BONUS FEATURE! GUNDAM PROFILES!
A/N: This isn't Chapter 3, but a section devoted to the new Gundams. As I update, this chapter will be shunted ahead of each update.
When I came up with these redesigns, I was inspired by many things from both Transformers and Gundam. From the Gundam world, Hajime Katoki's excellent retro-designs of the original five-Gundams provided much inspiration. Mr. Katoki is famed for creating the similar designs for Endless Waltz.
I also received inspiration from the GW manga side-story G-unit, also known as Last Outpost, which describes the adventures of asteroid colony MO-V and its experimental G-Unit Gundams. There are some excellent mecha in this three-volume series, most designed by the treacherous Dr. Berg (more on him later). Trowa refers to MO-V in Chapter 2 while talking with G-unit character Lon Serman, so these mecha may later make an appearance in this fic.
From Transformers I was inspired by the fantastic pre-G1 designs from Dreamwave's War Within comic.
Then, you throw in all of my own half-baked ideas and you get this.
DISCLAIMER:
This is difficult. All of these machines are inspired by copyrighted mecha, but also my own ideas. Therefore, I don't own them, so if people want to use them in their fics, feel welcome - just please e-mail me to let me know. To clarify what's mine in these machines and what's not here's the basic genealogy of the new suits.
WING ZERO CUSTOM: Now a cross between the EW design and the series mecha, with a new paint-job, transformation, buster-rifle and engines.
WING GUNDAM GABRIELLE: A direct copy of the Katoki Wing redesign, which later inspired EW Wing Zero. I tweaked the buster-rifle, shield and transformation a bit, but that's it.
DEATHSCYTHE OMEGA: Hajime Katoki's Deathscythe meets Skyfire from The War Within, with the Hell Custom thrown in for good measure. The variable beam scythe however, is my own creation.
HEAVYARMS BLITZ: Katoki's retro-design, mixed with War Within Megatron and painted up in the colour scheme from EW. The beam whips however, are mine.
SANDROCK SCARAB: Again, a Katoki concept fused with War Within Optimus Prime. The Castor-rifles I dreamt up in a boring Physics class and I adapted the name from the anime 'Outlaw Star'.
ALTRON HYDRA: This is basically the EW Altron but with the dragon-fangs modified to resemble those on Katoki's Shenlong. I also added the beam cannons from the series Altron but modified their configuration.
All of the following have PJ engines modified from G-Unit's LO Booster Gundam.
TALLGEESE: Tallgeese 3's weapons and face-plate, with an actual head crossed between Tallgeese 1. and G-Unit's Asklepios. Asklepios also influenced some of the body-work, but I tired to add something from each original Gundam and the Leo to show that this is the Grandfather of all MS.
DARKFLIGHT/WHITEFLIGHT: I like these things. They are mine! Influenced by the Taurus, Gemini suits and the G-Unit Gundams LO Booster and Greipe, and some Epyon in Darkflight. Darkflight's colours were inspired by the time my computer's DVD-ROM went on the fritz and inverted all the colours on my EW DVD! Marimaia's Tauruses look cool in black and blue. Interestingly, Deathscythe's scythe came out blood-red and yellow beam energy turned purple!
ZENITH: There is a Gundam Aquarius in one of the Gundam video-games, but I only took the Anti-MD spine concept from this. This machine is essentially Epyon but without the EPYON System and different armaments/armour/engines/colours. I also thought up the name Zenith.
A/N: Well, with the longest Disclaimer I've ever written complete, here's the actual Specs, with a full history for each suit as well. Just one Warning; this can at times get technical. If you get confused by all the sciency talk, I suggest you shut your computer down and watch some infant-themed TV to bring you back down to Earth. Pokemon, Sailor Moon, or anything featuring George W Bush Junior, Tony Blair or Saddam Hussein (also known as the Three Stooges) is highly recommended.
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ESGW-00B Gundam Wing Zero Custom
(XXXG-00W0)
Unit function: General Combat, All Terrain, Space
Head height: 16.7m
Base weight: 8t
Armor: Gundanium, Kevlar
Designed: AC180, AC199
Designer: J,G,S,H,O, Lon Serman
Pilot: Heero Yuy
Armament: Twin Buster Rifle, Beam Sword (x2), Machine-Cannon (x2), Wing Vulcan (x2)
Equipment: Plasma-Jet Engine (x2), ZERO System
Fighting Ability: 200
Weapons Ability: 160
Speed Ability: 200
Power Ability: 140
Armored Ability: 150
Total: 850
History:
Wing Zero is perhaps the third oldest of all combat mobile suits. Though the Leo was built before-hand, it can be reasoned that it does not count as it is a downgrade of the Tallgeese. The second oldest MS is the Taurus (see under Whiteflight/Darkflight).
The story of the Wing Zero begins with the design of the Tallgeese, AC174. Though that worthy machine was one of the most powerful ever built, the design team's original blueprint was rejected by OZ as it exceeded their budget.
Five copies of this blueprint were deposited in the OZ files, but were taken by each of the scientists when they abandoned the project in the wake of the April 7 AC175 assassination of Heero Yuy. Though they believed the file deleted, the did not know that several back-ups existed (which were later to cause numerous headaches for pretty much everyone in the Earthsphere).
During the next five years each scientist worked on their individual blueprints in isolation, until they were able to arrange a meeting in AC180, their intention being to develop a Gundam to fight OZ and atone for their sin of bestowing the curse of the MS on the world. Their individual designs were brought together, and refined into a single design.
Japanese National Dr. J (unofficial leader of the team) had by this point come-up with a suitable base blueprint for the final product. As on the Tallgeese, he was also electrical engineer for the project.
South American Professor G was responsible mainly for the reactor & propulsion systems. Because he was still in contact with their fellow engineer Howard he was able to obtain the designs for Tallgeese's engines though OZ had sold the patent to the Vernier Rocket & Engine company.
British Doktor S was able to put his armaments knowledge to use to design the weaponry, and together with G improved on J's concept beam rifle. They reputedly had several heated arguments while working together and as a joke they named their final device the Buster Rifle, as they 'nearly busted each other up over it'.
Instructor H as before, designed the programming. On the practical side he devoted most of his time to also writing the programming that would cast the genetic alloy Gundanium into armour plating.
Finally African Master O worked the mechanical systems into an extremely simple, but workable and versatile design. It is also believed that he with his ethnic background finalised the Gundam's exterior styling.
Together the five scientists were also able to develop their concept of a 'neural interface' between suit and pilot into a finalised control-system, the Zoning Emotion Response & Omission or ZERO System. This was incorporated into the design of the Gundam, and combined with its flight ability, leant to it the name of Gundam Wing Zero.
Before they could put Wing Zero into production however, the scientists were found out and forced to scatter to different colonies, where they continued to develop their Gundam designs while posing as civilians under new identities. It is curious to note that there was still a sense of teamwork among the scattered group; their designs retaining J's basic concept, G's Minovsky science, S's Vulcan Guns and Machine-Cannons, H's programming and manufacturing process, and O's mechanical designs and exterior styling. At the same time, all five realised the dangers of the ZERO System and scrapped it from their designs. The Wing Zero however, continued to exist merely on paper and computer data...
...Until AC195, when Gundam pilot Quatre Winner required a replacement for the Sandrock suit H had built, and found the Zero blueprints in his family's database. After construction, he became the Zero's first pilot and quickly came under the mind-warping influence of the ZERO. After many months however, he was able to overcome this disability and master the ZERO.
In those months however, Wing Zero had come under the guardianship of Heero Yuy, who remained its pilot throughout the conflicts of AC195 and 196.
Despite it's brilliance of design and unmatched superiority over the other Gundams, the Wing Zero design was still nearly twenty years old by AC198, when the Transformers were discovered. While Howard and Chris Latta slavishly worked out modifications for the other four Gundams using transformer tech, Isla Nublar facility Engineer Lon Serman was ordered to manufacture the new components, and given Carte Blanche to redesign the remaining Gundams as he saw fit.
Wing Zero, in the Gundam heritage of sharing ideas and technologies, was rebuilt inside and out with parts from it's MS brothers and cousins. Internally, though the basic layout remained the same, Serman was able to replace most of the original systems with the twenty-years of technology that had surpassed it.
Elsewhere, the original Vernier reactor by-product engines, still twenty- years old, were replaced with the next generation of indirect-plasma propulsion, where fuel elements are forced through the reactor space, being released as a superheated plasma which not only gives enormous thrust, but is non-polluting and can recycle any substance as fuel. These engines have variable modes as well. For sub-atmospheric manoeuvres the engines retain their sleek appearance and have very little movement. Outside of the atmosphere however, the thrust from the engine is redirected through numerous 'feathers', which open up from the underside of the manifold. These spread the thrust out for more uniform acceleration and allow incredible manoeuvrability because these can flex and bend almost like a bird's wing.
Externally, it became impossible to fit everything within the original Gundanium casing, so spare armour from the parallel Wing Gundam project was used where possible. Of all Gundams the most closely related, Wing Zero and Wing now resemble each other to the nth degree (the heads and upper torsos are physical twins), but still manage to retain their own identities. The style of the Zero's limb armour is very mechanical, with shaved-off corners and angular, straight edges rather than the curving lines of Wing Gabrielle. The paint scheme reflects this, ranging towards the darker end of the spectrum with heavy reds and blues. Lighter colours are used sparingly, and white is reserved solely for the exposed portions of the legs and arms.
The Buster Rifle received minor modifications to reduce it's weight and increase its efficiency, but is basically the same. The main improvement to the weapons is that the Beam Sabres have been replaced with Beam Swords which are powered directly from the MS's reactor and thus cannot loose power (as occurred in the final battle of AC195 before Heero could destroy the reactor of a chunk of the space battleship Libra.)
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ESGW-01B Gundam Wing Gabrielle
(XXXG-01W)
Unit function: General Purpose, All Terrain
Head height: 16.3m
Base weight: 7.1t
Armor: Gundanium
Designed: AC188, AC199
Designer: Doctor J, Lon Serman
Pilot: Relena Dorlain
Armament: Buster Rifle, Beam Sabre (x2), Machine-Cannon (x2), Vulcan Gun (x2), Fighting Ability: 200
Weapons Ability: 160
Speed Ability: 210
Power Ability: 120
Armored Ability: 130
Total: 820
History:
In AC188 the rogue scientists were approached by militant pro-colonist Quinze, formerly a member of Heero Yuy's cabinet. Quinze proposed that each build a mecha to fight OZ and gain revenge for the assassination of Yuy, while actually planning to use them in the barbaric 'Operation Meteor' he and Dekim Barton had devised. This involved dropping a colony on Earth and then sending the Gundams in during the aftermath to assert control over the surviving population (though civilian deaths in excess of 2 billion were estimated).
Dr. J's machine was constructed on colony L1C1013 but without the financial backing of the Barton Foundation by J's own choice. Preferring to seek the aid of people he trusted, J received materials and capitol from a guerrilla army located in the L1 cluster. Originally it was planned that one of these rebels would pilot the completed machine, but that plan was laid aside when J discovered an orphaned boy wandering the streets and offered him the opportunity to pilot a Gundam. Ironically, this same child is actually the adopted son of Odin Lowe, the assassin who had shot Heero Yuy in AC175.
The five Gundams were built gradually over a seven year period. Given the considerable resources of the rebel army the Wing Zero J was building could have been completed in a fraction of this time but J suspected both Quinze and Dekim of planning to overthrow Earth and not just strike back at OZ. Some espionage by the five scientists later proved that hunch correct and J began delaying construction in order to plan a solution.
He decided to subvert 'Operation Meteor' by training his young pilot to strike against OZ and OZ alone. To this end, that young man went through a barrage of merciless training intended not only to build his body and hone his skills but remove him of all emotion and feeling to better his function as a weapon. Consequently this child was seemingly drained of all humanity.
At the same time J downgraded the MS he was building from Wing Zero to his original blueprint (albeit with modifications to improve it's armament and efficiency) as he did not want to risk the Barton's gaining control of a machine as powerful as the Zero. The end result retained the same armament but sacrificed speed, power, the uber-efficient Buster Rifle design and of course the insanely brilliant ZERO System but still remained a fast and powerful machine suited to both long and close-range combat.
Prior to being launched to Earth on April 7th AC195 J confirmed his pilot's orders to strike against OZ and then bestowed the code-name Heero Yuy on his 'weapon.'
During the following months Wing was used successfully against OZ before being self-detonated and subsequently rebuilt. Shortly after however, Heero took on the custody of Wing Zero and rarely used Wing again.
It's only appearance in the Eve Wars of December 195 was when it was hijacked by OZ officer Ann Une who placed it in the path of a barrage from the Battleship Libra intended to strike down World Nation ruler Trieze Kushrenada. Though badly damaged, Wing was subsequently recovered in secret by the newly formed Earthsphere Security Services (or Preventers).
Placed in storage at their Isla Nublar facility but not repaired, Wing's future seemed bleak, though Preventer mechanic Lon Serman had taken a shine to it and prepared blueprints for modifications to take it above and beyond it's limitations. Serman finally got authorisation to modify Wing in AC198 and quickly fitted the new components he had secretly designed and constructed.
