The Battlebase Chrysanthemum slowly trundled towards Luzon, its main propulsion systems damaged by elite, if confused (and very dead) Yari submariners. Despite the Chrysanthemum unable to provide naval bombardment against Filipino defenders at the landing site, First Mate Bara is nonetheless sent forward aboard an MCV and escorted by some elite soldiers. The Filipino defenders are entrenched on the beaches lobbing shells at her landing force, but she is undeterred, steeled by years of Japanese military training and reassuring words from Commander Dohson. A Shogun Executioner acting as escort/breakthrough unit also helps too.

First Mate Bara's MCV sailed behind the gigantic assault walker as it weeded out pesky Lapu-Lapus. In just one Omega Shockwave, the naval arm of the Philippine Constabulary was immediately decimated, and even liquefied the sandy soil underneath the Filipino entrenchments. Numerous soldiers were swept off their feet, and the only Tirradores dela Muerte in the area was killed when the shockwave destabilized the Kalakihan rounds of his Voronita heavy sniper gun, suddenly expanding within its chamber, smashing the frontal bone and introducing bone fragments into the orbital cavity, embedding sharp bone shards into his eye. It did not matter much for the poor chap however, in a few microseconds his face was crushed by a rapidly-expanding shell, and after a few more microseconds his spine was broken and his brain burst out of every hole, orifice, failed suture, and foramen as his comrades watched their only hope for killing the Japanese juggernaut - the Tirradores' Voronita sniper gun - destroyed. Who knew that writing fan fiction could help in studying for medical school?

The Filipinos were surprised; the news blackout implemented by the Japanese offshore radio-scrambler beacons blocked news reports of the Shogun Executioner crushing Odessa, What they did not know, nor prepare for as well, is that the Shogun Executioner was provided by the Emperor himself to ensure that the Philippines firmly falls into the Empire's hands, for if they would not do so immediately the wily Allies could take over the Philippines instead and deploy a Chronosphere, right within striking range of Tokyo. Therefore, the conquest of the Philippines has become top priority for the Japanese military, and to catalyze its fall the Emperor has also arranged for the elimination of the Philippines' own version of a god-head: the Primate of the Philippines, the highest head of the Catholic Church in the Philippines, the concurrent Archbishop of Manila himself, hopefully to crush Philippine morale.

The archbishop of Manila has just prepared for the early morning mass. Due to fears of Japanese Shinobi much of the Japanese population in the Philippines were transferred in concentration camps, where they were just...kept. Quite literally concentration camps, they were not forced into hard labour, they were not undergoing unethical medical experiments, they were simply just removed from the general Filipino population, isolated in a camp for fear that some of them may actually be the Emperor's Shinobi. They however were removed from their means of livelihood, and with the Imperial Army ravaging through the farms all over the Philippines food has become a rationed item of which the concentration camp-interred Japanese could not exactly get much, but then in comparison the general population could not get much food either. Understandably, the archbishop saw these concentration camps evil, the conditions inside these camps as bad for the poor Japanese, and so he slipped away some of the supposed prisoners into the cathedral to save them from the rather wretched conditions in the camps, as well as convert them to Catholicism, hoping that when the war ends these Japanese people he has saved could go back to mainland Japan and proselytize, saving the souls of the pagan (as defined by the Catholic Church) nation.

The Japanese did not think so, however, because they are actually Shinobi. They were the very Shinobi sent by the Emperor to kill the archbishop, and the archbishop made it ridiculously easy. Sprinkling some nano-poison into the sacramental wine, they quickly slipped out of the cathedral in an American car and drove away...

