#having multiple ways of combat (us as people and then again us as the mecha) was so galaxy brain actually

[dorianpavus]

had an incredibly fun game of dnd today. there was a city without stars, surrounded by a seemingly infinite chasm from which no one returns. and our party, searching for answers about the world (this cannot be all there is, surely? earthquakes are more frequent than ever and the sky keeps going pitch black. is this the end of times?) ends up... discovering a FUCKING MECHA. WHICH WE PILOTED. TO DEFEAT A KAIJU. TO THAT ONE PROMARE SONG

[happi-tree]

On The Style and Effectiveness of 1-A Hero Costumes - Part 2/5

Part 2 of this post!

NAVIGATION

Part 1 2 3 4 5

INGENIUM / IIDA TENYA

It’s armor time!!! Behold a man. 

What I don’t like:

The costume seems too bulky for a Quirk and fighting style that optimize speed. And while it’s true that cars are pretty bulky but still go fast, it’s equally true that certain types of cars are designed to go faster. The current design reminds me most of a semi or a big SUV, but if the costume was more streamlined along the lines of racecars or sports cars, it would help take off the extra weight that the bulk provides, leaving Iida lighter and more streamlined - therefore, faster. 

Some examples of slimmer armor include Go Go Tomago’s from Big Hero 6 and Jim Lake Jr.’s from Trollhunters. And while I get that his body type inherently lends itself to being tank-like, lightening up on the bulk would probably be great for him.

The exhaust pipes out of his back confuse me. They bring some car energy, which is entirely welcome, but they likely hinder balance and motion, which is bad. They leave him looking a little unbalanced, and since so much of his strength and his fighting ability focuses on his lower body, having excess superficial material protruding out of the sides like that doesn’t seem to lend him any favors. And even while it looks cool, it just seems like it would be uncomfortable? Especially since a lot of runners - Iida included - like having full range of their arms to help propel them forward. The pipes might get in the way of that.

Here’s what I like:

The overall aesthetic. I love how this look both makes sense with Iida’s Quirk and personality and plays with elements of his older brother’s costume. It simultaneously puts across some knightly vibes - which is genius, considering how chivalrous and rule-following Iida typically is - and also calls to mind Transformers and cars with the emphasis on the engines and some of the more mecha elements.

The support! Armor is such an easy way to protect yourself while also getting some serious style points. His most essential areas are covered - neck, chest, arms, and legs - which is especially important considering that Iida’s legs are integral to his Quirk and his fighting style. The helmet is also a really good choice, considering this boy is essentially a human car. He looks a bit intimidating wearing it, which is good for fighting Villains, I suppose. Class dad is protected.

And a misc. note:

You know how after Iida’s special Recipro Burst move, he has to wait awhile while his engines cool back down? I think it would be really neat if he implemented some cooling technology into his Hero suit (similarly to Todoroki’s temperature-regulating gear). Theoretically, if he could find something that worked a bit like coolant for his engines, he would have a much quicker reaction time - and speed is the main facet of his Quirk, so it would probably help a lot!

Overall: Very good at providing protection while having a bomb-ass aesthetic. Not quite so good at being built for speed.

I CANNOT STOP TWINKLING / AOYAMA YUUGA 

On the other side of the armored spectrum… we have this kid!

What I don’t like:

*Edna Mode voice* NO CAPE! Why do I not like the cape? Capes can snag on stuff very easily and it would be an easy thing for Villains to target and use to unbalance Aoyama. Longer capes are especially susceptible to getting trapped under rubble, torn up, or covered in gunk from the environment (which is not the Look he seems to like). I feel like a shorter cape would get a similar message across while minimizing the potential dangers that a long cape poses. Of course, Aoyama can be trained via experience to utilize his costume effectively with the full-length cape, but when his life and the lives of others are on the line, I’d rather not take that chance.

The shades. I get that they’re iconic, but they’re taking rose colored glasses a bit too seriously. 110% will fall off his face and also messes with the princely Vibe the rest of his costume provides. I do like their Elton John energy, though.

Not a bad thing, but I just want to know how his belt works.

Here’s what I like:

The overall aesthetic. I love how the costume’s obvious “princely knight” vibe reflects so much of Aoyama’s character. 

The support here is also really good! Working the belt into the theme of his costume so seamlessly is very innovative and I love that for him. Getting the knee pads and shoulder pauldrons to match his central laser both adds to the uniqueness of the outfit and also pushes that royalty theme since they look very similar to inset gems. 

The color scheme. Purple, silver, gold, and black look very classy and regal together, and I appreciate how the royal purple ties back into the concept of European royalty, which is very in-character for this boy. His pantaloon-looking things??? Neato.

Overall: Eh, okay. Ditch the glasses and shorten the cape. Superb, you funky lil knight light.

CREATI / YAOYOROZU MOMO

Here we are! I’m finally taking a crack at one of the most highly debated hero costumes in the entire show, and like a good portion of people, I’m gonna be extremely salty about it. Yaomomo doesn’t deserve this - none of the girls deserve this. These are my thoughts:

What I don’t like:

The absolute lack of support. For any aspect of her. Nothing about this costume is protective (other than maybe the partial high collar). Her most vulnerable areas are exposed, and while it makes sense for easy Quirk usage, it does not make sense for a girl who’s fighting homicidal maniacs on the front lines. The most glaring area in need of support is obviously her chest, as nothing substantial is holding her bust in place. However, so much could be done to work with the benefits of Creation and against its weaknesses that is not being done in this costume. I’ve seen quite a few redesigns that include a sports bra with a front zip closure, which is worlds better. With the show being set in the future, having a slightly mechanized costume with the ability to retract certain pieces at the press of a button would be useful and likely doable considering Yuuei’s own Support department. Gloves would probably be a good idea to give Yaoyorozu a better grip on harder-to-handle Created objects, such as heavy metal machinery. 

The over-sexualization is, obviously, disgusting. Nothing about this costume says “Hero.” What it does say, in-universe, is that someone had the absolute gall to approve and send this outfit to a 15-year-old girl about to be thrown headfirst into training for an extremely dangerous profession. It says that giving a person in their freshman year of high school an overly sexualized outfit meant for combat training is okay (it isn’t, for reasons I can’t even begin to explain). This more closely resembles an outfit for a lingerie or swimsuit model than it does for any type of superhero, which alone should be enough to warrant some serious changes - especially, as I have stated, since the girl is only 15!

The overall aesthetic. There is no aesthetic reading for this costume other than “sexy”, which, as I explained above, is very problematic. Sure, the exposed skin makes sense for her Quirk, since she needs access to skin in order to produce items with Creation, but nothing about this outfit denotes anything about her personality. Yaoyorozu Momo is a gentle girl who has been shown to have self-esteem issues from early on in the show, and just knowing that makes me wonder if she feels uncomfortable wearing this. If she’s totally comfortable in this look, good for her! But comfort in our clothing factors so much into our mental states, which translates directly to our physical performance - it’s the same reason why having clothes that fit you and your style well make you feel more confident and more content. And especially if Yaoyorozu wasn’t quite expecting the amount of skin revealed when her costume was given to her, it could likely have added on to her self-esteem issues as seen early in the school year.

The skintight fit of what amounts to a glorified bathing suit is not conducive or acceptable whatsoever. With such a powerful Quirk, Yaoyorozu needs all the protective material she can get - which, as I said in Uraraka’s analysis, is quite simply not possible to fit under that bodycon fabric. Some padding at the very least would work wonders, and bulletproof material would serve her even better. 

Once again, heels are not good for any kind of running or fighting! At least it’s a block heel, which is marginally more stable than, say, a stiletto, but still.

The literal bookshelf on her ass. It makes no sense to put it there - it’s an inconvenient place (what if she needs to sit down?) and it looks incredibly awkward to move around with. Besides, there’s absolutely nothing stopping that book from falling at the slightest jostle. At least give her a proper holster or implement it into a toolbelt like some of the boys have. 

What’s with the belt? Can it hold emergency supplies? Or is it just there to make it seem like she’s wearing more than a deep v one-piece? I’m at a loss here.

Here’s what I like:

The color scheme. Deep red, white, and pale yellow look good on her! The color ratios are also pretty good in my opinion. Unfortunately, this is the only good thing I can say about her getup.

And to round us out, some misc. notes:

I feel like the book could be done away with entirely and replaced with something digital. This universe is set multiple centuries into the future, and I think something like a holographic data set would look slick, enable for faster search time for whatever info Yaoyorozu would need, and eliminate the bulk problem completely. At the very least, there could be a smartwatch-type gauntlet to pull up info with a larger screen to enable easy reading. Really, the lack of support for Yaoyorozu’s look is devastating because she could go so many directions in creating an outfit that works with her Quirk’s strengths and against its weaknesses.

Overall: Awful, a disgrace, and a disservice to one of the coolest, kindest characters in the class. I would kill for her to get the outfit she deserves.

INVISIBLE GIRL / HAGAKURE TOORU

Wow, look! Two travesties in a row! One more and I get a bingo!

Hagakure, I love you so much, and I am so, so sorry that the yahoos over at the Support company thought that this was a good idea.

What I don’t like:

Uh. The fact that there isn’t a costume. There is literally no in-universe rationalization for this. Surely, they have the technology. Just look at Lemillion! Togata Mirio’s Quirk is literally phasing through materials (including his own clothing) and they made him his own non-phaseable costume by weaving his own DNA into the fabric! Even if they don’t have the technology (they do), I know that Hatsume and probably the rest of the Support students would immediately jump on the chance of creating a fabric with the ability to switch between visible and invisible modes. 

Once again, the sexualization of minor Hero students continues to disturb me. Who in their right mind thinks it’s okay to send a naked teenager out into a live battlefield just because she’s less likely to be noticed that way? This line of thought surely doesn’t account for stray bullets or falling debris, nor does it account for this poor girl’s peace of mind. She should be focused on getting the job done and saving people, not worrying about how it’s too cold for her to work properly or how there’s nothing between her body and a loaded gun except for the air between them.

The gloves and shoes seem like they’re kinda. Missing the point of contributing to a stealth Hero costume? Yes, they’re good so that Hagakure can be easily recognized among her allies, but does she just have to stow them wherever when she needs to go fully invisible and hope she can find them once the mission’s over? Plus, Hagakure will always, at the very bare minimum, need something to protect the soles of her feet. Walking barefoot just for everyday civilian stuff would cause a lot of problems, but Heroes likely have a lot of broken glass, broken nails, debris, and other nasty things on the streets where they fight. Tetanus is not fun to have. 

Here’s what I like:

The gloves are a nice color, I guess?

Some misc. notes:

I gotta say, I’ve seen SO many good takes on outfit redesigns for Hagakure (same with Yaoyorozu) and the fandom collectively has some wonderful ideas on how to go about creating a costume for her. Personally, I think it would be cool if she had a full-body suit that could change between visible and invisible modes - that way, she would be easy to identify in head counts and it would likely be easier to see places where she could be injured after a fight. At the very, very least they could pull a Lemillion and have her outfit infused with something from her own DNA so it can disappear as she does while leaving her at least covered.

Overall: So, so bad. Please give this girl a suit. I’m tired. 

TLDR Part 2:

Great Costumes: 

Good: Iida

Okay: Aoyama

Questionable: 

Bad: 

The Absolute Worst: Yaoyorozu, Hagakure

[socialyawkdude]

A intro to manga, anime and light novels

Hello again, long and first time readers..

Its time for the long-awaited manga review section. Now before we get into the nitty gritty there a few things we need to cover first. Seeing that I will be coving light novels, mangas, and anime there are a few terms that we need to go over. Most of these terms will be covering the different genres and subgenres. Seeing that not everyone is literate in this word, it may be a good idea to cover this before we get into the good stuff.

What I'm about to go over are the genres of light novels, manga, and anime. Like many television shows and movies; manga and anime are broken up into different genres. Many of these are pretty self-explanatory, while others are more unique, as you are about to find out. I have included a few examples with of the sub-genres. I'm no expert, as I’m learning along with a few of you. Some of the examples I've given are some that I've read or heard of.

 List of Major Anime/Manga Genres

Action

Adventure

Comedy

Drama

Slice of Life

Fantasy

Magic

Supernatural

Horror

Mystery

Psychological

Romance

Sci-Fi

 Looking at this list you can see many familiar genres of movies and TV, that you may watch. I won't go into a detailed description of these, because everyone should know these. Now for the sub-genres, it's a bit of a different story. Many of these are unique to anime and manga. It is these that I will give a little description along with a popular anime or manga.

 List of Anime Subgenres

Cyberpunk= This type of anime is a subgenre of sci-fi. It usually displays a future where society has become more ingrained with technology at the expense of social order. The setting is typically a dystopian future where the technology may be doing more harm than good. 

Game= The game category encompasses shows revolving around the idea of gaming and playing. The anime can feature a card game, board game, puzzle game, or even a virtual online game. As long as it concerns any playable game of any kind, it belongs in this category. Sometimes, even video game-based shows can count in this selection.

Ecchi= The word ecchi comes from the sound of H in the word hentai, which in turn means pervert in Japanese. This sub-genre is generally accepted as being full of sexually provocative scenes (mild enough to be viewed by the general audience) and scenarios derived from innuendos and humorous situations. It’s a fact that ecchi shows are taking an upswing nowadays as more and more titles are produced every season. More often than not, ecchi is paired up with comedy as both genres compliment each other well. This, in turn, serves as a buffer that prevents the shows from crossing the line and delving into something less appropriate for general audiences. 

Demons= Originally just an infrequent theme, the rise of demonic characters and themes have given rise to this sub-genre. The term demon does not only encompass literal demon characters. It also extends to other entities such as monsters, beasts, ghosts, and other demon-type figures. The demons present can come from biblical backgrounds or come from Japanese culture. Believe it or not, this category doesn’t just come hand-in-hand with the horror genre; it surprisingly blends well with other genres as well. 

Harem= If you see a reluctant male character surrounded by multiple female characters who all adore him, then you’re probably watching an anime of the harem sub-genre. This type of show typically features more than two female characters go head-over-heels for a single male character. Anime in this category is typically within the comedy and romance genre. It's possible that a harem anime can have no romance and feature mostly slapstick comedy.

Josei= Josei is actually a demographic but is also considered a general category in anime. It specifically targets female viewers around the age range of 18-40. These shows depict life and romance in a more mature light, usually with more grounded realism and less idealistic fantasies. The sub-genre is fairly wide and doesn't necessarily have to focus on romance. It merely needs a narrative that caters to the mature woman. Josei originated from manga during the 80′s. Girls who grew up reading shoujo stories from previous decades wanted stories for adults.

Martial Arts= Martial arts play a big role in every anime that has fighting/battles in it. Whether it's hand-to-hand combat, swordplay, gun fighting, or armed combat, there’s some kind of martial art element that plays through them. But did you know that there are shows that are primarily focused on martial arts itself and their battle techniques? There’s a lot of them, and they mainly involve hand-to-hand combat and technician battles.  

Kids= A lot of people say that anime is just for kids, but that’s not really true. As a matter of fact, there are only a few numbers of anime that are precisely catered towards children. These shows are contained within the kids' sub-genre. These shows are mild, light, and insightful, which makes them perfect for children 12 and under. 

Historical= As the name suggests, historical anime revolves around events in history and moments of antiquity. Shows of this sub-genre are typically set in Ancient Japan and the feudal period. Other settings such as the Middle Ages and medieval period of Europe exist but they’re much more rare in anime. As long as the time or setting (or even elements) are old and ancient, then the series can be considered a historical anime. 

Hentai= Hentai literally translates to "pervert" in Japanese. This is the R-18 (mature) domain of the anime world. This sub-genre commonly depicts nudity and highly explicit content. Unlike ecchi, the focus here is on explicit sexual content rather than on storytelling and narrative progression. That is why the shows in this category are usually brief and lacking in substance.

Isekai= Isekai translates to "another world." This sub-genre typically has a     narrative where a protagonist somehow gets transported to a different     world. The new world is more often than not in a fantasy setting,     occasionally with traits pulled from JRPG games.

This category of anime exploded during the 2010′s and arguably dominated the decade. A good portion of isekai anime is adapted not from the manga but rather from light novels. The most popular series in this sub-genre maybe Sword Art Online. While the world featured there was just virtual reality, it did feature a fantasy setting that would be mimicked in other anime. 

