YsFanatic
Senior Member
Old Earth History
As has happened many times in Earth’s history, when a new technology is developed humanity soon looks to convert it to military use. Such was the case when giant, bipedal robots, roughly 10 meters tall, that could be piloted were created. Soon they became known as Military Walking Systems, or just Walkers for short, and before long the technology spread across the globe as the various nations worked to reverse-engineer or steal the technology from each other. While Walkers were vulnerable in open fields to tanks and aircraft, in areas of rougher terrain such as cityscapes or swamps they proved incredibly useful. Of the nations increasing their military might with Walkers, the US was taking the lead in advancing the technology and had even managed to absorb Canada. Their buildup of military forces alarmed the other nations, and knowing that America planned to expand, struck first.
However the war went poorly for the rest of the world, and in a desperate, panic inspired move, the European nations launched a final multi-pronged attack that ended in a nuclear salvo once America’s anti-missile defenses had been disabled, ending the war. With the North American continent in ashes and devastation wrought upon most of the other nations, there was a collapse of the global economy and many other nations fell apart. The remaining nations rebuilt themselves to survive the aftermath while new factions appeared in areas that had not been so fortunate. For a time there was relative peace, while skirmishes frequently happened and there were bandits and independent warlords on the loose, no major wars happened for decades.
The Exodus
While humanity had long ago turned to various forms of renewable and otherwise ‘green’ energy and alternate methods of resource production after the planet’s supply of fossil fuels had been used up, it was too little too late. The damage caused by the pollution from the old technologies in addition to the nuclear destruction caused from that final attack upon America had left the Earth in bad shape. As time went on it became more and more clear that the planet would soon be unable to support life. Military development and research all but ceased as the factions raced to figure out a solution and in the end they decided that evacuation to another planet was the only way. As humanity was closer to figuring out light speed travel than terraforming, the decision was made to build a massive colony ship equipped with a single-use prototype light speed drive. As expected the drive failed before reaching the target solar system, but it had taken the ship far enough where conventional drives could handle the rest of the trip.
Walkers
While most military Walkers had been scrapped for resources, it had been expected there would be a need for an exploration craft that could be adapted to various situations and could handle terrain that would give conventional vehicles difficulties. As such the basic Walker technology was reworked to be more modular, have improved power generation, artificial muscles, include built in thrusters to handle long falls and to reach the tops of ledges, and better sensors. While this new generation of Walkers proved their worth in the early days, as the colonies became more established, humanity returned to its old habits and soon new Walker frames were being designed and built for combat, and even the exploration models were being retooled as scouting units. Walkers fielded by the factions have set configurations, but mercenaries often take advantage of their modular nature to create their own designs.
The cockpit is stored in the torso and basic controls include a joystick and throttle setup with foot pedals, eye tracking, and plenty of monitor screens and buttons to support. Since the Exodus efforts have been made to improve the control setup with things such as better AI support, voice recognition, and very limited success with cybernetics to control a specific system or device. While none of these methods reached widespread, general use, most pilots adopt one or more of them to suit their preferences to reach higher levels of performance.
Walkers are almost always human-shaped, reverse-joint and quad legged designs are incredibly rare and are normally specialized For example the only reverse-joint design in the Old World, the Anubis, was swift and had more stability than other units of its size, but suffered from a lack of weapon and armor capacity. Quad leg units were invariably heavy weapons platforms, only good for unrelenting barrages of weapon fire. However with this new generation of Walkers, perhaps that could change…
At one point there was an effort to provide Walkers with the thruster power for flight, however it was found that it was far too easy for conventional aircraft to swat them out of the sky. Thus this particular line of development was quickly halted.
Walker Frames
Scout: This Frame was the one originally used for exploration before being rebuilt for military use. Mounts a greater quantity of sensors compared to other Frames and is capable of supporting advanced electronics.
Vanguard: Named after an ancient Walker design that saw heavy use on Old Earth. That machine could be modified to fill a large variety of roles, and this Frame was built to replicate that. As such it lacks any built in features that would define its role, instead it is even more modular than the other Frames and is capable of supporting the widest variety of equipment.
