*Eyes pop out of sockets* Good lord that's alot to read. I was excited when I saw the name because there very, VERY, few honest anthromorph RPs out there that take themselves seriously. the Mech side I wasn't intimidated by....at first. But when I saw the unofficial wiki pages on this RP that are mandatory reads, I was blown away. I'm still excited about this RP. I have a question as to how open the different types of characters are.

I apologize in advance for not reading the lore pages, I was just curious if it's possible...NOT to have a mech? Maybe just be a specialized ground soldier or an engineer? I have a few ideas why there would be special foot soldiers, and the engineer/mechanic idea is sort of a given with giant machines running around. I personally don't want to be RPing being in a mech at all. It's not my cup of tea. But the overall idea sounds awesome.

In more detail for the foot soldier. each side could produce soldiers whose sole purpose is to 'assassinate' mech pilots on the field. They'd be expert climbers, know the weaknesses of most mech designs, and would have to go through rigorous training. They would usually work in two person teams, so if one fails, another has the chance to carry the mission out. Then there are the solo soldiers who have been specifically picked out of the pool of soldiers to take mechs down on their own. Their goal wouldn't be to just kill the pilot, but to take the mech out of commission as well.

Again, just an idea. If it's not possible to not have a mech, I wish you all a good time. I'll still be reading the RP,nonetheless.

I'm pretty sure someone chose to be a helicopter pilot instead of a mech pilot in the last incarnation of the RP, so it may be a possibility. You'll have to check in with Silver about it though. He's a pretty open guy, so I think your chances are pretty good! ;)

Esailia said
*Eyes pop out of sockets* Good lord that's alot to read. I was excited when I saw the name because there very, VERY, few honest anthromorph RPs out there that take themselves seriously. the Mech side I wasn't intimidated by....at first. But when I saw the unofficial wiki pages on this RP that are mandatory reads, I was blown away. I'm still excited about this RP.

Hi, there. I'm glad you like what I've done here, and I know what you mean. I found it extremely hard to find an anthro RP I was really interested in that had the level of detail that would interest me, as well as the depth and some kind of seriousness and plot to it that would excite me too. And I've been roleplaying for quite some time.
GEARs was an idea I'd been throwing around for a while, and when I posted it, I was surprised by how much of a good reaction it got - multiple times, since it's been through several incarnations on the old forum too.

I do have a current player cap of ten, but I might bump it up to 12, so you can join in, and we have one more open spot. I am waiting for Ridlins and Minder to post their characters too, so if one of them drops out, then it's fine too. Since you spoke so highly of the game too, I'm inclined to give you a spot.

I have a question as to how open the different types of characters are.I apologize in advance for not reading the lore pages, I was just curious if it's possible...NOT to have a mech? Maybe just be a specialized ground soldier or an engineer?

I would prefer to have people playing GEAR pilots, as it simple makes things easier for everyone to be involved in the same action in the same place at the same time. However, as Rafale said, we did have Cartwright playing a helo pilot in the last game, and there's certainly other possibilities (just so long as they don't take the place of GEARs as the focus, though that's obviously not likely to be the case).

(Soldier explanation)

One of the things I mention in the explanation of a GEAR is that they're not the battlefield behemoths that mecha are in most other works with them in. In this setting, they're a bit more like regular combat vehicles; they take damage, need extensive maintenance, and aren't invulnerable super-weapons.
Most GEARs are only two-to-three times bigger than a person, and can be easily damaged, if not outright destroyed by shoulder-fired rockets, and even heavy machine-gun fire or anti-materiel rifles.
We do spend a reasonable amount of time outside of the cockpit, and working with other forces - such as infantry - is one of the main things I want to emphasise in GEARs to make it more well, I hate to use the word 'realistic', but you know what I mean.
How would you feel about playing the leader of a Fireteam of infantry? You could have 3 other NPC's to control, and their transport (a jeep or hummvee-esque vehicle with a heavy weapon), that work alongside the squadron? It'd be handy for capturing objectives, rescuing people, laying ambushes etc etc. You'd have a full loadout of weapons and equipment we could collaborate on too.
I'd picture them to be more Special Forces-types than just line grunts too, so you could end up doing things like observation roles and meeting up with contacts in a crowd and such as well, before passing on the info for the rest of us to act on. It'd add another layer to the overall setting and plot.

