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[Blood_Librarian]

Universal Power System( UPS ) Overhaul: (1) Rockeater
Wadjet Branding: (2) MoP, Blood_Librarian

[Rockeater]

Wadjet Branding: (2) MoP, Blood_Librarian

[Chiefwaffles]

We've studied the Astral Realm for quite a while now. The only solid truth it contains is that it's ever-present. It touches everything that ever was, is, and will be. We got lucky when we stumbled into the realm, and until now we've been experimenting to uncover it's secrets and how best to use it. What we have failed to do is consider that we aren't the first to manipulate the power it offers.

We've studied the countless documents, artwork, and carvings available to us from the remains of ancient civilizations and have begun to rediscover the secrets of the Astral's past. Or at least what's entwined with humankind.

The most apparently Astral-aware civilization was that of Ancient Egypt. While they understood it little, they grasped basic concepts of Astral interaction. Many of their religious symbols have turned out to be linked in some way to the Astral Realm - though they believed it was a realm of death. Countless priests tried to enter the Astral Realm only to go mad. Those that didn't succumb to the mind-tearing unreality of the Astral Realm bore one clear similarity: a tattoo of the Eye of Horus marked their flesh.

While the implications of an eye being a symbol deeply connected to the Astral Realm scares us more than we'd like to admit, we can only speculate and theorize. For now. Thorough research has shown that the Eye of Horus helps safeguard against the dangers inherent to the Astral Realm. By branding our potential Astralpaths before they undergo initial exposure we increase success rates in the conversion process while also providing a basic general improvement to the efficacy of all Astral-related troops who've already undergone the necessary procedures.

Revision: Wadjet Branding
(Normal) (2+2) = 5: Average

After the recent Black Raid, when the Unnamed Cult (their true name forced into obscurity by the Bureau of Enhanced Operations, seemingly scared for once in its operational timeline) successfully raided the Black Chamber before military reinforcements could arrive, we captured several deceased cultists not dragged away by their retreating brethren. We figured that while their approach to the Astral was... questionable at best, studying how the Unnamed Cult exploited Astral abilites we were unaware of would be of use.
Not much came out of studying the bodies, including complete dissections. However, one of these bodies was recognized by Astral scientist Andre Morth: a scientist working during the raid and was honored for protecting a large swath of people. Normally this wouldn't be something particularly news-worthy to us (as devastating as the Black Raid was), but Dr. Morth put special focus on a symbol adorning the cultist in the raid -- the Eye of Horus.

We don't know why or how it stood up to him. We were especially skeptical given that Morth has always been known as a more eccentric scientist suffering from the early effects of Astral Insanity. Still useful to a degree, but eventually his exposure to the experiments and procedures in the Black Chamber would render him useless. But the report was surprisingly legible coming from him (immediately making us curious) and he had some very good points. We're not sure where the sudden competence came from, but if it yields results, it works for us.


In the Black Chamber, "Astral History" is a questionable focus pursued voluntarily by a handful of scientists Not particularly well-liked or popular scientists. While not specially outrageous, bringing up the idea of Astral use in history is not a good idea if you want to be taken seriously or given more responsibility. But apparently Morth had managed to interrogate some relevant information from them and apply it to his own impromptu research with the Eye of Horus.
Ignoring nonsense about Horus being an actual person who somehow managed to exploit the Astral, the Eye of Horus actually has an effect on the connection between an individual and the Astral realm. Apparently this was determined by testing through unauthorized volunteers, but we'll take the results this time.

Testing the symbol ourselves -- both the one worn by the Cultist and our own versions -- seems to indicate that the state one is put into by focusing on the physical symbol is better suited for exploiting the Astral. SEEM operatives focused on a symbol held in their hand have notably improved prescience reaction times, and general performance. Preliminary testing in SEEM treatments seems to slightly decrease the rate of failed treatments when the subjects are instructed to focus on a symbol before being sedated. All testing shows that this works.
This is an extreme anomaly. And either is the result of an equally extreme coincidence or there's something strange going on that we don't comprehend yet. But for now, it surely can't hurt to make use of it.


We've outfitted uniforms of all enhanced individuals with the Wadjet Branding off of the Eye of Horus. A physical one was deemed poor for outward appearances according to the B.E.O., but having it imprinted and still tactile on the exterior of the hands of SEEMs and Goldeneyes seems to work best. It also helps newer SEEMs focus on Astral techniques through hand movement, which is an... interesting side effect. Every uniform will be equipped with this at no additional cost.

Spoiler: Designs (click to show/hide)

Transport Capacity: 2/3 (2/2 Oil Imported)
Resources: 3 Ore, 4 Oil, 2 Rare Chemicals

Weapons

• "Machete" Pistol: A 6-round semiautomatic pistol semi-accurate up to Short range. Reliable.
  [Cheap] 1 Ore
• "Jumper" EMA Grenade Launcher: The Electromagnetically Assisted Grenade Launcher "Jumper" is roughly the shape of a very noticeably thicker bazooka-like assembly. It uses inefficient brick-sized SynthOil batteries that provide enough charge for one shot per battery. Once a battery is inserted, the Jumper has to "charge" for roughly thirty seconds before being able to fire, and can fire 1.5 inch specially-made grenades with "average" radii and okay accuracy, silently. It's fairly bulky. The manufacturing of the coilgun adds severe complexity.
  [Expensive] 2 Ore, 1 Oil, Complex
• HMKR-59 'Osprey': Hybrid Magnetic Kinetic Rifle; a variant of the Pursuit rifle that houses coilgun components to increase the velocity of bullets after conventional firing. Has a slot in the back for a single SynthOil battery, which has enough charge for 10 powered shots (soldiers carry 2 batteries total). Powered shots are accurate to Medium range (unpowered shots to Short range) and have increased lethality and armor piercing capabilities.
  [Cheap] 1 Ore, 1 Oil
• Tesla Rifle: A "rifle" that fires bolts of ARC lightning at Medium range. Using an inner "Lightning Rod" chamber, it gradually charges from a backpack SynthOil battery - it has four levels of charge, with Level 3 being the optimum Medium range + good lethality and Level 4 being overkill with a chance of explosive backfiring. It takes about 40s to charge to Level 3 (charging can be paused but the charge decays slightly over time), and the battery has enough juice for 5 Lvl3 shots. Extremely lethal against anything conductive, and has a modest area-of-effect as the electricity arcs to other conductors in close proximity. Can be hooked up to external SynthOil batteries as well. Soldiers pre-charge to Level 3 when aware of hostile situations, but are still vulnerable to ambushes.
  [Cheap] 2 Ore, 2 Oil
• "Storm" GMRL-ECP-61S: A 250lb active radar homing missile with a 6km range and 5m effective blast radius. Fired from 4-rail trucks (with radar) and aircraft mounts. It has a poor resolution, greatly decreasing the reliability of locking onto non-huge aerial targets and making locking onto surface targets next-to-impossible, though large ships prove easy targets. Equipped with an HE or ARC warhead, with the ARC warhead using a chain SynthOil reaction to generate arcing electricity frying electronics and melting metal as it jumps from conductor to conductor.
  [Cheap] 3 Ore, 4 Oil
• "Red Skies" Multiple Missile Launcher: A 300 lb version of the Storm missile using Inertial guidance and adapted entirely for surface-to-surface use. Has a SynthOil-based incendiary payload that's capable of effectively burning through armor, but is less immediately destructive. Has a range of 15 km. Its guidance allows it to easily and effectively target any ground point, but it can't change course mid-flight and can't actively track any targets; its effectiveness in accuracy mostly is based on what intelligence the operator has when firing. Intended for use as surface-to-surface artillery.
  [Cheap] 3 Ore, 4 Oil