Destroyer: Firepower was the idea behind this Frame. It boasts superior pathways for power conduits and ammo feed mechanisms as well as excellent targeting software and enhanced stability to better support any weapon setup. The end result is that Destroyers consistently end up doing more damage than other Frames with the same weapon setups.
Juggernaut: Reinforced internal structures and optimally placed mounting points for armor plating allows this Frame to be the most durable out of all of them. Juggernauts are likened to the Assault Walkers of old, shrugging off heavy volumes of weapons fire to break through enemy lines, and indeed many are configured in that fashion.
Planets
New Earth: The new home for humanity, often called Eden or Gaia in place of its official name. A temperate world with an atmosphere similar enough to Earth’s, though slightly colder, that only minimal terraforming was needed to make it where it was completely safe to breath. Genetically altered plant and animal life brought from the Old World has created a familiar ecosystem, but at the cost of what few native species that had lived there. Orbited by a single moon.
Blue is Avalon
Red is Pacifica
Black is Tiger
Orange is Shattered
Poseidon: A world of warm temperatures covered almost completely by ocean, leaving only a single continent and some islands comprised almost entirely of plains. Powerful storms constantly move across the planet, causing a need for strong, solid structures that are primarily underground. There have been efforts to plant trees and place barriers to help break up the storms, there so far has been little success. Humanity doesn’t have enough of a presence on Poseidon to maintain enough artificial barriers and there are enough toxic gases in the atmosphere where it's difficult to get plant life from Earth to thrive, though additional genetic engineering is in the works to solve that problem. The planet has 3 moons.
Blue is Avalon
Red is Pacifica
Black is Tiger
Orange is Shattered
Element 119 (Ambrosia)
A new element initially found on Poseidon in liquid form, but has then been found on New Earth and several moons in smaller deposits. The full applications of this Ambrosia have yet to be determined, but early research has indicated it to be as useful as oil was in the Old World, if not more so as many new avenues of research have opened up. All of the various factions are trying to secure more of Element 119.
Interplanetary Travel
While working, stable FTL travel is still just a dream, a slower version of that technology was finalized that allows for travel to other planets in the solar system in a matter of days rather than weeks or months. Ships equipped with these drives were largely limited to cargo and military transports. There are only a few transports per faction for transporting larger numbers of people between planets, typically used when setting up or expanding a settlement or other facility.
Factions
Kingdom of Avalon: This colony was originally founded by members of the old European nations and draws some inspiration from the legends of King Arthur and Camelot. A Queen directs strategic goals for the faction while the Round Table Council handles day to day affairs. Their Walker pilots are referred to as Knights and are given more respect and authority than other branches of the military. In battle they prefer direct combat and precision weapons that have a lower chance of inflicting collateral damage. Boasting the largest city on New Earth and the highest standards of living of the factions, the Kingdom would appear to many to be the shining jewel of humanity’s colonization efforts. However the disdain and the lack of respect towards non-Walker pilots in the military is something that carries over to civilian life as well, those who live in the frontier areas are regarded as second class citizens and are often ignored when there's trouble.
Pacifica Alliance: Originally founded by people primarily from Asia. Has strong community bonds that help them overcome any problems they face and they are ruled by a council of elders. Having their people split between New Earth and Poesidon in addition to their strong mining economy means that the Alliance possesses great material wealth that is often traded for resources that they can’t manufacture for themselves. This allows them to largely remain neutral in any conflicts, but they are fully able to protect themselves. As their military philosophy has largely been influenced by the military organization used by Japan during the times of the Guan Yu War and when the Shadow Battalion was active, there is a heavy focus on melee weapons and advanced electronics.
Tiger Conglomerate: Tiger Enterprises had absorbed the other mega-corporations during the preparations for the Exodus, creating this political entity. A CEO and his advisors control the faction in everything they do. Their advanced production capabilities affords them great adaptability against any problems they face, be it military or otherwise. While the faction has great prosperity, the common people have little privacy and few freedoms.
