Mechanical Frames Mk. IV Interest Check
As the years pass, the countries that our world once knew slowly began to fade. As a race, humanity never really grew closer together, but the petty ties that they held on to with their land faded in most countries. A few of them turned to a state of extreme fascism in complete contrast to other countries, especially Japan, China and Russia. The world's technology grew in the technical sense, but the resources that we relied on to run them were being depleting at an alarming rate and alternatives have not been found. On the year 2241, Robert Hughes discovered a resource that had been in the planet all along, but was never previously discovered because of it didn't "exist" in the previously known laws of physics. In certain areas of the Earth's crust, you would sift through the dirt and cycling it through a specialized compression chamber that would extract the resource before returning the rest into the ground. This resource, or energy, is then compacted and sucked into a special container. When this container is spun, it becomes a brilliant green orb that is cold to the touch: Humanity now harnesses pure, clean and most importantly, limitless energy. Hughes called it Flux, believing that the resource is a byproduct of Earth rotating on it's axis, while it takes eons to produce naturally, the ability it has to produce energy indefinitely balances it out. It was found that the faster Flux is rotating, the more energy it produces each second, but it becomes unstable and there is no way to stop a spinning Flux core. This instability can lead to it running wild and breaking free of it's containment unit, shredding everything that the energy touches until it becomes too thin, at which point it evaporates into nothing.
Decades had passed since the discovery of Flux and technology was no longer hindered by a source of power, leading to the creation of cities in the sky, upheld by Float Generators. Now having escaped the pollute world that they had created over a millennium, humanity began to focus on the appearance of their cities and even designing them differently for unique feels, developing a strong desire of travel around the world. However, this life of luxury and excitement in the skies brought a great divide between the white and blue collar jobs in the communities. Those who worked in businesses went to the skies, while the miners and the back-breakers stayed ground side on Mining Platforms. These platforms, or better known as Plates, have several drills that serve as pillars that serve as support beams and mining tools. The cities became so covered with the filth and smoke that was left behind as the coal plants burnt down and the riots had erupted during what became known as the Great Divide, where people took to the newly built Sky Cities and the remaining some 80% of the world stayed to work on the Plates. The life aboard one of these immense industrial cities is cruel, the shaking that occurs when the drills reach a dense mass of Earth and are the equivalence of the most severe quakes created by the grinding tectonic plates around the world.
However, the need for something to maneuver the growing hazards of mining Flux around drills and the random debris that was generated from the odd work. What were created were Mechanical Frames, several stories of electronics and metal that allowed for a very versatile vehicle to quickly manage the area around the drills. This invention grew much attention however, as the workers on the Plates from all around the world began using them in arranged fights for money. The authorities aboard the mining platforms could not handle the fights as weapons began to be introduced, so the creation of Mechanical Frames in the Sky Cities began and were released to the Plates to preserve order. At first, the streets were a riot, there were times when up to ten Frames would be fighting one of these Sky-Made Mechanical Frames, that became well known as Judges and end the skirmishes with a death sentence to any who opposed them. If any Judge was ever killed it would seem like two more would come to take it's stead as the High Class began to grow scared of the Low Class and began supporting the Judges. The same was true for the Lower Class feeling oppressed by the Higher Class, feeding towards this rapid rise in rebellion. It was a losing battle, but it sparked into the petty wars that never seem to end even in the worst of circumstances.
The wars of the now, year 2513, exist all over the planet between Plate Cities in the barren wastelands that the world has become as a result of harvesting Flux. Even arranged Arena Matches that are fully legalized, have grown very popular on the Plates and even those in the Sky Cities have taken an interest. Tournaments have even been held where Mechanical Frames are pitted against each other in elimination matches up until the final rounds, where they are reverted to one on ones. Death Wavers prior to entry are mandatory, but ejection systems were quickly developed as the needs for them rose exponentially. Once it started becoming a televised sport, something awful happened...
