IV2-Series Combat Droid
The more advanced, more intelligent second-generation Combat Droid of the Iron Empire, Invincible Spear against the encroaching Darkness
The strengths of the ENOCH-Pattern Engram lay in the nature of its donor - patriotic, dutiful, idealistic, and heroic - making the IV1-Series a natural fit for the frontline battles required of them. Holy Soldiers, to guard and protect. However, what was born from mortal minds shall ever be shackled to their limitations - the blessed machine cannot truly change this. Hence, the well-documented and well-reported limitations of the IV1-Series; They are valorous knights, not hardened killers. In matters of duty, defense, and glorious purpose, the ENOCH-Pattern Engram reigns supreme - yet it struggles when confronted with orders of a more grisly, murky, or otherwise 'grey' nature. None among this Holy Brotherhood would deny the failings of the CAIN-Pattern Engram - the donor's well-documented sociopathy, thanatomania, and callous disregard for all living and unliving creatures are the stuff of many legends. However, where the CAIN-Pattern Engram's donor failed as a living creature, they shall succeed as a part of the Blessed Machine. No other engram in this Holy Brotherhood's centuries of operation has displayed as resilient a hold on their 'sanity' than the CAIN-Pattern Engram - even when faced with the most horrendous of scenarios, the bloodiest and bleakest of outcomes, the CAIN-Pattern Engrams not only survives, but thrives. Where other Engrams break and fracture when faced with the horrors of the dark, the CAIN-Pattern Engram hardens and stabilizes. It has no sympathy for dead or living alike - the Psyche-Suppressors of the Engramatic Control Module are not shackles for it to struggle against, but sights down which it might be best aimed. This, of course, makes it an ideal candidate for the IV2-Series considering the Series' Design Ethos - preliminary tests already show that the presence of a single IV2-Series can radically stabilize the Morale of nearby IV1-Series Units and Organic Troops alike, while the Engram's higher intellect, self-awareness, and tactical awareness provides the higher degree of tactical complexity requested by the client. At long last, the Empire of Iron shall have its invincible spear.
Mechanics & Inner Workings
Designed with a completely different Ethos in mind than their lesser kin, the IV2-Series Combat Droids are built to serve as self-sustaining engines of annihilation - towering behemoths of metal and fury, the IV2s were designed as singular, devastating Superheavy Assault Troops whose internal mechanisms and onboard systems allow them to function with nearly zero waste. Able to draw in and synthesize their own fuel through intake valves across their body designed to process corpses and other organic matter, Super Ivans also possess onboard refiners, pressure smelters, and carefully designed ammunition mechanisms to allow them to completely recycle and repack fired ammunition in a matter of mere seconds; Forging their own Bullets, Recycling their own casings, Generating their own fuel, and even providing such services to nearby allies in case of emergency. Much like the IV1-Series, the IV2-Series Combat Droids are equipped with vocal systems to allow them to speak and vocalize - though the voices of the IV2-Series are often described as fearsome, dispassionate, and cruel. However, they are described as speaking with a higher degree of intelligence and awareness compared to their lesser counterparts.
Perhaps most famously, the IV2's are powered by the legendary Diesel Engine Prototype known formally as the Molecular Extraction and Transmutation Diesel Engine - known more coloquially as the 'Meat Engine'. One of the foremost technological accomplishments of the Technis Brotherhood, the 'Meat Engine' is a blend of Alchemical Arcanoscience and Ironite Ingenuinty that, through means understood only to Technis Brotherhood Techsmiths, can take in and process organic materials and compounds into entirely different materials; allowing the IV2's to take in corpses and other organic material and extract High-Quality Lead, Iron, Diesel Fuel, and more. These Engines are the cornerstone of the IV2's self-sufficiency - allowing them to operate effectively indefinitely behind enemy lines in support of assaults, soldiers, or other operations as needed without having to worry about supply lines, and even allowing them to support other Ironite Vehicles or Combat Droids with the fuel and ammunition produced via their onboard equipment.