Shattered Nation: Australia had taken in people that had no place in the colonization efforts organized by other Old Earth factions to form what should have been the largest colony on humanity’s new home. However, such a diverse group of people with little time to get to know each other meant that there was a wide variety of ideologies and thoughts on how the new colony should be handled. This meant that before long it had split into a number of smaller city-states. While this ‘Shattered Nation’ has no central government and the settlements often squabble with each other, often leading to military skirmishes, they will band together to repulse any large scale military intrusions from the other factions. In addition they have shared Walker designs with each other in order to allow such defensive actions to be coordinated more easily. Each city-state embraces a different ideology that dictates how they live and handle relations to others. There are also smaller village sized settlements that will provide food and sometimes other resources to the nearest city-state in exchange for protection.
Reapers
Walker pilots come in many skill levels. Most would cap out at ‘Regular’ or “Elite’ skill levels during the career with some managing to reach ‘Ace’ level. There are those who manage to go past Ace however and become something of a living legend. Such pilots have Walkers customized to their taste and almost always have the best equipment. This in addition to their skills allows them to win out against odds that would crush other pilots. To the relief of many, pilots with the Reaper designation are incredibly rare. The use of ‘Reaper’ as the title is believed to be homage to a legendary mercenary from the Old World, who had been employed by Halcyon at one point and who had been active during the time of the Shadow Battalion.
Mercenaries
In the days leading up to the Exodus mercenaries all but vanished as no one could afford military action against each other. However once the colonies got themselves situated and started to engage in military action again the demand for mercenaries returned. While mercenary units of the current times lack the size and organization of their ancestors, their numbers are steadily growing and it is believed it is only a matter of time before they become equal to or better than their predecessors.
Agency
The Agency was a meeting and organizational place for mercenaries on Old Earth. It provided easy means to get contracts as well as repair facilities and easy access to shops for parts and supplies in exchange for the mercs following certain rules. Like mercenaries themselves, the Agency vanished during the time leading up to and including the Exodus, but has now recently returned. This new incarnation of the Agency lacks much of the political power the old one had, but otherwise fulfills the same roles as before.
As has happened many times in Earth’s history, when a new technology is developed humanity soon looks to convert it to military use. Such was the case when giant, bipedal robots, roughly 10 meters tall, that could be piloted were created. Soon they became known as Military Walking Systems, or just Walkers for short, and before long the technology spread across the globe as the various nations worked to reverse-engineer or steal the technology from each other. While Walkers were vulnerable in open fields to tanks and aircraft, in areas of rougher terrain such as cityscapes or swamps they proved incredibly useful. Of the nations increasing their military might with Walkers, the US was taking the lead in advancing the technology and had even managed to absorb Canada. Their buildup of military forces alarmed the other nations, and knowing that America planned to expand, struck first.
However the war went poorly for the rest of the world, and in a desperate, panic inspired move, the European nations launched a final multi-pronged attack that ended in a nuclear salvo once America’s anti-missile defenses had been disabled, ending the war. With the North American continent in ashes and devastation wrought upon most of the other nations, there was a collapse of the global economy and many other nations fell apart. The remaining nations rebuilt themselves to survive the aftermath while new factions appeared in areas that had not been so fortunate. For a time there was relative peace, while skirmishes frequently happened and there were bandits and independent warlords on the loose, no major wars happened for decades.
Thirty years after the destruction of North America, a new mercenary unit called Halcyon was formed. They were able to quickly make a name for themselves and before long the Guan Yu Corporation, based out of the ruins of China, hired them to investigate a suspected location of an American underground weapons factory on the west coast of the US. Upon finding the factory, Guan Yu betrayed them and tried to have them destroyed. Fending off the attacking forces, Halcyon retreated into the factory. Despite the radioactive hazards of the area, they managed to secure an intact cargo plane, load it up with valuable technology, and escape. Their selling of the factory location to a rival company, Tiger Enterprises, prompted a war between the two factions.
While Halcyon proved to be a valuable ally to Tiger Enterprises and helped take care of many situations, attrition took its toll and the mercenary group eventually disbanded close to the end of the war. As Tiger got close to seizing victory, Australia showed up to launch a series of devastating attacks against the battered Guan Yu Corporation, eliminating the faction. Not in any position to fight against a new enemy, Tiger and its allies were forced to let Australia have most of Guan Yu’s territory, and with that the war was over. Some of the Halcyon members remained mercenaries, either forming their own units or joining others, two worked to restore order to the anarchy filled South America and try to create a more idealized, good version of the US. The rest moved on to more peaceful ventures.
