Skies of Ash and Fire - A Mecha RP.

You know, in hindsight, when the massive ring opened up in the sky, that should have been the first tip that something really, really fuckin' bad was about to happen.

We were really interested in it. I mean, who the fuck wouldn't be? It was a big hole in the sky that had this big, black patch of nothing inside of it. Nothing happened for the first few days it showed up there. It was like someone just blotted out a part of the sky. We sent drones up there, planes and countless other aircraft to see what the deal was and we didn't find nothing up there. It was just...a hole to nothing.

And then that hole to nothing spit something out. Something really, really bad.

It came without warning but then again this shit usually does. Despite all of our tech and despite everything we thought we knew about the hole, it was definitely doing something bad to us, it was pumping...SOMETHING into the atmosphere. We couldn't pick it up, we couldn't see it, we couldn't smell it or anything like that but then again, most poisons tend to be impossible to detect anyway, right? Wanna know how we knew something was going on when it did?

''Thomas Alton, a 32 year old used Car Salesman in Springvale, Utah, was going about his day, kissed his wife goodbye, said he loved his kids and then drove to work-And on the way there, out of fucking nowhere, he exploded and turned into this wild, insane looking thing. Damn thing looked like a turtle had relations with a wolf with a fucking bat thrown in for good measure. Thing was bigger than a damn skyscraper. You know how long it took for us to put it down?"

Long enough to completely clear out all life in the South-Western corner of Utah and enough for them to evacuate literally all of Las Vegas, just to be on the safe side, It didn't make it that far but it came within a damn hair of obliterating it.

People freaked the fuck out immediately. World leaders demanded answers and you know what, so did we. We took a look at everything that Wolf-Bat-Turtle thing, and we found it still have Thomas Alton's DNA inside of it. It took a week, and everyone came to the conclusion that the hole up in the sky was the cause of it. And suddenly, everyone became everyone's worst enemy. You know why? Because suddenly everyone was a walking, talking time bomb of monster awfulness. And you know what? We were right to be scared. Because soon after people just randomly turned into monsters and completely wiped out the city they were around. We lost more than we gained when we came to stop them, and knew we couldn't just keep throwing soldiers at these things praying that we had enough that time to bring it down with minimal casualties.

You know, we lost 10,513 one attack? We considered it a fucking GOOD thing.

But you know what we came up with one time? One really, really fucking good idea? We grew up in a generation of people with way too much time on our hands. We could have put together a massive weapon that destroyed these things without a second thought, but you knwo what I think we needed?

Unity.

Yeah, we could have set up massive weapons that blasted these things, but the power that we would have needed would have caused so much nuclear fallout, Chernobyl would have looked like an oil spill. So some of the egg heads up top discovered that even passively, whatever the hole was pumping out, it was changing us all. Not all of us were exploding into horrible monsters. I don't know what was up there but I don't think they thought we were smart enough to use that damn thing against them.

So we made power sources with what we had, highly experimental technology that was at least three decades away from use suddenly saw a jump in attention in three weeks. They were definitely capable, but only if the resulting power source could handle it. And guess what those mutations up there were doing to us? Suddenly, the power source had an outlet. And you know what those outlets went to?

Well, remember, this generation was ruled by nerds, geeks and weebs. So of course we made robots out of them.

Twisted and mutated enough to resist the strain of the power cells and strong enough mentally and physically to power a massive, twenty story robot at the same time, and suddenly, the casualties dropped down to double digits at most.

Suddenly, we had a chance at this whole thing.

People are still paranoid. People are still scared. And people are still turning into monsters.

But you know what?

The people are still fighting.

And that's what's most important.

You wanna fight? Save humanity? Get to the bottom of this? Good answer. My name is Commander Eskin, and I'm the leader of the GAKDS. The Global Anti Kaiju Defense Squad.

Suit up kid. Let's kill some fucking monsters.

...

Welcome to GAKDS, where you get to suit up, grab a giant power sword and beat up some Godzilla level threats about every thursday.

Skies of Ash and Fire is a Kaiju vs Humongous Mecha roleplay on a global scale. People are turning into Kaijus and you need to fight them off to save the world, and figure out what that hole in the sky is and why it's doing what it's doing. This is a story about the survival of the human race, the struggles of the heroes with the literal weight on their shoulders, and finding the urge to put get in the fucking Robot and fighting again.

And big anime battles but that goes without saying.

This is a story of hope. This is a story of friends and finding the strength in the darkness. And while there is darkness there is always a light to struggle and fight for.

So, let's get you a robot, huh?

...

• Name:
• Age: (Anywhere above 18)
• Nationality: Being a part of GAKDS means you come from any walk of life from anywhere on the globe. Long as you fight, you're welcome here.
• Appearance:
• Personality:
• History:

• Mecha "Name": What you call your personal Kaiju Buster.
• Appearance: Get creative! Colors, general decals you put on, the works!
• Gear/Equipment: Try to give each mech something unique! You don't need to take TOO much consideration of realism, this is supposed to be a love letter to Mecha Media! Flame swords, electro-whips, the works!
• Mechkna Core: This is unique, and something that the scientists totally didn't take into consideration! The mutation evidently bleeds into the core of the Mecha, and allows for a little extra bonus to it. Perhaps allows you to expel flames from your attacks or allows for swift bursts of speed, really anything could be taken into consideration with this!

And by the by, if logic doesn't make sense here? Shut up it's robot anime, let's just have fun, yeah?

• Name: Samuel "Sam" Everett
• Age: 19
• Nationality: Canadian
• Appearance: Stay frosty.
• Personality: Quiet, serious and rather melancholic, Sam isn't someone that spends a lot of time alongside other people. But he can be committed and selfless once he actually lowers his guard. Even then, there is a reckless side that gets out once he gets into the cockpit of his machine. Has an artistic inclination he follows whenever he can.
• History: Sam is a young man from Alberta, born to a fairly successful family. He considered himself a normal person, seeing his life going to class, hanging out with his friends and singing at a jazz club for some extra cash. His own plans were a bit blurrier, but whatever it was, got derailed by the Sky Ring. As the world went into chaos, Sam had to do what he could to keep people around him alive, until the reveal of a miraculous machine, the Blue Sparrow. Due to an incident caused by a sudden Kaiju awakening, he ended up piloting it, and found out his own power, the ability to imbue its weapons with freezing energy. Since then, he became the pilot of the Mecha, cruising the skies as if he was a storm.
• Mecha "Name": Blue Sparrow.
• Appearance: The Blue Sparrow is a bipedal machine capable of becoming a big fighter jet. The whole machine is of a dark blue with silver trim, with a wing badge symbol painted in black and gold. It becomes a humanoid mecha with a single red eye and a double-barreled laser cannon in the left arm and several pods around the body. There is also a cannon on the head.
• Gear/Equipment: A double-barreled laser cannon, a handheld gun in the right arm capable of autofire, several pods of missiles (the number astounds people and even Sam feels it's more than they should be able to carry), an extendable plasma blade and a powerful cannon in the head.
• Mechkna Core: Frost Touch. Sam can add a freezing energy to the weapons of the machine he pilots.