Like Wing Zero, Wing was fitted with Plasma Jet Engines installed in a new set of wing binders, retaining the translucent, almost insectile style of their predecessors but now redesigned to have a greater aesthetic appeal. The Buster Rifle has also been modified to now fire continuously instead of needing to recharge after every three shots in its previous incarnation.
Internally, the cockpit retains the traditional twin collective layout but has received the addition of a 3D radar system like the Wing Zero. Finally, the redundant computers and sensors in the green chest housing have finally been put to their original use; the feeding of data to the ZERO System. Realising full well however that any new pilot would initially not be able to handle the ZERO, Serman put in a lock-out circuit to prevent it automatically activating with the suit; a simple key (in his possession) is needed to complete the circuit.
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ESGW-02C Gundam Deathscythe Omega
(XXXG-01D2)
Unit function: Stealth, All Terrain
Head height: 16.3m
Base weight: 7.4t
Armor: Gundanium
Designed: AC188, AC195, AC198
Designer: J,G,S,H,O, Howard Calahan, Chris Latta
Pilot: Duo Maxwell
Armament: Variable Beam Scythe, Vulcan Gun (x2), Buster Sheild (x2), Doberlauncher (x2).
Equipment: Stealth Plating, Hyper Jammers (x2).
Fighting Ability: 210
Weapons Ability: 170
Speed Ability: 170
Power Ability: 120
Armored Ability: 140
Total: 810
History:
The Gundam of Professor G was initially not built on a single colony. After several months of merging his independent concept with the refinements of the Wing Zero, G approached old friend Howard Calahan, now operator of the Sweepers Organization. The Sweepers were a government-sanctioned group authorised to clean up 300 years of space junk. Most of the salvage was sold as scrap but some historic artefacts were sanctioned for preservation including former Apollo stages and the Space Shuttle Atlantis, which was set adrift at the end of its life rather than suffer the ignobility of scrap.
Professor G was a brilliant if arrogant man. Determined to prove the superiority of Minovsky weapons over conventional firearms (an old argument between himself and Doktor S), he spent most of his time devising how to scatter the surplus reactor energy in order to totally shield his Gundam from tracking devices. The result of this effort; the Hyper-Jammers were retained on every version of his machine.
Partly inspired by the engravings of 18th century engraver Gustav Dore, G styled his masterpiece in the appearance of a hellish demon. Carrying on this concept and his personal opinions on armaments he also designed a fiendishly wicked beam scythe. Other than standard Vulcan Guns and Machine Cannons, the Gundam's only other weapon was an intricate 'Buster Shield' a device which not only provided a shield against enemy fire, but which could also project a beam blade of it's own and be fired into enemy troops via air-impulse.
The machine he had named 'Deathscythe' was built in sections at the Sweepers' various installations. Constructed from salvaged parts and recycled materials it was the cheapest of the five Gundams but the one that took the longest to built. The basic components were first brought together on Colony L2V08744 in AC192 and testing and pilot training commenced while the various subsystems and weapons were built and installed.
Eventually, G informed the Barton's that Deathsycthe was completed and ready for the launch date of April 7th AC195, though he knew full well how they intended to use it. By this point however the young pilot was also aware of the truth of Operation Meteor and attempted to subvert the mission on April 6th. G confronted him and suggested he 'steal' Deathscythe and take it to Earth to carry out attacks on OZ as his pseudonym - "The God of Death.". With that, G and American teen Duo Maxwell parted, after G passed on the name of Howard as a reliable ally.
Deathsycthe served with distinction in the wars of 195, at one point being updated to the more formidable Deathscythe Hell by all 5 scientists while imprisoned by OZ. It's career however seemed ended on Christmas day AC196 when it and the other four Gundams were all destroyed by their pilots.
However the five machines were all reconstructed by the Preventers the following year. Again however, Deathscythe was sacrificed by pilot Maxwell in the Artic after the activation of deranged Transformer Starscream.
Technically, the Deathscythe Omega is a whole new machine, but since some parts from the original were salvaged and reused, it can be said that there is a continuous link through all three machines.
Like the original machine, it carries Hyper-Jammers and now two Buster Shields. The only other long-range weapons other than the Vulcan Guns are the two shoulder-mounted Dober-launchers, effectively two rail-guns loaded with Grenades.
The Twin Beam Scythe is now perhaps the most versatile beam weapon in the world. It is a simple concept; two adjustable beam projectors are mounted on a collapsible staff. Because the position of the blades can be altered a variety of different weapons can be generated, from varied scythes (single, twin and large) to pikes and tridents. In combat either of the projectors can also be removed and held like a sword-hilt, allowing Deathscythe to fight with a pair of beam sabres.
Though the active-cloak of the Hell has been removed, Deathscythe has gained an aircraft transformation, a Mach-7 version of the Soviet Mig-31 or Firefox. This along with its improved engines make the Omega one of the fastest and most versatile mecha in the Earthsphere.
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ESGW-03C Gundam Heavyarms Blitz
(XXXG-01H2)
Unit function: Artillery Support, All Terrain
Head height: 16.7t
Base weight: 8.2t
Armor: Gundanium
Designed: AC188, AC195, AC198
Designer: Doktor S, Howard Calahan (x2), Chris Latta
Pilot: Trowa Barton
Armament: Beam Gatling, Dual Gatling Gun (x2), Chest Gatling (x4), Homing Missile (x44), Micromissile (x48), Beam Whip (x2), Heat Machette (x2).
Equipment: Minovsky Generator (x2).
Fighting Ability: 150
Weapons Ability: 210
Speed Ability: 130
Power Ability: 140
Armored Ability: 180
Total: 810
History:
Doktor S was the scientist who initially suspected Quinze and Dekim; having worked at a Barton Foundation factory prior to designing the Tallgeese, he doubted the militaristic Dekim was one to support revenge of his pacifist nemesis Heero Yuy. Consequently, S opted to use the offered supplies, finances and facilities of the Barton Foundation in order to both build his machine and do some spying from inside the Foundation.
The downside to taking up Dekim's offer was that a pre-chosen pilot was forced on S, his equally fanatical pro-colonist son Trowa.
As stated S was a advocate of conventional munitions. Having taught military history at the Sandhurst Military Academy in Britain as well as study engineering he was well versed in the various means man had devised to slaughter one another. Therefore, he decided to style his Gundam's primary weapons on his favourite firearm; the Gatling Cannon. This was based on aesthetic appeal as well as the gun's efficiency, as demonstrated in the American Civil War.
As well as two standard artillery Gatlings mounted in the machine's chest, S conceded to the changing times by adding a giant Beam Gatling to the left arm; this fired the same amount of energy as the Buster Rifle, but spread it out over a longer time period and a wider area.
For extra firepower, S added a battery of both micro and homing missiles. The lone close-range weapon was the recessed army knife in the right forearm, a superheated blade which was later shown to be very useful as a last resource.
By the time construction had began on colony L3X18999, S had discovered the truth behind 'Operation Meteor' and circulated this to the other scientists. Rather than subvert his project however, S continued with construction and hoped to turn either Dekim or Trowa at the last second.
On the evening of April 6th, S presented his suggested list of targets to Trowa. Angered that S had never planned to go along with Dekim's plan, the headstrong youth declared he would announce S's treachery, at which point S's assistant shot him in the back, a man with family on Earth who he did not want murdered by the sadistic Bartons.
The only witness to the murder was a nameless technician who offered to become Heavyarms' guardian, but openly stated he had no interest in civilian deaths. From that moment on, that youth took on the name of Trowa Barton.
Like it's brothers, Heavyarm's fought admirably on Earth, but did not return to space with it's pilot. Hidden on Earth, Heavyarms was delivered to Howard for modifications for space combat in return for the Eve Wars, in which it placed a vital role as the Heavyarms Kai. However, just like the other four Gundams it was eventually destroyed in December AC196.
Like them though it was reconstructed by the Preventers and fought in several smaller battles before being severely damaged by the Deceptidrone troops of Onslaught. Consequently it was rebuild to be more powerful than ever before.
In the new Blitz the basic Beam Gatling was retained, but was enlarged and adapted to take its power from two shoulder-mounted generators, allowing a constant rate of fire that could be maintained indefinitely.
The number of Chest Gatlings were doubled and the total number of missiles increased to 92. There is also provision for a double-barrelled Gatling Gun mounted over a hand-carried shield.
Finally, ample provision has been made for close-combat. There is now an army knife on both arms, and a pair of beam weapons have been added. Given 'Trowa's' skill in a lion-taming act at the circus where he lived during the war, the form of a whip was chosen. Though powerful, these weapons are heavy due to the large amount of processing power needed to calculate and generate the constantly changing containment matrix.
Like the other Gundams, Heavyarms now has a transformation, an all-terrain tank. In this process, the torso lies flat and the head is covered by the shield which becomes a cowcatcher. The fore-arms and shoulders become a pair of caterpillar tracks while the generators become a second pair at the back. Finally the legs fold over and lie flat along the machine's back. The benefit of this design is that all of the long-range weapons can be fired with the exception of the chest Gatlings.
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ESGW-04C Gundam Sandrock Scarab
(XXXG-01SR2)
Unit function: Close-Combat Fighter, Ground
Head height: 17.4m
Base weight: 7.4t
Armor: Gundanium
Designed: AC188, AC195, AC198
Designer: Instructor H, Howard Calahan (x2), Chris Latta
Pilot: Quatre Winner
Armament: Heat Shotels (x2), Castor Rifles (x2), Mandibles (x2), Machine Cannon (x2) Vulcan Gun (x2).
Equipment: Planet Defensors (x8)
Fighting Ability: 140
Weapons Ability: 150
Speed Ability: 160
Power Ability: 160
Armored Ability: 210
Total: 820
History:
Instructor H originally had grave reservations over any form of attack on Earth from space, but still wanted to get revenge against OZ for their crimes and his own. Believing that any Gundams sent from the colonies would be piloted by radicals who would have no qualms over the deaths of innocent bystanders, he opted to design and construct his Gundam on Earth, allowing it to be piloted by a trained and responsible soldier. After searching for a sizeable force of such men, he found them in AC189.
By the AC180s resentful feelings were swelling on Earth as well as in the colonies towards the UESA. Several Middle-Eastern powers, with financial aid from the exiled government and monarchy of the United Kingdom (which had never been part of the Romerfeller Foundation) had secretly created the rebel army of the Independent Middle East Forces to stage multiple attacks against the Alliance and OZ. However, despite having numerous troops, air, naval and armoured units, the IMEF lacked MS. After smuggling himself to Earth, H offered his services as an engineer to Forces commander Sadual, who commissioned him to build enough suits to serve a fifty-man fleet.
H soon came up with three designs, general combat, artillery support, and air support. While he finalised the blueprints Sadual forged new identities for fifty of his best soldiers, led by Forces Captain Rashid Kurama and enrolled them in the Alliance Military for MS training. As soon as their training with OZ was complete each man went AWOL and returned to their base of operations, where they helped H customise the fifty general combat suits according to each man's preferences.
They named their new machines Maganac, after their Corps, and quickly gained a reputation as loyal and fierce warriors. The second generation of machines soon followed, Oliphaunt, but the aerial unit, Trojan, never left the drawing-board.
In AC192 the Independent Middle East Forces was beaten into submission by a joint attack by OZ and the former People's Republic of China after their headquarters position was given away by a traitor. 41 of the Maganacs and H, by now their team mechanic survived along with fifty of their machines and became a rogue force, a wild-card who randomly allied themselves with anti-alliance organisations.
In AC193 the Maganacs learned many civilians had been conscripted by the Alliance into slave labour on resource satellite MO-III. Deciding to liberate the facility they ensured their safety by hijacking a shuttle carrying the male heir to the benevolent and wealthy Winner family, Quatre. This allowed the sympathising Winner father to supply them with ships and resources without loosing face.
While on the satellite Quatre formed an empathic bond with the Maganacs and H. He soon earned their respect and loyalty first by exposing the traitor among them, Yuda, taking a bullet meant for Captain Kurama and then piloting that Captain's suit against an alliance attack with spectacular results.
Realising he had found a pilot worthy of his machine, ironically a colony citizen, H did not return to Earth with the Maganacs but followed Quatre to the L4 cluster, where Sahib Winner reluctantly granted the Instructor sanctuary and the facilities to built his Gundam. Because of the mammoth resources of the Winners, Sandrock was designed and built in two years.
The Gundam Sandrock was effectively a super-enhanced Maganac suit, and like them was primarily designed for close-quarters desert warfare, the main weapons being its Heat Shotels, giant superheated sickles intended to slice enemy machines apart with Sandrock's superior strength. Other than that it's weapons were just the standard low calibre guns and two shoulder missiles, along with a shield for protection.
Having learnt through his colleagues of the Barton Foundation's malicious intent, H openly told Quatre to ignore the Foundation's orders and fight as his heart told him. Sahib Winner only became aware of his son's piloting skills at the moment Operation Meteor began, when Quatre left his colony with Sandrock, leaving a single note explaining his reasons.
