Pride:
From Ashes
Chapter
31
Curses
and Blessings
Thursday, December 30, 2021
Saturday, December 11, 2021
Sunday, December 5, 2021
Preliminary Report: Lion Armaments
MILITARY NOTICE
We've received a tactical assessment of the Great Lions from their pilots, per my request. Resulting document is to be considered classified intelligence, military and Crown only. Translated copy is secured in locker 5 in the shared planning chamber, standard access protocols. Please read it there. If anyone loses this document, I will make you transcribe a new one, whether I formally have the authority or not.
—Captain Sarial Kadrisse, Dolce Vita Militia
Tactical overview of the lions for the militia, as requested. Voltron formation is not discussed here; we don't know enough yet, and if an engagement comes to needing Voltron the ground troops should probably be getting to cover. Capabilities are mostly based on training and field observation, though Hunk and I have started to make progress on accessing the lions' onboard schematics... emphasis on 'started'.
In the interests of completeness, asterisks denote a weapon that isn't visible in the lion's resting state. These are hidden in the hull structure and can be deployed in a matter of seconds, but seconds count in combat. I've added some context and usage notes when appropriate, though it feels worth reminding them that even we aren't experts.
—Pidge
All Lions
- Bite Attack
- Deals heavy crushing damage in a relatively small area. Situational, but powerful.
- Some lions have enhancements.
- Claw Attack
- Deals impact damage and can deal slashing or piercing damage depending on the attack angle. Less powerful but much more versatile than the bite attack.
- Some lions have enhancements.
- Jaw Blades
- Blades held within the mouth, made of crystallized energy and generated on command.
- Each lion has a unique blade style.
- Armor Restoration
- When a lion's armor is dented or warped by damage without significant loss of the metal, it can rapidly self-repair. Large amounts of incoming damage can and will still overwhelm this function.
- Armor Assimilation
- The lions can run a special charge through areas of patched armor, altering the molecular structure of any conductive metal into their own unique alloy.
- This process becomes exponentially slower the larger the patch is. A heavily damaged lion may take hours or, theoretically, days after patching is complete to be considered fully repaired.
Black Lion
- Elemental Cannon
- Fires a high-voltage lightning blast from the mouth, capable of chaining between targets.
- Jaw Blade
- Long tapered blades pointing to the sides, heavy blunt edge (suitable for ramming) to the front.
- Enhanced Bite
- Elemental cannon can safely fire while biting, delivering electricity directly into the damaged area.
- Ion Cannons *
- Large shoulder-mounted cannons with three firing modes:
- Plasmatic Pulse: Fires a slightly oscillating wave of ionized plasma that deals heavy damage and disrupts electronic systems.
- Ionic Pulse: Fires a short burst of electromagnetic energy that disrupts lightly or unprotected systems without causing damage.
- Ionic Piercer: Fires a charged armor-piercing projectile that delivers a massive electrical shock after penetrating its target.
- Gauss Rifles
- Wing-mounted cannons that fire magnetically-propelled solid metal slugs.
- Slugs are highly conductive, and may be useful to attract lightning from other weapons.
- Shock Tail
- Fires a precise bolt of electricity at range, or delivers a massive disruptive charge on contact.
- Armor
- Heavy, optimized to hide energy signatures and resist electromagnetic interference.
Red Lion
- Elemental Cannon
- Fires a column of lava from the mouth, capable of melting weaker targets and covering sturdier targets in a thin layer of volcanic glass.
- Jaw Blade
- Jagged blades pointing to the sides.
- Enhanced Claw
- Claws can be superheated, causing extra damage and weakening the target's armor.
- Multiple Fire Array *
- Shoulder-mounted weapons arrays with energy barrels and single-missile launchers capable of firing multiple warhead types:
- Plasma Darts: Small rapid-fire precision plasma bolts.
- Heavy Laser: Wide continuous-beam laser.
- Standard Missiles: High explosive heat-seeking warheads.
- Inferno Missiles: Unguided missiles that release a burning compound on impact.
- Cluster Bombs: Grenades that explode into multiple incendiary munitions on impact. Can be remotely detonated.
- Heat Mirage
- Pulses of heat can be generated by the main radiator fins to disrupt heat-based sensors and damage insufficiently heat shielded enemies.
- Mirage Lion: Creates a fiery projection of the lion which serves as a sensor decoy and damages anything it contacts.
- Tail Laser
- Fires a hyperconcentrated stream of flame (not an actual laser, but close enough) that functions like a powerful cutting torch.
- Armor
- Moderate, optimized to nullify energy signatures and resist heat and flame.
Green Lion
- Elemental Cannon
- Creates a cyclone along a straight axis from the mouth. Works in space, somehow.
- Jaw Blade
- Narrow blades pointing to the sides, with small spikes pointing forward.
- Enhanced Claw
- Claws maintain a molecular edge at the tips.
- Tactical Cannon
- Back-mounted multifunction cannon, capable of firing plasma or launching tactical ordnance pods:
- Particle Stream: Fires a dense, continuous stream of very small plasma darts.
