to be the unlikely offspring of a collaboration between the Sapphire Cobras and Clan Motron. As the fringe tribe who was developing a reputation for being a thinktank for other Tribes had already been considered as having done the Cobras a great favor by developing the Autoconda and the Jormungandar warmounts, the Cobras were favorably inclined to give the Motrons more business. When the Sapphire Cobras asked for a low cost, modest performance motorized unit with which to equip their growing neshemar population, Clan Motron delivered on the request, providing a ‘bitzer’(a design built up from salvaged parts from several other machines) that nevertheless showed great potential.
The Wyrmgear resembles the rear two-thirds of a Kittani Serpent power Armor with the cab of an enclosed seat motorcycle or small single-seat urban vehicle grafted on top. The Motrons are thought to have looked at Northern Gun’s MG-SU600 Wave Cutter as the source of the cockpit canopy, but later production models replaced the fragile canopy glass with much more durable materials, affording the rider much better protection, without sacrificing visibility. The cockpit can be configured for a recumbent or prone pilot. A robotic AI runs the actual propulsive mechanism; the pilot simply points the Wyrmgear where they want to go.
The Wyrmgear occupies a rather undefinable niche in the EShemarrian stables. Generally seen as too slow and small to be an effective warmount for full-sized EShemar, it is typically relegated to the second echelon neshemar auxiliaries and territorial militias. Its robot AI makes it effectively an E-animal capable of, with modification, semiautonomous operation, and by extension it can be Awakened(though most are not). It is often grouped with the Galehawk and Cyvern, both designs that can go either way to become Warmounts or E-animals.
The Wyrmgear is regarded as an alternative to developing and issuing power armor to non-cyborged neshemar, as the robotic systems make it actually easier to learn how to operate than traditional power armor. Balancing this is the lack of arms(though some radical variants add manipulator arms), limiting the basic Wyrmgear’s versatility.
The Wyrmgear is found deployed in large numbers with the Sapphire Cobras, with the offshoot SkyeKlad also gaining a few, and in lesser numbers with the Horrorwoods. Citing its amphibious capabilities as a reason for their interest, the DarkWaters also have acquired a number of Wyrmgears. The Aurora Warriors have also inquired about the design, and as more variants and options are developed, interest is expected to spread.

Type: EShe-WyrmSc01 Wyrmgear
Class: All Terrain Single Person Vehicle
Crew: One. A second passenger could conceivably squeeze in behind the pilot or sit in their lap, but conditions will be cramped and uncomfortable.
MDC/Armor by Location:
Main Body 300
Reinforced Cab/Head 140
Height: 5 ft, but can rear up to 11 ft
Width: 3-4 ft
Length: 30 ft
Weight: 1 ton
Cargo: Small space in cockpit for a few small personal possessions and a backpack/survival kit.
Powerplant: Nuclear mini-cell w/ 15 year energy life.
Speed: (Land) 40 MPH
(Leaping) Can spring up to 30 ft high and 40 ft long.
(Water) Fully amphibious and can swim along the surface at 25 MPH. Maximum depth tolerance of 800 ft.

Market Cost: Exclusive to the Shemarrian Nation. However, the design would fetch 18-22 million credits or more if it were made available to the black market.

Systems of Note:
Full optical systems, laser targeting, passive nightvision, telescopic vision, thermal imaging, infrared, ultraviolet, and polarization filters. Also has motion and heat detection, built-in radar( 2 mile range) and other standard power armor-equivalent systems. Additional/special sensors may be built in by the creating Spinsters or at the behest of individual owners.
*Basic Robot Audio/Optics w/ Low-Lite, Thermo-Imaging, Infrared, and Passive Nightvision

Weapons Systems:
1) Eye Lasers(2) ---Standard robotic eye lasers, common in the Shemarrian arsenal.
Range: 2,000 ft
Damage: 3d6 MD per single blast, or 6d6 MD per double blast
Rate of Fire: ECHH
Payload: Effectively Unlimited

2) Hardpoints(2)---Located along the sides of the cockpit canopy are two hardpoints that are compatible with any of the hovercycle modular weapons pods available/copied from Northern Gun. This bit of design thievery is seen as another sign of Clan Motron’s pragmatic design frugality.

Options:
*Expanded AI---This upgrades the AI to make the Wyrmgear capable of semiautonomous operations. This is most common among ‘owned’ Wyrmgears whose regular riders want to be able to call them.
Actions/Attacks Per Melee: 4
Strike+2 (+3 w/ ranged weaponry, +2 with bursts)
Parry +1
Dodge +2
Roll +2
-Land Navigation 94%
-Radio: Basic 94%
-Read Sensory Instruments 94%


*Combat AI--- Expands the autonomous combat capabilities of the Wyrmgear, arguably making it a full-blown warmount or attack e-animal. This is most common among militia units and ‘feral’ models.
Actions/Attacks Per Melee: 6
Initiative +2 (+1 from the Ecotroz entity for a total of +3)
Strike+2 (+3 w/ ranged weaponry, +2 with bursts)
Parry+3
Dodge+3
Roll+3
Entangle: +1
-Land Navigation 94%
-Radio: Basic 94%
-Read Sensory Instruments 94%
-Intelligence 76%(knows enough to identify and prioritize targets like enemy officers and heavy weapons, or target specific points on armored vehicles)
-Prowl 55%
-Detect Ambush 60%
-Track Humanoids 50%
Tail Lash 2d6 MD

*Blurr Camou---- The faster the Wyrmgear moves, the greater the distortion; at speeds of 3 MPH or less, no bonus, 4-10 MPH; -1 to strike the Wyrmgear, 10-16 MPH; -2 to strike, 16-22 MPH; -3 to strike, 23 MPH or greater, -4 to strike

*Variable Optical Camou-----Bonuses: -20% to opposition Detect Ambush and Detect Concealment rolls; heat sensors are useless. The examples in service to the Skyeklad and the Aurora Warriors tend to have this option.

*Claw-Mandibles---Can snip through obstacles and deliver a ‘bite’ that does 2d6 MD.

*Claw Manipulators---Up to four claw manipulators can be mounted on the head. Each arm has 36 MDC each and a Robotic P.S. of 22. As weapons, the claws can deliver a Restrained Punch of 2d6+7 SDC, and a Full Strength Punch/Claw doing 1d6 MD.

*Tail Mace---Suggested by the Steel Gaians, after their Sistrus warmount. The tail can be lined with Blast Studs, contact energy weapons that fire off an intense electrical/plasma blast on impact/contact; adapted from Gargoyle weaponry. An early fitting of this system showed unexpected success when a Jotan minion of the Splugorth attempted to grab a Wyrmgear by the tail, and almost lost his hand to the blast studs mounted on the Shemarrian vehicle.
Range: Melee
Damage: 3d6 MD per impact strike

*Top-Mount Gun Hardpoint---A revolving gunmount can be added, above and behind the pilot’s canopy. This is especially popular with militia units. The hardpoint is fully compatible with the older Monst-Rex modular weapons pods, allowing them to be outfitted from existing inventories, but advancements in state of the art have allowed other weapons types to be mounted as well;
a) Rail Gun---A weapon such as Northern Gun’s NG-202 or the NEMA R-660/670(ESHe-NRG660/670) with full ammo drum. Nano-venom rounds are especially popular with the SaphCobras.

b) EShe-HLW05Wp ‘Dingo’ Cannon---Any variety.

c) Grenade Launcher---The NEMA GLR-540 ‘Thunderer’(EShe-NGLR540 "Chunda") is very popular.

d) Plasma Cannon---Rather than use the Monst-Rex modular weapon, the Wyrmgear can mount a EShe-NPR470/Br "Nidus" Plasma Rifle or EShe-NPR476 "Volcus" Plasma Cannon.

e) Laser Cannon---Copy of the NEMA LHX-288 pulse laser.
Range: 2,000 ft
Damage: 3d6 MD per blast, 6d6 MD triple blast burst.
Rate of Fire: ECHH
Payload: Effectively Unlimited

f) Double-Barreled Ion Blaster
Range: 2,000 ft
Damage: 2d6 MD single shot, 4d6 MD per dual blast
Rate of Fire: ECHH
Payload: Effectively Unlimited

g) Ion Arc Blaster----Heavy weapon using technology acquired from a trade partner. The sheer firepower of this weapon makes the humble Wyrmgear a force to be reckoned with, and as such, only the EShemar militias use it. The ‘lightning’ aspect of ion weapons appeals to the Sapphire Cobras, due to the association in Native American beliefs between snakes and lightning(with snakes being, by extrapolation, heavenly messengers).
Range: 2,000 ft
Damage: 1d6x10 MD per bolt to primary target.
Furthermore, a secondary bolt will jump to 1d6 targets in the vicinity of the main target, starting with the nearest target(or the nearest metallic target) as long as they are within 6 ft(10 ft for metal targets) of the initial target/point of impact, then jumping to the next one until the ball lightning dissipates. Secondary targets can attempt to dodge the energy ball as standard.
Secondary targets will take HALF damage(4d6 MD).
Does only 1/4 of the original damage if the secondary targets are nonmetallic or grounded
Organic targets roll for Stun; save at 16 or better or be -8 to strike, dodge, parry, roll, and initiative, reduce APMs and Spd by HALF, for 2d4 melee rds. A successful save means lose only initiative and 1 APM for 1 melee round.
50% chance of knocking out unshielded electronics(or 1d4 subsystems like radio, electronic image amplification, cybernetic sensory implant, or the like) for 1d4 melees.
Beings susceptible to electricity take DOUBLE damage.
Rate of Fire: ECHH
Payload: Effectively Unlimited
Bonuses: +2 to strike metallic targets

*Chin Turret---A centerbody hardpoint can be mounted with a weapon or added sensor system.
a) Plasma Whip
Range: 25 ft
Damage:(Plasma Whip---un-powered) 1d8 SDC
(Plasma Whip---powered) 2d6 MD
Rate of Fire: ECHH
Payload: Effectively Unlimited

b) Ion Cannon--- Copy of the ion weapon originally fitted to the Northern Gun Wave Cutter, on which a good part of the Wyrmgear’s forward section is based.
Range: 1,800 ft in air, 800 ft underwater.
Damage: 4d6 MD in air, 3d6 MD underwater.
Rate of Fire: ECHH
Payload: Effectively Unlimited

c) Chemical Sprayer---Apes certain species of spitting snakes with the ability to spray various chemicals. MD acid is the most powerful offensive chemical that can be deployed by the mechanism.
Range: 80 ft
Damage: (Varies by Chemical)
(MD Acid) 3d6 MD first round, and 2d4 MD per melee for 2d4 melees. Covers a 10 ft area.
Rate of Fire: ECHH
Payload: 30 shots before needing refill

d) Chainsaw Jaw---Can extend a high-powered chainsaw for cutting.
Range: Melee
Damage: 5d6 MD per powered cut.

e) Stun Blaster----Less powerful version of the Northern Gun anti-Juicer weapon.
Range: 400 ft
Damage: (Setting One) 1d6 SDC and victim must roll versus non-lethal poison(16 or better). On a successful save the target is -3 to strike, parry, dodge, and loses initiative and 1 APM for 1d4 melee rounds. A FAILED save means the target is -7 to all actions, loses initiative, reduce APMs to ONE, skill performance is -60%, -90% to Speed, and suffers convulsions that do 1d4 SDC per round for 2d4 melee rounds.
(Setting Two) Does 2d4x10 SDC, and victim must roll versus non-lethal poison(16 or better). On a successful save an augmented human(oid) is -5 to strike, parry, dodge, and loses initiative and 1 APM for 1d4 melee rounds. A successful save by UNaugmented human(oid)s results in -10 to strike, parry, dodge, lose initiative and is reduced to 1 APM, skill performance is -80%, speed reduced 95%, and suffer painful convulsions doing 1d6 SDC per melee for 2d4 MINUTES.
A FAILED save by augmented human(oid)s means the target is -7 to all actions, loses initiative, reduce APMs to TWO, skill performance is -60%, -80% to Speed, and suffers convulsions that do 4d6 SDC per round for 2d4 melee rounds.
Note: Works through most body armor up to 50 MDC. Those in armor protection of 51-80 MDC are +6 to save. Those in heavier armor, power armor, full conversion cyborgs, vehicles, robots, or who are MegaJuicers or Dragons are impervious.
Rate of Fire: ECHH
Payload: Effectively unlimited

f) PPE Sensor---This is identical to the SNARLSystem deployed as a gunsight by the Rifts Earth Japanese military. Slightly more sensitive with a PPE trigger threshold of 40 PPE. Effective range of 200 ft, with 50% margin of error beyond that out to 500 ft.

g) Bio-Scanner---Has a molecular analyzer, enhanced radiation detector, high-powered acoustic ‘shotgun mike’(3,000 ft range), and thermo-imager optics.


Variants:
*EShe-WyrmSc01F----(aka ‘Hot-racer’, ‘Salamandra’) Copying aspects of the EcoS-K-123b variant of the Autoconda, the ‘F’ version is meant for surviving extreme thermal conditions. The body is covered in advanced thermal refractive materials and multiple long vanes on the back radiate absorbed heat away.
*Thermal Refractory Armor Plating---Heat- and plasma-based attacks do only 1/4 their normal damage.
Overall, the combined heat shielding means that the WyrmSc01F takes only 1/8th normal damage from MDC heat and plasma attacks. It can practically swim through lava flows.

*EShe-WyrmSc01I----(aka ‘Flamewyrm’) Full combat drone version that replaces the pilot’s compartment with a fuel reservoir for a mouth-mount heavy flame-thrower.
Range: 230 ft
Damage:
(Gasoline/Alcohol) 1d4x10 SDC
(Napalm) 1d6x10 SDC, plus does 5d6 SDC per melee for 1d4 minutes
(MD Fluid) 1d4 MD per blast, 1d4 MD per melee for 2d4 minutes
(Incendi-Gel)2d6 MD, 2d6 MD per melee for 1d6 minutes
(WI Napalm-P) 3d6 MD per blast, 1d4x10+10 MD per concentrated burst(counts as two attacks). 2d6 MD per melee for 1d4 minutes.
Note: The flame-thrower can also be used to cover an area with fluid: up to 10 ft per attack used. Used with Super-Napalm, this does 1d4 MD, Incendi-Gel does 1d6 MD, and with Napalm-P, this does 2d6 MD.
Rate of Fire: Standard
Payload:
(Gasoline/Alcohol) 30 blasts
(Napalm) 90 blasts
(MD Fluid) 150 blasts
(Incendi-Gel) 180 blasts
(WI Napalm-P) 300 blasts per tank(much more concentrated than the regular gasoline/alcohol).

*EShe-WyrmAw01---(aka’IceWyrm’, ‘Ski-snake’). Aurora Warriors-configured variant with thermal-optical camouflage and extra blades for tunneling through ice. Also notable as a swimmer, for diving under oceanic ice caps and floes. Considered something of a robotic ski-mobile by the tribe.

*EShe-WyrmM01---(aka’MoleWyrm’, ‘Molesnake’)---Burrowing variant, with a reinforced crew compartment(200 MDC) a disc cutter in the nose, and six smaller cutter wheels semi-recessed into the sides of the nose. Accessory armaments can be retracted into the sides and main body during tunneling operations. The EShe-WyrmM01 can tunnel through loose soil and solid rock.
Speed:(Tunneling) Varies according to the depth and composition of the material being tunneled through. The Molesnake can tunnel through loose sand and clay at about 4d6x10 ft per minute, or 8d6 ft per minute through dense rock(granite, regolith).
Systems of Note:
Basic Robot Systems, plus:
*Magnetometer--Great for detecting veins of metal ores, buried pipes, underground fusion nuclear powerplants(detects the magnetic core containment fields) and buried metal objects. Range of 3,000 ft
*Seismometer---Subterranean ‘sonar’. Effective ‘active’ range of 4,000 ft
*Inertial Navigation System---Essential for finding one’s way when you can’t just crack open a window and take a reading off the sun, stars, or convenient landmarks. Records the vehicle’s passage, angle, direction, and speed, allowing the crew to produce a turn-by-turn map of their travels.

*EShe-WyrmM02---Full drone version of the EShe-WyrmM01, only with a large screw-drill and four-laser array copied from the Black Market Mole Prospecting Robot. The drill does 6d6 MD, and the lasers have a range of 50-200 ft, and do 2d6 MD each. Sensors are otherwise identical to those of the EShe-WyrmM01, plus the robot has extra skill programming: Excavation at 80%.

*EShe-WyrmWf01---(aka’Leywyrmer’, ‘Bluslug’, ‘Blueracer’) Wayfinder variant fitted with a TW Levitation system and Leyline Booster, allowing it to slither-fly along leylines at 60 MPH.

*EShe-WyrmSAR01---(aka’Docwyrm’)---Unusual rescue unit, playing on the folklore association between snakes and healing. Instead of a cockpit, the head contains a medical pod and a set of tentacle appendages to assist patients into it. The WyrmSAR01 is programmed to seek out injured or endangered lifeforms, draw them into the medical pod, then extract them to safety, though some users operate the variant as ‘man-catchers’ to track down and restrain prisoners.
The WyrmSAR01 comes in two models, a plain-vanilla technological model, and a TW-enhanced model.
MDC/Armor by Location:
Tentacles(8 ) 10 each
Systems of Note:
* Tentacles----Eight computer-controlled tentacles sprout from the WyrmSAR01’s head. Each has a PS and PP of 18, are +1 to strike, +3 parry, +2 dodge, +3 entangle. They have a reach of 7 ft.

*Medical Pod----EShemar expert systems have a diagnostic proficiency of 91% for humans and most humanoid d-bees, 60% for others. Medical treatment is equivalent to a Medical Doctor at 88% for humans/humanoid d-bees, and 55% for others. Field surgery is performed at 98%/94% for simple procedures, 90%/60% for more serious internal work. In the event of more extreme injuries, stasis is generally implemented to stabilize and preserve the patient for transport to better treatment facilities.

*Drug Injector Needle(s)---The WyrmSAR01 can be fitted with cyborg system-style drug injector ‘fangs’ for delivering sedatives and other drugs. A compu-drug dispenser gives this system 20 doses of up to five different drugs per needle(40 total).

*TechnoWizardry Systems(WyrmSAR01TW version)---The TW version features a healing crystal system tied into the lifepod
(Healing Crystal)
Range: Contact
Damage/Effects:
- Negate Poisons/Toxins----Instantly neutralizes and prevents poisons and toxins from doing further damage to the body.
-Heal Wounds---Restores 3d6 SDC and 1d6 Hit Points
-Cure Illness---Instantly cures ordinary diseases and illnesses(not cancer, AIDS, or other serious disorders, nor does it cure magically-induced illnesses).
-Fortify Against Disease---Recipient can shrug off bacterial infections, is +4 to save versus viruses, and is +1 to save vs toxins and poisons. Effects last 24 hours.
-Greater Healing---Restores 2d4x10 SDC and 6d6 Hit Points, or 1d4 MD.
-Spark of Life---This spell is effectively a lesser form of Restore Life, and can be used to revive the recently deceased, restoring life functions hopefully long enough for other lifesaving measures to be applied. The spell embedded in the TEMED is applied to victims who cannot be dead for more than 40 minutes, and supplies 16 Hit Points.
Note that unless the victim has been patched up prior to the application of the spell, the wounds responsible for the victim’s deceasing will still be present, and will continue to bleed, doing damage, starting with the newly supplied Hit Points. Spark of Life essentially resets the timer, as it were, in an emergency, supplying a dose of vitality.
Spark of Life can be used multiple times on the same victim to resuscitate and ‘lifeboat’ them until more thorough treatment can be applied, but overusing it carries some risk. Spark of Life can be applied a number of times equal to the victim’s P.E. divided by 2, without side-effects. Beyond that, using the spell carries a risk: 5% chance of losing 1 point of PE, 2% chance of losing 1 point of IQ per each additional use of the spell. Loss is permanent.
-Healing Waters---Heals 1d6 SDC/MDC per minute of immersion. (10 minutes)

Rate of Fire: ECHH
Payload: ’Light’--- 100 PPE capacity, regenerate their stored PPE at a slower rate: 2 PPE per hour/10 at a ley line
- Negate Poisons/Toxins(3 PPE per application)
-Heal Wounds(5 PPE per application)
-Cure Illness(8 PPE per application)
-Fortify Against Disease(8 PPE per application)
-Greater Healing(15 PPE per application)
-Spark of Life(7 PPE per application)
-Healing Waters(8 PPE/16 ISP per activation)

[taalismn]

Kro-Jurgen Kruppanger(Clan Gothec NPC)
(aka ‘Big Jurg’)

(sound of heavy gunfire) “I see you, Brodkil! Can you keep up the invisibility trick while bleeding out? (sound of heavy gunfire) I think not!”

Kro-Jurgen Kruppanger is one of the larger (if not largest) Clan Gothec oresemes on the European continent on account of his being built from an X-500 Forager robot. Jurgen resembles a post-market X-500, sans missile launchers, though his ‘cyclops’ sensory array is actually a removable faceplate that can be removed, revealing a life-like (if oversized) human(oid) face behind it. Jurgen likes to claim he’s a Jotan exile and mercenary who fell in with the Gothecs because they fight the same enemies as he; the brodkil and gargoyles, and that his ‘cyborg’ body was built for him by the Gothecs.
Jurgen doesn’t say much of anything specific about his past, but he’s hinted that he may be on the outs with his own people somewhere out east in Turkey/Anatolia/Armenia, and that he came looking for work in Europe. When the Gothecs visit Dantegard in Spain, he tends to avoid such assignments, prefering to wait on the border, rather than consort with other giants(his story of being a real Jotan would fall apart under close scrutiny). To that end, he will listen in and gather what information he can about the giant races, the better to construct a background story that stands a better chance of holding up to questioning. He doesn’t have anything against other oversized Awakened robots, however.
Jurgen acts mainly as a protector and enforcer for the Gothecs; he’s a fairly unsophisticated bash-and-blast sort of warrior. Unfortunately, he’s also smart enough to be painfully aware that as often being the biggest person (or vehicle) in his wandering group, he’s usually the first one attacked. He’s put in for an upgrade, when possible, for a nanite regeneration system that would help offset the tedium of having to be patched up and repaired all the time.

Level of Experience:5th Level
Rank: Oreseme
Race: Claims to be a Jotan Giant, but is actually an oreseme
Alignment: Unprincipled
Land of Origin: Claims to be from somewhere in midwest Asia
Age: Claims to be over eighty years old
Sex: Male
Height: 25 ft
Weight: 25 tons
Physical Description/Appearance:
Jurgen looks like a standard early-model X-500 Forager robot, sans missile launchers, but the large paw-hands can split open to extend two smaller manipulators(VX-500 Manhunter arms) each, as well as a retractable WR-12 Giant Ion Pistol, a pair of concealed TX-50 Rail Guns pop up in a turret in the head, and the cyclopean sensor cluster in the front of the head is actually part of a faceplate that can be removed or hinge up to reveal a craggy and much-scarred humanoid face, with surviving wisps of dark hair, a stubbled beard, and blood-shot brown eyes.
Disposition:
Being based on a Hunter-Killer ‘bot AI, Jurgen can be very aggressive and growly to anybody not Clan Gothec. He has a poor opinion of the Brodkil and Gargoyles, which he apparently blames for his ‘cyborgization’, but he’s also standoffish, if not outright hostile, when encountering other Jotan(leading to rumors that he may be some sort of criminal or exile), and tries to avoid them when he can(but will also stand off at a distance and keep watching them). He doesn’t like any sort of weakness in himself, and seeks to earn upgrades and power ups when he can. He can act the ‘dumb robot’ when necessary and remain still for HOURS.
Physical Attributes/Superlatives:
IQ: 19
ME: 18
MA: 11
PS: Robotic 40
PP: 10
PE:----
PB: 5
SPD:
Running: 60 MPH max .
Jumping: The powerful robotic legs are strong and capable of leaping 10 feet high/ lengthwise. A running leap adds 20 ft to distance and 10 ft to height.
Flying: Not possible
Underwater: Limited to running along the bottom of bodies of water at 20 MPH

(ISP):----
(PPE): 7

Hit Points:----
SDC:-----
Armor/MDC by Location:
Hands(2) 60 each
Manipulator Arms(4) 60 each
Forearms(2) 125 each
Upper Arms(2) 170 each
Legs(2) 250 each
TX-50 Rail Guns(2) 75 each
Ion Turret(midsection) 100
Main Body 725
Horror Factor:----
Special Abilities/Characteristics/Powers:
*Frame Reinforcement---Gothecs can benefit from superior EShemar armoring. Jurgen ‘s been reinforced frame- and skin-wise, wiith 25% more MDC than a standard X-500 Forager .

*Color-Change Camouflage---Basic pattern-change skinning; comes with infrared and thermal emission masking as well. Takes 1d4 melees to alter color pattern.

Weapons Systems:
1)Ion Turret(midsection)---This remains unchanged from the original. Jurgen’s heard of some nations with modified ion weaponry and has considered asking for an upgrade, if possible, but not before he can get ahold of a regeneration system first.
Range: 4,000 ft
Damage: 4d6 MD single blast, 1d4x10 MD dual blast
Rate of Fire: ECHH
Payload: Effectively Unlimited

2)TX-50 Rail Guns(x2)---Mounted on powered actuators on a platform that emerges out of the top hatch, are a pair of light rail guns, typically used for air defense.
Range: 4,000 ft
Damage: 1d4 MD single shot, 4d6 MD 20-round burst, DOUBLE for synchronized fire from both guns(counts as one attack).
Rate of Fire: ECHH
Payload: 2,000 rd drum per gun

3)WR-12 Giant Ion Pistol(x2)---Built into each forearm is a short range ion blaster
Range: 600 ft
Damage: 2d4 MD single shot
Rate of Fire: ECHH
Payload: Effectively Unlimited

4) Handheld WR-200 Rail Gun---Handheld heavy weapon, locked to the back when not in use.
Range: 6,000 ft
Damage: 3d6 MD 15-round burst, 1d4x10 MD 30 rd burst.
Rate of Fire: ECHH
Payload: 2,000 rd drum

5) Handheld Weaponry--Jurgen normally carries a Blast Mace, but he is also fond of picking up Gargoyle Empire weapons off the battlefield.

Magic: By item only
Psionics:(Ecotroz)
Object Read, Telemechanics, Telemechanical Possession, Telemechanic Mental Operation

Cybernetics/Bionics/Systems of Note::
Standard Robot Systems, plus:
-Amplified Audio System----Jurgen will often deploy this system when around other giants to covertly listen in and gather more information on the species he’s ‘supposed’ to be.

-Thermal Imaging and Ultraviolet Optics---Jurgen has the full military grade optical sensor package.

-Motion Detector---Jurgen sports a motion detection system, especially laser scanners in his legs, that monitor the area around him and alert him to intrusions. 500 ft range.

Skills: (5th Level )
Pilot Hovercraft 96%
Pilot Boat 80%
Radio: Basic 96%
Math: Basic 96%
Intelligence 90%
Land Navigation 90%
Track(Humanoids) 80%
Language/Literacy
-Euro 96%
-Gobblely 96%
-American-English 96%
-TechnoCan 96%
Lore: D-bees(specifically giants) 40%
General Repair & Maintenance 50%
W.P. Paired Weapons
W.P. Sword(+2 strike/parry)
W.P. Blunt(+2 strike/parry)
W.P. Energy Pistol
W.P. Energy Rifle
W.P. Heavy MD Weapons
W.P. Heavy Military Weapons
W.P. Shield(+1 strike, +2 parry)

Actions/Attacks per Melee: 6
Initiative: +7
Strike: +5(+2 strike w/ ranged weapons, +4 w/ energy weapons)
Parry: +7
Dodge: +5
Roll: +4
Pull Punch: +4
Damage:
Full Strength Punch 2d6 MD
Power Punch(2 attacks) 4d6 MD
Crush, Tear, Pry 2d4 MD
Dig 2d6 MD
Kick 1d8 MD
Stomp 2d6+2 MD(targets 11 ft tall, or smaller)
Body Block/Ram (3 attacks) 1d6x10 MD, plus knockdown
Saves:
+7 Vs Exorcism and Banish spells
+2 Vs Psionics
+2 Vs Insanity

Notable Possessions/Equipment:
Homemade Shield(Hubcap off a WR-5050 Super Cargo Hauler, 65 MDC)
Triax Blast Mace(300 MDC, 4d6 MD+10 MD charged. can also fire three ion blasts per melee, 1,000 ft range, 1d4x10 MD per blast).
Katyusha Bazooka---Single-shot launch box-rail for an artillery rocket.
Vehicle:
None, Jurgen’s body IS his vehicle.
He does own a two-wheeled trailer that he pulls around like a golf bag, that holds his heavier gear.

[taalismn]

Advanced Cultural Notes: Random Progen Ancestry

“Mother was a Berserker, my other mommy was a waitress-bot modified for guerilla combat. They met in a busted up diner on Kalamatos, during the Outsider invasion. One was doing dice and dash on enemy infantry, and the other was serving up hot death and sandwiches. It was love at first sight, or so they tell me. So yes, my mommy -was -a toaster.”

“Now, if you bring over that strapping NeShemar servitor of yours, I have a young servitor of my own who I think would be a perfect match. You’ve seen the profile? The possibilities that could arise in their offspring would be most interesting, don’t you think?”

“Curious how big physiques and obvious mechanical joints showed up in the Blood Rider progen-cluster phenotypes six weeks after the big joint Blood Rider-Central Alliance ‘last stand’ battle at Qualim, isn’t it? Lot of bonding on the battlefield, possibly?”

“I AM TAROS SEDANE STARDIVER , DAUGHTER OF CALYPSO WATERBLADE AND ARNED BRIGHTDEATH, OF THREE GENERATIONS OF WARCHIEFS, RAISED IN THE EYES OF THE GODDESS FROM THE REDEEMED PARIAH TAVA HEARTSHIELD! COURAGE IS WRITTEN IN MY ALLOY, RESILIENCE SCRIBED IN MY PROGRAM-MEMORY! MY ANCESTORS NETWORK THROUGH ME AND TAKE PRIDE IN THE LATEST VERSION OF THEIR SOUL-APPS!”

The widespread use of Progen technology throughout the EShemarrian Nation has meant that new-generation EShemar can lay claim to distinct ancestries. The following can be used to lay the groundwork for a Progen-born EShemar character.