Edited by Blueace on Mar 5th 2021 at 2:38:40 PM

Accepted! Welcome!

• Name: Catherine Akayama
• Age: 23
• Nationality: Japanese-American
• Appearance: A pale young woman with long bleached-blonde hair and slender proportions. Never seen without a bright red jumpsuit and a red-tinted eyemask that obscures the upper portion of her face. Nobody knows what she's hiding, but the most likely theory is that she's just a huge dork who thinks it's cool.
• Personality: A woman of mystery whose actions speak louder than words... is what she wants to be. In reality, she's a Large Ham mecha anime enthusiast who calls her attacks and styles her appearance after Char Aznable. Tends not to let people in beneath her overdramatic cliched persona, so her true self, a lonely, emotionally-stunted geek desperate for approval, rarely sees the light of day.
• History: The half-white daughter of a Japanese businessman and an American English teacher, Catherine spent her formative years in Japan, where she grew up watching classic mecha anime such as Mobile Suit Gundam, Mazinger Z, and Super Dimension Fortress Macross. After her father's death in her late teens, her mother took her with her back to America. Struggling to learn English and unable to fit in with her peers, Catherine fell deeper and deeper into her otaku hobbies as a form of escapism, and at 22, she was living in her mom's basement, trying desperately to find work and failing thanks to her lack of college degree or social skills. That's when the world went topsy-turvy.
  After the initial pants-shitting terror wore off, Catherine was one of the first people to apply to GAKDS, seeing a chance to finally put her geekdom to practical use and make a difference while doing so.
• Mecha "Name": Prince Jion
• Appearance: A bright red machine with a wide, bulky frame, prominent shoulder spikes, and a Zaku-esque mono-eye head. The knee and elbow joints are marked with black diamonds, and on it's back is a jet-black "backpack" that stores its various weapons and is equipped with special jets for aquatic movement.
• Gear/Equipment:
  • Dual Beam Saber: A double ended beam sword, stored in the backpack when not in use.
  • Heat Rod: A superheated metal tendril that deploys from the Jion's right wrist and can be controlled with some degree of precision.
  • Missile Shield: A large shield attached to the left arm, which doubles as a missile launcher that can hold up to 40 shells.
  • Remote Guns: Small drones equipped with powerful laser cannons, which deploy from the backpack and are controlled remotely. Tend to require too much focus to pilot the Jion itself simultaneously.
  • Gatling Fingers: The Jion's fingers double as gun barrels, able to unload a steady stream of high-calibur rounds at a moment's notice.
  • Amphibious: The Jion is equipped for underwater manueverability, and the majority of its armaments are built to work just as well when submerged.
  • Torpedo Cannon: A cannon stored in the backpack, which fires torpedoes for underwater use.
• Mechkna Core: "Masked Meteor:" Any mecha piloted by Catherine can move up to three times faster than the specs of the machine should allow. However, Catherine's reflexes can't keep up with these speeds just yet, so it's relegated to short bursts or straightaways without obstacles.

Edited by PossiblyQuiteInsane on Mar 4th 2021 at 10:00:48 AM

• Name: Calls herself Zero, but doesn't have a real name yet.
• Age: 0, but looks about 20.
• Nationality: Built in China, but doesn't consider herself to belong to any one country.
• Appearance:She's not missing a leg, but could use a few touch-ups. Stands about 5'0.
• Personality:Zero is something of a blank slate. She's not emotionless. She can think and reason, even feel. She's incredibly curious and ridiculously driven, eager to learn about the world she's been born into and why she was born at all. But in many respects, she's still cooking. She tends to lean on the fiery side, often showing hints of a more aggressive or impulsive attitude. Whether that's hints of latent brainwaves surfacing or natural growth, it's hard to say.
  • But she can also be painfully naive. Apart from the fundamentals, everything she knows about the world is secondhand. She's still developing her personality and often comes off as blissfully ignorant, matter of fact, or even offensive. But she always learns from her mistakes and corrects herself if she's wrong. More than anything, she seeks to better herself and fulfil her purpose, for that's the only thing she knows.
• History: Zero isn't sure about much that happened before they were born. All she knows is some genius inventor made her in a lab, but she never knew why. Even then, she had to scrape that much together, as she never met her creator before she was activated. Nor did she get a chance to again. When she awoke, she felt a surge of electricity coursing through her circuits, jolting her to life. Everything around her was in flames, and her creator was dead on the floor. And... her daughter? Lab assistant? Lover? She wasn't sure who the other person was, but both of them had ceased to function, bodies burnt to a crisp as the lab crumbled around her. She didn't know anything other than what was programmed into her, but she knew she couldn't stay here. Forcing herself to get used to her bodily functions, she ran out of the lab, just as one last explosion blew away the remnants and covered the corpses in rubble.
  • It wasn't long afterwards that she was found and captured by the CCP. As Zero soon learned, her creator built her as a weapon. A self-sufficient AI, housed in a walking power core and capable of controlling Kaiju Killers directly. But she had also been built in the image of her daughter. Killed in a kaiju attack, she managed to copy her brainwaves and attempted to upload them into a recreation of her body. Only for the process to be interrupted during a freak accent, activating Zero before it was complete. It's unknown if or any of the creator's daughter was transferred into Zero's shell, but what is known is she's capable of controlling a mech with ease. As far as the government's concerned, that's the only thing she's suitable for, so that's what she'll do.
• *Mecha "Name": Kaiju Buster Zero. (Zero isn't very creative with mecha names.)
• Appearance:"Ready to begin extermination.''
• Gear/Equipment: The Kaiju Buster Zero is equipped with a decent arsenal. Each fist has a later beam and a full set of rockets, capable of blasting through anything in its path. They can also hold the beams and solidify them, turning them into energy blades for close combat. But their main focus is manoeuvrability. The Zero has small treads on the bottom of its feet and jet thrusters on the heels. It can roll across the ground and change direction in the blink of an eye, giving it incredible manoeuvrability. It has additional jet thrusters on the pack, boosting it into the air and making it as agile there as on the ground.
• Mechkna Core: Being a self-aware mecha core, Zero doesn't possess the usual mutations. Instead, it can control KBZ with a thought, moving it as if it were an extension of their being. This allows for swift reflexes and a degree of minute control that most kaiju killers aren't capable of. She can also manifest her core's power as Zero Point Energy, letting her teleport short distances and hold objects in place.

Edited by kkhohoho on Mar 5th 2021 at 3:37:45 AM

Both are accepted!