Sandrock was the second Gundam to be destroyed by its pilot after Wing, but was subsequently recovered and repaired by the Maganacs. Like Heavyarms it was refitted for space combat just in time for the Eve Wars (the only addition to weaponry being a small machine gun).
Quatre tried to subsequently destroy all of the Gundams by sending them into the sun, but bravely recovered them to change the outcome of December AC196, though Sandrock and it's brothers were all destroyed after that short conflict. Like them, it was rebuilt to fight for peace, and severely damaged in the battle with the drone forces of Onslaught.
Sandrock Scarab has become a more balanced machine, capable of fighting at long and short-range. The heat shotels now have their own micro-reactors, allowing them to run (in theory) infinitely. On each arm are a pair of mandible crushers; mechanical claws capable of seizing and crushing enemy machines.
Supplementing this are a pair of Castor Rifles. Ideal for Quatre's preference for non-lethal solutions, they use the principle of X-ray generation to create a stream of highly charged electrons that short-out circuitry, disabling enemy machines. If needed, that same stream can be used to propel bullets, and each rifle has a magazine feed for this purpose.
Defensively Sandrock's armour is sufficient against projectiles, but against beam weaponry it carries an eight-strong rack of planet defensors, spherical flying disks that create an anti-beam field.
It's vehicle mode is an eight wheeled all-terrain transport with four wheels at the front and a group of four supporting it's rear. The electric drive motors on all four axles make this vehicle fast and powerful.
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ESGW-05C Gundam Altron Hydra
(XXXG-01S2)
Unit function: Close-Combat Fighter, All Terrain
Head height: 16.4m
Base weight: 7.5t
Armor: Gundanium
Designed: AC188, AC195, AC198
Designer: J,G,S,H,O, Howard Calahan, Chris Latta
Pilot: Wufei Chang
Armament: Dragon-Fang (x2), Flamethrower (x4), Beam Trident, Machine -Cannon (x2) Vulcan Gun (x2).
Equipment: Turmansky Jet Engine (x2).
Fighting Ability: 200
Weapons Ability: 140
Speed Ability: 170
Power Ability: 150
Armored Ability: 140
Total: 800
History: Master O is the most reclusive of the scientists. Known for his strong feelings against the Alliance, he partly supported Dekim Barton and only after seeing the suffering the people of Earth were enduring along with their colony counterparts decided to not go along with the original Operation Meteor.
Before he reached this decision however he tried to return to his native Africa to design his machine in peace, only to find his former home razed to the ground by the mobile suits he had helped design, his people suffering and stricken with disease.
Trying to find a place where he could make peace with himself, O retreated to Asia, where he came under the tutorage of first a band of Buddhist monks. Finding he could only express his anger in physical combat O later left to China where he met the last Earth-dwelling members of the Long Clan, a famous tribe of warriors which had been exiled to the aging colony L5A02026 early in the After Colony age.
After several years of harsh discipline under the Longs, O decided he had to built a Gundam not only to atone for his sins but to avenge every man, woman and child that had suffered under the Alliance.
O was informed by the Longs that their counterparts in the colonies had the finances to build the demon machine he felt he had to create, and provided him with a reference in order to convince the clan leaders he came with their blessing.
O was allowed to built the Shenlong Gundam on A02026, but only on the condition that he also build a machine to protect the colony against the Alliance Space Forces. Fulfilling this deal, O built a clone of the production-line Tallgeese but using Gundanium in order to allow the Longs to practice manipulating the super-alloy before moving onto the main project.
By AC193, Shenlong's body was complete but no weapons had been constructed save for the standard low-calibre guns. The pilot of the Tallgeese had been chosen as Meilan Chang, a young tomboy. Her teen husband, Wufei, preferred to study rather than fight and looked down on his wife's obsession with combat, even though he easily bested her in the martial arts.
In that year, Alliance Space Forces Commander Septem sadistically ordered that A02026 population's was to be wiped out with poison gas in order to save the cost of demolishing the colony and re-locating them. In order to defend the colony, Meilan took her Tallgeese out and died fighting. Wufei vanquished the remaining suits using the Shenlong and weapons he picked up from the battlefield. To protect the people, a young Alliance doctor named Sally Po informed General Septem that the Longs had been wiped out and A02026 destroyed. Two years later, Shenlong was launched to Earth.
Wufei took on the task of piloting Shenlong, which he renamed 'Nataku' in honour of his dead wife. It would seem he had a hand in designed the weapons systems along with O, for they were best suited to elaborate martial-arts combat rather than practical fighting; only a person with martial-arts skills could use it in combat; it would be practically useless in any other battlefield. These armaments were the dragon-fang (a extendable claw with built-in flamethrowers) and the beam glaive (in effect a long pikestaff with a short blade).
Those problems were re-addressed when the five scientists upgraded the Shenlong to the Altron Gundam at the same time as refitting the Deathscythe. The beam glaive was replaced with a superior double-ended beam trident and the number of Dragon-fangs doubled. At the same-time a independently targetable Beam Cannon was added for long-range combat.
Altron went through the same process of war, destruction and reconstruction as the other Gundams (with the exception that it briefly fought for the Bartons in the AC196 revolution), and again was sent to Isla Nublar for upgrade in January 199.
The armament has not changed an inch except that the dragon-fangs were re- built for combat within gravity (the previous version operated on an electromagnet manipulation system that was only effective in zero-g). The beam cannons are now pivoted freely on the shoulders and the flamethrowers are mounted on the arms instead of on the Dragon-fangs. Like Deathscythe, the trident blades are adjustable allowing many new varieties of combat.
Shenlong is also an experiment into the use of non Vernier-derived engines. Two Turmansky Ramjet Engines for space and aerial combat were installed in the torso, each putting out 50,000lbs of thrust. These are particularly useful in the new aircraft mode, like Deathscythe a variant on the Mig-31 Firefox.
In short, Altron Hydra is now faster, stronger and more adaptable than any other version of this design, a machine which commands respect from all that lay eyes on it.
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ESGW-06D Gundam Tallgeese
(OZ-00MS) (Leo Prototype)
Unit function: General Combat
Head height: 17.4m
Base weight: 8.1t
Armor: Gundanium
Designed: AC175, AC195, AC198
Designer: (J,G,S,H,O,HC), Lon Serman
Pilot: Zechs Marquise
Armament: Mega-Cannon, Beam Sword (x2), Heat Rod, Vulcan Gun (x2), Machine Cannon (x2).
Equipment: Plasma Jet Engine (x2).
Fighting Ability: 150
Weapons Ability: 170
Speed Ability: 240
Power Ability: 130
Armored Ability: 130
Total: 850
History:
To date there have been two Tallgeese designs. The first of these was designed in AC174 by the five Gundam scientists.
In AC173, the Unified Earthsphere Alliance sought to begin research into combat-equipped mobile-suits. The name Mobile Suit is actually a corruption of the acronym Manipulator Order Build and Industrial Labour (MOBIL) Suit.
Mobile Suits were first developed not long after the AC calendar commenced as tools to aid in the construction of the space colonies. The first were actually mechanical space-suits with hand actuators to help the human pilot within. Through the next two centuries they grew in size eventually becoming humanoid machines with mechanical hands that could hold and manipulate a wide variety of tools.
With the turbulent political climate of the second AC century, Mobile Suits were soon outfitted with various weapons (initially missiles and tank- cannons). Outfitted as such, they soon proved themselves superior to conventional combat vehicles, being capable of crossing all kinds of terrain on their two legs and even space combat. These crudely modified pieces of construction equipment were soon being deployed in various theatres of war across the Earthsphere.
In AC174 the Unified Earthsphere Alliance put out a general contract for the first combat mobile-suit. The contract was sold to a weapons company called 'Offensive Zenith' or OZ, actually a subsidy of a giant European conglomerate known as the Romerfeller Foundation.
OZ began headhunting the best Mobile Suit designers on and off Earth. Eventually a uniquely skilled design team was assembled at their Corsica factory to build the first combat designed mobile-suit, the OZ-00MS or Leo. Three scientists operated originally; Doctor J, a Japanese electronics expert. Instructor H, a German metallurgist and programmer, and Master O, an African designer of industrial mobile suits. These three were able to assemble a basic design, but quickly began to run into problems.
Firstly, the gas-turbine selected to power the new weapon was soon found to be too bulky to fit in the frame. The proposed solution was Minovsky Fusion, the power of the new millennium. In this simple reactor, a light isotope of helium, Helium-3, is fused with a heavy isotope of Hydrogen, Deuterium. The output of this reactor is superheated helium, direct electricity from the reactor plasma and the mysterious energy emission known as the Minovsky or M-particle. However, such a compact reactor had never been built. OZ hired a South-American Fusion expert, Professor G who headed up a second team to design the reactor, with rapid success. G also implied he could harness the M-particle output as a weapon, so he was retained on the main team of engineers.
After this, it was proposed to add several standard artillery weapons to supplement G's proposed 'beam weapons'. To this end, a munitions expert and tutor from the British Military Academy in Sandhurst, Doktor S, was cultivated and added to the design team.
Eventually a final design was arrived at. G's promise of radical new weaponry was borne out with his elaborate 'Beam Sabres' and the 'Beam- Cannon' he and S developed. S also came up with the concept of a 'Heat Rod' to recycle the wasted reactor heat.
Weight was cut down with the use of the new ultra-light, ultra-strong space alloy Gundanium. Despite this however and the brilliantly light yet powerful mechanical systems of Master O, the machine was still too heavy to fly as originally proposed by mounting twin jet engines on it's back. The final addition to the team solved this problem. Howard Calahan, an American aeronautics engineer was an expert in the propulsion systems of shuttle- craft. With G he designed a new micro-engine that combusted the vented helium with rocket fuel to generate enough propulsion to lift the heavy suit.
Extremely pleased with themselves, the six engineers presented their Leo design to the OZ management board in early AC175, along with the basic specifications for a space combat MS (Taurus), and were promptly snubbed on grounds of cost and excessive firepower. So amused were the directors with the hyper-powerful, hyper-expensive Leo prototype that they renamed it Tallgeese, a play on the phrase 'White Elephant.'
Rejected, the six-strong team went back to the drawing board and spent a lengthy period simplifying the blueprint and removing what was too radical or expensive. Among these were the following:
The use of the new hyper-alloy Gundanium as armour.
The radical beam cannon and heat-rod, which were substituted for a shell- firing Dober-gun.
A neural-interface system to increase both the pilot's reaction speed and his 'awareness'.
The instantly recognisable 'style' of the Gundams (and the name Gundam).
Then, before they completed stripping down the Tallgeese, the Romerfeller Foundation, through OZ, organised the assassination of pacifist colony leader Heero Yuy on April 7th AC175, as he was threatening to end the wars that kept their pocketbooks full. Despite suspicions against them, OZ were never acquitted in a court of law, but the six engineers, disgusted, quit the project - each keeping a copy of the blueprint.
The Tallgeese design was further simplified by the new engineer called in by OZ to finish the job, Doctor Berg. Berg was an skilled designer of mobile-suits but his skills paled in comparison with those of his predecessors. It was Berg who began the actual construction of Tallgeese and then halted it halfway realising the down-graded machine still exceeded the requirements of the Alliance. After successfully simplifying the design into the OZ-06MS, or Leo, Berg was appointed as their Chief MS Engineer and went on to design the Zodiac series of mobile suits.
In AC195 OZ Colonel Zechs Marquise required a mobile suit powerful enough to rival the Gundams that had arrived on Earth. Walker, a close friend and technician at Corsica, was able to refurbish the half-completed Tallgeese, which soon proved itself above and beyond conventional MS, and in Zechs' capable hands, more than a match for the Gundams.
Eventually however, Zechs exceeded the Tallgeese's abilities and was forced to sacrifice it, detonating it while briefly taking on the custody of Wing Zero.
At the same time however, Treize Kushrenada had been seemingly imprisoned in Luxemburg by the Romerfeller Foundation. Rebel OZ soldiers however who supported him infiltrated the base and replaced his guards, allowing him total freedom of the facility. At the same time, Treize recovered the last copy of the original Tallgeese blueprint from OZ's files and, coupled with data gathered on the Gundams, began a directive to build superior Mobile- suits. Four machines were built, the OZ-13MS (Sagittarius), the OZ-14MS (Aquarius) and two Tallgeeses. Structurally, these Tallgeeses were clones of the Berg variant, though one was outfitted with the weaponry planned for the original machine.
Treize later passed the Sagittarius (also known as the Epyon) along to Gundam pilot Heero Yuy, and piloted the weaker of the two Tallgeeses (known as the Tallgeese 2) in the Eve wars, where he died. The second, stronger machine was sealed away in storage by Treize prior to his 'final war', and was recovered by Zechs Marquise for a last stand during the Barton Revolution of AC196.