Land Vehicles

• M3T1A1 Raider: The Raider is a Diesel-Electric tracked APC designed to serve as a base platform for many roles. It has light RHA armor with a sloped front, plus slats. It holds ten passengers and three crew. It has an interchangeable turret, which is very wide and flat with medium armor. Default armament is a Can shredder, plus 6 external Thumper barrels for smoke grenades and an RPG, these can only be reloaded from the outside. It's also chemical warfare protected, and amphibious, with a trim vane and two electric powered propellers. Exits are on large rear hatch and one small top hatch, only latter can be used while afloat.
  [Cheap] 3 Ore 2 Oil
• Privateer 1 1/2 Ton Truck: An antique Cannalan truck somehow still being used for cargo transport.
  [Cheap] 2 Ore, 2 Oil, Provides 1 TC
• "Glaive"-Electromagnetic Coil Cannon Battletank ECCB-72: A large silent tank armed with a 120mm coilgun and a Reactor-charged coaxial-mounted Tesla Rifle (capable of firing a steady stream of L1/L2 shots). Has a respectable speed for its size, and the Coilgun turret is powered but manually aimed. Powered by a GMBP Reactor, allowing for unlimited movement and power for Coilgun shots, making the only main logistical concerns for the tank being Coilgun ammunition and crew supplies.
  [Expensive] 5 Ore, 4 Oil
• "Ettin" Electric-Motor Flak Tank EMFT-61-B: A "tank" where the turret is an unarmored cage on top of the squat chassis where the gunner sits; two self-loading automatic cannons fire automatically in consecutive fashion flak shells to shoot down aircraft and infantry. The turret can be angled downwards effectively to shoot at infantry; limited ammo supply means the gunner has to be somewhat conservative with his firing patterns and can't just fill the sky with flak. Electric computer & radar guidance overlays a digital crosshair on a small sheet of "glass" in front of the gunner that is overlaid on top of the physical crosshair to maximize accuracy, allowing for decent accuracy as long as the aircraft isn't too fast or evasive. The commander and driver reside in the cramped interior and exit/enter largely via a door to the side, with the front of the tank being heavily angled downward for firing angle reasons. The turret is armored, but has poor visibility. Can travel for 10 hours on a full SynthOil battery, and the gun doesn't require power to operate.
  [Expensive] 5 Ore, 4 Oil

Air Vehicles

• 'Lantern' A-7 Armored Jet: A large jet built with metal-recombinated materials, giving it good structural integrity and relatively good durability. Massive amounts of recombinated armor are present all across the aircraft. Direct hits by Shrike missiles can be survived with only moderate damage, and air-bursts/lasers are much less effective. An integrated Gel-Matrix Bio-Paste Reactor is used to power electrical systems and SynthOil tanks are used to fuel both the reactor and the combustion Ramjets. The heavy weight of the armor give the Lantern a great speed but not quite matching Mereth's Blizzard jet craft. Different systems provide the Torch with great relative agility, but only SEEM Operatives are capable of properly operating the complex controls in the airplane (though their enhanced abilities are a huge boon with speed and agility). 2 always-powered Ospreys are mounted on the front, with no other weapon capacity.
  [Expensive] 5 Ore, 4 Oil (Expense can only be as low as current SEEM expense)
• 'Meteor' Air Frigate: A gigantic flying vessel, more akin to a boat than any traditional aircraft. Foregoing aerodynamics, it's propelled by 6 (4 on bottom, 2 on back) thrust-vectoring plasma GM-BP Thrusters (based on expelling plasma generated by the GM-BP process seen in Reactors for large thrust) that also produce its power. It can move quickly and isn't too sluggish, being able to easily outpace any kind of ground force yet being much slower than Merethan aircraft. Four Tesla cannon turrets -- 3 on top, 1 on bottom -- with greater range and rate of fire to their counter parts powered by the Meteor's capacitors provide an excellent anti-air screen, being able to fire once per few seconds and being able to intercept missiles and bombs when operated by SEEMs. A coilcannon array on the bottom largely mechanized allows for slow yet respectfully-paced terrific bombarding of ground targets, with mediocre targeting. A full radar suite and command center/bridge inside the hull give excellent battlefield intelligence and this information is distributed via radio to nearby forces, and to turrets on the frigate. Very heavily armored and able to resist constant Shrike bombardment for a relatively long time, yet limited internal space forces any non-essential for short-term operation facilities outside on the hull where they're more akin to fancy camps, providing a convenient target to greatly decrease combat effectiveness of everything but minimal radar operation and Coilcannon operation. Constant firing of more than one Tesla turret fairly quickly drains capacitors, quintupling tesla charge times. Thrust vectoring allows the Meteor to stay in the air with multiple missing thrusters. An internal bridge serves as an excellent mobile field command center.
  [National Effort] [8 Ore], [7 Oil]

Navy

• Corsair Destroyer: The Corsair is a moderate sized ship with light (for a ship) steel hull armor. It has a light cannon armament of two hydraulic-equipped Nightwind cannons and four Can Shredders. However, its main armament is its Shark Torpedo launchers (it has a couple on each side) and newly-invented Seahorse mines, which use the same warheads as Shark torpedoes but rest on the sea surface, detonating on cpntact with ships. It is powered by steam turbines and easily outpaces battleships like the Kalmar, Kraken and Kurokami.
  [Expensive] 4 Ore, 3 Oil
• Santos-Class Naval Aircraft Support Vessel: The Santos is a large aircraft carrier. It is about the size of the Khorne but not armored. It's powered by four oil-burning steam turbines. The hangar deck stores two dozen fighters, moved to the flight deck by a hydraulic lift. On deck is an Eagle Eye Radar system, con tower, a few Firecracker AA guns and a miscellaneous autocannons wherever there's spare room. It also has a decent sized flight deck, with an arrester cable for landing aircraft, and two overlapping runways with room for ready aircraft on deck. [5 Ore, 4 Oil]
  [Expensive] 5 Ore, 4 Oil
• SLS-61 Magpie: A basic landing ship with a bow able to open up with a ramp to allow vehicles and troops onto the shore, and has extremely basic treads to de-beach itself. Has Thin armor and a few mounts for infantry rifles on the top to provide basic covering fire. Powered by Gen 1 SynthOil engines, which requires it to use the majority of its cargo space to hold enough SynthOil to make it across the sea without running out of fuel. Normally has a modest capacity for soldiers (and capable of holding a few moderate-sized vehicles), but the fuel requirement limits it to only a small amount of soldiers and/or perhaps one tank at best.
  [Cheap] 3 Ore, 3 Oil
• Atlas-class Cargo Ship: A Santos-class with the weaponry and aircraft equipment and just about everything else stripped off. Utilizes SynthOil batteries for general powering of ship, though oil-burning steam turbines from the Santos still power most of it. Uses a system derived from Cryostats to cryogenically freeze perishable cargo as well as people for maximum storage efficiency.
  Provides 2 TC