 Military= As the name implies, this sub-genre involves the military in one way or another. War may also be a huge part of military anime. One thing to note about this category is that it is often coupled with the mecha and action genre.

Mecha= Mecha stands for mechanical (as in mechanical units or robots). You’ll never see a mecha anime without a robot or mechanical suit in it. That’s the most important element of it. And while this sub-genre is rising in fame as the days go by, it almost always uses a standard formula to carry the plot. As a general trend, mecha is often seen alongside the military, sci-fi, and action genre.

This may very well be the most iconic anime sub-genre as there is a multitude of memorable shows in this category. The mecha can be considered to be one of Japan's most popular exports. Some of the earlier iconic titles from the late 70s and 80′s include Mobile Suit Gundam, Mazinger Z, and Super Dimension Fortress Macross. Neon Genesis Evangelion is considered to be an iconic and dark deconstruction of the genre as it examined the psyche of young pilots. GurrenLagann was a massive hit that brought the genre back to its hot-blooded and idealistic roots. With a rabid fan-base that loves mecha designs, this genre is one that has been consistently popular over the years. 

Music= Anime shows in the music sub-genre aren’t that popular nowadays, but they do exist and they are very timely. These shows typically focus on singing, dancing, or playing musical instruments. These usually fit within the larger categories of comedy and drama.

Parody= A parody anime is one where countless numbers of other anime references are showcased throughout the plot. It might be a popular running gag, a famous symbol, a character reference, or any other attempt at bringing another show into its domain. One anime worthy to note is Gintama. They often use similar elements from other anime to showcase in their own show.

Police= The police sub-genre emphasizes the life and struggles of law enforcement in their line of duty. Police-based characters have shown up in numerous shows and     there are now anime that could be considered as police procedural. This genre isn't exclusive to police officers; detectives, investigators, and enforcers of any type are included as well. 

Post-Apocalyptic= Post-apocalyptic anime basically show that is set in a world that is in a dystopian state. This could mean the world is destroyed and/or humans are nearly extinct. Post-apocalyptic settings were merely a theme in the past, but an influx of titles bearing this backdrop over the years have made it become a sub-genre on its own. This type of anime has become more and more popular by the day. 

Reverse Harem= A reverse harem anime is typically a harem series where the gender roles are switched around. There is one female character surrounded by multiple male characters who are all potential love interests. Like the traditional harem genre, anime of this variety is usually within the comedy and romance genre.

School= There are countless anime that use the school as a setting. An anime can be considered a part of the school sub-genre if a school is the primary setting and the anime deals mostly with school and student life. This type of anime is usually seen within the comedy genre, though there are some entries in drama as well. 

Seinen= Seinen is actually a demographic but is also considered to be a category in anime. It’s a sub-genre that specifically targets male viewers around the age range of 18-40. The shows here are depicted in a more mature light and often include more explicit content such as gore, sex, and violence. More cerebral narratives are present as well.

Shoujo= Shoujo refers to the demographic of young girls. This sub-genre specifically targets female viewers around the age range of 10-18. Most of the time, shoujo anime works hand-in-hand with the romance and comedy genre, particularly with the former. The protagonist is traditionally female and the narrative focuses on romance as well as personal growth. The world in these shows is often very idealized.

Shoujo-ai= Shoujo-ai literally translates to "girls love." The typically young female characters in shojou-ai anime show love and affection for each other. The romance is usually milder in comparison to the more explicit yuri genre. Shows in this category portray blooming feelings of love and romance rather than intimate relationships. 

Shounen= Shounen refers to the demographic that this type of anime targets, which is male viewers around the age range of 10-18. These shows are usually a combination of action and adventure and are typically adapted from serial manga series. As such, these anime tend to have lengthy runs. One Piece currently has over 800 episodes and is still running. These shows are typically the most popular with mainstream audiences. They have done very well when exported to foreign markets thanks to their relatively simple plots and focus on action.

Shounen-ai= Shounen-ai literally translates to "boys love." The male characters (typically younger boys) in these shows display tender affection for each other. The romance in shounen-ai is generally milder when compared to the more explicit yaoi genre. There is usually more focus on developing romance than actual relationships.

Space= The setting of space has always been massively popular. With so much anime taking place there, it has become a sub-genre in itself. Any anime set in the cosmos can be labeled in this category. Space anime is often within the larger mecha and sci-fi genre. 

Sports= Pretty much self-explanatory, sports anime are shows that cover characters engaging in athletic competition. Popular choices in this category include basketball, tennis, baseball, and soccer. Other sports exist as well (including those that you wouldn’t expect showing up in anime). As time goes on, more and more of these series are produced. Just like real sports, shows in this sub-genre are action-packed!

Super Power= You know you're watching a superpower anime if you're seeing an array of explosive superpowers scrambling right on the screen. If you see bursts of energy balls, death-defying attacks, and opposing forces battling it out throughout the story, then that means you're probably witnessing a show in this sub-genre. These shows generally fit in the action category.

Tragedy= As the name implies, the tragedy sub-genre revolves around tragic events or phenomenon where the characters are deeply involved and affected. Tragedy comes in diverse varieties such as disasters, accidents, misfortunes, and deaths. These shows are often very dramatic and can pull the heartstrings of audiences.

Vampire= As vampires have become so popular throughout the world, it’s no shock that they’ve also infested the world of anime. There are lots of titles now featuring vampires and they’re not just exclusive to the horror category. They’ve also manifested themselves into other categories such as comedy, romance, and drama.

Yuri= Yuri is essentially the more mature and explicit version of shojou-ai. The female characters are typically older and the series examines their more mature relationships.

Yaoi= Yaoi is the much more sexually explicit counterpart of shounen-ai. This sub-genre covers male-to-male relationships (typically older boys) in a more mature light. There is more emphasis on serious relationships and intimacy.

 Well, there you go… a not so short overview of the genre and sub-genres of anime, manga, and light novels. Hopefully, this will help newcomers to this wonderful of books and tv. It is now time to reveal the first series in the socallyawkdude’s manga review….. Tales of Wedding Rings by Maybe.  The volume 1 review should be up soon, as i’m finishing up the art work for the post.

Till then this is your friendly neighborhood sociallyawkdude signing off.

[moistwithgender]

Media Roundup (February 2019)

I wanted to try and squeeze in one last finished show into the last day but I ended up having a really bad sleep schedule hiccup. Anyway, here’s what I finished this month:

Games:

This is actually the shortest list this month, on account of me mostly playing through a single game somewhat slowly. If you follow my posts, you might be able to guess what series it’s a part of.

Super Robot Wars EX (SNES): At the end of the previous post I warned that if you want to get into SRW, SRW2 is an extremely rough starting point, even though it’s canon to the four or five original SRW canon games mostly on the SNES. Thankfully, there is a youtube video that shows you all the dialogue and combat snippets from SRW2. That said... if I wanted to stick hard to canon, I would have either played SRW3 first, or waited for the incoming re-fan-translation that will drop probably at the end of March. BUT, I wanted to play SRW and not jump to a game so far ahead that the mechanics alienate me to the earlier games, so I started EX. EX is largely a contained side story that takes place in and revolving around the original properties of SRW canon. Said original properties involve La Gias, the world that exists inside of planet Earth, and a three-sided war involving mechs that run on magic. There’s a lot of politics and strategic talk and fantasy worldbuilding grounded in fantasy science and it’s actually really fucking cool. They take the time to explain how due to a (magical) scientific phenomena, prophecies are always accurate in La Gias (yet preventable with the right effort), which is exactly the kind of bullshit I love.

However, due to summoning rituals, the setting is also flooded with “Surface Dwellers”, AKA people from different mecha anime who have been written into a melting pot setting that contains all their narratives (sometimes cleverly tweaked to allow and complement each other). This isn’t just a hand wave, but worked into big plot points. It is genuinely stunning how much the creators of these games actually tend to give a shit about making these narratives believable and interesting. I say “believable”, though it’s also worth noting that, as with manipulated inclusion of various IPs, canon is general is somewhat malleable in SRW. There are usually multiple plot options in the games, and EX features a unique system with three separate campaigns that, depending on the order you play them, and also depending on the choices you make and how well you play, change the sequence of events in other campaigns as they weave into each other. It’s not handled amazingly, and to see everything, you may play the campaigns some three times each. I don’t really have that kind of patience, because these early SRW games are also sufficiently challenging games. While not nearly as bullshit as SRW2, EX features a fair amount of incentive to save and reset for better RNG, and you might spend an hour or longer on later maps because situations get really tight. EX is also considered one of the easier early games (phew). Despite that, the maps are almost all really enjoyable, you just have to be willing to work for your victory at times.

The writing, with much credit going to the stellar fan translation imo, is also a compelling read, and dialogue is frequently hilarious despite how much it also focuses on political intrigue and fatal drama. The “hard” campaign (at times equally or less difficult than the “intermediate” campaign) has you playing one of the main series antagonists, whose right hand minions include an oujosama who openly talks about how horny she is, a princess with hardcore stockholm syndrome (or is it?), and a semi incompetent little blue bird as a psychic familiar. A running gag is them chastising each other for using rude words. These characters have apparently been popular enough to reappear even in the modern titles, which largely are self-contained timelines of their own, with their own canonical tweaks.

Last point I want to touch on (this single game just has so much to it) is that playing this game out of order is interesting in how canon is referenced. In most self-contained-stories-in-greater-narratives, you’ll get somewhat forced exposition drops when a character is (re-)introduced. Most of these games so far tend to treat pre-existing characters on the same ground as OCs, where a character doesn’t say, for example “yo I’m goku I come from earth and I’m a super saiyan”, but kind of just realistically reacts to the scenario as per their characterization. If you learn more about them, it’s mostly via seeing them interact with other heroes or villains from their own canon (though later games include library bios to catch you up if you want). While this creates an interesting experience where, if you don’t know a series, you get that curious feeling of walking in on the middle of something, but instead from the beginning. The most interesting aspect of this, and what I consider the defining aspect of the game’s storytelling, is that the same delivery is used with the original characters. From the get-go, the original characters in SRW EX talk about other elements the way real people do, without vaguely audience-oriented exposition. Some people won’t like this, but it makes it feel much more real to me, and complements my recent exploration of the breadth of mecha, where I know a ton of names and have very little context, and slowly accumulate context as I go along. It’s a lot of little micro-mysteries. EX didn’t start this, either. SRW2, which is both the first SRW with a plot or even dialogue, introduces the main OC of SRW, Masaki and his Cybuster, who has a lot of his own lore, and tells almost none of it. You are left for the entirety of SRW2 to only grasp the fringes of what Masaki’s story is, and when he says “hey I’m actually leaving now in the middle of the game because I have my own plot bye” you just deal with that. SRW establishes that the world is way bigger than you, even though the core concept of the series is rooted in fanservice. Now, part of this is that Banpresto and Winkysoft probably had a big MCU-style plan from the beginning (cough most ambitious crossover in history cough), because, well, look at this release timeline and associated narrative chronology:

-Super Robot Wars (Game Boy, April 1991) No plot, or dialogue, but establishes the Big Three (Gundam, Getter, Mazinger) as playable characters and has the kaiju villain from an old 70s Getter+Mazinger crossover movie as the final boss. The pilots don’t exist, the robots are all apparently sentient beings. -The 2nd Super Robot Wars (NES, December 1991) Beginning of plot, introduces a proper antagonist (Bian Zoldak), an antagonist force he leads (Divine Crusaders), light political intrigue, Masaki Andoh and his nemesis Shu Shirakawa are established vaguely while having a separate plot that is not explained. IMAGINE juking your audience with your own main character like that. He doesn’t serve as protagonist yet but is clearly, like, the most important OC? Bian and Shu even serve as the final bosses and you don’t even know who Shu really is. The kaiju villain from before comes back for a single map and evolves into a stronger form unique to the game. The heroes from SRW1 also all acknowledge that SRW1 happened and they know each other. This establishes that you cannot rely on canon. -The 3rd Super Robot Wars (SNES, July 1993) Haven’t played yet but I hear this is where they really started playing with canon. Mixes the Divine Crusaders plot with the plot of the original Gundam series. Multiple endings exist now, and plot regularly splits into dual branches. -Super Robot Wars EX (SNES, March 1994) Here’s where it starts to get complicated. This focuses on Masaki’s setting, while continuing off of SRW3′s plot. Elements introduced here will continue to be referenced in SRW4 (the ending screen even explicitly states that, which reinforces my idea they planned this all years in advance). Multiple campaigns with malleable canon means nothing is concrete ever again. -The 4th Super Robot Wars (SNES, March 1995) Campaign now splits into Super Robot (Getter, Mazinger) and Real Robot (Gundam) routes, which is easier to handle. This game finishes up the “Classic” SRW timeline, but would also canonically be replaced by two remakes on the PS1 (SRW F (1997) and F Final (1998). However... -Super Robot Wars Gaiden: Masoukishin - The Elemental Lords (SNES, March 1996) Masaki gets his own game five years later, beginning his narrative. This game has no mecha IPs, and is exclusively OCs. The most complicated aspect is that this game is split into two chapters: the first, at the start of Masaki’s story, and the second, which... if I have this correct, follows after EX and SRW4. The previous games have, supposedly, been referencing this game that has not existed until now, and this game references what has come before. Playing SRW feels like being lost in linear time. This game starts off its own timeline of games that, I hope, stay confined to the OC-centric games. 

So here’s the timeline:

First half of SRW Gaiden SRW2 (loosely referencing SRW1) SRW3 SRW EX SRW4 Second half of SRW Gaiden

As a result...I can never be comfortable writing a suggested order of play. In playing these games, you simply must accept that the world is bigger than you, and at all times you will be an outsider to some degree. You know, until you’ve played all of them. Which you can’t yet, because they aren’t all translated yet.

Phew! That’s a lot of words about Classic Timeline SRW, and I’ve only played through two games. Thanks for reading all of that, I hope it kept your interest. Despite how complicated that got, EX is a great game and easily in my top SNES RPGs now, up there with Live A Live and Dragon Quest V. Let’s move on for god sake!

Oh, right. Almost forgot: (SRW EX: Masaki’s Chapter: Beaten 2/9/19) (SRW EX: (One of the two versions of) Lune’s Chapter: Beaten 2/15/19) (SRW EX: Shu’s Chapter: Beaten 2/20/19)

Fun fact: In EX, if you use a cheat code on the title screen to play through Shu’s route with a suped-up absurd final boss-strength version of his mech, and run into one of the other protagonists, then when you later play as that other protagonist, you’ll have to fight the cheat version of that mech as a boss.

Orbital Paladin Melchior Y (PC): I had to play something else this month, and because I’m trapped in a fugue state, I made it something mecha related. Melchior Y is a small, hour-long visual novel/shoot em up made by John D. Moore, who I know mostly as a_new_duck from the selectbutton.net forums. I’m... not gonna have as many paragraphs to talk about this, or anything, as I did with SRW EX, so if he sees this I hope he doesn’t take that as a negative. Reportedly, this has multiple routes, though as of this writing I’ve only played one of those. I don’t know if that means multiple endings! I liked it for the small gamejam game it is, though. John is an academic and a mecha fan (and did his thesis on mecha, iirc) and so this is reasonably an introspective mecha story focused on children conscripted for space war purely for their utility, and adults who boss them around despite no longer being allowed to pilot once they hit the very beginnings of adulthood. It gets dark! A smaller positive about it is the matter-of-fact inclusion of queer identity, comfortably existing alongside religion without having to immediately make the plot about the conflict between those (at least in the route I played). I enjoyed it, and if you have the patience to explore artier games that aren’t polished AAA cash houses, you might gain something from it too. Here’s a link if you’re curious, it’s currently free.