Unlike the Gundams, this Tallgeese 3 was not destroyed on December 25th AC196, but retained in service through the next two years until being self- detonated by its temporary pilot Duo Maxwell. Because this machine was built from Neo-Titanium and not Gundanium, it was totally destroyed. Therefore, the machine constructed on Isla Nublar by Lon Serman using Howard's copy of the original blueprint is a completely new suit, and for the first time, fulfils and even exceeds the potential of the original design.
The weapons systems are virtually identical to the Tallgeese 3. The beam cannon (now known as the mega-cannon to distinguish it from other designs) is a self-powered beam rail-gun with equal power to the Twin Buster Rifle, which is slightly smaller, lighter and about 10% more fuel-efficient.
The two beam sabres have now been replaced with Beam Swords, making full- use of the reactor emissions. The Tallgeese is now also fitted with the ZERO System, allowing it to keep up with the impressive skills of its pilot.
Like most of the suits given over to the care of Lon Serman, the Tallgeese's original Verniers have been replaced with Plasma Jet Engines, which now make the Tallgeese the fastest mobile suit ever built.
Finally, and most importantly, the Tallgeese is now a fully-fledged Gundam, outfitted with the legendary armour and restyled to resemble its children. Unlike the other Gundams, it has no transformation.
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ESGW-08A Gundam Whiteflight
(OZ-12SMS) (Taurus Prototype)
Unit function: Space/Ariel Combat
Head height: 17.3m
Base weight: 8t
Armor: Gundanium, Kevlar
Designed: AC175, AC198
Designer: J,G,S,H,O,HC, Lon Serman
Pilot: Lucrezia Noin
Armament: Beam Cannon, Beam Sabre (x2), Heat-Rod, Vulcan Gun (x2),
Machine-Cannon (x2).
Equipment: Plasma-Jet Engine (x2).
Fighting Ability: 175
Weapons Ability: 165
Speed Ability: 190
Power Ability: 140
Armored Ability: 150
Total: 820
ESGW-08B Gundam Darkflight
(OZ-12SMS) (Taurus Prototype)
Unit function: Space/Ariel Combat
Head height: 17.3m
Base weight: 7.9t
Armor: Gundanium, Kevlar
Designed: AC175, AC198
Designer: J,G,S,H,O,HC, Lon Serman
Pilot: Hilde Schbeiker
Armament: Variable Beam Scythe, Flamethrower (x4), Vulcan Gun (x2), Hyper Jammers (x2),
Plasma-jet Engine (x2), CM Spines (x8).
Fighting Ability: 170
Weapons Ability: 160
Speed Ability: 200
Power Ability: 130
Armored Ability: 150
Total: 810
History:
As stated, the Gundam Engineers and Howard conceived a space-combat mobile- suit at the same time as they designed the Leo Prototype. The basic specification, outline diagram and preliminary blueprints of this machine were filed away with OZ but once again, each engineer retained a copy.
Like the Tallgeese, this was to be a multi-purpose machine constructed of Gundanium, but was envisioned from the beginning as being weaker than its older brother, sacrificing speed and power but still remaining superior to most machines built after AC174. During the Tallgeese project, some of the scientists had come up with new ideas, which culminated in this design;
G had come up with a system that used M-Particles to shield against his own beam weaponry, dubbing it the 'planet defensor'. Together, he and S had also come up with a new beam cannon design, less powerful that that on the Tallgeese (hence dubbed the mega-cannon), but still with devastating potential.
Howard had also further refined his reactor-engine, and wished to implement this refinement in a new machine. Each of the other scientists contributed their substantial knowledge to designing a sturdy, powerful and adaptable MS for warfare in space.
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NOTE: When conscripted by OZ to design a superior MS in AC195, the five scientists created the Gemini suits (Mercurius & Vayeate), claiming they were a hyper-upgrade of the then mass-produced OZ Taurus (I quote from the manga). In actuality, the scientists built a downgrade version of 'their' Taurus with certain weaknesses thrown in to fox OZ. For example, they split the planet defensor system from the beam cannon, under the pretext they were taking 'defence' and 'offence' to their limit, when their Taurus had been powerful enough to mount both. The beam cannon's internal reactor was also scrapped and replaced with a bulky 'backpack' unit which weighted the Vayeate down and made for a very tempting weak-spot.
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As stated, Doctor Berg became chief engineer for OZ following the departure of the original six. After putting his Leo design into production in AC176, Berg initially sat back and enjoyed the ride as 'his' creations were supplied to the Alliance and began to dominate all walks of combat.
The Romerfeller Foundation, constantly seeking to gain total control of the Earthsphere, began to realise OZ and the MS it produced were the key to rising its star. Using their wealth, they began to 'create' wars in troubled nations, anonymously supplying funds to rebel armies and stirring up anti-Alliance feeling. To combat this, the Alliance purchased more MS from OZ, and Romerfeller consequently pocketed the profit. Eventually the Foundation's powers grew to such an extent that it's members began to manipulate the Alliance.
The first new MS development was the creation of new weapons systems and additions for the Leo. These ranged from new 'beam rifles' to 'beam cannon' shoulder attachments. Most notably, two backpack units were created to allow Leos to fly and take to space. Soon however, new environmental MS were required.
The first was the OZ-07AMS Aires, an aerial unit mounted with fusion ramjet engines. Following this was the OZ-07MS Capricorn or Tragos, a land suit designed for artillery support. None of these machines were actually original designs of Berg's, most of the internals and system improvements being based on the last copy of Tallgeese blueprints he had found in the OZ files along with the specs for the space unit.
By this point, Romerfeller had poured enough funds into OZ to allow it to take on a whole new bearing. OZ closed down all of it's non-MS related projects and began advanced training programmes for Alliance soldiers on the new MS. Soon, OZ was both part and not-part of the Alliance military; it's elite 'Specials' unit; like the SS in Nazi Germany, a state within a state.
The only MS Berg ever built on his own was a failure in comparison to it's cousins. Though on paper the OZ-09MMS Pisces looked like an excellent Marine Mobile Suit, in actual combat it proved lacking.
Berg had half-completed his downgrade of the space-unit (now the OZ-12SMS Taurus) blueprint when he was sacked by Romerfeller based on his substandard work. Berg left for space in AC183 with the last copies of the Tallgeese and Taurus blueprints.
No new MS were actually developed by OZ and the position of Chief Engineer was discontinued until AC194 when a man named Tuberov was suggested to OZ by the Romerfeller Foundation to upgrade and possibly replace Berg's now outdated machines. Before OZ commander Treize Kushrenada fully entrusted Tuberov however, he commissioned him to do what Berg could not; built a useable Marine Mobile Suit; this work resulted in the successful OZ-08MMS Cancer.
With Treize's blessing Tuberov quickly worked out what he was going to do. First he would complete Berg's half-finished work on the Taurus, which would serve to replace both Aires and Space Leo suits. Following this he would design a general purpose replacement for the Leo, then a suitable heavy-combat machine that would surpass the Tragos.
This plan changed when he began experimenting with different cockpit systems for the unfinished Taurus. At this point, Tuberov hit on the idea of replacing the pilot with a computer. In the end the Taurus received this new system as well as a cockpit, but Tuberov subsequently put his Leo replacement on the back-burner and focused on developing his new heavy- combat Mobile Direct Operational Lead Labor, or MOBILE DOLL, the OZ-02MD Virgo I, II & III.
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NOTE: Tuberov later did design a replacement MS for the Leo, but it never saw service in AC195. However the OZ-17MS Ophichus or Serpent did become the primary weapon of the Barton Foundation during their war of AC196.
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The new Taurus quickly proved itself to be the most powerful machine in OZ's ranks, more than half as powerful as the Leo, Aires and Pisces. Though it had no built-in weapons, it was capable of mounting a beam cannon too powerful for the Leo to handle and had superior armour, speed and power to all other OZ suits. In the hands of a skilled pilot it was a force to be reckoned with. However, despite all of its benefits, it was still a downgrade from a superior design; had Tuberov been able to work from the same materials as Berg the Taurus could have been a match for any of the Gundams.
This can be clearly seen in the two machines built by Lon Serman (building on Howard's blueprint) for female pilots Lucrezia Noin and Hilde Schbeiker. Trying his best to build machines that they would be comfortable in, he modified each to carry weapons similar to their male partners.
Consequently, Noin's machine Whiteflight is the more powerful of the two, just like the Tallgeese is more powerful than the Deathscythe, but the difference is slight. This is because Serman used Darkflight as the test- bed for his new Kevlar armour process later duplicated on Wing Zero; though this cost Darkflight in terms of armour, it lightened it enough to make it significantly faster.
Obviously their colouration is different, Whiteflight going for the same white-and blue as the Tallgeese3, Darkflight coloured in matt black with touches of navy and purple.
Weapons are also different, Noin's machine carrying a heat-rod and beam- sabres identical to the Tallgeese 3's along with a hefty 'Vayeate' beam cannon as powerful as Wing Gabrielle's Buster Rifle, which is also self- powered. Serman also deliberately scrapped the 'planet defensors' on this suit to enable it to support such heavy weaponry.
Darkflight on the other hand takes after Deathscythe, boasting a Twin-Beam Scythe (adjustable) and Hyper-Jammers. Unlike Deathscythe however, Hilde has a set of flamethrowers at her disposal, as well as a variant on the Planet Defensor system (see under Gundam Zenith).
Both are fitted with Plasma-jet engines and resemble each other, having 'proper' Gundam legs instead of the aesthetically unpleasant legs of the Taurus and proper Gundam-style heads. Their bodywork is a mix between the sleek Taurus and the muscular Gemini suits, with a bit of the Tallgeese thrown in for good measure, creating a very happy aesthetic and mechanical balance.
Despite their few shortcomings however, these are two very powerful and dextrous machines worthy of the title Gundam.
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ESGW-09B Gundam Zenith
(OZ-14MS) (Aquarius)
Unit function: Anti-MD
Head height: 17.4m
Base weight: 8.2t
Armour: Gundanium
Designed: AC195
Designer: OZ
Pilot: Ann Une
Armament: Heat-Rod, Beam Sabre (x2), CM Spines (x8), Vulcan Gun (x2).
Equipment: Plasma-Jet Engine (x2).
Fighting Ability: 170
Weapons Ability: 150
Speed Ability: 170
Power Ability: 160
Armored Ability: 140
Total: 850
History: During the conflicts of AC195, the ruling government of the Earthsphere underwent drastic changes. Initially, the Unified Earthsphere Alliance existed as a sort of new-age United Nations, but eventually became the ruling body with dominion over smaller 'independent' nations.
Not long after the commencement of 'Operation Meteor', Trieze Kushrenada launched OZ's 'Operation Daybreak', initiated with the assassination of Pacifist Alliance leader General Noventa. In this coup, the government was liquidised, with OZ taking up the reins and beginning a programme of 'liberation' both on Earth and in the colonies. Daybreak was intended to be Romerfeller's ascension to power, but Treize was never one to submit to the corrupt Foundation that had put him in power. Later events saw Treize rise to control of the so-called 'World Nation', but prior to this he openly resigned from both his position in OZ and the Romerfeller Foundation.
Upon this action Treize was imprisoned in a Romerfeller facility in Luxemburg, but had planned for this continuality. Ensuring that the base was staffed entirely with soldiers from the 'Treize Faction', he initiated his 'Excalibur Directive' a operation to produce an elite contingent of superior MS for the coming war.
The name Excalibur was a reference to the sword of King Arthur, and the new machines were intended to conform with Trieze's ideals of knightly honour and chivalry on the battlefield. Though as stated the Tallgeese II and III were built at this time, the greatest weapons of the Excalibur Directive were the Sagittarius and Aquarius mobile suits, better known as the Gundams Epyon and Zenith.
The names of these two Gundams are quite interesting. Epyon is derived from the fact that the machine operates on the EPYON (Emotion Process Yield & Omission Neural) System and the word Zenith is a play on the actual MS, for it represents the zenith, or 'peak' of twenty-years of MS development by 'Offensive Zenith' (OZ).
These two suits were originally conceived as twins, but with the rising usage of Virgo MD, Treize decided to modify the Zenith as an anti-MD weapon. Consequently, the beam sword was removed and replaced with two beam sabres, allowing the M-Particle reactor output to be channelled to the Zenith's signature weapon, the CM Spines. These are slender rods which extend from the shoulders and arms. From them, a counter-minovsky field is projected, nullifying the planet defensors carried on the Mercurius MS and Virgo MD. This field can also be adapted to serve as a defence shield against beam attacks.
The general concept was that Zenith and Epyon would double-team each other, Zenith forming the tip of the sword, disabling enemy defences, while the faster and deadlier Epyon streaks through wreaking havoc. With the engine upgrades made by Lon Serman along with the addition of Transformer technology however Zenith now excels the Epyon in all fields, and could beat it in a fight even though it does not boast the EPYON System.
Officially the Zenith's pilot is Preventers commander Ann Une, though whether she can bring herself to pilot it based on her emotional attachment for the late General Kushrenada is questionable...
END.
If you've managed to read this far, congratulations! Hope you like these new mecha, and a similar set of profiles will later be posted for the new transformers created by...UNICRON!