Chemicals & Drugs

• Spice: An extremely potent manufactured drug resulting in extreme schizophrenia, delusions of power, frequent seizures, and eventually death. Extremely addictive. Those who undergo the week-long "Goldeneye" treatment in a CryoStat tank become accustomed (and permanently addicted) to low dosages of Spice, enabling very high awareness of surroundings and mildly increased reaction and thinking speeds when under the influence of the drug.
  [Expensive] 5 Rare Chemicals.
  
  • SEEM: Systemic Elimination of the Entropic Mind. An extremely intensive and long procedure where top-ranked veterans are subjected to week-long bouts of sensory deprivation in CryoStat tanks, and have their mind essentially transformed into a new form via the combined use of modified Metal Recombinators and Spice. Experienced SEEM Guides facilitate this Journey across the barrier into the Astral Realm. For now, this allows survivors of the treatment to exhibit extreme (much higher than Goldeneyes) awareness of surroundings, visible or not. This awareness manifests itself in many ways, from avoiding traps/bombardments to knowing where to shoot at to knowing when one's being shot at, and more.
    [Expensive] 5 Rare Chemicals,
• Combat Drug 'Fury': A Spice-based drug that massively decreases reaction time, and lasts for ~2 hours. Also incites rage, decreasing soldier effectiveness at range and chances of occasional friendly fire. Mild hallucinations are common, preventing users from being effective at recon/espionage/etc. roles. Makes veins much more apparent and red. Addictive, and takes effect >5 minutes after injection.
  [Expensive] 3 Rare Chemicals
• Metal Recombinators: A special mixture that separates pure metal from ore, obsoleting a large part of Aratam's refining industry. A variant can also be used to fuse metal with (likely) any other matter.
  Provides 1 Ore.

Astral

• Blackwell Technique: Through channeling Astral Energy into a specific area, an Astral-trained operative can create a reflection of the Astral Realm coded for the astral connection of one specific person (targeted via line of sight or accurate recreation). This person will suffer severe symptoms ranging from death to severe brain damage to memory loss to seizures to full-blown hallucinations to extreme paranoia and more. But permanent affects are rare for those without long exposure times. Non-targeted and non-Astral-trained individuals will suffer milder, all-short-term symptoms only when looking at the Reflection. Looking at a recreation (i.e. television screen) of the Reflection will only affect people who've already seen that exact Reflection, recreating their prior symptoms.
  All Astral-trained operatives can invoke this. But it requires intense concentration and 10 seconds to create the reflection, and continued intense concentration to maintain the reflection.
• Wadjet Branding: Tactile symbols of the Eye of Horus printed on the exterior of the hands in uniforms for our Astral-enhanced individuals. For some currently unknown reason, focusing on this symbol notably improves Astral effectiveness and safety for the focusing individual. Useful for newbies to practice Astral techniques by feeling the symbol in different ways through extravagant hand motions, apparently.

Other

• R.A./M.P. Suit: A metal/ceramic/rubber recombinated suit of armor with heating/cooling capabilities and a quick-inject system where any single one of 6 vials stored in a back compartment can be instantly injected w/ instant effects by a series of buttons on the wrist. Contains a default adrenaline mix, but vials can be filled with FURY, SEEM, or other drugs. A particle filter and visor (w/ internal red lighting) covered by a recombinated hood sit on the head, and a jacket covers the rest of the suit for appearance/morale sake. Light, yet surprisingly durable: survival rates of soldiers are increased greatly across the board, with soldiers oftentimes being able to shrug off light-caliber shots from Merethan rifles. Looks like this, but with a slightly-red-glowing visor instead.
  [Cheap] 2 Ore
• CryoStat Tank: A large three-meter tall "coffin" with a small glass vertical slit inside showing a tank. A single "set" of machinery required for operation, taking up ~36 square meters of space total, can manage roughly a dozen CryoStat tanks at a time. Basic automation assists technicians, allowing for a single technician to manage many CryoStat tanks. Subjects are put into "stasis" via a numbing solution they're submersed in, and medical drugs in the solution naturally infuse into the bloodstream through the skin. Once taken out. Use is tracked through a computer-assisted bureaucracy dubbed the "CryoState". A day stabilizes minor life-threatening wounds, and a week stabilizes near all wounds. A month starts completely healing scars and generally brings up health status to pristine, and a year can restore lost limbs. Also used for life-extending "rejuvenation" processes by important people.
  [Cheap] 2 Rare Chemicals
• SynthOil: SMRO-58 "SynthOil" is an advanced form of oil - it's made using a combination of oil and other chemicals, making a much more stable and energy-dense solution. Has a peculiar property - with the right tools, it can directly produce electricity.
  Provides 1 Oil
• Gel-Matrix Bio-Paste Reactor: A 1m-radius spherical "nuclear-ish" reactor that uses gamma radiation to break down SynthOil into electrical energy. Rather efficient and good at making energy, especially compared with anything else in the world comparable in size/expense, but hard to miniaturize and has a notable radiation poisoning issue with anyone spending a notable amount of time in proximity.
• Stormcaller Circle: A shift-based group of the top SEEMs in Aratam, "bonded" with tendrils of Tesla energy embedded throughout the atmosphere surrounding the continent. They can use their tremendous amounts of Astral energy at store to manipulate these tendrils and thus weather. Every season, the Bureau may vote on a single theatre and single weather phenomenon to invoke there. Our troops will be prepared (with the equipment that they already have, that is) ahead of time, but we can't micromanage the phenomenon to further aid our troops.

Infrastructure

• The Refinery: An extremely secretive facility hidden under the canopy in a remote part of the rainforest, identifiable only by its smoke. Contains large liquid storage tanks and refineries for the production of chemicals, well-equipped laboratories, cells for test subjects, a steady supply of test subjects from Aratam's prisoners, and more. Useful as a base for chemical research.
  Provides 1 Rare Chemical
• The Militarized Baseline: Our soldiers are enhanced above regular humans (in notable, but not major ways) in many categories; namely strength, reflexes, and intelligence. All soldiers now have implanted ports for quick drug infusion, and a logistical structure is in place to facilitate the drug infusion and treatments of the entire Aratamite military.
• The Black Chamber: A giant facility built beneath the Refinery full of specially-modified CryoStat tanks, training areas, niche laboratories, and subjects attempting to reach the world beyond ours: the Astral Realm.