I've been a squad leader of a NPC squad in RPs before, and it does help VERY much for my post sizes. I'm not the best RPer out there, and I find msyelf without a paragraph in my posts without bad filler content. But with two+ characters to play with, I'd be a happy camper playing 'second fiddle' to the mechs in a platoon. I also have ideas sprouting in my head as to different load-outs and different vehicles the small squad would use already.

I also imagine the mechs to be less of an 'average' thing on the battlefield. Sure there are plenty, but I imagine they are a larger expense than normal grunts. I could RP the perspective of those without mechs.

Do you mind if I reserve a spot, only IF you plan on upping the player cap. If not, it's totally fine :). The RP that I've recently started appears to to have turned into a sinking ship, and I can't save it even if I tried :(. Hence, my schedule may start opening up in the future.

It's just that I need time to read through all of the files to see if anything has changed from the original. I also need time to re-write Clayton's sheet, because I just realized I don't have a back up and will need to start from scratch -_-.

Again, it's completely your call if you want to allow me in or not.

Esailia said
I've been a squad leader of a NPC squad in RPs before, and it does help VERY much for my post sizes. I'm not the best RPer out there, and I find msyelf without a paragraph in my posts without bad filler content. But with two+ characters to play with, I'd be a happy camper playing 'second fiddle' to the mechs in a platoon. I also have ideas sprouting in my head as to different load-outs and different vehicles the small squad would use already.I also imagine the mechs to be less of an 'average' thing on the battlefield. Sure there are plenty, but I imagine they are a larger expense than normal grunts. I could RP the perspective of those without mechs.

Yeah, the GEARs are part of a combined force in all the militaries on the planet. Infantry are still the mainstay of a military, and then the mecha fill the gap between the infantry and heavier vehicles like tanks.
It's all in the background docs, give them a read and you'll see where and how everything fits together, or at least have a much better idea of it.
I've got some ideas of on what vehicles etc. would be in use, so as I said - if we collaborate on it a bit, then it'll be fine.

Rultaos said
Do you mind if I reserve a spot, only IF you plan on upping the player cap. If not, it's totally fine :). The RP that I've recently started appears to to have turned into a sinking ship, and I can't save it even if I tried :(. Hence, my schedule may start opening up in the future. It's just that I need time to read through all of the files to see if anything has changed from the original. I also need time to re-write Clayton's sheet, because I just realized I don't have a back up and will need to start from scratch -_-.Again, it's completely your call if you want to allow me in or not.

I'm more than happy for you to join in - I'll tag the last two open spots with your name and Esailia's, and we'll call it closed at that point. I won't be starting until everyone's who expressed an interest has posted a character or at least told me whether they're going to be or not, so there's no rush there, and I'd rather not start and then have to rejigger everything on the fly to squeeze people in.

EDIT: I've added Rultaos and Esailia to the list of current players/characters in the OP, and updated the message to say that we are now closed to new applicants. Anyone else who's interested and not already here will have to go on a waiting list.

Character Sheet
Character Name: Shona Bell
Age: 22
Species: Bat
Appearance: As is typical for Arvarans of her species, Shona is short in stature and light in build, standing at 5’ 1’’. Her fur is dark gray, with darker hair kept at a tidy chin-length. Her eyes are amber in color, and a pair of large, sensitive ears tops her head. Small skin flaps run between her fingers and down her arms and sides – vestigial wing membranes, entirely useless for flight. Her eyes are quite sensitive to light, which tends to be a double-edged sword. While she has excellent low-light vision, bright light leaves her with headaches, forcing her to wear sunglasses when venturing out during the middle of the day.

Personality: Dedicated and patriotic, Shona is generally friendly and cheerful, almost bubbly in demeanor. She has a knack for multi-tasking, quick thinking and an analytical, inquisitive mind. However, she has a tendency to occasionally lock up and over-think in stressful situations, running possible scenarios through her head when she should be reacting.