Roll twice(once for each parent) on the following:
(Note that if the first roll results in a Non-Shemarrian parent, the next parental roll is at -9; Progen is almost exclusively reserved for Shemarrian members, and non-Shemar/non-Shemar progen pairings represent VERY special circumstances under which the participants have been granted access to Progen by the Tribal Elders)

01-70% Shemarrian---The parent is a ‘true’ Shemarrian; 100% AI gynoid/android.
01-10% Acolite
11-30% Male Shemarrian
31-60% Warrior
61-80% Berserker
81-90% Elite (01-10% Male Elite*, 11-00% Female Elite)
91-98% Warchief
99-00% Wargoddess

* This covers Preservers, Vulcar, Vatfathers, Cerberon, Spriggan

71-90% NeShemar---- When looking for a mate outside the Shemarrian caste structure, often looking to the NeShemar ranks yields variety to the progen process. NeShemar have the added bonus of being members of the Tribes.
01-45% Male
46-90% Female
91-00% Artificial Intelligence(roll on A.I. Gender Identification)*

* This includes Ne’R’Mar, Oreseme, Gilloc, Wulgar/Cadejar/Svarogar/Adalwulf

Cyborg Augmentation(NeShemar)----Given the nature of the Shemarrians and their society, many consider neshemar having some form of augmentation to be necessary to keep up. Given how many neshemar come to join the Tribes, having partial or full body replacement is often absolutely medically necessary.
01-15% Non-Cyborg
16-25% Non-Shemar Partial Conversion Cyborg
26-40% Non-Shemar Full Conversion Cyborg
41-70% Shemarrian Partial Conversion Cyborg
71-90% Shemarrian Full Conversion Cyborg
91-00% Biotech Transform(Vada Transform, Hierodalite, Lamaid, etc.)

91-00% Non-Shemar---These are outsiders who have not deigned to join the Tribes, but who nevertheless have been allowed to participate in contributing to the next generation of EShemar. Aurora desFrommalaine is a perfect example of such a union, her father being Lord Frommalaine, an ally of, but not a member of, the Shemarrian Nation.
Notably among the EShemar the Hawkmoons often progen-mate with their patron-allies, the Shaemar(20% chance).
01-45% Male
46-90% Female
91-00% Artificial Intelligence(roll on A.I. Gender Identification)

Cyborg Augmentation(Non-Shemar)
01-30% Non-Cyborg
31-75% Non-Shemar Partial Conversion Cyborg
76-00% Non-Shemar Full Conversion Cyborg

A.I. Gender Identification---Artificial intelligences typically don’t start out with a ‘gender’, but truly intelligent and self-aware ones will often select one to base their subsequent character development on. Many, but not all; some prefer to remain gender-neutral(this doesn’t, however, prevent them from establishing relationships).
01-35% Male
36-75% Female
76-00% Neutral

Species---If one(or both) of the parents is biological in nature, what are they?
01-70% Human(including Atlanteans, Lemurians, Ogres)
71-85% Humanoid(Elves, Dwarves. )
86-95% Non-Humanoid(Centaurs, Lizardmen, Wolfen
96-00% Creature of Magic(Dragons, Sphinx, Werebeings, etc.)


Tribal Relationship(EShemar/NeShemar)----Within the Tribal structure, where do the respective parents stand? This applies only to EShemar and NeShemar.
01-60% Member of the same Tribe as the other parent
61-90%Visiting member of another Tribe---The offspring may be raised between the parents’ Tribes, or one parent may take extended detached duty to the other Tribe to help raise any progeny(or may eventually change Tribal allegiance).
91-00% Eccentric---Belongs to no one Tribe, but is effectively on walkabout. May or may not stay around long enough to help raise/train the offspring.

Tribal Relationship(Non-Shemar)----if one of the parents is an outsider, what is their relationship to the Tribes?
01-20% One Night Stand----The parent was a ship that passed in the night, being associated with the Tribe only long enough to suitably impress the Shemar and seek to add their distinctiveness to the Tribe. The non-Shemar in this case is unlikely to have a continued association with the Tribe and may not even be aware they had a roll in creating a Progen child.
21-40% Targeted----The character was actively sought by the EShemar to contribute potential to the Tribe. The Targeted parent may not know that they have a child by the EShemar, depending on circumstances. If the Progen-offspring shows high potential or desirable traits, the character may be approached again in the future, and possibly even formally introduced to the Tribes in hopes of engendering future progen-offspring.
41-70% Itinerant Ally---The character has regular friendly contact with the Tribes and is considered an ally in good standing, though their lifestyle takes them often away from the Tribes. However, the character has proven themselves worthy of the affections of at least one or more Tribe members(Shemar or NeShemar) and has been permitted to take part in Progen, with the understanding that the offspring remain with the Tribe.
71-00% Long Term Ally----The character has a long association with the Tribes, and is in a position to constantly and reliably support and assist the Shemarrians, but is not able or willing to fully join the Tribe. The EShemar/NeShemar parent is likely a liaison with the character, and the resulting offspring may b exposed to both patents’ societies and cultures.

[taalismn]

(lifted from one of my posts to the old Legendary Glitterboys thread)
SpiderShiner
The monstrous 'SpiderShiner' is said to be a Glitterboy from another parallel dimension where Humanity evolved differently. This six-legged machine has been seen wandering the Deep South, picking its way through the wilderness, occasionally popping up to rescue travellers and combat monsters...especially Splugorth Slavers. It may speak to people it's rescued, with the amplified metallic tones familiar to Glitterboy audio systems, though the speech seems to have an archiac accent. Beyond that, nobody knows much about the SpiderShiner
(The SpiderShiner is one of ARCHIE-3's 'experiments'...a Master Minion Robot's configuration with a Glitterboy torso....Hagan just wanted to see what it would look like...they've sent it off exploring to see how it performs and to sew even further confusion)....

The SpiderShiner (Silvermoon NPC)
(aka ‘Miramaze’)

“Tell me, boy, what are you seeing out there? What are we up against?”
“ Same as before; Horrie slavers with about three dozen or more of them shark’bots coming up from the river. Looks like the Rogers didn’t make a dent in them before they wuz overrun! Like they ain’t afraid of us at all! Oh, punkets, there’s another group coming out of the woods!”
“What?! What, tell me what you see!”
“Maybe a dozen or so soldiers all in armor that looks like they’re wearing mirrors! There’s three giant spiders coming out of the woods, all shiny like a glitterboy! And there’s...it looks like a glitterboy...no it’s another giant spider! Oh, it’s both! Gramps, why are you suddenly laughing?”
“Giant shiny spiders and one that looks like a G-boy? That’s the Silver Spider’s Own advancing on the slavers’ flank! We’re saved!”

Believed to be a d-bee version of the Glitterboy, the SpiderShiner was actually an experiment by ARCHIE-3. SpiderShiner is a Master Minion robot’s lower torso mated to the upper torso of a Glitterboy, the whole coated in a uniform layering of laser-reflective chrome. Prior to the Shemarrian Civil War, SpiderShiner was sent out to fight the Splugorth and generate confusion. SpiderShiner became the subject of quite a few rumors, including that it hailed from an alternate Earth peopled by intelligent humanoid spiders.
The EShemarrians captured and Awakened the SpiderShiner during the later years of the Shemarrian Civil War, when ARCHIE-3 was committing every free unit he had to fighting the rebel Shemarrians. The SpiderShiner seemed a natural addition to the ranks of the Silvermoons, especially when the ‘bot Awakened with the psionic abilites of a Shemarrian Psi-Shaman.
SpiderShiner’s Ecotroz-infused AI gender-identifies as female, and refers to herself as ‘Miramaze’.
Miramaze, being a veteran Splugorth fighter, is in charge of a heavy warband dedicated to repeling Splugorth and Horune incursions, though she also was once detached to fight the Infernals, and crossed paths at least once with BlackSteel abominations. Her warband consists of a mix of Silvermoon warriors, NeShemar Glitterboys, and several Warmounts(the EcoS-K-23 Aracha in particular).
In some of the beholden communities of the Shemarrian Nation, SpiderShiner/Miramaze is hailed as a hero(ine). One of the rumors about her is that she is a member of another species, like the Shemarrians, that was enslaved by the Splugorth and now has risen in rebellion(some even believe she’s somehow related to the feared Nahsi of the Lost Eclipse).

Type: Shemar
Class: Robot oreseme
Crew: Advanced Neural Intelligence
Level of Experience: 8th Level
Rank: Taros, provisional
Race: Oreseme, ARCHIE-3 robot
Alignment: Scrupulous
Land of Origin: Factory Seven, North America
Age: 15
Sex: Identifies as female
Height: 20 ft
Width: 20-36 ft
Length: 12 ft
Weight: 2,500 lbs
Cargo: None. Only what can be carried.
Physical Description/Appearance:
The upper torso of a USA-G10 Glitterboy mounted atop the modified lower torso of a A-64 All-Purpose Master robot, all c overed in mirror-chrome. SpiderShiner’s helmet, however, is wider and squatter and features eight obvious eye slots, as well as a pair of chromed mandibles. Speaks with a heavily accented, but organic-sounding, voice and tone.
Disposition:
The consummate warrior; stoic, fearless, efficient, and relentless. An experienced tactician, Miramaze is used to operating alone, but has adapted well to being in charge of a body of troops. Though generally aloof when dealing with subordinates and outsiders, she will cheerfully banter with friendly Glitterby pilots and taunt enemy ones, showing in her speech a familiarity with Glitterboy operations(she’s actually working off an ‘inherited’ database of intel gleaned by ARCHIE-3 from spying circuits in the Glitterboys he manufactured and planted...circuits Miramaze can still access) and culture(though spiced with enough obscure references to suggest an ALIEN Glitterboy culture as well). She also has a fondness for strategy games, such as chess and go, and has recently acquired an interest in pre-Rifts military history(she’s studying Sun-Tzu of late).
Physical Attributes/Superlatives:
IQ: 21
ME: 20
MA: 12
PS: Robotic 40
PP: 20
PE: ----
PB:----
SPD:
Running: 120 MPH
Jumping: 9 ft up/across
Flying: Not possible(see Vehicle)
Underwater: Limited to running along the bottom at MPH. Maximum depth of 900 ft.
(ISP): 111
(PPE): 8

Hit Points:----
SDC:----
MDC:M.D.C. By Location:
Hands(2) 100 each
Arms(2) 270 each
Legs(6) 180 each
Head 290
Main Body 600
Horror Factor:-----
Special Abilities/Characteristics/Powers:Magic:-----
Psionics: Awakening gave SpiderShiner/Miramaze an expanded complement of psionic powers.
- Sense Magic(3)(120 ft, 16 minutes)
- Sense Evil (2)(140 ft, 16 minutes)
- Presence Sense (4)(120 ft radius, 2 minutes)
- See Aura(6)(60 ft, 30 seconds)
- Sixth Sense(2)
- Telepathy (4)(60-120 ft, 16 minutes)
-4 Sense Dimensional Anomaly(4)(400 ft radius,8 minute duration)
-8 See the Invisible(4)(120 ft, 1 minute)

-Telekinetic Forcefield(50 MDC, 20 minutes, 30 ISP)
-Unlike the baseline Ecotroz powers, these powers DO require ISP to function
-Saves as a Major Psionic
-Psi-Shamans become immune to the Banishment/Exorcism vulnerability at Level 9 of experience

Cybernetics/Bionics/Systems of Note:
Standard Shemarrian Robot Systems, plus:
Full optical systems, laser targeting, passive night vision, telescopic vision, thermal imaging, infrared, ultraviolet, and polarization filters. Also has motion and heat detection, and other standard Shemarrian systems.

*Bionic Cybernanite Repair Systems---A modified bionic nanotech repair system that originated with the Ecotroz Shemar, but has also been adopted by the Ghost Riders. These systems repair 4d6 MD per hour, and can repair 100 MDC before needing material stocks to convert to MD repair material.

*GB Surveillance Circuit----Before the Shemarrian Civil War, ARCHIE-3 was in the practice of producing ‘old’ Glitterboys and planting them for others to find, He also included the same spying circuits that he inserted into all his Titan Robotics products. SpiderShiner was fitted with the ability to detect A3-manufactured USA-G10s and access their spy circuits, allowing her to download combat records and eavesdrop on their communications(note: maybe one in every four hundred Glitterboys in North America is an ARCHIE-3 made original, so this system isn’t as handy as one might think).

Weapons Systems:
1) Back Mount Weapons(2)----SpiderShiner’s frame is too high and light to handle the stresses of firing the RG-14 Boom Gun, so ARCHIE-3 decided to substitute weapons modules similar to those available to his Monstrex warbeasts. The EShemar have since made other weapons available. Originally sported two rotary laser cannon, but has since settled on a SilverMoon Laser Lance and an RG-14-LX ‘Baby Boom Gun’.

2) Forearm Lasers(2)---These are based on the shared laser forearm weapons used by both the Shemarrians and the A-64. SpiderShiner’s lasers have subsequently been Upgraded to have better range and focus.
Range: 2,500 ft
Damage: 3d6 MD per single blast
Rate of Fire: ECHH
Payload: Effectively Unlimited

3) Finger Claws---Standard Shemarrian gauntlet weapons built directly into Miramaze’s hands.
Range: Melee
Damage: 3d6 MD

4) Eye Lasers(4)---Four of SpiderShiner’s eye slits conceal eye laser projectors, as part of Miramaze’s refit.
Range: 1,250 ft
Damage: 2d6 MD single blast, 4d6 MD from two eyes simultaneously, 8d6 MD from all four eyes.
Rate of Fire: ECHH
Payload: Effectively Unlimited
Bonus: +2 to strike (in addition to any other bonuses)

5) Leg Spikes ---- SpiderShiner’s legs are fitted with extendable spikes that add +1d4 MD to a kick. They can also be explosively fired off as projectiles(in volleys of 1-8), doing 1d6 MD each spike, out to a range of 300 ft. Each leg sports 8 spikes. The spikes must be manually replaced(Miramaze CANNOT regenerate them).
Range: Melee. 300 ft as a projectile.
Damage:+1d4 MD to a kick, 1d6 MD if fired as a projectile
Rate of Fire: Volleys of 1-8
Payload: 8 per leg, 48 total

Skills/Programming:(8th Level Awakened N.I.)
Language/Literacy:
-American-English 96%/96%
-Spanish 96%/96%
- Euro 96%/96%
- Techno-Can 96%/96%
- Japanese 96%/96%
- Chinese 96%/96%
- Gobbeley 96%/96%
- French/Quebecois 96%/96%
- Russian 96%/96%
-Dragonese 80%/72%
-Splugorth 80%/72%
-Shemarrian 77%/57%
Language:
Can speak(but not read) 30 other different pre-Rifts languages, at 96%
Strategy Games: Chess/Go 82%
Lore: Demons and Monsters 52%
Lore: D-Bee 42%
Lore: Magic 42%
History: (Pre-Rifts; Military History) 47%
Camouflage 85%
Climb 98%/90%
Land Navigation 94%
Mathematics: Basic 98%
Military Etiquette 98%
Pilot Automobile 98%
Pilot Motorcycle 98%
Pilot Jet Pack 94%
Pilot Helicopter 90%
Pilot Combat Helicopter 88%
Pilot Airplane 90%
Pilot Tanks and APCs 90%
Radio: Basic 98%’
Swim 94%
Wilderness Survival 94%
Cryptography90%
Basic Mechanics 90%
Basic Electronics 92%
Computer Operation 90%
Computer Hacking 70%
Computer Programming 90%
Demolitions 90%
Demolitions Disposal 94%
Demolitions Underwater 92%
Detect Ambush 65%
Detect Concealment 60%
Electronic Countermeasures 92%
Escape Artist 85%
Find Contraband 75%
I.D. Undercover Agent 80%
Intelligence 95%
Imitate Voices & Sound 83%
Land Navigation 96%
Palming 80%
Pick Locks 95%
Prowl 75%
Read Sensory Equipment 98%
Spelunking 96%
Streetwise 60%
Surveillance 90%
Tracking People 85%
Tailing 90%

W.P. Energy Pistol
W.P. Energy Rifle
W.P. Heavy MD Weapons
W.P. Heavy Military Weapons
W.P. Rifles
W.P. Handguns
W.P. Blunt
W.P. Knife
W.P. Sword
W.P. Paired Weapons

Actions/Attacks per Melee: 9
Initiative: +2(+1)
Perception: +2
Strike: +5
Parry: +6
Dodge: +6
Roll: +3
Pull Punch: +5
Disarm +4
Damage:
Bite 1d6 MD
Restrained Punch 1d4 D
Full Strength Punch 2d6 MD
Power Punch(2 attacks) 4d6 MD
Judo Throw 1d6 MD
Body Block 1d6 MD
Kick 3d8 MD
Stomp 3d6 MD
Drop/Pounch Attack (2 attacks) 4d6+2 MD
Pinning/Drop-Down Attack(2 attacks) 2d6+2 MD

Saves:
+3 Vs Psionics
+3 Vs Insanity
+7 Vs Exorcism and Banish spells

Notable Possessions/Equipment:
Miramaze doesn’t need much in the way of material goods and she tends to distribute her share of battlefield salvage amongst her troops, but she’s still hung on to a few select items.

*Kittani Laser Lance(trophy)
*Kittani Plasma Sword(trophy)
*SilverMoon Laser Lance---This weapon looks superficially like the standard Shemarrian Rail Gun, but is a powerful long range laser based on studies of Kittani power armor weapons. It can be powered by standard E-clips, E-Canisters, or by a power link to a vehicular or warmount powerplant. It is essentially a cyborg-portable laser cannon.
Weight: 130 lbs +325 lbs per e-canister, 200 lbs for super E-pack
Range: 9,000 ft
Damage: 4d6 MD light blast, 2d4x10+20 MD per heavy blast
Rate of Fire: Single shot, ECHH
Payload: 4 light shots/1 heavy shot per standard E-clip, 8 light/2 heavy shots per long e-clip, 32 light/16 heavy shots per e-canister, 400 light/100 heavy shots a super E-pack, unlimited if tied to a dedicated nuclear power source. The Silvermoons also have a regenerating e-canister that has 30 light/ 15 heavy shots and regenerates 4 shots per hour, up to seven times.
Bonuses: Integral laser targeting and computer sight adds a +2 to strike
Note: The Laser Lance CANNOT be fitted with a bayonet.

*RG-14-LX ‘Baby Boom Gun’--- 5,000 ft range, 1d6x10+10 MD per shot, 100 rd drum. +1 strike

*Book: The Art of War, Sun Tzu. Miramaze acquired this hardbound reprint of the original classic from a traveling d-bee merchant. Oddly enough, it’s not a Lazlo press product, but printed entirely in Chinese by some group calling itself ‘The People’s Collective Information Office’, and is done in a tough, climate-resistant plastic.

*Portable Chess/Go set made by a grateful villager of a hamlet that Miramaze saved. The set features pieces based on Rifts warmachines and powerhouses carved from local marble and granite(the kings are Glitterboys, the queens Shemarrians, the knights Monstrex riders, the pawns Samson power armors, the bishops are leyline walkers, and the rooks are Titan Works robots, among other things), and isn’t particularly valuable aside from the workmanship, but Miramaze regards it as a sentimental treasure.

Vehicle:
Despite the original pilotiing skill programming of the A-64, there just aren’t a lot of vehicles of those types included that are suitable for a giant six-legged spider-bot. That having been said, Miramaze CAN pilot a hoverplatform based on the pre-Rifts NEMA HX-355 Hover Platform. Straddling the platform, Miramaze can fly at 160 MPH. Maximum altitude of 1,000 ft.

[taalismn]

(okay, came across a serious ‘oops’.....Factory/Temple-9 is canon in the Revised Sourcebook...it, and Factories 7 and 8, are used by the Republicans to build their warmachines.
So, I’m moving up the former description for Complex 9 to previously unclaimed /un-used -10 and putting up a new description for -9.
My bad....)

so...repost


“Location, Location, Location..”

Disposition of ARCHIE-3/Cyberworks Facilities After the Shemarrian Civil War:

Allegheny Mountain Facility(Maryland)(canon)
ARCHIE-3’s core facility. It is badly damaged during the closing stages of the SCW, and the remaining portions are held by joint custody by the Tribes. no new Shemarrians are produced at the facility, but it does do some minor manufacturing, mainly of items for export(EShemar techs are still going over the place with a finetoothed comb looking for any remaining unpleasant surprises). ‘Ownership’ of the facility is beig contested by the Republicans, even after a staged release of the troops held in stasis in the NEMA HQ-ECC.

Manufacturing Center Number Two(Pennslyvannia)(canon)
Seized during the SCW, but like the Allegheny Mountain Facility, badly damaged. Currently operated jointly by the Tribes. It does not produce any new Shemarrians or Warmounts, pending a High Council decision on what to do with the core facilities.

Chesapeake Seaport(canon)
Seized during the SCW, and currently operated jointly by the Tribes. Considerable damage was done to the ‘port, much of it apparently done BEFORE the EShemar overran the facility. The EShemar believe this was done to mask the number of vessels the ‘port could accommodate, how many submersibles the Maker and the Shaper possessed in their forces, and where those vessels are.

Satellite Factory Complexes:
Just before the Shemarrian Civil War broke out, Archie-3 establishes a number of secondary factory sites to exploit various resource sites. Most of these factories are hidden underground in old mines or under the ruins of pre-Rifts communities.
Seizure of these facilities loses importance to the EShemar after they develop the Trinity Modules and establish their own industrial infrastructure.

* Factory/Temple-1----Robotic steelmill and plastics synthesis factory. It is damaged during the SCW, but is repaired and put back into service by the Tribes, after being thoroughly ‘exorcised’ by EShemar Tinkers and Seeresses.

* Factory/Temple-2---Robot assembly factory, producing robots for Titan Robotics. Badly damaged during the SCW, its remaining equipment is seized by the Ghost Riders and removed to their Madhaven enclaves.

* Factory/Temple-3---Chemosynthesis and refinery complex. Destroyed in a SPECTACULAR chemical fire when EShemar and Loyalist forces duke it out during the SCW. It has not been rebuilt, although scavenging the site may yield some usable scraps of technology and intact containers of chemical feedstocks.

* Factory/Temple-4---A Shemarrian-manufacturing plant, Temple-4 was also used to test software recovered from expeditions to Madhaven. It is suspected that CPUs produced and programmed at Temple-4 were contaminated by pre-Rifts viral programs, leading to aberrations in the behaviors of the Wolf’s Path and Ghostrider Tribes. The factory is seized by the EShemar. There was some brief contention over ‘ownership’ between the Wolf’s Path and Ghostrider Tribes, especially when the Ghostriders seemed to threaten to disassemble and cart it off like they did Factory-2. Currently it’s still in its original place, though the Wolves have given up most of their claim to the facility.

* Factory/Temple-5----This factory complex is given over to manufacturing Shemarrians full-bore during the SCW, but it is also the factory that becomes infected with BlackSteel, tranforming over time into a seething technological hellhole. Temple-5 is destroyed, with much effort, by the EShemar.

* Factory/Temple-6---Established to salvage a pre-Rifts nuclear-chemical industrial site, Temple-6 produced nuclear engines for ARCHIE-3. It is badly damaged during the SCW, and several fission reactor breaches render the site unapproachable by living beings. The Tribes use several outlying parts of the factory for manufacturing, while working to decontaminate or decommission the rest.

* Factory/Temple-7(canon)----General manufacturing, including ARCHIE-3’s ‘ancient’ Glitterboy No. 7s. It is also the factory the Republicans subvert to manufacture their new combat gear. During the SCW, the Republicans seize it, but are dismayed to learn it is NOT the NEMA-HQ-ECC, as they had long thought. Temple-7 remains in Republican hands after the SCW.

* Factory/Temple-8---Materials refinery facility with some assembly capability, Temple-8 was a major center for R’Mar activity. It survived the SCW, and was given over to the Ne’R’Mar for their own use. Having used it to produce some of their new weapons during their ‘hack attacks’ of ARCHIE-3, the Republicans know of the location of this facility, and have made several subsequent attempts to approach and appropriate it during the SCW, but the facility is too deep within the reformed Shemarrian Nation, and their efforts have failed.

* Factory/Temple-9---Factory complex, among those used by the Republicans to build their new war machines. The factory complex produced conventional robots and munitions, but was on the fringes of a Wolf’s Path transit route to their southerly territories from ARCHIE-3’s Shemarrian production works. Factory/Temple-9 was originally being eyed for seizure, post-SCW, by the Wolf’s Path, but the Republicans got to it first before the Shemarrians could consolidate their hold. The Wolf’s Path wanted to go in with reinforcements and seize it anyway, and actually did take most of it away from the Republicans, but the newly formed Shemarrian High Tribal Council restrained them, not wanting a conflict with the Republicans at a time when the Reformed/ing Shemarrian Nation was arguably vulnerable. Factory/Temple-9 was turned over to the Republicans, but not before an ‘accident’ originating in the Shemarrian-held sections pretty well gutted a good portion of the complex(and incidentally wiped out important data linking the Shemarrians to ARCHIE-3). The factory remains in Republican hands, but at greatly diminished capacity as the new owners struggle to repair and rebuild it(part of the reason why the senior Republicans -hate- the Wolf’s Path Tribe).

* Factory/Temple-10---Munitions factory, originally built by an independent company, seized by the Mechanoids(they slaughtered the workers and inhabitants of the small company town nearby), upgraded in an effort to build more advanced warmachines, and retained by ARCHIE-3. Factory-10 is one of the few aboveground facilites in ARCHIE-3’s empire, although A3 subsequently tried to move as much of the facility underground and camouflage the rest. Factory-10 was seized by the EShemar during the SCW, although parts of it were damaged(heavy earthern berms, however, contained the spectacular explosions of stockpiled explosives). The facility has been repaired, and now manufactures munitions for the Shemarrian Nation, including weapons for export to allied communities like Finton. The razed remains of the adjacent town have become a campground for itinerant EShemar caravans.





OZ-Bunkers:

Oz-1(canon)---This is the decoy bunker presented in the Rifts Sourcebook One adventure. It is but one of over a dozen fake complexes seeded to trap the unwary and alert ARCHIE-3 to anybody specifically looking for pre-Rifts treasure(like himself). Though initially intended as decoys, ARCHIE and Hagan have made some of them over into remote experiment stations and, later, staging areas for their Loyalist minions. ARCHIE-3 upgrades many of these decoy bunkers with ARCHIE-BOZZ units.
Most of the bunkers are utterly destroyed during the Shemarrian Civil War, leaving little but megacrete-lined holes in the ground. Oz-1 is one of the facilities that essentially gets nuked during the SCW(this will convince James T., if he’s still around, that ARCHIE is gone and finished, regardless of what else he may hear).


Bedlam-1---A decoy bunker, sans OZ-unit, made over into an experiment station during the course of its construction. The medical lab/torture chamber was used to house the still-living remains of captives, mostly Splugorth minions, but quite a few unlucky travellers and local villagers, many of whom were reduced to little more than brains in jars, the lucky ones being in biostasis. James T was a major contributor to Bedlam-1, during his time as ARCHIE-3’s idea-man. During the Mechanoid occupation, the Mechanoids let the pathetic inhabitants of Bedlam-1 live and liked to visit the place and gloat at the disfigured and disembodied humanoids. Hagan didn’t much care for the place after the Mechanoid threat was dealt with, and pretty much adopted an ‘out of sight, out of mind’ attitude towards the place. Experiments with mindcontrolling mages were performed at Bedlam-1, and a few got to see what would happen to them if they didn’t cooperate.
During the SCW, Bedlam-1 was raided by the Lost Eclipse, who liberated most of the ‘captives’ and distributed them to the other Tribes for conversion to NeShemar cyborgs. Those who couldn’t be rehabilitated, were euthanized. Bedlam-1 was destroyed in the course of hostilities and after the SCW wound down, the Lost Eclipse made a point of obliterating all trace of it.

Bedlam-2---A decoy bunker made over into an experiment station. It was the ‘birthplace’ of Ava, where she was assembled onsite for testing and the uploaded intelligence of a tortured Sister of the Hearth experimented on. After Ava’s escape, ARCHIE-3 hastily abandoned the site, removing anything of value to him, and destroying what remained. Even if Ava ever retraced her steps back to the complex, all that remains is a few concrete ruins.

Bedlam-3---An Archie-3-OZ ‘remote site’, used for biological experimentation on prisoners. A mass-prison break liberated the prisoners, many of whom would become part of the Lost Eclipse Tribe. While ARCHIE-3 attempts to rebuild Bedlam-3 into a military outpost for his forces, the Nightmares pay especial attention to razing the complex time and time again.


Merc Town Titan Robotics Complex (New Cedarville, Manistique)(Rifter #4, Mark Sumimoto)
Although under near-constant surveillance by EShemar agents, the TRC has NOT been seized. However, with its main source of supply cut off, and ARCHIE-3’s avatar/’son’ Argent Goodson missing, the company is struggling to adapt. Desmond Masters is trying to start up new production with new designs and new personnel, while fending off increasingly prying inquiries by parties looking to buy TR products. Masters finds himself suddenly in charge, and he really doesn’t like it, and he may just bolt if the situation doesn’t turn around. Not helping things are reports of new Titan Robotics stock being sold on the open market by other sources; Masters would very much like to know where these new ‘bots are coming from, and at least the revelation gives him a target to vent his increasing anger on while he tries to salvage what he can.
The New Cedarville facility remains intact only because the EShemar haven’t detected any trace that the Maker or the Shaper are using the facility as anything other than a sideshow front, and a serious reconnaisance in force would bring the not-inconsiderable powers of the region on top of an apparent alien invasion. If the EShemar have any reason to believe that ARCHIE-3 has a presence at the TRC(aside from a few Loyalists disguised as Juicers or Fullcon Cyborgs), or Argent Goodson has returned(and they have a strong inkling of what he REALLY is), then the Shemarrian Nation WILL raid the place in force.

[taalismn]

EcoS-K-132 Luscatral Light Warmount
(aka ‘Jellybaby’, ‘Blobaby’, ‘Myxolite’. ‘Quickslime’, ‘Oozen’)

“Not everybody like the luscatral because it works best if you shed your armor to connect to the gel-flesh full contact. That means skin-to-slime contact. A lot of the more conservative warriors don’t like that, especially since the luscy’s often deployed as an emergency backup warmount....it’s often part of a starfighter’s punch-out pod...and if they have to bail out in enemy-held territory, they want to have full body armor, not have to run around near-naked.”

“Those things are oozing cases of amebic dysentery; I’ve known troops who, upon encountering them, $#!+ themselves seeing those blobs coming at them.”

