In a distant future, the world has been mostly destroyed. First aliens made first contact, and humanity barely survived the war. Two different alien species used Earth as their battlefield, and it took everything humanity had to drive them out. These were the C'there and the Kuthan. In the aftermath of the war, factions split apart and formed new nations. They tore the world apart with the new human conflict in their efforts to survive. To this day they continue to fight, four nations with their own unique perspectives of an ideal future.

To start we will be sticking with The North America are though we will be expanding. I don't currently have the ability to make a map but when I do nation territorial claims will be more laid out.



The EDF (Earth Defence Force) are remnants from the alien invasion. Seen as a corrupt government by the other nations, the EDF seek to bring unity to the world through order. In their eyes, they are best to rule the human race to lead them to a better future, and all who oppose them must be crushed. Their machines are humanoid and carry weapons as a human soldier.

The EDF controls most of the West coast of the continent.



The Caralyst are an assembly of people who believe the future can only be reached through the development of new technologies that take advantage of the C'there remnants. As such, they are extremely advanced using plasma weaponry and advanced fuel systems. Their mechs take many forms, but all of them are very advanced. This means better weaponry and better defensive capabilities. They do suffer from weak armor playing however.

The Catalyst control the northern boarder of the continent.



The Kuth are humans who have taken Kuthan technology for themselves. Development of new weapons and armor allowed them to survive, and they believe all the rest must submit to their rule to survive. Brutal, extreme, sometimes even cruel, the Kuth will do whatever is necessary to survive. Even the innocent are not safe from the Kuth. Like the Catalyst, Kuth machines take many forms. They have stronger weapons and defensive systems, but unlike the Catalyst they rely on heavy armor plating to survive making them quite slow.

The Kuth control the southern boarder of the continent.



The Steel Hawks are a nation of rebels and freedom fighters. Often considered freedom extremists, the SH believes that any form of law or control is oppression. They fight for absolute freedom of every man woman and child. Because of their rebellious ways, they have had to deal with older models of machines. While often slower and not quite as powerful, their machines have proven to be able to stand the toughest conditions without any trouble whatsoever. They also tend to not have to follow orders quite to the book. Their main strength is their massive amount of tank support. While not usually a threat to the larger machines, a large group of tanks can take down many threats on their own, and are an entirely new level of deadly when paired with larger machines.

The Steel Hawks control the mid-western part of the continent.



The Gazere are a more primitive people at first glance, wearing older clothing and armor and covering their faces. But the truth of the matter is their clothing is well suited to the desert they live in. Under those relics of armor are masters of the hunt who pilot some of the most powerful machines known to man. The only thing that keeps them from being a major threat to the other nations is the fact that they are both few in number, and very hesitant to enter a conflict. The Gazere also lack unity, the people living in separate villages spread around the desert and living for themselves. Few in number and divided as they are, battle in their own territory may still be the last thing you ever do. The Gazere pilot machines based on animals, and they hold the agility and strength of such. While some attack with vibro-bladed claws, others mount weapons on their machines for even deadlier combat capabilities.

The Gazere control the mid Eastern part of the continent. Their territory is entirely desert, and holds massive amounts of oil. Nobody is brave enough to attack however, so most often the war with the Gazere is a war of politicians.



The Talon are a religious group of what the other nations would consider fanatics. Everything they do is in the name of their god, and they believe they must spread their holy dominion to the entire world. The Talon are much like the Crusaders of history, often wielding sword and shield as their choice weapons. They'd machines are humanoid and boast great ability to get up close and personal to their enemies very quickly.

The Talon control the East coast of the continent.

Keep in mind the world is not post apocalyptic or anything like that. There are many ruins of towns and cities, but the planet is covered in life still. Each faction has one major city with tens of thousands of civilians living within. These people do not live in a war torn state, and have all of the luxuries of life we have today. They have music, movies, video games, television, radio, and all of that. There is even news stations that report on all of the nations as a whole rather than just the one nation they live in.

Character Sheet:

Name:
Age:
Faction:
Rank: (highest starting rank is commander)
Personality:
Brief History:
Description/Picture Referance:
Machine Name:
Machine Description/Picture Referance:

Ranks won't directly match any specific real world military. The ranks are as follows:

Grunt
Seargent
Lieutenant
Colonel
Commander
Captain
General
Admiral

The highest rank is the nation leader, be it a president, King/Queen or emperor. The rulers are as follows:

EDF - President
Catalyst - Empress
Kuth - Warlord
Steel Hawks - Assembly of Generals
Gazere - King/Queen
Talon - Emperor

Name: Thaddeus Gaunt
Age: 40
Faction: Talon
Rank: Colonel
Personality: Thaddeus is first and foremost one of the most fanatical members of the Talon military. Even the most devout members of Talon society believe he serves as an ample example of not balancing faith with sense. Each and every battle for him is another chance to prove his devotion to their god and he uses every kill to symbolize that god is with them. To that end he often gives his troops speeches that drag on far too long in order to inspire his soldiers to great feats of devotion, and often suicidal charges. He cares not for the death of his allies, for he knows that they have joined with the lord in the life after physical existence. When not in combat he is often seen given fiery sermons to complete strangers and silently praying in churches around the nation.

Brief History: Life for Thaddeus was unremarkable until he one day when he was 13 and was struck by a terrible sickness. The doctors had no cure for it and all said that he would perish within a week. Day and night he would pray for the lord to allow him to live, to allow him to continue his service to it is this lifetime. He miraculously recovered and he took it as a sign from god to forever be in his service. As soon as he was able, he enlisted in the Talon military to further his service to the lord.

His early military career was marked with extreme obedience to follow orders and the fact that often times he would be the only survivor of particularly high risk missions. He took this fact as more signs form the lord that he was to lead the holy war against the enemies of Talon. He would be at a higher rank if it weren't for his high causality rates. His lack of actual tactics other than straight forward charges isn't from a lack of intelligence but rather a lack of creativity and a firm belief that if a man is to die in service to his country, he should at least be given the honor of knowing who the killer was. These days he is considered a talented melee combatant and an inspirational yet terrible leader. He would have been discharged years ago if it weren't for his ability to kill in the name of god.

Description: He stands at 5"11 with dark skin, a shaved head and a beard that reaches to his chest. His muscle mass is somewhat above average and normally he wears robes adorned with parchments of the words of the lord attacked to the fabric with wax. His eyes are a dark brown.

Machine Name: TMM-Z103 Witch Hunter

Picture:

I added a factions section to the character sheet. Otherwise looks good to me. I'm going to put up a news broadcast that can be responded to however you feel. For example the Talon will be mobilizing forces to guard an ambassador as he attempts to negotiate the use of an oil well with the Gazere territory. You can be a part of that or anything else that involves the Talon. Beyond that feel free for pretty much any non military actions you want to take.

Name: Helena Greyfield, “Lady Ironclad”, formerly “The Ironclad Dancer”
Age: 29
Faction: EDF
Rank: Colonel
Personality:
A stern mother to her troops, an emotional anchor of calm in the heat of battle, Helena doesn’t lose her cool on the battlefield nor allows unwanted emotions to affect her judgement. While she is often hard on her troops and holds them to high standards, her men know it is her own way of caring for them and making sure they survive on the battlefield. This is all largely stemming from the trauma of losing her legs, and subsequent loss of combat ability she’s almost obsessively working to regain.

Off the battlefield, she's a little looser in behavior and willing to crack a joke or smile, but still very professional. She is very loyal to the EDF and what it stands for, although she doesn't hesitate to snark about high command like any other soldier.



An attractive, young-looking, but professional soldier. An ideal recruitment model before both of her legs were replaced by robotic prosthetics after severe battle injuries. While most of the scars have been healed and faded away, the damage to her legs was too severe and she now walks around with robotic legs. She prefers to use human-like limbs to disguise her wound, but has to use mechanical ones to use a mech effectively.

Brief History:
Helena was a prodigy of EDF cadet pilot corps, a child left behind at a military orphanage from an unknown family and adopted by the military Greyfield family. At the young age of 19, she was a top-ranked pilot and student, attracting attention for her near-instinctive grasp of mech maneuvering, to the point of being able to maneuver at high-speeds without auto-balancing systems normally used to keep mechs upright over rough terrain. By the time she graduated, she already had a reputation of a “Ironclad Dancer” for her high-speed combat style, and was granted use of high-end melee combat gear for her mech despite only just graduating. In part because the EDF was growing desperate and needed a visible hero to turn the tide.

54 missions. 53 victories and one draw. Where the dancing mech went, victory followed. While it was partially due to EDF command only deploying her alongside considerable fire support and veteran mech squads, her own combat talent ensured such victories were absolute. She became a source of hope and public acclaim, and posed for more than one recruitment poster too in between missions as she recognized the need for someone to take up the banner, although she refused to leave the front and the soldiers she fought alongside.

Then everything changed at the battle of Nordamark. A massive battle where the EDF battled the Kuth in a conflict engulfing over 20,000 mechs. Helena was caught in a duel against the Kuth Ace Ander Hardman, a climactic fight that lasted hours after both sides took staggering casualties in the brutal close-quarters battlefield. In the end, both mechs were sent toppling to the ground. Hardman was dead, but Helena was gravely injured. Despite the efforts of EDF surgeons, she lost both of her legs, and with them half of her combat ability. Even with the best in robotic replacements, she couldn't achieve the same precision of maneuvering control or mobility she had before. While still a competent fighter and mech pilot, she was no longer a bladedancer.

Kicked upstairs to the rank of colonel by EDF command to quietly retire their poster girl, Helena refused to be removed from the front and heavily rebuilt herself from a melee skirmisher into a heavyweight mech pilot to take advantage of her still remaining ability whilst acclimating to her mechanical legs, and doing her best to be the best commander she could be to the 25th "Stray Dogs" mech battalion. Yet despite victories and successes, and being able to pass a few of her skills onto the next generation, there is nagging doubt within her that she is permanently damaged and that she might be forcibly retired soon if she doesn't prove her worth again to both Command and her family.

Machine Name: M7 Guardian-class heavy mech. “Ivanhoe”
Machine Description/Picture Reference:


Largely considered “a pair of guns with heavy mech parts tacked on”, Helena’s Guardian mech is a heavyweight mech with tons of armor, active armor ontop of it, and a pair of giant 40mm gatling guns with hyperkinetic payloads and on articulated shoulder ball-mounts allowing for 360 degree firing. The downside to the gatling guns is their ammo capacity, they can burn through most of its ammo on short notice. In addition to the standard range of handheld gear and weapons, Helena’s mech is also equipped with command gear and a onboard mission-control VI named *Architect to coordinate her battalion. While its not fast and a far cry from the agile hyper-lethal vectors Helena once piloted, its a walking tank of bulletfire very few enemies would want to fight head-on.

Looks good both are accepted. Updating the news report to include EDF.

And now I realize the downside of not having regular squad mates to talk to is that I have to do a lot of internal monologue to fill up post space. While it does create opportunities to expand my character's thoughts, I know it has to be pretty boring to read through.

Hey I like it. Let's me look into the character without first having other characters to look into him. Though I am going to be making Maria a permanent character.

Alright so I assume that Maria will be exclusively controlled by you. How about Wolf, Tiger, and Panther?

We can share control of those 3. Do anything you want with them and I'll do the same. If you start moving them into position or something I'll leave them to you in case you have a plan.

Name: Maria Vestes
Age: 23
Faction: Talon
Rank: Grunt
Personality: Maria is a quiet girl of many beliefs. She doesn't truly believe in the ways of the Talon as strongly as the rest. She specifically believes that God doesn't want people to kill each other in his name, and that doing so is the same as cursing his name. She believes a holy battle is just masking a power struggle with religious beliefs.
Description: Maria is like all Catalysts, possessing Snow White hair, pale blue eyes and pale skin as a result of the augmentations they go through at birth. Her armor is Snow White like her hair, with silver lining all over.
Brief History: Maria doesn't honestly remember her past. She awoke in Talon territory and was of course assumed to be Catalyst by how she looked. She had nothing but her name and rank marking her as a veteran pilot. She stayed in Talon territory however, never attempting to return. She was allowed to become a member of the Talon on the condition she served as a mech pilot in the military. Piloting the experimental MK I Panzer she found success quickly, but the military kept her a secret. They weren't ready yet to let it go public that one of their ace pilots was a Catalyst. At least, not until she proved herself.
Machine: MK I Panzer

Is it racist that I automatically picture Panther as a black man? Lol.

Nah. To this day whenever animal themed heroes come out it's always inevitably a black dude as a panther, an Asian guy as a tiger, and white man as a wolf. And sorry for the long time fo rthe update, had to help out a pal yesterday loading and unloading things.

Possibly interested.