In-game Unit Profile: Catholitic Converter

Designation: Anti-infantry Support Unit
Manufacturer: Francisco Motors
National Origin: Philippines
Mass-Produced at: Workshop

Accessories:
» Prow prong
» Pews for 20 of the faithful
» Divinely-inspired vehicular engineering
» Watertight design
» The Good News in Sixty Seconds (with gold inlay)

History:

The archbishop did not die. He drank from the sacramental wine, and fell sick. However, some of the Shinobi were able to administer to the archbishop a nano-antidote to the nano-poison quickly after Mass, they being converted to Christianity instead. It was the first time, it seems, that the Shinobi met true, non-romantic love. Not nationalistic love, nor love for the Emperor, no, none of them in Japan seemed to love the Shinobi back for all the effort the Shinobi gives to his countrymen. The Shinobi had to undergo a very difficult training, only to be deployed in espionage missions in a foreign land with a culture far different from Japan, and then reassigned to front-line service under incompetent Japanese commanders who would just let the Shinobi be run over by stupid Hammer Tanks. And if ever they come home, they are not as celebrated as their Imperial Warrior counterparts; indeed, even a simple Shogun Battleship janitor is more respected than a Shinobi simply because the janitor is a Shogun Battleship crew member, and that Shinobi are just plain mysterious and thus not very likely to be trusted by a Japanese commoner.

The attempt on the archbishop's life has also changed the stance of the Philippine Catholic Church from a Christian pacifist type of a conscientious objector, to one that would support the Philippine Constabulary in its defense of the Filipino people, Christian or not, against the heathen murderers. However, it still is rather clear that killing people is a sin, and so the Philippine Catholic Church has to somehow assist in the defense of the Philippines without even attempting to kill any Japanese person. How do you do that?

By praying, of course. And by divine inspiration, the clergy has seen the Japanese soldiers beyond the guns, beyond the armor, beyond the ideology and the nation, beyond even flesh itself; they are in all finality just souls. They are some of the best soldiers from a military aspect, but are some of the most wretched souls from a spiritual aspect; though well-equipped to deal with any physical threat their souls are weak, and are in need of Christ's salvation, and only He can save them. And to further bolster faith that the Japanese could be converted to Christianity, the Catholics received very specific instructions similar to Ezekiel 40-42 and Genesis 6-9 which lead to the creation of a divinely-inspired combustion engine instead of a ship and a temple; amazingly, the simple construction, reasonable efficiency and reliability, and sheer power for weight meant that this odd one-off engine is the Holy Grail of heat engine engineering. In addition, an armour protection at optimum angle and design, a seating mechanism most ergonomic, and superior tread design gave this vehicle considerable toughness at minimum weight, with maximum power and thus speed and handling at a small cost. Comfortable pews within the vehicle indicate that this vehicle is a transport, used to transport the faithful safely from one place to another, while the watertight design and propulsion system meant that with this vehicle the priest could drive over water the same way his Master walked over it. Its divine design also blesses and inspires troops around it, giving them fortitude, healing, and zeal. Its odd architecture also slows down enemy units around it as they try to comprehend what they are seeing; a rolling cathedral in the middle of battle is surely a sight worth pondering upon.

However, what made this vehicle even more unique is that it had no specifications whatsoever for a turret, cannon, or even gun mount, instead having a soft, squishy 'bulldozer' blade at the very front with a very slight angle, leading upwards into a rather large chute that in turn leads into the vehicle instead. Taking inspiration from the Shinobi converts that saved his life, the Archbishop of Manila looked at the design and concluded, rightly, that its primary purpose is to convert the Japanese masses to Christianity. In the heat of battle.

What?

It carries soldiers to the front lines quickly with reasonable protection, unlike the Martel Tank that instead exposes the infantry to attack while transporting them. Not only that, the Catholitic Converter carries 20 soldiers; no wonder it resembles a cathedral with a prong, which makes it uncrushable by an Assault Destroyer as well. While being heavily armored and uncrushable, it still has very good speed and acceleration, and is able to outrun and out-maneouvre even a Multigunner IFV. Indeed, it is everything one could wish for in a transport: speed, armor, and capacity - but no guns. The priests would not allow it; they would not let even a simple rifle even pop out of the Catholitic Converter's window, much less heavy guns. They are in the battlefield to proselyte, not to kill, and to do so they and their cheap speedy heavy transport are to go forth and make disciples of all nations - literally. Seriously. The front prong led into the vehicle for a reason, and that is to run over enemy infantry until the force of impact pushes them up the soft 'bulldozer' ramp into the vehicle where priests would disarm the stunned infantry, heal his wounds with a miracle (much to the surprise of the soldier), and then preach to the hapless infantryman about Jesus' love for them all, Jews and Gentiles, Filipinos and Japanese.