Anime:

Rascal Does Not Dream of Bunny Girl Senpai: I already wrote about this last time, oops! Still, despite a couple stumbling points, this is fun character-driven supernatural lit, and if you’re mad at Persona games for bad political takes, then this... at least this doesn’t have those! The funniest thing about the series is that the bunny outfit is easily removable from the plot and barely relevant past the first couple episodes. (13 episodes, finished 2/5/19, Crunchyroll/Hulu)

Punch Line: I actually went in expecting something akin to the sort of wackiness I remember way back when FLCL was fresh. I didn’t get that, necessarily. What I did get was (as I would discover after I wiki’d it later) a fucking Kotaro Uchikoshi story. That’s not a bad thing, but if I had gone in knowing that, I would have been prepared. Uchikoshi writes light novels. Extremely convoluted, mysterious, non-linear light novels. As I was watching this show, I actually thought the whole time “is this a fucking light novel adaptation?” It wasn’t, but it was by the guy who wrote Nine Hours, Nine Persons, Nine Doors (one of my favorite DS games), and Ever17: The Out of Infinity (probably one of the most miserable game experiences I’ve ever had), and I was easily identifying his particular brand of storytelling. There is a LOT that can be said about his style, but I’ll try to keep it short with a paraphrased example (don’t @ me if this doesn’t explicitly describe any one of his plots, it’s close enough). He likes to tell stories that start as quirky or high-concept, but somewhat mundane, skip a scene at one point, and then progress until you suddenly hit a big plot point that turns everything on its head and, in my experiences, causes things to immediately end tragically. Then you see the scene you missed. The scene held a plot point literally so important that it completely changes what the story was ever about. From then on you are fed a trickle of left-field plot twists until eventually the plot is unrecognizable from how it started. His work is as stupid as it is clever, and he’s got the strongest grasp of continuity I’ve ever seen a human being have. This is the polar opposite of SRW’s “fuck canon” philosophy, and that’s not for the worse on either account. Punch Line starts as a story about a boy who dies, becomes a ghost, and then has to figure out... something? (I should clarify I watched all of this overnight while not sleeping as as the story built more and more upon itself I had to fight to keep following it) BUT ALSO, if he sees panties twice, he’ll accidentally destroy the earth. Those details are, like, one percent of the secret plot that the show is built upon, and by the end when the wacky dorm sitcom has become a full blown world war with government conspiracies, I was like “wait why is that girl a superhero again?” Everybody deserves to experience an Uchikoshi story once, just for the wild novelty of it. I don’t think this is his best work (I think 999 is better), but it perfectly exemplifies his style.

Also, I spent the full binge watch (which I rarely do) thinking it was a visual novel adaptation. Absolutely convinced. But, it turns out that, no, he just writes like he’s making a VN game. The “panties = genocide” concept is so obviously a choose-your-own adventure mechanic that I thought it had to be. On the bright side, an actual VN adaptation later came out, and even came out in English on the PS4. And they added in apparently ten episodes’ worth of significant extra plot, so I might play that.

Also, it’s called Punch Line because in Japanese it sounds like “panty line.” That’s it. Also maybe it’s referencing plot twists, or mortality, idk. (12 eps, finished 2/6/19, Crunchyroll/Hulu/HIDIVE)

Mobile Suit Gundam II: Soldiers of Sorrow (Movie): A month later, I finally got around to the rest of Gundam 0079. I think I might like this movie best of the three, even if it does feature a lot of character death is kind of a downer at times (granted, that’s kind of most of Tomino’s work isn’t it). This movie is where most of Kai Shiden’s character development occurs, and it’s nice to see his go from a bastard to a sympathetic, uh, bastard. He’s terrible and my son. (Finished 2/9/19)

Mobile Suit Gundam III: Encounters in Space (Movie): You know I really like the original Gundam in concept, and even execution, but sometimes I’m chewing through it. Even when boiled down to the compilation episodes I’m just pushing through at times. I mean, I think part of that is my burnout and executive dysfunction issues preventing me from fully enjoying things, but it could also just be that I’m baby. This was the movie I liked the least, despite having some of the best moments in the series. The final showdown is genuinely incredible, and there’s probably a lot of essays out there discussing the recurring theme in Gundam of invoking the figure of Newtypes, while also regularly denying being one (even to oneself!) after engaging in a lot of telepathy. My problem with MSG3 is that they packed the most plot points into this one, and it gets to a point where it was hard for me to follow. Mirai goes through two separate love triangles, and a huge tactic (bordering on the severity of a war crime) happens and then is iterated on in such a small amount of time that I actually lost track of who had it and how I was supposed to feel about it. If I were to rewatch it, I might grasp it better. I spent this movie feeling like I should have just watched the 50 odd episodes instead, for the sake of comprehension. Idk! Hate to end this on a negative note, because this series has layered characterization, complex examinations of war, the things people do in war, and the ways that war changes people, and also cool robots. It’s probably something you can revisit multiple times and gain new value from each time. (2/15/19)

Mobile Suit Gundam: The 08th MS Team: Guess who watched this on Adult Swim a long time ago and almost totally forgot! This series is amazing and probably going to stay my favorite Gundam series. The animation is consistently beautiful and consistently had me comparing it stylistically to Cowboy Bebop, from the body language to the lavish mechanical displays to the character writing to the excellent english dub. The US got it ater it was complete, but the original airing of it was spread out over three and a half years, and given how flawless it is, I can understand why. If you’ve have a spot in your heart specifically for watching the switch axe change shape in Monster Hunter, you’re gonna lose it watching them do maintenance in this show. Character-wise, while 0079 was about watching whiny teens complain and break protocol on a regular basis, 08th MS Team is as much about living army life as it is about going on missions. There’s soldier superstition, there’s writing to girlfriends back home, there’s complaining about staking out in the desert for five days. I haven’t watched MASH, but the things I have heard about it make me link the two. 08th MS Team is also about a super unfortunate star-crossed love between people on opposite sides of the war. This plot element is a recurring one even back in 0079, but here it feels the most heart-wrenching, and with the very weighty and believable mech combat (it’s so pretty, good god), I was constantly worried about the well-being of all the characters, Fed and Zeon (except for Ginias). If you have any interest in anything, you have to watch this. I’m not good at selling things.

I watched all of this when Hulu was threatening to remove it, but now it appears to still be up? Uh, so go watch it I guess. Oh fuck, right, I almost forgot. The last episode of this is so bad they didn’t even air it on TV in the US. It’s tangentially related to the plot, claims to be about the main characters but instead centers on two side characters and like six new ones, has zero character development, has comparatively/definitively awful animation, relies entirely on misdirection towards the viewer to keep the plot barely hanging together, and has no satisfying payoff. Thankfully, it’s sort of an omake episode, and you can completely skip it. (12 eps (minus 1), finished 2/20/19, Hulu)

I can’t find a decent HQ poster so have this you filthy animal.

A Place Further Than The Universe: It’s not about robots! Wait. Is it about robo--it’s not about robots! I had heard about this show for a while, it was almost universally agreed upon by everyone that follows seasonal anime to be easily the best show of all of 2018. And wow they were not kidding around about that. APFTTU (oh god that acronym) is about four high school girls who decide to go to Antarctica. It is a feelgood comedy with occasional ventures into very real drama, and is rooted very realistically. The show is semi(?)-educational with the attention it gives to showing how real life expeditions work, while also liberally flowing into the poetry of the concept and experience of such a thing. The four girls are all hilarious and innocent without being cloying and, and this is the most important part, without being written with voyeuristic appeal. It is not off-base to have concern for the ways in which a significant number of female cast anime are written with intent to appeal to lonely men who want to feel a safe ownership of something innocent and attractive. It’s not all of them, but it’s a significant amount. Male gaze exists even in the lesbian shows, it’s something you sometimes have to roll with. Here, however, these girls are fully realized and believable, it is obvious that they are developing people, and that is treated as its own value, not as something to covet. If you’re lookin’ at thighs in here, that is your problem, and I’m calling God. A subplot that comes up involves a guy who gets a crush on one of the older women, and he tries to make it about his narrative and is immediately shot down by the whole cast, because this isn’t a vehicle for his romantic conquest. This isn’t anyone’s romantic conquest, really. It is significant to me to say, “this is an anime I could show to my mom and not be worried about.” I know I just said 08th MS Team was required watching for everyone, but A Place Further Than The Universe is required watching. (13 eps, finished 2/26/19, Crunchyroll)

Giant Gorg: At some point I picked this out to watch on CR without any prompting. Wait, I had one prompt. I knew nothing about this show except I think for seeing it on a short list of tumblr user @lightningclone’s favorite anime. It kind of floors me that this came out a year before Zeta Gundam and has way way better animation. Granted, Zeta has twice the episodes, which might be a big factor. The defining trait of this show is probably way it unravels itself, focusing for multiple episodes on exploring what of the great mystery of Austral Island and Gorg has been established to the audience, before revealing something more an deliberately taking it’s time as it takes you to the next reveal. The reveals don’t feel like twists, because a twist comes out of nowhere and sidelines you. The reveals here feel organic, and expected, but all the same compelling. Another good trait of the show is the characterization. Everyone fits into a very different role both in terms of personality and function, they all have their own motivations, and they all complement each other in unique ways. Also, this show has an Usopp. Back before Usopp was a thing. He’s Dr. Wave, and he’s the best character. 

If I have any criticism for the show, it all comes at the end. Near the end a character does a heel turn that, while a little twisty, is hinted in the beginning of the show, and in his heel turn the writers go a bit overboard and have him commit some sexual violence that goes on for an intentionally uncomfortable amount of time, and features frontal nudity. I know we’re supposed to think “oh god he’s a horrible person actually,” but 1) the main character is a child, I kind of expected this to lean family friendly with the occasional dark element (ignoring all the hilarious New York graffiti at the start that says FUCK in several places because America), but... okay! And 2) the stakes rise to a point by the next episode that the characters, including the victim of that violence, all just shrug it off, like whatever! The character is even redeemed by the end, which I wouldn’t mind if the betrayal itself was less physical. It’s a bit much for me, and I wish they hadn’t done it. Aside from that, I feel like the ending itself is a bit anticlimactic, but everything up to these two points had been so solid that I still think it was worth the watch. Worth it if you like mystery, adventure, and big robots, but worth bearing in mind the trigger warning for near the end. (26 eps, finished 2/27/19, Crunchyroll)

Manga:

Shin Mazinger Zero Vols 1-3:

[Serious Content Warning For Everything]

Shin Mazinger Zero is reprehensible garbage and I hate it. While inspired by Go Nagai and intentionally over-the-top, the absurdity is juvenile, offensive, and often just empty. Now, it may seem hypocritical of me to complain about transgression in something based on Nagai’s works, but I genuinely don’t find this transgressive, just extremely self-indulgent of toxic masculine fantasies, both sexual and violent. It has interesting ideas, about how Mazinger is both a tool possible of great good or great evil (literally the mission statement in every Mazinger work), and it wants to explore alternate timelines to see how characters can be corrupted or overcome corruption. The visual of a demonic Mazinger is genuinely pretty rad.

...Okay maybe he’s not, he’s kind of overdesigned. I like the toothy grill, though.

The problem with that exploration of corruption is that sometimes a character is just a horrible monster for no reason, without much explanation (so far?) for how that comes to be. Maybe in volume 4 they’ll get more into that, since they are currently in flashback mode, so there’s no undoing the damage.

Anyway, female characters so far are hypersexualized and submissive or motherly, or hypersexualized and, like, totally unreasonable. The hot robot girl sat on my lap in her underwear and did sex moans, why are you mad, main love interest? Men are testosterone as FUCK. The hero is constantly yelling to the point of visual distortion, no matter how the drama of the scene is being portrayed. The old man villain Dr. Hell is, for some reason, jacked as hell, and in the backstory to the main timeline (it’s all post-apoc) he shows his superiority over everyone by crushing Not Obama’s balls in his grip. I know exactly the kind of dude that would find this appealing and that’s the kind of person I avoid.

Honestly I knew this series was going to be a trashfire from square one and just kept reading out of morbid curiosity. The story starts in media res at the end of the world, with sexy girl robot disintegrating the hero so his soul can go back in time and try the timeline again. Okay, sure, I’m on board. Immediately next we’re shown what I would assume is The One Timeline To Get It Right, after establishing that there have been thousands of timelines where the hero is corrupted by evil. Pretty normal storytelling. And then, uh, the hero’s grandfather molests and murders the hero’s girlfriend, because the hero might become evil. My face is in my hands at this point. The incomprehensible shame. The hero is then corrupted and goes on a killing spree and humanity’s caught in the crossfire and the world ends. After *that* we get the One Timeline. Why? Why say things have always been bad (and I guess imply that bad things are the default) and then waste my time with the worst shock value trash that comes after for a full volume before actually starting the story? It’s edgy garbage! Why is this an official Mazinger work? Stuff like this is what makes me stop and think “wait are all Nagai’s works like this and I’ve been lying to myself when I like it?” Christ, this turned into a rant. Moving on.

[Content Warning Over]

Dumbbell Nan-Kilo Moteru? Vol 1: Idk if talking about horny manga after that mental breakdown is gonna make me look weird but hear me out.

Hot girls lifting weights.

You still here? Okay, good. I started this on a mutual’s recommendation and while it’s not regularly engaging with my own things (I’m more of a “watching fit woman deadlift and hoping she drops it on me and I disintegrate like so many dead leaves” person), and with the two main girls being high schoolers, I try to avoid engaging with that in that way. Luckily, there’s a teacher my age with a bob cut, so we’re good! More interesting, though, this is in the same genre as that Skullface Bookseller Honda-san anime (though less biographical), where the author just wants to explain their job or hobby while also using likable comedy characters as the vehicle. Anime made edutainment work.

I’m starting to get tired and I wanna wrap this up but unfortunately I have a bit to talk about regarding the last manga I read in Feb.

Tokyo Ghoul Vols 10-12: I’ve been reading this for the past, uh. I read it a lot last year, I don’t know when I started, though. Around 8 books in I started slowing down and taking long breaks because phew! I’d hit the end of the series’ big bad story arc and was having trouble picking up from there. I’m glad I did, though, because the story is still getting good. Here’s hoping I can handle the sequel series, because Tokyo Ghoul itself only has two books to go.

I’ve talked about TG a few times before, maybe just on Twitter. It’s very intelligent “vampire” lit that ramps up the stakes of transition by saying “you can’t just suck their blood and let them go! Human meat is your food and you’ll suffer without it.” At first, I was like “oh wow lol this is edgy” but the last twelve books have talked about trauma, alienation, and most importantly loss of innocence. It’s also about the importance of the bonds between people. The main character is perpetually at odds with himself, trying to be a good person in spite of the fact that being a ghoul is literally and figuratively being a monster. It could easily be an overwrought story of self-indulgence and angst but everything in it has been careful and effective. Ghoul culture is thoroughly built up and balances concepts of territory and posture along with careful deception for the purpose of staying a part of, and hiding from, human culture. It’s about predators who cannot remove themselves from their predatory nature, even if they want to be people with families and educations. There’s an organization that wears white and hunts ghouls with weapons crafted from ghoul bodies and functionally I can’t fully argue with them, sort of, but hey we’re starting to discover that corporations are corrupt (who knew?) and that’ll be fun.

But forget the poetry and human condition, the best thing this series does is that unashamedly works the Hot Topic aesthetic. The main character likes reading books and wears an eyepatch to hide his heterochromia and works as a barista. He wears a mask that evokes an S&M lifestyle. Ghouls can only eat people and all other food taste rotten. Except for black coffee. There’s also a number of ghouls with black nails and eyeshadow, and very heavily coded queer male characters (some more flatteringly portrayed than others but that’s a whole other thing). If Sui Ishida never listened to Three Cheers For Sweet Revenge, I’ll eat my fucking feet.

@sun-eater-official I think this might be up your alley. Or maybe not! But these aesthetics sound like you. Actually, you should probably watch 08th MS Team too, for the Bebop vibes.

So that’s everything! I thought I had a short list but apparently it was all things I had a lot to say about. Again, if you read all of this, thanks a lot, I hope I end up introducing you to a new favorite. In the future, I may have to split these into separate posts for each category. I have a lot of free time to write these lately. Writing two roundup posts back to back is a bit tiring, but I don’t have to do another until April starts.

[4nime6-blog]

Cool Hip Anime!

Anime

Large sparkling eyes, brightly coloured frizzy hair, obscure nose and high facial expression reminds us connected with only one factor.

Anime

Can you do you know what the item is?

If your response is actually Anime, then STOP, to see an otaku's brain!