((“Okay, looks like one of the Solari-Martials overheard one of you wits joking about forming an all-amorphic unit and thought it was a -great- idea. As a result, we’re pulling together a ‘slime squadron’. Mxyomytes and Gunkyards are the heavies, Chironzids are the air support, Liquidus are the dog packs, and Luscatrals round out as the infantry. They’re talking about orbit to surface deployment in ablative ceramic shells.”))
[[“You mean we’re deploying....in Playdoh eggs?!”]]
((“Oh, very good, book-warrior! You know your pre-Rifts pop culture!”))

The luscatral is an amorphic form Warmount that is larger than the Eco-KRP11/EcoS-K-D11LEx Liquidus Robotic Animal, but smaller than the larger EcoS-K-91 Myxomyte and EcoS-K-93 Gunkyard. It occupies a position and role similar to the EcoS-K-74 Crazelle or a suit of power armor. The Luscatral was developed by the Wayfinders, but is believed to be a standardized version of a prototype or proof-of-concept article for what would become the Skyeklads’ EcoS-K-121 Chironzid.
The Luscatral resembles a blob of translucent slime or jelly, in the middle of which is suspended the rider in a freeflooding plastic and metal cradle-pod. The rider is held in place by thickened tendrils and cushioned from damage by the gel-flesh of the Luscatral. Advanced nanotech allows an unprecedented degree of control over the jelly-material, allowing it to flow like light oil, or thicken to the density of megadamage armor plate. The luscatral can grow limbs as needed, but has much greater control over the solidity and density of its limbs than the Liquidus.
The Luscatral is typically used for scouting duties or as an emergency warmount for aerospace crews, similar to the Crazelle. Some tribes add it as part of the escape pods of aerospace fighters and patrolcraft(in which case it is stored ‘stripped down’ and more compact, but can be given a shot of special chemicals that act like nanotech steroids, allowing the warmount to quickly bulk up on absorbed local materials upon landing, until it reaches its ‘fighting weight’ and mass), reasoning that its adaptive psuedo-flesh capabilities make it handy for surviving in alien environments. Some Yurei and neshemar operatives like it as well, for sneak-ops.
The Luscatral has a closer and more intimate connection to its rider than the other polymorphic warmounts. It is practically worn by its rider, allowing the wearer to use a greater portion of their personal hand to hand skills and bonuses in combat.
The Luscatral’s main weaknesses are related to its small size and light weight. It lacks the durability of its larger cousins, and ranged combat capabilities. Because it lacks the mass of the larger Myxomyte, the Luscatral lacks the punching strength of the heavier warmount. It is also fairly slow compared to many EShemar chassises and cavalry warmounts. Most warriors disregard the Luscatral as a second-echelon or tertiary warmount because of its shortcomings.
The Luscatral is used by the Wayfinders, Dark Waters, Horrorwoods, and the Skyeklad. The Lost Eclipse prefer the larger Myxomyte over the Luscatral because the latter ‘isn’t scary enough’.

Type: EcoS-K-132 Luscatral
Class: Robotic Warmount
Crew: None; robot intelligence
1 rider/pilot
MDC/Armor by Location:
Main Body 200
Saddle Pod 100*
Tendril Appendages(many) 1-15 each

*The translucent gel-flesh of the Luscatral distorts light, making targeting the embedded rider much more difficult; -8 to strike, even on a called shot.

Note: Luscatral take only 10% damage from PHYSICAL attacks like punches, kicks, bullets, and vibroblades.
Lasers do HALF damage.
Explosive attacks like grenades and contact explosives do normal damage.
Energy attacks do normal damage.

Height: Default mode is a sphere about 10 ft in diameter
Can rise up as high as 30 ft on top of a hardened stalk, or 12 ft on a tripod of leg-columns.
Width: Default mode is a sphere about 10 ft in diameter
Length: Default mode is a sphere about 10 ft in diameter
Can form a teardrop shape(for swimming) as long as 25 ft
Weight: 1,000 lbs as a compact form; 8,000 lbs fully expanded.
Cargo: Only what can be carried or suspended inside the blob. Small space inside/beside the saddle-seat for a few personal possessions and sidearms.
Physical Strength: Equivalent to Robotic P.S. of 30 , but it holds engulfed targets with the equivalent of a Supernatural P.S. of 40.
Powerplant: Unknown; presumably a chemical-fusion hybrid system.
Speed: (Running) 50 MPH. Can run on formed legs, and step over obstacles as high as 10 ft, but speed is jerky and can only make 30 MPH.
(Leaping) Can bounce up to 15 ft up/across.
(Climbing) The Luscatral is an adept climber(equivalent skill of 95%), and coming down is even easier; it can plop down or rain down from great heights(up to 800 ft) without taking any damage.
(Flying) Not possible. The closest it can come is forming a parachute allowing it to fall/glide safely from high altitude(1,000 ft or more) without damage.
(Space) Not possible
(Underwater) Can swim at roughly 19 MPH, no depth limit.
Market Cost: Exclusive to the Ecotroz-Shemar
Systems of Note:
*Radio---The Luscatral’s cockpit pod holds the ranged communications gear; 200 mile range.
*Visual Sensors---The Wayfinders have moved beyond the rather limited optical capabilities of the Liquidus, and its adaptive gel ‘flesh’ can form quite advanced optics, equal to power armor systems.
*Thermal Sensors---300 ft
*Motion Sensors---200 ft
*Acute Hearing----The entire BODY of the Luscatral can pick up on vibrations, essentially making it a giant ear with the equivalent of Advanced Robot Audio.
*Ground Sensor---Splayed across the ground, the warmount can pick up on vibrations in the earth: can listen for underground activity, such as burrowing animals, tunneling vehicles, water running thru pipes, etc., as well as surface movement. Passive sensors can detect the surface movement of large animals(2 tons or more), robots, heavy vehicles, or large masses of infantry with 40% accuracy, up to a mile away.

*Sonar---The Luscatral has the equivalent of sonar with a 7 mile range.

*Molecular Analyzer---The Luscatral is constantly ‘sniffing’ its surroundings, looking for chemical clues. Furthermore, by sampling an organic subject, priming special microchips, then injecting them into the Luscatral, the enimal can be ‘primed’ to track specific substances or individuals. Can effectively track by smell 84%.

*Bionic Cybernanite Repair Systems---ALL Luscatral have a derivative nanotech repair system based on the that the Ecotroz Shemar have refitted themselves with, and which is becoming the standard among NeShemar as well. The Luscatral’s polymorphic flesh tends to heal faster than more solidly-constructed Warmounts, however. These systems repair 8d6 MD per hour, and can repair 90 MDC before needing material stocks to convert to MD repair material. Unlike the Liquidus, the Luscatral CAN convert raw material into new MDC material, though its absorption rate is slower than that of warmounts with hard jaws and masticating orifices(it essentially has to slice and pound materials into more easily-assimilated dust, or else ‘eat’ pre-formatted MDC supplements).


*’Steroid’ Growth System---This is a one-shot system designed for lifepod Warmounts. To save weight and space, the Luscatral is carried in a dormant state, little more than the command pod and 25 MDC of body material. When activated, special MDC supplements and chemicals are injected into the warmount allowing it to quickly ‘flesh out’(typically enough to form a body parachute if falling), and then, upon landing, quickly assimilate local materials and gain both weight and MDC until it reaches its full size, gaining 1d4x10 MD per minute. However, efforts to use the system to super-regenerate again have thus far proven ineffectual, so it remains a one-shot device(Tinkers use a similar regimen of forced growth to repair damaged Luscatrals, but they also have accompanying monitoring instruments and a controlled environment containment enclosure).


*Adaptive Camouflage---In its normal state, the Luscatral is translucent, but it can alter its surface coloration and texture to better blend into its surroundings; takes 1d4 melees to blend in. It can also stick debris and dirt to its external surface, like a ghillie-suit.

*Cyst Mode---Cyst Mode is a survival mode the Luscatral can assume when extreme danger threatens it and its rider/wearer. The warmount instantly grows a super-dense armored crust around itself. In cyst form, the warmount CANNOT move, and is only dimly aware of its surroundings; it’s basically a hard armored lump, awaiting more hospitable conditions to open up(takes 1d6 melees).
Cyst MDC is 800, regardless of how much the original body MDC is.

*Horror Factor----The Luscatral is just so ALIEN in its movements that it gets an effective H.F. of 11

Weapons Systems:
1) Form Body Weapons----The Luscatral has such fine control over its psuedo-slime body that it can form multiple limbs, and control specific density to the point it can form molecularly-sharp edges on them, and then back them in striking with hydraulic force. The tendrils can form into powered drills, broad leaf-like shielding limbs, articulated claw-fingers, edged blades, darting spikes, lashing whips, or launch as guylines. If severed from the main body, they can be quickly(within 5 melee rounds) reabsorbed into the Enigmoid(instantly recovering 50% of the limb’s maximum MDC), or else they quickly decay into a fine dust.
Range:(Varies)
(Shield) 8 ft long/wide
(Claw/Blade) 10 ft
(Drill) 6 ft
(Spike) 15 ft
(Whip) 25 ft
(Cable) 50 ft
(Snake) 150 ft
Damage:
(Shield) +1 to Parry
(Claw)* 2d6 MD, 5d6 MD on a multiple-claw raking attack**
(Blade)* 3d6 MD**
(Drill) (2 attacks) 6d6 MD **
(Spike)* 3d6 and does Critical Damage on a ‘to Strike’ roll of 18-20**
*These appendages can also be used to embed themselves in an MDC target and ‘chew’, absorbing MDC at a rate of 2d6 MD per melee.
(Whip) 2d4 MD**
**Add +1d6 MD if the tentacle limbs are reinforced with MD debris/shrapnel
(Cable) 1d4 MD on a lash-strike on a lash-strike, but are really meant to assist the Luscatral in climbing and retrieving objects.
(Snake) 3d6 SDC on a lash-strike or up to 1d4 MD crush/squeeze


2) Entangle/Engulfing Attack----The Luscatral can throw out pseudopodia of its own substance and attempt to entangle or suffocate its target(s).
Range: Melee; the pseudopodia can reach up to 10 ft.
Damage:(Entangle)The Liquidus can hold targets with an effective grip that takes a robotic or supernatural PS of 40 or greater to break free. Creatures with a greater strength can break free in 1d4 melees.
(Suffocation) A typical air-breather will smother in 60-75 seconds.
Rate of Fire: ECHH

3)(Optional) Use of Handheld Weapons---The Luscatral is dexterous enough to be able to form hands that can hold and use weapons, including firearms. However, the warmount cannot directly power the weapons via power induction, so any handheld weapons are reliant on their own e-clips or magazines. Another consideration is that between the lack of solid structure to soak up recoil and stabilize the weapons, heavy projectile weapons such as the traditional Shemarrian Scava rail gun, are -3 to strike. Energy weapons don’t suffer from recoil problems, but refraction through the slime makes targeting difficult; -1 to strike, unless the rider pod comes close to the surface/breaks the surface, or the rider sticks their head out of the slime to eyeball the target directly , in which case the exposed spotter is only -4 to strike from enemy fire.
Similarly, handheld melee weapons only get HALF damage bonus from the appendage wielding them, because of the lack of solid structure(even with the Luscatral’s adept density control) backing the weapon.

Programming:
The Luscatral has a basic, simple A.I. programming. The Luscatral CN be Awakened with a low-level Ecotroz sentience. The Luscatral is not considered to be a ‘bright’ warmount, but it does display an acute awareness of its surroundings, and a low animalistic cunning when set in survival mode. It will loyally protect its rider/wearer to the death, and obey instructions given to it without reservation.
Typically has the following:
Climbing 90%
Swimming 98%
Prowl 80%
Land Navigation 94%
Camouflage 78%
Tracking 50%(+5% per level of experience for Ecotroz entity)

The Ecotroz entity can also pick up one Secondary skill at levels 2, 6, and 12 of experience, though the nature of the Luscatral intelligence and design is such that it is limited to skill selections from Technical: Language(understanding) and Lore (Cattle & Animals, Indians, Juicers, Magic, Demons & Monsters, D-Bees, Faerie---at least with regards to identifying their relative threat level), and Wilderness( Hunting).

Actions/Attacks Per Melee: 6
Initiative +2 (+1 from the Ecotroz entity for a total of +3)
Dodge +4, +5 underwater
Strike +2
Parry+4
Roll +6
Pull Punch +4
Entangle +6
Disarm +4
Critical Strike on a Natural 19-20
Slap/Punch 6d6 SDC
Hydraulic Punch 1d4 MD
Power Punch(2 attacks) 2d6 MD
Body Block/Ram/’Tidal Wave’(2 attacks) 3d6 MD

In the alternative, the Luscatral can use the pilot’s own HtH bonuses to fight, plus the following bonuses:
Initiative +2
Strike +2
Pull Punch +2
Entangle +6
HALF combined bonuses if the pilot/rider is wearing body armor; the heavy plates drag through the viscous gel and interfere with somatic contact.


Note: The Ecotroz intelligence fragment inhabiting the ‘bot gives the Luscatral an aura and behavior more befitting a sentient being than a robot.

The Ecotroz fragment does occasionally need sleep/rest...though they only need 2 hours of rest/meditation per 24 hours...they can push this, going without for as many days as they have I.Q. points(most Warmounts, unless otherwise noted, have an effective IQ rating of 8 ), but will have to go dormant for 4d6 hours after such exertion.
Note also that the Ecotroz-possessed ‘bot can infect other bots with the Ecotroz viral-entity, by bite or sustained touch(takes 3 attacks).

Options:
*Chemical Strike---The Luscatral’s cockpit pod can be modified to house chemical reservoirs, and the polymorphic Warmount can either spray the chemicals via vacuoles, or can inject them through stabbing appendages formed from its gel-flesh.
Range: Melee if injected, 50 ft if sprayed
Damage: Varies by chemical used. Yurei favor sedatives and nerve agents.
Rate of Fire: ECHH
Payload: 60 doses of up to 5 different drugs/chemicals

*Electroshock Attack---Similarly, special capacitors in the cockpit pod can general powerful electrical charges and special fibers in the gel-flesh can conduct the charge to stun targets on contact.
Range: Melee
Damage:
Light Prod: 1d4 SDC/HP
Moderate Prod: 2d6 SDC/HP
Lethal Zap: 5d6 SDC/HP, plus 01-33% chance of stunning humans, D-bees, and small animals for 1d4 melees, 01-33% against large or inhumanly strong/powerful animals. A successful save means victim takes HALF damage and only lose initiative and one APM.
Stun means -6 to strike, dodge, and parry, plus reduce APMs and Speed by HALF.
Being shocked on the strong/lethal setting for more than 5 times, or once the victim's Hit Points drop below half, means they are knocked unconscious for 2d4 melees. Chance of cardiac arrest as detailed in Rifts: Lone Star, pg. 50.
Ineffective against EBA, power armor, 'bots, and 'borgs.
Rate of Fire: ECHH
Payload: Effectively unlimited

*Modular Weapon Mount---Some users have modified the cradle-pod to mount a light cyborg-forearm-rating weapon(typically an energy weapon) that can be extended outside the gel-flesh of the Luscatral. However, this exposes the weapon to damage as well as increases the chances of the rider-pod being targeted and hit(though the gun itself presents a small target...-4 to strike, the optical refraction penalty to hit the cockpit pod is negated).

Variants:
*EcoS-K-132c---’Lusky-Musky’----Advanced Yurei-programmed version that kicks the chameleonware up a notch and allows the Luscatral to copy the shape and movement of other alien lifeforms of similar size, or static landscape features. However, only the appearance is altered; physical performance remains the same. Possesses the Disguise skill at 80%

*EcoS-K-132t---Technowizardry-enhanced version---This Luscatral variant lines the internal seat-cradle with PPE accumulator crystals and impregnates the polymorphic matrix of the warmount with genengineered PPE-active microlife similar to the PPE-gel packs available to Wayfinder TWizard conversions(the PPE algae-packs themselves derived from original ARCHIE-3 developed ‘lifeforce-decoy’ packs; see Rifter #53, Damon Sutton). Maintaining the microlife requires the Luscatral to regularly take in organic material to feed its microlife cultures(making it one of the few Warmounts that actually has to ‘eat’ for organic-biological reasons).
The magic variant is typically outfitted with spells to insure the survival of the pilot, but some special operatives use different spell configurations. The listed spell list is for a general survival configuration.
The downside is that the Luscatral registers as a magic creature to PPE sensitives.
Power Systems: (Cradle) Crystalline--- PPE Capacity:(Light)----100 PPE battery capacity; recharges at 10 PPE per hour, 20 PPE/hour at a leyline, 40 PPE/hour on a nexus
(Gel-Flesh) Gel Batteries----PPE Capacity:(‘Wizard’)----300 PPE battery capacity; recharges at 18 PPE per hour, 60 PPE/hour at a leyline, 150 PPE/hour on a nexus.

-PPE Senses---Similar to the Japanese SNARLsystem.

-Impervious to Energy--- 5 minutes per 20 PPE
-Fists of Flurry---5 melees per 2 PPE
-Shadowmeld---Virtually invisible in darkness; enemies are -6 to strike, -4 to dodge. 10 PPE per 30 minutes.
-Sense Mines & Traps--8 minutes per 6 PPE.
-Invisibility to Sensors---16 minutes per 10 PPE.
-Erase Trail---80 minutes per 8 PPE.
-Megadamage Haymaker---5 PPE per strike, +1 to strike, and does +2d6 MD.
- Armor Bizarre---8 minutes per 8 PPE, +120 MDC, Horror Factor 13. With this on, the warmount truly looks like a lovecraftian monstrosity.
-Forcefield---Provides 50 MDC per 10 PPE/20 ISP pumped into the system; lasts 10 minutes per 10 PPE/20 ISP.

*EcoS-K-132at---”Anti-Technowizardry-enhanced’ version based on the TW variant, only, instead of maintaining cultures of PPE-enhanced microlife that is antithetical to magic and psionics.
-PPE Senses---Similar to the Japanese SNARLsystem.
1)Anti-Theron Generator System----The Luscatral holds a reservoir of genetically-modified bacteria in a special life support pockets secreted about its mass. The psychically-active organisms can be stimulated to produce energy that disrupts active PPE. This energy can be piped about via special silver stabilized ectoplasmic channels, resulting in an aura of magic disruption about the cyborg. This is particularly telling when the warmount engages in hand to hand combat with supernatural creatures, as each strike, and even close proximity, will cause an opponent’s PPE to destabilize.
Because the anti-therons are not projected very far, as with anti-theron projection weapons, the organisms can last somewhat longer in their life support medium. However, the culture-tank still needs to be changed out every six months and replaced with a fresh culture.
Range: Anti-theron field radiates about 12 inches out from the Luscatral
Effects of Anti-Theron Weaponry:
Damage: Varies according to the attack type, but ALL anti-Theron weapons use the following guidelines
Depending on how much PPE is present and how essential it is to an organism’s survival, damage varies:
Techno-Wizardry Devices(including TW generators), enchanted objects, rune weapons, and other magically-infused(but INANIMATE) objects are NOT affected and take no damage.
Non-magical beings. psychics, and ‘mundanes’ are unaffected and experience nothing aside from a slight tingling sensation, mild sunburn-like symptoms, and a passing feeling of nausea from a Disruptor strike. They still take damage from the cyborg’s punches and kicks, but take no extra damage from the strike.
Magic Users and other beings who have ‘learned’ or artificially acquired magical abilities(including tattoos and implants), but who can otherwise survive without magic present are affected, but the effects aren’t as dramatic. They do NOT get a save versus the disruption because all of their effort has gone into OPENING themselves to the supernatural and embracing their magical potential. The cyborg’s melee attacks in this case do 25% MORE damage.
Supernatural Creatures who possess some small measure of magical ability will suffer a greater degree of damage/injury. ...normal damage x 1.5(or 50% more damage). Gargoyles, Brodkil, Lycanthropes, Shapeshifters(including Nightspawn), Possessees, Shifters, and Witches, are all examples of beings in this category. Note that if these beings were to possess bionics or other conditions that NEGATE their magical abilities(like Brodkil bionics) they lose this vulnerability, and are NOT affected, taking damage only as normal. These beings do NOT get a saving roll versus the PPE disruption.
‘High’ Supernatural Beings with a high level of, and reliance on, PPE will suffer greatly, taking DOUBLE damage. This includes Dragons, Angels, Demons, Splugorth, Faerie Folk, Demi-Gods. However, these beings DO get a roll to SAVE versus their own PPE backfiring on them. A successful roll to save HALVES the damage done to them.
Creatures of Pure Magic that cannot survive without magic are the most seriously affected, and take TRIPLE damage. This covers ghosts, possessing entities, Undead, Elemental Beings, Alien Intelligences, and god-beings. However, these beings DO get a roll to SAVE versus their own PPE backfiring on them. A successful roll to save HALVES the damage done to them.
Golems, Iron Juggernauts, and other magically-powered automatons/automatons will be effectively STUNNED, being paralyzed for 1d4 melees per shot, and will be unable to move or defend themselves, as magical energy shorts out and storms over them.

Other Effects:
*Magic Disruption----Each strike NEUTRALIZES HALF the number of PPE points that it does damage...these points are temporarily lost to the magic user/creature until it can regain them normally(by rest or drawing on other sources).
*Magical Forcefields take 1.5 normal damage.
*Invisible beings will be revealed by an anti-theron burst and will remain visible for 2d4 melees(gradually fading) as a result of residual anti-therons causing them to fluoresce and become visible to the naked eye.


-Integral EctoWeb Armor Protection----Incorporated into the Luscatral’s structure is a weave of stabilized ectoplasmic fibers that serves as a sort of ‘magic Faraday Cage’, helping deflect and ground-out magic attacks made at the cyborg. Magical energy attacks to the Luscatral are reduced in damage by 1/3, and the rider gets to save +1 versus magic. Psionic attacks are unaffected.


*EcoS-K-132m---’Bloodhound’ unit with a medical pod added to the cockpit cradle. Inspired by the EShe-WyrmSAR01(aka’Docwyrm’) autonomous rescue variant of the Wyrmgear crawler-platform, the K-131m is un-piloted, but programmed to seek out and rescue lifeforms in disaster areas, transporting them back to safety in the pod. The Luscatral’s variable large surface area and adjustable ground pressure allow it to negotiate shifting ruins and unstable ground more easily, and the gel-slime composition of the warmount-bloodhound’s body and appendages are mechanically less abusive when supporting burned flesh(as might be encountered in a fire or radiation situation). Some Wayfinders further modify the medical pod with TW enhancements, allowing for onsite medical healing. Some special ops shadow(Yurei) units use the -m variant to track down and apprehend fugitives.

[kronos]

Nice additions.
Sorry I haven't been adding much lately. I still have to finish my one warmount I was working on.. Life is just so damn annoying by getting in the way of working on the fun stuff!

[taalismn]

Nice additions.
Sorry I haven't been adding much lately. I still have to finish my one warmount I was working on.. Life is just so damn annoying by getting in the way of working on the fun stuff!

Under-employment ain't fun either.
I'm finding myself actually -missing- the jerks I used to curse at under my breath.....

But yeah, my mistake with the Factory/Temple mix-up is fueling another warmount and some ideas about the relationship between the Shemarrian Nation and the Republicans, as well as early post-SCW Tribal politics.

[taalismn]

More Adapted Shemarrian Weapons:

“Looking forwards, we’re still discovering things of use in the past. In our quest to see what’s next on the horizon, we risk overlooking what’s right next to us.”
----Taros Sadarii GunMetal, DarkWater Tinker

# EShe-PB25 Particle Beam Rifle(Arch-25 Particle Beam Cannon, *Rifter # 4, A.R.C.H.I.E. Three vs. The World, Mark Sumimoto)

#EShe-PLR26 Plasma Rifle(Arch-26 Plasma Rifle, *Rifter # 4, A.R.C.H.I.E. Three vs. The World, Mark Sumimoto)

#EShe-IP27 Ion Pistol (Arch-27 Ion Pistol, *Rifter # 4, A.R.C.H.I.E. Three vs. The World, Mark Sumimoto)

These three new energy weapons are simply EShemarrian versions of energy projectors that ARCHIE-3 developed using reverse-engineered Mechanoid technology. Equipping the robot legions the ‘Dark One’ sent out to defend against the ‘rogue’ Shemarrian units during the Shemarrian Civil War, the advanced range and heavy damage of the enhanced weapons proved a nasty surprise to the EShemar as they pushed against ARCHIE-3’s core strongholds. It was the need to neutralize these weapons that was part of the reason so few of ARCHIE-3’s robot defenders survived to be Awakened by the Ecotroz Shemarrians, as ranged bombardment left little to be Awakened.
Post-War, it was discovered that one of the last acts the Dark One had perpetuated as the net closed in on his redoubts was to wipe the industrial databanks of his factories. This was not entirely successful, but the templates for the Arch-25-27 series weapons were one of the pieces of data lost. This required the EShemar, who were impressed by the weapons, to laboriously reverse-engineer them, and the work was further delayed by more pressing issues.
Eventually, however, EShemar Tinkers HAVE managed to duplicate the Arch-series weapons and new production versions are trickling into deployment with Shemarrian forces.
The main changes to the original Arch-weapons are an altered outer casing more in line with EShemarrian esthetics, and an integral power link system. Some have also been fitted in the field with a universal power clip interface, allowing neshemar troops to take advantage of scrounged e-clips from other sources.

# EShe-PB25 Particle Beam Rifle---Modified copy of the Arch-25 Particle Beam Cannon. This powerful and long-ranged (it has double the range of the existing She-PB20 Particle Beam Rifle) weapon was first successfully duplicated by the DarkWaters, and it is quickly replacing the older weapon in front line service.

#EShe-PLR26 Plasma Rifle----Modified copy of the Arch-26 Plasma Rifle. Though other weapons have better damage, few can match the PLR26’s great range, and the weapon is quickly gaining a following with Tribes like the Blood Riders, who LOVE plasma weaponry.

#EShe-IP27 Ion Pistol ---This adaptation of the Arch-27 Ion Pistol, itself inspired by the Mechanoid M-20 Ion Pistol, hasn’t proven as popular as the other resurrected Arch-guns, given the existing IP30E ion pistol with its burst mode. Furthermore, most EShemar still tend to regard pistols as scond-grade weapons. Still, the IP27’s accuracy and streamlined shape have made it popular with some neshemar. Tinkers are reportedly working on variable output modifications, copied from the IP30E, that could allow the IP27 to fire stun or area of effect blasts, but so far the only variants of the IP27 are handcrafted ones made by individual Tinkers.

[pad300]

A quick note regarding the Luscatral ,
it's default for is a 10 ft sphere. A 10 ft sphere is 5.4 cubic meters. 5.4 cubic meters of water is 5400 kilos = 12000 lbs. A 1000 lb weight means that is either a thin shell (5 cm, assuming no mass for the "cradle pod" and water density) or that the "fluid" is really low density...

[taalismn]

A quick note regarding the Luscatral ,
it's default for is a 10 ft sphere. A 10 ft sphere is 5.4 cubic meters. 5.4 cubic meters of water is 5400 kilos = 12000 lbs. A 1000 lb weight means that is either a thin shell (5 cm, assuming no mass for the "cradle pod" and water density) or that the "fluid" is really low density...

Very good! I've adjusted the weight upwards, but not to the six tons it would be otherwise. Why? It's not exactly water; it's more like a smart-matter aerogel...lightweight and very fluid.
Blame the original Monstrex for the weights; canon figures for the weight of a Monstrex are 2,000-3,000 lbs, for a robot critter 16 ft long, 10 ft at the back, and 7 ft wide. The thing's made of some TOUGH tin foil! If I could only rebuild my Honda Civic out of that stuff!

So, unless Palladium revises the weights for the canon warmounts, they set the bar. Handwavium alloyed with cavorite will have to suffice for explaining the discrepancy.

[taalismn]

Wayfinder Psychaian Elite
(aka ‘Mind-Witch’,’Psyber-Witch’, ‘Mind-Cutter’)

“Being Reborn into a Psychaian does NOT make you a Mechanoid. The Mechanoids are deliberately engineered genetic psychics fused to robotics, organic generators of inner strength energy through eldritch thought processes we cannot fathom. And many of them are centuries old, building up reservoirs of mental energy that dwarf what paltry reserves you can pan up in your short span of existence as a psynoid. They are ancient; you’re still learning to walk. What you are now is a psychic waveform circulating in specialized circuitry, slowly gaining energy through ambient accumulation and amplification. You are NOT going to be able to face down a Mechanoid in a straight-out mind fight; the Mechanoid will wear you down, then scrap you. If you can avoid it, do NOT get into a duel with a Mechanoid. If you absolutely MUST engage in combat, you are going to have to be clever, you are going to have to be cunning, you are going to have to bring to bear tricks and disciplines the Mechanoids have never seen before. Because if you lose, no reincarnation for you; this is it now.”

“You’re going to erase my mind, aren’t you?”
“Not all of it.”
“Only what isn’t useful to you, right?”
“That is actually very little of you. Most of your mind will still be yours. You will still be you.”
“I won’t know that you worked on me?”
“You’ll know, but it will not concern you. You will be treated well.”
“Will I be happy? Or will you make me so I am only happy?”
“You will have the opportunity to be happy. You will decide for yourself.”
“Will I remember the bad things?”
“Those are part of what holds you back. It is a source of pain and disruption for you, and of no benefit to you or me. No, you will not remember.”
“...you promise?”
---Conversation, pre-Remaking, between a Psychaian and a NeShemar candidate.

One would think that a Shemarrian Elite inspired by the Witchling would perforce be a Lost Eclipse creation, meant to horrify, but in fact, the recently sighted Psychaians are a Wayfinder development, an outgrowth of the growing mental abilities and psi-tech capabilities of the ‘Scholar Tribe’.
Psychaians are, in fact, quite beautiful, possessing a fey-like grace and charisma...above the waist. Below it, their body is a leg-less mass of razor-edged vanes and long tendrils. Psychaians do not walk like other Shemarrians; they float, courtesy of a combination of low-powered contra-gravity and magical levitation( their skirts and a ‘bustle’ at the small of their back conceal powerful jet thrusters).
Psychaians are powerful cyber-psychics, Psi-Shamans further amplified by psynetic technology and technowizardry. One of their most powerful abilities is to be able to permanently mindwipe organics without the usual penalty to themselves. Whether it’s because the psionic power is being generated by a pure psychic energy creature(as opposed to an organic brain) or it’s channeled through psi-crystals, powers like Mind Wipe don’t take the same toll on the Psychaian as the same would to a flesh and blood Mindmelter or other psychic.