• Embassy "The Brewery": An embassy for Cannalan diplomats that doubles as a highly advanced brewery of Aratam's signature drink, Arachaca. The Cannalans can see the brewing process below through their glass flooring and taps straight form the brewery are available for Arachaca straight from the source. Uses basic electronic systems for very limited automation in conjunction with its general advanced brewing systems.

The Combat Phase of Spring 1964 has begun. Vote on where to deploy your National Effort, and on how to make use of the Stormcaller Circle.

[Man of Paper]

Operation: Don't Look Up

Utilize Stormcaller Circle to bring tornadoes down on the Plains. This should limit their ability to utilize air support, and tornadoes are known for the large amount of hail (and debris) they pelt the ground with. The massive amounts of disturbances should hinder their...all of the things.

Send the Meteor to the Mountains. With the wide-open flat Plains providing everyone a shot at our airborne frigate (not to mention it being socked in by tornadoes) it's probably a better bet to send the thing somewhere it has the possibility to lurk unnoticed when it wants. If we play it smart Mereth will need to play hard to best us.

Operation: Don't Look Up: (1) MoP

[Rockeater]

Operation: Don't Look Up: (2) MoP, Rockeater

[SamSpeeds]

Operation: Don't Look Up: (3) MoP, Rockeater, SamSpeeds

[Chiefwaffles]

Combat Report Summer 1964

We likely would have succeeded regardless of Mereth's... accident? Hopefully it's an accident and not some kind of weapon of mass destruction. Probably an accident, since it killed a good chunk of their military.


But we still really would prefer that not happening again. Triarch Dranus Orlock explained everything he did and experienced multiple times to multiple audiences in the Black Chamber. We believe that Mereth's "GATE" technology forces the Astral realm... "closer", in a way, to our reality.
This may seem fine to them, but it's quite appalling in many ways. Unnatural in an unparalleled way.

The bringing of the Astral closer to reality seems to be temporary and only for a certain chunk of both Astral and our reality. It imposes some of our reality's rules on the Astral, changing it. Luckily our Astral-enhanced operatives are adaptable enough just by their very nature to deal with this, but with Dranus...
Their robot's presence seemed to draw his own awareness directly into the Astral somehow -- we're still working on how -- and managed to hit him with a sword. A sword. A SWORD. IN THE ASTRAL. There are too many things wrong with that to count. But the combination of the stress this robot's presence put in the changed Astral, Dranus used a modified Blackwell technique in the Astral.

Blackwell is kind of like a window into the Astral for a specific person, and he tried to use this to stop the robot from being controlled. But the weak nature of the Astral from Mereth's methods and the fact that he was doing it modified, from "inside" the Astral, led to the creation of a tear instead of a window. This lead to the "cascading reality failure" effect. Which is undesirable.

We've implemented training to avoid causing this for all operatives. Methods on how to force Astral back apart in a tiny way to make it safer to do things temporarily, and generally how to be more... gentle. However, this kind of thing may still happen if technology or knowledge changes in some ways.

Spoiler: Designs (click to show/hide)

Transport Capacity: 2/3 (2/2 Oil Imported)
Resources: 3 Ore, 4 Oil, 2 Rare Chemicals

Weapons

• "Machete" Pistol: A 6-round semiautomatic pistol semi-accurate up to Short range. Reliable.
  [Cheap] 1 Ore
• "Jumper" EMA Grenade Launcher: The Electromagnetically Assisted Grenade Launcher "Jumper" is roughly the shape of a very noticeably thicker bazooka-like assembly. It uses inefficient brick-sized SynthOil batteries that provide enough charge for one shot per battery. Once a battery is inserted, the Jumper has to "charge" for roughly thirty seconds before being able to fire, and can fire 1.5 inch specially-made grenades with "average" radii and okay accuracy, silently. It's fairly bulky. The manufacturing of the coilgun adds severe complexity.
  [Expensive] 2 Ore, 1 Oil, Complex
• HMKR-59 'Osprey': Hybrid Magnetic Kinetic Rifle; a variant of the Pursuit rifle that houses coilgun components to increase the velocity of bullets after conventional firing. Has a slot in the back for a single SynthOil battery, which has enough charge for 10 powered shots (soldiers carry 2 batteries total). Powered shots are accurate to Medium range (unpowered shots to Short range) and have increased lethality and armor piercing capabilities.
  [Cheap] 1 Ore, 1 Oil
• Tesla Rifle: A "rifle" that fires bolts of ARC lightning at Medium range. Using an inner "Lightning Rod" chamber, it gradually charges from a backpack SynthOil battery - it has four levels of charge, with Level 3 being the optimum Medium range + good lethality and Level 4 being overkill with a chance of explosive backfiring. It takes about 40s to charge to Level 3 (charging can be paused but the charge decays slightly over time), and the battery has enough juice for 5 Lvl3 shots. Extremely lethal against anything conductive, and has a modest area-of-effect as the electricity arcs to other conductors in close proximity. Can be hooked up to external SynthOil batteries as well. Soldiers pre-charge to Level 3 when aware of hostile situations, but are still vulnerable to ambushes.
  [Cheap] 2 Ore, 2 Oil
• "Storm" GMRL-ECP-61S: A 250lb active radar homing missile with a 6km range and 5m effective blast radius. Fired from 4-rail trucks (with radar) and aircraft mounts. It has a poor resolution, greatly decreasing the reliability of locking onto non-huge aerial targets and making locking onto surface targets next-to-impossible, though large ships prove easy targets. Equipped with an HE or ARC warhead, with the ARC warhead using a chain SynthOil reaction to generate arcing electricity frying electronics and melting metal as it jumps from conductor to conductor.
  [Cheap] 3 Ore, 4 Oil
• "Red Skies" Multiple Missile Launcher: A 300 lb version of the Storm missile using Inertial guidance and adapted entirely for surface-to-surface use. Has a SynthOil-based incendiary payload that's capable of effectively burning through armor, but is less immediately destructive. Has a range of 15 km. Its guidance allows it to easily and effectively target any ground point, but it can't change course mid-flight and can't actively track any targets; its effectiveness in accuracy mostly is based on what intelligence the operator has when firing. Intended for use as surface-to-surface artillery.
  [Cheap] 3 Ore, 4 Oil