Cartoons (pronounced: "Ah-nee-may") will be a form of animation typically from Okazaki, japan. They have got their own style this means you will show that in peculiar and wonderful ways. Cartoons also has its very own sense associated with comedy along with has a unique thought processes. It can get actually strong and serious, as well as it could truly be silliest (like: "Lucky Star", "Kill Me Baby") in addition to craziest (like: "Death Note", "Gintama") thing a person have ever before seen. Many Anime demonstrates are centered on popular mangas (Japanese Comics), just putting any not much more life into these people. Cartoons often covers far more serious issues than normal cartoons. In the united states, cartoons tend to be considered a form regarding enjoyment meant for youngsters. In Okazaki , japan, people involving all ages (no, not necessarily newborn babies! ) see anime. Most shows and flicks are centred for youngsters, teenager or young older people, but you can also get many cartoons that are made with regard to older crowd even business people and housewives!

The phrase "Anime" is the close pronunciation connected with "animation" within Japanese, exactly where this expression references just about all animation. Outside the house Japan, cartoons is applied to refer specifically toon from Japan or Western disseminated animation style usually characterized by colourful visuals, attractive characters and fantastical designs. Japanese animation commenced inside 20th century. Katsudo Shashin is claimed for you to be the first Japan animation. The 1923 Fantastic Kanto earthquake triggered wide-spread destruction including demolition associated with earliest Anime Companies as well as anime works; departing Kouchi's Namakura Gatana because the most well-known surviving animation. The 1st cartoons television series was Otogi Manga Calendar aired by 1961 to 1964.

This introduction to anime ended up being in category four while I watched "City Hunter" in a T. Sixth v. channel, Animax. Though I could see anime (as a make a difference of fact the particular multiple of anime is usually anime) like "Doraemon", "Shinchan", "Avatar-The last airbender", "Summer Days and nights with Coo", "AstroBoy", "Dragon Ball-Z", "Naruto" in the past just before yet I did definitely not recognize the profound perception regarding anime as this was dubbed throughout Hindi (rather I would point out "contaminated" instead of "dubbed" by means of old, ridiculous man noises in Hindi who also would break unnecessary, slap-stick jokes deviating viewers through the plot and also terrain you in a hotch-potch of indianised anime). My very own sister ( three yrs young than me even though I actually refuse to confess she is older when compared with me) took weird curiosity in Japanese anime similar to " Tears to Tiara" and "Stigma of typically the Wind" aired in Animax: that we thought strange from that time while the "patriotic inertia" will stop me from receiving something but Indian products. I got first repelled by often the proven fact that all the words casts have been in Japoneses and to understand history I had to consider difficulty of reading the actual Subtitles in english and had to help correlate the particular speech using the video proven; regarding which great deal involving attention seemed to be required. That was impossible personally in order to do both those exhaustion tasks at the very same time, so I delivered to my old Capital t. V. channels: Cartoon Community, Nickolodeans, Hungama, Pogo, Come back and Jetix.

After some sort of very long hiatus, in type seven, My spouse and i again started out experimenting our skills with understanding anime which often converted out to be a new success, when I 1st delighted in anime including "Hayate the Combat Butler" along with "Fairy Tail". Also! This kind of sweet poison! Following a total hectic day time in school, expenses, floating around classes, art in addition to audio classes, and full various other heck lot of routines; I waited only to be able to settle-back and relax for you to watch these kinds of anime. From that time, nothing was of importance to me; not also my parents, close friends as well as teachers. In that online realms of pleasure My partner and i could equipment my failures and sufferings as effortlessly as I got obtained in successes. Nothing irritated me, except when We were required to attend phone telephone calls or to wide open entrance, if any guests will come when the anime indicates were ongoing. However, cartoons hardly did affect this studies as after seeing two hour long plan, I suffered from PARTS (Post Anime Depression Syndrome) that I suffered typically the sense of guilt of wasting moment that has been more intensified through my very own mother's rebuke (I wish to describe this circumstance as "Kata Ghaye nuun-er Chheta") and this also guilt might propel my family to review harder, concentrate and also perform for longer hours this also occurred as daily schedule in my opinion; so I can easily get the best of most connected with the students be that researching or swimming or even any different work.

Hence to all parents, I actually would like to ask for allowing your kids to help watch anime because it proved helpful out for me (maybe I use strange wirings within my human brain! ). Enjoying anime would help an individual to hone your fictional, vocabulary and analytical expertise. More importantly, it would certainly serve as a enormous source of entertainment, at the very least way beyond the little league of daily Indian soap.

Understanding the culture associated with origins is very crucial to realize the plan, be it Japanese cartoons, Korean language Aeni webtoons, China's Manhua Anime or Us sitcoms (which I endured after i was novice inside observing anime). If anyone have watched virtually any cartoons, you will probably discover that often the characters respond differently along with things throughout general (like properties, vehicles, eating etc. ) are usually bit different from everything you used to. Probably the actual most readily evident distinctions between Japanese computer animation in addition to others is the a muslim everywhere huge eyes (bigger in comparison with nose), brightly girl locks, some well-endowed character types as well as exaggerated emotional movement and also gestures are regular regarding anime. Being hand-drawn, cartoons is separated coming from actuality providing an best path intended for escapism directly into which followers can involve themselves having relative simplicity. The production of cartoons focusses less on the particular cartoon movement and considerably more on the realistic look involving settings like "The Yard of Words".

The particular beginning and credit sequences connected with most anime are combined with Japanese rock or take song which maybe related to the anime series, simply by popular bands. "Nanairo Namida" by Tomato n' Pinus radiata of anime "Beelzebub" along with "Just Awake" of cartoons "Hunter X Hunter" are a few of my favourite anime tunes, which you may try out.

Since there are several sorts of cartoons, one will need to classify these individuals with different genres, some associated with them are generally: Action, Audio, Mecha, Experience, Mystery, Bishounen, Yuri, Yaoi, Akuma, Seinen, Shoujo, Shounen, Kodomo, Piece of Existence and a lot of more. Whether you're the die-hard anime fan (like me generally labelled seeing that "otaku"), a casual watcher, the interested onlooker or perhaps commoner from non-anime website: cartoons genres shall supply you actually with some simple knowledge which help you in order to venture the cartoons planet with ease and joy.

I am going to be able to share some remarkable rates of anime which will etch my heart usually are:

• Motoko Kusanagi regarding "Ghost in the Shell a couple of: Innocence"

"We weep to get blood of a pet although not for the our blood of a species of fish. Endowed are those with any tone. "

• Shinchi Akiyama of "Liar Game"

"People SHOULD be doubted. Many people get me wrong this specific concept. Doubting people is simply a part of getting for you to know them. Just what quite a few people call "trust" is absolutely just giving up about wanting to understand others in addition to that extremely act is definitely far more serious than questioning. It is actually 'apathy'. "

• Hachiman Hikigaya of "My Teen Passionate Comedy SNAFU"

"If simple truth is cruel

Then

Lie needs to be kind

Then

Kindness need to be lie"

You can observe anime with T. /. by opting-in to Animax, Aniplus, AnimeCental, TV Tokyo or online on internet sites like animehaven. to help, kissanime, Funimation. com, Netflix, Crunchyroll. com, hulu, Vimeo and so forth.

ENJOY WATCHING CARTOONS!

[cthulhutech]

How to Build a Tager

Background

How did you get into the Eldritch Society?

Were you born here? Did they find you after you did something astonishing? To be a target for a Tag’e fragment, you have to have been noticed and picked and groomed for this role. Often Tagers were picked up into the Eldritch society because they were noticed doing something exceptionally tenacious – fighting off a monster that other people run from, surviving torture scenarios with their minds in tact, displaying great feats of will. Some of them are born into the Eldritch Society, from tager parents or other workers in the facilities.

How did you get picked to be a Holy Warrior?

People who are picked up on the outside are often chosen specifically for their tenacity in a hope to cultivate them into Tagers, but they have to be indoctrinated first. It takes time to get someone to be so dedicated to the cause that they would risk life and limb for the Society. How did that go for you? Was it fast? Slow? When they asked you, did you jump for joy, or did you hesitate at first. Did you always dream of this, the moment that you got deep enough into the society to know about it?

Your Sorceror Friend

A sorcerer has to come with you into the void and be your guide. They sat there, beside you, as you went through the Rite of Sacred Union. They were your partner. Think about this character, who they were, what they meant to you. Were they your friend, or just someone that got partnered up with you ‘cause your compound was low on sorcerers?

Your Murder

Where are you from, and who has been in your murder (That’s the pack of tagers that operate together)? Are you newer, is this your first murder, or have you experienced loss before and this is a new murder you were organized into?

Your Age

Age of Maturity is 16, and the military is *always* recruiting. By 22, you could be a combat veteran and have made your way here to join the shadow war. Think about your age, and what your history might have been like and the context it creates for your character and how long they are here. Tagers die a lot on Earth. Keep it in mind.

Your Race

Nazzadi, Xenomix, or Human–all are on the table. Think about which you are and which culture you are immersed in. Some Nazzadi grow up in hugely human areas, but those that grow up among Nazzadi have their own culture and beliefs. If Xenomix, which culture were you more inside?

Choose Your Tager

REQUIREMENTS

Tager Requirements have several things, most of them story, but the hard-core mechanics are

Attributes: 7+ Tenacity

Qualities: Tager (4), Duty (3), and Fanatical (2-3). If you want to be an exceptional or rare tager, there are other qualities you must take, too.

Tager types are listed in order of rarity.

TAGER RULES

There are a few abilities, drawbacks, and rules common to all types of Tagers. Here are four major sections:

Attributes

Tager symbionts increase the Attributes of their hosts. Within each Tager listing there are two sets of bonuses. Listed first are those that apply to the Tager’s natural, non-shifted mortal form and second are those that apply to the Tager’s shifted alien form. The second group of bonuses already takes the first into account, so don’t add them again. These bonuses may increase a Character’s Attributes above the normal starting limit of 11 and that’s okay. Remember to calculate a separate set of Secondary Attributes for the Tager in his shifted form.

Abilities

• Tagers can shift instantly between their two forms. This ability cannot be constrained by restraints or physical objects. The symbiont will mystically destroy any such obstacles in order to manifest.

• Tagers have microhooks on their hands and feet which allow them to cling to and crawl on sheer surfaces like an insect.

• Tagers can perform super-human leaps and jump double normal distances.

• Tagers are considered sealed against gas or biological attacks and can produce their own air for short periods of time. This internal air supply lasts for two hours. They have full mystical life support and can even withstand the depths of the ocean or the vacuum of space.

• Characters receive a +4 bonus to Fear Tests when shifted into Tager form.

• Tagers, regardless of form, have the ability to detect Dhohanoids (and other Tagers) in their mortal guise. By spending one minute carefully observing a person, and succeeding at a Challenging Observation Test, a Tager can figure out whether or not he’s watching a monster.

• For a description of Tager senses, refer to the matching mecha sensor systems. They function the same.

• Tagers within one mile of each other, when shifted, are mindlinked. This mindlink allows shifted Tagers to soundlessly communicate through a form of limited telepathy, as well as know what other Tagers are nearby and alive. This does not allow Tagers to know precisely where each other is, how far they are away from each other, or if they are hurt. It only senses whether they are nearby and alive or dead.

Combat

• Tagers are Vitality scale.

• Tagers use their Fighting skill instead of their Armed Fighting skill when wielding their natural non-projectile weaponry, such as blades or claws as these weapons are an extension of their body.

• Tagers regenerate Vitality, even in their natural mortal form. The number listed first represents the amount of Vitality they regenerate every hour in their natural form and the second number listed is the amount of Vitality they regenerate each turn in their shifted form.

• Each Tager has what is called a Limit Weapon which is very powerful. Limit Weapons can only be used once every 24 hours To activate the attack the Tager must first succeed at a Hard Tenacity Feat Test. Using a Limit Weapon requires all of a Tager’s Actions for the turn and can be the only Action that turn.

• If for some reason the mortal inside the symbiont is knocked unconscious while the Tager is shifted, the creature will take over. It runs on instinct, attacks any threat in sight, and will not stop until its environment is safe. Assume that the symbiont has an Adept level of expertise for its skills, including Athletics, Fighting, Dodge, Observation, and Stealth. It continues to use the overall Vitality of the mortal inside but suffers no Test Penalties for Wound Level. It will cease when the host recovers.

• The hands of a shifted Tager are too large to use conventional weaponry. However, the Eldrith Society has modified some types of weapons, including assault rifles and man-portable anti-mech weaponry, with larger grips, triggers, and trigger guards for Tager use. The availability of these special weapons is up to your Storyguide.

The Hard Truth

• Tager characters begin with one Insanity Point. The Rite of Sacred Union, while beneficial to both parties involved, quickly changes the host’s worldview in a frightening way.

• Tagers have access to only half of their Orgone for performing magic, as the symbiont requires the rest as sustenance. Exceptional Tagers are the exception; they only have access to none

of their Orgone.

• Tagers must succeed at a Challenging Insanity Test every game month. Failure adds another Insanity Point to their total.

PHANTOM

Type: Multi-Purpose Battle Tager

The Phantom is one of the two most common Tagers, along with the Mirage*. They are heavily armed, tough, and equipped with one of the most terrifying Limit Weapons of all the symbionts. The weapons of a Phantom make it deadly all around. A magical electrical blast that generates out of the Tager’s forehead, the Arcane Blast fires the equivalent of a heavy round with deadly accuracy. The Phantom’s exceptional strength combined with the sharp blades that extend out of its forearms make it a vicious killer up close. Not even aerial targets are safe, as its awful Howl brings fliers to the ground – and knocks other opponents off their feet. Groups of Phantoms sometimes Howl, an unnatural and almost unholy sound, as a battle cry that echoes into the night.

However, it’s the Limit Weapon of the Phantom that is most feared, and not coincidentally coveted by many other Tagers. A mass of black tentacles burst out of its chest, flaying the flesh off those unlucky enough to get in the way. Before they return, the symbiont chooses one of these victims as its meal. It drags the screaming victim back into the dimensional cavity from which it came and swallows him whole. This is a little intimidating and it’s also an ingenious way to hide dead bodies.

The Phantom’s armor and ability to regenerate are both significant, so it can take a beating and still handle itself. It is a balanced organism, useful in just about any situation.

Phantoms are sleek and aggressive symbionts. Those who are bound with one develop an attunement with their body and a confident awareness, combined with a sense of freedom and a certain bloodlust.

Size: Medium (6 to 7 ft. tall)

Attribute Modifications:

Agility +1/+3

Perception -/+2

Strength +1/+3

Tenacity +1/+3

Weapons:

Arcane Blast – Range 30/75/200, Damage +2, Shots 3, Infinite Rounds

Blades (+2) – These blades often extend from the forearms of the Tager.

Howl (+0) – Range of 20 ft. Target must succeed at a Challenging Strength Feat Test or be knocked to the ground.

Limit Weapon:

Tentacle Sheathe (+3) – A mass of tentacles bursts out of the Phantom’s chest, covering a 30 ft. cone in front of him. Everything caught within the tentacles is attacked, at no Multiple Action Penalty. One of the targets, randomly selected, must also succeed at a Challenging Strength Test or the symbiont will drag him back and eat him. This takes one full turn and results in the death of the victim. This uses all Actions and can be the Tager’s only Action that turn.

Armor: 2/2

Regeneration: ⅓

Fear Factor: 12

Senses: Nightvision, Scan

Movement & Speed: Climbing (Double), Jumping (Double), Land (Normal)

PHANTOM VARIATIONS

Attributes

If you desire a stronger Phantom, you may choose the following Attribute Modifications instead of the standard:

Agility +1/+2

Perception -/+2

Strength +1/+5

Tenacity +1/+2

If you desire a more agile Phantom, you may choose the following Attribute Modifications instead of the standard:

Agility +1/+4

Perception -/+2

Strength +1/+2

Tenacity +1/+3

Weapons

You may choose:

• one close quarters weapon with two ranged weapons

• two close quarters weapons with one ranged weapon

• three ranged weapons

• four close quarters weapons

Close Quarters Weapons

You may choose close quarters weapons from the following list:

Blades (+2) – These blades often extend from the forearms of the Tager.

Claws (+2) – The Phantom’s claws have developed into vicious weapons.

Rend (+4) – The Phantom may use both its sets of blades or claws to tear into a foe. This attack takes two of the Tager’s Actions to perform.