See ya' soon.
A/N: This isn't Chapter 3, but a section devoted to the new Gundams. As I update, this chapter will be shunted ahead of each update.
When I came up with these redesigns, I was inspired by many things from both Transformers and Gundam. From the Gundam world, Hajime Katoki's excellent retro-designs of the original five-Gundams provided much inspiration. Mr. Katoki is famed for creating the similar designs for Endless Waltz.
I also received inspiration from the GW manga side-story G-unit, also known as Last Outpost, which describes the adventures of asteroid colony MO-V and its experimental G-Unit Gundams. There are some excellent mecha in this three-volume series, most designed by the treacherous Dr. Berg (more on him later). Trowa refers to MO-V in Chapter 2 while talking with G-unit character Lon Serman, so these mecha may later make an appearance in this fic.
From Transformers I was inspired by the fantastic pre-G1 designs from Dreamwave's War Within comic.
Then, you throw in all of my own half-baked ideas and you get this.
DISCLAIMER:
This is difficult. All of these machines are inspired by copyrighted mecha, but also my own ideas. Therefore, I don't own them, so if people want to use them in their fics, feel welcome - just please e-mail me to let me know. To clarify what's mine in these machines and what's not here's the basic genealogy of the new suits.
WING ZERO CUSTOM: Now a cross between the EW design and the series mecha, with a new paint-job, transformation, buster-rifle and engines.
WING GUNDAM GABRIELLE: A direct copy of the Katoki Wing redesign, which later inspired EW Wing Zero. I tweaked the buster-rifle, shield and transformation a bit, but that's it.
DEATHSCYTHE OMEGA: Hajime Katoki's Deathscythe meets Skyfire from The War Within, with the Hell Custom thrown in for good measure. The variable beam scythe however, is my own creation.
HEAVYARMS BLITZ: Katoki's retro-design, mixed with War Within Megatron and painted up in the colour scheme from EW. The beam whips however, are mine.
SANDROCK SCARAB: Again, a Katoki concept fused with War Within Optimus Prime. The Castor-rifles I dreamt up in a boring Physics class and I adapted the name from the anime 'Outlaw Star'.
ALTRON HYDRA: This is basically the EW Altron but with the dragon-fangs modified to resemble those on Katoki's Shenlong. I also added the beam cannons from the series Altron but modified their configuration.
All of the following have PJ engines modified from G-Unit's LO Booster Gundam.
TALLGEESE: Tallgeese 3's weapons and face-plate, with an actual head crossed between Tallgeese 1. and G-Unit's Asklepios. Asklepios also influenced some of the body-work, but I tired to add something from each original Gundam and the Leo to show that this is the Grandfather of all MS.
DARKFLIGHT/WHITEFLIGHT: I like these things. They are mine! Influenced by the Taurus, Gemini suits and the G-Unit Gundams LO Booster and Greipe, and some Epyon in Darkflight. Darkflight's colours were inspired by the time my computer's DVD-ROM went on the fritz and inverted all the colours on my EW DVD! Marimaia's Tauruses look cool in black and blue. Interestingly, Deathscythe's scythe came out blood-red and yellow beam energy turned purple!
ZENITH: There is a Gundam Aquarius in one of the Gundam video-games, but I only took the Anti-MD spine concept from this. This machine is essentially Epyon but without the EPYON System and different armaments/armour/engines/colours. I also thought up the name Zenith.
A/N: Well, with the longest Disclaimer I've ever written complete, here's the actual Specs, with a full history for each suit as well. Just one Warning; this can at times get technical. If you get confused by all the sciency talk, I suggest you shut your computer down and watch some infant-themed TV to bring you back down to Earth. Pokemon, Sailor Moon, or anything featuring George W Bush Junior, Tony Blair or Saddam Hussein (also known as the Three Stooges) is highly recommended.
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ESGW-00B Gundam Wing Zero Custom
(XXXG-00W0)
Unit function: General Combat, All Terrain, Space
Head height: 16.7m
Base weight: 8t
Armor: Gundanium, Kevlar
Designed: AC180, AC199
Designer: J,G,S,H,O, Lon Serman
Pilot: Heero Yuy
Armament: Twin Buster Rifle, Beam Sword (x2), Machine-Cannon (x2), Wing Vulcan (x2)
Equipment: Plasma-Jet Engine (x2), ZERO System
Fighting Ability: 200
Weapons Ability: 160
Speed Ability: 200
Power Ability: 140
Armored Ability: 150
Total: 850
History:
Wing Zero is perhaps the third oldest of all combat mobile suits. Though the Leo was built before-hand, it can be reasoned that it does not count as it is a downgrade of the Tallgeese. The second oldest MS is the Taurus (see under Whiteflight/Darkflight).
The story of the Wing Zero begins with the design of the Tallgeese, AC174. Though that worthy machine was one of the most powerful ever built, the design team's original blueprint was rejected by OZ as it exceeded their budget.
Five copies of this blueprint were deposited in the OZ files, but were taken by each of the scientists when they abandoned the project in the wake of the April 7 AC175 assassination of Heero Yuy. Though they believed the file deleted, the did not know that several back-ups existed (which were later to cause numerous headaches for pretty much everyone in the Earthsphere).
During the next five years each scientist worked on their individual blueprints in isolation, until they were able to arrange a meeting in AC180, their intention being to develop a Gundam to fight OZ and atone for their sin of bestowing the curse of the MS on the world. Their individual designs were brought together, and refined into a single design.
Japanese National Dr. J (unofficial leader of the team) had by this point come-up with a suitable base blueprint for the final product. As on the Tallgeese, he was also electrical engineer for the project.
South American Professor G was responsible mainly for the reactor & propulsion systems. Because he was still in contact with their fellow engineer Howard he was able to obtain the designs for Tallgeese's engines though OZ had sold the patent to the Vernier Rocket & Engine company.
British Doktor S was able to put his armaments knowledge to use to design the weaponry, and together with G improved on J's concept beam rifle. They reputedly had several heated arguments while working together and as a joke they named their final device the Buster Rifle, as they 'nearly busted each other up over it'.
Instructor H as before, designed the programming. On the practical side he devoted most of his time to also writing the programming that would cast the genetic alloy Gundanium into armour plating.
Finally African Master O worked the mechanical systems into an extremely simple, but workable and versatile design. It is also believed that he with his ethnic background finalised the Gundam's exterior styling.
Together the five scientists were also able to develop their concept of a 'neural interface' between suit and pilot into a finalised control-system, the Zoning Emotion Response & Omission or ZERO System. This was incorporated into the design of the Gundam, and combined with its flight ability, leant to it the name of Gundam Wing Zero.
Before they could put Wing Zero into production however, the scientists were found out and forced to scatter to different colonies, where they continued to develop their Gundam designs while posing as civilians under new identities. It is curious to note that there was still a sense of teamwork among the scattered group; their designs retaining J's basic concept, G's Minovsky science, S's Vulcan Guns and Machine-Cannons, H's programming and manufacturing process, and O's mechanical designs and exterior styling. At the same time, all five realised the dangers of the ZERO System and scrapped it from their designs. The Wing Zero however, continued to exist merely on paper and computer data...
...Until AC195, when Gundam pilot Quatre Winner required a replacement for the Sandrock suit H had built, and found the Zero blueprints in his family's database. After construction, he became the Zero's first pilot and quickly came under the mind-warping influence of the ZERO. After many months however, he was able to overcome this disability and master the ZERO.
In those months however, Wing Zero had come under the guardianship of Heero Yuy, who remained its pilot throughout the conflicts of AC195 and 196.
Despite it's brilliance of design and unmatched superiority over the other Gundams, the Wing Zero design was still nearly twenty years old by AC198, when the Transformers were discovered. While Howard and Chris Latta slavishly worked out modifications for the other four Gundams using transformer tech, Isla Nublar facility Engineer Lon Serman was ordered to manufacture the new components, and given Carte Blanche to redesign the remaining Gundams as he saw fit.
Wing Zero, in the Gundam heritage of sharing ideas and technologies, was rebuilt inside and out with parts from it's MS brothers and cousins. Internally, though the basic layout remained the same, Serman was able to replace most of the original systems with the twenty-years of technology that had surpassed it.
Elsewhere, the original Vernier reactor by-product engines, still twenty- years old, were replaced with the next generation of indirect-plasma propulsion, where fuel elements are forced through the reactor space, being released as a superheated plasma which not only gives enormous thrust, but is non-polluting and can recycle any substance as fuel. These engines have variable modes as well. For sub-atmospheric manoeuvres the engines retain their sleek appearance and have very little movement. Outside of the atmosphere however, the thrust from the engine is redirected through numerous 'feathers', which open up from the underside of the manifold. These spread the thrust out for more uniform acceleration and allow incredible manoeuvrability because these can flex and bend almost like a bird's wing.
Externally, it became impossible to fit everything within the original Gundanium casing, so spare armour from the parallel Wing Gundam project was used where possible. Of all Gundams the most closely related, Wing Zero and Wing now resemble each other to the nth degree (the heads and upper torsos are physical twins), but still manage to retain their own identities. The style of the Zero's limb armour is very mechanical, with shaved-off corners and angular, straight edges rather than the curving lines of Wing Gabrielle. The paint scheme reflects this, ranging towards the darker end of the spectrum with heavy reds and blues. Lighter colours are used sparingly, and white is reserved solely for the exposed portions of the legs and arms.
The Buster Rifle received minor modifications to reduce it's weight and increase its efficiency, but is basically the same. The main improvement to the weapons is that the Beam Sabres have been replaced with Beam Swords which are powered directly from the MS's reactor and thus cannot loose power (as occurred in the final battle of AC195 before Heero could destroy the reactor of a chunk of the space battleship Libra.)
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ESGW-01B Gundam Wing Gabrielle
(XXXG-01W)
Unit function: General Purpose, All Terrain
Head height: 16.3m
Base weight: 7.1t
Armor: Gundanium
Designed: AC188, AC199
Designer: Doctor J, Lon Serman
Pilot: Relena Dorlain
Armament: Buster Rifle, Beam Sabre (x2), Machine-Cannon (x2), Vulcan Gun (x2), Fighting Ability: 200
Weapons Ability: 160
Speed Ability: 210
Power Ability: 120
Armored Ability: 130
Total: 820
History:
In AC188 the rogue scientists were approached by militant pro-colonist Quinze, formerly a member of Heero Yuy's cabinet. Quinze proposed that each build a mecha to fight OZ and gain revenge for the assassination of Yuy, while actually planning to use them in the barbaric 'Operation Meteor' he and Dekim Barton had devised. This involved dropping a colony on Earth and then sending the Gundams in during the aftermath to assert control over the surviving population (though civilian deaths in excess of 2 billion were estimated).
Dr. J's machine was constructed on colony L1C1013 but without the financial backing of the Barton Foundation by J's own choice. Preferring to seek the aid of people he trusted, J received materials and capitol from a guerrilla army located in the L1 cluster. Originally it was planned that one of these rebels would pilot the completed machine, but that plan was laid aside when J discovered an orphaned boy wandering the streets and offered him the opportunity to pilot a Gundam. Ironically, this same child is actually the adopted son of Odin Lowe, the assassin who had shot Heero Yuy in AC175.
The five Gundams were built gradually over a seven year period. Given the considerable resources of the rebel army the Wing Zero J was building could have been completed in a fraction of this time but J suspected both Quinze and Dekim of planning to overthrow Earth and not just strike back at OZ. Some espionage by the five scientists later proved that hunch correct and J began delaying construction in order to plan a solution.
He decided to subvert 'Operation Meteor' by training his young pilot to strike against OZ and OZ alone. To this end, that young man went through a barrage of merciless training intended not only to build his body and hone his skills but remove him of all emotion and feeling to better his function as a weapon. Consequently this child was seemingly drained of all humanity.
At the same time J downgraded the MS he was building from Wing Zero to his original blueprint (albeit with modifications to improve it's armament and efficiency) as he did not want to risk the Barton's gaining control of a machine as powerful as the Zero. The end result retained the same armament but sacrificed speed, power, the uber-efficient Buster Rifle design and of course the insanely brilliant ZERO System but still remained a fast and powerful machine suited to both long and close-range combat.
Prior to being launched to Earth on April 7th AC195 J confirmed his pilot's orders to strike against OZ and then bestowed the code-name Heero Yuy on his 'weapon.'
During the following months Wing was used successfully against OZ before being self-detonated and subsequently rebuilt. Shortly after however, Heero took on the custody of Wing Zero and rarely used Wing again.
It's only appearance in the Eve Wars of December 195 was when it was hijacked by OZ officer Ann Une who placed it in the path of a barrage from the Battleship Libra intended to strike down World Nation ruler Trieze Kushrenada. Though badly damaged, Wing was subsequently recovered in secret by the newly formed Earthsphere Security Services (or Preventers).
Placed in storage at their Isla Nublar facility but not repaired, Wing's future seemed bleak, though Preventer mechanic Lon Serman had taken a shine to it and prepared blueprints for modifications to take it above and beyond it's limitations. Serman finally got authorisation to modify Wing in AC198 and quickly fitted the new components he had secretly designed and constructed.