Finally, the crowning achievement of the IV2's themselves is the enormous, segmented artillery cannon mounted to their Chassis - this scaled down Thumper Cannon is able to segment itself into two, smaller cannons which can be slid along rails attached to the IV2's external chassis to Underslung Arm-Mounts(To be fired at closer ranges and while Bipedal) or onto the IV2's 'Back' where they can be re-combined into the singular artillery cannon they originally were. Able to be fired in these dual configurations, this massive artillery cannon can only be fired in its combined, singular state while the IV2 is in its Quadrupedal "Artillery Mode", where the IV2 transforms into a Quadrupedal Stance and uses Anchoring Pylons to secure itself to the ground so that it can fire its massive, central Thumper Cannon at targets exponentially further away than if its Cannon were segmented. As such, the IV2's often serve dual roles on the battlefield - operating as Quadrupedal Artillery Platforms far from the frontlines and in Bipedal Assault Mode in service of frontal assaults, wielding their twin segmented Artillery Cannons as shorter-range Mortar Launchers rather than ultra-long range Artillery. Some rumors even speak of custom-designed variants used by certain Ironite Militias across the Empire that replace the IV2's central Artillery Cannon with a massive Quad-Barreled Flak Cannon(Often equipped with the same "Segmenting" functionality of the IV2's usual Thumper Cannon), allowing the IV2 to serve as mobile Air-Defense Platforms rather than Ultra-Long Range Artillery...
Manufacturing process
Though the innate secrecy of the Technis Brotherhood means the true nature of the IV2-Series' manufacturing process has historically been kept under wraps and revealed to no outsider, this was not always the case - perhaps most famously, prototype schematics and manufacturing details for the earliest models of the IV2-Series Combat Droids were stolen during The Beckenbrook Disaster, where the Beckenbrook Foundry Yards(Which were, like many Technis facilities at the time, leased to other manufacturing groups throughout The Iron Empire) were attacked and infiltrated by a force that was eventually discovered to have been the very military forces of The Iron Empire which the Brotherhood so closed worked alongside.
This military force, acting independently of The Iron Empire(Or so was claimed in the following years of Tribunals and Courtroom Battles), breached the defenses of the Beckenbrook Foundry Yards and utilized the Yard's pre-existing relationships with the military and other contracting companies to infiltrate the yard's deepest and most secret facilities, where they stole the designs for a handful of Technis Brotherhood projects and made off with them in the hopes of cutting the Technis Brotherhood out of The Iron Empire and lessening the Empire's reliance of the odd techno-cult.
Though ultimate disaster was averted when the perpetrators were executed via the Blaster's Knot after years of courtroom battles which culminated in the reveal that the entire scheme was orchestrated by a Diesel-Born(Who was disavowed by Tavross, The Iron Emperor and later executed by the Technis Brotherhood), the Disaster has colored the Brotherhood's relationships with all other companies and even The Iron Empire itself - turning them even more isolationist than they already were, and sowing immense distrust between the Brotherhood and the Empire that has taken centuries to overcome while the Beckenbrook Foundry Yards were later converted into a top-secret Blacksite totally and wholly isolated from the outside world and used by the Technis Brotherhood for top-secret projects and testing.
History
In truth, there is no singular origin story of the IV2-Series Combat Droids as there is with the IV1-Series - believed to have been commissioned sometime during the mid-1700's by The Iron Emperor in response to the runaway success of the IV1-Series Combat Droid once it had hit the open market, the original designs for the IV2's were designed in secret deep within the bowels of the then-legendary Beckenbrook Foundry Yards(One of the oldest and most advanced Foundry Yards in the entire empire at the time) as a joint-project between the Technis Brotherhood and The Iron Empire itself - an immense rarity and show of goodwill from the otherwise isolationist, xenophobix techno-cult that the Brotherhood was and still is today.
The exact details of this time are unknown - though what is known is how it all came crashing down. During the waning years of the 1700's, the Beckenbrook Foundry Yards had become a veritable hub of Ironite Manufacturing; Though they had been initially established by the Technis Brotherhood as one of their many Foundry Yards, Beckenbrook had been opened up to outside manufacturing companies and other groups to come lease the Brotherhood's state-of-the-art production facilities in the interests of cultivating a shared "golden era" of Ironite Technological Advancement - with progressive minds on all sides believing that through cooperative competition The Iron Empire could be truly expanded at a breakneck speed. Unfortunately, this all came to an end during The Beckenbrook Disaster - where a cabal of renegade Ironite Military Men and Women under the command of a rogue Diesel-Born broke into the Brotherhood's innermost workshops within the Foundry Yards and stole the plans for the IV2-Series Combat Droids, unaware that their own Empire had been collaborating with the Brotherhood and wishing to serve their empire by cutting out the group they perceived as a dangerous heretical cult of techno-fascists whose near-monopoly of Ironite Technology was only stifling the growth of the Empire.
