Preliminary Phase Four - BlueprintAs a Kingdom, the Kingdom of Unrivalled Archaeologists shares many of the troubles and absurdities experienced by monarchies all over the galaxy, even with its absurd nature. One of these issues is that family members of ruling monarchs are claimants to the throne, and have this nasty tendency to press that claim from time to time, which has cursed the Kingdom with a few coups and civil wars over its history. As the Kingdom's lifespan went on and its Unrivalled monarchs started to actually develop a meaningful monarchic tradition (after all, a totally batshit dino-making archaeologist is not going to be the most adroit founder of a sociopolitical system), it started to find solutions to these issues -- solutions which became rather less direct after the murder that got rid of Unrivalled XXI led various branches of the Unrivalled House to pool power behind the judiciary with a clear message: we will not tolerate further murders of members of the royal family.
Unrivalled XVI has dealt with
his siblings in such indirect ways, in what he'd thought to be a master stroke. His barely-younger brother had been goaded into taking a rebellion that was dealt with
very handily, making taking him out of the picture easily justified, and his sister Rivalla was sent off to go play soldier in the deadliest conflicts of the Kingdom, where she would surely die... and then she didn't. The people around her in that company sure, did, officers and Titan pilots falling left and right to both unfortunate accidents and vicious direct combat, but Rivalla never quite did, even at age 10. Now, Princess Rivalla's Grand Biomechanical Retinue has been harrowed by conflict, winnowed down to a core of just a few officers, two active Pilots, and one Titan as a result of brutal conflict against an Arehan religious order, and it may be being practically banished out of the sector... but Rivalla's Retinue is very much not dead and gone, with the command frigate
Unceasing Progress and its small formation of shuttles now inhabiting the Sommet Sector.
Notable personnel of Rivalla's Retinue:
Captain Lanre Adebayo: Executive Officer (but really Commander)Lanre Adebayo is not the first man in Rivalla's Retinue to hold the rank of Captain and
official position of Executive Officer, informal position of Commander -- he is in fact the third, the other two having met rather untimely demises. But he's the one to have held the position longest, for 35 months as compared to the 5 months and 14 months held by the first and second Executive Officers respectively. Lanre's success mostly comes from his willingness to put his foot down and take real authority of Rivalla's Retinue in ways that his predecessors struggled with; he's willing to directly countermand Rivalla when necessary, an arrangement she has since come to accept but which was a lot harder when she was a 12-year-old theoretically with the power of life and death. He's a tough but calm individual; while he frequently simply refuses to budge, he's rarely found exploding in anger or meting out harsh punishments. He simply lets his actions speak, and does what he needs to do without apologizing or blustering.
Lieutenant Marcellino Costa: Third-in-Command (but really Executive Officer)Marcellino Costa is one of a very small number of personnel to have been with Rivalla's Retinue for the entirety of its existence, and the reasons he has survived this long are both a blessing and a curse. Marcellino Costa is a risk-averse individual (something that has helped him avoid some of the frankly ridiculous deaths of his compatriots), preferring to operate within clear bounds and within a context where he knows exactly what he's doing and why. This is something that makes him unsuitable for long-term command, which is why he's never been the one in charge for more than a month. But Marcellino operates very well within his bounds of comfort, and acting as the
de facto second in command is a position that works well within those bounds, and he's excellent at making sure delegated tasks get done. When in overall command, he has however highly prioritized being out of overall command.
Lieutenant 2nd Class Batari Dewa: Chief BiogineerBatari Dewa is pretty much
exactly the kind of Biogineer you would expect from a mercenary force of the Kingdom of the Unrivalled Archaeologist -- brilliant, unhinged, and possessed of something of a god complex. She figures she can do just about anything, and she does indeed have a profound talent for biogineering, which has catapulted her to the top after the death of the previous Chief Biogineer (which... was under some rather suspicious circumstances). She doesn't seem entirely satisfied with her position (as happy as she is to be the one leading the organic work in Rivalla's Retinue), as she has to compete with the Chief Engineer, but the active efforts of almost everybody else on the ship have kept her largely confined in the lab and workshop shuttles rather than the command frigate.
Lieutenant 2nd Class Peers Hobbes: Chief EngineerWhereas Batari is the Chief Biogineer, the leader of the organic portions of the Titan work for Rivalla's Retinue, Peers Hobbes is the Chief Engineer, leader of the mechanical portions of the retinue's Titan work. In contrast to Batari, he is extremely egotistical and extremely talented, his ambition kept in check by the diligent actions of much of the rest of the crew and tolerated only because of his expertise and experimentality. ...Peers is extremely similar to Batari, and serves as a counterbalance to her because of their similarity. The tension between the two is almost comical due to their similarity as people, but the end result is that their jockeying keeps each other in check, and keeps the both of them competing enough to keep the situation stable in the Titan department when they're played off of each other.
Corporal Mihail Andonov: PilotWhile Mihail hasn't been part of Rivalla's Retinue through its whole span, having been with it for two and a half of its around five years, he has become one of the most vital members of the retinue, on account of almost everyone dying around him. He's a fairly understated type, quiet and not prone to complaining about heavy workloads or difficult tasks -- he is something of a workhorse, willing to be what he needs to be and do what he needs to do in order to make sure things go right. This flexibility is part of what has kept him alive all this time as the
only veteran pilot still able in Princess Rivalla's Grand Biomechanical Retinue, and is what allows him to work with the Princess directly without stepping on toes, but it's an attitude that has also been very much detrimental to his self-expression piloting his Titan -- something very important in the Kingdom. For his part, he is aware of this, and views the Sommet Sector and Rivalla's more active piloting role as an opportunity to finally pilot on his own terms, but he is willing to do whatever is needed of him.