Screaming Clutch (0) – The Phantom grabs a target and disrupts its equilibrium with its howl. The target must succeed at a Challenging Strength Feat Test or be unable to take action for the next turn. This attack is entangling and requires two Actions to perform.

Ranged Weapons

You may choose ranged weapons from the following list:

Arcane Blast – Range 30/75/200, Damage +2, Shots 3, Infinite Rounds.

Concussive Strike (0) – The Tager strikes the ground and sends out a concussive wave that affects all targets touching the ground within 10 feet. Targets within must succeed at a Challenging Strength Feat Test or be knocked to the ground.

Howl (0) - Range 20 ft. Target must succeed at a Challenging Strength Feat Test or be knocked to the ground.

Protection

Instead of the usual level of armor and regeneration, you may choose to sacrifice your Phantom’s armor for a high level of regeneration.

Armor: 1/1

Regen0eration: 1/1 die

MIRAGE

Type: Multi-Purpose Battle Tager

Like the Phantom, the Mirage is one of the most common Tagers. It trades some of its brother’s capacity for bloodshed for those of illusion and deception, but is still nonetheless deadly. It can generate blasts of solid light from the mystical field around its body, punching through targets with the force of a large caliber round. Razor-tipped tentacles sprout from its shoulder blades, lashing out to tear chunks out of those who get too close. But what makes it most dangerous is the fact that the Mirage is rarely where it appears to be. A mystical displacement field makes the

Tager appear as if it were a few feet away from where it really is, making it very difficult to strike.

The Limit Weapon of the Mirage can save the day of any pack. It generates a group of illusory duplicates that act independently. The Mirage itself is displaced within the group, there- fore concealing its presence within. The copies can help conceal the numbers of a pack, making it seem as if there are more than there are, and they can be used as cover when a pack needs to escape.

Mirages are precise and cautious symbionts. Those who are bound with one develop precise bodily control and a confident awareness combined with a more guarded personality and a desire to blend into the background.

Special: Displacement – The Mirage projects a mystical displacement field around itself, making

it appear as if it were a few feet away from where it really is. This provides a number of benefits, including adding one extra die to all of the Tager’s defense rolls. It also cannot be surprise attacked while this field is engaged – the attacks are invariably aimed at the illusory simulacrum. The real position of the Mirage is almost impossible to detect – use the rules for Stealth Systems when attempting to locate a Mirage’s real position, but increase the Degrees one category. Seeing the real Tager negates the benefits of Displacement as long as an observer is capable of tracking it.

Its Displacement ability drains the Orgone of the Tager, at a rate of one point for every half hour the Tager spends with the displacement field engaged. The ability of the Mirage to use Displacement is not affected by this drain – it only affects the Tager’s ability to use or assist with magic. A Mirage may even use this ability when its Orgone has been drained to zero, but will not regenerate Orgone while it is engaged.

Size: Medium (6 to 7 ft. tall)

Attribute Modifications:

Agility +1/+4

Perception -/+2

Strength +1/+2

Tenacity +1/+3

Weapons:

Photon Blast – Range 30/75/200, Damage +2, Shots 3, Infinite Rounds

Tentacle Lash (+2) – These razor-tipped tentacles grow from the shoulder blades of the Tager and can be retracted. They are lashing weapons and cannot be used to entangle, though they can be used as rudimentary hands. While not capable of fine manipulation, they can hold or push things (but cannot wield weapons). These tentacles give the Tager an extra Action each turn that can only be spent to attack with them – this can bring a Mirage’s total Actions to four. The usual Multiple Action Penalties apply.

Limit Weapon:

Multiplicity (n/a) – This deceptive ploy generates 6 to 10 (5 + half a die) illusory copies of the Tager. The moment these duplicates are created the real Mirage mystically and randomly changes places with one of them to conceal his presence in the group. The copies either independently engage any apparent enemies or they follow the lead of the Tager, and last for one to five minutes (half a die). The copies cannot cause harm nor can they be harmed – it doesn’t take most foes long to realize they are fighting an illusion. This uses all Actions and can be the Tager’s only Action that turn.

Armor: 1/1

Regeneration: ⅓

Fear Factor: 12

Senses: Nightvision, Scan

Movement & Speed: Climbing (Double), Jumping (Double), Land (Normal)

MIRAGE VARIATIONS

Attributes

If you desire a more agile Mirage, you may choose the following Attribute

Modifications instead of the standard:

Agility +1/+6

Perception -/+1

Strength +1/+2

Tenacity +1/+2

If you desire a stronger Mirage, you may choose the following Attribute Modifications

instead of the standard:

Agility +1/+3

Perception -/+2

Strength +1/+4

Tenacity +1/+2

Weapons

You may choose:

• one close quarters weapon with one ranged weapon

• two ranged weapons

• three close quarters weapons

Close Quarters Weapons

You may choose close quarters weapons from the following list:

Tentacle Lash (+2) – These razor-tipped tentacles grow from the shoulder blades of the Tager and can be retracted. They are lashing weapons and cannot be used to entangle, though they can be used as rudimentary hands. While not capable of fine manipulation, they can hold or push things (but cannot wield weapons). These tentacles give the Tager an extra Action each turn that can only be spent to attack with them – this can bring a Mirage’s total Actions to four. The usual Multiple Action Penalties apply.

Impeding Lash (+0) – These tentacles grow from the shoulder blades of the Tager and can be retracted. They can be used to entangle, as well as rudimentary hands. While not capable of fine manipulation, they can hold or push things (but cannot wield weapons). These tentacles give the Tager an extra Action each turn that can only be spent to attack with them – this can bring a Mirage’s total Actions to four. The usual Multiple Action Penalties apply.

Tentacle Hook (+1) – This attack can target any foe within 20 feet. The target must engage in a Strength Feat Contest with the Mirage. If the Tager wins, the target is dragged into close combat range, as close to the Mirage as he wishes.

Ranged Weapons

You may choose ranged weapons from the following list:

Photon Blast – Range 30/75/200, Damage +2, Shots 3, Infinite Rounds.

Whirling Lash – Range 15 foot radius, Damage +1, Shots 1, Infinite Rounds. This attacks targets all enemies within the radius; generate one attack total against which all must defend. Targets must succeed at a Challenging Strength Feat Test or be knocked to the ground.

Protection

Instead of the usual level of armor and regeneration, you may choose to sacrifice your Mirage’s armor for a higher level of regeneration.

Armor: -/-

Regeneration: 1/1 die

NAGA

Type: Multi-Purpose Battle Tager

Like the Mirage and the Phantom, the Naga is one of the most common Tagers, though the passage in the Ta’ge fragments that included it was only recently translated and their bonding made possible. Naga are as combat-ready as Phantoms are, and though they are more able trading blows in a stand-up fight than the Phantom, they often have difficulty keeping up with the more mobile Phantoms. If Mirages are on the “tactical” end of the spectrum of which Phantoms are the center point, Naga are on the “brute” end. Add the quills that lurk beneath their skin and the protective shield of mystical energy they can call on to their already impressive armor, and any murder should be happy to have one as a member.

Most Tagers that see a Naga’s Limit Weapon in action are frankly underwhelmed. Compared to the magnificent displays of other Tagers’ Limit Weapon, forcing people to stop and twitch a bit doesn’t look very impressive. When one actually considers it though, even partially incapacitating so many foes is an enormous strategic boon. The Tager’s hidden quills extend to their full length and discharge a sheet of invisible energy into any hapless targets in an arc before the Tager. The energy plays havoc with muscles, giving them approximately a thousand false signals per second. Despite the affected areas’ uncontrollable twitching and spasms, the feeling is not dissimilar from a limb going to sleep.

Naga are tough and determined symbionts. Those who are bound with a Naga develop a patient confidence and a siege mentality, along with an often-paradoxical eagerness to fight and an incredible spatial awareness. It is not unknown for those especially influenced by their symbiont to go from words of peace and accord to inflammatory personal attacks or even physical challenges, all in the space of a few brief moments.

Special: Shield – The Naga generates a mystical shield of energy around itself that protects it from physical harm. Bullets bounce, claws scrape across its surface, and blades stop dead inches from the Tager’s flesh. When the Tager senses an incoming attack, it is instantly met with blast of invisible energy, greatly reducing the amount of harm that actually lands. Mechanically, the shield a Naga generates adds the Naga’s current Orgone rating to the result of armor rolls against attacks of which the Naga is aware (for example, a Naga is aware of an incoming attack from a Dua-Sanaras’ tentacle. The Naga’s rather clumsy defensive maneuver [result 10] is smashed aside by the Dhohanoid’s attack [result 23], indicating a solid hit [result 27 damage]. The Naga rolls its armor 2 and gets 4, and 7. It adds its current Orgone of 5 and gets 16, reducing the damage to11.)

Its Shield ability drains the Orgone of the Tager, at a rate of one point per minute that the Shield is active. Once the Tager is out of Orgone the Shield sputters out of existence until the Naga regenerates enough Orgone to support it again. The spatial awareness required to effectively defend against attacks in this way gives Naga the Peripheral Vision Asset for free, making them the first individuals ever to actually use that Asset.

Size: Medium (6 to 7 ft. tall)

Attribute Modifications:

          Agility +1/+2

          Perception -/+1

          Strength +1/+4

          Tenacity +1/+4

Weapons:

          Quill Shot – Range 35/70/150, Damage +2, Shots 3, Infinite Rounds

          Shank-Punch (+2) – A simple blow backed by fully-extended quills.

           Quills (+1) – Anything that physically strikes the Naga takes one die of damage, which can be reduced by armor. This also adds one die to the Tager’s close quarters attacks. When not in use, the quills retreat just beneath the Naga’s skin, giving it the appearance of being covered in unusually large pimples. Just before a blow (either by the Tager or against it) the area of quills that will make contact extend completely. The quills range from four to six inches long and are serrated on the underside. Every Naga so far has had a different color of quills.

Limit Weapon:

Spasm Blast (n/a) – A sheet of invisible disruptive energy is fired from the Tager’s quills, subjecting all in a 10 ft. long 180-degree arc in front of him to complete neuromuscular confusion. All targets must succeed at a Hard Tenacity Feat Test or lose 2 Actions per turn for one to ten rounds (roll one die). On each turn that targets are affected they take 1 die of damage that cannot be reduced with armor as their conflicted muscles strain in multiple directions simultaneously. During this, victims feel their affected limbs go numb, feeling no pain from wrenched wrists and thighs or broken bones sustained from flailing a limb into a wall. Of course, after the effects have subsided, the victims’ pain is quite intense. That is, if he doesn’t simply fall unconscious from shock as the numbness vanishes rather abruptly.

Armor: 2/2

Regeneration: ⅓

Fear Factor: 12

Senses: Nightvision, Scan, Peripheral Vision

Movement & Speed: Climbing (Double), Jumping (Double), Land (Normal)

NAGA VARIATIONS

Attributes

If you desire a more agile Naga, you should really choose a different symbiont.

On the other hand, if you desire a more moderate Naga, you may choose the following Attribute Modifications instead of the standard:

          Agility +1/+3

          Perception -/+2

          Strength +1/+3

          Tenacity +1/+3

If you desire a more tenacious Naga, you may choose the following Attribute Modifications instead of the standard:

          Agility +1/+2

          Perception -/+1

          Strength +1/+2

          Tenacity +1/+6

Weapons

You may choose:

two close quarters weapons with one ranged weapon

one close quarters weapon with two ranged weapons

three close quarters weapons

Close Quarters Weapons

You may choose close quarters weapons from the following list:

        Shank-Punch (+2) – A simple body blow, usually with a fist.

         Quills (+1) – Anything that physically strikes the Naga takes one die of damage, which can be reduced by armor. This also adds one die to the Tager’s close quarters attacks.

         Shieldmate (n/a) – The Naga can extend its shield ability to one other living being that is of equal mass or less. This only functions so long as the Naga is touching the creature it wishes to shield. This costs one Orgone for two rounds.

         Serpent Dance (n/a) – The Naga enters a swaying trance-like state where defense is easy and natural, adding +3 dice to the Tager’s defense. This requires all Actions and can be the Tager’s only action that turn, except to maintain contact with a Shieldmate (see above).

Ranged Weapons

You may choose ranged weapons from the following list:

          Quill Shot – Range 35/70/150, Damage +2, Shots 3, Infinite Rounds

           Spasm Bolt – Range 10/20/30, Damage +0, Shots 3, Infinite Rounds. If these invisible bolts pierce the target’s armor and do at least one point of Vitality Damage, the target must make a Challenging Tenacity feat check or lose 2 actions for one to ten rounds (roll one die).

Protection

Instead of the usual level of armor and regeneration, you may choose to sacrifice your Naga’s armor for a high level of regeneration.

          Armor: 1/1

          Regeneration: 1/1 die

SHADOW

Type: Stealth Combat Tager

Something that can’t be seen, the Shadow is the thing that moves in the corner of one’s eye. Spy, ninja, ghost – it has been called all of these and none of them is incorrect, for the Shadow has the mystical ability to disappear at will. As long as it’s alive, it can disappear from sight and sound in an instant. Not only is it invisible and inaudible, it leaves no heat signature either, making it capable of open action even in an arcology. Most of the time the Shadow’s first strike is from surprise.

Its tools as an assassin are manifold. The needles growing on its chin can be fired as poisoned darts. This organic poison is a powerful, short-term paralytic, meant to disable a target just long enough for the Shadow to gain advantage. Once it is up close, thorns sprout out of almost every striking surface, making it capable of tearing chunks out of vulnerable flesh. Its ability to Multiport strikes a target from up to six different sides nearly simultaneously. However, the Shadow is lightly armored and stand up fights can leave it badly hurt.

The Shadow is a deadly and careful symbiont. Those who are bound with one develop great patience and cool temper, combined with a controlled nature and a callous attitude towards killing.

Special: Paralytic Poison – The needles fired by the Shadow are coated with an organic paralytic poison. This poison requires that the needle do at least one point of Vitality damage to be administered. Anyone affected by the poison must succeed at a Hard Tenacity Feat Test to resist. If this Test is failed, the victim loses 2 Actions per turn for one to ten minutes (roll one die), which can effectively reduce a character’s Actions to zero. Only one Test needs to be made per turn struck by the Shadow’s needles and the effect of the needles is not cumulative. A target may again be affected on the turn following his recovery from the last dose.

Special: Stealth – The Shadow projects a mystical stealth field, which functions like a mecha stealth system except that all Degrees to spot it are increased one category. In addition to rapid, erratic movement, touching anything living (of dog-size or larger) will force the stealth to drop. This ability drains the Orgone of the Tager, at a rate of one point for every half hour invisible. The ability of a Shadow to use its stealth is not affected by this drain. A Shadow may even use this ability when its Orgone has been drained to zero, but Orgone will not regenerate while it is engaged.

Size: Medium (6 to 7 ft. tall)

Attribute Modifications:

Agility +1/+3

Perception +1/+3

Strength -/+2

Tenacity +1/+3

Weapons:

Thorns (+1) – These thorns grow out of the hands, forearms, shoulders, lower legs, and feet.

Needle Pods – Range 25/60/170, Damage +1 (+ Poison), Shots 2, Infinite Rounds

Limit Weapon:

Multiport – This attack can target anything within a range of twice the Shadow’s average jumping distance. By rapidly teleporting around his target, the Shadow can take double his normal Actions – though no movement – with no Multiple Action Penalty, for one single turn. These attacks occur simultaneously. This uses all Actions and can be the Tager’s only Action that turn.

Armor: 1/1

Regeneration: ½

Fear Factor: 12

Senses: Nightvision, Scan

Movement & Speed: Climbing (Double), Jumping (Triple), Land (Normal)

SHADOW VARIATIONS

Attributes

If you desire a more agile Shadow, you may choose the following Attribute Modifications instead of the standard:

Agility +1/+4

Perception 1/+3

Strength -/+2

Tenacity +1/+2

Weapons

You may choose:

• one close quarters weapon with one ranged weapon

• two ranged weapons

• three close quarters weapons

Close Quarters Weapons

You may choose close quarters weapons from the following list:

Concealing Aura (n/a) – The Shadow can extend his concealing abilities to one other living being that is of equal mass or less. This ability only functions as long as the Shadow is touching the creature with which it wishes to conceal. This costs 5 Orgone for one minute.