Like Wing Zero, Wing was fitted with Plasma Jet Engines installed in a new set of wing binders, retaining the translucent, almost insectile style of their predecessors but now redesigned to have a greater aesthetic appeal. The Buster Rifle has also been modified to now fire continuously instead of needing to recharge after every three shots in its previous incarnation.
Internally, the cockpit retains the traditional twin collective layout but has received the addition of a 3D radar system like the Wing Zero. Finally, the redundant computers and sensors in the green chest housing have finally been put to their original use; the feeding of data to the ZERO System. Realising full well however that any new pilot would initially not be able to handle the ZERO, Serman put in a lock-out circuit to prevent it automatically activating with the suit; a simple key (in his possession) is needed to complete the circuit.
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ESGW-02C Gundam Deathscythe Omega
(XXXG-01D2)
Unit function: Stealth, All Terrain
Head height: 16.3m
Base weight: 7.4t
Armor: Gundanium
Designed: AC188, AC195, AC198
Designer: J,G,S,H,O, Howard Calahan, Chris Latta
Pilot: Duo Maxwell
Armament: Variable Beam Scythe, Vulcan Gun (x2), Buster Sheild (x2), Doberlauncher (x2).
Equipment: Stealth Plating, Hyper Jammers (x2).
Fighting Ability: 210
Weapons Ability: 170
Speed Ability: 170
Power Ability: 120
Armored Ability: 140
Total: 810
History:
The Gundam of Professor G was initially not built on a single colony. After several months of merging his independent concept with the refinements of the Wing Zero, G approached old friend Howard Calahan, now operator of the Sweepers Organization. The Sweepers were a government-sanctioned group authorised to clean up 300 years of space junk. Most of the salvage was sold as scrap but some historic artefacts were sanctioned for preservation including former Apollo stages and the Space Shuttle Atlantis, which was set adrift at the end of its life rather than suffer the ignobility of scrap.
Professor G was a brilliant if arrogant man. Determined to prove the superiority of Minovsky weapons over conventional firearms (an old argument between himself and Doktor S), he spent most of his time devising how to scatter the surplus reactor energy in order to totally shield his Gundam from tracking devices. The result of this effort; the Hyper-Jammers were retained on every version of his machine.
Partly inspired by the engravings of 18th century engraver Gustav Dore, G styled his masterpiece in the appearance of a hellish demon. Carrying on this concept and his personal opinions on armaments he also designed a fiendishly wicked beam scythe. Other than standard Vulcan Guns and Machine Cannons, the Gundam's only other weapon was an intricate 'Buster Shield' a device which not only provided a shield against enemy fire, but which could also project a beam blade of it's own and be fired into enemy troops via air-impulse.
The machine he had named 'Deathscythe' was built in sections at the Sweepers' various installations. Constructed from salvaged parts and recycled materials it was the cheapest of the five Gundams but the one that took the longest to built. The basic components were first brought together on Colony L2V08744 in AC192 and testing and pilot training commenced while the various subsystems and weapons were built and installed.
Eventually, G informed the Barton's that Deathsycthe was completed and ready for the launch date of April 7th AC195, though he knew full well how they intended to use it. By this point however the young pilot was also aware of the truth of Operation Meteor and attempted to subvert the mission on April 6th. G confronted him and suggested he 'steal' Deathscythe and take it to Earth to carry out attacks on OZ as his pseudonym - "The God of Death.". With that, G and American teen Duo Maxwell parted, after G passed on the name of Howard as a reliable ally.
Deathsycthe served with distinction in the wars of 195, at one point being updated to the more formidable Deathscythe Hell by all 5 scientists while imprisoned by OZ. It's career however seemed ended on Christmas day AC196 when it and the other four Gundams were all destroyed by their pilots.
However the five machines were all reconstructed by the Preventers the following year. Again however, Deathscythe was sacrificed by pilot Maxwell in the Artic after the activation of deranged Transformer Starscream.
Technically, the Deathscythe Omega is a whole new machine, but since some parts from the original were salvaged and reused, it can be said that there is a continuous link through all three machines.
Like the original machine, it carries Hyper-Jammers and now two Buster Shields. The only other long-range weapons other than the Vulcan Guns are the two shoulder-mounted Dober-launchers, effectively two rail-guns loaded with Grenades.
The Twin Beam Scythe is now perhaps the most versatile beam weapon in the world. It is a simple concept; two adjustable beam projectors are mounted on a collapsible staff. Because the position of the blades can be altered a variety of different weapons can be generated, from varied scythes (single, twin and large) to pikes and tridents. In combat either of the projectors can also be removed and held like a sword-hilt, allowing Deathscythe to fight with a pair of beam sabres.
Though the active-cloak of the Hell has been removed, Deathscythe has gained an aircraft transformation, a Mach-7 version of the Soviet Mig-31 or Firefox. This along with its improved engines make the Omega one of the fastest and most versatile mecha in the Earthsphere.
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ESGW-03C Gundam Heavyarms Blitz
(XXXG-01H2)
Unit function: Artillery Support, All Terrain
Head height: 16.7t
Base weight: 8.2t
Armor: Gundanium
Designed: AC188, AC195, AC198
Designer: Doktor S, Howard Calahan (x2), Chris Latta
Pilot: Trowa Barton
Armament: Beam Gatling, Dual Gatling Gun (x2), Chest Gatling (x4), Homing Missile (x44), Micromissile (x48), Beam Whip (x2), Heat Machette (x2).
Equipment: Minovsky Generator (x2).
Fighting Ability: 150
Weapons Ability: 210
Speed Ability: 130
Power Ability: 140
Armored Ability: 180
Total: 810
History:
Doktor S was the scientist who initially suspected Quinze and Dekim; having worked at a Barton Foundation factory prior to designing the Tallgeese, he doubted the militaristic Dekim was one to support revenge of his pacifist nemesis Heero Yuy. Consequently, S opted to use the offered supplies, finances and facilities of the Barton Foundation in order to both build his machine and do some spying from inside the Foundation.
The downside to taking up Dekim's offer was that a pre-chosen pilot was forced on S, his equally fanatical pro-colonist son Trowa.
As stated S was a advocate of conventional munitions. Having taught military history at the Sandhurst Military Academy in Britain as well as study engineering he was well versed in the various means man had devised to slaughter one another. Therefore, he decided to style his Gundam's primary weapons on his favourite firearm; the Gatling Cannon. This was based on aesthetic appeal as well as the gun's efficiency, as demonstrated in the American Civil War.
As well as two standard artillery Gatlings mounted in the machine's chest, S conceded to the changing times by adding a giant Beam Gatling to the left arm; this fired the same amount of energy as the Buster Rifle, but spread it out over a longer time period and a wider area.
For extra firepower, S added a battery of both micro and homing missiles. The lone close-range weapon was the recessed army knife in the right forearm, a superheated blade which was later shown to be very useful as a last resource.
By the time construction had began on colony L3X18999, S had discovered the truth behind 'Operation Meteor' and circulated this to the other scientists. Rather than subvert his project however, S continued with construction and hoped to turn either Dekim or Trowa at the last second.
On the evening of April 6th, S presented his suggested list of targets to Trowa. Angered that S had never planned to go along with Dekim's plan, the headstrong youth declared he would announce S's treachery, at which point S's assistant shot him in the back, a man with family on Earth who he did not want murdered by the sadistic Bartons.
The only witness to the murder was a nameless technician who offered to become Heavyarms' guardian, but openly stated he had no interest in civilian deaths. From that moment on, that youth took on the name of Trowa Barton.
Like it's brothers, Heavyarm's fought admirably on Earth, but did not return to space with it's pilot. Hidden on Earth, Heavyarms was delivered to Howard for modifications for space combat in return for the Eve Wars, in which it placed a vital role as the Heavyarms Kai. However, just like the other four Gundams it was eventually destroyed in December AC196.
Like them though it was reconstructed by the Preventers and fought in several smaller battles before being severely damaged by the Deceptidrone troops of Onslaught. Consequently it was rebuild to be more powerful than ever before.
In the new Blitz the basic Beam Gatling was retained, but was enlarged and adapted to take its power from two shoulder-mounted generators, allowing a constant rate of fire that could be maintained indefinitely.
The number of Chest Gatlings were doubled and the total number of missiles increased to 92. There is also provision for a double-barrelled Gatling Gun mounted over a hand-carried shield.
Finally, ample provision has been made for close-combat. There is now an army knife on both arms, and a pair of beam weapons have been added. Given 'Trowa's' skill in a lion-taming act at the circus where he lived during the war, the form of a whip was chosen. Though powerful, these weapons are heavy due to the large amount of processing power needed to calculate and generate the constantly changing containment matrix.
Like the other Gundams, Heavyarms now has a transformation, an all-terrain tank. In this process, the torso lies flat and the head is covered by the shield which becomes a cowcatcher. The fore-arms and shoulders become a pair of caterpillar tracks while the generators become a second pair at the back. Finally the legs fold over and lie flat along the machine's back. The benefit of this design is that all of the long-range weapons can be fired with the exception of the chest Gatlings.
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ESGW-04C Gundam Sandrock Scarab
(XXXG-01SR2)
Unit function: Close-Combat Fighter, Ground
Head height: 17.4m
Base weight: 7.4t
Armor: Gundanium
Designed: AC188, AC195, AC198
Designer: Instructor H, Howard Calahan (x2), Chris Latta
Pilot: Quatre Winner
Armament: Heat Shotels (x2), Castor Rifles (x2), Mandibles (x2), Machine Cannon (x2) Vulcan Gun (x2).
Equipment: Planet Defensors (x8)
Fighting Ability: 140
Weapons Ability: 150
Speed Ability: 160
Power Ability: 160
Armored Ability: 210
Total: 820
History:
Instructor H originally had grave reservations over any form of attack on Earth from space, but still wanted to get revenge against OZ for their crimes and his own. Believing that any Gundams sent from the colonies would be piloted by radicals who would have no qualms over the deaths of innocent bystanders, he opted to design and construct his Gundam on Earth, allowing it to be piloted by a trained and responsible soldier. After searching for a sizeable force of such men, he found them in AC189.
By the AC180s resentful feelings were swelling on Earth as well as in the colonies towards the UESA. Several Middle-Eastern powers, with financial aid from the exiled government and monarchy of the United Kingdom (which had never been part of the Romerfeller Foundation) had secretly created the rebel army of the Independent Middle East Forces to stage multiple attacks against the Alliance and OZ. However, despite having numerous troops, air, naval and armoured units, the IMEF lacked MS. After smuggling himself to Earth, H offered his services as an engineer to Forces commander Sadual, who commissioned him to build enough suits to serve a fifty-man fleet.
H soon came up with three designs, general combat, artillery support, and air support. While he finalised the blueprints Sadual forged new identities for fifty of his best soldiers, led by Forces Captain Rashid Kurama and enrolled them in the Alliance Military for MS training. As soon as their training with OZ was complete each man went AWOL and returned to their base of operations, where they helped H customise the fifty general combat suits according to each man's preferences.
They named their new machines Maganac, after their Corps, and quickly gained a reputation as loyal and fierce warriors. The second generation of machines soon followed, Oliphaunt, but the aerial unit, Trojan, never left the drawing-board.
In AC192 the Independent Middle East Forces was beaten into submission by a joint attack by OZ and the former People's Republic of China after their headquarters position was given away by a traitor. 41 of the Maganacs and H, by now their team mechanic survived along with fifty of their machines and became a rogue force, a wild-card who randomly allied themselves with anti-alliance organisations.
In AC193 the Maganacs learned many civilians had been conscripted by the Alliance into slave labour on resource satellite MO-III. Deciding to liberate the facility they ensured their safety by hijacking a shuttle carrying the male heir to the benevolent and wealthy Winner family, Quatre. This allowed the sympathising Winner father to supply them with ships and resources without loosing face.
While on the satellite Quatre formed an empathic bond with the Maganacs and H. He soon earned their respect and loyalty first by exposing the traitor among them, Yuda, taking a bullet meant for Captain Kurama and then piloting that Captain's suit against an alliance attack with spectacular results.
Realising he had found a pilot worthy of his machine, ironically a colony citizen, H did not return to Earth with the Maganacs but followed Quatre to the L4 cluster, where Sahib Winner reluctantly granted the Instructor sanctuary and the facilities to built his Gundam. Because of the mammoth resources of the Winners, Sandrock was designed and built in two years.
The Gundam Sandrock was effectively a super-enhanced Maganac suit, and like them was primarily designed for close-quarters desert warfare, the main weapons being its Heat Shotels, giant superheated sickles intended to slice enemy machines apart with Sandrock's superior strength. Other than that it's weapons were just the standard low calibre guns and two shoulder missiles, along with a shield for protection.
Having learnt through his colleagues of the Barton Foundation's malicious intent, H openly told Quatre to ignore the Foundation's orders and fight as his heart told him. Sahib Winner only became aware of his son's piloting skills at the moment Operation Meteor began, when Quatre left his colony with Sandrock, leaving a single note explaining his reasons.