While Halcyon proved to be a valuable ally to Tiger Enterprises and helped take care of many situations, attrition took its toll and the mercenary group eventually disbanded close to the end of the war. As Tiger got close to seizing victory, Australia showed up to launch a series of devastating attacks against the battered Guan Yu Corporation, eliminating the faction. Not in any position to fight against a new enemy, Tiger and its allies were forced to let Australia have most of Guan Yu’s territory, and with that the war was over. Some of the Halcyon members remained mercenaries, either forming their own units or joining others, two worked to restore order to the anarchy filled South America and try to create a more idealized, good version of the US. The rest moved on to more peaceful ventures.
Years later a mysterious military force started raiding various military and civilian targets, stealing valuable supplies and often destroying whatever they couldn’t take. None of the factions were able to stop this group, and soon they started to suspect each other of backing this ‘Shadow Battalion’. A number of people who had lost loved one or had otherwise suffered harm from the actions of the Shadow Battalion banded together to form a new mercenary unit. Calling themselves the Revenants, they started taking missions with the goal of finding out more about the Battalion and taking the fight to them. In time they would discover that the Shadow Battalion was targeting people who had been part of the former Halcyon mercenary unit. Several of them had been the target of assasination attempts, and one was left in a coma due to injuries suffered in battle against the Battalion. Using this, and other information gleaned from encounters with the Battalion, the Revenants were eventually able to track their movements and figure out the identity of their leader.
The leader of the Shadow Battalion was a woman who had been a mercenary who ran afoul of Halcyon in their early days, and the fledgling mercenary unit had killed her commanding officer, who she had loved. A later encounter with Halcyon members at a city that served as a hub for mercenary hiring and communication cemented her hatred towards them and she swore revenge. After the Guan Yu War she started to recruit Guan Yu survivors and others who blamed Halcyon for their misfortunes and formed them into a unit for the simple goal of revenge. However, their plans for revenge were cut short when the Revenants cornered her and her command unit on the North American continent where they were trying to excavate a prototype Walker that boasted more firepower and armor than even the toughest assault models that were currently in production. Despite that advantage, they were destroyed by the Revenants after a hard, brutal fight. With their goal fulfilled, the Revenants largely went their separate ways, and those who had been targeted by the Battalion were able to return to normal living.
The leader of the Shadow Battalion was a woman who had been a mercenary who ran afoul of Halcyon in their early days, and the fledgling mercenary unit had killed her commanding officer, who she had loved. A later encounter with Halcyon members at a city that served as a hub for mercenary hiring and communication cemented her hatred towards them and she swore revenge. After the Guan Yu War she started to recruit Guan Yu survivors and others who blamed Halcyon for their misfortunes and formed them into a unit for the simple goal of revenge. However, their plans for revenge were cut short when the Revenants cornered her and her command unit on the North American continent where they were trying to excavate a prototype Walker that boasted more firepower and armor than even the toughest assault models that were currently in production. Despite that advantage, they were destroyed by the Revenants after a hard, brutal fight. With their goal fulfilled, the Revenants largely went their separate ways, and those who had been targeted by the Battalion were able to return to normal living.
The Exodus
While humanity had long ago turned to various forms of renewable and otherwise ‘green’ energy and alternate methods of resource production after the planet’s supply of fossil fuels had been used up, it was too little too late. The damage caused by the pollution from the old technologies in addition to the nuclear destruction caused from that final attack upon America had left the Earth in bad shape. As time went on it became more and more clear that the planet would soon be unable to support life. Military development and research all but ceased as the factions raced to figure out a solution and in the end they decided that evacuation to another planet was the only way. As humanity was closer to figuring out light speed travel than terraforming, the decision was made to build a massive colony ship equipped with a single-use prototype light speed drive. As expected the drive failed before reaching the target solar system, but it had taken the ship far enough where conventional drives could handle the rest of the trip.