Spiny Embrace (+3 + Poison) – The Shadow may use its thorns in a bear hug-like grasp. This attack takes two of the Tager’s Actions to perform.

Thorns (+1) – These thorns grow out of the hands, forearms, shoulders, lower legs, and feet.

Ranged Weapons

You may choose ranged weapons from the following list:

Needle Pods – Range 25/60/170, Damage +1 (+ Poison), Shots 2, Infinite Rounds.

Quills – Range 10/20/30, Damage +1 (+ Poison), Shots 1, Infinite Rounds. These quills fire from the Tager to affect a three yard burst radius – all foes within must defend against the attack or be affected.

Protection

Instead of the usual level of armor and regeneration, you may choose to sacrifice all of your Shadow’s armor for a high level of Regeneration.

Armor: -/-

Regeneration: 1/1 die

SPECTRE

Type: Black Ops Tager

The stench of the grave. You run. Somewhere in the mists behind you, death comes. You bolt inside and lock the door. You frantically push the couch against it. You hope the thing takes time to pound its way through while you look for another way out. But the fog fills the room. It walks through the barricade as if it wasn’t there and you can feel the cold closing in…

The Spectre goes places other Tagers can’t. It has the mystical ability to pass through solid objects as if they were air. The Spectre’s relationship with death does not end with its ghostly similarities. It’s touch is mystically cold, leaving trails of frost. Those who’ve survived attacks often lose limbs as frostbite claims them. Spectres can also exude a putrid mist that withers all living things exposed to it. They call it the Gravewind as it stinks of rot and decay. It helps obscure the Tager and Spectres are often only seen as the shad- owy form hiding in an ever-flowing fog. But it also can dispense death in an instant. While normally a Spectre cannot materialize within an object or the Tager will be destroyed, its Phasing Limit Attack is the exception. The Tager reaches into a living victim and becomes substantial again. Internal organs, flesh, bone, and blood are destroyed as they are violently displaced by the materializing mass.

The Spectre is a resolved and aloof symbiont. Those who are bound with one develop a precise nature with an unyielding determination combined with an emotional distance. They often have difficulty forming bonds with those who are not of a supernatural nature.

Special: Insubstantial – The Spectre can mystically pass through solid objects, literally walking through walls, trees, cars, even people. It cannot pass through things that are moving more than casually – for example, it can’t let bullets pass through it. It also cannot rematerialize within an object or the Tager will be destroyed – with one exception (its Limit Attack). Only places that have been mystically protected against Outsiders block a Spectre. Spectres only become insubstantial at the moment they are phasing through an object and are solid at every other time. This ability drains the Orgone of the Tager. Each point of Orgone allows the Spectre to pass through any number of solid objects at will for one minute. When the Tager is out of Orgone, it can no longer pass through solid objects.

Special: Gravewind – The Gravewind is a fetid cloud of withering gas, harming all living things within – even those protected by environmental suits. Each turn, generate a Test Result using the Tager’s Tenacity Feat skill and use it in all Contests to determine damage. Those within defend using their Tenacity Feat skill. Each time the Spectre uses Gravewind, it partially obscures sight in a five-yard radius around the Tager. If a Spectre uses Gravewind two turns in the same area, sight becomes completely obscured. This ability does affect Outsiders (including other Tagers), but not other Spectres.

Size: Medium (6 to 7 ft. tall)

Attribute Modifications:

Agility +1/+3

Perception +1/+3

Strength +1/+3

Tenacity -/+2

Weapons:

Chilled Touch (+1) – The Spectre’s touch is supernaturally freezing. It leaves frost on whatever it touches. The Tager can consciously dampen this effect.

Gravewind – Range 5 yd. radius, Damage +1, Shots 1, Infinite Rounds. Obscuring.

Limit Weapon:

Phasing (+6) – The Spectre phases into a single living target and materializes, violently displacing the thing’s flesh and bone. The Tager then rips itself out of the victim, tearing out further chunks of internal organs as it does. This uses all Actions and can be the Tager’s only Action that turn.

Armor: 1/1

Regeneration: ½

Fear Factor: 12

Senses: Nightvision, Scan, Thermal

Movement & Speed: Climbing (Double), Jumping (Triple), Land (Normal)

SPECTRE VARIATIONS

Attributes

If you desire a stronger and hardier Spectre, you may choose the following Attribute Modifications instead of the standard:

Agility +1/+2

Perception +1/+2

Strength +1/+4

Tenacity -/+3

Weapons

You may choose:

• one close quarters weapon with one ranged weapon

• two ranged weapons

• three close quarters weapons

Close Quarters Weapons

You may choose close quarters weapons from the following list:

Chilled Touch (+1) – The Spectre’s touch is supernaturally freezing. It leaves frost on whatever it touches.

Eon Touch (+0) – This debilitating attack ages a living being to its senior years in an instant. The creature must make a Fear Test against a Hard degree, as well as suffer a -2 to his Agility, Strength, and Tenacity and a -1 to his Perception. He also moves one full category slower than normal. These effects naturally wear off in a half hour. Creatures that regenerate or are supernaturally long lived only suffer damage from this attack.

Phasing Touch (n/a) – The Spectre can extend his phasing abilities to one other living being that is of equal mass or less. This ability only functions as long as the Spectre is touching the creature with which it wishes to phase. This costs 5 Orgone for one minute.

Ranged Weapons

You may choose ranged weapons from the following list:

Gravewind – Range 5 yard radius, Damage +1, Shots 1, Infinite Rounds. Obscuring.

Ill Wind – Range 5 yard radius, Damage n/a, Shots 1, Infinite Rounds. Obscuring. Unlike the Gravewind, Ill Wind does no damage. Instead, it completely obscures the area in a single turn.

Protection

Instead of the usual level of armor and regeneration, you may choose to sacrifice your Spectre’s armor for a higher level of regeneration.

Armor: -/-

Regeneration: 1/1 Die

WHISPER

Type: Reconnaissance Tager

Whispers have senses and speed of which other Tagers only dream. Simply put, they see everything – even through walls – and they move twice as fast as other Tagers. As if that wasn’t enough, they have a set of foldable wings (a strange fusion of bat and insect) upon which they flit about even faster, using a second set of small arms to carry things as they fly.

A Whisper’s weapons are designed for harry and retreat. The whips that extend from its forearms can be used to entangle, disarm, or drag an opponent from the air. Gossamer Bombs, plasmic balls that drop out its chest, burst with a blinding flash of light, stunning and blinding those for thirty feet around. Combined with its speed, a Whisper can create an effective distraction. Moreover, its Razor Wing limit weapon is a perfect exit strategy, carving its way through any obstacles for a speedy getaway.

The Whisper is a delicate but feisty symbiont. Those who are bound with one develop great patience and a cool temper, along with a dogged determination and an amazing eye for detail. They are often voyeurs.

Size: Medium (6 to 7 ft. tall)

Attribute Modifications:

Agility +1/+4

Perception +2/+4

Strength -/+1

Tenacity -/+2

Weapons:

Whips (+1) – These whips most often extend from the forearms of the Tager and can be used to entangle opponents.

Gossamer Bombs (Blinding) – These radiant balls are dropped from the air. Wherever they land, they burst in a blinding light and everything with 15-foot radius must succeed at a Challenging Tenacity Feat Test or lose its next two Actions, which can reduce a character’s Actions to zero for the turn. Only one gossamer bomb can be fired each turn, but each Whisper has an unlimited supply.

Limit Weapon:

Razor Wing (+4) – The Tager’s speed and armor doubles for the turn of this flying charge attack. This attack still requires the use of the Fighting skill and can be used to attack as many targets as are in a reasonably straight line, up to the Tager’s maximum movement for that turn. This uses all Actions and can be the Tager’s only Action that turn.

Armor: 1/1

Regeneration: 1/1

Fear Factor: 12

Senses: Broadband Audio, Long Range, Nightvision, Scan, Sonar, Thermal, X-ray

Movement & Speed: Climbing (Triple), Flight (Triple), Jumping (Double), Land (Double)

WHISPER VARIATIONS

Attributes

If you desire a hardier Whisper, you may choose the following Attribute Modifications instead of the standard:

Agility +1/+3

Perception +2/+4

Strength -/+2

Tenacity -/+2

Weapons

You may choose:

• one close quarters weapon with one ranged weapon

• two ranged weapons

• three close quarters weapons

Close Quarters Weapons

You may choose close quarters weapons from the following list:

Claws (+2) – The Whisper’s claws become deadly weapons.

Fly-by (+2) – The Whisper can rake an opponent as he flies by. The Whisper must be moving (up to his full movement) and airborne to use this attack, which takes two Actions.

Whips (+1) – These whips most often extend from the forearms of the Tager and can be used to entangle opponents.

Ranged Weapons

You may choose ranged weapons from the following list:

Gossamer Bombs (Blinding) – These radiant balls are dropped from the air. Wherever they land, they burst in a blinding light and everything with a 15-foot radius must succeed at a Challenging Tenacity Feat Test or lose its next two Actions, which can reduce a Character’s Actions to zero for the turn. Only one gossamer bomb can be fired each turn, but each Whisper has an unlimited supply.

Boom Shocks (Deafening) – These shimmering balls are dropped from the air. Wherever they land, they burst in a deafening explosion and everything with a 15-foot radius must succeed at a Challenging Tenacity Feat Test or lose its next two Actions, which can reduce

a Character’s Actions to zero for the turn. Only one boom shock can be fired each turn, but each Whisper has an unlimited supply.

Protection

Instead of the usual level of armor and regeneration, you may choose to sacrifice all of your Whisper’s armor for a high level of regeneration.

Armor: -/-

Regeneration: 1/1 die

ECHO

Type: Amphibious Combat Tager

The Echo is the only truly amphibious Tager that has manifested so far. Whatever the alien symbiont is, it manifests as an otherworldly sea predator, combining what can only be described as eel- and shark-like traits with a humanoid. They are deadly fast underwater, growing a serpentine tail to help propel them.

Though fully capable of handling itself on land, the Echo is most dangerous under the waves. It discharges mystical energy that travels effortlessly through the water, burning foes with a green electricity. The only Tager to truly have what can be called a mouth, the Echo sports a vicious maw with rows of terrible serrated teeth. Its body and extending jaws are design to snap and savage with this mouth, putting even the most feared of sharks to shame. When retreat is necessary, the Echo sprays out a cloud of black oily ink that’s dark as night. However, it’s when the Tager smells fresh blood that death is in the post. An Echo can smell blood at less than one part-per-million in either air or water. The blood brings out the primal predator in the Tager and it Frenzies. Moving with lightning speed, it tears up anything that has the misfortune of being in its way.

Echoes are aggressive and primal symbionts. Those who are bound with one find themselves drawn to deep water, that they are heavily influenced by scents, and develop both an ecstatic love of instinct and an obsession for chewing on hard or tough foods. Many enjoy jawbreakers and find they can crack them with ease.

Special: Amphibious – While all Tagers are mystically sealed and can survive even the massive pressure found in the depths of the ocean, the Echo goes one step further. It has “gills” that allow it to breathe in any kind of liquid that contains oxygen. It also does not suffer Test Penalties for acting underwater. Echoes get the Acute Sense of Smell & Taste Asset for free.

Size: Medium (6 to 7 ft. tall)

Attribute Modifications:

Agility +1/+3

Perception -/+2

Strength +1/+3

Tenacity +1/+3

Weapons:

Fathom Beam – Range 30/75/200 (Amphibious), Damage +2, Shots 3, Infinite Rounds

Bite (+2) – The Tager’s mouth opens wide to bite down on foes and tear out chunks of flesh with its sharp teeth.

Ink Cloud – Range 5 yd. Radius, Damage n/a, Shots 1, 10 Rounds per Day. Obscuring. Each time the Echo uses its Ink Cloud, it completely obscures sight in a five-yard radius around the Tager for one to five minutes (half a die). This ability may only be used underwater; one round regenerates every half hour.

Limit Weapon:

Frenzy (Special) – Once an Echo has smelled fresh blood, it may Frenzy for the next one to ten turns (one die). The Tager’s speed is doubled for the duration and it may take up to three Actions each turn at no Multiple Action Penalty, but each of these Actions must be used to attack (or move into position to attack). The Tager’s Bite damage is increased to +3 for this duration as well. If underwater, the froth the Echo generates during its Frenzy partially obscures sight in a three-yard radius around it. The Tager may come out of its Frenzy at will, but while it Frenzies it must continue to attack.

Armor: 2/2

Regeneration: 1/3

Fear Factor: 12

Senses: Acute Sense of Smell & Taste, Nightvision, Scan, Sonar, Thermal

Movement & Speed: Climbing (Double), Jumping (Double), Land (Normal), Swimming (Nine Times Normal)

ECHO VARIATIONS

Attributes

If you desire a more agile Echo, you may choose the following Attribute Modifications

instead of the standard:

Agility +1/+4

Perception -/+2

Strength +1/+2

Tenacity +1/+3

If you desire a stronger Echo, you may choose the following Attribute Modifications instead of the standard:

Agility +1/+2

Perception -/+2

Strength +1/+5

Tenacity +1/+2

Weapons

You may choose:

• one close quarters weapon with two ranged weapons

• two close quarters weapons with one ranged weapon

• three ranged weapons

• three close quarters weapons

Close Quarters Weapons

You may choose close quarters weapons from the following list:

Bite (+2) – The Tager’s mouth opens wide to bite down on foes and tear out chunks of flesh with its sharp teeth.

Claws (+2) – The Echo’s claws have developed into vicious weapons.

Electrified (+1) – Anything that physically strikes the Echo takes one die of damage, which can be reduced by armor. This also adds one extra die of damage to the Tager’s close quarters attacks.

Ranged Weapons

You may choose ranged weapons from the following list:

Fathom Beam – Range 30/75/200 (Amphibious), Damage +2, Shots 3, Infinite Rounds.

Ink Cloud – Range 5 yard radius, Damage n/a, Shots 1, 10 Rounds per Day. Obscuring. Each time the Echo uses its Ink Cloud, it completely obscures sight in a five-yard radius around the Tager for one to five minutes (half a die). This ability may only be used underwater; one round regenerates every half hour.

Sonic Pulse – Range 10/25/50 in a 90° cone (Amphibious), Damage 0, Shots 1. This pulse also mystically reveals the sonar signature of the affected area to the Tager’s allies, especially enemies.

Protection

Instead of the usual level of armor and regeneration, you may choose to sacrifice

your Echo’s armor for a higher level of regeneration.

Armor: 1/1

Regeneration: 1/1 die

NIGHTMARE

Type: Heavy Weapons Tager

Note: Requires the Tager and Tager: Exceptional Asset Qualities.

Looking down at you with its mass of uneven eyes, the Nightmare bristles like the machine of death that it is. If your feet weren’t frozen in place, you’d run anywhere to get away from it. It has a dozen ways to kill you, but it can’t seem to decide how…

The Nightmare lives its name. Uncommon and enormous, it stands more than a head taller than most other Tagers and strikes commensurately more fear. Despite its bulk, it is just as fast as other Tagers, though it hits much harder. While it’s as heavily armored as the Phantom, what makes a Nightmare more deadly is its accelerated rate of regeneration. It might heal from almost dead to deadly in less than five minutes. Combined with its significant strength, the claws of a Nightmare make it lethal up close. But it is best known for its deadly Shoulder Pods. These Pods ejaculate crimson force balls at targets within a 180° arc of the Tager’s front, punching into them like the rounds of a large machinegun. They track and fire together like the eyes of some horrible beast and together they manifest the terrible Mystic Blast. The Pods condense energy into three triangular floating gravity points, finally firing a trigger blast through the center and releasing all the energy at once. It cuts an eight-foot tall, five-foot wide swathe of destruction in a straight line for 400 yards, happily punching through walls and other solid objects.

The Nightmare is a dangerous and bloodthirsty symbiont. Those who are bound with one develop a certain menace and predatory ease, combined with a cold temper and murderous streak.

Size: Medium (8 to 9 ft. tall)

Attribute Modifications:

Agility -/+2

Perception -/+3

Strength +2/+6

Tenacity +2/+4

Weapons:

Talons (+2) – These vicious claws tip the Tager’s fingers.