This is largely an issue of experience, or lack of it - due to the circumstances of her deployment, she has logged many hours in a GEAR, but has spent little of them in direct combat. Painfully aware of this shortcoming, and driven by a substantial stubborn streak, she takes her job very seriously. She often studies tactical breakdowns in her down time, and spends far more than her mandated time in the GEAR simulators, trying to hone her instincts and skills.

Personal History: Shona was born into a well-of military family in central Landren. Her father is was GEAR pilot, and she grew to idolize him despite his frequent absences. When she was 19, she enrolled in the Landren military, opting to go straight into the GEAR corps. During training she took extra courses in mechanical engineering and GEAR design – if she was going to drive a GEAR, she thought, she may as well know how it works. She soon found she had a natural aptitude for the subject, and qualified with flying colours.

After her graduation, her first tour was mostly uneventful, patrolling a quiet stretch of the border with the Southern Block. Unfortunately, towards the end of the deployment her unit was called in to investigate the discovery of an old minefield, dating back to Landren’s civil war. The field extended slightly farther than the record supplied by HQ, and the mech on point triggered one of the devices – Shona’s GEAR. The bat survived the blast and ejected from her crippled machine with only light wounds and landed clear of the minefield. However, the mine had done more than just cripple her GEAR, and a secondary explosion destroyed the entire machine in a freak chain reaction.

Reassigned to a central military base for medical treatment and debriefing, Shona found herself without a GEAR to pilot. A replacement machine had been promised, but was apparently tied up in enough red tape to sink a landcruiser. Pushing the issue with the requisition officer did nothing to speed things up, to the point where she suspected that she had ended up in someone’s bad books by destroying her first unit so spectacularly.

Restless, embarrassed, and desperate to do something meaningful with her time, Shona offered the base’s resident technicians a hand with their work. This brought her to the attention of Dr Ethan Feldridge, head of the base’s resident R&D team. Realizing her qualifications in mechanical engineering, analytical nature and above-average piloting grades, Dr Feldridge offered Shona a place as a test pilot for the project’s experimental GEAR designs. The grateful bat eagerly accepted. After a few weeks, the professor requested her be officially assigned to the project full-time.

Shona worked for Dr Feldridge for 7 months, during which time she helped test a variety of new GEAR systems and weapons. This came to an end, however, when she finally received the order she had been waiting for. A new GEAR, fresh off the production line, and a new unit – the 101st Roughriders. While both she and Dr Feldridge suspected she was only being transferred to cover the ass of someone up the command chain, the bat didn’t care – she was finally going to get the chance serve her country on the front lines.

Personal Weapons and Equipment:
Standard-issue sidearm pistol
Emergency PDW
Standard field survival kit
Anti-glare sunglasses
Compact digital camera (She is an amateur photographer)
Favourite Colour: Orange

---

Mecha Sheet
Gear Name & Serial Number: MR-M-7 Rapier
Appearance:
Role: Multi-role (Reconnaissance speciality)
Normal Loadout:
Hand-held long-barrelled autocannon – essentially a designated marksman’s rifle based on the standard GEAR assault rifle design. Includes an advanced optics package, integrated into the top of the barrel and the right shoulder.
Left-shoulder mounted missile pod.
High-calibre defensive pistol, stored on left thigh
Head-mounted Anti-infantry machineguns
Melee weapon – GEAR-scale hatchet, stored in the small of the GEAR’s back

Other Systems & Equipment:
Cutting-edge L/OS and targeting sensors, allowing for faster firing solutions.

Other notes:
Based on a heavily modified Harlock chassis, the Rapier is one of the contenders to replace the aging GEAR as the LDF’s primary front-line machine. While not advanced enough to be a true next-generation GEAR, it incorporates a wide range of technological advances into one package, enough to be considered a separate model. It is capable of performing a variety of battlefield roles – fast and light enough to make for an excellent recon GEAR and capable of mounting heavier weapons and armour to fit a fire-support or front-line role. However, it’s not durable enough to duke it out with the real heavy front-line GEARS.

Shona’s Rapier is fresh off the production line, with no custom markings or battle-scars.