In the end, though the culprits were caught and executed after years of trials and tribunals, the damage was done - the legendary Beckenbrook Foundry Yards were gutted by the increasingly isolationist Technis Brotherhood in favor of returning to their old secretive ways, and the IV2 series was believed canceled in response to the leaking of the plans(And out of a desire to not produce a design they had not designed by themselves). The dream of the next generation of Ironite Combat Droid, it seemed, had died - much to the dismay of Ironite Soldiers and Officers across the empire.
It was not until nearly a century and a half later, during the aftermath of The Second War for Damnadon, that the IV2's would again see the light of day - where an anonymous source revealed the existence of "The Next Generation of Combat Droid" to the Ironite Press(An anonymous source many believe even now to have been either Commander Yarnablast of the Damnadon Death's Head Militia or one loyal to his aims) that were, during the time of the war, on lease to the Hive-City of Damnadon and had been prohibited from being activated to aid the city during its darkest hour.
Needless to say, the resulting journalistic firestorm was an endless deluge of bad publicity for the Technis Brotherhood - and while the Brotherhood famously always took a firm stance on outside influence, eventually caved with a public announcement formally revealing the existence of the now-infamous "Super Ivans" and allowing the prototypes beneath the Hive-City of Damnadon to be activated and used to aid with not only city cleanup, but in the hunt for the remnants of the invasion force that even then lurked within the bowels of the city. Though the Droids themselves benefitted these aims little in the long run, these tours of duty served as "publicity tours" that helped reveal their existence to the general public - who quickly came to fear the towering, imposing, and highly intelligent IV2's and their near-sociopathic personalities while simultaneously rejoicing in another weapon being added to the arsenal of their mighty Empire.
In short order following their initial "press tour", the IV2's were pressed into service in several theaters across the continent of Numiastra and beyond - where they quickly became beloved by Ironite Commanders who found their adaptive, self-sustaining nature as well as their enhanced tactical acumen utterly essential on the battlefield where even now they remain a reassuring mainstay of Ironite Battalions; For while even hardened Ironite Soldiers and even Diesel-Born are said to distrust and even fear the mighty Super Ivans, there is no more reassuring a sight for a beleaguered soldier of The Iron Empire than a Super Ivan standing tall in the face of overwhelming odds.
Significance
If the IV1-Series Combat Droids were the unbreakable shield of The Iron Empire, the IV2-Series proudly serves as the Empire's Invincible Spear - for while the existence of the IV1-Series has proven invaluable in defending the citizens of the Empire from the forces of the dead and living alike, the fearsome IV2's have allowed The Iron Empire to not merely survive against its foes, but thrive. Having finally been liberated from the restraints of the IV1-Series' limited tactical programming and limited efficacy in offensive battles with the arrival of the mighty, the fearless "Super Ivans" have allowed The Iron Empire to finally begin what they have always longed to; bring the fight to the lands of The Vrýkus Throne itself.
Able to coordinate infinitely more complex battle tactics with each other and the IV1-Series, the IV2-Series allows the Iron Empire to project its considerable military might far, far more effectively than it ever could before - allowing its armies to not only defend its borders, but expand them. Built to survive the toughest of conditions and designed to be able to fight indefinitely without external resupply, the Super Ivan is a dreadnought of unending obliteration whose resilience and dedication in the art of death inspires the rest of the Empire's troops to further and further heights.
Without exaggeration, a single IV2-Series Combat Droid alone, when deployed correctly, is often more than enough to completely change the course of a battle - walking bastions of morale, the mere existence of an IV2 in an Ironite Military Unit is enough to render their morale effectively unbreakable; For as long as 'Super Ivan' can stand tall, so can anyone - even should the local commander fall, IV2's can even take over local tactical planning and guide nearby organic and constructed allies alike to victory even from the darkest depths of despair.
Item type
Robotic
Subtype / Model
Owning Organization
Rarity
Standing in contrast to their predecessors the IV1-Series Combat Droids, the IV2-Series(or "Super Ivans") have been and continue to be rare since the moment they officially entered mass production shortly after the The Second War for Damnadon - though in point of fact, they have been rare ever since the waning years of the 1700's, where their initial prototypes and schematics were stolen during The Beckenbrook Disaster. Though many believed the IV2 product line scrapped after the Disaster as a way for the Technis Brotherhood to save face and preserve their legacy in the face of such humiliation, in truth the IV2's were further refined in secret for nearly 150 more years afterwards - so rare that any models produced remained securely sealed within the mysterious Damocles Station where they were built until the The Second War for Damnadon, which largely by accident revealed their existence to the general populace.