A race of extraterrestrials invaded the Earth. It was discovered twenty years after they had invaded the planet and killed off a fourth of all life on Earth, that their entire ecosystem revolves around harvesting carbon-based life, breaking it down to a refined state and using this product for reproduction of their species/technology. The extraterrestrial life forms were appropriately named Locust, given their arthropod-like looks and minds. Further research showed that even with the several different species of Locust, they all posses virtually the same organ-system as a mammal except for a reproduction system. Instead, their digestion system doesn't extract minerals from what it consumes, it instead breaks it all down into a gray substance that it secretes into their Hives. The Hives are dual purpose organic structures, used for intergalactic travel and a nest for their species to reproduce. To date, only three Hives have been destroyed since the arrival of the Locust, each of these year-long campaigns have been named after the area that the Hive occupied. To date, nine hives have landed from outside of the Earth's atmosphere, twelve have been created by the Locust here on Earth, totaling twenty-one hives to have existed. When the world began using Nuclear devices on the Hives, the remaining fourteen quickly adapted and changed their structure in days, making themselves immune to Nuclear weapons. This has been proving to be the decisive factor in their ability to survive the invasion: Their ability to rapidly adapt to new weapons and tactics, combined with their rate of reproduction, is horrifying.
There are five known species of Locust: Drones, Tanks, Overseers, Hives, and Bombards. Even though their design is insect-like, they are heavily based off flesh, blood and bones, similar to many animals on earth. The Hive itself is an actual species and this was discovered during the first Hive Campaign when it was sieged, as it possessed veins, bones and reacted to damage incurred on it. The average size of a Hive is thirty thousand meters in width and towering at seventy three thousand meters in height. Overseers are rarely leave a Hive except when the Locusts traverse long distances, as they act as information relays between all Locusts, making them a high priority in defensive situations. They closely resemble a centipede, possessing eyes all over it's body, it is forty meters in length and twelve meters in height. Drones are the most abundant species of Locust, towering over humans at three meters tall. If you were to take a human, give it arms for legs with two elbow joints in each arm and it's torso is also the head. Tanks are not as abundant as Drones with a common rule of thumb being for every Tank, there exists twenty four Drones. They are twenty meters in height and thirty five meters in width, possessing a large berth. The Bombards are not much bigger than Drones, standing at six meters and possessing a similar weight to Tanks. However, they create extremely durable meter-long spikes inside their body that is shot out of a pore on their body with extreme precision and speed. The existence of Bombards has made Locust extremely effective in dealing with aerial units and are the biggest fear of Sky Cities. Locusts will never harm another living Locust, so using them as shields and hostages, has been extremely effective though it can be just as dangerous.
Even with all of this going on... Awful rumors have been spreading about the true nature of Flux, though nobody dare repeats the words unless they themselves believe it. There is just no way it could be true. The underground terrorist group that has spread the rumors and are said to have caused the disabling of three Mining Platforms, called Deep, have been the leading cause of inter-human conflict. The Hughes company, who still hold a monopoly on the world even in it's current state, are wasting much money/time on silencing this organization instead of putting it towards fighting off the Locust. After decades of fighting and tremendous losses, the restriction that only males can fill combat-focused jobs was lifted and women are now commonplace in infantry/frame units. The Mechanical Frames that were gaining such popularity are now re-purposed for combat against the Locust, proving to be useful and boost morale significantly. There have been many complaints that they are used to attract young volunteers into service, but a mother's words can only be heard so far in a desperate struggle for survival. As such, roles have been defined in each squad of Mechanical Frames, or MFS for short. They are Vanguard, Vanguard Support and Rear Guard, four of each exist in every squad. Vanguards are the units which perform primarily close-quarters combat and draw enemies towards themselves is their primary purpose. Vanguard Supports are exactly what their name suggests, they assist the Vanguards from a short distance and suppress as many enemy units as they can. While Vanguards are coveted as the most dangerous role, Vanguard Supports are the ones that hold the highest amount of confirmed kills. Last is the Rear Guard which is the most difficult position to perform properly, as it requires a balance between aiding the Vanguards and Vanguard Supports, watching every field of view with the most alert state of mind possible.