Shona's approved, no problems. As is anyone else I didn't mention yet, too.

Character Name: Jens Pullman

Age: 21

Species: Raccoon

Appearance:

Personality: Jens is cheerful and fun-loving, as well as a bit naive. Having recently passed through boot camp, he has yet to encounter the real blood and panic of combat. He doesn't make many jokes of his own, but tends to laugh loudly at anything someone else does. He makes friends easily, and enjoys the company of his comrades.

Personal History: Jens Pullman is the only son of a relatively wealthy politician in the Landren Government. His parents are loving and kind, with his dad working most of the day, and his mother staying at home. His parents disagreed on the matter of his joining the military, with his father arguing it would be a good experience, and his mother wanting to keep him home.

His father finally won, and Jens left for GEAR training just after he turned 17. The fitness program was tough, and he'd retire to the barracks many a night bruised and exhausted, but he greatly enjoyed the camaraderie. Oddly enough, he loves army food, and when his mates pushed their plates away in disgust, he gladly consumed it all.

In the third year of training, they put Jens and his classmates into the simulators and training GEARs. The boy loved piloting the large mechs around, and knew from that point he would be part of a GEAR squad. He received good scores on his piloting, which he proudly sent home to his parents.

After graduating from the Academy, Jens was placed in Rookie service as part of an experienced group, the 101st Roughriders.

Personal Weapons and Equipment:
-.357 Pistol
-12-inch Combat Knife
-Medkit
-A High-Quality PADD in it's protective case.
-Emergency MREs

Favorite Color: Dark Green

Mecha Sheet
Gear Name & Serial Number: Assault & Mobility ARCHANGEL, ID 37-66-LZ. Also known as "Sandy"
Appearance:
Replace the white surfaces with a green-brown camouflage pattern.
Role: Flanking, Assault, and Reconnaissance.
Normal Loadout:
Mounted on the left arm is a burst fire autocannon. It uses canisters of (relatively) low-caliber projectiles to cover large areas. While not very useful at long range, this can be devastating from nearby. This would be an automatic shotgun for GEARs.
The right arm holds Anti-Armor unguided rockets. Useful for destroying tanks and buildings.
While the shotgun can be used for antipersonnel, the ARCHANGEL also carries a twin-barrelled flechette in a compartment on the torso.
Finally, a chan-sword blade is concealed underneath the left arm. This is used mainly for clearing terrain.

Other Systems & Equipment:
Two large engines are mounted on the shoulders, these can be used for making high jumps and swift dashes, enabling the GEAR to maneuver in rough terrain, swiftly charge or flank enemies, or evade incoming fire.
The ARCHANGEL carries blight flares for signaling, lighting terrain, or even blinding opponents. It also carries smoke bombs and EMP grenades.

Other notes: Jens calls his ARCHANGEL "Sandy", after an old friend from school, back when he was in third grade. They haven't spoken in 8 years, but he still fondly remembers his first kiss. Inside "Sandy", he has pictures of his family and friends, so he'll never forget them.

Character Sheet
Character Name: Logan Sheridan
Age: 27
Species: Lynx
Appearance:

Personality: Logan is pessimistic, and often looks at things with a negative point of view. Most of the time, he’ll keep these thoughts to himself, but they may slip out occasionally. He has difficulty trusting people, so it may be hard to get along with him at first. After he considers someone a friend, he will be extremely loyal to them.
Personal History: Logan grew up with his mother and his older brother. His father was in the military, so Logan didn’t see him much, but he would visit occasionally. Logan had an easy life early on, but when he was 17, everything changed. His mother was mugged by a street gang, and when she tried to resist, one of the gang members shot her.
Logan entered a state of depression that seemed to last forever. His brother had left to join the military, and even his closest friends had turned their back on him. The only support he had at the time was money that his father was sending him.
A few years later, Logan found out that his father was killed while serving the military. With nobody supporting him, he was in debt, and now had to find a way to get money. He didn’t want to join after what happened to his father, but he knew it was his only option at this point.
After going through military training, he was toughened up. He knew how to operate a GEAR, and he wasn’t as much of a pushover as he was before. He was placid in the Roughriders, the 101st Tactical GEAR Unit of the LDF Landcruiser Parvan's Claw.
Personal Weapons and Equipment:
-Small first aid kit
-5.56mm assault rifle
-Pocket knife
-PADD
-Photo of his parents (He keeps this in the cockpit of his GEAR.)
Personal Theme: Don’t have one yet.