Walkers
While most military Walkers had been scrapped for resources, it had been expected there would be a need for an exploration craft that could be adapted to various situations and could handle terrain that would give conventional vehicles difficulties. As such the basic Walker technology was reworked to be more modular, have improved power generation, artificial muscles, include built in thrusters to handle long falls and to reach the tops of ledges, and better sensors. While this new generation of Walkers proved their worth in the early days, as the colonies became more established, humanity returned to its old habits and soon new Walker frames were being designed and built for combat, and even the exploration models were being retooled as scouting units. Walkers fielded by the factions have set configurations, but mercenaries often take advantage of their modular nature to create their own designs.
The cockpit is stored in the torso and basic controls include a joystick and throttle setup with foot pedals, eye tracking, and plenty of monitor screens and buttons to support. Since the Exodus efforts have been made to improve the control setup with things such as better AI support, voice recognition, and very limited success with cybernetics to control a specific system or device. While none of these methods reached widespread, general use, most pilots adopt one or more of them to suit their preferences to reach higher levels of performance.
Walkers are almost always human-shaped, reverse-joint and quad legged designs are incredibly rare and are normally specialized For example the only reverse-joint design in the Old World, the Anubis, was swift and had more stability than other units of its size, but suffered from a lack of weapon and armor capacity. Quad leg units were invariably heavy weapons platforms, only good for unrelenting barrages of weapon fire. However with this new generation of Walkers, perhaps that could change…
At one point there was an effort to provide Walkers with the thruster power for flight, however it was found that it was far too easy for conventional aircraft to swat them out of the sky. Thus this particular line of development was quickly halted.
Walker Frames
Scout: This Frame was the one originally used for exploration before being rebuilt for military use. Mounts a greater quantity of sensors compared to other Frames and is capable of supporting advanced electronics.
Role Bonus: +1 Notice
Electronics Gear, Support Gear
Electronics Gear, Support Gear
Vanguard: Named after an ancient Walker design that saw heavy use on Old Earth. That machine could be modified to fill a large variety of roles, and this Frame was built to replicate that. As such it lacks any built in features that would define its role, instead it is even more modular than the other Frames and is capable of supporting the widest variety of equipment.
Role Bonus: 2nd Universal Gear slot
Support Gear, Universal Gear, Universal Gear
Support Gear, Universal Gear, Universal Gear
Destroyer: Firepower was the idea behind this Frame. It boasts superior pathways for power conduits and ammo feed mechanisms as well as excellent targeting software and enhanced stability to better support any weapon setup. The end result is that Destroyers consistently end up doing more damage than other Frames with the same weapon setups.
Role Bonus: Weapon: 1
Electronics Gear, Weapon Gear
Electronics Gear, Weapon Gear
Juggernaut: Reinforced internal structures and optimally placed mounting points for armor plating allows this Frame to be the most durable out of all of them. Juggernauts are likened to the Assault Walkers of old, shrugging off heavy volumes of weapons fire to break through enemy lines, and indeed many are configured in that fashion.
Role Bonus: Armor: 1
Weapon Gear, Support Gear
Weapon Gear, Support Gear
Planets
New Earth: The new home for humanity, often called Eden or Gaia in place of its official name. A temperate world with an atmosphere similar enough to Earth’s, though slightly colder, that only minimal terraforming was needed to make it where it was completely safe to breath. Genetically altered plant and animal life brought from the Old World has created a familiar ecosystem, but at the cost of what few native species that had lived there. Orbited by a single moon.
Blue is Avalon
Red is Pacifica
Black is Tiger
Orange is Shattered
Poseidon: A world of warm temperatures covered almost completely by ocean, leaving only a single continent and some islands comprised almost entirely of plains. Powerful storms constantly move across the planet, causing a need for strong, solid structures that are primarily underground. There have been efforts to plant trees and place barriers to help break up the storms, there so far has been little success. Humanity doesn’t have enough of a presence on Poseidon to maintain enough artificial barriers and there are enough toxic gases in the atmosphere where it's difficult to get plant life from Earth to thrive, though additional genetic engineering is in the works to solve that problem. The planet has 3 moons.
Blue is Avalon
Red is Pacifica
Black is Tiger
Orange is Shattered
Element 119 (Ambrosia)
A new element initially found on Poseidon in liquid form, but has then been found on New Earth and several moons in smaller deposits. The full applications of this Ambrosia have yet to be determined, but early research has indicated it to be as useful as oil was in the Old World, if not more so as many new avenues of research have opened up. All of the various factions are trying to secure more of Element 119.