Land Vehicles

• M3T1A1 Raider: The Raider is a Diesel-Electric tracked APC designed to serve as a base platform for many roles. It has light RHA armor with a sloped front, plus slats. It holds ten passengers and three crew. It has an interchangeable turret, which is very wide and flat with medium armor. Default armament is a Can shredder, plus 6 external Thumper barrels for smoke grenades and an RPG, these can only be reloaded from the outside. It's also chemical warfare protected, and amphibious, with a trim vane and two electric powered propellers. Exits are on large rear hatch and one small top hatch, only latter can be used while afloat.
  [Cheap] 3 Ore 2 Oil
• Privateer 1 1/2 Ton Truck: An antique Cannalan truck somehow still being used for cargo transport.
  [Cheap] 2 Ore, 2 Oil, Provides 1 TC
• "Glaive"-Electromagnetic Coil Cannon Battletank ECCB-72: A large silent tank armed with a 120mm coilgun and a Reactor-charged coaxial-mounted Tesla Rifle (capable of firing a steady stream of L1/L2 shots). Has a respectable speed for its size, and the Coilgun turret is powered but manually aimed. Powered by a GMBP Reactor, allowing for unlimited movement and power for Coilgun shots, making the only main logistical concerns for the tank being Coilgun ammunition and crew supplies.
  [Expensive] 5 Ore, 4 Oil
• "Ettin" Electric-Motor Flak Tank EMFT-61-B: A "tank" where the turret is an unarmored cage on top of the squat chassis where the gunner sits; two self-loading automatic cannons fire automatically in consecutive fashion flak shells to shoot down aircraft and infantry. The turret can be angled downwards effectively to shoot at infantry; limited ammo supply means the gunner has to be somewhat conservative with his firing patterns and can't just fill the sky with flak. Electric computer & radar guidance overlays a digital crosshair on a small sheet of "glass" in front of the gunner that is overlaid on top of the physical crosshair to maximize accuracy, allowing for decent accuracy as long as the aircraft isn't too fast or evasive. The commander and driver reside in the cramped interior and exit/enter largely via a door to the side, with the front of the tank being heavily angled downward for firing angle reasons. The turret is armored, but has poor visibility. Can travel for 10 hours on a full SynthOil battery, and the gun doesn't require power to operate.
  [Expensive] 5 Ore, 4 Oil

Air Vehicles

• 'Lantern' A-7 Armored Jet: A large jet built with metal-recombinated materials, giving it good structural integrity and relatively good durability. Massive amounts of recombinated armor are present all across the aircraft. Direct hits by Shrike missiles can be survived with only moderate damage, and air-bursts/lasers are much less effective. An integrated Gel-Matrix Bio-Paste Reactor is used to power electrical systems and SynthOil tanks are used to fuel both the reactor and the combustion Ramjets. The heavy weight of the armor give the Lantern a great speed but not quite matching Mereth's Blizzard jet craft. Different systems provide the Torch with great relative agility, but only SEEM Operatives are capable of properly operating the complex controls in the airplane (though their enhanced abilities are a huge boon with speed and agility). 2 always-powered Ospreys are mounted on the front, with no other weapon capacity.
  [Expensive] 5 Ore, 4 Oil (Expense can only be as low as current SEEM expense)
• 'Meteor' Air Frigate: A gigantic flying vessel, more akin to a boat than any traditional aircraft. Foregoing aerodynamics, it's propelled by 6 (4 on bottom, 2 on back) thrust-vectoring plasma GM-BP Thrusters (based on expelling plasma generated by the GM-BP process seen in Reactors for large thrust) that also produce its power. It can move quickly and isn't too sluggish, being able to easily outpace any kind of ground force yet being much slower than Merethan aircraft. Four Tesla cannon turrets -- 3 on top, 1 on bottom -- with greater range and rate of fire to their counter parts powered by the Meteor's capacitors provide an excellent anti-air screen, being able to fire once per few seconds and being able to intercept missiles and bombs when operated by SEEMs. A coilcannon array on the bottom largely mechanized allows for slow yet respectfully-paced terrific bombarding of ground targets, with mediocre targeting. A full radar suite and command center/bridge inside the hull give excellent battlefield intelligence and this information is distributed via radio to nearby forces, and to turrets on the frigate. Very heavily armored and able to resist constant Shrike bombardment for a relatively long time, yet limited internal space forces any non-essential for short-term operation facilities outside on the hull where they're more akin to fancy camps, providing a convenient target to greatly decrease combat effectiveness of everything but minimal radar operation and Coilcannon operation. Constant firing of more than one Tesla turret fairly quickly drains capacitors, quintupling tesla charge times. Thrust vectoring allows the Meteor to stay in the air with multiple missing thrusters. An internal bridge serves as an excellent mobile field command center.
  [National Effort] [8 Ore], [7 Oil]

Navy

• Corsair Destroyer: The Corsair is a moderate sized ship with light (for a ship) steel hull armor. It has a light cannon armament of two hydraulic-equipped Nightwind cannons and four Can Shredders. However, its main armament is its Shark Torpedo launchers (it has a couple on each side) and newly-invented Seahorse mines, which use the same warheads as Shark torpedoes but rest on the sea surface, detonating on cpntact with ships. It is powered by steam turbines and easily outpaces battleships like the Kalmar, Kraken and Kurokami.
  [Expensive] 4 Ore, 3 Oil
• Santos-Class Naval Aircraft Support Vessel: The Santos is a large aircraft carrier. It is about the size of the Khorne but not armored. It's powered by four oil-burning steam turbines. The hangar deck stores two dozen fighters, moved to the flight deck by a hydraulic lift. On deck is an Eagle Eye Radar system, con tower, a few Firecracker AA guns and a miscellaneous autocannons wherever there's spare room. It also has a decent sized flight deck, with an arrester cable for landing aircraft, and two overlapping runways with room for ready aircraft on deck. [5 Ore, 4 Oil]
  [Expensive] 5 Ore, 4 Oil
• SLS-61 Magpie: A basic landing ship with a bow able to open up with a ramp to allow vehicles and troops onto the shore, and has extremely basic treads to de-beach itself. Has Thin armor and a few mounts for infantry rifles on the top to provide basic covering fire. Powered by Gen 1 SynthOil engines, which requires it to use the majority of its cargo space to hold enough SynthOil to make it across the sea without running out of fuel. Normally has a modest capacity for soldiers (and capable of holding a few moderate-sized vehicles), but the fuel requirement limits it to only a small amount of soldiers and/or perhaps one tank at best.
  [Cheap] 3 Ore, 3 Oil
• Atlas-class Cargo Ship: A Santos-class with the weaponry and aircraft equipment and just about everything else stripped off. Utilizes SynthOil batteries for general powering of ship, though oil-burning steam turbines from the Santos still power most of it. Uses a system derived from Cryostats to cryogenically freeze perishable cargo as well as people for maximum storage efficiency.
  Provides 2 TC

Chemicals & Drugs

• Spice: An extremely potent manufactured drug resulting in extreme schizophrenia, delusions of power, frequent seizures, and eventually death. Extremely addictive. Those who undergo the week-long "Goldeneye" treatment in a CryoStat tank become accustomed (and permanently addicted) to low dosages of Spice, enabling very high awareness of surroundings and mildly increased reaction and thinking speeds when under the influence of the drug.
  [Expensive] 5 Rare Chemicals.
  
  • SEEM: Systemic Elimination of the Entropic Mind. An extremely intensive and long procedure where top-ranked veterans are subjected to week-long bouts of sensory deprivation in CryoStat tanks, and have their mind essentially transformed into a new form via the combined use of modified Metal Recombinators and Spice. Experienced SEEM Guides facilitate this Journey across the barrier into the Astral Realm. For now, this allows survivors of the treatment to exhibit extreme (much higher than Goldeneyes) awareness of surroundings, visible or not. This awareness manifests itself in many ways, from avoiding traps/bombardments to knowing where to shoot at to knowing when one's being shot at, and more.
    [Expensive] 5 Rare Chemicals,
• Combat Drug 'Fury': A Spice-based drug that massively decreases reaction time, and lasts for ~2 hours. Also incites rage, decreasing soldier effectiveness at range and chances of occasional friendly fire. Mild hallucinations are common, preventing users from being effective at recon/espionage/etc. roles. Makes veins much more apparent and red. Addictive, and takes effect >5 minutes after injection.
  [Expensive] 3 Rare Chemicals
• Metal Recombinators: A special mixture that separates pure metal from ore, obsoleting a large part of Aratam's refining industry. A variant can also be used to fuse metal with (likely) any other matter.
  Provides 1 Ore.

Astral

• Blackwell Technique: Through channeling Astral Energy into a specific area, an Astral-trained operative can create a reflection of the Astral Realm coded for the astral connection of one specific person (targeted via line of sight or accurate recreation). This person will suffer severe symptoms ranging from death to severe brain damage to memory loss to seizures to full-blown hallucinations to extreme paranoia and more. But permanent affects are rare for those without long exposure times. Non-targeted and non-Astral-trained individuals will suffer milder, all-short-term symptoms only when looking at the Reflection. Looking at a recreation (i.e. television screen) of the Reflection will only affect people who've already seen that exact Reflection, recreating their prior symptoms.
  All Astral-trained operatives can invoke this. But it requires intense concentration and 10 seconds to create the reflection, and continued intense concentration to maintain the reflection.
• Wadjet Branding: Tactile symbols of the Eye of Horus printed on the exterior of the hands in uniforms for our Astral-enhanced individuals. For some currently unknown reason, focusing on this symbol notably improves Astral effectiveness and safety for the focusing individual. Useful for newbies to practice Astral techniques by feeling the symbol in different ways through extravagant hand motions, apparently.

Other

• R.A./M.P. Suit: A metal/ceramic/rubber recombinated suit of armor with heating/cooling capabilities and a quick-inject system where any single one of 6 vials stored in a back compartment can be instantly injected w/ instant effects by a series of buttons on the wrist. Contains a default adrenaline mix, but vials can be filled with FURY, SEEM, or other drugs. A particle filter and visor (w/ internal red lighting) covered by a recombinated hood sit on the head, and a jacket covers the rest of the suit for appearance/morale sake. Light, yet surprisingly durable: survival rates of soldiers are increased greatly across the board, with soldiers oftentimes being able to shrug off light-caliber shots from Merethan rifles. Looks like this, but with a slightly-red-glowing visor instead.
  [Cheap] 2 Ore
• CryoStat Tank: A large three-meter tall "coffin" with a small glass vertical slit inside showing a tank. A single "set" of machinery required for operation, taking up ~36 square meters of space total, can manage roughly a dozen CryoStat tanks at a time. Basic automation assists technicians, allowing for a single technician to manage many CryoStat tanks. Subjects are put into "stasis" via a numbing solution they're submersed in, and medical drugs in the solution naturally infuse into the bloodstream through the skin. Once taken out. Use is tracked through a computer-assisted bureaucracy dubbed the "CryoState". A day stabilizes minor life-threatening wounds, and a week stabilizes near all wounds. A month starts completely healing scars and generally brings up health status to pristine, and a year can restore lost limbs. Also used for life-extending "rejuvenation" processes by important people.
  [Cheap] 2 Rare Chemicals
• SynthOil: SMRO-58 "SynthOil" is an advanced form of oil - it's made using a combination of oil and other chemicals, making a much more stable and energy-dense solution. Has a peculiar property - with the right tools, it can directly produce electricity.
  Provides 1 Oil
• Gel-Matrix Bio-Paste Reactor: A 1m-radius spherical "nuclear-ish" reactor that uses gamma radiation to break down SynthOil into electrical energy. Rather efficient and good at making energy, especially compared with anything else in the world comparable in size/expense, but hard to miniaturize and has a notable radiation poisoning issue with anyone spending a notable amount of time in proximity.
• Stormcaller Circle: A shift-based group of the top SEEMs in Aratam, "bonded" with tendrils of Tesla energy embedded throughout the atmosphere surrounding the continent. They can use their tremendous amounts of Astral energy at store to manipulate these tendrils and thus weather. Every season, the Bureau may vote on a single theatre and single weather phenomenon to invoke there. Our troops will be prepared (with the equipment that they already have, that is) ahead of time, but we can't micromanage the phenomenon to further aid our troops.

Infrastructure

• The Refinery: An extremely secretive facility hidden under the canopy in a remote part of the rainforest, identifiable only by its smoke. Contains large liquid storage tanks and refineries for the production of chemicals, well-equipped laboratories, cells for test subjects, a steady supply of test subjects from Aratam's prisoners, and more. Useful as a base for chemical research.
  Provides 1 Rare Chemical
• The Militarized Baseline: Our soldiers are enhanced above regular humans (in notable, but not major ways) in many categories; namely strength, reflexes, and intelligence. All soldiers now have implanted ports for quick drug infusion, and a logistical structure is in place to facilitate the drug infusion and treatments of the entire Aratamite military.
• The Black Chamber: A giant facility built beneath the Refinery full of specially-modified CryoStat tanks, training areas, niche laboratories, and subjects attempting to reach the world beyond ours: the Astral Realm.

• Embassy "The Brewery": An embassy for Cannalan diplomats that doubles as a highly advanced brewery of Aratam's signature drink, Arachaca. The Cannalans can see the brewing process below through their glass flooring and taps straight form the brewery are available for Arachaca straight from the source. Uses basic electronic systems for very limited automation in conjunction with its general advanced brewing systems.

The Design Phase of Summer 1964 has begun.

[Man of Paper]

Here's another insane proposal from yours truly. Input is welcome and appreciated!

This Is Totally Not Why I Named Them As Such

For years we've gazed into the Astral Realm attempting to understand it as a place when in fact it has memories, even a will, all of it's own. The Astral Realm is not the abyss, but what stares back, that feeling of being watched, the everpresent eye gazing into your very being. We cannot comprehend the abyss - as water, the harder we grasp at it the more it pours through our fingers. This has been fully realized thanks to the result combined efforts of our ignorance and Mereth's brute-forcing methods in the Mountains. It is now apparent moreso than ever that we must act as the guardians against Mereth's multidimensional transgressions.

In a very hotly debated discussion it was barely agreed to it was decided that we would need to delve into immoral and unethical territory we'd yet to cross into: the recruitment of child soldiers.

As with all levels of Aratamite society, children are subject to CryoStat Treatments. Their bodies have grown in conjunction with the processes performed in the tank, making their bodies and minds more durable than a standard child elsewhere. Their still-forming brains are also very pliable, with initial experiments showing a connection to the Astral Realm that most can only dream of.

