NationStates Jolt Archive

The Spark of Invention (PMT Factbook)

Background: For centuries, the many "Spark houses" Lead by the genius inventors known to the locals as "Sparks" within the region were in a constant state of anarchic war. Each Spark house wanted to control the entire region. About 200 years ago, Lord Heterodyne got each of the spark houses (many of whom were 'persuaded' at gunpoint) to sign the Treaty of confederation. This unified the region of Blackgrue into a single state ruled by the Heterodynes. This persisted until quite recently when the "Technocrat" party declared the Heterodyne's rule tyrannical. A long and bloody revolution transformed the once peaceful territory into one of war and bloodshed. The technocrats defeated the Royalists and the treaty of unity was signed shortly thereafter, establishing the basis of democracy in the region. The first Technocratic Prime minister, Simon Treyja, converted the economy into a socialist one and granted universal human sufferage. This made the technocratic party so massively popular among the working-class, the other parties in the region don't really have a chance of being elected. Over the next 30 years a strange trend has emerged of dynastic local rulers with their own agenda, but massive public support for the Technocratic party overall keeping them in check. These new spark houses divide the confederation up into a number of de-facto city-states and occasionally a sparky leader will attempt a coup to take the helm of the technocrats. This has always failed miseribly, the citizens of mechanicsburg (the capitol where the technocrats rule from on-high) have made a sport out of 'hunting the traitor' where they will tie up the would-be rulers and leave him outside of town in the most humiliating way possible.

Geography:
Area: total: 9,826,630 sq km
land: 9,161,923 sq km
water: 664,707 sq km
Land boundaries:12,034 km
Coastline: 19,924 km
Maritime claims:territorial sea: 12 nm
contiguous zone: 24 nm
exclusive economic zone: 200 nm
Climate: Naturally temparate, but decades of pollution have created greenhouse-gas-zones around the major population centers.
Terrain: Vast eastern plane, southen marhses, and mountains to the west and north
Elevation extremes:lowest point: The great mine -86 m
highest point: Mount Beetle 6,198 m
Natural resources: coal, copper, lead, molybdenum, phosphates, uranium, bauxite, gold, iron, mercury, nickel, potash, silver, tungsten, zinc, petroleum, natural gas, timber,
Land use: arable land: 18.01%
permanent crops: 0.21%
other: 81.78%
Natural hazards: tsunamis, volcanoes, and earthquake activity, major icestorms sometimes move from the northern region into the eastern region
Environment - current issues: Air pollution causes acid rain and health hazards in the cities, water pollution makes traditional farming impossible around those areas. The union has no plans to deal with the environmental issues.


http://i19.photobucket.com/albums/b198/Rithesa/Echocity.jpg
The capitol of Mechanicsburg

Government:
Full Nation name: The Technocratic Union of BLACKGRUE
Informal names: The Union, 'Grue
Government type: Pseudo-democratic socialist technocracy
Capitol: Mechanicsburg.
Legal system: Federal court based on the Heterodyne common law
Sufferage: at age 18 for humans, by application for constructs.
Executive branch: Madame Prime Minister: Dr. Arielle Saito, Second minister: Prost Jägerkin,
Legislative branch: Each university elevates 2 of their professors to the house of knowledge. Those 2 professors choose 4 non-spark students to be elevated into the house of commons.
Political parties and leaders: Technocratic party [Prof. Werner Beetle], Royalist party [Lucy Heterodyne], Earth party [Dr. Simon Zelop]

Economy: http://nseconomy.thirdgeek.com/nseconomy.php?nation=blackgrue

Transportation:
Airship-ports: 14,042
Flier-ports (not including mobile ones on airships): 641
Railways: 1,026,612 km

Military: (Note: Very few humans are in the military outside of the air-squadrens. The others are constructs of genetic manipulation and/or cybernetic enhancement)

Branches: The Jägerkin armed forces (JAF), The Mechanized armed forces (MAF), The Sub-navy (NAVY), The Unified Air-squadrens (AIR). Aether command (AC)

Spicifics for each branch:

Note: There is VERY little standardization in this military as individual sparks make individual wacky inventions. The designs presented are the most common deployed ones, usually because they are designed to be mass-produced.

http://i19.photobucket.com/albums/b198/Rithesa/Jaegermonsterportrait.png
A Jägermonster in officer's dress

JAF:
Background: The Jägerkin armed forces consist of genetic constructs known as Jägermonsters. Traditionally under the control of the house of Heterodyne, the Jägerkin declared their allegence to the Technocrats in the waning part of the war. They serve as infantry and mobile armor
for the union. It should be noted, people convicted of particularly heinous crimes are known to be sentanced to Jägerdraught, a secretive process that essentially turns them into Jägerkin.