Many Psychaians incorporate both faux-magic and techno-wizardry into themselves, giving them a powerful arsenal of possible tools, and a reputation for being fearsome mystical opponents.
Being built on the frame and programming of the Seeress caste-class, Psychaians are also formidable conventional combatants, though they typically do not join the regular line of battle unless necessary. In close combat, their lower leg vanes act as slashing blades(along with their razor-edged wings and lashing tentacles). They prefer to fight from range, using their mental abilities and technological additions.

The Psychaian frame is also available to Transferred Intelligences, especially Master Psychics(Mindmelters) as their psionic powers suffer no penalty for their new robotic physicality, although arguably the more powerful Psychaians are those Progen-born, and thus entirely comfortable with both their psychic powers and non-humanoid bodies.

Despite their reputation as mind-bending and spell-slinging monsters, most Psychaians see themselves as psychic guardians, mystics, advisors, and even therapists, assisting neshemar members adapt to new lives in the Tribes(most Psychaians take offense at being characterized as ‘lobotomizers’, preferring to see their mind wipe work as ‘bioelectric-chemical memory system refurbishment and reformatting therapy’). They also oversee the Wayfinders’ psi-mechanical and psycho-genetic research programs, seeking ways to improve both themselves and other EShemar/NeShemar, and frequently act as the trainers and mentors of those produced by the programs. The more militant see themselves see themselves as psionic special forces, taking the fight against supernatural menaces direct to their brains. A few Psychaians become the equivalent of Ghost Rider Domimatrixes or Lost Eclipse Nahsi, wielding their powers to dominate and shape lesser minds and plotting elaborate courses of action based on their psychic readings. Psychaians regularly work with their fellow psi-mutants, such as the Seeress-Shamaness(upon whom they are arguably based), and the Psi-Blaster and Psi-Bruiser(with whom the Psychaians are frequently teamed in psionic combat formations). Psychaians are rarely lone operatives; they frequently have entourages of guards, servitors, and assistants, depending on their focus and given assignments.

Psychaians despise Witchlings, Neuron Beasts, and Cerebellus Demons. They also see Mechanoids as natural rivals and enemies, seeing as both are robotically-enhanced psychic powerhouses(although in the case of the Psychaians, it can be argued that they are the reverse; they are psionically-enhanced robots). Psychaians are able, because of their monstrous appearance, to more easily approach other monster species, though not as easily as the more visually shocking Elite types such as the Mirva or Varaxa. Some rumors have spread that the Psychaians are the result of hideous Splugorth biowizardry experiments hybridizing Shemarrians and Witchlings, or Neuron Beasts, which would explain the Shemarrians’ hatred of those monsters.

Psychaians are very rare(the psionic mutation producing them rarely occurs; perhaps one in 6,000 progenerations) with the greater concentration of them(and transferred intelligence conversions) occurring in the Wayfinder Tribe. From there, individuals and small groups of them have ‘loaned out’ to other Tribes to assist in their neshemar conversion and psychic programs(one has been sighted in the company of the Silvermoons, decked out in silver-white laser-reflective chroming), with hopes of spreading the psi-mutation via progen-couplings.

Type: Shemar Psychaian Elite
Class: Robot Gynoid
Crew: Advanced Neural Intelligence
M.D.C. By Location:
Hands(2) 20 each
Forearms(2) 100 each(+80 forearm bracers)
Upper Arms and Shoulders(2) 100 each
Back Wings(2) 70 each
Blade Vanes(6) 100 each
Tentacles(4) 45 each
Psi-Gun Armatures(2) 80 each
Head 90 (protective headdress adds 100)
Antennae(4) 20 each
Main Body/Upper Torso 250 (+150 body armor)
Lower Torso/Body 300 (+150 body armor)
Height: 8 feet
Width: 3 feet at shoulders. The armored skirt pleats can reach out 1 ft to either side. 8 ft wingspan.
Length: 4 feet
Weight: 1,000 lbs.
Power System: Nuclear/Psionic
Physical Attributes: Equal to Robotic PS. 35, PP. 24, PB. 15+2d6.
(Ecotroz) ME 10+3d6.
Cargo: Only what can be carried.
Speed:
Running: Psychaians can walk, after a fashion, on their blade-vanes, but only on firm surfaces(and they have acute problems getting across grates), in tottering fashion, at Spd 5(3.5 MPH).
Jumping: Not possible
Flying: Hover to 360 MPH, DOUBLE on a ley line, at a maximum altitude of 1,000 ft.
Space: CAN fly in space, at 720 MPH.
Underwater: Can swim, using the thrusters, at 20 MPH. Maximum depth tolerance of 5,000 ft. Can skim along the water’s surface at 80 MPH.
Market Cost: EXCLUSIVE to the (E)Shemarrian Tribes
Systems of Note:
Standard Shemarrian Robot Systems, plus:
Full optical systems, laser targeting, passive night vision, telescopic vision, thermal imaging, infrared, ultraviolet, and polarization filters. Also has motion and heat detection, and other standard Shemarrian systems. Additional/special sensors may be built in by the creating Spinsters or at the behest of the individual.

*Bionic Cybernanite Repair Systems---A modified bionic nanotech repair system that originated with the Ecotroz Shemar, but has also been adopted by the Ghost Riders. These systems repair 4d6 MD per hour, and can repair 75 MDC before needing material stocks to convert to MD repair material.

* Tentacles----Four tentacles sprout from the Psychaians’ lower torsos. Each has a PS and PP of 18, are +1 to strike, +3 parry, +2 dodge, +3 entangle. They have a reach of 9 ft.

*PPE/ISP Sensors----Psychaians also incorporate a variant of acquired technologies to sense PPE energies, similar to the Japanese SNARLSystem, but using additional means, such as advanced Kirallian optics, for boosted range and capability. The sensor has a 200 ft range(out to 400 ft with 50% error in determination), 90-degree arc, and can detect invisible entities. Other penalties similar to the Japanese SNARLS system(on which it is based.....see Rifts: Japan, pg. 116). The sensor suite also uses scintillatron sensors to detect active psionics, in a 15 ft radius, with a 50% chance per melee of detecting their source.

*Third Eye---The 3rd Eye implant that is the distinguishing physical characteristic of Wayfinders has evolved to be more than simply an extra optic; the SSN Wayfinders have refined it until it has the properties of the ARS-500 Arcane Scanner, with the following powers:
-Sense Ley Lines---3 miles(rifts at 6 miles)
-Sense Supernatural---450 ft
-Sense Magic---120 ft area
-Decipher Magic---72%
-Presence Sense---120 ft area
-See Aura---100 ft
-Eyes of Thoth(no ISP/PPE cost)
-Sense/See Dimensional Anomaly---Up to 6 miles away

Weapons Systems:
1) Arm Lasers(2)---The Elite retain the forearm gauntlet lasers of the regular warriors. Just point and shoot.
Range: 2,000 ft
Damage: 3d6 MD per single blast
Rate of Fire: ECHH
Payload: Effectively Unlimited

2) Finger Claws---The Psychaians’ hands feature retractable vibroblades identical to regular Shemarrians’.
Range: Melee
Damage: 3d6 MD

3) Waist Lasers(6)---Concealed in the Psychaian’s ‘skirt’ are several small lasers that provide all-around point defense. These can aim 80-degrees downwards and 30 degrees upwards.
Range: 2,000 ft
Damage: 2d6 MD per blast
Rate of Fire: ECHH
Payload: Effectively Unlimited

4) Psi-Gun Armatures(2)---These are two small robotic arms, normally stowed folded up behind the armored skirt-pleats of the lower body, and ending in gun-like psi-projectors.
The main advantage of the Psi-Gun is that it can often affect targets normally immune to more mundane attack media.
Range: 700 ft
Damage: 1d6 SDC, 3d6 SDC, 6d6 SDC, or 2d4 MD
Rate of Fire: ECHH
Payload: 6 ISP for 1d6 SDC
12 ISP for 3d6 SDC
20 ISP for 6d6 SDC
40 ISP for 2d4 MD
If the cyborg’ed psychic or energy entity already had/has Mind Bolt, then the ISP cost is HALF.
Bonus: Psi-Gun Mind Bolts are +3 to strike, +8 if an additional 10 ISP are spent.

In the alternative, the Psi-Gun can be used to focus the psychic psibot’s existing psionic powers. In this regard, the Psi-Gun works identically to the Mindwerks Telekinetic Extension (see Rifts Mindwerks. pg. 26).

5) Faux Magic:
Psychaians have an array of magic-simulating technological tricks that provide backup in case they go up against opponents who are normally resistant or immune to magic and psionics. These gimmicks also help make the gynoid appear more powerful than they may really be.
Of course, this being a Wayfinder, it’s also possible to get ACTUAL technowizardry devices implanted(and many do, the Wayfinders LOVING techowizardry), allowing them to actually cast spells.
A Psychaian will typically have the mechanisms for 2d4 Faux Magic effects from the following list(see Rifter #53, Damon Sutton, pgs 40-43) built into them. Alternatively, GMs may come up with new systems:
-Blinding Flash
-Cloud of Smoke
-See The Invisible
-Thunderclap
-Chameleon(requires the Psychaian to be wearing robe-like garments)
-Concealment
-Heavy Breathing
-Armor of Ithan
-Energy Bolt
-Carpet of Adhesion
-Energy Field
-Magic Net
-Fire Bolt
-Multiple Image
-Circle of Flame
-Energy Disruption
-Apparition
-Fire Ball
-Magic Pigeon
-Tongues
-Wind Rush
-Spoil
-Agony
-Summon and Control Rodents---Either the real thing, summoned by pheromones, or hordes of disguised rat-bots.

6) Body Blades---- The wings and lower body ‘leg’ vanes are edged in molecularly sharp blades, allowing them to be used as slashing weapons in close combat.
Range: Melee
Damage: Leg Blade Vane Slice 4d4 MD +1 MD per every 20 MPH of flying speed
Wing Blade Vane Slice 2d6 MD +1 MD per every 20 MPH of flying speed

7) (Optional) Handheld Weapons---The Psychaian can pick up and use handheld weapons like any other Shemarrian. In general, however, the bulk and recoil of the standard-issue Shemarrian 6000 ‘Scava’ Rail Gun is too unwieldy for the Psychaian, so they will, at best, use the smaller Shemarrian 4000 “Short-Gun” Rail Gun, Assault Rifle, or any of the energy rifles. Like many of their fellow Wayfinders, Psychaians LOVE techno-wizardry devices and weaponry.

Psionics:
-Object Read, Telemechanics, Telemechanical Possession, Telemechanic Mental Operation(NO ISP cost to use)

In addition to the regular Ecotroz machine-related psionic abilities, the Psychaian has ISP: 4d6x10+ME+1d8 per level of experience, and has the following psionic powers:
-Eight Sensitive or Healing powers of choice at level one, plus an additional Sensitive or Healing power at levels 4, 8, and 12.
-Four Physical powers of choice at level one. Can select one Physical power of choice at levels 3, 6, 9, and 12.
-Mindwipe*, Mindbond, and three Super psionic powers of choice at level one. At levels 6, 9, and 12, can select one Super psionic power of choice
-Unlike the baseline Ecotroz powers, these powers DO require ISP to function
-Saves as a Master Psionic(10 or better)

-*Psionic Modifications:
-Mindwipe---Permanent Mindwipes do NOT cost the Psychaian any permanent loss of M.E. points(the theory being that the various psynetic mechanisms buffer the psychic entity). However, the process is still draining and stressful for the EShemar entity; HALF APMs and bonuses for 1d4 hours after a permanent memory deletion.

-IMMUNE to Exorcism and Banishment attempts

(NeShemar-Transferred Intelligence)
The Psychaian body allows the transferred ‘soul’ to retain its original psychic abilities without penalty.

Programming/Skills:
(NeShemar) Varies by the convert’s original skill-set(typically a Psychic class). Treat as a full conversion cyborg for purposes of further skill advancement/acquisition.

(EShemar)
Identical to the Seeress. The EShemar shares all the basic Shemarrian programming, basic combat and espionage/reconnaissance. They also have the following skills:
Lore: Psionics 55%+5% per level of experience
Psychology 50%+5% per level of experience
Indoctrination(Espionage)---A specialization of Interrogation, Indoctrination is the art of brainwashing the old-fashioned way, without magic or psionics(though those simply make it easier). Via the use of techniques such as sensory deprivation, rote repetition, positive and negative reinforcement, and parlor hypnosis, a skilled indoctrinator (or team of them) can mold and manipulate the behavior of a subject, sometimes radically. While torture and intimidation can induce reaction out of fear, and instill trauma and insanity, an indoctrinator seeks more subtle effects, such as a change in behavior, attitude, and loyalties.
Indoctrination is essentially a battle of wills between the indoctrinator and the subject. While it is unlikely to be effective against PCs(who probably saw The Manchurian Candidate), this skill can conceivably used against NPCs with more effectiveness(and GM judgment).
Prerequisites: Interrogation, Psychology
Base Skill: 20% + 5% per level of experience + any bonuses from the indoctrinator’s MA or PB. A successful Interrogation or Psychology roll against the subject being indoctrinated adds a +5% to the chance of success of subsequent brainwashing attempts.
Modifiers:
*Minor Changes---Minor changes, such as physical posture or a minor behavior such tapping a pen or holding a particular pose, can be easily induced(a classic example is of the psychology class that ‘trained’ their instructor to favor one side of the lectern by having all the class members visibly pay more attention whenever the instructor walked over to that side of the classroom). No penalties.
*Modest Changes----This can include changes in lifestyle, such as giving up(or taking up) smoking, preferences for certain things, and a more open or closed mind on certain topics. -5%
*Substantial Changes---This may include hesitation to use a weapon, an abreaction to certain things(like seeing spiders, bald men, or particular people), or obsessive behavior(food-hoarding, always leaving lights on, etc.). -10%
*Radical Changes----These involve major changes in a person’s psyche, such as alignment shifts and changes in loyalties. -20%
Note that various other factors can modify the chances of success; sleep deprivation, certain drugs, Horror Factor, psionic or magic persuasion used in conjunction, and other things can be used(GM’s discretion) to break a person’s resistance and leave them more susceptible to indoctrination.

Can acquire additional skills as normal for an Awakened Neural Intelligence; THREE secondary skills at levels 2, 4, 6, 9, 12, and 15.

Actions/Attacks Per Melee: (EShemar) 10
Note: Bonuses are in addition to those possible from the Shemar’s elective training
Initiative +2
Strike +5 (+4 w/ ranged weaponry, +6 w/ Shemarrian Rail Guns)
Dodge +7 in flight
Automatic Dodge(takes no actions) +3
Parry +6
Roll +4
Pull Punch +4
Disarm +3
Entangle +3
Knockout/Stun on a Natural 18-20

Actions/Attacks Per Melee: (Transferred Intelligence) HtH combat training +3(2 from tentacles)
Note: Bonuses are in addition to those possible from the Shemar’s elective training
Initiative +2
Strike +1 (+2 w/ ranged weaponry)
Dodge +3 in flight
Automatic Dodge(takes no actions)
Parry +4
Roll +4
Pull Punch +1
Disarm +3
Entangle +3

Controlled SDC Punch 2d6+30 SDC
Restrained Punch 1d6 MD
Full Strength Punch 3d6 MD
Power Punch(2 attacks) 1d6x10 MD
Claw Strike 4d6 MD
Power Claw Strike(2 attacks) 1d4x10+4 MD
Head Butt 1d6 MD
Leg Blade Vane Slice 4d4 MD +1 MD per every 20 MPH of flying speed
Wing Blade Vane Slice 2d6 MD +1 MD per every 20 MPH of flying speed
Tentacle Restrained Slap 1d6 SDC
Tentacle Punch/Lash 1d4 MD
Tentacle Crush/Squeeze 2d4 MD

The Ecotroz-Awakened gynoid does occasionally need sleep/rest...though they only need 2 hours of rest/meditation per 24 hours(Transferred Intelligences will need 4 hours)...they can push this, going without for as many days as they have I.Q. points, but will have to go dormant for 4d6 hours after such exertion.

Note also that the Ecotroz can infect other bots with the Ecotroz viral-entity, by bite or sustained touch(takes 3 attacks).

Options:
*Monomolecular Whips--- Conceals a strand of mono-wire in the tentacle. ’Slicer Wire’ whip that is extremely light and lethal. It can be switched between ‘safe’ mode in which the cutting line is sheathed in a protective casing of fibers, or in ‘open’ mode where the slicer wire can strike targets. The line is also extremely strong; a single whisker-fine fiber can pull up to 60 tons.
Damage: In ‘safe’ mode, it does 1d6 SDC, but in ‘open’ mode it does 1d4 MD(adds to punch/lash).

*Nematocyst Whip---The tentacle whip has an adhesion pad that allows it to stick to exposed flesh, which allows tiny injector ports in its tip to deliver skin-contact poisons or sedatives. A replaceable/refillable reservoir(can hold up to 10 doses) in the gynoid’s body pumps the chemicals out to the ejector ports.
Damage: 2d4 SDC, plus chemical effects.

*Backmount Weapon---Many Psychaians like to add a powered mount appendage on their back for a heavy weapon, such as a heavy TK machine gun or psi-missile launcher.

[taalismn]

EcoS-K-133 Bulwarg---Cavalry Warmount
(aka ‘Buldawg’, ‘Snapjaw’, ‘Megapug’, ‘Mutomutt’)

“Bulwarg gets its teeth clamped on you, it doesn’t let go until you’re either bloodily subdued, dead, or the part of you it grabbed parts ways with the rest of you. That’s how I escaped; my tail tore off and I managed to get away, barely, and even then I got lasers drilled into my back. Even with regeneration, I was near-dead sick for several months, and my tail, as you can see, didn’t exactly grow back right. Last time I’m ever going to even -think- raiding into Shemarrian territory is a good idea, so count me OUT of this little misadventure you’ve cooked up.”
----Tralaxx Windthief, Serpent of the Air

“Thing’s a $*%*@# thing of beauty! THAT’S what I call a dawg!”
----’Bloodteeth’, Pogtal Dragonslayer, upon seeing a Bulwarg.

The exact details of the tenuous deal between the Shemarrian Nation and the Republicans may never be known, but most observers get the impression it was not exactly warm and friendly. Accounts differ on many points and the general mood of the association. For instance, the Republicans claim to have ‘seized’ or ‘liberated’ Factory/Temple-7 under the impression it was the NEMA-HQ-ECC. The Shemarrians claim they allowed the Republicans to retain it, rather than give them the HQ as the NEMA-descendants have clamored for. While the Republicans have laid claim to all the former NEMA facilities, and by extension (as compensation) all new facilities created by the ‘malfunctioning’ ARCHIE-3, the Shemarrians, citing ‘possession is nine-tenths of the law’, and being firmly in possession, have (smugly and condescendingly, in Director James Eliot’s view) dribbled concessions to the Republicans; letting them keep Factory/Temple-7 and Factory/Temple-9 and a handful of smaller facilities, and gradually releasing the NEMA Thirty-Thousand, but in such a way as the Republicans couldn’t go to guns and use the released army of Pre-Rifts soldiers to carry out their plans to overthrow Chi-Town. That the new ‘Republic’ communities are being protected under under the watchful eye of the Shemarrian Nation is another subtle jab in Director Eliot’s opinion, belittling the ‘true’ American nation. Patronizing the Republicans further by pointing potential, especially non-human, allies and trade partners(and incidentally alerting those others to the existence of the Republicans) irks Eliot even more, as the many new eyes turned in his direction force him to revise his plans constantly.
Among the other silent concessions seemingly granted the Republicans was that the Shemarrians would not duplicate any of the former’s new weapons. However, that was being bent even the new Republic was being built. The Shemarrian Nation was manufacturing and distributing the ‘old’ NEMA weapons for its own use, new hardware such the CPA-003 Energy Rod off the USA-GA100 Chromium Troop Armor were showing up in the hands of Shemarrian Berserkers, and several NEMA robots and power armor were showing up as oreseme in the ranks of the Shemarrian Nation. And then there was the Bulwarg, a new warmount, which to the discerning eye, seems a thumbing of the Shemarrian nose at the Republicans.
The Bulwarg originates with the Wolf’s Path’s loss of Factory/Temple-9 in a concession to the Republicans. Though annoyed with the directive of the Hawkmoons who were leading the newly formed Shemarrian High Tribal Council, the Wolf’s Path were also told to ‘sanitize’ the facility before turning it over to the Republicans. The Wolf’s Path did so with relish, enthusiastically destroying(a ‘regrettable industrial accident possibly triggered by a booby trap left behind by the Dark One’) any trace of the facility’s link to the Shemarrians, as well as thoroughly looting the complex of any valuable design data, and leaving only a burnt-out shell for the new owners. The Republicans have yet to forgive the ‘barbarous d-bees’ for the ‘vandalism’.
Despite having eventually forgiven the Hawkmoons for sacrificing ‘their’ factory-holding, the Wolf’s Path wasn’t done with the Republicans yet. Several years later, the EShemar would develop a new Warmount based on the NEMA ‘Super-Mastiff’ robot, only one bent over for a quadruped locomotion configuration. The Bulwarg looks like a Super Mastiff-bot cyborged with a giant monstrous alien bulldog.
The bent over posture has necessitated the removal or re-siting of many weapons built into the original NEMA warmachine. Still, enough remains that the Warmount’s lineage resemblance to the original pre-rifts robot is evident. The Bulwarg retains and improves upon its ancestor’s ruggedness and its AI is stubborn and resilient, as befits its bulldog-like appearance. Few escape the grip of its massive jaws or the pounding force of its forepaws. A favorite tactic is to hold a target in the Bulwarg’s crushing jaws and repeatedly shake the victim, slamming them into the ground, or simultaneously tearing at them with the foreclaws.
The Bulwarg has been produced in small numbers by the Wolf’s Path. The relatively slow speed and ponderous performance of the Bulwarg make it a poor fit with the faster moving units of the Wolf’s Path, so it is typically deployed as part of garrison squads in the Tribe’s territory, where its sheer toughness can be used to best effect. The Wolf’s Path also makes a point of having several escort interTribal commerce caravans through the Tribal right-of-way that passes near Factory/Temple-9, within sight of the Republican garrison there.
Besides the Wolf’s Path, Clan Armorand has expressed an interest in the design. The Silvermoons and historically-minded Wayfinders have also acquired a few, as has Clan Immensis.
The Republicans have not officially said anything about the apparent ‘kludge-borg’ Super-Mastiffs passing so near them, but reportedly some of the soldiers are wondering where the Shemarrians found the old machines they apparently cannibalized for their cyborg warmounts.

Type: EcoS-K-133 Bulwarg
Class: Robotic Warmount, Cavalry
Crew: None; robot intelligence
1 rider/pilot, and room for 2 passengers atop the Bulwarg
MDC/Armor by Location:
Main Body 950
Head 400
Saddle Cockpit Parapet* 100
ForeLegs(2) 430 each
Shoulders(2) 250 each
Forepaws(2) 250 each
Rear Legs(2) 580 each
Tail 72
(Optional) Searchlights**(2) 50 each

**Note that the rider and passengers are -2 to strike because of the partial protection afforded by the massive shoulders and the armored sides of the ‘tub’.

**These provide partial cover for the riders up top; -3 to strike even on a called shot from the front and side angles.

Height: 25 ft
Width: 25 ft at shoulders
Length: 25 ft
Weight: 40 tons
Cargo: Small space inside/beside the saddle-cockpit for a few personal possessions and sidearms.
Physical Strength: Equivalent to Robotic P.S. of 61
Powerplant: Nuclear w/ 20 year energy life
Speed: (Running) 50 MPH
(Leaping)Not possible
(Flying) Not possible
(Space) Not possible
(Underwater) Limited to running along the bottom at 20 MPH. Maximum depth tolerance of 1.000 ft.
Market Cost: Exclusive to the Ecotroz-Shemar
Systems of Note:
Full optical systems, laser targeting, passive nightvision, telescopic vision, thermal imaging, infrared, ultraviolet, and polarization filters. Also has motion and heat detection, built-in radar( 60 mile range) and other standard power armor-equivalent systems. Additional/special sensors may be built in by the creating Tinkers or at the behest of individual riders/owners.

*Bionic Cybernanite Repair Systems---ALL Bulwarg have the same bionic nanotech repair system that the Ecotroz Shemar have refitted themselves with, and which is becoming the standard among NeShemar as well. These systems repair 4d6 MD per hour, and can repair 120 MDC before needing material stocks to convert to MD repair material.

*Molecular Analyzer---Allows the Bulwarg to track by scent (84%)

*Ultrasonic Hearing---Enhanced hearing able to hear frequencies that the human ear cannot.

Weapons Systems:
1) Eye Lasers(2)---The original belly laser has been removed, the more powerful warmount eye lasers providing a more than adequate substitute.
Range: 4,000 ft
Damage: 4d6 MD single shot, 1d4x10 MD for a pulse burst
8d6 MD dual shot, 2d4x10 MD for a dual pulse burst(counts as one attack)
Rate of Fire: ECHH
Payload: Effectively Unlimited

2) Missile Launchers(4)---The original ‘over and under’ configuration of the Super-Mastiff’s missile launchers has been changed by the lower posture and massive head of the Bulwarg. Now the two lower launchers extend out of housings in the shoulders. The Wolf’s Path has also given the launchers the capacity to accommodate mini-missiles. A favorite munition is ‘heavy hitter’ missiles, with reduced range, but heavier punch(essentially a propulsion stage with the next heavier category of warhead attached). Each launcher holds 12 mini-missiles or 6 short- or medium-range missiles.

3) Foreleg Mini-Missile Launchers(2)---The two large high-capacity launchers of the Super Mastiff’s elbows are retained on the Bulwarg. Each foreleg holds 16 mini-missiles.

4) Ion Mouth Blaster Cannon---A new addition, the Bulwarg’s mouth-mounted heavy ion cannon allows it to ‘breath’ a lighning-like blast of destructive energy.
Range: 3,000 ft
(Spray Bolt)1,500 ft and affects a 15 ft wide area
Damage: 1d6x10 MD
(Spray Bolt) 4d6 MD to a 15 ft wide area
On a Natural 20(Critical Strike) the ion weapon does TRIPLE damage instead of the normal double damage
Rate of Fire: ECHH
Payload: Effectively Unlimited

5) Shock-Bite---The Bulwarg’s large fangs can also conduct powerful electrical charges that electrocute targets caught in its massive jaws.
Range: Melee
Damage: +3d6 MD to bite damage.
On an unmodified roll of 18-20, it causes unshielded BIONICS and robots to spasm for 1d4 melees(Cyborg is at HALF bonuses to strike, parry, dodge, roll, and is -3 to initiative. Reduce speed by HALF).
Against organic targets, victims must roll versus non-lethal poison(16 or better) , or be electrocuted; stunned for 2d4 melees; -8 to strike, parry, and dodge.

6) Vibro-Claws---The Wolf’s Path has fitted large vibroclaws to the paws of the Bulwarg, giving them extra damage capability. Silver-plated ‘rippers’ are a favorite.
Range: Melee
Damage: +3d6 MD

7)(Optional) Modular Weapons(3)---The upper ‘parapet’ can be fitted with up to three modular weapons similar to those available to the Monstrex. These are typically operated by any riders.

Programming:
The Ecotroz have installed robotic AIs, then infected the matrix with a low-level Ecotroz sentience.
Typically has the basic Monstrex programming.
The Ecotroz entity can also pick up one Secondary skill at levels 2, 6, and 12 of experience, though the nature of the Bulwarg intelligence and design is such that it is limited to skill selections from Technical: Language(understanding) and Lore (Cattle & Animals, Indians, Juicers, Magic, Demons & Monsters, D-Bees, Faerie---at least with regards to identifying their relative threat level), and Wilderness( Hunting).

Actions/Attacks Per Melee: 6
Initiative +2 (+1 from the Ecotroz entity for a total of +3)
Dodge +2
Strike +2 (+2 w/ ranged weaponry)
Parry +2
Roll +3
Pull Punch/Claw/Bite +4
Critical Strike on an Unmodified 19-20
Bite 2d4x10 MD
Restrained Forepaw Slap 2d6 MD
Full Strength Kick/Paw/Punch 1d4x10 MD
Power Paw Strike(2 attacks) 2d6x10+18 MD
Tear/Pry 6d6 MD
Kick 5d6 MD
Power Kick(2 attacks) 2d4x10 MD
Body Block/Ram 7d6 MD
Full Speed Running Ram(2 attacks) 4d4x10 MD
Stomp(only effective against targets 11 ft or shorter) 5d6 MD
Tail Lash 1d4 MD
Thrash Attack(Special)(3 attacks) This consists of a clamping bite and rapid shaking of prey repeatedly back and forth and into the ground. 2d6x10 MD and targets lose initiative and 2 APMs from the thrashing and disorientation.

Note: The Ecotroz intelligence fragment inhabiting the ‘bot gives the Bulwarg an aura and behavior more befitting a sentient being than a robot. Bulwargs behave like large loyal guard dogs; absolutely fearless and tenacious when on the attack. Once latched onto an opponent, they are very hard to persuade to let go.

The Ecotroz fragment does occasionally need sleep/rest...though they only need 2 hours of rest/meditation per 24 hours...they can push this, going without for as many days as they have I.Q. points(most Warmounts, unless otherwise noted, have an effective IQ rating of 8 ), but will have to go dormant for 4d6 hours after such exertion.
Note also that the Ecotroz-possessed ‘bot can infect other bots with the Ecotroz viral-entity, by bite or sustained touch(takes 3 attacks).

Options:
*Silver Teeth---For fighting supernatural opponents, the Bulwarg’s teeth can be lined with silver.

*Search/Glare Lights(2)---The original NEMA searchlights can be replaced with blinding strobelights.
Range: 180 ft, 20 ft area
Damage: Victims without eye protection must save versus non-lethal poison or will be -10 to strike, parry, and dodge for 1d4 melees, plus a 50% chance of falling down for every 10 ft of distance they try to move.
Rate of Fire: Once per melee
Payload: Effectively Unlimited

Variants:
*EcoS-K-133Sm---- Silvermoon variant. The EcoS-K-133Sm is distinguished by its overall coat of laser-reflective chrome(lasers do HALF damage). It is a favorite mount of the Silvermoons’ Adalwulf oreseme.