In order to facilitate the development of the BioForged Guardian Division we've taken candidates from relatively well-off families (enough so that they've received regular CryoStat Treatments throughout their youth) orphaned by the war - those with a strong will to fight have seen higher success rates, mind over matter being (until recently) the only principle of the Astral Realm we understood. These candidates receive extensive, admittedly painful treatments along the lines of our SEEM Commandos, with their bodies artificially enhanced thanks to some relatively light recombination strengthening bone and muscle as well as modified drug treatments thanks to their smaller size than our standard operatives.

While the bodies of our candidates receive heavy modification, it is the mind that is affected most. Submersion of a developing mind in the Astral Realm can be catastrophic, but no more so than the procedure usually is. The Astrally-affected brain of a BFG Candidate develops a higher concentration of the aptly named astrocytes present in all of us, as well as giving them the ability to control their behavior to a degree. This means that a BFG Candidate is able to exert control over their synaptic transmissions, moderate signals and repair damage to their nervous system, and express near-eidetic memory.

This absolute strengthening of the mind allows a trained BFG Operative to do something we've never done before, and something we must do before Mereth can: projecting a physical manifestation of the human self into the Astral Realm. The BFG Operative does not will itself into the Astral Realm, but instead is willed in. It is theorized that the different forms of the Astral Realm, as experienced by Dranus, are a result of entrants imposing their own thoughts on the realm. When a BFG Operative undergoes sensory deprivation to enter the Astral Realm they are able to willingly cut off all thought and expression of will from their end, and while their entrance into the Astral isn't guaranteed, this means that when they are able to enter they do so in the purest, proper form of the Astral Realm.

BFG Operatives within the Astral Realm act as antibodies would, safeguarding the Realm from the unnatural, foreign bodies Mereth is forcing into it.

On the battlefield these Operatives are a fearsome force to be reckoned with, out-thinking, out-performing, and out-killing even our SEEM Commandos. Classified as "Supernatural Soldiers" by our everyday infantry, we expect their introduction will bring a swift end to Merethian Astral Trespassing, and perhaps even the war itself.

tl;dr they're essentially our version of Halo's SPARTANs without specialized armor. Though if we go through with this then I'll have a revision suggestion for the RA/MP suit.

[Blood_Librarian]

We should send a message to Merethia to hide the information of the reality Tear from the rest of the world. I don't want the CIA or the Russians invading us for the crazy reality land that we have.

[The Ensorceler]

'Match' C-17 Light Fighter

An almost skeletal design, the Matches are as bare bones as a fighter gets. All life support comes from a RA/MP style flight suit, and nearly the entire plane is then constructed from a tesla cannon, GM-BP reactor, and small plasma thruster assembly. The pilot is able to land semi-vertically, due to the lack of formal landing gear. Controls are vastly simpler than the Torch/Lantern's set of articulated joints required, and no precognition whatsoever is needed to keep a Match in the air. The biggest innovation unique to the match is in its extremely thin wings, layered in a safety razor configuration to form a lightweight, low cost compound wing resistant to scattered laser fire. The non-structural "hull" of the Match (all structural materials are internal struts and braces joining the major components) is similarly thin and multilayered. All rumors the Matches' armor and wings are made from metallized paper are malicious propaganda. The Matches' armor and wings are in fact a metallized wood pulp hybrid material named Flykrete, it is extremely strong by weight, and this fact is to be repeated by each pilot during preflight checklist.

[Man of Paper]

Work in progress, but I gotta head out for a bit. Feel free to tear it apart since I'd rather we make child soldiers instead anyways.

The Aurora SOI is our answer to the Skyranger annoyance we've had to deal with for far too long. The Aurora SOI is our first space-capable craft which includes a fully sealed internal compartment and proper protection from radiation (something which should be relatively easy for us). The Aurora is longer but much more lightly armored compared to the Torch and utilizes much simpler controls, allowing standard Aratamites the ability to pilot the craft without losing speed and maneuverability. Recombinated armor is designed with thermal protection in mind, as we would prefer they survive atmospheric reentry.

We don't necessarily expect the Aurora to be able to fully pursue a Skyranger outside of Earth's atmosphere. Instead they are designed to loiter and, true to their name, intercept incoming bogies. A pair of always-powered Ospreys flank each side of the nose of the plane, while at the nose we've installed a Tesla Cannon should the Ospreys prove incapable of taking down targets before atmospheric reentry.

The craft utilizes plasma thrust similarly to the Meteor, with vector nozzles at the front of the plane allowing for extremely tight maneuvers, especially in low-G environments where pilots can get away with a little more. Pilots are equipped with a modified, sealed RA/MP Suit in case of a breach in the aircraft (though this is mostly for morale - a breach will probably cause catastrophic failure on reentry regardless of the pilot's clothes).

'Match' C-17 Light Fighter:
'Aurora' SubOrbital Interceptor:
The BFG Division: (1) MoP

[The Ensorceler]

Trans-Dimensional Recombination Therapy "Fistful of Stars"

After the failures of the Iron Legion, many years and many test subjects have been spent attempting to incorporate metallic recombination into our forces. Several other projects have turned to recombinatorial chemistry, but none to tru physical enhancements. Now, though! With the advent of dimensional overlap at the Battle of the Rift! We have made incredible strides, deep in the heart of the Black Chamber. Efforts to bring the Astral and the physical together have met with some success, bringing forth dramatic powers far beyond those commanded by our SEEMs, but the machinery and manpower to sustain such an overlap is not field ready at this time, if it will ever be.

What can be arranged is implanting an Astral "knot" of overlapped space into a soldier and welding it into place through metallization while the Astral is near enough to interact with matter. Such soldiers will have a direct, physical link to the Astral without needing the same mental fortitude as a SEEM's purely mental connection. For safety reasons, the Astral knot will be implanted in a metallized hand, as the hand contains no major organs. There will be no risk of catastrophic organ failure as the Iron Legion suffered. Powers expected to be achievable through these methods are expected to include significant recursive amplification of the hand. That is to say, the normal actions of the hand will loop through the Astral knot and back into reality. Such recursions will have temporary, but dramatic effects on actions and objects used by the hand as the stuff of the Astral is manifested as a physical echo.

As with SEEMs, use of the Eye of Horus will be used to maintain control over these new powers. In addition, though, the hand will be fully interfaced with the soldier's Militarized Baseline implants for ease of monitoring and chemical control.

'Match' C-17 Light Fighter:
'Aurora' SubOrbital Interceptor: (1) The Ensorceler
The BFG Division: (1) MoP
"Fistful of Stars" Trans-Dimensional Recombination Therapy: (1) The Ensorceler

[Blood_Librarian]

MANGLER

There is nothing other word that viscerally and poignantly describes the personnel augmented with the Medium Leverage Vortex Flux Core augmented R.A./M.P. Suit along with a custom made, and aptly named Ripper Blade.

[Blood Librarian] was present near the reality tear, and managed to recover the idea of a sword. Or at least, an astral object that was once a sword owned by the Merethians. This sword idea is the pattern by which all Ripper Blades are produced.