Vehicles and weapons:

http://i19.photobucket.com/albums/b198/Rithesa/Rotaryelephantgun.jpg
The rotary Elephant gun: This adaptation of the high-powered hunting rifle of the same name gives the Jägerkin a decent rate of fire, combined with high powered rounds giving high stopping power and armor penetration

http://i19.photobucket.com/albums/b198/Rithesa/ArmedCrapper2.jpg
The Six-gun-suit: This exoskeleton (a clank in it's own right) allows lighter Jägers to weild 6 pistols or Beetle-ballistas at once.

http://i19.photobucket.com/albums/b198/Rithesa/mp5kengraved.jpg
The Beetle Ballista: Professor Beetle's famous automatic pistol is a favorite for use in the 6-gun-suit.

http://i19.photobucket.com/albums/b198/Rithesa/steampunk_flapper.jpg
The Flapper: This handy device allows Jägers to be dropped from high altitudes with a near complete survival rate (rather then the 80% survival they have as normal.) Also the gliding nature of the Flapper provides greater control over the Landing Zone then traditional parachutes.

http://i19.photobucket.com/albums/b198/Rithesa/1876674065_1c0a893ef4_o.jpg
The Scout-bug: The scout-bug is a fast recon vehicle of an unusual shape, designed also for amphibious useage. Note: pictured above is a prototype, the later versions have no stabilizer wheels or rock-arms instead opting for gyroscopic stabilization

http://i19.photobucket.com/albums/b198/Rithesa/somualo-1.jpg
Somualo APC: This new APC features 3 independent operating turrets, 2 of which are clank-controlled. These turrets are armed with both anti-personnel guns and grenade launchers. The main gun, though it may look like a cannon, actually fires the new Javelin anti-tank rocket and can be reconfigured to attack low-flying helicoptors. With a troop carrying capacity of 20 (including a crew of 2-4) this is one of the larger APCs before crossing into landship territory.

http://i19.photobucket.com/albums/b198/Rithesa/TrickTigerlo-1.jpg
Super-Tiger Main battle tank: This new design out of the house of Wolfenbach has quickly supplanted the older Ontos design as the weapon of choice for the Jägerkin. What it lacks in the Ontos, versitility, it makes up for it in enhanced mobility, thicker armor with more coverage, and a much bigger main gun. This design was made spicifically with Jägerkin in mind, in fact 2 Jäger officers served as advisors on the design board, this influence is obvious as the mobility of this heavy beast is unmatched.

MAF:
Background: The treaty of Unity coalesced the great smatterings of Spark militaries into one command. The Jägerkin excepted, this is the entirety of the Union's ground forces though it mainly specializes in heavy operations and national ground defence.

Weapons and vehicles:

http://i19.photobucket.com/albums/b198/Rithesa/TheWatch.png
Assault Clanks: These soldier-sized clanks provide heavy infantry support for armor operations.

http://i19.photobucket.com/albums/b198/Rithesa/Migsta_CHOW51_SteamPunk_infran.jpg
Half-clanks: Some humans really want to join the military. If they're not cut out for the air-squadrens, they are often turned into half-clanks so they can keep up with the armored forces. These half-clanks serve as pilots and gunners because of their ability to directly interface with the vehicles. Pictured is Pilot-halfclank.

http://i19.photobucket.com/albums/b198/Rithesa/1876607205_bf836f21b9.jpg
"Clankbox" APC: The clanks require no comforts that humans or Jägerkin might require like personal space. The Clankbox is designed to seat nearly 15 assault clanks.

http://i19.photobucket.com/albums/b198/Rithesa/408420275_a70b7b6a66.jpg
TriGunTank: This medium tank is the backbone of light armored assults that don't call for walkers.

http://i19.photobucket.com/albums/b198/Rithesa/362866483_330598cbca.jpg
Mobile artillery: Half a tank, half a cannon. This large mobile gun is a favorite of armored commanders when walkers are not availible

http://i19.photobucket.com/albums/b198/Rithesa/034.jpg
Juggernaught Landship: This massive tank strikes fear in the hearts of the enemy, when it's rear doors open, almost 80 assult-clanks will rush out... and the twin cannon isn't anything to sneeze at either.

http://i19.photobucket.com/albums/b198/Rithesa/SteamWalkers.jpg
"Biped" walkers: These light walkers serve as recon for the armored forces. It should be noted that pictured are cerimonial parade models. The battle model encloses it's half-clank pilot completely.

http://i19.photobucket.com/albums/b198/Rithesa/artywalkerfahrong.jpg http://i19.photobucket.com/albums/b198/Rithesa/st35ttankbig.jpg http://i19.photobucket.com/albums/b198/Rithesa/st38mediumarach.jpg
"Arach" walkers. The Arach platform is a versitile system to create large walking vehicles. The Arachs in the ST 35 medium, ST38 main battle, and Mobilie artillery variants are the backbone of the armored forces.

NAVY

Background: The traditional need for a navy is supplanted by the frequent use of airships and fliers, however a semi-secret sub-marine navy is present that is mainly designed to be an "Anti-navy navy" to stop foreign navies from being able to attack Blackgrue.

Vehicles (SECRET IC)

http://i19.photobucket.com/albums/b198/Rithesa/sub_infran.jpg
Industrious torpeado-sub: The Industrious class torpeado-sub is the main workhorse of the navy. With a large supply of both anti-sub and anti-ship torpeados this sub serves the navy's purposes very well.

http://i19.photobucket.com/albums/b198/Rithesa/spsub_infran.jpg
Stryker transport/stealth sub: The Styker is a fairly large sub that is designed to be hard to pick up on SONAR, While otherwise lightly armed, the Stryker carries some land-bombardment weapons to allow for naval support during landings

http://i19.photobucket.com/albums/b198/Rithesa/Steampunk-Submersible.jpg
*CLASSIFIED*

AIR:

Background: Air-power has long been a powerful force for the Blackgrueians. They tend to favor lighter-then-air craft for their high flight cielings but recently have developed a number of heavier-then-air craft for high speed interception and other purposes.

Vehicles:

http://i19.photobucket.com/albums/b198/Rithesa/CastleWulfenbach.png
Castle Wolfenbach: The old Wolfenbach house has donated it's old castle to be the mobile military command base for the new union. The vessel is over 2 kilometers long and is by far the largest airship ever built. With a passenger capacity over 10,000 the craft is a veritable flying city. The mask on the front is in the likeness of Baron Tiberious Wolfenbach, the man who designed the craft. The craft also carries 300 fliers and is itself an advanced aeronautics laboratory.

http://i19.photobucket.com/albums/b198/Rithesa/airships2Balan2Bgutierrez.jpg
Airships: Acting as mobile command units, the airship is the backbone of the Blackgrue military. Capable of near sub-orbital altitudes, airships are a silent radar-transperant option to swoop in and launch fliers and parachuting land units. They are quite imposing and some are up to a kilometer in length.

Blackgrue sparks have come up with a number of ways to enhance lighter-then air flight, including using energy fields and exotic materials to make the craft even lighter, using exotic lifting gasses, and even a limited anti-gravity field. Because of this, airships can be made very fast (Comperable to ships of the same size), capable of very high altitudes, and heavily armed and armored. Many lighter airships are "Radar transperant" meaning that their shape and composition make radar signals simply pass through them without reflecting. This makes them very stealthy for craft of their size.

http://i19.photobucket.com/albums/b198/Rithesa/Wotan.jpg
Wotan class hybred bomber: An oddity amung oddities, the Wotan bomber sports a detachable envelope (not pictured) which it uses to approach it's target at high altitudes hidden from RADAR and not harrassed by enemy fighters, which it then detaches onto a long rope allowing it to drop down rapidly from high altitudes to deliver it's payload and then climb back up. If the rope is severed or the envelope destroyed, the Wotan is fully capible as a VTOL craft.

http://i19.photobucket.com/albums/b198/Rithesa/a36df97aff.jpg
Mosquito interceptor/spyplane: With a top-speed of nearly Mach-2 this craft is the nation's primary multi-role interceptor/spyplane.

http://i19.photobucket.com/albums/b198/Rithesa/Airship_by_gigaton.jpg
Red-wonder cargo-plane: When you need it to get there really fast, the Red Wonder is here to help.

http://i19.photobucket.com/albums/b198/Rithesa/ornithopter.jpg
Ornithopter gunship: Sometimes airships can't provide close ground support, for that they call in the ornithoptors. Quite fast for a VTOL craft, the Orni's are becoming a staple of the air squadren's tactics

http://i19.photobucket.com/albums/b198/Rithesa/Project_Harp.jpg
The Main Space Cannon

AC: Aetherial command is a fairly recent space exploration and space military command program. It has made recent massive strides with the construction of the 2 space cannons which allows the rapid launch of probes and clanks.

http://i19.photobucket.com/albums/b198/Rithesa/Airship_No__2.jpg
Hyperclank system: This little wonder is launched via the space cannon to sub-orbital velocities and it's clank-controlled system fires as many shots as it can (usually 40 or so) of high-explosive or splash incidniary weapons into it's target before the craft itself crashes dealing considerable damage on impact. This is essentially the equivelent of a "Cruise missile" for the Blackgrueians

http://i19.photobucket.com/albums/b198/Rithesa/orion_declassified.jpg
Orion class launch shell
These shells can be loaded with space-borne payloads such as sattilites or even loads of tungston that can be de-orbited strategically on a target. This is the standard launch vehicle for Blackgrue

Additional pictures:
http://i19.photobucket.com/albums/b198/Rithesa/6356uryjgykhj-1.jpg
An orion class shell discarding it's solid rocket boosters, heavier payloads may require up to 20 such boosters.

http://i19.photobucket.com/albums/b198/Rithesa/345yetrjhgjmh.jpg
An Orion class breaks hypersonic just as it exits the atmosphere, this shell was sent on a space exploration mission to the moon.

It should be noted that many autonomous clanks and other prototypes are being designed and put forth by various houses within the union, the above listed clanks and vehicles are those common to all houses.

(OOC: I own none of the above images, Jägerkin and clanks are owned by Phil Foglio. THat's it. Any MT or PMT nation that would like to interact, PM or TG me.)

A quick note on symbology and their relation to the sparky houses (OOC: Because I'm too lazy to photoshop them out of the real-world designs)

The house Wolfenbach commonly use the black cross and rarely the swastica as an identifying symbol. Wolfenbach house families tend to speak with pseudo-german accents although they are not as heavily pronounced as the Jägerkin. They favor big, bold, and untested designs and they will push their industrial capacity to the limit to overrun an opponent before any faults in their vehicles can be found.

The Unified Southern Front (or US for short) Tend to use the 5 pointed star as a unifying symbol. They have few sparks so they favor workable, proven designs although occasionally they will make unusual configurations of existing designs. These shifty southerners tend to have no accent but will act jittery and nervious especially in the presence of Sparks or Jägers.

The Heterodyne house doesn't have a unifying symbol, but they have a number of unifying features to their designs. They favor steam-inspired craftsmanship (often including false boilers and smokestacks in non-steam powered vehicles). Even the lowliest vehicle is considered a work of art to their artisan craftsmen. They have lost their former technological edge over the other houses, but they retain a sense of style and sensibility about their designs, even when they're the mad work of sparks.

House Branderston tend to use the union jack or the circle within a circle as a unifying symbol, rarely they will use the red disk. This emergent house favors a sleekness in their designs and their sparks tend to subdue their madness to an extent. They are also known to have a fanatical sense of honor and will declare all out Jihad on any power that disrespects them.

What is the spark? (For those of you who don't read Girl Genius)

Within Blackgrue's universities came an unusual neurological condition caused partially by genetics and partially by exposure to the highly polluted air of the cities. This is known as the "Spark of invention" or "Spark" for short. This condition is typified by the subject flying into rages at seemingly slight provocation (this is known as "the madness place" and is described further below) and by the subject being almost unnaturally intelligent and have an invisible and almost irresistable charisma to non-sparks. While the intelligence is certainly far above average when in a normal subdued state, when the spark is in the madness place he will begin to exibit a strange sort of power, this tends to bend the accepted rules of science slightly allowing for normally infeasable designs to become practical. In rare cases, previously impossible projects have become practical applications (case in point, brain jars).

The madness place is typified by the spark becoming very enraged and creative at the same time. It occurs in 3 stages, the first is a sort of "Angry denial" that the spark is trying to come to terms with it's provokation. Creations at this stage are still fairly within the bounds of conventional science and it's easy for sparks to both reach and work in this stage. The second stage is more dangerous, the spark begins to exhibit maniacal laughter and obsess about a subject until they have completed an invention. The most typical sparky creations at this stage bend the laws of science by a significant margin (Cases in point, landships, warzepplins, and the "Unified pie theory"), most landships are designed and built by sparks at this stage (It should be noted that non-sparks may find themselves unknowing assistants to the spark's madness at this stage, this phenomena is known as "Proximity sparking"). The third stage is heavily threatening, the spark is angry at the world, and will stop at nothing to see it conquered or destroyed. If you see a spark at this stage, report it to the nearest Jägermonster otherwise you may not live to regret it.

The spark is rare, about 1 in every 20 million or so have it, and almost all of them are university students when they break through (Reach the madness place for the first time). The breaking through is a generally violent process that the universities are trained to contain. Before their breaking through, as young children sparks tend to have an interest in music. Nearly all of them have reported that later in life music helps them to concentrate and to leave the madness place. As a result of this, most universities have some music requirements at entry.

A Day in the life of a Blackgrue citizen

Within the Union, humans still maintain a slight majority in the population. Although half-clanks are becoming more common, and constructs of various sorts are made by sparks and must register for rights to vote and for citizenship, this isn't done out of discrimination, it's done to prevent a crazed spark from building an army of constructs and stealing the election.

Whatever their origins, they all almost certainly live in one of the 58 great megacities. From the top floor of one of the massive 150+ story super-blocks you can't even see the street level. Large pedestrian walkways allow travel between blocks, the cities are somewhat self sufficient in that the need for polluting personal transport is eliminated, the primary form of transit is walking, the secondary form are high-speed tube-trains. For most people, most days they go through a cycle of simply waking up, walking to work, doing work, walking home, listening to the radio or seeing a play, and then bed.

http://i19.photobucket.com/albums/b198/Rithesa/CloudsWillSoonRollBy.jpg
A sky-cafe in the city of Hammershine

Occasionally some people must leave the cities either to go to another city or to one of the remote mining or farming communites. This means travelling through what is affectionately called "The wasteland". The wasteland is a place where bandits, rouge sparks, and massive prehistoric creatures all call home. Travel through the wasteland is dangerous, and generally can only be done in monowheels.

http://i19.photobucket.com/albums/b198/Rithesa/3565e4yhgfnhdfbcv.jpg

Monowheels are the transportation of choice since they can't be shot out of the sky, they're speedy, and they don't really care about rough terrain. However the numorous and unknown dangers of the wasteland can range from a lost clank soldier looking for it's unit,

http://i19.photobucket.com/albums/b198/Rithesa/image_medium-1.jpg

to a massive-3-horned beast who has a taste for helicoptors.

http://lh3.ggpht.com/abramsv/SO2uDiWDGcI/AAAAAAAAg8s/vECYm7lEN44/s800/e567u46ujtyjghn.jpg

Attempting to cross the wasteland should probably be left to the experts in the military, but many people make this dangerous trek every day. It's an unavoidable cost of living in the union.


National Anthem: The march of the mechanised sociaty.

From fifty-eight cities in fifty-eight kingdoms we march ahead to one beat.
The mechanised drum of the hammer's fall. The men of metal and the men of meat.
Man and machine, head and hands, together we work, united we stand.
Oh Blackgrue, we sing for thee. Unite all you workers unite.

Girl Genius stuff: http://www.girlgeniusonline.com
Some images used later are copyright Bradly Schenck: http://shop.webomator.com/

Nice pictures! It was fun trying to work out all the origins. You seem to have a very interesting concept going.

About the Iron Crosses, black-red-white flags, scattered German words... do you use those or are they just holdovers from the original source? Because I'm an alternate history of Imperial Germany, so if we ever meet, that could get complicated

OOC: Wow, amazing pics. Your military seems more Ft, then PMT

Cool idea, its obivous its based of the Girl Genius comic from reading the first post.

Though it seems that nobody has guessed what my nation is based upon yet.

Nova: They're mostly holdovers explained that the house of Wolfenbach uses the black cross as a common symbol.

Greal: I don't really have any spacecraft, I can't send a manned anything cause I'm using the space cannon, I certainly don't have any FTL, how am I FT?

Oh noes my technologically inferior commies are screwed! D:::

Just joking, nice work here based on GG comics, but I do PT steampunk rather than PMT steampunk.

For space stuff, I would really suggest this over the conventional stuff:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Space_1889

Although I have an epic tank... of fail:

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/4/4b/Tsar_tank.jpg

A few of these are from that, but I wanna do this in PMT so no spacecraft :-P besides with the Jules-Verne style space cannon, anything living (even a Jäger or other construct) would be turned to jelly after launch.

bump, cause I added something

Heh, this is pretty amazing. Once I get my PMT fully fleshed out with all the RP I plan to put into it, it'd be pretty interesting to compare the two of us. :p

This is awesome you are awesome.

bump cuz I'm bored

who put the bump in sha-bump-sha-bump-sha-bump?

bump cause I found a better pic. Thank you hitler for your crazy and wacky tank designs.

New line of research: Tail-sitter aircraft.

The BLACKGRUE central military commission today has released a statement confirming their adaptation of several previously classified high-speed vertical take-off (VTOL) aircraft. Various houses and professors have come up with designs that are all going to be tested, in all likelyhood all of these various designs will see at least small scale deployment in the near future especially since they each serve such a unique role.

http://i19.photobucket.com/albums/b198/Rithesa/snecma1.jpg
Radial class gunship: The radial class is designed to fill a role as a high-speed deployable gunship that can act both as air-support and ground-level support. It has many clank controlled turrets and some of the latest short-range rocket capabilities.
http://i19.photobucket.com/albums/b198/Rithesa/model49aafss.jpg

Whirligig I missile
http://i19.photobucket.com/albums/b198/Rithesa/ghtrb-8.jpg
From the mind of Professer Triston, comes this unique craft. Powered by 3 turbojet engines, this unmanned craft is used as an anti-zepplin and anti-ornithoptor weapon. It can gain altitude very quickly and is designed to impact with the target and then detonate. It can also be adapted to surface-to-surface roles.

Experiments are underway to make interceptor modifications to this craft but they remain experimental at this time.

The example pictured is painted in US markings but the design is Wolfenbach in origen.

Whirligig II Coptor
http://i19.photobucket.com/albums/b198/Rithesa/ds500-1.jpg
Also from Triston's design beauro, this heavy clank-controlled support coptor serves an importaint anti-zepplin, and sub/ship hunting role. Loaded with modular pods for weapons such as long-range guided rockets, or machine guns, this craft is only limited by it's small size. Lethal in packs.

Von Braun interceptor
http://i19.photobucket.com/albums/b198/Rithesa/jhhva-2.jpg
Launched either from a truck or from an innocent looking warehouse, this craft gains an initial boost from a small rocket engine before transitioning to turbojet. Agile and nimble, and capable of mach-2, this short-range fighter can easily ambush enemy aircraft.
http://i19.photobucket.com/albums/b198/Rithesa/vbi-1.gif

Juno Heavy fighter-bomber
http://i19.photobucket.com/albums/b198/Rithesa/ef009.jpg
This craft is designed to fill the role of a ground-attack craft and VTOL light bomber. Its large array of jet engines are used to allow the small craft to achieve lift even if it is carrying a large bomb or missile load. Considering that the craft is a fighter frame, it has a massive maximum payload of 10,000 pounds although that does not account for wing extensions on the bombs or rockets to maintain aerodynamic stability or wheels for massive loads to be able to take off at all.

Skimmer Stealth Fighter-bomber
http://i19.photobucket.com/albums/b198/Rithesa/avroplane1.jpg
Classified.

House Branderston has today begun work on the BUS (Blackgrue Union Submarine) Hornet's nest. This heavily modified Stryker class transporter is capable of carrying and launching up to 5 of the new "Hornet" fighter-bombers, providing for air support that can be hidden away under the waves easily.

Branderston is also planning on having the craft carry nuclear torpeados to be dropped by these fighter-bombers.

Currently, high command is not aware of branderston's project, save for a single grainy photograph shown below.

http://i19.photobucket.com/albums/b198/Rithesa/sen_toku.gif

(OOC: This is going to lead somewhere BIG, watch this thread to see it unfold)

New article: Jäegerkin examined.

These are a variaty of works dealing with the Jägermonsters, some are journal entries, some are scientific works, and some are eyewitness accounts. These accounts are meant to give a glimpse into the mind. life, and history of the Jägerkin.

From the diary of Doctor William "The Blasphemer" Heterodyne.

The third day of the sixth month of year 885 of the old calender (about 120 years before the technocracy)

I have done it! They called me mad! They called me insane! But I have done it! I have created life where there is none before! I have made an elephant that can fit on my desk. This experiment will lend itself to many more to come. The perfect soldier may be within my grasp yet!

The tenth day of the sixth month.

I think I have the formula correct. Unfortunately it didn't work very well on my little elephant... his tusks grew too far and impaled his skull. I'm hoping that the human subject will fare better.

The eleventh day of the sixth month.

Damn my lab assistant to hell! He didn't tie down the test subject well enough, my formula was spashed into my face, I may have even swallowed it. Damn him!

I definitely swallowed some. I'm feeling dizzy... it's hard to concentrate on my work.

I feeeEEEEL funny...

Hy don't know vot Hy vas tinkink! Hy feel GREAT! Hy feel like Hy could tear down diz lab vit my bare hunds! Vords seem hard now, bye bye leetle book.


From the collected scientific works of Professer Beetle. Publication date: 3/18 5th year of the technocracy

Subject: Jäegerkin.

These are amung the earliest known constructs, they are the most numerous and amung the most unique amung the living creations of sparks. First created over 100 years ago by William "The Blasphemer" Heterodyne, an unfortunate accident made him one of his own creations. Thankfully the programmed loyalty to the heterodynes prevented his destruction of his own notes.

Jägerkin have a broadly humanoid appearance, although in general they're rather ... odd ... looking and unlikely to be confused with real live humans. Specifically, they usually sport skin and hair in non-traditional colors, as well as claws and very sharp teeth. They may also have unusual shaped skulls, pointed ears, and unusually long arms or unusual leg shapes (though they always remain bipedal). Female Jägerkin seem to have slightly less pronounced skeletal deformities though they also have teeth and claws that mark them as nonhuman. In rare cases Jägerkin may sport tails, though it is even rarer to see them displaying them.

Below are accurate drawings of Jägers. The diologe in the cartoon is taken from the best-selling play "The Wild Jägers".

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Jägerkin are feared by most people, for several reasons. For starters, they're fearsome hand-to-hand fighters (the name, after all, translates roughly as "hunter monster") who can both absorb and deal extraordinary amounts of damage. Jägers also have an unusual connection to their hats, considering them a status symbol -- the one bit of Jäger wisdom revealed thus far is "Any plan where you lose your hat is a bad plan". Likewise, hats have been an object of jealousy, and are a traditional gift to be presented to a fallen comrade at their funeral or to a groom at his wedding.

The process of transformation is known as Jägerbräu or Jägerdraught, the former being painless and allows the subject to retain memory and the latter being excrutiatingly painful and erases all non-knowledge memories in the subject. Other then those differences the process is essentially the same. The subject imbibes or is injected with a catalyst chemical that contains a number of biological agents that seperately would cause instant death in the subject. The combination of them instead causes a state of genetic flux in the subject in which 4 new chromosome pairs are added and the 9th and 20th chromosome pairs are dissolved. The subject then goes through a state of biological flux where all of his cells are replaced at a rapid pace until they all match the new genetic information. The end result is a new species that is much more aggressive, physically stronger, deeply loyal to humans (Subject to their internal chain of command's orders), and intellectually inferior in nearly every way. Anecdotal evidence suggests that male Jägerkin can impregnate women, the offspring is always a female Jäger. There is no evidence of female Jägers being impregnated by human men, though this may be because female Jägers seem to have conscious control over their reproductive cycles and choose not to allow this to happen.

It should also be noted that Jägerkin speak with a deep heterodyne accent, this seems to be biologically ingrained in every language they are trained to speak in.

News flash!

The Big-Rig express has opened it's doors today, these brave souls are attempting to ferry cargo throughout the wastelands in large armored trucks like the one pictured below.

This is providing an immeasurable service to the Blackgrue economy and consumer confidence is at an all-time high. Keep marching for the union boys!

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Originally planned for a manned mission to the moon 1 this new half-clank model is being deployed in a joint MAF/AIR taskforce for landing infantry. Using state-of-the-art vacuum tube technology and good-old-fashioned organ replacement, this stylish little design is now capable of taking to the air at near mach. Keep up the good work lab boys.

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This news flash was brought to you by, Mother Mable's snack cakes. When you get your ration cards, demand Mother Mable's. And by your local construct recruiting office. Be all you can be, by getting rid of your old parts.

News flash! Retropolis studios opens it's doors today!

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(The C-1 jet-car on display)

The long-awaited Retropolis jet-car goes into production today. The studio, started by famed sparky designer Dr. Schenk, has promised a beginning of personal mobility unmatched in the region. The C-1 jetcar can carry a single passenger to nearly half mach and at an altitude of nearly 30,000 ft, its canopy folds inwards at the back making it a comfy open-air experience at low speeds and altitudes and the stylish bubble-dome seals and pressurizes once the craft reaches high altitudes or at high speeds.

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(Dr. Schenk in his workshop)

We interviewed doctor Schenk during a brief pause from his design work.

News-flash: Good morning doctor.

Schenk: Good morning to you.

NF: I'll start bluntly. Where do you get your ideas?

S: They just come from taking a long hard look at my colleagues designs and thinking, "I can do better". Not that I don't respect my colleagues mind you, but Professor Von Braun's tail-sitter aircraft are so... conventional. I had to do something more acceptable to the working man.

NF: Could you explain the principle of the craft?

S: Well in layman's terms, gravity is the force pulling us down to the earth yes? The vehicle creates a field around it that has no gravity and then just slips forward. It's siphening part of the field from the planet's gravity so it doesn't work at very high altitudes, but in a craft this size it's an amazing feat to fly at all.