The three largest suppliers of Mechanical Frames and their parts, would be Quarry, Typhoon and Nashira. Quarry is focused on powerful weapons, defensive parts and structural durability. They are the largest company in terms of personnel and factories, making their surplus the largest. Most of the Frames on Plates are Quarry-made or most of the parts are anyway, their motto being that everything they create is made to last. Quarry is primarily a Eurasia company. Typhoon is your typical-all rounders, with more than enough people to keep the company in the sights of those who want a Frame made to get the job done well. This company is responsible for the Judges as well, as they are the ones in charge of the constant maintenance and gladly do so, as the funds they receive from Judges are significant. Typhoon is an Americas-based company, but they also have many European influence. This is leaving Nashira who are focused on speed and ranged weaponry, having the most advanced tech of the three, not to mention the most expensive. They make most of their money from after-market parts and equipment, not to mention the prototypes they discard for not meeting their standards. Nashira is entirely made from Oriental factories, but was created and is curated by the remnants of Japan. There are many other companies that create MFs, but are nowhere near the massive size of the three leaders, some smaller companies are Ming-Da, Ether Electronics, Fafnir and Tyzeal.
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Stepping off the naval ship, you find yourself falling into the formation that is being assembled directly adjacent to the embarkation area and dropping your bag at your foot. Standing at attention while lieutenant takes count of the others who just set foot ashore, once she is satisfied, she marches the formation toward a long runway, halting them behind two similar formations before turning them to face a hangar where a podium has been set up with dozens of base personnel have been standing in wait. Once another formation repeats the same behind them, a man with a heavy build approaches the podium and clears his throught, "Welcome to United Army Forward Operation Base, Juliet-Three. Everyone on this base has the responsibility of defending our neighboring regions here in Eastern China, directly responsible for the Locust that emerge from Hive Seventeen. You were deployed here without any concern for you color or heritage; You are a member of the United Army and a defender of Humanity, nobody can tell you any differently. The term race has taken on a new meaning these past twenty years, remember why that is," He took a step back from the podium, taking with him the two inch end of the microphone from the stand and began strolling a few meters in each direction as he continued his address.
"Some of you may still hold true to the heritage that has been passed down through your family, and you have every right to take pride in it, do not let it distract you from aiding your fellow human being. Everyone stationed here at Juliet-Three are soldiers, the same as you, volunteers. They come from all over the world, what level of society they were born to does not matter either, they threw that away to fight for everyone's right to live." This was when his face lost the grim look it had been giving us since the start of his first form of address, to a much lighter one that ended with a smile with closed-off eyes, "I am Lieutenant Colonel Mathis, your new Commanding Officer and CO of this base. Remember these words as I welcome you to Juliet-Three. Hold formation until your new Platoon Leaders arrive. Humanitas Persiste." The ones who led us in formation called for a salute and the CO returned it, leaving us to the disembarkation officers who let us rest at ease, not to move from this area until we were called out by name from our new Platoon Leaders.
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Any ideas on giving some more definition to the series are welcome. This is mainly just a re-imagination of the old idea behind my older series, Deep Mechs Mk.I, Mk.II and Mk.III with a new central theme inspired by Muv-Luv Alernative. That was the problem with the previous incarnations, is that it focused too heavily on a central plot that didn't really push itself further. For us, you will be sent through secondary training at your first duty station after two months of basic training, that was followed by three months of MSF training and assigned to a MSF Squad that had sustained heavy losses in their last confrontation with the Locust. Everyone is a Second Lieutenant, since that is the rank of a MSF pilot straight out of school.
As for rank structure: Second Lieutenant < First Lieutenant < Captain < Major < Lieutenant Colonel < Colonel < Generals. Do not think that because we are in the military that it is extremely strict, because in these times, most regulations that currently exist are done away with. Hair and facial hair have no restrictions, uniforms are somewhat inforced but once you are in the service for a while, a lot of things are overlooked. Even communication amongst squads and platoons are generally easy-going, going so far as to never use ranks.
You shouldn't have to worry about any ranks other than officers.
For any clarification needed on anything related to the RP, just PM me or ask me flat out here in the OOC, I will happily break it down for you. Hold off on actually creating character sheets for now, this is mostly for my reference and to give you an idea of what I am looking for once it is finalized.
Character
Name:
Age:
Sex:
Class: (Lower, Middle or Upper, this NEVER changes, think of it like a blood-type and can be the source of much hate)
Appearance: (Pictures work fine)
Personality: (Paragraph please)
Alliance: (Country, City, Land, World, etc.)
Fighting Style: (Includes on foot and in MFS)
Position: (Vanguard, Vanguard Support, Rear Guard)
History: (Three Paragraphs please)
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Originally Posted by VanceXentan
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