• Name: Valþrúður Ísaksdóttir^note  “Val” for short, when she's feeling merciful towards her English-speaking companions.
• Age: 24
• Nationality: Icelandic
• Appearance: 6'3".◊ Most typically wrapped up in layers of warm clothing due to both her condition and the coldness of her mech. Of thin proportions, long-legged yet with barely enough grace not to be considered gangly.
• Personality: An optimistic sort, Val is fun-loving and oftentimes a jokester in her own right, strongly counteracting any and all fear she herself might be feeling in the wake of facing down giant monsters with a bright grin and a determined glint in her eye. She attempts to make her own positive outlook infectious, and focuses especially on raising her companions' spirits perhaps even moreso than fighting—though with that being said, she's no slouch when it comes to mech combat either. Though her condition is somewhat annoying to her, she never lets it bring her down for long; her own inner fire fighting back her perpetual cold in a rather ironic fashion that regardless fuels her. As she's been raised in an intimate community, she focuses much more on the individuals than the crowd as a whole—every single life in her vicinity she considers both as immeasurably precious and under her responsibility to nurture.
• History:
  • Born and raised in Höfn, Val and her family were of the disconnected sort enough to be completely unaware of the apocalyptic events headed their way—up until the seemingly obscure and small village they resided in was subject to a series of devastating attacks delivered by rapidly-forming Kaiju; their icelike construction and colossal size quickly earning them the only partially-serious moniker of Jötnar by the locals. With the catastrophe wrecking both lives and livelihoods, Val and her surviving family fled abroad—first moving further into Europe and then over to America in an effort to be safer from future attacks. Yet for some strange reason, Val found herself afflicted with a constant, bitter internal chill after the trauma of the event—the exposure to the mutative energies evidently having caught up with her.
  • With the development of mecha catching Val's attention, their sheer effectiveness at saving lives and defeating Kaiju eventually ended up motivating her to work towards piloting such a machine herself. With her eventually ending up caught in a local Kaiju attack once more, the sudden defeat of a defending mech pilot and the subsequently vulnerability of several civilians kicked Val into gear—and after claiming the abandoned mech for herself, managed to fend off the beast long enough for backup to arrive and take over.
  • Having gotten a taste for mech combat, Val sought to sign up formally to GAKDS, taking her newly claimed mech along with her. Quickly realising her previously useless-seeming mutation's advantages when used in conjunction with her mech, Val has quickly developed a fondness for it—despite it worsening the symptoms of her mutation due to its massive size and cold temperature, she's managed to make it quite the cosy mobile home for herself in the cabin at the very least.
• Mecha Name: Púkakönguló – Demon Spider
• Appearance: 75' high, 150' in length, and 100' wide.◊ Battered and unpainted, evidently some kind of prototype rushed out into action due to desperation and as such having plenty of visible battle scars. There are a handful of inspirational phrases graffiti'd across its form for the benefit of the public, in as many languages as Val could confidently attempt to translate them into. The interior of the mech is vast, notoriously colder the closer one gets to the core, and vacant—mostly cramped maintenance tunnels with a labyrinthine layout, and the occasional colossal and dark space so massive one can't even see the walls whenever they're standing in them. The mech's cockpit is thankfully more inviting; despite the complicated and intimidating control system, it is decorated to the brim with random knickknacks that Val has picked up in her free time, as well as multiple trunks full of warm clothing and blankets for herself and any passengers. That and a cup holder that did not come as standard.
• Gear/Equipment:
  • Plasma Cannon: Utilizing cold fusion, a powerful plasma-based turret is situated above Púkakönguló's cockpit, and features a long range but a very narrow spread. This cannon can spray out a beam of heat intense enough to melt down almost anything in its path to slag, but it overheats quickly—a potent 5 second burst is the most it can manage before having to cool down again. Thankfully, the mech's dedicated cooling systems combined with its Mechkna Core mean it only needs another five seconds or so before it can fire again.
  • Spike Traps: Giant caltrops can be deployed from this mech's rear, sharp enough to puncture through most regular Kaiju hides and with the added ability of being able to electrify themselves while stuck into their victims for greater damage. Due to their folding configurations, Púkakönguló can house up to 50 at a time before having to restock, and they can also be deployed frontwards as long spikes for use as mêlée weapons against closer targets (retaining their ability to electrify themselves).
  • Wirewebs: Strong spools of metal cable are housed within the front of the mech just below the cabin, and can be used either to tie up and restrain Kaiju temporarily or winch large objects/the mech itself around like a grapple line. Like the caltrops, these wires can be electrified while they're still connected to the mech, and in expense of their shocking capabilities they can also be fired out in multiple lines as a large net.
  • Armour Shielding: Though lacking in the likes of dedicated energy shields for defense, Púkakönguló has extremely layered armour plating to its name; the outer layers soft enough to absorb impacts while the inner frame is sturdy enough to withstand a Kaiju's swipe at full strength with minimal bend. However, it regardless has its limits, and is more resilient to blunt force than impalement or sharp claws—that and it slows the mech down to a one-step-at-a-time snail's pace.
• Mechkna Core: Valþrúður's chronically low body temperature mutation has bled into Púkakönguló's own systems; making it even colder to sit inside but much quicker at refueling and cooling down its plasma cannon as a result. This also applies to other mechs to a lesser extent—while in Púkakönguló the weapon cooling time is halved, Val can cut down the cooling times of other similar mecha weaponry down by a third.

Edited by Enirboreh on Mar 5th 2021 at 12:25:53 PM

• Name: Basil Adami
• Age: 25
• Nationality: Italian-Spanish
• Appearance: 6'2".◊ Slender, very much having a dancer's build, preferring to accent his graceful movement with fancy suits.
• Personality: Outwardly plays at being a hopeless casanova, suave and mysterious, but this belies an underlying intelligence and eye for detail. In truth, he genuinely wants to help people as much as he can, and has a strong sense of justice. But he also knows that people can lie, and so pretends to be aloof and above it all so as not to be manipulated.
• History:
  • Born to the unlikely pairing of an Italian roboticist and a Spanish dancer. His mother always said it was fate - his parents had met after one of her shows, and later ran into each other again when she performed in the same town he was to give a lecture in. Though Basil was born out of wedlock, this never bothered him.
  • He was raised mostly by his mother, visiting his father occasionally. Though absorbed in his work, Basil's father was never distant and always found time for him. Then, one day, Basil's mother died in a kaiju attack. With his father involved in robotics, it was inevitable that Basil's power would be revealed and put to use in piloting a mecha. To that end, father and son worked together to build a machine in her honor.
• Mecha "Name": Angel Maria
• Appearance: Much smaller and thinner than the average mech, the Angel manages to convey a feminine appearance, looking vaguely like a woman made of glimmering silver. Six wings extend from her back, angellic in appearance, and seeming to glow white with reflected light. Each of her palms has a white circle on it.
• Gear/Equipment:
  • Thrusters: Anti-grav thrusters are hidden both on the Angel's feet and in her six wings, giving her great mobility on both ground and air.
  • Hidden Daggers: Her wings conceal six mecha-sized vibroknives, useful for close range combat or as throwing weapons.
  • Pulse Cannons: The circles on her palms are short-ranged energy blasters, which can be used either in the form of focused energy lances or a more wide-spread energy pulse. This energy pulse is omnidirectional and can be used to deflect attacks.
• Mechkna Core: Pizzicato: Basil's power allows him to extrude thin metal wires from any mech he pilots. While these can be used to restrain enemies or manipulate objects, they are most useful as weapons, being razor sharp and able to extend quite far. Basil can also detatch the wires from his mech to lay wire traps.

Both are accepted!

• Name: Magdalena "Mags" Danailova
• Age: 24
• Nationality: Bulgarian, but a long-time resident of the Netherlands

• Appearance: 5'5"◊, Mags is very trim but has the muscles of a career dancer. Mags wears a small earpiece in her left ear which connects to the sonar wristwatch she wears at all times for navigation purposes. When not working she also makes use of a white cane.

• Personality: Mags has always had an independent streak, and the onset of blindness only intensified her need for self-reliance. Though years of ballet training have taught her to take advice and guidance where necessary, she is rather willful and hates feeling condescended to or ignored - this can verge on arrogance. She has never had the chance to develop strong social connections, and as a result, she is somewhat shy and self-isolating by nature, although she hides this with stoicism. Mags speaks fluent Bulgarian, French, and English, and is proficient in Dutch.

• History:
  • Mags was born in Bulgaria, and is the youngest of four daughters. Mags demonstrated a remarkable affinity for dance at a young age, and her parents entered her into formal ballet lessons at 5 years old. When Mags was 10 years old, she emigrated to France to attend a full time pre-professional dance program in Milan, spending the rest of her adolescence living with her adult sister, Rada, rather than with her parents or other siblings.

  • Unfortunately, since around 8 years old, Mags' vision had been slowly deteriorating. She refused to admit to this change until she was 12, when she began to fear that her dancing would be affected. After a battery of tests it was confirmed that Mags had an incurable genetic condition which progressively limited her ability to see. While treatment was attempted, Mags had lost her sight completely by the age of 17.

  • Despite this, Mags refused to abandon her pursuit of a career in dance. Although her parents pressured her to quit and return to Bulgaria, Mags only doubled down. She relied heavily on her expert ear for music, expanding her attunement to the rhythms of dance to include the rhythms of her fellow dancers and the world around her. At 18, she officially became a professional dancer, moving to the Netherlands to join a world-renowned dance company. She rose steadily through the ranks, and by 24 had become one of the company's principal dancers.

  • Her life was disrupted after an attack struck the site of one of her performances. With her sensitive hearing, which had been growing stronger since the rift in the sky was first reported, Mags heard the approaching disaster minutes before it struck and stopped the performance in its tracks to warn the assembled crowd. A panic ensued, but the dancers and a portion of the crowd were able to escape the building before it was crushed underfoot, killing only 156 of the 400+ original occupants rather than them all. This event put a damper on performing arts in the region, and the company's tour was indefinitely suspended.

  • Now out of a job and furious about it, Mags all but demanded admittance into the ranks of GAKDS. She was nearly turned away, as a blind pilot was considered a significant liability, but a GAKDS engineer was inspired by her application (and by her evidently mutation-enhanced hearing) to resurrect an old, scrapped prototype with Mags as its perfect pilot.

• Mecha "Name": Nova Coppélia
• Appearance:
  • Nova Coppélia, originally referred to jokingly by its creators as "The Death Star," had long been dismissed as a failed experiment. Somewhat smaller than the average mech (although still quite large), the Nova Coppélia is vaguely spherical in appearance. The outer hull of the NC is constantly shifting, but it consists of dozens of concentric wheels and curved panels which adjust to facilitate combat and mobility according to the needs of the pilot. Each wheel also features a network of cameras and scanners, granting the NC the ability to observe and maneuver in all directions.

  • Most notable, and the reason for the NC's disuse, is the searingly-bright core which also serves as the NC's cockpit. The light which is emitted from the core of the NC can reach intensities nearly comparable in luminosity to the sun, meaning that even short periods close range non-shielded viewing can be dangerous. The cockpit within is not immune; in an attempt at significantly decreasing response times, the NC's power source has been placed within and around the cockpit itself. As a consequence of this, the cockpit cannot be effectively shielded from the light, rendering the cockpit un-navigable by sight when the NC is in operation. Prior attempts at piloting the NC were deemed unsuccessful as the delay caused by reliance on audio cues negated any efficiency gained by the core placement.

  • In its current iteration, the cockpit of the NC is fitted with an acoustic visualization system. This system converts visual data collected by exterior cameras into directional sounds with variable tones, pitches, and volumes, painting a sonic picture of the battlefield with a high degree of accuracy, like a form of audio shorthand. Mags is uniquely able to quickly and accurately parse this audio information into comprehensible data as a result of her mutation. The cockpit itself is relatively small and contains no pilot's seat, as the pilot is held in place by the gyroscopic motion of the mech.

  • The NC is intended to remain in flight whenever active, and does not have grounded traversal capabilities, though it can hover within 10 feet of the ground when necessary.

• Gear/Equipment:
  • Reflective Shielding: The NC's ever-shifting hull enables it to store a portion of the kinetic energy absorbed by its shields, which it can later redirect into its own attack. Additionally, while shields are mostly intact, the Nova Coppélia can repel and reflect back any projectiles which come into contact with it, although some energy is dispersed in the process.
  • Supernova: Updates to the Nova Coppélia have allowed it to weaponize its blinding core against its enemies. The NC may briefly disable its shields in order to reveal and amplify the brightness of its core. The luminosity of the core stuns and disorients unshielded targets within range, rendering them temporarily blind and leaving them vulnerable to attack. This can be a risky maneuver, as the NC must disable shields and weapons to pull it off, and is highly vulnerable during this period.
  • Homing Chakram: Near-mech-sized, sharpened discs of extremely durable metal, the homing chakrams are the Nova Coppélia's primary form of attack, and are often capable of severing the limbs of kaiju. While the Nova Coppélia is limited to three chakrams, it can recall a previously-released chakram to itself much like a boomerang. Furthermore, successively-released chakrams can be directed to target previously-released chakrams with a high degree of precision, allowing for repeated targeting of a weak spot.

• Mechkna Core: Mags' supernaturally heightened hearing improves the perceptual range of any mech she occupies. Mechs she pilots can detect life signs and obstacles up to 50% further away than standard, including limited detection of subterranean activity. Additionally, with some time and effort, Mags is able to jury-rig other mechs to work with a version of her acoustic visualization system, allowing her to pilot them in the first place.

Edited by furnacedoor on Mar 8th 2021 at 4:47:44 AM

Accepted!

• Name: They don't have a 'real' name yet; they go by various nicknames, including, but not limited to: Shiners, Blackeyes, Sleepy, Narco, Scales, Reptile, Lizzo, Coldblood, Barney, Spyro, Komodo Joe, World's Smallest Kaiju, Classic From The Jurassic... for the sake of convenience, from here on in they'll be referred to as 'the critter'.
• Age: ???
• Nationality: Indonesian?
• Appearance: The critter isn't human, needless to say. They were once a Komodo Dragon, and they still mostly resemble one, being a big ol' monitor lizard with dusty brown scales, though their mutation has set them apart from the rest of their species. Besides regularly walking on their back legs - if awkwardly so - they also have much larger, more expressive eyes and distinct black circles around them, looking almost like permanent black eyes. One of their clawed digits has also split off into an opposable thumb, enabling them to manipulate most technology designed for humans. They typically wear an insulated orange-yellow jumpsuit that's been specially tailored for them, along with a variety of utility straps. They usually have a pair of goggles with a night vision and motion-sensing functionality, to help compensate for their species' own visual shortcomings.
• Personality: The critter's kind of a mood-swinger. They have high highs and low lows. They're either hyperactive and ready to kick some Kaiju butt, or they're sleepy and irritable, with very little variation between. They typically eat lots of sugary fruit to keep them in 'hyper' mode. Staying in the heat also helps keep the energy up. Can be a little arrogant, and doesn't think too highly of the human race in general (which they'll never hesitate to make some snarky remark about), but nonetheless believes in truth, justice and various national ways.
• History: As it turned out, the Sky Ring didn't only affect human beings. Not too long ago, a Kaiju rampaged across southern Indonesia, stopping by on the island of Komodo, when they were intercepted by a team from the GAKDS. A fierce battle ensued, resulting in the death of pretty much everyone involved on both sides - the Kaiju took out the entire team, but a suicidal charge by the last remaining pilot ended with the monster's brains splattered across the ocean. One bit of Kaiju brain was washed up on the beach, whereupon it was eaten by a local Komodo Dragon. The next morning, the critter 'awoke'. Somehow, consuming this bit of Kaiju triggered a mutation, granting them human intelligence - and above-average, at that. Overwhelmed with curiosity and a desire to seek out more Kaiju - because, after all, this one had just annihilated half the island - they clambered into a now-abandoned mech and set off for Australia, whereupon they just sort of wandered around aimlessly for weeks until stumbling upon another Kaiju encounter. Barging in to save an otherwise-lost battle, this lead to their formal introduction to the GAKDS, after a few more weeks' worth of tests and experiments to record this groundbreaking 'holy shit it's a talking lizard!' moment.
• Mecha "Name": Wheely Clever
• Appearance: The Wheely Clever is quite small for a mech designed for fighting Kaiju, and coupled with its blocky, non-humanoid design, it could almost pass for a Real Robot. It consists of a central 'core' resembling the fuselage of an attack chopper, a pair of digitigrade legs reminiscent of a theropod dinosaur, a 'tail', and four arms - two 'grabbers' below the cockpit, and two much larger arms coming out the sides, ending in huge 'wheels' - huge metal discs bigger than the entire rest of the robot combined, lined with magnetic strips. The entire mech has been painted with green-and-black stripes, with a toothy maw design at the front, evoking a dinosaur - along with a couple slogans here and there, such as 'I'M A CLEVER GIRL', 'THE METEOR COULDN'T KILL US AND NEITHER CAN YOU', 'DOYATHINKHESAURUS? HE DID!'. The mech has been modified so that excess heat from the usage of its systems is vented directly into the cockpit, keeping it nice and warm - exactly what its cold-blooded pilot needs.
• Gear/Equipment:
  • Wheels: The 'wheels' at the end of its main arms are the Wheely Clever's main means of rapid movement across flat surfaces - its legs can fold into its core when in use. The magnetic, abrasive strips enable it to traverse vertical surfaces and even go upside-down, though it must maintain speed to do so.
  • Knife Tail: The mech's prehensile 'tail' at the back ends in a big ol' knife, useful for slashing open Kaiju flesh and then carving them into roasts afterwards. In theory, anyway.
  • Flechette Launcher: Mounted on the sides of the wheels are a pair of homing rapid-fire flechette launchers - the ammunition resembles a huge needle, intended to puncture flesh and embed itself into armour before exploding into a ball of concentrated plasma.
  • Homing Mines: Mounted beneath the cockpit is a cannon that lays these large, spike ball-shaped mines. They remain stationary until detecting any heat or scent signature on record for Kaiju, before homing in on them and exploding.
  • Gluon Gun: Its most powerful weapon, this is mounted atop the cockpit, or the 'head', if you will. A devastating beam of nuclear particles that disrupts any matter it touches at the molecular level. The scientists who designed it couldn't bring themselves to test it on a living creature, but they knew the critter would have little trouble killing things.
  • Grapple Cable: A huge grappling hook or harpoon gun mounted on top of the core body, facing backwards - capable of supporting the robot's entire weight, it not only serves as an emergency escape tool and to drag large objects, it's also useful for further ripping open Kaiju wounds.
  • Pneumatic Heel Thrusters: Finally, mounted on the robot's legs are these thrusters - useful for jumping high and pulling off pinball manuevers off the sides of buildings.
• Mechkna Core - HOT HOT HOT!: The critter's mutation enables any mech they pilot to 'absorb' any heat it comes into contact with - sunlight, fire, weapons exhaust, and so on - storing it in reserve, long after any other mech would have melted to slag. Besides granting it incredible heat resistance, they can also weaponise the excess heat by making the entire surface of the mech glow red-hot, leaving trails of fire in its wake, and searing the flesh of any Kaiju it crashes into.

Edited by PresidentStalkeyes on Mar 7th 2021 at 1:26:58 PM

• Name: Taskill Allard
• Age: 27
• Nationality: European
• Appearance: Taskill has brown eyes and short, black hair that partially covers his right eye. He usually wears loose clothing
• Personality: Outside of his mecha Taskill is a quiet man, content to just listen rather than talk to others. Once he's in Leviathan Rho he becomes louder often shouting out his attack names, which he refuses to say whether this is necessary to activate these systems or not.
• History:Taskill lived in the suburbs of a small city that was spared from monster attacks for a while, and many thought that it had somehow avoided having its residents be irradiated by the rift. Then came the day that many feared would occur when the city was attacked by a monster. was in the downtown area when the destruction began, he discovered that he was one of the lucky affected when he saw two small children about to be crushed by falling debris. His efforts to push them out of the way weren't enough and the three of them were about to be crushed when a crimson red shield enveloped them and slowed the debris enough to only injure them rather than kill them.
  
  Taskill joined GAKDS when rumors of what he'd done during the attack reached their agents' ears as they investigated the aftermath of the attack and he was soon brought to the organization to become one of Earth's last line of defence against the monsters. A few months of training allowed Taskill to figure out he can shape the energy he can create into not only the shield he made but also coat his hands with it to make his fingernails as sharp as claws.
• Mecha "Name": Leviathan Rho
• Appearance: Leviathan Rho has a crown upon its head with a vertical ring on its forward edge. All over the mecha's chassis are Tron Lines that go to its crown, plasma cannons and fingers that when the mecha is active glow a crimson red. Whenever the weapons are used the lines seem to flow towards it and glow brightly.
• Gear/Equipment:
• Energy Shield
  • Dual Fusion Cannons: Two large cannons rest upon Leviathan's shoulders when in use, and when not in use rest along its spine.
  • Ring Laser: The inner surface of the ring upon its crown glows a deep red and accumulates in the centre of it before firing at the target.
  • Razor Talons: All the digits on Leviathan Rho are tipped with crystalline structures that when activated become incredibly sharp.
• Mechkna Core: Leviathan Rho can project a crimson shield around itself that Taskill calls Crimson Aegis. This energy is also used to give his mecha's attacks a little extra punch.

Still working on the history, but the sheet everywhere else is done.

• Name: Jayce Albion
• Age: 22
• Nationality: British.
• Appearance: ...Quite so. ...And I'd prefer it if you refrained from inquiring about my green hair. ...Height? Weight? ...Very well. One-hundred and eighty seven centimeters and fifty two kilograms. No, I will NOT put that in Imperial measurements.
• Personality: For the most part, Jay strives to come across as a civil, well-mannered, polite gentleman. Prim and proper. and at least...tries...to be patient and logical when it comes to having to interact with the more 'interesting' sort of people. That calm, collected attitude and stiff upper lip can easily get worn down fast if having to deal with those who act on emotion or those far too optimistic for their own good resulting in him getting snarky.
  • ...So it goes without saying anyone acting like a typical anime protagonist, unhealthy optimism or simply running out patience WILL have him lash out with barbed retorts and cold, blunt observations and barely bothering to mask his disdain.

• History:
• Mecha "Name": Caliburn.
• Appearance: The mech is...an odd combination of being sleek yet somewhat...'boxy' at the same time for a bit more armor so there was more armor between an attack and the important machinery beneath it all. Originally designed to be average in terms of overall build for the sake of versatility and load-out whether it was a nimble front-line fighter or equipped with more powerful verniers as a search and rescue unit. Jayce begrudgingly let it remain as such. A pristine silver sheen with light royal blue highlights is it's shoulder scheme and the shoulders have magnetic clamps to mount certain weaponry for improved stability while Caliburn's decal is of a high caliber shell piercing cleanly through a kaiju skull.
• Gear/Equipment: ...Pardon? You think given the name of my mech, it'd be equipped with close-combat weaponry? A blade to cut through this 'inhuman, evil menace plaguing mankind?' ...Please. Foolish of you to assume I'd conform to such a predictable cliche. Close combat isn't necessary if the kaiju never have a chance to actually get there. Not to mention it prevents potential damage.
  • AM-01-PRECISION: "There's nothing wrong with more 'mundane' ammunition compared to plasma or lasers. One precisely aimed round at the right spot and they'll drop like anyone else." In short, an anti-material rifle designed primarily for long-range whether it's providing covering fire or sniping. The weapon can be modified to act more like normal rifle with a higher rate of fire for mid-range combat if long-range isn't feasible, but it does take time to change the firing mode.

  • RAI-02-OBLITERATOR: Having said that however, sometimes more velocity and raw power is necessary or that the kaiju needs to die NOW. In this case, a railgun. It does take a portion of Caliburn's power to fire, however. The more Jayce allocates to the charge, the more potential damage. Of course, considering the several seconds it takes to fire, he does have to lead the target or simply predict where the kaiju will be.

  • Precise Tuning/Recoil Dampeners: Kind of what it says on the tin, really. More kinetic/high caliber weapons like these lead to a lot of potential and the mech is designed to almost completely mitigate it and even allow Caliburn to fire on the move. It also means that any sudden impacts the suit might suffer will allow the suit to regain it's footing and stabilize to help Jayce maintain control.

  • Prototype - Stealth Field: Again, a little self-explanatory. While it's still in it's testing phases, Caliburn is equipped with a device that causes the entire mech to become...somewhat invisible, whether it's to avoid drawing attention or a desperate attempt to throw off a kaiju if the suit's in a critical state. It does have the draw back of making Calibur run on minimum power to cut down on sound or generating heat in an effort to throw off kaiju that rely on other ways of locating mechs such as infrared vision, though.

• Mechkna Core: Fleeting Flash. Whenever Jayce moves the mech to suddenly swerve/boost out of the way of an attack and evade harm, a holographic double appears in the opposite direction of where Caliburn ends up to potentially draw fire and explode in a burst of energy if anything's stupid enough to try and attack it or simply fading after several seconds. Although in an ideal world, it wouldn't see much use considering Jayce's tendencies to try and fight at long range.

Edited by TheRealWren on Mar 13th 2021 at 6:08:19 AM

Everyone looks good! Accepted!

The roleplay will be up tonight and a new discord will follow shortly after! Spots are still open for those who still want to join!

To anyone else, the discord server was opened now. Come in to hang out and discuss your ideas for pretty much everything relative to the game. Note, the invite link will only last a few days.

https://discord.gg/9gugZVfm

• Name: Weiss Strauss
• Age: 22
• Nationality: German
• Appearance: "https://encrypted-tbn0.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcQDKsQHrycerbiX_lKJi7cN0hr7nMCCzoe1mw&usqp=CAU"

• Personality: Yo. He's a douche.
  • To elaborate, Weiss is one who strives for full and total perfection and detests anything he considers 'imperfect'. This is mostly manifested as an air of extreme condescension. Extreme condescension. He'll basically passive aggressively pick apart your entire life. This behavior is mostly caused by his overbearing parents who practically beat him every day in search of making him 'perfect'.
  • This, of course, translates quite well when fighting kaiju. To Weiss, each and every kaiju is an imperfection that need to be purged. Thus, utterly Ax-Crazy in combat.
• History: "Probably much more interesting than yours. See, I was born into a family of geniuses, seriously modern Eintsteins, who were obsessed with finding and\or creating the perfect specimen. They though if they could mate two of the most elite people on earth they could get rather close, and then they could groom that child through life to perfection. They were right. Of course, my parents were slightly tough on me, but that's a small price to pay for perfection. Anyway, one day, near the beginning of the kaiju outbreak we were eating dinner and, out of the blue...they transformed. Thankfully, the servants guided me to an underground hangar where i was presented with Siegfried. The first kaiju i ever killed was my father. But mother escaped. Sometimes i hope i never find her."
• Mecha "Name": Siegfried
• Appearance: Siegfried is a very human-like mech, it's body and limbs seemingly made out of synthetic muscle tissue. A pale grey mesh membrane covers sections of blackened muscle mass on the upper legs and arms, and it's torso is coverd by a light armor. The lower legs of Siegfried Are rather thin, sloping downwards into bladed shins.
• Gear/Equipment:
  • Dark Matter Decomposition Core (DMDC): Within the cranium of Siegfried lies a spinning, fan like device that serves the purpose of breaking down dark matter particles, allowing Weiss to temporarily disrupt the space around his mech and teleport to a location within 30 ft. of it's standing position. This core also powers the other dark matter funtions in the mech.
  • Combat arms: Two retractable extra arms that activate in combat.
  • Brunhilda: A retractable blade embedded in Siegfried's main right arm. can be enhanced as long as the DMDC is still active. The edge of the blade is razor-thin, burning hot and vibrates 3,000 times each second.
  • Fenrir: A tail-like extra appendage that functions like a bladed whip extending from Siegfried's mid back. Unlike Siegfried's other weapons, Fenrir cannot be amplified by the DMDC. Upon usage, Fenrir emits an extremely loud howling noise. Mostly this is for dramatic effect.
  • Skoll: The one ranged weapon on Siegfried's body, Skoll is a miniature cannon the tests on the underside of Siegfried's main Left arm. The cannon fires pure thermal energy. There are two firing types, stream and burst fire. Both are rather self-explanatory.
• Meckna Core:
  • Perfection: Siegfried can alter itself to the utter pinnacle of power. For 3 minutes the mech's speed, strength and durability increase exponentially.

Yo, any word on Weiss?

• Name: Steven Skylar
• Age: 26
• Nationality: American
• Appearance: Steven is a dark brown haired young man with handsome features accentuated rather than marred by a few slight scars. His eyes are icy blue. He has a well muscled, athletic build that has served him well in his endeavors. Steven is kind of a fitness fanatic and outdoors' man - a few of his casual outfits indicate a preference for travel and staying out in a tent or cabin, as well as a few sets of shorts and showy tank tops. He correspondingly has a well tanned appearance. He wears standard issue body armor when on the job, and he always keeps a necklace on his person with a picture inside - depicting him with a bunch of misfit army buddies from about eight years ago.
• Personality: It would be rather charitable to call Steven "gifted, but abrasive". His current American army associates would describe him as an "arrogant womanizer", a "vain show-off", a "preening gym boy", and "barely maintaining standards of army behavior". He loves taking central spotlight, taking all sorts of risks, recklessly charges forward, and is willing to do whatever he has to in order to fight the alien menace. He absolutely does value his friends and fellow pilots, but he has a marked tendency to barely consider the aftereffects of his own actions. Being the son of a decorated and powerful general has its perks. He does however have one monster where it's absolutely personal - Deathtide Leviathan, which was responsible for something terrible happening to his old army friends. This left him sole survivor, a fact he's adamant is not affecting him at all. It's in the past. It's not his present. He doesn't wake up screaming and crying, or have a perhaps hypocritical reaction if someone else acts as recklessly as he does... that's just not true! Steve couldn't let something like that make him look like less of a "badass"...
• History: Steven Skylar is the son of high ranking general Samuel Eric Skylar. He grew up in his more academic brother Brandon's shadow. Where Brandon got excellent grades, Steven got terrible grades and always got into fights - constantly talked about in high school as the "useless brother". However make no mistake, even to this day the brothers are very close. Steven joined the army shortly after high school. He immediately made a group of friends. He had vastly more friends in the army than he did in high school, and was much happier and more fulfilled. About ten months later, and he wound up assigned to a strange mission alongside them to investigate a laboratory that went dark. It was there Deathtide Leviathan stalked them through the hallways, killed his friends one by one, and even though Steven escaped, it left his most prominent facial scar - and a lifetime's worth of nightmares and nyctophobia. After that started his pronounced attitude issues, as he started engaging in a lot of casual affairs, living as he does now, and all the while planning his revenge on Leviathan. He ultimately got to the front of the line to test out the Strike-Zone Impact, and scored the highest compatibility with it, despite the fact testing out such a prototype design was immensely dangerous.
• Mecha "Name": MK-000 "Strike-Zone Impact"
• Appearance: The Strike-Zone Impact was one of the first American prototypes of their mecha design for fighting the monsters, repurposed and upgraded later on into its present appearance. A plain blank white and red design with numerous blue lines across it crossing at points where the limbs separate, it has a rather familiar head mounted pair of antenna, mouthguard, and pronounced shoulder plates that hold numerous weapons. It comes immediately equipped with a "Focal Beam Energy Rifle", which requires staying mostly still to get a good shot at the foe, doing a lot of damage at one singular point. The elbows and shoulders are also reinforced with projected energy shield technology that both enhances defense and gives the Strike-Zone Impact the ability to...well, impact enemies. It can charge and build up speed and force, its shields able to then smash right through most armor. The back of the machine is set up with a flight pack with added pieces, as if anticipating some sort of added technology that could junction to the machine's back. It also comes with a compact material sword for any enemy energy shields that might show up, and a pair of beam sabers. It further comes equipped with a "Hells Grenade" that manages multiple layered explosions upon activation, and which is small and compact enough to be thrown inside of monsters. The Strike-Zone Impact has a foot design that also comes with a wheel at the back that enables quick sudden movements and adjustment of position. Its waist mounted armor can be utilized as a sort of fired "harken" that can pierce something and then pull the Impact to safety in case of certain issues.
• Mechkna Core: Force Builder: The Strike-Zone Impact's Mechkna Core lets it build up kinetic force with its impacts and hits, and then eventually power up one of its shots or slashes with the stored kinetic energy.

Edited by NickTheSwing on Mar 31st 2021 at 12:33:12 PM

Unfortunately due to sources telling me that you don’t have Discord, I’m afraid I will need to decline at this time. Apologies but it is vital.

Acceoted.

Although I'm not completely certain yet, I'm contemplating signing up and I have a vague character concept in mind, but I do have a few questions about the setting first:

• What year is it in-universe, and how long has it been since the Sky Ring showed up?
• I see technology has advanced due to Sky Ring related phenomena. Have things such as prosthetics advanced as well, or just tech directly related to giant robots?

Edit: Having read through the thread so far, it's clear that the answer to the second question is "yes".

Edited by darksidevoid on May 8th 2021 at 3:19:16 PM

So I went ahead and finished writing a signup before getting an answer anyway, because I was feeling very inspired. I can rework whatever's necessary, especially with regard to the backstory section. This is just a first draft, basically.

• Name: Roderick "Rod" Prophet, Ph.D.
• Age: 60
• Nationality: United States of America
• Appearance: Rod stands tall at 6'9". He is broad-shouldered and surprisingly well-muscled for an old man, though his face displays his age. His hair is short and gray, and he sports a thick, well-trimmed beard. His typical outfit is not unlike the one worn by Indiana Jones: a fedora; a light, short-sleeved, buttonless shirt; khaki pants; dress shoes; and white gloves with dark wristbands, concealing his prosthetic left hand. He is often mistaken for Sean Connery.◊
• Personality: Warm and fatherly, loud and boisterous, open-hearted and quick to make friends, Rod is both an enormous ham and hopeless optimist. Hard life lessons have taught him the importance of taking things slow and steady, and of taking the time kick back and relax when the situation allows. He is gifted with both intellect and cunning, fluent in English, Latin, and Japanese; a brilliant roboticist and programmer; and able to think quickly on his feet. When acting as a pilot, he feels it is important to project the image of a virtuous hero to the public. Though it isn't often roused, his temper is a fiery and intense one, and the quickest way to get on his bad side is to seemingly disregard the lives of the civilians GAKDS is supposed to be protecting. Privately, he is haunted and wracked with guilt over the loss of his loved ones.
• History: Born and raised the youngest of six children on a Texas ranch, Rod showed promise as an engineering prodigy from an early age, and his parents took on second jobs to put his siblings through college (in Rod's case, he earned a scholarship), basically leaving the siblings to raise each other in their absence. During his college years, he became a guitar virtuoso, married his high school sweetheart, and was soon gifted with a bundle of joy in the form of a baby girl. He went on to earn his Masters, but as he was earning his Doctorates in Robotics and Computer Science, he found he was spending less time with his family than he would like — a trend that only worsened soon after he became a Doctor proper, for the Sky Ring appeared, throwing the world into chaos, and his talents were needed in the service of humanity. Over time, Rod began to have eerily prophetic dreams that suffused his life with an almost tangible sense of deja vu, became uncannily prescient when playing cards and games of chance, and regularly got goosebumps whenever something particularly bad was about to happen nearby.
  
  It was only years later, when his beloved wife passed away from cancer without him at her bedside, that Rod realized how badly he had neglected his family, and in a bid to reconnect with his daughter and his young grandson, took the family on a trip to the place the boy most wanted to go for his birthday: Walt Disney World. By all accounts they had a grand old time, if a little awkward at first. It was during a drop in the darkness of Space Mountain that Rod had his most intense vision yet. It was a waking nightmare; the streets of the Magic Kingdom littered with blood and corpses and quaint shops reduced to rubble as a kaiju rampaged and toppled Cinderella Castle. The only thing still standing was a clock, with the time reading three hours from the present.
  
  Desperate to avert this terrible future, Rod hounded the staff relentlessly until by some miracle they listened to his warning and ordered an evacuation of the park with the magic words: "I'm recording this conversation. Do you think the court will find you criminally liable when they hear you were warned about a kaiju attack in advance and did nothing?" Naturally, although there was an attempt to keep order, mass panic resulted, and a huge traffic jam ensued on the roads out of Disney World. It was in the midst of this that Rod's prophecy was realized — as an ordinary man was transmogrified into a kaiju in the middle of the fleeing traffic. Hundreds died as the monster bulldozed through the lines of cars and buses, including Rod's daughter and son-in-law, who were crushed to death right in front of him and his grandson. Losing his left hand in the incident as well, the roboticist obtained a metal prosthetic (that could conveniently send and receive calls like a cellphone), and set about raising his grandchild.
  
  Spurred on by the desire to avert more tragedies, Rod threw himself back into his work on a new project, a giant robot that would later be known as R.E.I.D. — but what little time he spent with his increasingly bitter grandson was fraught with harsh words and cold shoulders, and only a few years later, the boy declared he could no longer stand living with his grandfather, and departed for the house of one of his aunts on his father's side. With work on his giant robot complete and nothing left for him at home, Rod applied to become a GAKDS pilot and began making use of his creation to personally fight back against the kaiju menace that continued to cause untold misery across the globe. Every now and then, however (i.e. at GM discretion), he has unexpectedly vivid visions of the future, and they always prove to be accurate. Unless he works to change it in time, that is...
  
  
• Mecha "Name": R.E.I.D. (Robotum Ex Illa Decertationia)
• Appearance: R.E.I.D. is, in essence, a Texas Ranger in giant robot form, complete with hat (and bonus cape!). Its broad torso and head are blue, with a huge white star stretching across its chest and what looks like a white mask across its green eyes. Its upper arms and upper legs are white, with the bottom half of its legs and the wrists and below on its arms being both red and much bulkier than the rest due to the inclusion of pop-out rocket thrusters. Wicked-looking (or maybe heroic or cool-looking?) white spikes protrude from its knuckles. As expected, it can use its thrusters to fly.
  
  R.E.I.D. is piloted from a spherical cockpit within the torso and operates via a combination of motion sensors and voice commands (so calling out attack names is mandatory). The piloting position and display is most akin to Noriko's cockpit in Gunbuster, with the pilot secured via wrist and foot and a 360 degree visual on the inner surface of the sphere. Voice commands can also be inputted remotely through Rod's prosthetic hand, usually for ease of entering and exiting the mecha.
• Gear/Equipment:
  • American Flag Cape: Detachable cape colored like an American flag. Made of some kind of lightweight and flexible but very durable material, very resistant to piercing and slashing.
  • Beam Pistols (x2): A pair of pistols that shoot moderately strong beams, holstered at R.E.I.D.'s hips. Each can fire several shots before needing to be reholstered to cool down and recharge. They can also be combined and telescope out to form a Double-Barrelled Beam Rifle, which operates with the same restrictions as the pistol form.
  • Boot Spikes: Retractable solid spikes in the bottom of R.E.I.D.'s "boots".
  • Freedom Beam: A star-shaped beam attack fired from the star on R.E.I.D.'s chest. Very powerful, but very energy-intensive, meaning Rod can only use it once per sortie unless his mecha is somehow recharged in the middle of battle.
  • Giant Lasso: A gigantic metal lasso that somehow has the aerodynamics of an ordinary lasso. Can be electrified.
  • Rocket Punch: R.E.I.D.'s wrists are connected to its arms by massive magnets, whose polarity can be reversed while the thrusters in the wrists are firing, allowing for a rocket punch, which Rod can guide via motion controls.
  • Thousand-Gallon Cowboy Hat: Detachable cowboy hat made of a similar material to the cape, but can also block things like lasers and beam attacks, so useful as a shield in a pinch. Also has a razor-sharp rim and is well-balanced, so can be used as a thrown weapon.
• Mechkna Core: Phantom Oracle: Allows Rod to see ghostly images depicting where visible objects will be a few seconds into the future on any displays in a mecha he is piloting.
• Theme Song

In other news, I have been informed that the RP is dead. May it rest in peace.