NF: What do you see yourself working on next?

S: I see myself relegating the jet-car designs to my sons. I want to work on constructs and medical technology next. I suppose it's the old spark cliche to build a person because we don't like the people around us eh? *chuckles*

NF: You mentioned your sons, are they carrying on your name?

S: No, they're mediocre engineers, but much better artists and businessmen then I am. I made the craft fly through the air, but they made it fly into the headlines.



This news-flash was paid for by Retropolis Studios (http://shop.webomator.com/). Get your jet-car today.

Newsflash: The south-western city of Olympus has had a coupt-de-etat and a capitalistic faction has taken control. The prime minister signed a scientific alliance with the newly established Sirent Corperate Republic offering them independence in exchange for favors from their engeneering department and scientific corp.

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In related news, the design beauro has approved two new revolutionary vehicles, the Nautilus submarine aircraft carrier, and the Albitross submarine fighter-bomber. These concurrant developments have been dubbed "The age of the submarine" Submarine fever has gripped the nation and children are encouraged to use their toy rations on model submarines and "Submariner" goggles which bear no resembelance to the "Spaceman" goggles released last summer whatsoever.

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Personal transportation is the latest craze as film-star turned tinkerer Tricia Spackles jumps on the bandwagon created by Retropolis and opens her own line of stylish personal transporters. The super-segway pictured above is a mobile walker for the budget of a lowly laborer, capable of all-terrain movement.

2 new tanks have been introduced for the Jägerkin command, the Sumualo and the Super-Tiger have replaced the older Scarab and Ontos, these old designs are archived here for completeness.

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The Scarab APC: The scarab provides fast transport and fire support for Jägerkin.

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Ontos medium tank: The Ontos is the Jäger's main battle tank. With it's reconfigurable design it's a favorite amung Jäger officers, as General Prost put it once: "You get to choose your big boom!"

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The new Apus compressed-air sniper rifle provides sharpshooters in blackgrue with a means to stamp out targets from a distance without revealing their position, the rifle has a range of 1 kilometers and is only minimally less accurate then the standard issue Beetle sharpshooter rifle. The Apus is improved in the fact that it fires completely silently, produceing less sound then even a blowgun.

*SUPER-DOUBLE-PLUS-SECRET-IC*

The newest experiment from the United Southern Front's experiment in Atomics and Avionics has borne fruit, the design team has finalized a series of 2 new super-aircraft that will be produced as top-secret superweapons in limited numbers.

Firstly is the Ultor bomber.

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The Ultor is a nuclear powered bomber designed to stay aloft at extremely high altitudes, its surfaces are designed to deflect RADAR and stealthily glide to a target. This is a nuclear bomber in 3 senses of the term, it's primary engines are powered by an atomic reactor, it carries up to 80 "Long-arm" cruise missiles with 1.5 megaton warheads, AND it has an alternate "Pusher-plate" propulsion method, by detonating a nuclear warhead at it's tail end it can rapidly accelerate to massive velocities, it can even make sub-orbital insertions.

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The Aigaion is the first of 3 fixed wing heavier then air craft that are considered to be airships in their own rights. The craft pictured above is pictured with refueling craft and 2 of it's "Sister ships" the Gammer class gunboat and Telsa class special-weapon platform. Each Aigaion flotilla includes 2 of each of these sister craft.

The Aigaion itself is designed as an aircraft carrier, capable of carrying Albatross submarine fighters, Hornet strike fighters, and the new Falcon multirole fighter with a maximum capacity of 80 such craft. In addition it carries 50 Long-arm cruise missiles fitted with fuel-air bombs (The Aigaion does NOT have the shielding required to carry nuclear warheads) which can be clank-controlled fired as both massive anti-air explosions, or anti-ground decimating incendiary weapons. It also carries 20 modified Von-braun interceptors fired from the cruise missile tubes as emergency high-speed anti-air interceptors.

The Gammer is a heavy guns platform designed to provide long-range artillery support to the flotilla in the form of rockets, and large cannons.

The Telsa is a mobile laboratory, it's strength lies in the unpredictability of the sparks working there, as such it is difficult to describe.

All planes in the aigaion flotilla can also descend up to 30 ft below water. This adds a secondary element of stealth though their needs for consistant refueling prevent them from spending much time underwater



All craft seen above are also testbeds for the omnidirectional Javelin missile launcher, this anti-air device eliminates some of the need for fighter escort, the missile fires and then splits into multiple independently targeting anti air weapons that fire in a burst outwards making dodging such devices very difficult.