With theological finesse the soldier would be convinced that God is real, very powerful, and very loving, except human sin ruined His relationship with man. Since man is too sinful to approach God, or appease His wrath, God sent His only Son Jesus Christ to take humanity's sins, and in doing so Jesus Christ sacrificed Himself by taking God's punishment for our sin, in our stead, granting salvation to humans who would accept it. Finally, accepting this salvation could only be done by a person if he or she would personally believe in the Son, named Jesus Christ, and accept Him as Lord and Savior. That is the very core of Christianity, and that is the weapon the Church has prepared: a simple, yet effective spiritual weapon. Any priest could serve inside the vehicle by saving souls for the Lord Jesus Christ, and by the power the Holy Spirit vested in them, they could convert even the most hardened Japanese infantryman to Christianity in 60 seconds flat.

However, the Catholic Church, despite in the proselytizing business for centuries, did not quite factor in modern Japanese ideals. The soldier's zeal to serve the Emperor is replaced by the zeal to serve Christ, in the only way he knows: doing battle, and every too often after conversion to Christianity the convert would suddenly jump out of his seat, grab his weapons from the priest, jump out of the door, and fight his heathen former comrades to protect his new faith. The priests are working on how to tell their new converts that killing is bad, but for the time being locking the door out of the vehicle is all they could do.

Game unit:

It is cheap, very fast, and very tough. It is also amphibious; however it is completely unarmed. It looks like a cathedral, with a prow at front. It could transport 20 foot soldiers, and is so big that it could not be crushed by an Apocalypse Tank. It augments friendly units' armor, attack and movement speed, and healing in an area around it including itself, while slowing down enemies' attack and movement speed at the same time. And finally, it could be used to run over enemy soldiers, in which they are stored in the vehicle, counting to the 20-person transport capacity of the Catholitic Converter. Once inside, they are converted within a minute to your side, after which they are now ready to fight as your loyal infantry. However, infantry could not fire from inside the vehicle since the priests insist that the vehicle is a sanctuary; infantry must get out of the vehicle before engaging hostile forces, to defend the faith by beating off the persecuters.

Needless to say, its special ability is the ability to disembark passengers, be they your own infantry, or converted once-enemy troops.

Notes From the Field:

Ark - It could float through the flood and carry two of every kind inside all the way to Mount Sinai; however for the purposes of the Constabulary it could float through bodies of water and carry 20 troops very, very quickly instead.

Temple - The Temple is a well-built structure (compared to the Tabernacle, which is just a tent instead) where Jews rest and realign themselves with God; within it the Ark of the Covenant resides which, as its history suggests, tend to hurt those enemies of Israel who took it. Similarly, the Catholitic Converter is a very solidly-built vehicle that improves friendly unit healing, armor, movement, and attack, while slowing down enemies at the same time.

Discipler - By running down, or rather up a pillowy ramp, enemy troops, they are then stored inside the vehicle along with your own troops where they are converted to Catholicism in about one minute of game time. After that one minute, these converted troops are willing and eager to fight for you instead, in defense of their new faith.

Thou shalt not kill - The priests are unwilling to kill. They would also not allow anybody to shoot from inside their vehicle, they would not allow weapons to mounted in their vehicle, and if the vehicle is full and unable to comfortably store more soldiers in its pews, the driver would not even run over enemy soldiers or tanks (had there been space, the enemy infantry could have been converted instead), driving around them instead. Understandably, this means that the Catholitic Converter could not harm aircraft, tanks, ships or buildings at all.