The process must utilize material which already exists in both the Astral and physical dimension simultaneously, and results in a weapon that can be used across dimensions. Currently, the easiest source of the metal required for the blade is from the stripped hull of all vehicles that were recovered from the proximity of the reality tear, though the first swords were produced from the original Malign Intent Artillery Cannon. The blades are manufactured in the Blackwell chamber, by simultaneously hand forging it in the physical reality while sharpening it against a subjects astral consciousness. This process can be done on any person, stronger psyches result in better blades

Most MANGLERS are encouraged to have two blades; a assassins blade like a dagger, and a fighting blade (polearm, axe, sword, etc) A ripper blade can be used to strike an object or entity in the other dimension, though it might be less effective. This should allow a Mangler to fight enemy “N-Space” manipulators even if their core is down, or mangle people while still in the astral. It is far more effective to attack entities in their “primary dimension” however.

The Medium Leverage Flux Core is named as such because it puts a “medium” amount of strain on the local reality. Too little, and the desired effect does not occur. Too much, and a Reality Rip will occur, or would occur if the wielder had enough “power” to do so.
This Leverage/Strain/pull on reality can be used by specially augmented personnel to rapidly leap in between the Astral and Physical Realm. The Flux Core generates a sort of pseudo-power that is used in this process as well as allowing movement in the astral realm, and it is optimized for short phased that flit in and out of reality rapidly, thus allowing dueling between Astral entities to be more effective; Being able to dodge out of blows is a boon, as is the simple fact that a person can leap out of astral, physically move and jump back in with a massively different orientation and speed in the Astral. The focus has been made on extreme effectiveness over “stamina”, and the logistics chain is supplemented with technicians ready to take out fried parts and burnt plates when a Mangler is done with their short murderous bouts. Care must be taken not to put extreme abuse on the Flux core, or an ego-reality micro twist may occur.

To be completely honest, we’re not sure what happens under an ERMT incident, only that the subject may either come out of it completely fine, become a mist of mincemeat, or come out as a completely different person.
(one incident of note is when a 68 yr old criminal indicted to Gamma-level testing turned into a 5-year-old girl who spoke what was later found out to be Latin.)

The Core is implanted in a specially designed suit that is analogous to a RAMP suit. Dozens of petrochemically exhaustive plastics are molded and then metallurgically infused to handle the rigors and stresses of Phasing in and out of reality. Almost every part of the RAMP suit is replaced with these metal-plastics, and the production of these suits and the repairs required is expected to be intensive on our oil supply. To simplify the process of design, only matters related to surviving the rigors of phasing is considered in the suit; Manglers are expected to jump into phase rather than getting hurt, and protection from mundane harm is a side effect rather than a focus of the design.

While the initial stages of the project intended to produce augmented individuals specifically for the usage of the suit, only SEEM and some higher GOLDEN EYES can utilize the MANGLER suit.
The core is their direct method of movement in the astral; Simply walking doesn't work in the astral dimension and the core is the solution. To watch a Mangler flit in and out of phase speeding towards a target is a terrifying sight, and they can move in speeds beyond a moving vehicle when utilizing their Core.

As well as through solid objects.

The User is aided in control of the core by a re-formulated combat drug based of off Fury. It is a combination of a restructured methamphetamine (Beta-Meth), oxygenated fluorocarbons, and a normally lethal cocktail of various minerals chemicals that induce a non-baseline state of mind that exists partially in the astral, (Unlike Fury.)

This substance is called OverDrive.

To put it simply, the subject loses a vast majority of their activity in their frontal, Parietal lobe. We believe these processes are offloaded into a spontaneously generated structure partly in the astral, which causes a visible halo of fiery, astral light to occur around the Mangler, especially before and after phases.

As A result of the temporary psychological changes in an Overdrive user, an increased ability in astral and physical motor handling of weapons is noted, with increased accuracy of firearms and deadlier blows recorded in several testing engagements. Their mental fortitude boasts an excellent tactically focussed mind that is adept at solving the problems on the battlefield.

Tl;Dr
A Mangler can do short “Phases” out of reality, moving faster than if they are in the original dimension, while allowing them to fight astral entities in this short period, and dodge physical harm. They can move through solid objects while they are in the Astral Realm, allowing them to do infiltration tasks and “assassinate” armored vehicles by massaging their operators or critical components. Their weapons are extremely sharp, deadly blades that can be customized. They are designed for anti-personnel work, but count operators as personnel.
Their core has a couple of mechanics, and are optimized for short jaunts in and out of reality quickly; a “dodge” mechanic. The core has stress and power. The more stress you put on it without maintenance, the more likely a dreadful accident like an EMRT occurs. The power is determined by how far the user wants to go into the Zone, a mindset of speed, of character, of being like a tiger.

Proposal: A message to Merethia

To "Merethia" and her scientists,

As it has come to our attention that "N-Space" has come to be accessible by people other than the true inheritors of the landmass that contains us and we normally consider your terrible actions very terrible, but this opens up a distinct possibility that non-island personnel can access what you call N-Space, and we the Astral Dimension. This may result in a very bad, and I, in as simple words as possible, ask that you do not tell your sponsor of this issue.

Please consider this proposal, it means a lot to us.

Aratam Design Bureau

On the topic of Our Design...
'Match' C-17 Light Fighter:
'Aurora' SubOrbital Interceptor: (1) The Ensorceler
The BFG Division: (2) MoP, Blood_Librarian
"Fistful of Stars" Trans-Dimensional Recombination Therapy: (1) The Ensorceler
MANGLER: (0) :

On the topic of the Reality Tear...
Send B_L's Message (1) : Blood_Librarian

[Man of Paper]

On the topic of Our Design...
'Match' C-17 Light Fighter:
'Aurora' SubOrbital Interceptor: (1) The Ensorceler
The BFG Division: (2) MoP, Blood_Librarian
"Fistful of Stars" Trans-Dimensional Recombination Therapy: (1) The Ensorceler
MANGLER: (0) :

On the topic of the Reality Tear...
Send B_L's Message (1) : Blood_Librarian
Absolutely do not send the message: (1) MoP

pls no
Shit's almost definitely caught the eye of the major powers - trying to cover it up makes us an accessory when we could, once again depending on the results of rolls, paint ourselves as the policing force on the island safeguarding everyone from Mereth's clumsy ignorance. We haven't broken the Astral Realm in all our years, never once (knowingly, but we won't admit this openly) caused a reality failure. If we work with Mereth to hide their fuck-up then the world will see us as just as guilty.

[Rockeater]

On the topic of Our Design...
'Match' C-17 Light Fighter:
'Aurora' SubOrbital Interceptor: (1) The Ensorceler
The BFG Division: (3) MoP, Blood_Librarian, Rockeater
"Fistful of Stars" Trans-Dimensional Recombination Therapy: (1) The Ensorceler
MANGLER: (0) :

On the topic of the Reality Tear...
Send B_L's Message (1) : Blood_Librarian
Absolutely do not send the message: (2) MoP, Rockeater