- Plasma Bolts: Fires heavy plasma bursts. Less accurate but more damaging than the particle stream.
- Shrapnel Pod: Deploys a pod that can be remotely detonated to create a large field of metal fragments as chaff and/or an anti-personnel measure.
- Flare Pod: Deploys a pod that generates a decoy heat signature. Can be remotely detonated to create either a larger heat decoy field or a smokescreen.
- Scrambler Pod: Deploys a pod that broadcasts disruptive electronic signals and wave distortion over a wide area.
- Tracker Pod: Deploys a pod that attaches a tracking beacon to the target.
- Tail Blades
- Twin blades which can be used as a melee weapon or fired at range.
- Cloaking
- Renders the lion fully invisible to visual and most sensors, prevents use of ranged weaponry.
- Requires a few moments to engage. Can be disrupted by taking fire while engaging, or taking a significant impact while active.
- Armor
- Light, optimized to minimize sensor signatures.
Blue Lion
- Elemental Cannon
- Fires a large column of supercooled water from the mouth that freezes on contact, encasing targets in ice.
- Jaw Blade
- Trident style with all blades facing forward.
- Enhanced Bite
- Unique fang structure leaves exploitable puncture wounds.
- Eye Beams
- Powerful beams of light that can illuminate long distances, particularly in water, or be focused into damaging high precision lasers.
- Missile Launchers *
- Three-missile launchers, one on each shoulder and a scaled-up but otherwise identical launcher on the back. Capable of firing multiple warhead types:
- Standard Missiles: Unguided high explosive warheads.
- Cryogenic Missiles: Unguided missiles that release a freezing compound upon impact.
- Icebreaker Missiles: Cold-seeking armor-piercing missiles.
- Torpedoes: Guided high explosive warheads specialized for use underwater.
- Particle Projector Cannon *
- Back-mounted siege cannon which fires multiple small interweaving streams of charged particles as a single large beam, deals massive damage but fully drains weapon power.
- Claw Missiles
- Small, highly agile guided missiles launched from the front paws.
- Freeze Tail
- Precision beam that supercools anything it hits.
- Armor
- Heavy, optimized to resist cold and pressure.
Yellow Lion
- Elemental Cannon
- Fires a column of sand from the mouth that functions as an extremely powerful sandblaster.
- Jaw Blade
- Two narrow tapered blades that can shift between pointing forward or to the sides.
- Enhanced Bite
- Jaw structure tends to do damage by shearing rather than crushing, allowing for significantly increased damage.
- Plasma Launcher
- Back-mounted plasma cannon with two firing modes:
- Plasma Mortar: Launches a large sphere of highly charged plasma on a ballistic trajectory. Explodes on impact.
- Plasma Beam: Fires a solid stream of plasma.
- Note that the launcher naturally aims roughly 45 degrees upward when Yellow is standing straight.
- Tail Hammer
- It's a hammer. On the tail.
- Armor
- Very heavy, optimized versus impact damage.
Monday, November 29, 2021
Saturday, November 13, 2021
Saturday, October 30, 2021
Saturday, October 16, 2021
Saturday, September 25, 2021
Saturday, September 11, 2021
Saturday, August 28, 2021
Saturday, August 14, 2021
Wednesday, July 28, 2021
Wednesday, July 14, 2021
Wednesday, June 30, 2021
Wednesday, June 16, 2021
Wednesday, May 19, 2021
Saturday, May 8, 2021
Wednesday, April 14, 2021
Thursday, April 8, 2021
Overview: Baltan Mythology
Baltan religion has not been seriously observed for more than ten thousand years, yet their religious beliefs color nearly every aspect of their society. This seeming paradox makes more sense when their beliefs are understood: while Baltans by and large do not worship their gods, it would be inaccurate to say they don't believe in their gods. Rather, they believe the gods are indifferent enough to mortals that attempting to appease them is generally a waste of time.
Baltans recognize three pantheons of seven deities each: the Aroira, the Tairra, and the Kezra. Much can be drawn from these three pantheons about the Baltan psyche. The Aroira, the highest pantheon which rules over the universe, is composed of scientists whose knowledge allows them to command, control, and predict all things. The Tairra, the middle-ranking pantheon, is composed of deadly ninjas whose martial prowess allows them to rule and guard the hells. And the Kezra, the lowest pantheon, represent the elements of the natural world—they are massive, powerful, fearsome-looking creatures, but unfailingly loyal and subservient to the higher pantheons.
The universe is believed to be an experiment carried out by the Aroira, while all mortals are the experiment's variables. The Baltans believe themselves to be the 'favored' variables of their gods, but also believe the gods prefer not to interfere with mortals at all lest they contaminate their experiment; the interaction of these two primary tenets of faith is the heart of most Baltan religious philosophy. One of the most common beliefs is that the shinori are the control group by which all other variables are to be judged, but this is far from universally held.
Wednesday, March 31, 2021
Wednesday, March 17, 2021
Wednesday, March 3, 2021
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