*EcoS-K-133Wf----Wayfinder variant. The EcoS-K-133Wf is optimized as an anti-supernatural unit. Ironically, during the Minion War, the EcoS-K-133Wf would see combat with a great number of the same kinds of supernatural monsters that its ancestor, the ‘Big Dog’ Super-Mastiff, also faced.
Changes/Modifications:
-PPE Senses---Similar to the Japanese SNARLsystem.
Weapons Systems:
1)Anti-Theron Generator System----The Bulwarg EcoS-K-133Wf holds a reservoir of genetically-modified bacteria in special life support tanks inside itself. The psychically-active organisms can be stimulated to produce energy that disrupts active PPE. This energy can be piped about via special silver stabilized ectoplasmic channels, resulting in an aura of magic disruption about the warmount. This is particularly telling when the warmount engages in hand to hand combat with supernatural creatures, as each strike, and even close proximity, will cause an opponent’s PPE to destabilize.
Because the anti-therons are not projected very far, as with anti-theron projection weapons, the organisms can last somewhat longer in their life support medium. However, the culture-tank still needs to be changed out every six months and replaced with a fresh culture. Extensive use of the anti-theron blast, however, will reduce that life span to three months.
Range: (Blast) 2,000 ft, and affects a 20 ft wide area. In focused mode, it has a 3,000 ft range, and a 5 ft spread.
(Melee)Anti-theron field radiates about 12 inches out from the Bulwarg’s mouth and claws
Effects of Anti-Theron Weaponry:
Damage: (Blast) Does 5d6 HP/MDC damage(modified effects based on what the creature is). In focused mode it does 6d6 HP/MDC.
(Melee) Varies according to the attack type, but ALL anti-Theron weapons use the following guidelines
Depending on how much PPE is present and how essential it is to an organism’s survival, damage varies:
Techno-Wizardry Devices(including TW generators), enchanted objects, rune weapons, and other magically-infused(but INANIMATE) objects are NOT affected and take no damage.
Non-magical beings. psychics, and ‘mundanes’ are unaffected and experience nothing aside from a slight tingling sensation, mild sunburn-like symptoms, and a passing feeling of nausea from a Disruptor strike. They still take damage from the cyborg’s punches and kicks, but take no extra damage from the strike.
Magic Users and other beings who have ‘learned’ or artificially acquired magical abilities(including tattoos and implants), but who can otherwise survive without magic present are affected, but the effects aren’t as dramatic. They do NOT get a save versus the disruption because all of their effort has gone into OPENING themselves to the supernatural and embracing their magical potential. The cyborg’s melee attacks in this case do 25% MORE damage.
Supernatural Creatures who possess some small measure of magical ability will suffer a greater degree of damage/injury. ...normal damage x 1.5(or 50% more damage). Gargoyles, Brodkil, Lycanthropes, Shapeshifters(including Nightspawn), Possessees, Shifters, and Witches, are all examples of beings in this category. Note that if these beings were to possess bionics or other conditions that NEGATE their magical abilities(like Brodkil bionics) they lose this vulnerability, and are NOT affected, taking damage only as normal. These beings do NOT get a saving roll versus the PPE disruption.
‘High’ Supernatural Beings with a high level of, and reliance on, PPE will suffer greatly, taking DOUBLE damage. This includes Dragons, Angels, Demons, Splugorth, Faerie Folk, Demi-Gods. However, these beings DO get a roll to SAVE versus their own PPE backfiring on them. A successful roll to save HALVES the damage done to them.
Creatures of Pure Magic that cannot survive without magic are the most seriously affected, and take TRIPLE damage. This covers ghosts, possessing entities, Undead, Elemental Beings, Alien Intelligences, and god-beings. However, these beings DO get a roll to SAVE versus their own PPE backfiring on them. A successful roll to save HALVES the damage done to them.
Golems, Iron Juggernauts, and other magically-powered automatons/automatons will be effectively STUNNED, being paralyzed for 1d4 melees per shot, and will be unable to move or defend themselves, as magical energy shorts out and storms over them.

Other Effects:
*Magic Disruption----Each strike NEUTRALIZES HALF the number of PPE points that it does damage...these points are temporarily lost to the magic user/creature until it can regain them normally(by rest or drawing on other sources).
*Magical Forcefields take 1.5 normal damage.
*Invisible beings will be revealed by an anti-theron burst and will remain visible for 2d4 melees(gradually fading) as a result of residual anti-therons causing them to fluoresce and become visible to the naked eye.

-Integral EctoWeb Armor Protection----Incorporated into the Bulwarg structure is a weave of stabilized ectoplasmic fibers that serves as a sort of ‘magic Faraday Cage’, helping deflect and ground-out magic attacks made at the cyborg. Magical energy attacks to the Bulwarg are reduced in damage by 1/3. Psionic attacks are unaffected.

[taalismn]

Rika (Wayfinder NeShemar NPC)
(aka ‘RubyStar’)

“She’s a beautiful jewel set in the orbit of that hovering black cloud of a mind-witch. But she’s no hapless slave or tethered pet. The crimson of those gemstones clasped on her? It really shines from deep inside her flesh, her soul. In her eyes burns a terrible fire that between servant and mistress, they keep banked and leashed. She dances carefree and laughing most of the time, but when the fire comes out, she’s the death of foolish brutal men and monsters.”

“How much time does Rika actually spend on her FEET? All I’ve ever seen her do is walk, float, or lounge on air. I’m amazed her legs haven’t atrophied from lack of use.”
“Oh, she exercises those legs of hers regularly enough. How else is she going to be able to kick mooks’ teeth in?”

“Blithe carefree spirit, playful attitude, in the company of those monster women...she’s either lobotomized or she ain’t human. I think the latter; ain’t no way no ordinary human can do the things I’ve seen her do since they dumped us in here. She’s some kinda fire-being conjured up by the She-mar, no doubt.”
----Anonymous Coalition States POW in Wayfinder Custody

The screams of violated air and shredded bodies were still hanging in the air when Mindsblade reached her protégé, placing a large hand on the smaller woman’s shoulder, immediately offering both physical and psychic reassurance. The blazing glare in the younger woman’s eyes subsided and, though she remained floating in midair, she seemed to slump inwards with a great fatigue. Mindsblade gathered the young pskyer in her arm as she began feeding energy into her. As she was doing so, she surveyed the battlefield where the barely identifiable remains of what had been a half-dozen Brodkil raiders were well on their way to becoming mulch seeping into the ground, testament to one young woman’s psychic fury...

Rika (Morean) was originally part of a band of d-bee human soldiers who arrived through a Rift and found themselves stranded in a strange and terrible alien world. Rather than seek to make common cause with the locals, however, the soldiers, who hailed from a less-than-wholesome polity, attempted to use their advanced technology and combat robots to ruthlessly carve out their own kingdom. Unfortunately for them, after slaughtering several hamlets, the next community they sought to take over as their headquarters turned to out to be under the protection of the Shemarrian Nation. The Shemarrians were less impressed with the advanced technology of the invaders and cut them to pieces, leaving few survivors.
Rika was spared because she was observed to have held back during the actions of the other soldiers, and seemed reluctant to take part in the atrocities carried out by the others. The Shemarrian war party that captured her included a Psychaian, Tycha Mindsblade, who claimed the girl as her share of the spoils, sensing great psionic potential in the prisoner. Rika soon wound up in a psycho-psi-surgical laboratory to be Remade as Mindsblade’s uzari-servitor. Though initially terrified of the aliens who had wiped out her companions, Rika, tired of being fearful, doing terrible things working under the tyrannical rule of her homeland’s repressive government, and the culture of ‘might makes right’ that it fostered, actually resignedly welcomed the implied oblivion of a mindwipe when it was explained what was going to happen to her. In the sessions of psycho-surgery and biotech alteration that followed, Mindsblade had Rika’s latent psionic potentials brought to the fore. Mindsblade also erased or reformatted much of Rika’s memory to allow her to forget the worse aspects of her past as a mercenary, though she found a use for Rika’s repressed outrage, fear, and hatred, shaping it as the kernel and ignition source of Rika’s Psychic Fury ability. Finally, MIndsblade had Rika’s body enhanced with strengthening fibers, neural amplification implants, bioregenerative nano-colonies, and booster organs, making her over into the equivalent of a megadamage bio-borg.
Rika’s training as a combat robot pilot was easily reshaped into an affinity for working with warmounts. As such, she is often charged with riding Mindsblade’s EcoS-K-78 Trydra ‘mobile home’. Her familiarity with combat robots and power armors has also come in handy when traveling around the Earth and offworld, and the Shemarrians have had to salvage or commandeer various tech-constructs. However, the ReMade Rika gets along better with warmounts, especially those in the entourage accompanying Mindsblade.
Overall, Rika’s Remaking proved even more successful than expected, the young ex-mercenary becoming Mindsblade’s superpowered assistant. Rika’s accompanied the Wayfinder Psychaian on a number of state missions for the Wayfinder Council, including one out-dimension jaunt to an alternate Earth. That trip saw Rika’s meta-talents come in very handy when the young uzari had to take up an improvised identity as a superheroine(dubbed ‘RubyStar’ by the local press) to help the Shemarrian expedition get back out(Mindsblade, though, was miffed that the local press also identified her as ‘a hideous demonic alien’).

Level of Experience: 4th Level
Rank: Uzari -servitor
Race: Human, Remade
Alignment: Principled(was Anarchist)
Land of Origin: D-Bee
Age: Appears to be in her late teens/early 20’s, but is 26(her biological aging slowed if not outright stopped by her ReMaking)
Sex: Female
Height: 5’ 8”
Weight: 102 lbs
Physical Description/Appearance:
Slender-build young human female with light skin and long banged ruby-red hair. She is almost always seen wearing numerous pieces of personal jewelry(hair band, anklets, wrist bracers, collar/necklace) seemingly made of carved ruby(they’re really psi-amplifiers). Often dresses in an Altaran-style leotard and leggings, and mirrorshades(leading to some speculation by outsiders that she is a Blind Warrior Woman in thrall to a Shemarrian or Witchling). Accessorized with a bright red pullover and gold accents, the outfit is also known out-dimension as the signature look of the mysterious superheroine ‘RubyStar’. She’s also been mistaken as a ‘genie’ or female nature spirit(because of both her dress and her habit of floating around).
Disposition:
Comes across as an uninhibited dizzy ditz or pampered humanoid pet to her Psychaian ‘Mistress’, a cavorting happy jester, and a physical prankster(she likes to exploit how other people see her as slight and delicate-seeming, before displaying her real strength and agility) but is really very observant, attentive, and surprisingly strong-willed. As Mindsblade’s protégée, Rika is ever watchful and fast to respond to danger, though not rashly. If pressed, however, she seems able to tap into a normally sealed reservoir of anger, fear, and resentment from her time as a soldier, and she’ll vent that rage through violent application of her psychic powers. Those who have seen her in this state swear her pyrokinesis seems to burn hotter for it, and her psychic rage especially devastating.
Compared to her previous life as a mercenary mecha pilot working for a tyrannical imperial power, Rika is actually quite happy living as a Shemarrian ‘pet’. She still has memories of her actions as a robot pilot, but they are vague and nightmarish, and Rika doesn’t like to revisit them. Instead, she’s just happy to kick back and enjoy her new life assisting Mindsblade. When not gofering for Mindsblade, Rika’s kicking back(often literally, laying back and juggling, often with her feet), floating around(again, often literally, courtesy of psionics or technowizardry), acting silly, and hanging around with Mindsblade’s other assistants and servitors(such as the sapphire-clad Tana, who she sees as a sister/prank-target). Her new life has afforded her time to think of another thing she previously thought impossible(or less than optimal) as a mercenary; she dreams of one day meeting a good person and starting a family, either through the old-fashioned biological way or via Progen. Of course, such will have to meet with the approval of her mentor, Mindsblade, so Rika means to make sure she chooses the right time to broach the subject, and the right mate to present.
Rika also likes the fact that her position allows her to test a lot of new psi-gear that Mindsblade’s team cooks up. She’s almost never seen without some piece of TK or psi-gear on her person.

Physical Attributes/Superlatives:
IQ: 11
ME: 18
MA: 11
PS: 23(considered to be Extraordinary)
PP: 27
PE: 39
PB: 21
SPD: 36
(Flying) 280 MPH

(ISP):146
(PPE): 14

Hit Points: 79
SDC: 239
MDC: 383
Horror Factor:---
Special Abilities/Characteristics/Powers:
-Flight: Wingless(Minor)---Originally, Mindsblade’s psigen-techs were trying to enable expression of what they thought was a latent psionic levitation ability, but they were surprised when Rika manifested full-blown, and apparently effortless, self-levitation and flight. This has pleased both Mindsblade and Rika, as the latter can now keep up with her airborne mentor.

-Extraordinary Physical Prowess(Minor)---Nanotech and biotech combine to improve the efficiency and response time of the recipient’s nervous system, making them faster and more agile.

--Extraordinary Physical Endurance(Minor)---The EShemar process makes the recipient a minor megadamage being, via an intermesh through the person’s body, supporting them, reinforcing joints and muscles, and creating a damage-resistant energy armor.
*Fatigues at 1/10th normal rate
*+1d6+5 P.E.
*Effectively becomes a megadamage being with 4d4x10 MD +2d4 per level of experience.(+SDC and HP)

-Physical Transformation---The recipient is physically optimized. +1d4 P.E., +1d6 P.B., +1d6 SPD, +2d6 Hit Points, +4d6 SDC, and +1d6 to P.S., plus it is considered to be Extraordinary.

-Immune to Normal Extremes of Heat and Cold---Part of Rika’s expressed psionic abilities appears to have manifested, in conjunction with her subcutaneous mesh armor, as an ability to more efficiently handle extremes of hot and cold. SDC-levels of heat and chill do not seem to affect Rika at all, and megadamage fire and cryogenic temperatures do HALF damage.

-Mental Conditioning---Because of the potential threats faced by NeShemar, the bio-mods get special conditioning against mind control and supernatural torture. +5 save versus mind control, +4 save versus illusions and horror factor, +2 save versus psionic attack, and is impervious to possession(including a vampire’s enslaving bite).

-Enhanced Immune System--- Heals twice as fast, +8 save vs disease, +5 save vs poisons/toxins, +3 save vs Bio-manipulation type attacks, and even on a failed save, these attacks have HALF effect.

-Healing Factor----+2d4 P.E., +2d6+6 Hit Points, +25 SDC, +20% save versus Coma/Death, +3 save versus magic, poison, and toxins, +3 save versus psionic attacks. Recovers 3 SDC/MDC every 10 minutes, 1 Hit Point every 15 minutes, twice per 24 hours can instantly speed-heal 4d6 HP/MDC, does NOT fatigue, fire and cold do HALF damage, toxins and poisons do 1/3 normal damage on a failed save, and the bio-mod doesn’t scar when healed. Even broken bones heal 10 times faster than normal.

-Enhanced Reflexes----+6 PP and is ambidextrous. +2 on initiative, automatic dodge, paired weapons, and add +5% to skills requiring manual dexterity and or agility such as acrobatics, climb, swim, pick locks, etc.


Magic: By item only.

Psionics:
-Telepathy(60-140 ft, 8 minutes, 4 ISP)
- Empathy(100 ft area, 6 minutes, 4 ISP)
-Sixth Sense(2 ISP)
-See the Invisible (120 ft, 1 minute, 4 ISP)

-Mind Block (40 minutes, 4 ISP)
- Night Vision(600 ft, 30 minutes, 4 ISP)
-Telekinesis(60 ft, 4 minutes, 3+ ISP)
-Personal Environment Bubble(16 minutes, 12 SDC, 20 ISP)

-Detect Psionics(120 ft, 4 minutes, 6 ISP)
-Exorcism(8 ft, 49%/43%, 10 ISP)
-Psychic Purification(8 ISP)
-Healing Touch ( 2d4 HP/ 2d6 SDC, 6 ISP)

- Telekinetic Forcefield(40 minutes, 100 MDC, 30 ISP)
- Psychic Fury(3 minutes, 150 MDC, 2d6 MD electrokinetic bolts, 2d4x10 MD per melee, 50 ISP)(*Damien Magecraft)
- Pyrokinesis(Fire Resistance: 20 minutes, 2 ISP, Spontaneous Combustion: 2 ISP, Fuel Flame, 4 ISP, Extinguish Flames: 50 ft range, 4 ISP, Create Flame: 38 ft range, 20 ISP, Fire Ball: 38 ft range, 25 ISP, Sense Flame.)
-Telemechanics( 10 minutes, 10 ISP)

Cybernetics/Bionics:
*Sub-Vocal Ear/Throat Implant(modified radio and TW telepathic communications booster)

Skills:(4th level Robot Pilot/Bio-Borg)
Math: Basic 65%
Language/Literacy:
Japanese 98%/98%
Shemarrian 80%60%
American-English 70%50%
Radio: Basic 75%
Read Sensory Equipment 70%
Weapon Systems 70%
Navigation 75%
Navigation: Space 70%
Pilot: Jet Packs 73%
Pilot: Robots & P.A. 88%
Robot Combat: Basic
Robot Combat: Elite---Rika was formerly familiar with -three- different combat robot types from her home dimension, but those machines that came with her original party have either been destroyed or dismantled for study, with little likelihood of any more being acquired. Currently, Mindsblade has left the potential open for Rika to replace her knowledge of those machines with three more-readily available types, such as Northern Gun, Naruni, Kittani, or Triax(Rika’s been watching with interest evaluation trials of a Triax Dragonwing smuggled out of Europe).
Horesemanship(Exotic-EShemarrian Warmounts) 60%/50%
Horsemanship(Equivalent-Knight/Cossack)(For mounted combat purposes)
Gymnastics
Work Parallel Bars&Rings 87 %
Back Flip 98%
Acrobatics
Sense of Balance 95%
Walk Tightrope 87%
Prowl 50%
Climbing 62%
Movement: Zero Gravity 98%
Computer Operation 60%
Wilderness Survival 50%
Cooking 55%
Swimming 70%
Running
Dance 65%
Juggling 65%
Lore: Demons & Monsters 25%
Hand to Hand: Aikido
W.P. Sword(+1 strike, +1 parry)
W.P. Paired Weapons
W.P. Handguns(+2 strike)
W.P. Energy Pistol(+2 strike)
W.P. Energy Rifle(+1 strike)
W.P. Heavy Energy(+2 strike)

Actions/Attacks per Melee: 7
Initiative:+4
Strike:+8
Parry:+10
Dodge: +8, +10 when hovering/flying, +12 when flying at over 90 MPH
Automatic Dodge +3
Roll:+9
Pull Punch:+2
Break Fall +3
Body Flip/Throw +3
Disarm +1
Damage:
+4 for every 20 MPH of flying speed
Saves:
+59% Vs Coma/Death
+11 Vs Magic
+7 Vs Psionics
+4 Vs Horror Factor
+16 Vs Poison(+16)
+8 Vs Disease(Impervious to Disease)
+5 save versus mind control
+4 save versus illusions and horror factor
Impervious to possession(including a vampire’s enslaving bite)
+3 Vs Bio-manipulation, and even on a failed save, these attacks have HALF effect
Charm/Impress 55%

Notable Possessions/Equipment:
A small wardrobe of various clothing, armored flightsuit(45 MDC), armored leotard(30 MDC)
Breather Mask and Sunglasses
Psi-Amplifiers---These are psylite-lined crystal jewelry that combines aspects of and works identically to the Mindwerks Telekinetic Extension (see Rifts Mindwerks. pg. 26). These are unique TW creations, prototyped by Mindsblade’s team.
*Ruby Collar/Necklace---Acts as a Psi-Helm(HALF ISP cost to use psi-powers) and Telepathic Communicator(10 miles one-way, 20 mile effective range between two psis).
*Ruby Bracelets(‘Wick Gun’)---Acts as both an Augmentation for TK abilities(HALF cost) and a pyrokinetic focus---Can fire SDC fire bolts that do 4d6 SDC for 2 ISP, 2d6 MD bolts for 8 ISP, 600 ft range, or a stream of fire 100 ft long doing 6d6 SDC for 2 ISP, or 4d6 MD for 10 ISP. When firing energy bolts, the crystalline ‘smart’ material of the bracelets opens up and surrounds Rika’s hand like a fluted glass lamb, with her hand being the ‘wick’.
*Ruby Anklets---Normally, these are just pretty decoration, but MIndsblade’s TWizards(and Rika) thought it would be fun to incorporate a Pyrokinetic Leap(Psionics Unlimited Netbook, Shades of Eternity) that would allow Rika to boost her flight and kick capabilities. For 3 ISP, Rika can either instantly jumpjet 300 ft away with a fiery blast that does 2d4 MD to a 5 ft radius, or, using two APMs, deliver a flaming kick that does 2d4 MD(the extra action is to use her flight abilities to keep from rocketing away in recoil). For 3 ISP per minute, she can boost her flying speed by an additional 60 MPH.
x2 EShe-IP27 Ion Pistols
x2 Shard-Sword Blades---These are ‘smart matter’ crystal weapons that normally appear as small glass cylinders, but ‘morph into short blades with molecularly sharp edges(2d4 MD each).

Rika has access to Shemarrian small arms, survival kits, and special equipment as needed. Other than that and a few personal souvenirs and knickknacks, she doesn’t have(or need) much, as her needs are taken care of by the Wayfinders.

Vehicle:
None; she has a personal cabin aboard Mindsblade’s EcoS-K-78 Trydra ‘mobile home’.

[taalismn]

Spazzdrakon E-Animal
(aka ’Frenzyfryer’)

“’Frenzyfryer’---it’s not bad Engrish, it’s ridiculous amounts of beam-spam.”

The Spazzdrakon is a new Horrorwoods e-animal that resembles a giant dragonfly with a particularly disproportionate head with bulging eyes.
The Spazzdrakon is meant as a flying air-defense weapon, its eyes crammed with multiple laser optics. Its multiple panoramically-mounted optical sensors mean that it is virtually impossible to sneak up on the Spazzdrakon. Advanced sensors and fire control mean the Spazzdrakon is blindingly fast, agile, and responsive. However, that frenetic activity means it has a short energy life, and its power cell, housed in its long tail, requires more frequent replacement, compared to other e-animal types. It is also engineered to be mission-specific; aside from its lasers, the type has no secondary weaponry aside from a weak bite and possible kamikaze attack.
Squadrons of Spazzdrakons increasingly accompany Horrorwoods armies into the field, providing overhead air support against artillery and enemy air attack. The Obsidian Edge deploys Spazzdrakons extensively in its vermin extermination campaigns, especially when dealing with airborne swarms.
The Spazzdrakon is used extensively by the Horrorwood(who developed it), the Silvermoons, Wayfinders, Obsidian Edge, Clan Armorand and Clan Vespa.

Type: EcoS-KRP36 Spazzdrakon
Class: Robotic Warbeast , Aerial
Crew: None; robot intelligence
MDC/Armor by Location:
Main Body 260
Head 90
Wings(4) 30 each
Legs(6) 5 each
Height: 4 ft
Width: 4 ft at head, 2 ft body, 15 ft wingspan
Length: 10 ft
Weight: 600 lbs
Cargo: None
Physical Strength: Equivalent to Robotic P.S. of 20
Powerplant: Nuclear w/ 5 year energy life
Speed: (Running) 5 MPH
(Flying) Hover to 360 MPH, 12,000 ft maximum altitude
(Space) Not possible
(Underwater) Not possible
Market Cost: Exclusive to the Ecotroz-Shemar
Systems of Note:
Full optical systems, laser targeting, passive nightvision, telescopic vision, thermal imaging, infrared, ultraviolet, and polarization filters. Also has motion and heat detection, built-in radar( 60 mile range) and other standard power armor-equivalent systems. Additional/special sensors may be built in by the creating Spinsters or at the behest of individual riders/owners.

*Bionic Cybernanite Repair Systems---ALL Spazzdrakon have the same bionic nanotech repair system that the Ecotroz Shemar have refitted themselves with, and which is becoming the standard among NeShemar as well. These systems repair 4d6 MD per hour, and can repair 40 MDC before needing material stocks to convert to MD repair material.


Weapons Systems:
1) Eye Lasers(16; 8 per eye globe) ---The Spazzdrakon mounts the more powerful variety of eye lasers, in arrays that cover almost all fire-arcs.
Range: 4,000 ft
Damage: 4d6 MD single shot, 1d4x10 MD for a pulse burst
8d6 MD dual shot, 2d4x10 MD for a dual pulse burst(counts as one attack)
Up to 4 lasers per eye can be brought to bear on the same target, or 8 between both eyes.
Rate of Fire: ECHH
Payload: Effectively Unlimited

Programming:
The Ecotroz have installed robotic AIs, then infected the matrix with a low-level Ecotroz sentience. The Spazzdrakon is RARELY ever Awakened, though; it’s seen as an expendable drone.
Typically has the following:
Radio: Basic 96%
Radio: Scrambler 96%
Navigation(Air) 90%
Read Sensory Instruments 94%
Math: Basic 96%
Pilot: Fighter/Combat Helicopter(for maneuvering purposes) 96%

If Awakened, the Ecotroz entity can also pick up one Secondary skill at levels 2, 6, and 12 of experience, though the nature of the Spazzdrakon intelligence and design is such that it is limited to skill selections from Technical: Language(understanding) and Lore, Espionage(Detect Ambush, Detect Concealment), Wilderness(Track Humanoids, Track Animals, Hunting, Identify Plants and Fruits)
Actions/Attacks Per Melee: 9
Initiative +2 (+1 from the Ecotroz entity for a total of +3)
Dodge +7 in flight
Automatic Dodge +3
Strike +2 (+4 w/ ranged weaponry)
Roll +4
Bite 1d4 MD
High Speed Body Block/Ram(in excess of 200 MPH) 4d6 MD, but will take HALF that damage to itself(not designed for ramming)

Options:
*Flare/Chaff Launcher---A multi-cartridge launcher for flare/chaff decoys can be mounted straddling the tail.
Range: Close Defense
Damage: None; similar to Triax-style chaff
01-50 Enemy Missile or volley detonates in chaff and threat is neutralized
51-75 Missile/Volley diverts and may pursue/lock on to other targets
76-00 No Effect! Missile(s) still on target!
Will also temporarily blind and impede flying monsters who fly into it.
Reduce APMs/combat bonuses/ speed by half for 1d4 melees
Payload: 12 per launcher

Variants:
*EcoS-KRP36Wf---The Wayfinder variant differs mainly in internal software, the laser targeting system has a high-speed scan mode that allows the Spazzdrakon to generate detailed 3D maps of the surrounding environment, making this variant a good platform for surveying. Wayfinders can also record full 360-degree video imaging from the drones.

[taalismn]

Gothec ‘Vandal’ Battle-Runner
(aka ‘Gothgaunt’)

<“Okay, that larger war party of Brodkil changes everything and not in a good way! Looks like we can’t avoid them without a fight! Brom and Kessy; get out around their left flank as quiety as you can, then hit them with everything you got! I want as much heavy firepower coming on them from a direction we -ain’t- as possible! Give us as much time as possible to get some distance between us and them as you can, then follow us to the river! But if you have to, abandon the battle-runners on automatic and in last stand mode and hoof it back to us! We’ll pick you upwith the rearguard!”>


<“-and this is effectively my office on legs. What do you think of it?”
“I think it’s rather cozy in here.”
<“Thanks, but I’d rather have a bit more armor around me; if the Clan ever gets hold of more advanced materials than this recycled garg-plate, I’m springing for a refit...ESPECIALLY if you’re sticking with me.”
“Oh, you’re so nice, thinking of me. But aren’t you forgetting I’ve probably got more subcutaneous protection than you have body armor?”
---Overheard exchange between Gothec oresemes RkJaeger01(pilot AI) and R-ELLIZAZE03(data analysis AI)

The Vandal is a robot vehicle developed by the Gothecs as ‘kludgetech’, pieced together from parts of other machines.
The Vandal is based on the torso of a Gargoyle G-20 Avenger power armor/robot vehicle, with an internal compartment cage scavenged from a Triax industrial X-2010 ‘bot. The legs are from a Triax X-1471 Wolfhound, giving the Vandal a high turn of speed. Two clusters of booster jets sprout from the flanks, giving the ‘bot the ability to leap obstacles and quickly reposition itself on the battlefield. Two heavy energy weapons are mounted above the shoulders, a pair of rapid-fire rail guns replace the Avenger’s original ion blasters, and a small laser turret protects the rear arc.
The Vandal also has a robotic drone AI that allows it to operate semiautonomously as a scout drone, perimeter patroller, and mobile defense(especially air defense) turret. Because of its ‘expendable’ status and combat configuration, the Vandal AI is almost never Awakened with an Ecotroz essence, at least not yet(one Gothec has been noted as saying that there just aren’t enough of them and not commonly accepted enough to make the jump to granting them full tribal citizenship as Awakened).
The lack of arms is the most telling shortcoming of the Vandal, preventing it from being an effective utility machine(and its specialized combat purpose painting it as a dedicated warmachine in the eyes of knowledgeable observers). Its size also makes it hard to conceal, so it cannot accompany the Gothecs’ caravans anywhere near NGR communities(the NGR military would be deeply suspicious of any dedicated combat robot snooping around their borders). The Vandal also suffers from having relatively light armor, and must depend on its speed to survive protracted engagements.
Clan Gothec uses the Vandal as heavy ‘muscle’ to protect its encampments outside the NGR territories. It also provides security for long-range caravans and expeditions, especially into eastern Europe and Asia Minor. Though the design currently only serves with Clan Gothec(and a handful of mercenary and community defense militia groups in Europe), full design specifications have been traded with the North American EShemar community for any Tribe interested enough to produce their own.

Type: EcoS-Cg-BR01 ‘Vandal’
Class: Robot Combat Vehicle
Crew: None; robot intelligence
1 rider/pilot, and room for 1-2 passengers
MDC/Armor by Location:
Main Body 350
Reinforced Crew Compartment 125
Heavy Cannon(2)
-Laser Cannon---200 each
-Particle Beam Cannon---170 each
-Ion Cannon---290 each
-Flak Cannon---210 each
Rail Gun Turrets(2) 50 each
Rear Laser Turret 70
Sensor Cluster 75
Spotlight 10
Shoulder Thrusters(2) 100 each
Small Thrusters(6) 25 each
Legs(2) 160 each
Height: 21 ft
Width: 10 ft
Length: 10 ft
Weight: 7 tons
Cargo: Small space inside cockpit for a few personal possessions and sidearms.
Physical Strength: Equivalent to Robotic P.S. of 40
Powerplant: Nuclear w/ 15 year energy life
Speed: (Running) 60 MPH
(Leaping) Standing jump of 25 ft high/across.
Jet-assisted leaps can be made, catapulting the Vandal up to 250 ft up and 360 ft across.
(Flying) Not possible; the best it can do is hover on its thrusters for 1d4x10 seconds.
(Space) Not possible
(Underwater) Can run along the bottom at 20 MPH, or swim using thrusters at 25 MPH. Depth tolerance 500 ft(can be specially reinforced to handle depths down to 1,200 ft; see Variants).
Market Cost: Exclusive to the Ecotroz-Shemar(see Variants)
Systems of Note:
Full optical systems, laser targeting, passive nightvision, telescopic vision, thermal imaging, infrared, ultraviolet, and polarization filters. Also has motion and heat detection, built-in radar( 60 mile range) and other standard robot vehicle -equivalent systems. Additional/special sensors may be built in by the creating Spinsters/Tinkers or at the behest of individual riders/owners.