Sandrock was the second Gundam to be destroyed by its pilot after Wing, but was subsequently recovered and repaired by the Maganacs. Like Heavyarms it was refitted for space combat just in time for the Eve Wars (the only addition to weaponry being a small machine gun).
Quatre tried to subsequently destroy all of the Gundams by sending them into the sun, but bravely recovered them to change the outcome of December AC196, though Sandrock and it's brothers were all destroyed after that short conflict. Like them, it was rebuilt to fight for peace, and severely damaged in the battle with the drone forces of Onslaught.
Sandrock Scarab has become a more balanced machine, capable of fighting at long and short-range. The heat shotels now have their own micro-reactors, allowing them to run (in theory) infinitely. On each arm are a pair of mandible crushers; mechanical claws capable of seizing and crushing enemy machines.
Supplementing this are a pair of Castor Rifles. Ideal for Quatre's preference for non-lethal solutions, they use the principle of X-ray generation to create a stream of highly charged electrons that short-out circuitry, disabling enemy machines. If needed, that same stream can be used to propel bullets, and each rifle has a magazine feed for this purpose.
Defensively Sandrock's armour is sufficient against projectiles, but against beam weaponry it carries an eight-strong rack of planet defensors, spherical flying disks that create an anti-beam field.
It's vehicle mode is an eight wheeled all-terrain transport with four wheels at the front and a group of four supporting it's rear. The electric drive motors on all four axles make this vehicle fast and powerful.
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ESGW-05C Gundam Altron Hydra
(XXXG-01S2)
Unit function: Close-Combat Fighter, All Terrain
Head height: 16.4m
Base weight: 7.5t
Armor: Gundanium
Designed: AC188, AC195, AC198
Designer: J,G,S,H,O, Howard Calahan, Chris Latta
Pilot: Wufei Chang
Armament: Dragon-Fang (x2), Flamethrower (x4), Beam Trident, Machine -Cannon (x2) Vulcan Gun (x2).
Equipment: Turmansky Jet Engine (x2).
Fighting Ability: 200
Weapons Ability: 140
Speed Ability: 170
Power Ability: 150
Armored Ability: 140
Total: 800
History: Master O is the most reclusive of the scientists. Known for his strong feelings against the Alliance, he partly supported Dekim Barton and only after seeing the suffering the people of Earth were enduring along with their colony counterparts decided to not go along with the original Operation Meteor.
Before he reached this decision however he tried to return to his native Africa to design his machine in peace, only to find his former home razed to the ground by the mobile suits he had helped design, his people suffering and stricken with disease.
Trying to find a place where he could make peace with himself, O retreated to Asia, where he came under the tutorage of first a band of Buddhist monks. Finding he could only express his anger in physical combat O later left to China where he met the last Earth-dwelling members of the Long Clan, a famous tribe of warriors which had been exiled to the aging colony L5A02026 early in the After Colony age.
After several years of harsh discipline under the Longs, O decided he had to built a Gundam not only to atone for his sins but to avenge every man, woman and child that had suffered under the Alliance.
O was informed by the Longs that their counterparts in the colonies had the finances to build the demon machine he felt he had to create, and provided him with a reference in order to convince the clan leaders he came with their blessing.
O was allowed to built the Shenlong Gundam on A02026, but only on the condition that he also build a machine to protect the colony against the Alliance Space Forces. Fulfilling this deal, O built a clone of the production-line Tallgeese but using Gundanium in order to allow the Longs to practice manipulating the super-alloy before moving onto the main project.
By AC193, Shenlong's body was complete but no weapons had been constructed save for the standard low-calibre guns. The pilot of the Tallgeese had been chosen as Meilan Chang, a young tomboy. Her teen husband, Wufei, preferred to study rather than fight and looked down on his wife's obsession with combat, even though he easily bested her in the martial arts.
In that year, Alliance Space Forces Commander Septem sadistically ordered that A02026 population's was to be wiped out with poison gas in order to save the cost of demolishing the colony and re-locating them. In order to defend the colony, Meilan took her Tallgeese out and died fighting. Wufei vanquished the remaining suits using the Shenlong and weapons he picked up from the battlefield. To protect the people, a young Alliance doctor named Sally Po informed General Septem that the Longs had been wiped out and A02026 destroyed. Two years later, Shenlong was launched to Earth.
Wufei took on the task of piloting Shenlong, which he renamed 'Nataku' in honour of his dead wife. It would seem he had a hand in designed the weapons systems along with O, for they were best suited to elaborate martial-arts combat rather than practical fighting; only a person with martial-arts skills could use it in combat; it would be practically useless in any other battlefield. These armaments were the dragon-fang (a extendable claw with built-in flamethrowers) and the beam glaive (in effect a long pikestaff with a short blade).
Those problems were re-addressed when the five scientists upgraded the Shenlong to the Altron Gundam at the same time as refitting the Deathscythe. The beam glaive was replaced with a superior double-ended beam trident and the number of Dragon-fangs doubled. At the same-time a independently targetable Beam Cannon was added for long-range combat.
Altron went through the same process of war, destruction and reconstruction as the other Gundams (with the exception that it briefly fought for the Bartons in the AC196 revolution), and again was sent to Isla Nublar for upgrade in January 199.
The armament has not changed an inch except that the dragon-fangs were re- built for combat within gravity (the previous version operated on an electromagnet manipulation system that was only effective in zero-g). The beam cannons are now pivoted freely on the shoulders and the flamethrowers are mounted on the arms instead of on the Dragon-fangs. Like Deathscythe, the trident blades are adjustable allowing many new varieties of combat.
Shenlong is also an experiment into the use of non Vernier-derived engines. Two Turmansky Ramjet Engines for space and aerial combat were installed in the torso, each putting out 50,000lbs of thrust. These are particularly useful in the new aircraft mode, like Deathscythe a variant on the Mig-31 Firefox.
In short, Altron Hydra is now faster, stronger and more adaptable than any other version of this design, a machine which commands respect from all that lay eyes on it.
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ESGW-06D Gundam Tallgeese
(OZ-00MS) (Leo Prototype)
Unit function: General Combat
Head height: 17.4m
Base weight: 8.1t
Armor: Gundanium
Designed: AC175, AC195, AC198
Designer: (J,G,S,H,O,HC), Lon Serman
Pilot: Zechs Marquise
Armament: Mega-Cannon, Beam Sword (x2), Heat Rod, Vulcan Gun (x2), Machine Cannon (x2).
Equipment: Plasma Jet Engine (x2).
Fighting Ability: 150
Weapons Ability: 170
Speed Ability: 240
Power Ability: 130
Armored Ability: 130
Total: 850
History:
To date there have been two Tallgeese designs. The first of these was designed in AC174 by the five Gundam scientists.
In AC173, the Unified Earthsphere Alliance sought to begin research into combat-equipped mobile-suits. The name Mobile Suit is actually a corruption of the acronym Manipulator Order Build and Industrial Labour (MOBIL) Suit.
Mobile Suits were first developed not long after the AC calendar commenced as tools to aid in the construction of the space colonies. The first were actually mechanical space-suits with hand actuators to help the human pilot within. Through the next two centuries they grew in size eventually becoming humanoid machines with mechanical hands that could hold and manipulate a wide variety of tools.
With the turbulent political climate of the second AC century, Mobile Suits were soon outfitted with various weapons (initially missiles and tank- cannons). Outfitted as such, they soon proved themselves superior to conventional combat vehicles, being capable of crossing all kinds of terrain on their two legs and even space combat. These crudely modified pieces of construction equipment were soon being deployed in various theatres of war across the Earthsphere.
In AC174 the Unified Earthsphere Alliance put out a general contract for the first combat mobile-suit. The contract was sold to a weapons company called 'Offensive Zenith' or OZ, actually a subsidy of a giant European conglomerate known as the Romerfeller Foundation.
OZ began headhunting the best Mobile Suit designers on and off Earth. Eventually a uniquely skilled design team was assembled at their Corsica factory to build the first combat designed mobile-suit, the OZ-00MS or Leo. Three scientists operated originally; Doctor J, a Japanese electronics expert. Instructor H, a German metallurgist and programmer, and Master O, an African designer of industrial mobile suits. These three were able to assemble a basic design, but quickly began to run into problems.
Firstly, the gas-turbine selected to power the new weapon was soon found to be too bulky to fit in the frame. The proposed solution was Minovsky Fusion, the power of the new millennium. In this simple reactor, a light isotope of helium, Helium-3, is fused with a heavy isotope of Hydrogen, Deuterium. The output of this reactor is superheated helium, direct electricity from the reactor plasma and the mysterious energy emission known as the Minovsky or M-particle. However, such a compact reactor had never been built. OZ hired a South-American Fusion expert, Professor G who headed up a second team to design the reactor, with rapid success. G also implied he could harness the M-particle output as a weapon, so he was retained on the main team of engineers.
After this, it was proposed to add several standard artillery weapons to supplement G's proposed 'beam weapons'. To this end, a munitions expert and tutor from the British Military Academy in Sandhurst, Doktor S, was cultivated and added to the design team.
Eventually a final design was arrived at. G's promise of radical new weaponry was borne out with his elaborate 'Beam Sabres' and the 'Beam- Cannon' he and S developed. S also came up with the concept of a 'Heat Rod' to recycle the wasted reactor heat.
Weight was cut down with the use of the new ultra-light, ultra-strong space alloy Gundanium. Despite this however and the brilliantly light yet powerful mechanical systems of Master O, the machine was still too heavy to fly as originally proposed by mounting twin jet engines on it's back. The final addition to the team solved this problem. Howard Calahan, an American aeronautics engineer was an expert in the propulsion systems of shuttle- craft. With G he designed a new micro-engine that combusted the vented helium with rocket fuel to generate enough propulsion to lift the heavy suit.
Extremely pleased with themselves, the six engineers presented their Leo design to the OZ management board in early AC175, along with the basic specifications for a space combat MS (Taurus), and were promptly snubbed on grounds of cost and excessive firepower. So amused were the directors with the hyper-powerful, hyper-expensive Leo prototype that they renamed it Tallgeese, a play on the phrase 'White Elephant.'
Rejected, the six-strong team went back to the drawing board and spent a lengthy period simplifying the blueprint and removing what was too radical or expensive. Among these were the following:
The use of the new hyper-alloy Gundanium as armour.
The radical beam cannon and heat-rod, which were substituted for a shell- firing Dober-gun.
A neural-interface system to increase both the pilot's reaction speed and his 'awareness'.
The instantly recognisable 'style' of the Gundams (and the name Gundam).
Then, before they completed stripping down the Tallgeese, the Romerfeller Foundation, through OZ, organised the assassination of pacifist colony leader Heero Yuy on April 7th AC175, as he was threatening to end the wars that kept their pocketbooks full. Despite suspicions against them, OZ were never acquitted in a court of law, but the six engineers, disgusted, quit the project - each keeping a copy of the blueprint.
The Tallgeese design was further simplified by the new engineer called in by OZ to finish the job, Doctor Berg. Berg was an skilled designer of mobile-suits but his skills paled in comparison with those of his predecessors. It was Berg who began the actual construction of Tallgeese and then halted it halfway realising the down-graded machine still exceeded the requirements of the Alliance. After successfully simplifying the design into the OZ-06MS, or Leo, Berg was appointed as their Chief MS Engineer and went on to design the Zodiac series of mobile suits.
In AC195 OZ Colonel Zechs Marquise required a mobile suit powerful enough to rival the Gundams that had arrived on Earth. Walker, a close friend and technician at Corsica, was able to refurbish the half-completed Tallgeese, which soon proved itself above and beyond conventional MS, and in Zechs' capable hands, more than a match for the Gundams.
Eventually however, Zechs exceeded the Tallgeese's abilities and was forced to sacrifice it, detonating it while briefly taking on the custody of Wing Zero.
At the same time however, Treize Kushrenada had been seemingly imprisoned in Luxemburg by the Romerfeller Foundation. Rebel OZ soldiers however who supported him infiltrated the base and replaced his guards, allowing him total freedom of the facility. At the same time, Treize recovered the last copy of the original Tallgeese blueprint from OZ's files and, coupled with data gathered on the Gundams, began a directive to build superior Mobile- suits. Four machines were built, the OZ-13MS (Sagittarius), the OZ-14MS (Aquarius) and two Tallgeeses. Structurally, these Tallgeeses were clones of the Berg variant, though one was outfitted with the weaponry planned for the original machine.
Treize later passed the Sagittarius (also known as the Epyon) along to Gundam pilot Heero Yuy, and piloted the weaker of the two Tallgeeses (known as the Tallgeese 2) in the Eve wars, where he died. The second, stronger machine was sealed away in storage by Treize prior to his 'final war', and was recovered by Zechs Marquise for a last stand during the Barton Revolution of AC196.