Princess Rivalla Pterodactyl Ichtyosaur Bastilodon the Unrivalled: Commander (but really Pilot)The official commander of her retinue, Princess Rivalla is a girl who has been forced to become pragmatic since her very, very young youth, and now that she is 15 years old, she is smart enough to consistently allow her talented officers to do their thing without her interference. But that is not to say that Rivalla is entirely free of the foibles of the Unrivalled family, because she is... not. Much like most members of her family, her estimation of her talent is quite high, and she can be found poking around in the Titan Operations shuttles, sometimes assisting in biogineering and engineering (where it's not likely to explode on her, at least), and recently demanding that she be allowed to pilot a Titan, as is the natural right of an Unrivalled -- a task she seems likely to take on with great enthusiasm and energy. She is a unique mixture of frustrating and endearing to the retinue -- while much more lenient than many of the more ruthless of her family, and while often energetic and adorable, she's still a princess of a very megalomaniacal family, and once she gets her mind set on something, at this point really only Lanre has the capacity to get in her way, and that's something he's only willing to do on his own terms.
Space is a premium on the Rapid-Pair Ship
Sojourner, with only so much storage space and only so many docking points for ships. Princess Rivalla's Grand Biomechanical Retinue was forced only to bring the
Unceasing Progress and a pair of landing craft/shuttles -- one for crew and storage primarily, the other holding a Titan. This Titan is a small and light one, an old Titan that has seen relatively few battles for the Retinue's standards, but which has had to be repaired a few times. Thankfully, the skills of Batari and Peers have it in ship-shape, but it's not even a dinosaur, it's kind of just a shitty cyborg humanoid-shaped Titan! A shameful state of affairs.
Barely-Rivalled-class Light Titan
Description: The Barely-Rivalled is often rejected among the Kingdom for its rather mundane figure and its small size, but this belies its true functionality -- the Barely-Rivalled-class of Light Titans is a very capable and pragmatically-built cyborg titan, which sports surprisingly good durability for a Titan of its light tonnage and small and compact size. Although its mobility is somewhat poor and it lacks any gimmicks beyond its ability to fold into position for storage, it mounts a respectable amount of weaponry for its size and is generally built for slugouts with vehicles and other light Titans, and it has the capacity to carry Carryable Equipment. It looks like a skinless humanoid without a face (having instead a cockpit) riddled with mechanical pistons and steel struts, making it a little bit fucking terrifying to look at.
Parts: Barely-Rivalled Torso
-Mounted Equipment: Medium: Biomechanical Medium Railgun
Barely-Rivalled Native Head
Barely-Rivalled Native Left Arm
-Mounted Equipment: Small: Biomechanical Small Laser
Barely-Rivalled Native Right Arm
-Mounted Equipment: Small: Biomechanical Small Laser
Barely-Rivalled Native Left Leg
Barely-Rivalled Native Right Leg
Barely-Rivalled Torso: (Mech/Organic)
This is the core of the Barely-Rivalled Titan, and is the most durable part of the Titan, with a tough and flexible-to-physical-impact banded "ribcage" of bone and metal. It possesses a Medium Mount, connections for a Head, Left Arm, Right Arm, Left Leg, and Right Leg, and a Carryable Equipment hardpoint, but is otherwise largely unremarkable.
Barely-Rivalled Native Head: (Mech/Organic)
A fairly unremarkable head, except that the cockpit right in where the face would be on the skinless head is pretty disturbing.
Barely-Rivalled Arm: (Mech/Organic)
A fairly unremarkable arm, albeit more fragile than the torso of the Barely-Rivalled. Possesses a Small Mount. Has dexterous hands and thus can operate Carryable Equipment.
Barely-Rivalled Leg: (Mech/Organic)
A fairly unremarkable leg and the most underperforming part of the Barely-Rivalled. Less tough than the Torso, and neither particularly fast nor agile.
Biomechanical Medium Railgun: (Mech/Organic)
As generic as weaponry gets in the Kingdom, this core of metal wound around by flesh uses organically derived energy to fire off ferrous projectiles at high speed. Operates at a long range, is relatively accurate, and does good though not overwhelming damage, but it takes a long time to recharge between shots.
Biomechanical Small Laser:
As generic as weaponry gets in the Kingdom, this weapon looks almost entirely metallic but for the core of flesh in its innards that powers the laser. Operates at a medium-short range, does small but not tiny damage, and is extremely accurate, but can overheat if used too much.
Thankfully, you were at least able to bring a more unique piece of equipment from the retinue's history of service along... just what was that unique piece of equipment?
Design a single Blueprint (reference the rules for what a Blueprint is). The Equipment or Part you create will be the first Blueprint you have access to, and it will be present on your Titan from the start, replacing something on the Titan. (Designing an arm would replace both arms with the new arm, designing a medium shielding device or weapon would replace the railgun, etc.) Designing a Large piece of equipment will actually alter the mech, as it will remove one Small mount and change the Medium mount on the Torso to a Large one. Designing Carryable Equipment will remove the Medium weapon but keep its Mount. You can't design a Torso this phase. Utter Failures will be rerolled just this one time.