Mecha Sheet
Gear Name & Serial Number: H17-B01 Hexis
Appearance:

Role: Multi-Role
Normal Loadout:
-Anti-infantry machine guns (Head, non-removable)
-Retractable blade (Right arm)
-Flamethrower (Left arm)
-Rocket pods (Shoulders)
Other Systems & Equipment:
-Communication systems
-Infrared sensor systems
-Flare launchers
Other notes: Logan’s GEAR was previously owned by his father. It’s a little weathered, but still in pretty good condition.

Favourite Colour: Blue

Both approved, I'll add them to the OP a bit later, when I'm not running out the door to work.

I've got ideas on how we'll start already, and how that will link into the larger plot. Just waiting for the last couple of peeps to post their characters.

Just wondering but are all our characters selected by Silverwind for the unit?

That's the idea I had in mind. Though I was also thinking that some of them might have been pushed his way by LDF command too, as a compromise for choosing others.

Silverwind Blade said
That's the idea I had in mind. Though I was also thinking that some of them might have been pushed his way by LDF command too, as a compromise for choosing others.

I think my character is excelent for the role of "being forced up the team" considering his history and that he hardly made it through the acedamy :)

I think I'll be joining your waiting list here Silver, instead of trying to keep Mobile Frame alive. I posted this in that OOC, and I think it sums it up.

Hey dudes; given that I've been concentrating on other interests and studies, my Mobile Frame thing is becoming a little stagnant. I don't want to give up on the setting, but I think that I'm just a bit unsuited to keeping up with GMing players, while occupied by other pursuits. That said, Silver's GEARs setting is probably more thought-out and has a clear direction at this point, and I'll hold my mecha needs over with it rather than trying to keep up with a RP I can't properly manage. I'd advise everyone participating in Mobile Frame to try out GEARs as a result, if you aren't already involved. Sorry for the letdown; I just have too many things going on to GM a setting, and I should know this from previous experience!
That said, I'm fond of having the opportunity to build and write the Mobile Frame setting with the help of Silver and TolarianDrake in the original Guild, and in time, you can probably expect some short stories and material from me set in that universe. I don't plan to give up on it; it'll just cease to be a roleplay and more of a setting/story. If you're interested, however, I wouldn't mind collaborations; in fact, what I loved about creating MF was the cooperation of others in building it.

I think I'll give the GMing a backseat and focus on being a player first and foremost.

I'd be glad to have Aristo with us. He's good.

On a different subject, I made a quick edit to my character sheet, adding in a theme and editing the weapons so the anti-infantry gun is accounted for and the melee weapons are explained so that no one is surprised when my mech literally pulls a sword out of its sleeve.

URGH, we're kind of full up on players here, alas. 12 is pretty much my limit, but I'll let Aristo in, since he did post in the original interest check. But I REALLY don't have any room for anyone else, since this sprung up a whole mess of interest as soon as I put up the Int Check and OOC. Not to cast aspersions on anyone, but I'm kind of expecting a few people to drop off once things start, since that's usually what happens.

*shameful self promotion*

Hey all! I am launching a roleplay. It's set in the near future and centred around a team of UN sleeper agents activated when technology worldwide shuts down. It's been a while in the making (some of you might remember I was playing with the concept back in the oldguild. Doesn't hold a candle to Silver's stuff I'll admit but I would be honoured if some of you would find the time to look over the interest check and OOC. There is a link to the mk2 interest check in my signature below. Unfortunately the roleplay will no longer be hosted by skype although if demand is high enough I will consider doing that once more.

Many thanks to Silver for allowing me to advertise here.

I may check that out tomorrow, if I remember to do so.

WELL.. Since there is no room it looks like I can not participate until further notice... That's fine >.> I'll just wait.