*360-degree Waist Rotation

*Ejection Seats/Pod---In an emergency, the crew/passengers can bail out with the assistance of rocket-assisted ejection systems. Some examples allow the entire reinforced crew compartment to jet-eject.

Weapons Systems:
1) Main Cannon(2)----The Vandal mounts two powerful energy weapons on the ‘shoulders’ of the repurposed G-20 torso. The original concept called for two Particle Beam Cannons, but the available weapons haven’t always been long-ranged or powerful enough, so the Gothecs have substituted other systems instead.
a) Laser Cannon---Same as that in the forearm weapon cluster of the X-2010 Longstrike.
Range: 6,000 ft
Damage: 1d4x10 MD per blast
Rate of Fire: EGCHH
Payload: Effectively Unlimited

b) Ion Cannon----Scavenged TX-8841 Ion Cannon
Range: 4,000 ft
Damage: 1d6x10 MD per blast
Rate of Fire: EGCHH
Payload: Effectively Unlimited

c) Particle Beam Cannon---TX-843P PBC.
Range: 3,000 ft
Damage: 2d4x10 MD per blast
Rate of Fire: EGCHH
Payload: Effectively Unlimited

d) 30mm Autocannon---TX-862FC Flak Cannon---This weapon has excellent range and damage, and the Gothecs can actually produce ammunition for it, but the ammunition dependency and added weight of the magazine drums encumber the Vandal somewhat.
Range: 10,000 ft
Damage: 4d6 MD single rd, 1d6x10 MD two rd burst, 3d6x10 MD six-round burst per single gun.
Rate of Fire: EPCHH
Payload: 800 rds, 400 rds per cannon
Bonuses: Independent laser and radar tracking system(range: 11,000 ft). +1 strike set on automatic against aerial attack, +2 strike fired by gunner
Penalty: The added weight of the ammunition drums reduces the maximum running speed of the Vandal to 55 MPH.

e) WR-200 Rail Gun---Not the preferred choice, as it is ammunition dependent, but low-cost, possessing good range, and easily serviced.
Range: 6,000 ft
Damage: 3d6 MD 15-round burst, 1d4x10 MD 30 rd burst.
Rate of Fire: ECHH
Payload: 2,000 rd drum per cannon

2) Rapid-Fire Rail Guns(2)---These are mounted lower in the torso, where the original ion cannon blisters used to be.
Range: 4,000 ft
Damage: 1d4x10 MD per 30 rd burst
Rate of Fire: EGCHH
Payload: 6,000 rd drum per gun

3) Laser Turret---A twin-barreled laser turret, identical to that mounted as point defense on the X-622 Bug and X-821 Landcrab, provides protection to the rear of the Vandal.
Range: 4,000 ft
Damage: 3d6 MD single blast, 6d6 MD dual blast(counts as one attack)
Rate of Fire: EGCHH
Payload: Effectively Unlimited

4) (Optional)Short Range Missile Launchers(s)---A pair of SRMLs, scavenged/copied from the Triax X-80 ‘Butterfly’ PA, can be mounted atop the Vandal. Each launcher has 220 MDC and holds 14 SRMs each.
Penalty: The weight and high center of gravity of the launchers reduces the maximum running speed of the Vandal to 50 MPH.

5) (Optional) Medium Range Missile Launchers(2)---Rather than mount SRMLs, the Vandal can mount a pair of MRMLs, based on those carried by the XM-350 Leopard III APC. Each launch box has 100 MDC each and holds 8 MRMs. This configuration, however, is very rarely used, as Clan Gothec rarely acquires medium range missiles, lacks the means to manufacture their own, and the NGR would come down hard on the AIs if they were discovered with such powerful long range ordnance(the Germans are very leery of anything with the range to threaten their communities).
Penalty: The weight and high center of gravity of the launchers reduces the maximum running speed of the Vandal to 50 MPH.

6) (Optional) Katyusha Launcher----’Katyushas’ are fairly simple solid-propellent unguided artillery rockets available from a variety of sources. They are best fired in salvoes to compensate for their inaccuracy. The Vandal can mount an eight-rocket rack on its back/top.
Weight: (Rocket)
(Short) 102 lbs
(Long) 170 lbs
Range:(Short) 7 miles
(Long) 13 miles
Damage: Both missile types use a 122mm warhead, typically the following warhead types(damage may vary as much as 50% by the quality of warhead manufacture):
(Fragmentation) 1d6x10 MD to a 60 ft blast radius
(Incendiary) 1d4x10 MD to a 50 ft blast radius, plus 01-75% chance of setting combustible materials aflame
(High Explosive) 2d6x10 MD to a 20 ft blast radius
(Plasma) 3d4x10 MD to a 40 ft blast radius
(Smoke) Covers a 100 ft area in thick obscuring smoke. Typically disperses within 1d6 melees, depending on local wind and humidity conditions.
(Chemical) Varies, but typically used to dispense CS or nerve agents(currently only the Sovietskii uses chemical munitions, though it is rumored that Warlord Sokolov has been seeking to acquire such weapons). Typically covers a 100 ft area. Like the smoke, local weather conditions determine the dispersal rate.
(Submunition)---Detonates airburst style over the target and scatters a small cloud of grenade-like sub-mines, that can be used to saturate an area with contact explosives or delayed-fuze mines. Carries over 18 submunitions, scattering over a 100 ft area, and doing 5d6 MD to a 10 ft blast radius each.
Rate of Fire: Volleys of 1-8
Payload: 8
Penalties: Katyushas use the standard rules for unguided artillery with regard to deviation from target. Best fired in salvoes of 4 or more rockets.
The weight and high center of gravity of the launchers reduces the maximum running speed of the Vandal to 50 MPH.

7) (Optional) Mini-Missile Launchers(2)---A pair of small, four-shot mini-missile launchers can be mounted on the hips. Each launcher has 35 MDC and holds 4 mini-missiles.

8 ) (Optional) Grenade Launcher Tubes(2)---These are identical to those mounted on the X-2500 Black Knight, and can be mounted on the hips(on place of the mini-missile launchers). Each tube-cluster has 4 tubes each, 12 MDC each tube(and can be covered by a housing providing a further 30 MDC), and each tube holds 4 grenades(16 per hip, or 32 total). Each array has 500 ft range and fires standard rifle grenades.

9)(Optional) Self-Destruct System---Many Gothecs opt to equip their Vandals with self-destruct systems to deny an enemy thirdhand salvage, or to quickly dispose of an inconvenient battle robot if the NGR drops by. The typical self-destruct system obliterates the ‘bot and does 4d4x10 MD to 60 ft blast radius.

Programming:
The Vandal comes standard with a basic drone A.I.
Typically has the following:
-Land Navigation 94%
-Radio: Basic 94%
-Read Sensory Instruments 94%
-Intelligence 76%(knows enough to identify and prioritize targets like enemy officers and heavy weapons, or target specific points on armored vehicles)
-Prowl 55%
-Detect Ambush 60%

Actions/Attacks Per Melee: 6
Initiative +2 (+1 from the Ecotroz entity for a total of +3)
Dodge +5
Strike +2 (+2 w/ ranged weaponry)
Roll +4
Kick 1d6 MD
Claw Kick 4d6+8 MD
Jump Kick(2 attacks) 1d4x10 MD
Body Block/Ram 1d6 MD
Jet Assisted Body Slam/Ram 2d6 MD

Variants:
*Cg-BR01B---This is a stripped-down version, lacking the robot AI and any traces of proprietary Shemarrian technology, that is sold to trusted associates of Clan Gothec. The Gothecs have sold about two dozen of them in eastern Europe; these examples have helped promote the idea that the design is being produced by some indie Russian group, rather than Clan Gothec themselves. A basic Cg-BR01B costs 9.6 million credits.

*Cg-BR01DSV---Aquatic variant meant originally for smuggling along the European coast. It has a reinforced hull that allows dives to 1,200 ft, modified thrusters that can push the underwater speed up to 30 MPH, adds a pair of arm-legs from the Triax X-622 Bug(200 MDC and 2d6 MD punch/kick, 4d6 MD power punch, and 2d4 MD tear/pry) and added manipulator claws (50 MDC each, Robotic P.S. of 18) on the main body and legs, sonar(50 mile range), missile systems swappable for torpedo launchers, and towing attachments for pulling submersible barges. Only two such examples are known to have been built, but rarely have full torpedo racks, owing to the difficulty of acquiring torpedoes(the NGR doesn’t sell any outside military supplies, and Clan Gothec buys what it can from Tarnow’s limited production capabilities).

*EcoS-Cg-BR01S---Theoretical variant(it currently exists only in simulation templates) contingent on Clan Gothec being able to safely copy, produce and deploy the TX-4601 Long Gun mounted on the Triax X-4600 Sharpshooter. The -BR-01S would mount one of these weapons in place of a main cannon, on an over-the-shoulder mount, and would act as a heavy sniper unit. The combination of stable platform and advanced targeting systems gives the weapon a +3 to strike(over the Sharpshooter’s +2, but the Vandal’s accuracy is balanced by a lack of hands), and Critical Damage on an Unmodified 18-20. The specialized ammunition(held in a standard 60-rd magazine) limits the potential deployment of this variant; some Tinkers have suggested an alternative weapon, such as a 60mm or 80mm massdriver.
Other options available to this variant include a stealth system, based either on the X-4600 Sharpshooter’s, or the Naruni Nomad Scout.

a)TX-4601 Long Gun
Range: 10,000 ft
Damage: 2d4x10 MD per shot
Rate of Fire: ECHH
Payload: 60 rds
Bonus: +3 to strike, Critical Damage on an Unmodified 18-20.

b) 60mm Massdriver
Range:(Direct Fire Mode): 6,000 ft
(Artillery Mode) 2 .5 miles
Damage:(Direct Fire Mode) 3d6x10 MD, no blast radius
(Artillery Mode) Everything within the 30 ft blast radius takes 2D6x10 MD and has a 75% chance of being knocked flat.
Rate of Fire:(Direct Fire Mode) EPCHH
(Artillery Mode) Three times per melee
Payload: 50 rds
Bonuses/Penalties: +2 strike in direct fire mode. -1 to strike in Artillery mode.

c) 80mm Massdriver
Range: (Direct Fire)25,000 ft (5 miles)
(Indirect Fire) 62,500 ft (12.5 miles)
‘Damage: High Explosive(HE)----1d4x10 MD to 15 ft radius
High Explosive Anti-Tank(HEAT)---- 3d4x10 MD to 5 ft radius
Fragmentation--- 5d6 MD to 30 ft radius
Plasma----- 1d6x10 MD to 20 ft radius
(APFSDSDU)(Armor Piercing Fin Stabilized Discarding Sabot Depleted Uranium) 3d6x10 MD out to 6,600 ft, 2d4x10 MD out to maximum range
Rate of Fire: 5 shots per melee
Payload: 45 rds
Bonuses/Penalties: +2 strike in direct fire mode. -1 to strike in Artillery mode.

*EcoS-Cg-BR01NK---Clan Gothec isn’t known for hosting NeShemar, preferring to pass them on to other Tribes. Natalie Klanov may be an exception. A former member of Russian Warlord Sokolov’s warband, she was part of an expedition sent westward to acquire information on German trade with Sokolov‘s enemies. Instead, the scout party ran afoul of the minions of Mindwerks, and the survivors were subjected to Frau Herrenisel’s tender ministrations before the facility they were being held at was raided by a group of adventurers. Klanov had already been made into an Ecto-Traveler(see Rifts Mindwerks), and had little memory of the rescue or what happened afterwards, only that she somehow ended up in the hands of the Gothecs. Unable to be made over into a regular cyborg without killing her, Klanov is tied to her life support module systems. Klanov had a change of heart about continuing to work for Sokolov, knowing that returning back to Russia, she’d either be killed for returning empty-handed, or else would be brutally enslaved by the mad warlord even if she made herself useful to him with her new psychic talents. Instead, she offered to work for the Gothecs, having discerned that they were ‘different’. For their part, the Gothecs felt that having an advisor who knew eastern Europe would help them hone their cover story of being Russian refugees, and that Natalie’s psychic abilities would further help them, agreed to host the ecto-traveler, at least for the time being.
Klanov uses a Clan Gothec Vandal as her ‘vehicle’, the automated battle robot protecting her comatose body when she astrally projects. Her Vandal has been fitted with several sets of utility arms lifted from scavenged cyborgs, as well as an external holographic projector.


*EcoS-NA-BR01/NG11---The Steel Gaians and Clan Motron have suggested a North American version of the Vandal, using scavenged parts from North American manufacturers. It uses the torso (295 MDC) and legs (190 MDC each) of the Northern Gun EX-11 as the base, replaces the forearms with NG-standard rapid fire rail guns or grenade launchers, adds a small laser turret to the rear, and mounts two heavy cannons(such as a KLS Mrk IV Glitterboy PB-20 Rapid Acceleration Particle Beam Cannon or Glitterboy No. 7 Tri-Laser) on top. This variant currently exists only as a simulation template.
Options include laser-reflective chroming, flare/chaff launchers, electronic warfare suites, powered wheels at the ankles and reverse-jointed knees of the -BR01/NG11, allowing it to roll at high speed(75 MPH) on paved roads.

[taalismn]

Abris Bygdryl(N’R’Mar Oreseme NPC)

“I mean to see all sorts of things in the world...and maybe dig them up!”

Abris is a modified and Awakened NG-V10 Super Robot, made by and adopted into the N’R’Mar, who may have been inspired by Clan Gothec throw-togethers. However, the North American EShemar clans are more advanced than offshoot Clan Gothec, so while many of the components the former have access to are arguably less advanced than the Triax systems the Gothecs are able to scrounge up, the EShemar are able to bolster them with more advanced original technologies. In Abris’s case, the N’R’Mar of Bygdryl Clan used a common enough robot frame in North America, the NG-V10, which suited the N’R’Mars’ low-key and utilitarian design ethos, as well as the particular clan’s resource budget.
Abris’s core programming is that of an NG-W10 Heavy Labor Drone, with the AI core modified and the programming altered to better suit the abilities of the larger NG-V10 frame. The N’R’Mar didn’t stint on the programming, however, as the extended Shemarrian tribes are expected to be able to defend themselves, so Abris got a modified military ‘bot program protocol package added on top of his various labor routines. His combat skills, especially weapons skills, are somewhat limited by his different hands, but Abris is still a very effective combatant.
Abris spent his ‘childhood’ working around Factory/Temple-8, where he learned his tribe’s trade in resource prospecting, including sorting scrap metals and moving consignments of ore. After working several seasons around the factory, he was allowed to join one of the far-ranging prospecting and scavenging teams, scouting new territories and following the EShemar wargroups around picking up after them. The ‘bot thus saw combat against other scavengers and monsters, and occasionally first-tier enemies of the Shemarrian Nation such as the Splugorth when such threats managed to elude or overwhelm the front line warriors and went after the support auxiliaries. He’s recently been assigned to several groups working their way west to the Wayfinder territories.
Abris works as a general laborer and prospector for the Shemarrian Nation, and for communities he comes across in his travels. He’s also occasionally participated in local small gladiatorial events against other robots and larger d-bees(including an Amerindian Giant), as well as joined bandit-fighting champions and monster-hunting posses. Most people believe his story of being a giant cyborg or a reclusive d-bee hiding inside a Northern Gun robot. Though beholden to the Shemarrian Nation, he will temporarily join other adventurer groups if their cause is right and they don’t take him too far off his appointed course(and of course his experiences with the new group will be reported to the N’R’Mar and EShemar when he links back up with them). As he journeys west, he’s had several encounters with the Native American tribes and is intrigued enough that if and when he encounters the Wayfinders he means to ask them if they can update his translator database with any Amerindian language translators.

Level of Experience: 6th Level
Rank: Journeyman
Race: N’R’Mar Oreseme
Alignment: Unprincipled
Land of Origin: North America
Age: 14
Sex: Identifies as Male
Height: 20 ft
Weight: 18 tons
Physical Description/Appearance:
Abris often passes himself off as a giant alien cyborg. If anybody points out ‘the alien’s’ resemblance to an NG-V10, Abris is quick to explain that ‘that was all what was available’ when he was cyborged.
Disposition:
An avid wanderer, giant tramp, and practical explorer. In another age, another form, Abris might have been a soil-sampling space probe or robot rover. On Rifts Earth, he’s an itinerant prospector and laborer. Though simple in mind and overall personality(being Awakened from an Artificial Intelligence), Abris has a dogged enthusiasm and tenacity. The essence-infused AI is happy when working on a purpose(will work for hours, days, or weeks at tearing or digging) or just traveling, seeing new sights and surveying the land. Some EShemar are betting that the giant oreseme might become an Eccentric, wandering from Tribe to Tribe, or at least from N’R’Mar party to party.

Physical Attributes/Superlatives:
IQ: 13
ME: 22
MA: 10
PS: Robotic 38
PP:----
PE:---
PB:---
SPD:(Running) 60 MPH
Head can scuttle at 35 MPH
(Leaping) 10 ft up/across, 20 ft up/30 ft across with a running start
(Digging) 1d6x100 cubic yards per hour through soft earth, 1d6x10 cubic yards per hour tunneling. HALF that digging through harder stone, concrete, and MDC materials.
(Underwater) 30 MPH running along the bottom, 2,500 ft maximum depth

(ISP):---
(PPE): 6

Hit Points:----
SDC:-----
MDC By Location:
Hand(right) 30
Extendable Tool Hand (right) 20
Laser Claw Hand(left) 60
Arms(2) 90 each
Legs(2) 185 each
Head 280
Head Spider Legs(6) 70 each .
Main Body 375
Horror Factor:----
Special Abilities/Characteristics/Powers:----
Magic:----
Psionics:(Ecotroz)
Object Read, Telemechanics, Telemechanical Possession, Telemechanic Mental Operation. All cost NO ISP.
Features of Note:
Standard Robot Systems, plus:
*Bionic Cybernanite Repair Systems---A modified bionic nanotech repair system that originated with the Ecotroz Shemar, but has also been adopted by the Ghost Riders. These systems repair 4d6 MD per hour, and can repair 100 MDC before needing material stocks to convert to MD repair material. Abris’s intake ‘mouth’ is in his chest.

*Precision Tool Hand---Abris’s right forearm features an extendable smaller tool hand that allows him to do precision small-scale work.

*Magnetic Grips----Abris’s big hand and claw both feature magnetic pads that allow him to grip metal more easily. The grips are also handy for sorting metal from other scrap.

*Detachable Head---Abris’s head has its own separate power system to sustain his CPU. It can also jet free on emergency rockets(good for 120 seconds of flight at 300 MPH) and/or scurry free on six small legs.

Weapons Systems:
1) Laser Claw Hand(1, left hand)---This remains unchanged from the original NG-V10.
Range: 2,000 ft
Damage:(Variable) 1d6-6d6 MD
Rate of Fire: ECHH
Payload: Effectively Unlimited

2) Silver-Plated Claws---Because Abris has often run into supernatural creatures while poking around places, he’s had the claws of his left hand silver-plated.

3) Eye Particle Beam Blaster---Abris’s visor-slit conceals a powerful particle beam blaster; not a bionic weapon, but an infantry blaster acquired from another industrial power in North America.
Range: 3,200 ft
Damage: 1d6x10 MD to an 8 ft wide swath
Rate of Fire: ECHH
Payload: Effectively Unlimited

4) Shoulder-Mount(NG-404 Heavy Rail Gun)---Abris carries this powerful and long ranged weapon on a back mount(and normally camouflaged by a tarp weather cover).
Range: 5,000 ft
Damage: 1d6 MD single rd, 1d6x10 MD per 20 rd burst
Rate of Fire: ECHH
Payload: 2,400 rd drum

Skills/Programming:( 6th Level Awakened Robot Drone)
Math: Basic 96%
Language/Literacy:
Technocan 98%/98%
American-English 92%/90%
Shemarrian 90%/90%
Spanish 88%/90%
Euro 88%/90%
Dragonese 88%/90%
French/Quebecois 88%/90%
Gobbley 88%/90%
Kittani 88%/90%
Language
Japanese 88%
Chinese 88%
Demogogian 88%
Naruni 88%
Russian 88%

Excavation 85%
Mining 90%
Recycling 88%
Rope Works 88%
Salvage 90%
Carpentry 85%
Boat Building 88%
Demolitions 85%
Demolitions: Disposal 85%
Firefighting 80%
Masonry 80%
General Repair & Maintenance 80%
Basic Mechanics 50%
Intelligence 85%
Land Navigation 94%
Mathematics Basic 98%
Military Etiquette 96%
Radio: Basic 94%
Weapons Systems 90%
Read Sensory Instruments 90%
Climbing 90%
Skin and Prepare Animal Hides 88%
Dowsing 88%
Identify Plants and Fruits 88%
Sewing 50%
Pilot Boat(sail and river barges) 80%
Lore: Demons and Monsters 45%
Field Armorer 60%
Lore: Native Americans 25%
Boxing

Hand to Hand: Expert
W.P. Blunt(+3 strike, +3 parry, +1 strike w/ throw)
W.P. Staff(+3 strike, +3 parry, +1 strike w/ throw)
W.P. Sword(+4 strike, +6 parry, +2 strike w/ throw)
W.P. Heavy MD Weapons(+3 strike)

Actions/Attacks per Melee: 7
Initiative: +1(+1 from the Ecotroz)
Strike: +3(+3 w/ ranged weapons, +4 on called shot)
Parry:+6
Dodge:+6, +7 when running
Roll: +3
Pull Punch: +4
Disarm +2
Knockout on a Natural 20
Damage:
Restrained Punch 1d4 MD
Full Strength Punch(Right Hand) 2d6 MD
Power Punch (2 attacks) 4d6 MD
Claw Strike(Left Hand) 3d6 MD
Crush, Pry, Tear(claw) 3d6 MD
Dig 2d6 MD
Power Dig 4d6 MD
Kick 3d8 MD
Leap Kick 5d8 MD
Stomp (8 ft or smaller) 1d4 MD
Saves:
+4 Vs Psionics/Insanity
+7 vs Exorcism and Banishment magic(affects the Ecotroz essence)

The Ecotroz fragment does occasionally need sleep/rest...though they only need 2 hours of rest/meditation per 24 hours...they can push this, going without for as many days as they have I.Q. points, but will have to go dormant for 4d6 hours after such exertion.

Note also that the Ecotroz-possessed ‘bot can infect other bots with the Ecotroz viral-entity, by bite or sustained touch(takes 3 attacks).

Notable Possessions/Equipment:
*Homemade Body Armor---Abris wears a heavy oversized ‘duster’ jacket made of a patchwork of monster hide and light MDC plates scrounged from various sources. 130-180 MDC, depending on how the scavenging goes. Also features a ‘cap’ that has 50-70 MDC, although this is usually the first part that gets lost/blown off, and is thus constantly being replaced(often after Abris complains about the last one ‘being his favorite’).

*Satchel(s)---Large plastic and wire-weave bags for holding equipment. Has an armored case(100 MDC) for carrying explosives(150 lbs ‘ worth).

*500 ft of coiled lightweight line/cable.

*’Smart’ Grappling Hook(articulated actuators that actively seek optimal purchase on a surface)

*Bag of nanotech ‘supplements’, bottles of replacement coolants, and basic NG-V10 replacement parts(Abris can replace his own foot pads and other easily damaged/worn-out parts).

*Sewing/Armor Mending Kit---Several spools of strong wire, bags of grommets, tubes of molecular adhesive, plastic and plate patches.

*Weatherproof Shelter---This is a portable folding shelter that can be erected in minutes, providing protection from the elements, limited megadamage protection, as well as concealment from electronic and infrared/thermographic detection.
The ‘Shelter’ consists of a yard-long ‘can’ that looks like a large drum. When activated, about a dozen articulated ‘spider leg’ structural members of carbon composite branch out, anchor themselves in the ground, and form the skeleton of a dome-shaped igloo roughly 12 ft tall by 20 ft in diameter(Abris can sit in it but not fully stand up). The pod then deploys a cover sheet of special plastics, with a camouflage print, and integral sensor-baffling elements.
The Camouflage pattern sheet can be chemo-switched to any one of seven different configurations. The support elements create a degaussing ‘bubble’ that scrambles radar signals(incoming and outgoing), as well as disrupting magnetic resonances(fouling Magnetic Anomaly Detectors), while the fabric itself insulates and dissipates the infrared and thermal emissions and signatures of the occupants, rendering those means of detection less effective.
Care must be taken in setting up the Shelter---The igloo is not invisible to naked eyeball optical searches, so ‘blending’ the shelter into the natural landscape contours is essential for best results. For maximum comfort, a ground sheet or surfacing can be put down first.
The entire shelter can deploy/retract for stowage in 1 melee
MDC: The tent provides about 60 MDC of protection, however, against explosions, it is less effective(being non-rigid, shockwaves pass through its fabric), so explosives will do HALF damage to the occupants, regardless of how much MDC is left in the tent.
Special Features:
-*Waterproofing
-*Fire Proofing---Can handle temperatures up to 300 degrees centigrade. Normal fires do NO damage
-*Minimal Radiation Shielding--The fabric shell provides some protection against radiation(such as that from expended U-rounds laying nearby, or fallout), but is not recommended for protection in ‘hot’ zones (good for maybe 5-6 minutes of exposure).
-*Chameleon-cloth Fabric---Can assume one of seven preset color configurations.
-*Thermal Insulation-Infrared and Thermographic sensors are -20% to detect the shelter.
-*Electronic Insulation- Radar, MAD, and EM sensors are -15% to detect the shelter
-*Extendable Fiber-optic Periscope

*Drill Staff---A scaled up R’Mar Multi-Purpose Staff. One end has a powered drill (6d6 MD), quad laser-cutters (50-200 ft range, 2d6-1d4x10+4 MD per blast), and a jackhammer(3d6 MD per strike, 2d4x10+6 for a full melee of ‘hammering) scavenged from a Black Market Mole Robot’s right arm, while the other end mounts a spotlight, metal detector, ground search radar(contains a magnetometer and a short-range microwave radar for ground-searching minefields---in theory, the ground radar sound be able to detect even nonmetallic mines, but takes twice as long).
Range: The magnetometer has a range of 4,000 ft and can detect vehicles and other metallic structures with 80% accuracy. It can detect powered-up rail guns and EM containment fields(such as fusion generator) at TWICE that range.
The ground radar has a range of 3,000 ft, and has a 90% chance of detecting metal-cased mines, 60% chance of detecting nonmetallic ordnance.

*Machete---This is a big(mech-scale) short vibrosword taken off a NG-202 Cargo Walker Combat Kit. 4d6 MD.

Has about 3d6x100 credits in valuable odds, ends, and artifacts he’s scrounged up and saved, as well as a double handful of junk he finds interesting.

Vehicle:
None, though occasionally he may be seen in the presence of warmounts or robotic (disguised) animals carrying equipment and supplies.


Oh, and yeeeehhhhhh!!! 90 pages! Ten more to make 100!

[taalismn]

Until I get something more substantial finished for posting; an update:

*She-LPP81/LPP801 Laser Pulse Rifle
“We’re still looking through what records the Dark One left in its factory protocols, seeing what we might have missed. We’re finding some useful things to improve our technology base, including some obvious things we’ve been criticized for not discovering and implementing earlier, but we ARE progressing slowly and carefully through the databanks; the Dark One may have left traps we do not want to fall for.”
--Baramont CloudMiner, Hawkmoon Shamaness, data mistress and sysop assigned to the DarkMind Project

The end of the Shemarrian Civil War left the EShemar in possession of ARCHIE-3’s production facilities and a large stock of weaponry produced for his robotic minions. One of the unpleasant discoveries was that the standard issue Arch-22 Pulse Rifle was slightly better than the heritage-era She-LPP80 Laser Pulse Rifles that the Tribes used. This has led to a growing number of remodelled Arch-22s being distributed as the ‘She-LPP81’, replacing the She-LPP80 in some Tribes. Most have a revised external shell, while some users prefer the ‘stick’ look of the original Arch-22.
As they did with the She-LPP80 in modifying it into the She-LPP800, the Silvermoons have modified the Arch-22 into the She-LPP801, adding a barrel extension for refined focusing optics, a universal e-clip receiver, underbarrel bayonet socket, and power linkage.
Range: (She-LPP81) 3,000 ft
(LPP801) 3,750 ft
Damage:(She-LPP81) 1d6 MD per single shot, 3d6 MD per three shot burst, 5d6 MD per five shot burst
(LPP801) 1d6+1 MD per single shot, 3d6+3 MD per three shot burst, 6d6 MD per five shot burst
Rate of Fire: Standard
Payload: 90 single blasts or 18 pulse blasts per SE-clip
Bonuses: +1 to strike
Special Features:
*Universal E-Clip Receiver
*Underbarrel Bayonet Socket
*Power Linkage
*Top Sight Rail

[taalismn]

Yeah, I was inspired by the Olympics Openning Ceremonies.....

EcoS-K-134 Chufftan Warmount
(aka ‘Snokat’, ‘Ice-Tygrr’)

“Thunder snow? We’d be so lucky! That’s Chufftan eye-lightning taking out our escort riders! Looks like the snow-kitties found and flanked us!”

“Let’s find something to do!”
---Dreaded battlecry of ‘Kelvin Zero’, Clan Pantheron scout, to his Chufftan warmount H-0bbes.

The Chufftan is a new feline-themed warmount that has appeared in the ranks of Clan Pantheron and, interestingly enough, the Aurora Warriors, suggesting previously unsuspected communications between the two Fringe Tribes. The Blood Riders like to claim the Chufftan as a variant of their own Incindar; Clan Pantheron defend it as a separate and unique warmount in its own right. The Aurora Warriors don’t care either way, and use it regardless.
Chufftans resemble giant armored white tigers with small wings sprouting from their shoulders. They are powerful and agile mecha-felinoids well-suited to cold weather combat, and are believed to be inspired by a large predator native to the Pantherons’ ice-locked adopted homeworld of Alloun. Their blue eyes conceal powerful lasers, while they can breath out freezing vapor, and roar with armor-shattering force. They are very agile ground fighters, and can make jet-assisted pounces on targets, ripping and tearing with powerful jaws and sharp claws. All in all, Chufftans are dangerous ‘kitties’ not to be taken lightly.
Chufftans currently see the most deployment with Clan Pantheron and Aurora Warriors, though the Ice Flames and Wayfinders have expressed interest in the design.

Type: EcoS-K-134 Chufftan
Class: Robotic Warmount
Crew: None; robot intelligence
1 rider/pilot, and room for 1 passenger
MDC/Armor by Location:
Main Body 560
Head 250
Legs(4) 220 each
Shoulder Jets(2) 125 each
Tail 75
Height: 10 ft
Width: 8 ft
Length: 14 ft (tail adds another 10 ft)
Weight: 7,000 lbs
Cargo: Small space inside/beside the saddle-seat for a few personal possessions and sidearms.
Physical Strength: Equivalent to Robotic P.S. of 45
Powerplant: Nuclear w/ 20 year energy life
Speed: (Running) 170 MPH
(Leaping) 22 ft up/across. A running leap in excess of 60 MPH adds 1d4x10 yards to distance.
W/ thrusters, the Chufftan can make powered leaps of 250 ft up/400 ft across
(Flying) Not possible; the best it can do is hover for 1d6x10 seconds using its shoulder thrusters.
(Space) In space, the cold-jet thrusters would propel the Chufftan at about 75 MPH.
(Underwater) Can run along the bottom at 15 MPH.
Market Cost: Exclusive to the Ecotroz-Shemar
Systems of Note:
Full optical systems, laser targeting, passive nightvision, telescopic vision, thermal imaging, infrared, ultraviolet, and polarization filters. Also has motion and heat detection, built-in radar( 60 mile range) and other standard power armor-equivalent systems. Additional/special sensors may be built in by the creating Spinsters or at the behest of individual riders/owners.

*Bionic Cybernanite Repair Systems---ALL Chufftan have the same bionic nanotech repair system that the Ecotroz Shemar have refitted themselves with, and which is becoming the standard among NeShemar as well. These systems repair 4d6 MD per hour, and can repair 100 MDC before needing material stocks to convert to MD repair material.

*Advanced Body Armor---Chufftans are sheathed in armor plates believed to be derived from Naruni Enterprises’ Thermo-Kinetic armor technology---Kinetic strikes from explosions, falls. projectile weapons, kicks, punches, and melee strikes do HALF damage. Heat-based attacks, including plasma, do HALF damage. Has only a 25% chance of showing up on thermal sensors.

Weapons Systems:
1) Eye Lasers(2) ---The Chufftan sports the more powerful heavy eye lasers.
Range: 4,000 ft
Damage: 4d6 MD single shot, 1d4x10 MD for a pulse burst
8d6 MD dual shot, 2d4x10 MD for a dual pulse burst(counts as one attack)
All four firing in burst mode simultaneously(again, one attack) does 4d4x10 MD(!)
Rate of Fire: EPCHH
Payload: Effectively Unlimited

2) Sonic ‘Roar’ Cannon---Mounted in the Chufftan’s mouth is a powerful sonic cannon, apparently inspired by Wolf’s Path warmounts mounting similar sonic attacks. Unlike the Wolf’s Path Hypersonic Howl, however, the Pantheron Roar doesn’t stun; it PULVERIZES.
Range: 2,000 ft
Damage: 1d6x10 MD per blast, plus 3d6 MD to a 10 ft diameter area around the blast area(double damage and range underwater)
Rate of Fire: ECHH
Payload: Effectively Unlimited

3) Ice Breath---The Chufftan’s nostrils and upper jaw conceal a powerful cryogenic cooling system that can project freezing vapor using a Freeze Laser---A more powerful version of a technology acquired elsewhere, and modified with the assistance of the Iceflame tribe, to superchill atmospheric gases. The beam can also be fired directly, looking like a spume of condensing vapor.
Range:(Beam Mode) 2,000 ft
(Spray Mode) 900 ft
(Ice Breath) 600 ft
Damage: (Beam Mode) This slows down molecular motion in a relatively tight area(1-2 ft wide area), lowering the temperature to almost absolute zero... fabrics like nylon and polyester shatter like glass, electromagnetic superconductivity jumps, and liquids crystallize instantly. Ideal for cold-welding materials, freezing mechanical joints, and snuffing out plasma torches. Does 2d8 MD to structures and 4d6 MD to MDC plastics and organics.
(Spray Mode) Lowers mean temperature by 1,000 degrees over a 20 ft wide area of effect---This means that it may take several applications to bring a burning pool of jet fuel down to freezing, for example, or cool an glowing hot section of plating. After reaching zero degrees Celsius, it only reduces temperature in increments of 250 degrees, then 100 degrees, then 50, and so on...
Unprotected flesh hit by the beam takes 6d6 SDC in Spray Mode. Must also roll save versus non-lethal poison(12 or better) or temporarily succumb to cold.
A victim who loses all SDC(but NOT Hit Points) to a cold attack lapses into a coma..still alive, but frozen stiff. They can be revived with even heat in 3d4 minutes. Those who lose both SDC and Hit Points are +25% to save versus coma/death, and get 3d4 Hit Points back when revived, but still suffer some cellular damage.
Beings vulnerable to cold-based attacks take DOUBLE damage, while fire elementals and fire-based beings take TRIPLE damage! Water Elementals will lose 2 APMs and cut their speed by HALF for 1d4 melees, while Ice Elementals actually HEAL 1d8 MD of damage.
(Ice Breath) A single blast can encase a human’s limb, and has an AR of 10 and 60 SDC, and does 1d4 SDC per minute to exposed, unprotected flesh; encased hands are -25% to perform skills, -88% for BOTH hands, while if one ft is frozen, -10% to speed, prowl, climbing, and swimming. BOTH feet or one entire leg being encased, reduce the previous by 40%.
Encasing an entire person takes 2 actions, and encases them in 200 lbs of ice with an AR of 10 and 100 SDC. Victims take 4d6 points of damage(MD only if they’re susceptible to cold) per melee if unprotected.
Encasing a target’s head causes the victim to be -2 to strike, parry, and dodge until the ice is removed.
Actually BREATHING the supercold vapor does 2d4 directly to Hit Points.

A victim who loses all SDC(but NOT Hit Points) to a cold attack lapses into a coma; still alive, but frozen stiff. They can be revived with even heat in 3d4 minutes. Those who lose both SDC and Hit Points are +25% to save versus coma/death, and get 3d4 Hit Points back when revived, but still suffer some cellular damage.

Beings vulnerable to cold-based attacks take DOUBLE damage, while fire elementals and fire-based beings take TRIPLE damage! Water Elementals will lose 2 APMs and cut their speed by HALF for 1d4 melees, while Ice Elementals actually HEAL 1d4 MD of damage.

Rate of Fire: ECHH
Payload: Effectively unlimited

4) Freezing Cloud--The Chufftan’s shoulder jets can generate a thick obscuring cloud of cold fog. 700 ft radius. This is a thick, dense, cold fog that reduces visibility to 6 ft. Those caught in it are -2 on initiative, and to strike/parry/dodge, and Speed is reduced by HALF. Fog lasts for 15 minutes.

5) VibroClaws---Each foot is fitted with an array of retractable vibroclaws
Range: Melee
Damage: 3d6 MD per claw

6) Bite---The oversized mouth sports some serious slicers.
Range: Melee
Damage: 6d6 MD

7 ) (Optional)Modular Weapons(2)---The Chufftan has provision for shoulder-mounting two weapons similar to those standard to the Monstrex.

Programming:
The Ecotroz have installed robotic AIs, then infected the matrix with a low-level Ecotroz sentience. The Chufftan has an I.Q. of 12, and a catlike nature, including, despite its stocky build, very fast reflexes.
Typically has standard Monstrex programming(+ possible bonuses from the Ecotroz Entity essence).
The Ecotroz entity can also pick up one Secondary skill at levels 2, 6, and 12 of experience, though the nature of the Chufftan intelligence and design is such that it is limited to skill selections from Technical: Language(understanding) and Lore, Wilderness(Hunting, Identify Plants and Fruits).
Actions/Attacks Per Melee: 8
Initiative +2 (+1 from the Ecotroz entity for a total of +3)
Dodge +6
Running Dodge +8(when in excess of 75 MPH)
Automatic Leap Dodge +3(takes NO APMs)
Strike +2 (+2 w/ ranged weaponry)
Parry +6
Pull Punch/Strike/Bite +4
Roll +4
Maintain Balance +6
Bite 1d8 MD
Blunt Claw Strike 2d4 MD
Claw Strike 4d6+3 MD
Power Claw Strike(2 attacks) 8d6+4 MD
Tail Slash 1d4 MD
Tail Stab 1d6 MD
Head Butt 1d6 MD
Pounce/Body Block 1d6 MD
Body Block/Leap Attack: 4d6 MD and has a 65% chance of knocking opponents up to 2,500 lbs off their feet(lose initiative and 2 APM).

Note: The Ecotroz intelligence fragment inhabiting the ‘bot gives the Chufftan an aura and behavior more befitting a sentient being than a robot. Chufftans have catlike personalities; normally rather laid back at rest, they love stalking prey, hunting enemies, and pouncing on targets, even playing with their prey before finishing them off. They relish the opportunity to savagely maul enemies in combat, and show no fear of closing to an enemy to bat them back and forth, biting, clawing, and mauling. They are extremely loyal and affectionate to their riders, and will fight to protect them, but will be steadfastly loyal to their orders, such as ‘wait and guard this (location/person/thing) while I’m away”. They can go from a somnolent posture to instant combat readiness in seconds.

The Ecotroz fragment does occasionally need sleep/rest...though they only need 2 hours of rest/meditation per 24 hours...they can push this, going without for as many days as they have I.Q. points, but will have to go dormant for 4d6 hours after such exertion.

Note also that the Ecotroz-possessed ‘bot can infect other bots with the Ecotroz viral-entity, by bite or sustained touch(takes 3 attacks).

Variants:
*EcoS-K-134TwX---Experimental variant featuring an extradimensional ‘heatsink’ that allows the Chufftan to absorb heat and shunt it into a pocket universe.
CryoClaws---This is a special vibroblade with small slots in it that leeches freezing vapor that can do extra cold-stun damage to organic targets.
Range: Melee
Damage: 1d6 MD+organic targets must roll vs non-lethal poison (16 or better) or suffer debilitating numbness; -1 APM, -2 initiative, -1 strike/parry/dodge, and speed is reduced by 10%. Effects last 1d4 minutes, and are NOT cumulative, except for duration, from additional hits.
*Thermal Stealth----The K-134TwX can match its surroundings’ heat profile by dumping its waste heat into its sinks, reducing its thermal signature: has only a 10% chance of showing up on infrared and heat sensors.

*Thermal Resistance----By shunting heat energy away from itself into subspace, the Chufftan only takes HALF damage from plasma and other heat-based attacks. Taken in combination with the heat-resistant armor, the warmount takes only 5% of damage from heat-based attacks.

*Ice Armor---Under conditions of 50% or more humidity(or if standing in water), the cyborg can create a sheath of superhard ice from ambient atmospheric water. The resulting icy cladding isn’t as effective as purpose-built armor(all hand to hand bonuses to dodge, strike, parry, and roll are HALVED), but the armor is renewable, and cuts damage from lasers by HALF(the ice vaporizes rather spectacularly when hit).
Ice Armor takes 1d4 melees to fully form. MDC of the ice armor is 25% of the location it is covering. With an adequate supply of moisture, it can be regenerated at 5 MDC per melee per location.

*Ice Spikes---The shoulder jets can also swivel to unleash a burst of superhard ice shards.
Range: 1,200 ft. Increase range by 50% if operating in freezing environments.
Damage: Bursts of 1d4x10 shards, covering a 10 ft wide area, 1d4 MD per shard.
Rate of Fire: ECHH
Payload: Effectively Unlimited

*EcoS-K-134f---This is simply the ‘feral’ model of the Chufftan, with 25% less overall MDC.

[taalismn]

Mintha Rodasi Dracolane (Thousand Dragons NeShemar NPC)

The interface software and her own deep meditation edit the drive chamber, the connections, the somatic restraints, and the life support out of her perception, leaving her with the impression of floating freely, her limbs spread wide like the wings of a flier, against the backdrop of open space. It is humbling, to be exposed to the vastness and dark majesty of the stars, but also thrilling. She can float here for hours, days, an eternity....
<< Alert Status Two. Justicene raiders detected inbound at Convoy Vetar-three-alpha-four-ubec-alpha. Heading Beta-three-ceti-four-delta-seven. Estimate five, repeat, five, bindlestiff-class cruisers. All shifts to battle stations, prepare for intercept acceleration. Alert Status Two. >>
Her eyes snap about, scanning the mind’s eye view of space around her, before finding the relevant location where five out of place stars are moving, She also sees the faint projections of course estimations, of where those aberrant stars are heading, and another of where her own point of view, the unseen ship that encases her, must go if it is to successfully intercept them.
Normally assisting the -SwordWing- in cruising is simple ecstasy, a hum of stimulation as she draws in ambient energy from the universe and merges it with the furnace-blaze of the ship’s engines, feeling a scintillating warmth fed back to her in return, making her sing in pleasure, but with the prospect of combat she feels something different....anxiety, of course, at the risk of battle and what will be demanded of her, disappointment at having her meditations interrupted, anger at the audacity of pirates raiding her Tribe’s shipping, but also increasingly....-hunger-....A craving for action, for the atavistic pleasure of tearing into an enemy and tasting their blood....she finds herself looking forward to the coming encounter.
Her limbs tense, her spread-eagled posture taking on the look of a stooping raptor preparing to pounce, to dive on unsuspecting prey. Her smile somehow becomes more toothsome and predatory, and soon she will be, not moaning a lover’s cantos to the cosmos, but howling a hunter’s blood-scream.

“You know, many people can get by with an easily rolled-up futon for bedding; you’ve got, what, five hundred kilos of auric bullion there? That’s a heavy mattress!”

“Yes, ne-solarii Bannecker, I know it’s difficult and distracting, but since all the rest of us are full conversion cyborgs or robots, you’re the only one aboard with flesh and blood shoulders that Mintha can give backrubs to. She wants to be helpful, she wants to stay in practice, and she‘s part dragon, so it’s a good idea to give her what she wants, and let her give you a backrub, so shut up and relax. That’s an order. The rest of us will just have to get by on those drinks she makes us.”

Mintha Rodasi is a neshemar taken in the Three Galaxies by the Thousand Dragon fringe tribe. She came to the tribe as a secondhand prisoner, having been taken off a Kybyree slaver. Before that, as best can be deduced from the remains of the slavers’ records , the woman had been a minor officer on a space cruiser of a minor Human polity that had been probing an extradimensional rift that unfortunately led into the heart of Kybyree space. When discovered, the space cruiser was immediately set upon and captured, its surviving crew enslaved. The Kybyree, who were notorious for devising ways to use metapowers and supernaturals as power sources, were delighted to discover that their new acquisitions had also been experimenting with biometa-tech to enhance their stardrives, and that one of the survivors had meta-potential as a candidate. Mintha was on her way to advanced processing into a powerplant component for a Kybyree spacehab when the ship she was on, in turn, ran afoul of an EShemar deep-scout, part of the Thousand Dragons’ aggressive ‘return’ to the Three Galaxies. The Kybyree were as surprised as their previous victims had been, when they found themselves bulldogged by heavily armed warships appearing seemingly out of nowhere.
The Thousand Dragons were already familiar with a number of different bio-interface, psionic, bio-energy, and mystical drive systems that they had either encountered or had heard of from other EShemar, so they knew what they were looking at when they found the Kybyree power-slave systems. They also recognized that they were pure torture for those wired into them. Cutting the enslaved and surgically-modified prisoners free was the easy part of liberating them; rebuilding their bodies and minds another.
Salvaging her required some of the Shemarrian Star Nation’s advanced biotech; simple (relatively speaking) bionic conversion wasn’t an option as the young woman’s nervous system showed signs of violent and fatal rejection of potentially lifesaving implants, even as her body was turning against itself. The EShemar resorted to biotech, particularly infusions of dragon DNA(of which the Thousand Dragons had a plentiful supply); that seemed to do the trick, endowing the patient with the ability to safely channel ambient universal energy into reinforcing her health and biological tissues. . She quickly recovered her physical well-being, while the tribe mind-tinkers worked on rebuilding her psyche.
The newly renamed Mintha had little memory of her original identity, so she was enfolded as a NeShemar into the Thousand Dragons’ ranks.
Mintha’s DNA dracografting have made her a megadamage being, despite her otherwise soft-looking appearance. She exhibits an incredible durability, stamina, and the ability to shake off all but the most traumatic of damage; severe injuries short of total dismemberment simply cause her to go into a healing coma or light unconsciousness. Mintha’s enhancements have also improved her meta-ability to improve the performance of propulsion systems, without undue harm to herself, so she has gone to work for the Thousand Dragons as an assistant drive-tech, though she really considers herself a life support systems and crew morale assistant. As a crew member aboard a Thousand Dragons’ light cruiser, Mintha holds a rank of ne-Moraes(ne-Solarii-Martial in Wayfinder ranks), a NeShemar ‘starstrider’ or junior officer in engineering/life support. Unlike the Kybyree, the Thousand Dragons use Mintha’s abilities as an accessory to their ship, and the system worked up using her as a conduit, with safeties, rather than draw directly on her life-force.
Ne-Moraes Rodasi works with the escort forces of the Ferry Fleet that carries goods and personnel between the Thousand Dragons’ home pocket universe and their enclaves in the Three Galaxies. Though many might regard this as second-echelon duty, it is actually quite dangerous work as word of the prosperity of the Shemarrian Tribes spreads, and their known shipping routes attracts the attention of bandits and freebooters. The heavy cruiser Mintha’s been assigned to has seen frequent action against Sqaada and Exile pirates. When not boosting the cruiser’s acceleration and enhancing its engines, Mintha can typically be found in Life Support Services, entertaining her fellow neshemar crew members(she’s a fair hand at mixing drinks

Lately, Mintha’s been exhibiting seemingly draconic behavior; how much of this is picked up from the Thousand Dragons personnel around her or can be attributed to some continued manifestation of the dragon DNA infused into her, is unknown. However, more physical signs, such as the ability to scarf down impressive amounts of food without discomfort, sleeping for long periods of time curled up on even cold floor plates, and becoming hissingly aggressive when threatened, have others wondering. Especially when several actual dragons said that Mintha ‘smelled like a dragon’.

Level of Experience: 5th Level Spacer
Rank: ne-Moraes
Race: Human, Bio-Mod(Dracograft)
Alignment: Principled
Land of Origin: Unknown; all that’s been recovered of her past is that she was born in an alternate universe human interstellar polity.
Age: Appears to be in her mid-20’s
Sex: Female
Height: 5’ 7”
Weight: 100 lbs
Physical Description/Appearance:
A slender, curvaceous, human female with light green hair, light skin, and pale violet-blue eyes, radiating grace and sexuality beyond human norms. Recently, however, it’s been noted that her eyes will go red and slit-irised when under stress. She tends towards rather spare dress(bordering on Skyeklad-audition), even when on duty.

Disposition:
Friendly, helpful to the point of self-sacrifice, unself-conscious, but also somewhat spacy and cheerful to the point of near-obliviousness. Has little memory of her previous two ‘lives’ and believes herself to have been a member of the Shemarrian Star Nation for as long as she can remember. She thinks nothing of the fact that she’s INSANELY tough and seemingly able to shrug off hits that would destroy bunkers. Of late, she’s also shown uncharacteristic outbursts of aggressive behavior when under stress.
Increasingly Mintha’s asking for her share of prize money and loot from combat actions to be given to her in gold specie...not to buy things with, but to roll around in.
Turn-ons are making her fellow crew beings happy, ice cream, and gold.

Physical Attributes/Superlatives:
IQ: 11
ME: 15
MA: 19
PS: (Considered to be Extraordinary)17
PP: 24
PE: 42
PB: 31
SPD: 26

(ISP): 36
(PPE): 46

Hit Points:285
SDC: 121)
MDC: 529
Horror Factor:---
Special Abilities/Characteristics/Powers:
*Bio-Overdrive(Major)----This super ability is similar to several vehicular link/enhancement abilities in that it allows the superbeing to temporarily fuse with machinery and improve its performance, by adding the superbeing’s own life-force to the mechanism’s power. This particular power works with vehicles, supercharging them.

Range: Touch-Contact. Ideally, the superbeing will attempt to be in direct contact with part of the propulsion/power system.

Duration: The superbeing can comfortably maintain the bio-overdrive power for their P.E./2 in minutes + 1 additional minute per level of experience. So Mintha can push a ship for 25 minutes at a time.
It takes 2 APMs for the superbeing to maintain this power, allowing the character to use his or her remaining actions to so other things(pilot the vehicle, run a weapons console, defend himself from security/engineering, read a book, etc.).

Effects:
1) Enhance Performance---The metabeing can increase the performance, particularly the speed, of a vehicle
-Small Vehicles(up to 200,000 lbs/ 100 tons, roughly the weight of a small commercial jet ) Increase speed by 10% per level of experience.
Mintha can thus push a small ship’s(up to 1,000 tons mass) speed up an extra 50%.
-Medium Vehicles( to 900,000 lbs/ 450 tons, roughly the weight of a large military airlifter) Increase speed by 5% per level of experience, or +25% in Mintha’s case(and she can push 10,000 tons mass).
-Large Vehicles( 450 tons +, up to a maximum of 10,000 tons, roughly the weight of a modern naval frigate or a small starship) Increase speed by 3% per level of experience, for a +15% when Mintha’s concentrating on the drive of vessels (up to 100,000 tons).

Modifiers
-Supernatural(Supernatural P.E. or P.S.)---Increase the weight category limits by x10(so at the upper limits the superbeing can push aircraft-carrier-sized vehicles).

2) Overcharging----The metabeing can attempt to push the envelope and performance of larger vehicles than they can safely by pouring more of their bio-energy into the effort. This can be done to BOTH the duration of the push and to the percentage of improvement, as mandated by the weight class of the vehicle they are attempting to enhance. This is not without risk; for every minute the superbeing spends ‘pushing it’, they take 1d6 damage to their Hit Points, +1 HP per level of improvement they seek to modify. Example: Pushing an oil tanker(a LARGE heavy vehicle) for an extra 4 minutes of speed will cost 4d6 HP in ‘burn’. If the superbeing ALSO attempts to raise the speed beyond what they can comfortably do(say, from a marginal 1st-level speed increase of 3%, to a more substantial 15% for the full 5 minutes, will cost an additional 4d6+20 HP. Given this is a first level character, unless he’s got bucketloads of Hit Points, he could be in serious trouble of burning out!).
At ZERO Hit Points, the metabeing loses consciousness and lapses into a coma-like state from which they recover at a rate of 4 HP per day(unless modified by other powers and/or professional medical treatment).

3) Jump-Start---While the metabeing may not be able to power an entire craft, they CAN shorten the time a system needs to power-up, including weapons capacitors, engine boosters, and jump-drives. This includes cold-starts. Can reduce the amount of time needed to charge up/start a system by 20% per 2 levels of experience(so, yes, by 10th level, the character can INSTANTLY get the car’s engine to turn over, even after a long cold night). Mintha can thus advance charge-up time by 40% at her current level of proficiency.

4) Hot-wire---The superbeing can effectively and instantly hot-wire and start a vehicle, bypassing its normal key or security mechanism. The vehicle gets NO saves against this.

5) Damp Powerplant---Conversely, the superbeing can use their power to DAMP/throttle down the powerplant of a vehicle by TWICE the percent per melee as the superbeing would be able to BOOST its speed. This can be used to sabotage a ship’s power, or control a runaway engine reaction, even if normal safety mechanisms are damaged or otherwise inoperable(So, for example, a 1st level character would be able to power down a shuttlecraft’s reactor, without using the cockpit controls, at 20% per melee). Note, however, that even with power cut/diminishing, the vehicle may still have forward momentum; unless its propulsion system also serves as passive brake(as with automobiles), the vehicle will continue on until friction in the transit medium or collision with an obstacle stops it.
Also note that if somebody else is attempting to use the vehicle’s regular controls to try to prevent the throttle-down, the superbeing’s control takes precedence.
The superbeing can attempt to use this power on OTHER (non-vehicular) powerplants(for example a municipal power generator), but their damping rate will only be equivalent to their normal rate(Example: Upshift attempts to take the fusion reactor of Doctor Negative’s weather control machine off-line. As the reactor is roughly 500 tons of stationary apparatus, 5th level Upshift can only draw down its power at 15% per melee. That leaves about two minutes for Doctor Negative’s goons to try to shut UPSHIFT down before the weather machine powers off).

6) Essence Protection---While linked to the propulsion system, the superbeing will be effectively IMMUNE to dangers from the nature of the powerplant, such as heat, coal smoke inhalation, steam, carbon monoxide fumes, electrocution, or radiation.

7) Other Bonuses:
+10% to piloting skill if the metabeing already knows how to pilot the vehicle he or she is linked to.
While linked, repair attempts(by the superbeing or others) to the propulsion system can be made with a +10% bonus. The meta-being will also be able to instantly discern any problems, malfunctions, or damage to the hardware.

Limitations:
While linked, the superbeing is susceptible to sympathetic feedback from the vehicle. Should the vehicle take damage while the bio-overdriver is still linked, the superbeing takes proportional damage to their Hit Points(so if the vehicle’s damage amounts to 10% of its total structural integrity, the linked superbeing will take damage equivalent to 10% of their HP). Note that this is only applicable to damage done to the actual physical vehicle; if the vehicle has a forcefield or other virtual barrier, then the bio-overdriver is NOT affected by damage done to the shielding.
Unlike Overcharging, the damage inflicted on the metabeing CAN kill the character. Damage is recovered as normal.

(Example: Shivvie is aboard a TMC space destroyer attempting to escape two Kybyree slaver cruisers that both outgun it and can outpace it, leaving the only hope to outrun them. Not wanting herself or her friends on the destroyer to be captured and enslaved, Shivvie locks herself in the engineering compartment and links herself to the ship’s engines. The destroyer masses some 13,900 tons, putting it within the upper limit of Shivvie’s ability to affect, even with her superhuman physiology, but she’s desperate, so she gives it her all and decides to push it to the limit. Shivvie is 3rd level and has an Extraordinary P.E. stat of 24 and a HP reserve of 76. The Brandestoc-class destroyer she’s aboard normally has a speed of Mach 14, so she could boost it’s speed by 9% for a full 15 minutes, but she doesn’t think that’s enough; those slavers are closing FAST. Instead, she elects to increase its speed and acceleration by 54%(pumping the ship’s speed up to roughly Mach 20), for a full 5 minutes, allowing it to open up the distance between it and the pursuing slaver ships. In the process she burns 75 HP (15 levels of extra speed x5 minutes x1 HP/minute). Fortunately, the destroyer’s shields remain up during the pursuit, so the slaver ships are unable to land any long range shots on the ship’s hull.
The extra distance allows the destroyer to reach a safe gravitational gradient where they can engage their Jump-Drive and they escape. Totally exhausted by her efforts and 1 HP away from falling into a coma, Shivvie collapses into the arms of a grateful engineering crew, and spends the next week in the infirmary recuperating.)

*Supernatural Endurance (Major) by Cardiac(with additional material from Cheethorne)
The character possesses supernatural endurance, incredible durability, recovery and stamina that is even more than extraordinary.
Bonuses: Does not suffer from fatigue from physical exertion, and can go for her PE number in days without sleep.
Add 2D6+10 to Physical Endurance.
Add 4D6x10 to SDC.
Double the character's hit points and gets +2D6 per level.
Immune to disease.
Resistant to fire and cold; does half damage.
Resistant to drugs, toxins and poisons: When the character doesn't save against them, they only have 1/4 effect, damage and duration.
Completely immune to all normal diseases, poisons, and toxins.
Magic and psionics which affect the physical body (such as bio-manipulation) only have half normal duration.
The character heals 10 times faster than normal (unless the character possesses a superior regeneration ability).

* The being can survive damage equal to double its PE attribute below zero before dying. For example, a PE attribute of 10 allows the being to survive, although in a coma, until it is reduced to -20 points below zero.
* Gains a bonus of +2% per point of PE to save vs. coma / death. For example, a PE attribute of 8 gives a bonus of +16% to save vs. coma / death.
* Gains +1 to save vs. all types of magic for every five points of PE between 5 and 15, then for every three points between 18 and 21, and then for every two points between 23 and 45. For example, a PE attribute of 33 gives a bonus of +11 to save vs. all types of magic.
* Gains +1 to save vs. supernatural diseases, poisons, and toxins every three points of PE, starting at three. For example, a PE attribute of 22 gives a bonus of +7 to save vs. supernatural diseases, poisons, and toxins. This bonus is cumulative with the bonus to save vs. all types of magic when used against magical diseases, poisons, and toxins.
* The being is able to use any S.D.C. bonus from skills, such as Boxing and Wrestling, towards its M.D.C. total. If the being possesses supernatural PE and is still an S.D.C. structure, then it receives three times the normal bonus from these skills.
* If the host is an S.D.C. creature, such as a normal human, then hand-to-hand attacks they perform that inflict mega-damage, such as if they possessed supernatural strength, no longer causes damage to the attacker.
* If the PE attribute is used to determine the length of time for an activity, increase it by five times the listed amount per PE point. For example, normally a being with the Swimming skill can swim for a number of minutes equal to his PE attribute, but beings with supernatural PE can swim for a number of minutes equal to five times their PE attribute.

*Magical Nature (minor) by Cardiac
Mintha’s dracoDNA graft has effectively made her a creature of magic
and she is considered to be a minor supernatural creature. This supernatural nature gives her some benefits and hindrances.
-Resistant to Acids - half damage and effects and her skin heals up without scarring.
+2 vs normal diseases, poisons, toxins and gasses
+2 vs possession and horror factor
+1 save vs magic
+1D6+1 to any one attribute (not considered supernatural, but can be used to exceed the normal human limits)
+1D4x10 to PPE
The character's physical attacks (as well as damage caused by her other powers) are considered to be magical in nature.

*Longevity(minor)---Though most EShemar bionic and bio-aug procedures are known to extend the recipients’ life spans, in Mintha’s case her dragon DNA infusion seems to have affected her on a more fundamental level. Her telomeres have shown virtually no deterioration, suggesting that she may have inherited a draconic life span as well as draconic vitality. +1 PE, +3 save vs diseases, +5% save vs coma/death, and +1d4 PB.

-Physical Transformation--- +1d4 P.E., +1d6 P.B., +1d6 SPD, +2d6 Hit Points, +4d6 SDC, and +1d6 to P.S., plus it is considered to be Extraordinary.

-Mind/Body Attunement---The recipient’s nervous system is amped to be more in tune with themselves; +1 APM, +2 on initiative, +4 save versus Horror Factor, +1 save versus poison and disease, and +2 save versus possession.

-Hypnotic Brain Conditioning---- +5 save vs mind control, +4 save vs illusions and Horror Factor, +2 save vs all other psionic attacks. Impervious to Possession.

-+6 PP and is ambidextrous. +2 on initiative, automatic dodge, paired weapons, and add +5% to skills requiring manual dexterity and or agility such as acrobatics, climb, swim, pick locks, etc.

-Claws---Another recent manifestation of Mintha’s draconic DNA infusion is the ability to sprout hardened nail-claws from her fingers, especially when angry. Do 3d6 SDC baseline, +1 to strike, +2 to parry, +1 disarm, and +2 disarm.(Also, remember, as a being of magic, Mintha’s hand to hand strikes count against targets vulnerable to magic)

Vulnerabilities:
-The character shows up as a supernatural being on various scans.
-The character radiates her alignment (Psi-sensitives and those who can see auras can "see" her alignment clearly)
-Any special attacks that do extra damage to supernatural creatures affect her the same way.
-Spell or abilities that negate magic can also negate the character’s other meta-abilities (temporarily).
-Allergy/Susceptibility: Pure Iron. Mintha has a susceptibility to weapons of pure iron, which causes the equivalent of blood poisoning in her. Being exposed to the allergy causes 1D6 damage per melee (or an extra 1D6 damage per strike).

Magic:----
Psionics:(Minor)---A post-infusion manifestation of psionic abilities.
-Empathy(4 ISP, 100 ft range, 10 minutes)
- Hypersenses(by Iczer)
Range: Self
Duration: 1 minute per level (5 minutes)
Saving Throw: None
ISP: 4 for basic use, see below
The character can expend I.S.P. to enhance their senses. While all senses are heightened by the base power (+2 to Perception checks), the character can enhance this further.
Each additional 4 I.S.P. adds one of the following bonuses:
l Excellent Taste (65% chance of tasting "tasteless" poisons, +10% cooking)
l Hearing as good as a rabbit or wolf. (+2 initiative)
l Intuition (10% more "lucky" GM's call)
l Kinesthesia (+2 to roll, +10% maintain balance)
l Sensitive Touch (+10% to sleight of hand movements or delicate touch)
l Sight like an eagle (4 miles)
l Smell and track like a wolf (42%+3% per level +10% with blood)

Cybernetics/Bionics: None, aside from biotech support implants

Skills:(5th Level Spacer)
Basic Math 80%
Radio: Basic 85%
Spaceship Mechanics 67%
Paramedic 75%
Movement: Zero Gravity 98%
EVA 75%
Vacuum Survival(87 seconds)
Pilot: Hovercraft 75%
Pilot: Small Spacecraft 85%
Pilot: Spacecraft: General 80%
Navigation: Space 80%
Read Sensory Equipment 65%

Oxygen Systems 88%
Computer Operation 75%
Computer Programming 65%

Cooking 55%
MIxology 55%
Meditation
Philosophy: Shemarrian
Wardrobe & Grooming 70%
Gymnastics
Sense of Balance 58%
Work Parallel Bars&Rings 68 %
Back Flip 77%
Climb Rope 67%
Prowl 35%
Swimming 80%
Running
Climbing 75%/65%
Dancing 60%
Therapeutic Massage 60%

Language/Literacy:
American/English 98%/98%
Dragonese 75%/65%
Shemarrian 98%/98%

Hand to Hand: Expert
W.P. Paired Weapons
W.P. Energy Pistol (+3 strike)
W.P. Energy Rifle(+2 strike)


Actions/Attacks per Melee: 6
Initiative:+4
Strike: +7(+1 w/ claws)
Parry: +8(+2 w/ claws)
Dodge: +8
Automatic Dodge +5
Roll: +4
Pull Punch: +2(+2 w/ claws)
Disarm (+1 w/ claws)
Damage:+2
Saves:
+94% Vs Coma/Death
+18 Vs Magic
+14 Vs Supernatural Diseases, Poisons, and Toxins
+2 Vs Psionics
+5 Vs Mind Control
+4 Vs Illusions
+10 Vs Horror Factor
Impervious to Possession
Charm/Impress 92%
Charm/Intimidate 55%
+2 vs Toxic Gasses
Resistant to fire , cold and corrosives; does half damage.
Resistant to MDC drugs, toxins and poisons: When the character doesn't save against them, they only have 1/4 effect, damage and duration.
Completely immune to all normal diseases, poisons, and toxins.
Magic and psionics which affect the physical body (such as bio-manipulation) only have half normal duration.
Heals 10 times faster than normal .

Notable Possessions/Equipment:
*Skinsuit( 30 MDC and unfolds into an emergency vac-suit w/Laser Resistance and 4 hour air supply). Can be fitted with an over-suit carapace of armor plates(120 MDC).
Wardrobe with several changes of uniform
Deck Adhesion Slippers
Communications necklace/bracelet
WristComp w/ VR holoprojection display/keyboard and both engineering scanner and datafiles including Center Traveler’s Cocktail Guide, Tactile Accupressure for Beginners(Multispecies Edition) and Sergeant Cupcake’s Culinary Morale Boosters for 100 Different Species.
Laser Pistol(equiv. to HI-10 Heavy Laser Pistol)
Holo-romance VR plate
About 275,000 credits in gold coin, chain, and jewelry(she’ll use this only in an EXTREME case; otherwise she considers it part of her personal bedding).
Vehicle:
Doesn’t have a personal vehicle, but can request personal transportation from the Tribal motorpool as needed.

[taalismn]

EcoS-KRP-37 Dayat-Aquatic E-animal
(aka ‘sand-lurk’, ‘hoover-skate’, ‘pancake-ray’)

“Let’s go surfing now---”

“That wasn’t a cloak she was wearing, you idiot, that was a hoover-ray, and now she’s used it to get away from us and raise the alarm! So much for ‘picking off the lone beach-camper’! Back to the mother ship before they send every damned darkswimmer back after us!”

The Dayat is an e-animal based on the giant freshwater stingray, a fish native to Southeast Asia. With a large disc-shaped body spanning some eight feet in diameter, and a tail stretching it out to fourteen feet long, the stingray is an impressive enough sight to a person in the water, but the dayat takes it even further, incorporating dual air/water jets that allow it to pulse through the water or skim along the surface at high speed. Those seen flying have sometimes been confused with devil-rays or dragonfish.
Like the Galehawk and Cyvern, the Dayat occupies an uncertain place between a simple e-animal and a proper Warmount, as it is also intended to be ridden as a single-person water skimmer. With the rider either laying prone on the back of the Dayat, or standing upright with a twin-chain handle-grip, the Dayat makes a zippy water-taxi ride for the lighter chassis gynoids, androids, and cyborgs of the Tribes.
Dayats are frequently used to monitor waterways and patrol coastlines. They may also attach themselves to vessels of interest, and act as beacons designating the target vessel for tracking. They are frequently used in formations with Aquilon warmounts in patrols and raids.
The Dayat originated with the DarkWaters Tribe, but is also used by the Horrorwoods. It is also finding favor with the SkyeKlad, as the e-animal/ride can conceal itself in nearby sand or water of a clan sun-bask, remaining virtually invisible until needed.

Type: EcoS-KRP-37 Dayat
Class: Robotic Warbeast/Watchbeast, Aquatic
Crew: None; robot intelligence
MDC/Armor by Location:
Main Body 260
Tail 90
Height: 2.5 ft
Width: 8 ft
Length: 14 ft
Weight: 800 lbs
Cargo: None
Physical Strength: Equivalent to Robotic P.S. of 30
Powerplant: Nuclear w/ 10 year energy life
Speed: (Running) Can slither across land at a plodding 5 MPH
(Flying) Limited; can skim 1-3 ft above the water surface at 120 MPH.
(Space) Not possible
(Underwater) 50 MPH
Market Cost: Exclusive to the Ecotroz-Shemar
Systems of Note:
Full optical systems, laser targeting, passive nightvision, telescopic vision, thermal imaging, infrared, ultraviolet, and polarization filters. Also has motion and heat detection, built-in radar( 3 mile range) and other standard power armor-equivalent systems. Additional/special sensors may be built in by the creating Tinkers or at the behest of individual riders/owners.

*Bionic Cybernanite Repair Systems---ALL Dayat have the same bionic nanotech repair system that the Ecotroz Shemar have refitted themselves with, and which is becoming the standard among NeShemar as well. These systems repair 4d6 MD per hour, and can repair 40 MDC before needing material stocks to convert to MD repair material.

*Molecular Analyzer----Can sample the water for chemical traces, and can track targets underwater with a skill equivalent to 45%.

*EM Sensor---Equivalent to a metal detector and can be used to sense metal objects and electrical activity. Effective range of 100 ft (200 ft for active electrical activity).

*Chameleon Skin----Based on the Naruni Nomad Scout Robot, this system changes color in 1d4 melees and gives the 'bot a limited optical stealth ability(-20% to Detect Ambush and Detect Concealment rolls to find the thing). Also masks the ‘bot's thermal and infrared emissions, making heat sensors useless.

*Acoustic Stealth---The Dayat can swim very quietly, and its soft skin absorbs sonar energy, giving it stealth equivalent to a Prowl ability of 80%.

*Suction Pads---Allows the flat body of the ‘ray to suck up tight against rocks, hulls, and underwater structures, holding with an equivalent strength of PS 30.

*Sonar---Small sonar system and pinger(5 mile range).

Weapons Systems:
1) Eye Lasers(2)---Standard robotic eye lasers, common in the Shemarrian arsenal.
Range: 2,000 ft
Damage: 3d6 MD per single blast, or 6d6 MD per double blast
Rate of Fire: ECHH
Payload: Effectively Unlimited

2) Tail Stinger---The Dayat’s long tail sports a wicked extendable vibroblade that can b combined with a drug injector or electrical tazer.
Range: Melee
Damage: 2d4 MD
Options:
a) Drug Injector---Can be fitted with a vibro-stilleto needle for drugging MDC beings(stilleto does 1 SD/MD penetration damage, plus effects/damage from injected drugs/chemicals). 20 dose capacity.
b) Acid Injector---Does 1 MD per melee for 1d4 melees. 10 applications.
c) Nanite Sprayer---Sprays a dose of destructive mil-nano that tears apart materials. 3d6 MD per melee for 2d4 melees. 6 applications.
d) Tazer----Contact zapper. Range: Melee, Damage: Victims roll versus non-lethal poison or be -8 to strike, dodge, and parry for 2d4 melees
Rate of Fire: ECHH

Programming:
The Ecotroz have installed robotic AIs, then infected the matrix with a low-level Ecotroz sentience.
Typically has the following:
Underwater Navigation 40%(+5% per level of experience for Ecotroz entity)
Track and Hunt Sea Animals 50%(+5% per level of experience for Ecotroz entity)
PIlot Hovercycle 60%(+5% per level of experience for Ecotroz entity)(for purposes of maneuvering)
Prowl 80%
The Ecotroz entity can also pick up one Secondary skill at levels 2, 6, and 12 of experience, though the nature of the Dayat intelligence and design is such that it is limited to skill selections from Technical: Language(understanding) and Lore (Cattle & Animals, Indians, Juicers, Magic, Demons & Monsters, D-Bees, Faerie---at least with regards to identifying their relative threat level), and Wilderness( Hunting).

Actions/Attacks Per Melee: 5
Initiative +2 (+1 from the Ecotroz entity for a total of +3)
Dodge +3 (+4 dodge in flight)
Strike +1 (+2 w/ ranged weaponry)
Roll +3
Bite 1d6 MD
Wing Slap 4d6 SDC
Tail Lash 1 MD

Note: The Ecotroz intelligence fragment inhabiting the ‘bot gives the Dayat an aura and behavior more befitting a sentient being than a robot. The Dayat has a dog-like intelligence, able to work in packs or alone with equal proficiency. They are patient hunters, content to patrol long stretches of water, or lurk in ambush for days on end, waiting for something to come by.

The Ecotroz fragment does occasionally need sleep/rest...though they only need 2 hours of rest/meditation per 24 hours...they can push this, going without for as many days as they have I.Q. points(most Warmounts, unless otherwise noted, have an effective IQ rating of 8 ), but will have to go dormant for 4d6 hours after such exertion.
Note also that the Ecotroz-possessed ‘bot can infect other bots with the Ecotroz viral-entity, by bite or sustained touch(takes 3 attacks).

Options:
*Self-Destruct---Some Dayats have been lined with thermite-style explosives that do 1d4x10 MD to a 10 ft wide area, besides obliterating the robot itself. Some of those Dayats so fitted have been used as ‘smart’ mines, attaching themselves to the propulsion systems of enemy vessels and crippling them, or burning through their hulls.

[kronos]

Mintha Rodasi Dracolane (Thousand Dragons NeShemar NPC)


Physical Attributes/Superlatives:
IQ: 11
ME: 15
MA: 19
PS: (Considered to be Extraordinary)17
PP: 24
PE: 142
PB: 31
SPD: 26

PE of 142?! DAMN that brings a whole new meaning of healthy as a horse..

[taalismn]

Mintha Rodasi Dracolane (Thousand Dragons NeShemar NPC)


Physical Attributes/Superlatives:
IQ: 11
ME: 15
MA: 19
PS: (Considered to be Extraordinary)17
PP: 24
PE: 142
PB: 31
SPD: 26

PE of 142?! DAMN that brings a whole new meaning of healthy as a horse..

I shamelessly used a combination of a fan description for Supernatural P.E. and a fan-made power for HU.
But, before anybody declares 'MUNCHKIN'!, I hasten to point out the character is not a combat-tank, isn't all that smart or skilled, and is only modestly strong. However, she is freakin' TOUGH and can pull all-nighters like she was on a caffeine IV.
Then again, there is that whole dragon DNA mcguffin going.

[kronos]

Mintha Rodasi Dracolane (Thousand Dragons NeShemar NPC)


Physical Attributes/Superlatives:
IQ: 11
ME: 15
MA: 19
PS: (Considered to be Extraordinary)17
PP: 24
PE: 142
PB: 31
SPD: 26

PE of 142?! DAMN that brings a whole new meaning of healthy as a horse..

I shamelessly used a combination of a fan description for Supernatural P.E. and a fan-made power for HU.
But, before anybody declares 'MUNCHKIN'!, I hasten to point out the character is not a combat-tank, isn't all that smart or skilled, and is only modestly strong. However, she is freakin' TOUGH and can pull all-nighters like she was on a caffeine IV.
Then again, there is that whole dragon DNA mcguffin going.

I was just making sure it wasn't a typo. Long as we have a good reason (dragon heart for the win?)

[taalismn]

Quist(Silvermoons NeShemar NPC)

“I can’t believe it; I’m carrying a freakin’ SWORD these days, like some sort of nutbar KNIGHT! And I USE it! I’m just a drunger from the Bone who got drafted into the army, not some crazy galahad! I’m more lock, load, and blow it away, not all this fancy stabby $#!+, but the other day I diced up a bunch of lizardy creeps slaving along the coast---and I was defending a family of another sort of scalies from them too! Hanging around these Silvers, it does things to my head!”

Arthur Quist is a former Free Quebec Side Kick RPA . Quist was drafted into military service, rather than serve prison time for being part of a gang operating in Old Bones. While not the first or best pick, in the opinion of the army trainers, Quist DID possess a strong ‘follower’ attitude, at least with regards to running as part of a gang. Recruiting him into the Glitterboy Side Kick RPA program was seen as a good way of putting his skills and attitude to good use, and a strong dose of military discipline would polish him up. That decision seemed to work out well, for a time, as Quist proved himself an apt hand at using the strengths of his power armor in support of his new ‘gang’, but secretly Quist resented the hell out of his Glitterboy commanding officer, a Capitol-bred blueblood who treated his men like personal servents(or dogboys). Numerous times during the brief war with the Coalition States, Quist’s assigned GB pilot-commander had certain ideas of what constituted ‘teamwork’ and expected and used his Side Kick subordinates as meatshields, ordering them into the thick of fighting, rather than as flankers and support elements. Quist’s loyalty to the Army began to wear thin after two of his fellow Side Kicks were blown away in combat, while their GB commanding officer suffered minimal damage, and barely acknowledged their sacrifice afterwards. This pattern was repeated several times, with the GBs’ support elements taking the brunt of casualties, while the commanding officer stayed at a distance, and reaped, in Quist’s opinion, undeserved, commendations for the combat actions.
It was during an aggressive and intrusive ‘reconnaisance’ run into territory south of the Saint Lawrence, after the cessation of hostilities with the CS, that Quist’s unit ran into trouble when it was ambushed by an unusually strong and belligerent war party out of the Magic Zone. Believed to be either hardcore ex-Tolkeenites out for revenge or an early intrusion of the Minion War, the group had a strong Infernal component that caught the Quebecois offguard. The scout party’s three GB6-96 transports were soon forced down, and surrounded, and the survivors fighting for their lives as the forces of darkness closed in. What happened next isn’t clear, but at some point apparently the unit was written off, because both FQ- and CS-based long range missile batteries rained a bombardment down on their position. Quist has muddled memories of what transpired; whether any of the transports managed to get aloft and called in fire, or, sensing they were doomed, the officers called in fire on themselves.
However, a scouting patrol of Silvermoon EShemarrians, attracted by the fighting, came poking around from across their ‘border’, and found a small party of Free Quebec soldiers, a badly wounded Corporal Quist among them, at some remove from the main crash site, apparently cut off from the main body of the patrol, or trying to escape from it. Though nominally not at war with Free Quebec, when a barely conscious and arguably deranged Quist took a shot at the EShemar, they used it as an excuse to claim him as a prisoner and made him a bondsman.
But first they had to save his life. Almost as an experiment, the Silvermoon Tinkers gave Quist a full conversion cyborg body made from Side Kick PA parts(arguably because they had nothing else on hand, having been away from a more comprehensive bionics-equipped Trinity Module cluster).
Though initially terrified of the d-bees he’d fallen into the hands of, Quist soon found that he was actually treated BETTER by the Shemarrians than his old employers, and being a bondsman of the EShemar was pretty much the same deal as his service with the FQ army. As arrogant and noble-happy as the Silvermoons could be, though, they didn’t ask him to tank rail gun rounds for them.
Offered an opportunity to be repatriated, Quist gave it a pass, both because he wasn’t certain of the reception he’d get back in Free Quebec, and because he really didn’t have anything to go back to in his opinion. Going along with the Shemarrians and their new nation, especially after watching them chew into several Magic Zone bandit gangs and Splugorth Minions, seemed like a good idea, better than the alternatives.
Quist has been making a place for himself in the ranks of the Silvermoons’ cadre, acting as a scout, fast flanker, and forward spotter, as he SHOULD have as a soldier of Free Quebec. He’s been rewarded with several Upgrades for his service and bravery under fire. While he’s occasionally thought of sneaking back to Old Bones to visit his old stomping grounds, he’s usually too busy with Tribal duties to actually do so.
Though later offered a cyberhumanoid body, Quist has refused, at least for now. In reality, Quist is aware that a substantial portion of his brain is now an AI implant, and he has developed the rather irrational fear that if he leaves his Side Kick body, that part of his mind will be left behind.

Level of Experience:6th Level Side Kick RPA
Rank: ne-Alten(Footsoldier)
Race: Human
Alignment: Unprincipled(was Anarchist)
Land of Origin: Old Bones, Free Quebec
Age: 36
Sex: Male
Height: 7 ft
Weight: 1,100 lbs
Physical Description/Appearance:
Quist’s cyborg body is a patched-together Side Kick power armor with the Free Quebec insignia polished off and replaced with the Silvermoon rayed crescent. His helmet can lift up to reveal a dark-skinned human face and brown eyes.
Disposition:
Self-confident, and occasionally something of a smartass, but deferential to authority as long as he can trust it, and that authority doesn’t threaten or impose on his own self-interests. Follows orders, but tends to look out for Number One(himself). It’s debatable whether Quist might have eventually deserted the Free Quebec army, given his superiors’ treatment, on his own without being part of some other group or the assistance of another gang or group to draw his attention. Initially, that’s all the Silvermoons were; another bigger gang that treated him better.
Since joining the Silvermoons, however, Quist finds himself trying to act a lot more nobly and responsible than he used to. He’s rather more tolerant of non-humans, and acts more selflessly with increasing frequency.
Physical Attributes/Superlatives:
IQ: 10
ME: 17
MA: 12
PS: 26
PP: 24
PE: 21
PB: 6
SPD: (Running) 40 MPH
(Leaping) 12 ft up/across standing job, 60 ft up/300 ft across jet-assisted leap, and can hit speeds of 150 MPH leap-jumping.
(Flying) Hover to 120 MPH, maximum altitude of 600 ft
(Underwater) Can swim using thrusters at 25 MPH, or run along the bottom at 10 MPH. Maximum depth of 1,200 ft.

(ISP):---
(PPE): 3

Hit Points: 37
SDC:----
MDC/Armor by Location:
Hands(2) 25 each
Arms(2) 100 each
Legs(2) 135 each
Leg Directional Thrusters(4) 15 each
Head 100
Forehead Spotlight 5
Main Body 280
Jetpack Main Thruster (1) 90
Jetpack Lower Thrusters(2) 30 each
Horror Factor: ---
Special Abilities/Characteristics/Powers:
Full conversion cyborg using power armor as a body frame
Magic:---
Psionics:----
Cybernetics/Bionics:
Has all the standard features of Free Quebec Power Armor( radar and targeting with 10 mile range, laser targeting, 500 mile radio communications, loudspeaker)
*Life Support---12 hour closed cycle(Recyclers)
*Spotlight---1,000 ft range
*Language Translator
*Gyro-compass
*Modulated voice synthesizer
*Multi-optic eyes
*180-Degree Vision---The ‘borg’s visor-like vision optics effectively give it 180-degree vision. In terms of game stats, this translates into +1 to initiative, +1 to dodge.

*Laser Range Finder---Determines range of designated objects. 10,000 ft.

*Laser Target Illumination System---Paints the target for laser-guided weaponry. Range: 10,000 ft.

*Remote Targeting Link---Allows any appropriately equipped units within communications range to use the cyborg as a ‘spotter’ for ranged attacks, such as the Silvermoons’ new artillery units. Use Quist’s bonuses to strike.

*Universal headjack with amplified hearing and sound filtration systems.

*Psionic Electro-Magnetic Dampener Implants---Standard issue for specfor neshemar; +1 to save versus all psionic attacks, +2 save versus possession, and +1 to save versus magic illusions and mind control.

*Hardened Circuitry---The cyborg’s systems are shielded against EMP and other power-surge disruptions.

*Laser-Reflective Plating(Lasers do HALF damage)

*Cybernanite Self-Repair Systems---These are a combination of the CNRRS and MiRR systems and can repair 40 MDC of internal systems repair, twice, or 60 MDC of armor damage. Unlike the EShemar nanite self-repair systems, Quist CANNOT recharge his SRS by consuming MDC materials, but must have the system recharged/refurbished by a Tinker or Tribal technician.

*Shoulder Weapons Clamp

*Ambidexterity Boost--- Part of Quist’s reconstruction required replacing a good chunk of his nervous system. This had the useful side effect of boosting his reflexes and giving him the ability to use both hands with equal proficiency. +1 APM, +1 parry, and automatically gets W.P. Paired Weapons(reflected in Bonus stats).

*Combat Computer--Triax-inspired system, improving combat reflexes. Part of the mental augments that have Quist concerned about how much of his brain is actually hardware.

*Database Programming---Quist also has an onboard database similar to Triax Robot Programming. The EShemar are somewhat better at programming interactive systems, so the skill percentage is slightly better, but is still essentially an interactive tutorial guiding the cyborg step-by-step through an action. See Skills below for the programmed skills.

Weapons Systems:
1) Wrist Lasers(2)----The Silvermoons added a pair of wrist blasters to Quist’s bionic arms in emulation of their own vambrace lasers.
Range: 2,000 ft
Damage: 2d6 MD per blast
Rate of Fire: ECHH
Payload: Effectively Unlimited

2) Blinder Laser----The Sidekick’s helmet spotlight has been modified with a flash-strobe mode
Range: 100 ft and affects a 10 ft wide area.
Damage: Those without eye protection or polarized vision will be affected similar to a Blinding Flash spell; -10 to strike, parry, dodge for 1d4 melees.
Rate of Fire: ECHH
Payload: Effectively Unlimited

Skills: (6th Level Side Kick RPA)
Language/Literacy:
English 90%/98%
French 90%/98%
Shemarrian 65%/30%
Land Navigation 70%
Radio: Basic 85%
Pilot: Automobile 87%
Pilot Jetpack 79%
Pilot Hovercycle 98%
Pilot Truck 79%
Pilot: Hovercraft 95%
Pilot Tank & APC 75%
Robot Combat: Elite(Sidekick PA)
Read Sensory Equipment 75%
Weapons Systems 85%
Camouflage 55%
Horror Desensitization
First Aid 75%
Automotive Mechanics 65%
Lore: Demons and Monsters 55%
Lore: D-Bee 55%
Math: Basic 75%
Computer Operation 70%
Streetwise 44%
Parkour/Free-Running
Athletics
Boxing
Running
Climbing 70%/60%
Hand to Hand Expert
W.P. Knife(+2 strike, +3 parry, +3 strike w/ throw)
W.P. Sword (+2 strike, +1 parry, +1 strike w/ throw)
W.P. Paired Weapons
W.P. Energy Pistol(+3 strike)
W.P. Energy Rifle(+3 strike)
W.P. M.D. Heavy Weapons(+2 strike)

Database Programming:(Not NOT increase with level advancement)
Wilderness Survival 45%
Identify Plants and Fruits 45%
Intelligence 45%

Actions/Attacks per Melee: 7
Initiative: +2
Strike: +7
Parry: +12
Dodge:+12
Roll: +8
Pull Punch:+6
Disarm: +1
+6 to Vault
+3 to Back Flip
+1 to Somersault
+2 to Maintain Balance
+1 to Grab
Critical Strike on Unmodified 18-20
Automatic Knockout on Natural 20
Damage: +11
Restrained Punch 1d6+11 SDC
Full Strength Punch 3d6+11 SDC
Head Butt 2d4 SDC
Kick 4d6+11 SDC
Power Punch/Kick(2 attacks) 1d4 MD
Jump Kick/Leap Attack(2 attacks) 2d4 MD
Body Block/Ram(2 attacks) 1d4 MD
Jetpack-assisted Body Block(2 attacks) 1d6 MD
Saves:
+12% Vs Coma/Death
+3 Vs Magic
+3 Vs Poison
+2 Vs Psionics
+1 Vs Horror Factor(Even on an unsuccessful save versus Horror Factor, the trainee only suffers HALF penalties(effect, duration) for being frightened)
+2 Vs Insanity
, +3 Vs Possession
+1 Vs Magic illusions and mind control.

Notable Possessions/Equipment:
*Survival Pack and First Aid Kit
*Folding Camouflage Sheet
*Grenade Bandolier with 12 grenades
*EShe-ScrPR05 ”BoneBreaker” Personal Cannon--- The Silvermoons either couldn’t or wouldn’t replace the Side Kick armor’s QST-98 ‘Kicker’ grenade launcher, so they gave Quist a Bonebreaker with a smaller payload, but better range. The damage and payload may be less, but Quist appreciates being able to engage opponents at greater range.
MDC: 75
Weight: 45 lbs
Range:(standard) 3,000 ft
(RPG) 4,500 ft
Damage:(Frag rounds) 4d6 MD to a 12-foot radius.
A 3-round burst of frag shells does 1d4x10 to a 15-foot radius
A 5-round burst of frag shells does 1d6x10 to a 20-foot radius
A 10-round burst of frag shells does 2d6x10 to a 40-foot radius.

(AP rounds) 1d4x10 to a 3-foot blast radius.
A burst of 3 AP shells does 2d4x10 to a 5-foot radius
A burst of 5 AP shells does 2d6x10 to a 6-foot area
A 10-round AP burst does 3d6x10 to an 8-foot area

( Plasma rounds) 1d4x10+10 to a 5-foot radius.
A burst of 3 plasma shells does 3d4x10 to an 8-foot blast radius
A burst of 5-plasma shells does 3d6x10 to a 10-foot radius.
A 10-round plasma burst does 4d6x10+10 to a 15-foot radius!!

(RPG-AP Gyrojet) 1d4x10 to a 2-foot blast radius.
A burst of 3 AP Gyrojet shells does 2d4x10 to a 4-foot radius
A burst of 5 AP Gyrojet shells does 2d6x10 to a 5-foot area
A 10-round AP Gyrojet burst does 3d6x10 to an 6-foot area
Rate of Fire: ECHH
Payload: 20 rd drum; typically carries 3 drum magazines on external belting.

*Silvermoon Eshe-LPP800 Laser Pulse Rifle---This is simply a refined and improved version of the heritage-era She-LPP80 Laser Pulse Rifle, with better range, damage, and efficiency. This weapon is commonly issued to Silvermoon NeShemar ‘militias’ and affiliated forces. CAN be fitted with a vibro-bayonet. Quist carries one with a folding stock and headjack-linked smartsight.
Range: 3,750 ft
Damage: 1d6+1 MD per single shot, 4d6+4 MD per five shot burst
Rate of Fire: Standard
Payload: 90 single blasts or 18 pulse blasts per E-clip. Can also be connected to the cyborg’s powerplamt for unlimited shots.
Bonuses: +1 to strike

*Vibrosaber---2d6 MD
2x Vibro-bayonets---2d4 MD; at least one will be silver-plated.

Has about 32,000 credits in various valuables he’s picked of the battlefield, or been awarded as his share from fallen enemies.

Vehicle:
‘Co-owns’ a reconditioned Reloader Hover Vehicle that’s part of the Tinselen Caravan.

[taalismn]

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I was just making sure it wasn't a typo. Long as we have a good reason (dragon heart for the win?)

Wait, sorry....failing eyesight...You're right, it -is- a typo. It should only read '42'. Fixed.