Unlike the Gundams, this Tallgeese 3 was not destroyed on December 25th AC196, but retained in service through the next two years until being self- detonated by its temporary pilot Duo Maxwell. Because this machine was built from Neo-Titanium and not Gundanium, it was totally destroyed. Therefore, the machine constructed on Isla Nublar by Lon Serman using Howard's copy of the original blueprint is a completely new suit, and for the first time, fulfils and even exceeds the potential of the original design.
The weapons systems are virtually identical to the Tallgeese 3. The beam cannon (now known as the mega-cannon to distinguish it from other designs) is a self-powered beam rail-gun with equal power to the Twin Buster Rifle, which is slightly smaller, lighter and about 10% more fuel-efficient.
The two beam sabres have now been replaced with Beam Swords, making full- use of the reactor emissions. The Tallgeese is now also fitted with the ZERO System, allowing it to keep up with the impressive skills of its pilot.
Like most of the suits given over to the care of Lon Serman, the Tallgeese's original Verniers have been replaced with Plasma Jet Engines, which now make the Tallgeese the fastest mobile suit ever built.
Finally, and most importantly, the Tallgeese is now a fully-fledged Gundam, outfitted with the legendary armour and restyled to resemble its children. Unlike the other Gundams, it has no transformation.
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ESGW-08A Gundam Whiteflight
(OZ-12SMS) (Taurus Prototype)
Unit function: Space/Ariel Combat
Head height: 17.3m
Base weight: 8t
Armor: Gundanium, Kevlar
Designed: AC175, AC198
Designer: J,G,S,H,O,HC, Lon Serman
Pilot: Lucrezia Noin
Armament: Beam Cannon, Beam Sabre (x2), Heat-Rod, Vulcan Gun (x2),
Machine-Cannon (x2).
Equipment: Plasma-Jet Engine (x2).
Fighting Ability: 175
Weapons Ability: 165
Speed Ability: 190
Power Ability: 140
Armored Ability: 150
Total: 820
ESGW-08B Gundam Darkflight
(OZ-12SMS) (Taurus Prototype)
Unit function: Space/Ariel Combat
Head height: 17.3m
Base weight: 7.9t
Armor: Gundanium, Kevlar
Designed: AC175, AC198
Designer: J,G,S,H,O,HC, Lon Serman
Pilot: Hilde Schbeiker
Armament: Variable Beam Scythe, Flamethrower (x4), Vulcan Gun (x2), Hyper Jammers (x2),
Plasma-jet Engine (x2), CM Spines (x8).
Fighting Ability: 170
Weapons Ability: 160
Speed Ability: 200
Power Ability: 130
Armored Ability: 150
Total: 810
History:
As stated, the Gundam Engineers and Howard conceived a space-combat mobile- suit at the same time as they designed the Leo Prototype. The basic specification, outline diagram and preliminary blueprints of this machine were filed away with OZ but once again, each engineer retained a copy.
Like the Tallgeese, this was to be a multi-purpose machine constructed of Gundanium, but was envisioned from the beginning as being weaker than its older brother, sacrificing speed and power but still remaining superior to most machines built after AC174. During the Tallgeese project, some of the scientists had come up with new ideas, which culminated in this design;
G had come up with a system that used M-Particles to shield against his own beam weaponry, dubbing it the 'planet defensor'. Together, he and S had also come up with a new beam cannon design, less powerful that that on the Tallgeese (hence dubbed the mega-cannon), but still with devastating potential.
Howard had also further refined his reactor-engine, and wished to implement this refinement in a new machine. Each of the other scientists contributed their substantial knowledge to designing a sturdy, powerful and adaptable MS for warfare in space.
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NOTE: When conscripted by OZ to design a superior MS in AC195, the five scientists created the Gemini suits (Mercurius & Vayeate), claiming they were a hyper-upgrade of the then mass-produced OZ Taurus (I quote from the manga). In actuality, the scientists built a downgrade version of 'their' Taurus with certain weaknesses thrown in to fox OZ. For example, they split the planet defensor system from the beam cannon, under the pretext they were taking 'defence' and 'offence' to their limit, when their Taurus had been powerful enough to mount both. The beam cannon's internal reactor was also scrapped and replaced with a bulky 'backpack' unit which weighted the Vayeate down and made for a very tempting weak-spot.
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As stated, Doctor Berg became chief engineer for OZ following the departure of the original six. After putting his Leo design into production in AC176, Berg initially sat back and enjoyed the ride as 'his' creations were supplied to the Alliance and began to dominate all walks of combat.
The Romerfeller Foundation, constantly seeking to gain total control of the Earthsphere, began to realise OZ and the MS it produced were the key to rising its star. Using their wealth, they began to 'create' wars in troubled nations, anonymously supplying funds to rebel armies and stirring up anti-Alliance feeling. To combat this, the Alliance purchased more MS from OZ, and Romerfeller consequently pocketed the profit. Eventually the Foundation's powers grew to such an extent that it's members began to manipulate the Alliance.
The first new MS development was the creation of new weapons systems and additions for the Leo. These ranged from new 'beam rifles' to 'beam cannon' shoulder attachments. Most notably, two backpack units were created to allow Leos to fly and take to space. Soon however, new environmental MS were required.
The first was the OZ-07AMS Aires, an aerial unit mounted with fusion ramjet engines. Following this was the OZ-07MS Capricorn or Tragos, a land suit designed for artillery support. None of these machines were actually original designs of Berg's, most of the internals and system improvements being based on the last copy of Tallgeese blueprints he had found in the OZ files along with the specs for the space unit.
By this point, Romerfeller had poured enough funds into OZ to allow it to take on a whole new bearing. OZ closed down all of it's non-MS related projects and began advanced training programmes for Alliance soldiers on the new MS. Soon, OZ was both part and not-part of the Alliance military; it's elite 'Specials' unit; like the SS in Nazi Germany, a state within a state.
The only MS Berg ever built on his own was a failure in comparison to it's cousins. Though on paper the OZ-09MMS Pisces looked like an excellent Marine Mobile Suit, in actual combat it proved lacking.
Berg had half-completed his downgrade of the space-unit (now the OZ-12SMS Taurus) blueprint when he was sacked by Romerfeller based on his substandard work. Berg left for space in AC183 with the last copies of the Tallgeese and Taurus blueprints.
No new MS were actually developed by OZ and the position of Chief Engineer was discontinued until AC194 when a man named Tuberov was suggested to OZ by the Romerfeller Foundation to upgrade and possibly replace Berg's now outdated machines. Before OZ commander Treize Kushrenada fully entrusted Tuberov however, he commissioned him to do what Berg could not; built a useable Marine Mobile Suit; this work resulted in the successful OZ-08MMS Cancer.
With Treize's blessing Tuberov quickly worked out what he was going to do. First he would complete Berg's half-finished work on the Taurus, which would serve to replace both Aires and Space Leo suits. Following this he would design a general purpose replacement for the Leo, then a suitable heavy-combat machine that would surpass the Tragos.
This plan changed when he began experimenting with different cockpit systems for the unfinished Taurus. At this point, Tuberov hit on the idea of replacing the pilot with a computer. In the end the Taurus received this new system as well as a cockpit, but Tuberov subsequently put his Leo replacement on the back-burner and focused on developing his new heavy- combat Mobile Direct Operational Lead Labor, or MOBILE DOLL, the OZ-02MD Virgo I, II & III.
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NOTE: Tuberov later did design a replacement MS for the Leo, but it never saw service in AC195. However the OZ-17MS Ophichus or Serpent did become the primary weapon of the Barton Foundation during their war of AC196.
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The new Taurus quickly proved itself to be the most powerful machine in OZ's ranks, more than half as powerful as the Leo, Aires and Pisces. Though it had no built-in weapons, it was capable of mounting a beam cannon too powerful for the Leo to handle and had superior armour, speed and power to all other OZ suits. In the hands of a skilled pilot it was a force to be reckoned with. However, despite all of its benefits, it was still a downgrade from a superior design; had Tuberov been able to work from the same materials as Berg the Taurus could have been a match for any of the Gundams.
This can be clearly seen in the two machines built by Lon Serman (building on Howard's blueprint) for female pilots Lucrezia Noin and Hilde Schbeiker. Trying his best to build machines that they would be comfortable in, he modified each to carry weapons similar to their male partners.
Consequently, Noin's machine Whiteflight is the more powerful of the two, just like the Tallgeese is more powerful than the Deathscythe, but the difference is slight. This is because Serman used Darkflight as the test- bed for his new Kevlar armour process later duplicated on Wing Zero; though this cost Darkflight in terms of armour, it lightened it enough to make it significantly faster.
Obviously their colouration is different, Whiteflight going for the same white-and blue as the Tallgeese3, Darkflight coloured in matt black with touches of navy and purple.
Weapons are also different, Noin's machine carrying a heat-rod and beam- sabres identical to the Tallgeese 3's along with a hefty 'Vayeate' beam cannon as powerful as Wing Gabrielle's Buster Rifle, which is also self- powered. Serman also deliberately scrapped the 'planet defensors' on this suit to enable it to support such heavy weaponry.
Darkflight on the other hand takes after Deathscythe, boasting a Twin-Beam Scythe (adjustable) and Hyper-Jammers. Unlike Deathscythe however, Hilde has a set of flamethrowers at her disposal, as well as a variant on the Planet Defensor system (see under Gundam Zenith).
Both are fitted with Plasma-jet engines and resemble each other, having 'proper' Gundam legs instead of the aesthetically unpleasant legs of the Taurus and proper Gundam-style heads. Their bodywork is a mix between the sleek Taurus and the muscular Gemini suits, with a bit of the Tallgeese thrown in for good measure, creating a very happy aesthetic and mechanical balance.
Despite their few shortcomings however, these are two very powerful and dextrous machines worthy of the title Gundam.
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ESGW-09B Gundam Zenith
(OZ-14MS) (Aquarius)
Unit function: Anti-MD
Head height: 17.4m
Base weight: 8.2t
Armour: Gundanium
Designed: AC195
Designer: OZ
Pilot: Ann Une
Armament: Heat-Rod, Beam Sabre (x2), CM Spines (x8), Vulcan Gun (x2).
Equipment: Plasma-Jet Engine (x2).
Fighting Ability: 170
Weapons Ability: 150
Speed Ability: 170
Power Ability: 160
Armored Ability: 140
Total: 850
History: During the conflicts of AC195, the ruling government of the Earthsphere underwent drastic changes. Initially, the Unified Earthsphere Alliance existed as a sort of new-age United Nations, but eventually became the ruling body with dominion over smaller 'independent' nations.
Not long after the commencement of 'Operation Meteor', Trieze Kushrenada launched OZ's 'Operation Daybreak', initiated with the assassination of Pacifist Alliance leader General Noventa. In this coup, the government was liquidised, with OZ taking up the reins and beginning a programme of 'liberation' both on Earth and in the colonies. Daybreak was intended to be Romerfeller's ascension to power, but Treize was never one to submit to the corrupt Foundation that had put him in power. Later events saw Treize rise to control of the so-called 'World Nation', but prior to this he openly resigned from both his position in OZ and the Romerfeller Foundation.
Upon this action Treize was imprisoned in a Romerfeller facility in Luxemburg, but had planned for this continuality. Ensuring that the base was staffed entirely with soldiers from the 'Treize Faction', he initiated his 'Excalibur Directive' a operation to produce an elite contingent of superior MS for the coming war.
The name Excalibur was a reference to the sword of King Arthur, and the new machines were intended to conform with Trieze's ideals of knightly honour and chivalry on the battlefield. Though as stated the Tallgeese II and III were built at this time, the greatest weapons of the Excalibur Directive were the Sagittarius and Aquarius mobile suits, better known as the Gundams Epyon and Zenith.
The names of these two Gundams are quite interesting. Epyon is derived from the fact that the machine operates on the EPYON (Emotion Process Yield & Omission Neural) System and the word Zenith is a play on the actual MS, for it represents the zenith, or 'peak' of twenty-years of MS development by 'Offensive Zenith' (OZ).
These two suits were originally conceived as twins, but with the rising usage of Virgo MD, Treize decided to modify the Zenith as an anti-MD weapon. Consequently, the beam sword was removed and replaced with two beam sabres, allowing the M-Particle reactor output to be channelled to the Zenith's signature weapon, the CM Spines. These are slender rods which extend from the shoulders and arms. From them, a counter-minovsky field is projected, nullifying the planet defensors carried on the Mercurius MS and Virgo MD. This field can also be adapted to serve as a defence shield against beam attacks.
The general concept was that Zenith and Epyon would double-team each other, Zenith forming the tip of the sword, disabling enemy defences, while the faster and deadlier Epyon streaks through wreaking havoc. With the engine upgrades made by Lon Serman along with the addition of Transformer technology however Zenith now excels the Epyon in all fields, and could beat it in a fight even though it does not boast the EPYON System.
Officially the Zenith's pilot is Preventers commander Ann Une, though whether she can bring herself to pilot it based on her emotional attachment for the late General Kushrenada is questionable...
END.
If you've managed to read this far, congratulations! Hope you like these new mecha, and a similar set of profiles will later be posted for the new transformers created by...UNICRON!
See ya' soon.