Interplanetary Travel
While working, stable FTL travel is still just a dream, a slower version of that technology was finalized that allows for travel to other planets in the solar system in a matter of days rather than weeks or months. Ships equipped with these drives were largely limited to cargo and military transports. There are only a few transports per faction for transporting larger numbers of people between planets, typically used when setting up or expanding a settlement or other facility.
Factions
Kingdom of Avalon: This colony was originally founded by members of the old European nations and draws some inspiration from the legends of King Arthur and Camelot. A Queen directs strategic goals for the faction while the Round Table Council handles day to day affairs. Their Walker pilots are referred to as Knights and are given more respect and authority than other branches of the military. In battle they prefer direct combat and precision weapons that have a lower chance of inflicting collateral damage. Boasting the largest city on New Earth and the highest standards of living of the factions, the Kingdom would appear to many to be the shining jewel of humanity’s colonization efforts. However the disdain and the lack of respect towards non-Walker pilots in the military is something that carries over to civilian life as well, those who live in the frontier areas are regarded as second class citizens and are often ignored when there's trouble.
Pacifica Alliance: Originally founded by people primarily from Asia. Has strong community bonds that help them overcome any problems they face and they are ruled by a council of elders. Having their people split between New Earth and Poesidon in addition to their strong mining economy means that the Alliance possesses great material wealth that is often traded for resources that they can’t manufacture for themselves. This allows them to largely remain neutral in any conflicts, but they are fully able to protect themselves. As their military philosophy has largely been influenced by the military organization used by Japan during the times of the Guan Yu War and when the Shadow Battalion was active, there is a heavy focus on melee weapons and advanced electronics.
Tiger Conglomerate: Tiger Enterprises had absorbed the other mega-corporations during the preparations for the Exodus, creating this political entity. A CEO and his advisors control the faction in everything they do. Their advanced production capabilities affords them great adaptability against any problems they face, be it military or otherwise. While the faction has great prosperity, the common people have little privacy and few freedoms.
Shattered Nation: Australia had taken in people that had no place in the colonization efforts organized by other Old Earth factions to form what should have been the largest colony on humanity’s new home. However, such a diverse group of people with little time to get to know each other meant that there was a wide variety of ideologies and thoughts on how the new colony should be handled. This meant that before long it had split into a number of smaller city-states. While this ‘Shattered Nation’ has no central government and the settlements often squabble with each other, often leading to military skirmishes, they will band together to repulse any large scale military intrusions from the other factions. In addition they have shared Walker designs with each other in order to allow such defensive actions to be coordinated more easily. Each city-state embraces a different ideology that dictates how they live and handle relations to others. There are also smaller village sized settlements that will provide food and sometimes other resources to the nearest city-state in exchange for protection.
Reapers
Walker pilots come in many skill levels. Most would cap out at ‘Regular’ or “Elite’ skill levels during the career with some managing to reach ‘Ace’ level. There are those who manage to go past Ace however and become something of a living legend. Such pilots have Walkers customized to their taste and almost always have the best equipment. This in addition to their skills allows them to win out against odds that would crush other pilots. To the relief of many, pilots with the Reaper designation are incredibly rare. The use of ‘Reaper’ as the title is believed to be homage to a legendary mercenary from the Old World, who had been employed by Halcyon at one point and who had been active during the time of the Shadow Battalion.
Mercenaries
In the days leading up to the Exodus mercenaries all but vanished as no one could afford military action against each other. However once the colonies got themselves situated and started to engage in military action again the demand for mercenaries returned. While mercenary units of the current times lack the size and organization of their ancestors, their numbers are steadily growing and it is believed it is only a matter of time before they become equal to or better than their predecessors.
Agency
The Agency was a meeting and organizational place for mercenaries on Old Earth. It provided easy means to get contracts as well as repair facilities and easy access to shops for parts and supplies in exchange for the mercs following certain rules. Like mercenaries themselves, the Agency vanished during the time leading up to and including the Exodus, but has now recently returned. This new incarnation of the Agency lacks much of the political power the old one had, but otherwise fulfills the same roles as before.
Last edited:
