Last Message of the Phantom Brigade, from Vremmel Highway
“Every civilian we’ve passed in the past few days they all ask me questions. Where were you? When the armies of the Ruziyane Empire invaded our border? When General Orlov’s Elite Battle Frame’s crossed the Luminous Crystal Sea? When Admiral Moritz’s drop ships and bombers brought terror to the gray sky filled with snow? Why weren’t you there with the Home Guard at Hedmark? When the King took his own Battle-Frame out with his royal guard to face the foe to create a corridor for the evacuation at Velscinna? Why are you running away? They always shout, sometimes they throw things at us.” The old recording plays as troops bustle around behind the figure of an exhausted military man, of noble birth given the house crest on his uniform currently covered up by a blood stain. His green eyes sunken back as takes long gulps of coffee still with steam curling off it, perhaps the only thing keeping him going as he pushes blonde hair back and tries to wipe a grease stain off his winter camo, to no avail. He turns back to the recording, almost frowning but catches himself, as if he knows he can’t with all the men around him.
“We were doing our duty, for Gyrland, for the king, for hope, for you well if you ever bother watching this.Battle Frames with new technology, specialized weapons, capabilities, and designs all equipment Vinland and our Hollis institute intended for us to build and test. Cadets from our military academies, our best and brightest are now being entrusted with it. Our goal was not to fight and die for our country but to save the work and people we who will save our nation. The brigade took a pounding on the way here...I think I’m the ranking officer right now, as we made a run for the western coast, where our navy is evacuating who they can. Our goal was to take this equipment, our trainers, and our cadets to safety... So they might bring the fight back to our home.” An alarm blared, battle-frames and even retrofitted civilian models being brought online, some still freshly scared, some looking barely operational missing arms or heads. Ground pounder troops running around grabbing launchers, tanks rolling in dug out positions. Machine guns being set up, the officer looks a little sheepish a moment before finishing his coffee, his last meal.
“But I won’t be there... The Ruzi’s forces are closing in and the boats need time to load the cadets and researchers, as well anyone from regular forces who got some real experience. The Homeguard have been ordered back... But someone needs to give them something to fight. We're set up a few miles inland, in Vremmel, a big empty town with no civilians left and just one highway from the mountains to the coast. We plan to gun them down here and fall back to the port where we’ve set traps, if we last, hold them till the ammo runs out then we can see how the fists and shields hold up. After you all cast off through... Maybe we try to break out, link up with the Homeguard or see if the King’s royal guard managed to make it out their own corridor at the capital... Or hell maybe they’ll just give up!” He laughs, happy for maybe the last time, he shakes his head knowing that won’t happen, that the fate of all those here is sealed. “This is Prince Klaus Bernadotte, of the royal special service tactics brigade... The Phantoms, signing off.” He spoke pulling on a helmet, with a ghost-like symbol holding a shield with a sword over it. Heading for one of the nearby frames. The message fizzled out, the last transmission anyone had received from the Phantoms. The Eastern Imperial Hegemony of Ruziyane had announced they had wiped out the unit to the man, showing an image of the Phantom Battleframe with a flag being buried through it.
That was ten years ago, the Homeguard still exists though they cannot hold territory very long and mostly depend on supply drops from the Union of Vinland to keep their forces going. They exist in the outlying villages and towns, if ever seen making due with patching out of date frames and stolen Ruvi equipment. Never in large numbers and far from the population centers. The Ruvi forces have not yet finished off the Homeguard but it is clear that with their more constant defeats something must change soon or hope among the populace will be lost.
Volunteers from other nations, former Gyrland native, or even survivors who managed to evacuate have been given experimental equipment still in testing and have taken up the name of the Phantom Brigade, the former famed special forces unit Battle-frame of Gyrland. The Gyrland Navy will cover your infiltration, your goal to assault and provide relief to the Homeguard. Then to reinforce them as a leaner, more elite force gather equipment, and inspire the people of Gyrland. The specialized Frame-crawler with experimental stealth tech will be used to guide you. Your other goal, as asked by our friends in Vinland, is to go after the research and data on whatever the Ruvi bastards are researching.
Hey there, thank you for your interest in Orbis! The setting is a unique world I’ve made for something I’ve always enjoyed, ground based mech combat. Some folks may not like the idea as much but I’ve always preferred the style of something with mechs fighting down in the dirt. Squaring off against tanks and conventional units. The goal here was to create an earth-like setting that lends itself to telling a story like this without using existing countries and pasts. Obviously some nations are inspired by others and I will use that while writing them but I don’t intend for them to be one to one.
The Frames in this setting are going to be ground base mecha with access to melee weapons, convention firearms, and such. However, characters and their mechs will be able to pitch a specialized piece of gear, a prototype or special equipment for their Battle-Frame. As the Brigade does have less experienced people, it is fielding very advanced equipment which can be upgraded as the RP goes on.
As for the setting you can read more about it down below, as a note I have not defined every single country within the power blocks and that’s because the idea here will give you the freedom to be a volunteer from other nations. I am happy to work with you for a nation anywhere in the setting!. The idea of Avrupa is a sort of Europe split between monarchical nations in the east with democracies and republics to the west. Gyrland is a nation caught between the two and Vinland far across the sea from any of this helping but unwilling to risk its own nation in war.
Eastern Imperial Hegemony of Ruziyane: Formed by the Empire of Ruziyane after their conquests into Eastern Ruziyane. Eastern Imperial Hegemony of Ruziyane is a hegemony of nations with a deep seated dislike for more modern “Republics''. After purging several attempts to reform its monarchy and forcefully restoring monarchies in Eastern Avrupa under its Emperor known openly as King of all Kings. While their technology once put them ahead, in recent years it has become clear their sheer capacity in manpower, resources, and combat experience has killed any hope of simply waiting for their collapse or sponsoring smaller nations to war with them. They are a monolith of power directed by the Emperor and his nobles with dreams of shattering Vinland’s ability to catch up with their technological might.
Western Avrupa Federation: Formed in the wake of the Ruziyane’s conquest of the Eastern Avrupan nations, Western Avrupa is famed for being the origin of the Amaranthine Revolts. Where monarchies were forced to concede to the wills of their people and in some cases ousted completely. Formerly these nations were simply trade partners with past grudges and disputes in Western Trade Coalition with the Union of Vinland, whom they shared a common history with, for access to its advanced research and industries. Now? The Federation’s many nations are brothers in arms standing tall against oppression of autocracies and monarchies. Though Union of Vinland is not part of the Federation it is its biggest supplier and backer. The Federation does not have one central armed force but instead has many smaller professional armies, most of them using the similar or the same pattern equipment, though they warred with each other in the past now more than ever, they strive for equality and brotherhood for all. Preferring a more modern and practical approach over the Ruziyane forces using more knightley appearing Battle Frames.
The Kingdom of Gyrland: A large northerly nation sitting below the frozen arctic wastes with an abundance of resources, chiefly Therranite. They only other claimant to the Eastern Imperial Hegemony of Ruziyane control of the Luminous Diamond Sea which houses the largest deposits of Therranite in the world under its depths. With only one land border is along Ruziyane proper and a frozen sea between it and any potential ally. Gyrland, while a member of the Western Trade Coalition, did not join the Western Avrupa Federation and instead opted to seek its own defense. As a neutral nation. Gyrland is one of the leaders in refining Therranite and conducts a heavy amount of research into the mineral in conjunction with the Union of Vinland. The Monarchy in Gyrland is currently in talks about reforming and altering its status though it is mostly civil and without duress on the monarch.
Union of Vinland: Once centuries ago the many disparate colonists from the nations Avrupa, were supported in Vinland by their mother and father lands. Until a devastating plague struck Avrupa wiping out nearly a third of the population in ten years, believed to be from Vinland, they suspended trade for nearly a century until they had recovered from its effects. Returning they found the colonies of Vinland were now one nation, embracing old traditions of democracy and holding elections. Most upsetting were the meritocratic practices as they had no nobility or monarchs, yet here people from historically rivaled nations now stood arm in arm... With weapons pointed at those who had abandoned them. The Union of Vinland was formed originally by many disparate colonies, now however with aid of the natives and the trade dependency upon one another it had become a nation unto itself with enlightened ideas that would travel back to Avrupa, starting the Amaranthine Revolts.
Today Vinland is one of the two great industrial and technological powers in the world. Though it does not have access to the same amount of Therranite Ruziyane does meaning they are more dependent on trade and allies over directly controlled territories.
Walker-Frame: Innovated in Union of Vinland as a way for one person to do the work of a hundred. It changed the world overnight, with their partners in the Western Trade Coalition receiving civilian models for their own development, while some thought it might make useful weapons. Their reactors couldn’t handle the weight of armor and large reactors slowed down too much for combat use. Walker Frame’s lack of armor and inability to carry meaningful sized weapons meant that current conventional equipment would bring them down. Putting an end to the idea of using them for war... For a time.
Therranite: A unique mineral which in its natural state is crystal which pulses and glows, though it was used for some home remedies it’s healing effects were limited to fixing minor damages. However, upon the discovery of how to refine the crystal, it became understandably more valuable producing an inordinate amount of heat allowing it to suppress steam and fossil fuels. Further work discovered it could be carefully combined with other chemicals to create what is known as “Liquid Fix”. A regenerative substance that could seal gaps, repair damage, and reinforce damaged objects perfectly back to its original state with a small amount of application. Finally correctly applied electrical pulses could amplify the crystal's minute healing properties allowing it to rapidly replace damaged tissue by stimulating cell growth. It has become the most valuable resource in the world, drastically changing the world's landscape overnight.
Battle-Frame: BF’s changed the game, created under Eastern Imperial Hegemony of Ruziyane these new combat capable Frame’s launched a new era of warfare. Making use of Therranite reactors, these frames could carry the weight of armored plates and being able to exchange weapons due to their manipulators were able to quickly redeploy to counter any conventional force. With the power issue solved battleframes were developed alongside a dizzying array of conventional weapons which could mount to hard points or held in the manipulators. While Vinland and other nations were able to develop their own tech, it took five years... The stubborn resistance and help of those fleeing fallen Eastern Avrupan nations. The Ruziyane monarchy installed the toppled monarchies offering them equipment to keep their populace in line as well as vows and forced marriage into the nobles of their own lands, in some cases as hostage in others to ensure guarantee of help in conflicts.
Battle-Frame Equipment: While most countries build their frames to their own specifications. Military built Frames range seven to twelve meters tall depending on the country of origin. With the Federation often building towards the smaller end for speedy maneuvers, while the Imperials build a wide variety of mechs of all sizes and equipment they use a united maintenance system allowing for part swaps, repairs in field. Vinland and Gyrland, thanks to their joint research, have fairly similar designs. All machines have variable thrusters for jumping and quick movement, the degree at which they can move with these is affected by their mass. Some mechs make use of subsystem weapons, such as cannons mounted on the shoulders, rocket pods along the body, or even electronic warfare suites to deal with enemy attacks. These weapons use conventional ammo and supplies.
Battle-Frame Weapons: Across Avrupa battle-frames make use of standard equipment, most of which is handheld for ease of use. Meaning that a Battle-Frame can make use of a rifle for engaging conventional forces but swap to a cannon or shotgun for other situations. Melee weapons are still in use, most often found among Ruviyane forces swords, axes, and other such items are used to great effect as back up weapons. The massive heavy Battle-Frame rocket launchers the Ruviyane and their allies use are designed to resemble lances, suits that deploy with them will often reign destruction first then charge into melee against damaged foes too slow to react. Shields are common among all parties, though the protection they offer is limited it still allows for impressive defense and can be used offensively. Weapons that use something other than ballistic rounds can asked for as prototype gear below!
Phantom Brigade Prototypes: Hollis institute was once one of the leaders in Frame and energy research. While its fall did allow for some of its work to be captured, the evacuation of personnel and prototypes by Gyrland’s Phantom Brigade has ensured that Ruviyane does not gain access to the equipment. This gear, while much of it is in prototype stage, is being given to the Brigade and fitted to their mechs to give them an edge in battle! From Beam weapons, to hover systems, and more the Brigade is being given the cream of the crop for their suits. While the Brigade is making use of donated suits and those belonging to those who have already volunteered the equipment can be a bit volatile expect it to break down if pushed to hard though as resources are gained and fights are won it may be improved.
The Phantoms: The Phantom brigade was once the pride of Gyrland. A special forces unit of just a few dozen able to strike and move. Their style of warfare was said to be more like facing a brigade than a platoon, the name stuck and carried with them when they became Frame pilots. However this new brigade is not just those from Gyrland, but from many nations. Volunteers from Vinland and Federation, survivors and escapees from Ruviyane’s campaigns of conquest and decimation, and even some from nations further away who could not sit by and do nothing. The brigade will be using a custom built crawler to transport the mechs and the brigade support personnel around.
The Homeguard: The military of the Kingdom of Gyrland, the Homeguard force of Frame Pilots, Infantry, Tanks, and more. Using a mix of equipment from around the world and sheer ingenuity to keep it running, the Homeguard is a mix of raw recruits and veterans from the ten years they have kept the fight going. Chronically low on everything all the time, the Homeguard has kept hope alive in Gyrland though recent losses have brought them to the brink.
Name: Your name and possible nickname.
Appearance: What does your character look like? Pictures are highly preferred and a text description of a couple paragraphs is also fine.
Gender: Should be self-explanatory.
Age: What is your given age?
Personality: Tell me how you act, and what makes you tick.
Background: Tell me about your past. What is your home nation? Why do you fight? Is it personal? Is it for glory? Why are you here and what are your goals with the Brigade
Other things: If there is anything else you believe needs sharing, do so here.
Battle-Frame Name: All Frames are given unit numbers based on production code and a callsign. EX: PAL-0035:PALADIN
Appearance: Fairly obvious. Pictures are highly preferred with a text description of a couple paragraphs is also fine.
Primary Weapon System: Your Frame's main weapon an assault rifle, sniper, rocket launcher, the main armament your frame depends on.
Secondary Weapon Systems: Back up weapons or weapons your Frame will carry incase it's main weapon is damaged or unusable. Usually light and less bulky. This can include things missile pods or shoulder cannons as well as pistols, Sub-machineguns, shields, and etc.
Prototype Weapon/Equipment System: This is your specialist gear, unique to your Frame and made to give you the pilot an edge against larger numbers and more experienced pilots.
Weight Class: This is about Mass, the more weight slower you are, take this in to consideration when moving, this also sets the tone for we should expect you to move and fight. Are you a lightly armored and packing plenty of guns? Or maybe a heavy unit barraging the enemy down as you waddle forward? This is just to give an idea of where the Frame rates in term of speed and maneuvers for yourself and others. Light, Medium, and Heavy are the options here.
(Optional, though highly encouraged!)
Nation name: What is the state or nations name? Membership: Are they part of a greater power block? A distance nation far off? Who do they support (or would) support in Avrupa? Position in the world: Where are they relevant to the Avrupa nations? Recent history: What have they been up to? How has Therranite and Frame tech changed their nation? Did they get consumed by a larger nation? Character's Relevance in the nation: Is your character important to the nation? Is it important to them?
@Smike Good question! While I did use those themes when creating Ruviyane, Gyrland, and Vinland I won't limit you to that. I will say if you want to go with those themes and wanted something in Avrupa the regions is supposed to be similar to all of Europe, though their is more to the world if you wanted to play someone further out than that reigon.
@Smike Good question! While I did use those themes when creating Ruviyane, Gyrland, and Vinland I won't limit you to that. I will say if you want to go with those themes and wanted something in Avrupa the regions is supposed to be similar to all of Europe, though their is more to the world if you wanted to play someone further out than that reigon.
Sounds good, I’m thinking about a nation based in part in Singapore
Not a whole lot to say yet, a distant island nation with a relatively strong GDP and small population that’s allied with Vinland, relies on training and technology in combat to make up for its smaller military if it were ever invaded. It conscripts all able-bodied citizens for a period of two years, and after that they’re still liable to be called up as reserves.
Interested and maybe play a char from a Egypt-like nation that is to the south of the Avrupa Federation and is allied with them or from an island nation in the south in a large sea that is allied to the Avrupa Federation.
Never RPed in a Mecha RP but I've re-read Mecha Ace CYOA book just a few days ago and I'm very much in the mood for a mecha RP. So, if you've got space, I'll jump in!
@Theyra Certainly! Seems like an awesome concept and the Western Avrupa Federation would take any help. As they are part of those supporting the brigade!
@Smike Makes sense and Vinland does generally support smaller nations and perform joint research projects with them!
Never RPed in a Mecha RP but I've re-read Mecha Ace CYOA book just a few days ago and I'm very much in the mood for a mecha RP. So, if you've got space, I'll jump in!
We meet again, dear TM.
If your character is named Ashevelen I'm hitting her. Or hitting on her. We'll see.
Well...about that. I wanted to make Ashevelen again, obviously I did she's my MC everywhere but I've decided to do one other character you know. A certain British dude that has an issue (not in this RP) with multiple personalities.
@apollosarcher I'm making a person from a league of small nations which prize combat above anything else. They've got whole arenas and TV shows.