Shoulder Pods – Range 25/60/170, Damage +3, Shots 1, Infinite Rounds

Tentacle Sheathe (+1) – This tentacle sheath may be used to entangle foes.

Limit Weapon:

Mystic Blast – Range 30/75/200, Damage +6; this blast is a five-foot wide swathe of eldritch destruction. It damages anything in its path, in a straight line. This attack does Hybrid Damage. This uses all Actions and can be the Tager’s only Action that turn.

Armor: 2/2

Regeneration: 1/1 die

Fear Factor: 16

Senses: Nightvision, Scan

Movement & Speed: Climbing (Double), Jumping (Double), Land (Normal)

NIGHTMARE VARIATIONS

Attributes

If you desire an even stronger Nightmare, you may choose the following Attribute Modifications instead of the standard:

Agility -/+2

Perception -/+2

Strength +2/+8

Tenacity +2/+3

If you desire a more agile Nightmare, you may choose the following Attribute Modifications instead of the standard:

Agility -/+4

Perception -/+2

Strength +2/+5

Tenacity +2/+4

Weapons

You may choose:

• two close quarters weapons with one ranged weapon

• two ranged weapons

• four close quarters weapons

Close Quarters Weapons

You may choose close quarters weapons from the following list:

Talons (+2) – These vicious claws tip the Tager’s fingers.

Tentacle Sheathe (+1) – This tentacle sheathe may be used to entangle foes.

Rend (+4) – The Nightmare may use both its sets of talons to tear into a foe. This attack takes two of the Tager’s Actions to perform.

Stomp (+3) – The Nightmare jumps into the air and lands on top of an opponent. In addition to the damage, the foe must succeed at a Challenging Strength Feat Test or be knocked to the ground.

Ranged Weapons

You may choose ranged weapons from the following list:

Shoulder Pods – Range 25/60/170, Damage +3, Shots 1, Infinite Rounds.

Depthless Strike – Range 10/30/60, Damage +3, Shots 1, Infinite Rounds. This attack must trace a path along a physical plane, like walls or the ground. It is capable of ignoring cover and can also shoot around corners.

Protection

Instead of the usual level of armor and regeneration, you may choose to sacrifice your Nightmare’s high level of regeneration for more armor.

Armor: 3/3

Regeneration: 1/3

VAMPIRE

Type: Aerial Heavy Combat Tager

Note: Requires the Tager and Tager: Exceptional Asset Qualities.

Somewhere overhead, you hear it. Something pounds at the air. A hideous black thing slides across the stars. Giant membranous wings carry it through the air, beating like those of some mythical fiend. There’s something about it that lets you know it’s only toying with you…

The Vampire is in many ways the aerial counterpart to the Nightmare. Like its land-bound brethren, it stands more than a head taller than most other Tagers and is likewise more frightening. It also regenerates at an absurd rate, healing from death’s door to your doorstep in only a few minutes. And just plain overall, its physical gifts are better than most other Tagers. But unlike the Nightmare, massive bat-like wings sprout from the Vampire’s back. Nearly thirty feet from tip to tip, these wings are capable of carrying it high through the sky. They are death from above.

Everything about a Vampire screams pain. Its Exsanguinating Touch literally causes blood to boil, bursting out of the body of its victim. Those who have been tortured by Vampires typically bear terrible scarring from ruined capillaries and veins rupturing through their skin. The size of pencils but twice as thick, the stingers they fire are covered in inch-long barbs. But their most cruel and terrorizing weapon is the Bloodbath. Dropped from the air, the Bloodbath is a mystical energy bomb that causes internal hemorrhaging to those caught within its blast. Victims cough and vomit blood, while it streams from every orifice or bodily seam – eyes, ears, nose, genitals, anus, and even fingernails. It is a terrible sight to behold.

The Vampire is a sadistic and deadly symbiont. Those who are bound with one develop a need to inflict pain and an unholy thirst for blood combined with the patience of a predator and an arrogance borne of birds of prey.

Size: Medium (8 to 9 ft. tall)

Attribute Modifications:

Agility +1/+4

Perception +1/+4

Strength +1/+3

Tenacity +1/+4

Weapons:

Exsanguinating Touch (+2) – The Vampire’s touch causes blood to boil. These mystical energies also cause decay (and therefore damage) in inanimate objects.

Barbs – Range 25/50/150, Damage +3, Shots 1, Infinite Rounds

Limit Weapon:

Bloodbath (+6) – This cancerous crimson force bomb is dropped from the air. It bursts where it lands, throwing needle-like shards twenty feet in all directions. Living things caught within internally hemorrhage – they bleed from their noses, eyes, and ears and cough up blood. In addition to the damage, anything still alive suffers double the normal Test Penalties from their wounds for the turn they are hit and the next. This attack does not damage non-living things, but it does bypass non-mystical armor (including powered armor or mecha) and does Hybrid Damage to living things (including Outsiders and other Tagers). This uses all Actions and can be the Tager’s only Action that turn.

Armor: 2/2

Regeneration: 1/1 Die

Fear Factor: 16

Senses: Broadband Audio, Nightvision, Scan. Thermal

Movement & Speed: Climbing (Double), Flight (Double), Jumping (Double), Land (Normal)

VAMPIRE VARIATIONS

Attributes

If you desire a more agile Vampire, you may choose the following Attribute Modifications instead of the standard:

Agility +1/+5

Perception +1/+3

Strength +1/+3

Tenacity +1/+4

Or, if you desire a stronger Vampire, you may choose the following Attribute Modifications instead of the standard:

Agility +1/+4

Perception +1/+3

Strength +1/+5

Tenacity +1/+3

Weapons

You may choose:

• one close quarters weapon with one ranged weapon

• two ranged weapons

• three close quarters weapons

Close Quarters Weapons

You may choose close quarters weapons from the following list:

Darkness (n/a) – The darkness in the Vampire is made manifest for a moment. It creates a three yard radius of completely obscuring darkness that lasts for only one turn. The Vampire can only do this 10 times a day normally – rounds regenerate one per hour.

Domination (n/a) – The predator inside a Vampire can manifest in a more physical way, mystically dominating enemies. If the Vampire succeeds at a Tenacity Feat Contest versus an enemy’s Tenacity Feat, his foe loses 2 Actions (which may reduce his Actions to zero for a turn or two).

Exsanguinating Touch (+2) – The Vampire’s touch causes blood to boil. These mystical energies also cause decay (and therefore damage) in inanimate objects.

Ranged Weapons

You may choose ranged weapons from the following list:

Barbs – Range 25/50/150, Damage +3, Shots 1, Infinite Rounds.

Sonic Static – 5 yard burst, Damage +1, Shots 1, Infinite Rounds. The Vampire uses its sonar to produce static that both harms and confounds opponents. Those who take at least one Vitality point of damage lose their next 2 Actions (which may reduce his Actions to zero for a turn or two).

Protection

Instead of the usual level of armor and regeneration, you may choose to sacrifice your Vampire’s high level of regeneration for more armor.

Armor: 3/3

Regeneration: 1/3

WIDOW

Type: Rare Combat Tager

Note: Requires the Tager and Tager: Rare Assets.

Black, shiny, terrifying. These are the most obvious traits of a Widow. One of the rarest of all the Ta’ge symbionts, it is even more difficult than usual for the outside observer to consider that this hideous thing is in fact one of the good guys. Named for its arachnid-like similarities, the Widow is the Tager sent when the Eldritch Society wants to take someone or something alive. However, sometimes the Widow has different ideas…

The Widow mimics its namesake in many ways. It spins webs to capture even the strongest of prey. It can grow four extra legs at will, skittering along and over surfaces at accelerated speeds. Five-inch long fangs drip a disorienting poison, putting its enemies off-balance. And when it gets the urge, it can put all its advantages to work, cocooning a victim and holding him fast. The Widow can then play with him at its leisure – or it can reduce his insides to jelly with just one bite.

Widows are scary and monstrous symbionts. Those who are bound with one often develop an affection for dark and concealing places, a patient nature with the cold-blooded distance of a spider, and a perverse pleasure in the grotesque.

Special: Spinnerets – A Widow naturally generates an infinite supply of thin sticky webbing. It is incredibly strong, capable of supporting up to a half a ton on a single strand. Rumors claim that Widows can support up to five tons with enough time, effort, and webbing. In addition to being quite sticky, these webs are also caustic. The organic fluids inside the spinnerets make them so, but this substance lasts only for a few seconds before rendered inert – they quickly become nothing but webs. The Widow can fire the webs on the fly or create webs to entangle the unwary. When using the webs for entangling Contests, the Widow uses the strength of the webbing over its own. Treat the webs as if they had a Strength of 10 with five dice to roll for its Strength Feat Test. Webs naturally last for a few days before decaying. A Widow does not stick to its own webs or the webs of other Widows.

Special: Poisonous – The fangs of a Widow can introduce a disorienting toxin into the body of a victim. This poison requires that a bite do at least one point of Vitality damage to be administered. Anyone affected by the poison must succeed at a Hard Tenacity Feat Test to resist. If this Test is failed, the victim suffers a –3 Test Penalty to all Actions for one to ten minutes (roll one die). Only one Test needs to be made per turn affected by the Widow’s poison and the disorienting affect is not cumulative. A target may again be affected on the turn following his recovery from the last dose.

Special: Extra Legs – The Widow can sprout an additional set of legs at will, as a free action. This doubles its climbing speed and triples its land speed.

Size: Medium (6 to 7 ft. tall)

Attribute Modifications:

Agility +2/+4

Perception +1/+3

Strength -/+2

Tenacity +1/+2

Weapons:

Spinnerets – Range 10/25/50, Damage +1, Shots 2, Infinite Rounds, Entangling. These webs only do damage on the turn they are fired and do no further damage if used to entangle.

Fangs (+2) – These piercing fangs grow out of the Widow’s face.

Limit Weapon:

Cocoon (+6 or 2) – The Widow bursts into a flurry, leaping back and forth and spinning a victim into a shell of webbing. The Tager can choose to use this attack to simply incapacitate or can choose to inject an organic acid that begins to liquefy the victim’s insides. If the Widow chooses to incapacitate, the victim still takes two dice of damage (no extra for success), as the webs are caustic, and is trapped for one to ten minutes (roll one die). Creatures with Strengths over ten will free themselves faster – subtract one minute for each point of Strength over ten, with a minimum of one minute. If the Widow chooses to prey, its victim suffers the trapping effects of the cocoon, but instead deals six dice plus those for success. This attack uses the normal range for the Widow’s spinnerets. This uses all Actions and can be the Tager’s only Action that turn.

Armor: 2/2

Regeneration: ⅓

Fear Factor: 16

Senses: Acute Sense Smell & Taste, Broadband Audio, Nightvision, Scan, Thermal

Movement & Speed: Climbing (Double or Triple), Jumping (Triple), Land (Normal or Triple)

WIDOW VARIATIONS

Attributes

If you desire a more agile Widow, you may choose the following Attribute Modifications instead of the standard:

Agility +2/+6

Perception +1/+2

Strength -/+2

Tenacity +1/+1

Or, if you desire a stronger Widow, you may choose the following Attribute Modifications instead of the standard:

Agility +2/+3

Perception +1/+2

Strength -/+5

Tenacity +1/+1

Weapons

You may choose:

• one close quarters weapons with one ranged weapon

• three close quarters weapons

Close Quarters Weapons

You may choose close quarters weapons from the following list:

Deadly Strike (+4) – The Widow knows how to deliver deadly strikes when concealed in shadows. This attack may only be performed from surprise.

Fangs (+2) – These piercing fangs grow out of the Widow’s face. This close quarters attack is mandatory for all Widows.

Web Shield (n/a) – The Widow uses its web-spinning abilities to create a dense shield that can last for a turn. This adds +1 die to the Tager’s defense.

Ranged Weapons

You may choose ranged weapons from the following list:

Leaping Strike (+3) – The Tager leaps up to its maximum jumping distance to attack an enemy. This requires two Actions.

Spinnerets – Range 10/25/50, Damage +1, Shots 2, Infinite Rounds, Entangling. These webs only do damage on the turn they are fired and do no further damage if used to entangle.

Protection

Instead of the usual level of armor and regeneration, you may choose to sacrifice your Widow’s armor for a higher level of regeneration.

Armor: 1/1

Regeneration: 1/1 Die

Efreet

Type: Rare Combat Tager

Note: Requires the Tager, Tager: Exceptional, and Tager: Rare Assets, as well as a Presence of 7 or more.

It burns. Char marks follow it wherever it goes. Cracks in its skin reveal glowing embers of pure otherworldly fire. Waves of visual distortion float off of it from the intense heat. Little can stop its onslaught of unadulterated force and flame. It is a being whose name is derived from (or possibly the inspiration for) the infernal Ifrits from middle-eastern mythology. Those that find themselves the target for the righteous fury of an Efreet have but one choice – to pray.

One of the rarest and most powerful Tagers known to the Eldritch Society, the Efreet is a powerhouse of searing pain. Its skin is so hot that anything touching it is scarred. Its mace-like fists beat down walls and it can shoot flame from its mouth like a dragon breathes fire. However, it is the thing’s limit attack that is most feared, as it calls down a mystical meteor strike that smashes and burns anything within a 400 square foot area.

The Efreet is a proud and righteous symbiont. Those who are bound with one begin to feel unstoppable and, while they recognize and appreciate the assets of those around them, they believe themselves to be one step above. They also develop a burning hatred for the forces of the Old Ones and Nyarlathotep and find their moral conviction becoming as pure as fire.

Special: Firestarter – The skin of an Efreet burns with heat and the seams in its “skin” and joints glow with fire. While it can consciously dampen these effects, the Efreet still leaves char marks anywhere it walks or on anything it touches that is not resistant to heat and flame. It lights things on fire with a mere touch, if its firestarting abilities are left at full effect. Anything that physically strikes an Efreet takes one die of damage, which can be reduced by armor. However, its radiance makes it difficult to conceal – Efreets suffer a –6 Penalty to Stealth Tests in their shifted form. These effects are not dampened by water – in fact, the boiling water around it creates a three-yard radius cloud of partially obscuring bubbles. The Efreet is immune to any kind of fire, including plasma blasts.

Size: Medium (8 to 9 ft. tall)

Attribute Modifications:

Agility -/+2

Perception -/+1

Strength +3/+9

Tenacity +2/+4

Weapons:

Dragonbreath – Range 10/25/50, Damage +4, Shots 1, Infinite Rounds. This attack ignites combustible materials.

Spiked Fists (+2) – The hot and mace-like fists of an Efreet sear anything.

Demonic Uppercut (+4) – The Efreet may only use this attack every other turn. This attack uses two of the Tager’s Actions that turn, with the accompanying Multiple Action Penalties.

Limit Weapon:

Meteor Strike – Range 30/60/100, Damage +6; this attack calls down a mystical shower of super-heated rocks, attacking all things in a 400 square foot area. Generate only one attack roll for the Combat Contest, against which all potential targets must defend. This attack does Hybrid Damage. This uses all Actions and can be the Tager’s only Action that turn.

Armor: 2/2

Regeneration: 1/1 Die

Fear Factor: 16

Senses: Nightvision, Scan, Thermal

Movement & Speed: Climbing (Double), Jumping (Quadruple), Land (Normal)

EFREET VARIATIONS

Attributes

If you desire a more tenacious Efreet, you may choose the following Attribute Modifications instead of the standard:

Agility -/+2

Perception -/+1

Strength +3/+7

Tenacity +2/+6

Weapons

You may choose:

• two close quarters weapons with one ranged weapon

• two ranged weapons with one close quarters weapon

• two ranged weapons

• four close quarters weapons

Close Quarters Weapons

You may choose close quarters weapons from the following list:

Spiked Fists (+2) – The hot and mace-like fists of an Efreet sear anything.

Demonic Uppercut (+4) – The Efreet may only use this attack every other turn. This attack uses two of the Tager’s Actions that turn, with the accompanying Multiple Action Penalties.

Searing Filaments (+1) – This flaming whip may also be used to entangle.

Soul Stare – The Efreet can fixate a nearby enemy with its righteous stare. If the Efreet succeeds at a Tenacity Feat Contest versus an enemy’s Tenacity Feat, his foe loses 2 Actions (which may reduce his Actions to zero for a turn or two).

Ranged Weapons

You may choose ranged weapons from the following list:

Dragonbreath – Range 10/25/50, Damage +4, Shots 1, Infinite Rounds. This attack ignites combustible materials.

Fireburst – 3 yard burst, Damage +3, Shots 1, Infinite Rounds. This attack bursts out from the Efreet, damaging all in close proximity. It also ignites combustible materials.

Protection

Instead of the usual level of armor and regeneration, you may choose to sacrifice your Efreet’s high level of regeneration for more armor.

Armor: 3/3

Regeneration: 1/3

[beacon-of-chaos]

Defenders of Aura - A Battle Century G Campaign Diary

Session 10 Two hours later... We remain on the island mourning the loss of our friend. Ax... is dead. His heart has stopped and he no longer draws breath. For some reason that hasn't stopped him talking in his sleep, nor his body being burning hot, but it's still very tragic. His mech also completely vanished the instant Juyon knocked him out. We have no explanation for this whatsoever. We've intercepted communications from the Chinese being broadcast across Aura. Neovara has fallen and the invaders are encouraging the rest of the world to surrender. There's also another secret signal being broadcast by the general of Novak, saying that the Chinese are lying. Neovara is still under siege, only the capital was taken, and there is resistance across the other colonies. Soko is the nearest to where we landed so it looks like that's where we're going. We've found a crashed plane that we can jury rig with our mechs' boosters to get us to the next island, in Soko. As Spectre now has a spare seat in his mech, we strap Ax into it and load it onto the plane and take off. En route we get a distress signal coming from somewhere over the ocean. It's not much of a detour so we check it out. As we fly over it, we see debris from a spaceship floating in the water. A large piece of hull on the top carries the text "Cruel Odysseus". No life signs detected. We travel the rest of the way in silence. Arriving in Soko we see there is a battle already in progress. Chinese forces are squaring off against a group that we recognise as being Zeta Team, one of the newly formed mecha squadrons. They are also being assisted by one of the African commanders in a mech of his own. Scattered troop battles are also occuring in between the mech fights. Seems like they could use our help. Soko is an archipelago, and the city we've arrived in is made up of several smaller islands connected by bridges. We arrive on the western island, Zeta team is pinned down on the south west, and the enemy forces are moving in from the East. Juyon and Fiona move across the bridges to intercept the Chinese mechs heading towards a large concentration of Soko troops. Spectre, with the unconscious Ax sitting in Eric's seat, spots a heavy artillery unit and jets across the water to take it out before it does too much damage. Sinclair moves south to aid Zeta team, beginning by hacking the systems of one of the enemy mechs and forcing it to give another mech a nice big hug, pinning it down. As the battle rages on, we get a communication from the African mech; air support is incoming, we just need to lure the enemy into an open area to prevent too much collateral damage. There's a large area to the south that fits the bill so we plan to herd the enemy there. Fiona and Juyon battle side-by-side against two mechs while Sinclair supports from afar, easily dodging enemy sniper fire without even needing to use his cloaking shield. While Spectre closes in on the artillery and takes some pot shots, Ax briefly stirs, shaken awake by the battle. Unfortunately, he makes the mistake of grabbing Spectre's shoulder, who had forgotten he was there. One reflexive (we assume) punch later, and Ax is out again. Eventually the Chinese troops are coralled into the courtyard on the South island and the air support arrives. It's... the white drones we fought back in session 4. The ones built and controlled by Sara Wong. She's still on our side... right? The enemy squad is hit hard and the remaining mechs begin to retreat. It's at this point that Ax awakens once more but this time something is different. He makes a willpower check and crits. This awakens some latent magical power inside him and a fireball erupts from his fingers, bursting inside Spectre's mech, scorching the both of them. The GM kindly decides not to kill them both; instead we rule that they just end up looking like Ash Ketchum after a run in with Charizard (i.e. charred but okay). Luckily for us Zeta Team has an outpost with a hospital nearby we can take them to. Ax and Spectre wake up in the hospital a few hours later. Spectre is looking a bit rough, and his spiky green hair has been incinerated, but he's doing okay, no stat penalties or anything. The miracles of modern medical science at work. Ax, on the other hand, seems to have regenerated his wounds and is left without so much of a tan. He's coming down from his biofuel high though, so he's not exactly feeling well. His stats are halved for the rest of the session. The doctor's are rather amazed that he's up and walking though, considering he has no blood left in him. His memory is fuzzy too, so we fill him in. In a tactful way. Ax: Oww, my head. I can't remember... What happened? Sinclair: Do you remember going insane and killing a lot of people? Fiona: Or aiming your weapon at me? Spectre: Ax, you owe me money. So very tactful. We eventually piece together what happened, Ax telling us about Sara and the biofuel, us mentioning the whole rampage followed by shouty glowing. We also talk with Zeta Team, the leader of which is an Auran, one of the native aquatic aliens of this planet. He tells us that we were the reason he joined up, inspired by our exploits. All very flattering. The African commander gives us a status update on the war. The next country over, Varel, was being protected by Gamma Team, A.K.A the team that Adam Westfield and Sara Wong are part of. He says he's heard of strange experiments going on over there; experimenting on humans with the biofuel (I really wish we could come up for a better name for this stuff) that Adam was involved in. Ax has unfinished business with Sara Wong and we need to find out what Adam might be up to, plus Varrel could be in trouble too. Ax is given a temporary replacement mech until we can find out what happened to Riggnarok and we board a transport to Varel. The city we arrive in seems to be deserted. There are no signs of combat however, just some suspicious scorch marks scattered around. Never a good sign. Varel is a hub for scientific research and there's a research centre up ahead that seems like the best place to get info and possibly find survivors. We exit our mechs and head towards it, but as we round a corner we see there are two mechs standing outside. One is a bizarre, semi-organic machine like nothing we've never seen before. The other one is Adam Westfield's mech. These guys should be on our side, so we take a punt and send them Neovara Military codes. Adam's mech immediately begins scanning the local area and, upon finding us, the organic mech rushes straight at us! Sinclair opens a wormhole with his new power; it doesn't get the team very far away, 20 metres or so, but it's enough that we avoid the falling rubble from the building the monster just ran into. We curse ourselves for leaving our mechs (The GM admits he was surprised we did this) but it's tricky to get back to them without being spotted. Adam seems to be scanning the area for us, so we come up with a daring plan. Or a stupid one. Hard to say. Fiona has noticed the hatch on Adam's mech and decides to try and climb up the mech to sneak up on Adam, so she and Sinclair sneak up while Ax distracts the mechs. Ax unleashes his new fire powers on the organic mech, but it barely scorches it. To make things even worse, what ever organic material it's made out of is regenerating. Gee, I wonder if this thing is powered by biofuel. Spectre and Juyon do the sensible thing and run for their mechs. Fiona makes it to Adam's mech and begins climbing up. Sinclair tries to hack it into submission but its systems are too well protected for that. Fiona tries to prise the door open but it's locked tight. To make matters worse, a blast hits the mech from out of nowhere, sending Fiona to the ground, breaking her leg. A pink mech shows up and picks Fiona up before anyone can get to her. A voice emits from the mech: Sara: Hello Fiona. Thrown any books at anyone lately? Fiona: Oh, **** off. GM: Was that in character? Fiona: Yes! Sara seems unusually aggressive right now, suggesting some biofuel use of her own. Meanwhile, Juyon and Spectre begin taking on the monster mech. It's fast and moves in close, leaving them to use their melee weapons against it. When it charges at Juyon, he skewers it with his sword. This seems to have no affect on it, and the creature simply moves forward along the sword and begins crushing Zweilander's head with its hands. Spectre moves in and uses a magneburst, a short range energy blast, to get the monster's attention. Adam seems to do something and the creature moves back towards the others, causing Sara Wong to drop Fiona (ouch) and flee, though not before Sinclair can fire a tracking beacon on Sara's mech. Ax and Sinclair help Fiona back to her mech, and the group forms up again. Adam's mech seems to be without weapons for some reason, so it hits us with a targeting jammer and calls over the monster, which is bloody and beaten, but still moving and regenerating. The rest of the battle goes quickly; though the monster was fearsome, Juyon and Spectre had already done a large amount of damage and they were able to finish it off. Adam surrenders after. ...Except it's not Adam. The cockpit opens and out steps Wong Yu, another member of Gamma Team. We try to question him about the location of Adam Westfield and why the hell he just attacked us, but he just spits up blood and tells us to get lost. Sinclair does a quick medical scan to find that Wong seems to be suffering from heavy internal bleeding. Nothing to do with us and there's no way to help him. In moments, he is dead. We're pretty freaked out and confused at the moment, so we head inside the research centre to try and find some clues. The place has been emptied, not until the biofuel plant we recently visited. In one of the computer labs we find a body, that of Emily "Sweets", another Gamma Team member. She has multiple bullet holes in her back. In her hand we find a memory chip that we plug into one of the computers. It's a journal. One belonging to Adam Westfield. I have a long version of the log that our GM gave us, but I need to ask for permission before posting. The gist is that Adam has been manipulating everyone from the word go. The President is in his back pocket, though there's no mention of whatever dirt he may have. The plan to create a war between Novak and Neovara, mention of the biofuel, and even talk of Sara Wong. Apparantly she discovered the way that the biofuel can link a living creature with technology, and she discovered it by experimenting on and AI called... Sinclair. Woah. After this the journal takes a turn for the weird. Adam seems to becoming more maniacal and paranoid, no doubt due to biofuel exposure. He plans to kill off his allies who are "plotting against him". Sara apparantly blames him for driving her and us apart, so she has to go too. There's talk of strange powers of heat and energy emerging, and of... absorbing people. Guess we know what those scorch marks were. Adam wants to "ascend" by stealing people's memories and skills. He plans to do so by opening some kind of faultline and releasing biofuel into the atmosphere. Sara injected Ax (or "the fool" as Adam calls him) to not only gain more power by forging a link between them, but to create a hero to stop Adam. It's at this point that we leave the building to find ourselves surrounded by the Chinese army. The Chinese General herself arrives and we hand over the journal in the hope that perhaps we can work together. They decide that we need to be taken in for questioning. Session ends. I'm too tired to proof read this right now, so please excuse any spelling mistakes or plot holes I may have made. Bonus quotes: http://www.giantitp.com/forums/shows...postcount=1295

[mechagalaxy]

Skyfall: Shadows of Faction War

My name is Bolverk Borson, 695995, OC Avengers of Bunny. We were engaged in a bug hunt. The whole of the Avengers of Bunny were in the field, a force most Divisions in Clan War would do well to stand aside for. We were on that most awesome of mission types, a bug hunt.

Bug hunts are hunts for extra terrestrial, non gate sourced alien invasions. Periodically paranoia out on the rim would have local garrisons screaming that the aliens were coming, send help. Nine times out of ten it was just rim weirdness. Walker and the Wild Hunt, not totally in phase with this dimension, just stay out of his way, and for gods sake, don’t shoot at him. Once in a while it was Forerunner ghosts, still running hard from whatever Drocha bailed on all those years ago; spooky, but just echoes of someone else’s bad day long before dinosaurs needed diapers.

The tenth time it really was something new, and needed hard core mercenary badasses to deal with, and that is what they pay us the big bucks for. I figured we use it as a training exercise, with myself as OPFOR, and the Clan at least gets some good training in.

The Avengers were running an active patrol sweep, odd numbered platoons with active sensors beating the bushes looking for bad guys, and odd numbered sections running quiet, full passive stealth mode, looking for anyone trying to dodge the active searchers. They were doing a good job, and I was forced right to the edge of the exercise area, the Gronfang mountains, just to stay out of sensor range.

I was moving through a crack in the mountains, trying to find a pass that would let me down into the Avengers area between patrol sweeps so I could work my way inside enough to get a weapons lock on Mathew Scruggs and capture the flag and win the game, along with beer and bragging rights. I was on the shadowed side of the mountain, blind to the Avengers and shielded from their sensors when I saw it. Skyfall.

The ships were not the elegant and rakish cruisers that the Warrior Clans prefer to use for rapid insertion during Clan War. No, these were something out of a forgotten age of pre-gate combat. These were from the age of Empire.

Broad, brutal hulls, scarred and pitted by weapon fire, micrometeor strikes, and many, many hard reentry, these ships would fall in the dreadnought size range, but their hulls bore few weapon bays, and those were mostly anti-torpedo and anti-fighter defensive sets. What they did bear was drop pods. Thousands of them.

Not a Clan, not a Legion, these ships were designed to drop a full Corps, complete with supporting elements in a single lift. There were five of them in formation, with a single Superdreadnought flagship providing high cover and bombardment support, if you had a large mountain or small continent you needed its batteries of meter wide Hell Lance projectors, or mass driver cannons launching freight train sized kinetic energy projectiles that would produce the next best thing to a nuclear event upon delivery.

I popped my Honour Guard drones from passive cover mode to active RRB (radio rebroadcast) mode, and they swooped out to form a relay chain around the mountain slopes to blast my tactical signals out to my Avengers. We had to get the word out. Something was coming. Something no clan, not even Leviathan or Warlock, could stand against.

“Skyfall, skyfall. This is Avengers Actual to all Avengers. I have code Skyfall. I am declaring an emergency. All stations this net, record my data as long as you can receive it. Mission objective is code Rabbit. I say again Code Rabbit”

I felt the lash of powerful downbeat radars from the orbital vehicles, and began to pick up jamming of a level far too powerful for any mecha to overcome. That would be my last radio call. Luckily case Rabbit called for direct directional IR data relay, so my signals would relay through my Honour Guard drones and be relayed by all receiving units as long as they had the range, and I was still alive. Of course code rabbit means “evade and extract” or GTFO as fast as you can, before someone nails your fuzzy little tail to their mecha as a decoration, so they shouldn’t be in range long.

I moved my mecha forward as fast as we could move, and remain covert. I didn’t think it would be long. I watched five full corps drop. A full Army Group, I have war gamed it in simulations, but I have never actually seen one in the flesh before.

It was like watching a storm, only the wind that swept over the land towered eight meters high, and moved close to a hundred kilometers an hour, boasting armor that would stop a thousand points of ballistic damage, and weapons capable of dishing out the same. There were too many to count; literally, my Regis Wassat-Agressor tactical computer seized up, and sulked, refusing to believe I was in contact with a multiple division level force. Well sweetheart, I am not that happy either, but what can you do.

Corsairs, Arclights and Towers flanked the Apatotron and Notas that beat the bushes for me in the valleys and along the gentle slopes of the mountain. There was no way out, but at least I could continue to observe and report, buy some time for my Avengers to make it out. As long as I was alive and skulking, I could convince them to move their scouts inward to trap me, rather than outward to detect my people. I had no chance, but they might, as long as I stayed un caught.

A harsh scream echoed through the mountains as a Gigus rose up from a volcanic vent, its reactor signature cloaked by the heat and radiation of the volcanic vent. His scream was audio, so no amount of jamming by my Apatotron communications officer would block his detection signal. Old school really was the best.

I cut loose with a Triplex Matrix and cored through the Gigus for a critical kill, but active sensors were now splashing against my shields from a broad front. The Gigus had called in his patrol, and we were going to have to fight our way through it. Already dozens of similar teams moved to close every possible exit, and the heavy forces I had sought to avoid were being moved to converge on our position.

My Rook in the second rank cleared his racks with a magnum launch of Tandem Bombs to wide fork the last of the patrol after my machine collapsed with the last of my front rank. Boreas and Dilophos carved away the few battered survivors so the contact patrol was broken. As I powered up my Regis for our last stand, I made sure all they got was me.

“This is Avengers of Bunny Actual to all Avengers of Bunny. Code Berserker. I say again, Code Berserker. Avenge me. Bolverk out”

With those commands, I surrendered command of the Avengers of Bunny, and dissolved the Clan. Capturing me would gain the enemy nothing but my corpse. The surviving Avengers would fall back to the Spirit of Bunny, and summon the Clans. The Bouncing Blue Berserkers Faction would arise.

Whatever this new foe was, whatever game they thought to play, they would lose. They sought to bring force capable of wiping out any clan, so it would not be a Clan they would face.

Faction War is coming. If I am its first casualty, I swear by the gods, they will be its last.