Even now, however, the IV2's are far from commonplace - and while their counterparts the IV1-Series enjoys a truly empire-wide popularity and near-omnipresence in the cultural zeitgeist of The Iron Empire, the IV2's possess no such popularity; Rarely seen by the general populace, the Super Ivans are behemoths of the most violent kind and deployed only in the most vicious of fighting or in support of the bravest or most suicidal missions behind enemy lines. Singular Superheavy Assault Units, the IV2's expensive construction makes them infinitely more valuable than their lesser brethren, but infinitely rarer - they are rarely deployed for civil defense and primarily serve as mobile artillery platforms during assaults and other brutal, bloody wars.
As such, the very image of an IV2 evokes fear in much of The Iron Empire - for they are cold-hearted, tactically intelligent killing machines who delight and are built for the bloodiest and most violent battles imaginable.
Raw materials & Components
Unlike their lesser counterparts the IV1-Series Combat Droids, the IV2-Series is a far superior machine constructed of far higher quality components and materials - unlike their lesser, original cousins who were built primarily out of High-Grade Iron and Steel and plated in the highly durable and exceptionally resilient Sanctyrite, the IV2-Series are constructed entirely out of the highest-grade Sanctyrite-A, denoted from the already famously durable Sanctyrite as having gone through an extremely secretive and rigorous Alchemical Reinforcement process to make the material even stronger, more resilient, and adding not only thermal radiators within the material to allow for better heat dispersion, but also to insert shock-hardening fluids and encapsulated healing agents between the minute armor plates to reduce damage from impacts and automatically seal small exterior breaches and damage.
Though most of the other materials used in the construction of the IV2-Series are classified and hidden from public knowledge, their solid Sanctyrite-A construction makes them legendarily durable - so durable that they are widely considered to be nearly indestructible by mortal means save magic. Environmentally treated and reinforced with unique Ablative Thermal Plating, the IV2's are some of the most durable and resilient constructions on the market today.
Tools
Though many have tried to peel back the secrets of the IV1-Series manufacturing process and tooling methods over their centuries of active service, none have succeeded - for the Technis Brotherhood's longstanding deals with The Iron Empire and Tavross, The Iron Emperor himself afford the esoteric techno-cult virtually unlimited secrecy so long as they serve as the smiths for Tavross, The Iron Emperor's war machine.
- Station Damocles-Omega('Damocles Station')
- Blacksite Beckenbrook(Formerly known as the Beckenbrook Foundry Yards)
- [CLASSIFIED UNDER THE TECHNIS TREATY]
- Solid Sanctyrite-A Chassis with Ablative Thermal Shielding and Insulated Shock-Absorbant Armorweave
- 8x Suncoil Heating Elements to facilitate Superheating of the External Chassis
- Modular Ballistic-Grade Blastplates mounted on External Hardpoints
- 2x Saxon Model-1782 Combustion-Type Impact Hammer, Arm-Integrated "Power Fist" Variant
- 2x Hand-Integrated Slam-Firing "Super-Stake" Driver with Revolving Ammunition Cylinder
- 1x Wrist-Mounted Helljelly Sprayer
- 1x Wrist-Mounted All-Purpose Canister Launcher
- 2x Shoulder-Mounted Motorized Tow-Winch with Pneumatic Anchoring Point and 500ft of Reinforced Cable
- 2x Underslung Arm-Mounted Model 93a 155mm Thumper Cannon with Alpha-Beta Conversion Mechanism
- 1x Chassis-Mounted Model 93b 155mm Thumper Cannon, Double-Length "Boom Tower" Variant(Usable only in Quadrupedal 'Artillery Mode')
- 1x B38 Ammunition Loading and Recapture System with onboard Blow-out Ammunition Rack
- 1x Onboard Biomass Processing Plant with External Induction Ports
- 1x Onboard Pressure Smelter with Custom Mould Injection
- 1x WARHOG All-in-One Alchemical Ammunition Factory
- 1x Detachable All-Purpose Mechanical Toolset
- 2x Dual-Purpose Smogger Pipes
- 4x High-Grade Reinforced Blasting Vaults with Liquid Propellant Storage
- 4x Grade-III Propellant Nozzles(Rated for Extended Flight)
- 4x 1' Limb-Mounted Sanctyrite-A Anchoring Pylons
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