Virilitas - Profile

-Hecatonchires- In the search for spiritually active exobeasts, a species of giant communal apes are discovered. They possess an exoskeleton like insects, yet have a body shape similar to a gorilla. Yet, that is not the interesting thing. Instead they are known to be highly communal and are theorized to possess some sort of group think capability. Ves has some of them shipped over, but finds that they only contain a hint of spirituality. He investigates further and then pays a great price to purchase one of their leaders. The leader turns out to be the key, just as he suspected. The leaders act as the control tower for the species, while the individuals are mainly just receivers for orders. The leader fights back and in the process of collecting spirituality from it, it kills itself, but Ves collects the spirituality anyway. With a source that seems perfect for creating a more fully featured spiritual network, Ves combines a portion of the leader beast's spirituality along with fragments from Venerable Ghanso. In the process of combination the ape leader calls out to the others of its race and fights back against Ves' manipulation of its spiritual fragment. They dump power into resistance which the resentful pieces of Ghanso feed upon. Ves is annoyed but there's no way a bunch of messy fragments and weak beasts can overpower him and he smashes apart the resistance. Unfortunately, in the process of destroying the rogue elements and smashing the new spirit into pieces, the shape of the resultant design spirit goes out of his control and ends up as a many headed, many armed giant. It appears with a human-like shape, but the many heads and arms of the other beasts that died to join the fight have combined with the original spirit. His intention of a network between different mechs is inverted and the 'network' now exists among many minds all stuffed into one spirit. In myth, the Hecatonchires are a trio of giants of considerable ferocity that overthrew the titans. They each had fifty heads and a hundred hands. This design spirit does not quite have as many heads or hands, but it does have too many to easily count. It has one head of a gorilla and another completely of man, along with a dozen that looked like combinations between the two. The default glow of the Hecatonchires is barely present to the outside world as it is focused inward. It manifests as an increase in multi-tasking ability and increases familiarization with limbs and body features outside of the human norm. -Intelligence 2 While it started as a beast, it is made up of many different minds and tempered with some human intellect from Ghanso. -Adaptability 2 Useful for any mech that doesn't follow the standard humanoid shape(head, torso, 2 arms, 2 legs). It can also be used to better operate turrets, manually guide missiles, or move joints outside of normal limits. -Ability Diversity 3 Empowers the pilot to basically feel completely comfortable with a strange mech body. Four legs, six arms, shoulder turrets, fully rotational waists, tentacles, it doesn't matter what the mech configuration is, Hecatonchires will make it feel like completely natural. -Ability Power 3 The glow only affects the pilot so it is not obviously as powerful as those that debilitate others or turn heads. Its function is quite powerful, but only if applied to the right mech. It is a more refined and controllable version of Zeigra controlling the Devil Tiger's Tail. Instead of taking over completely, it merely assist the pilot to operate unusual parts on their own. -Activated Ability Ideas- Two Minds: Make the off-hand have a mind of its own, fighting independently of the primary hand for a dual wielding mech. Alternatively, a skilled dual wielder might fight with four or six arms with the same skill they usually use two. Support Gunner: Hecatonchires, along with a computer, takes over the firing calculations required for a turret weapon. The pilot is still the one deciding when and w

-Black Pheonix- Unusual readings are discovered when passing a volcanic planet. An exobeast is discovered bathing in magma and Ves has it captured to add to the Dragon's Den. Afterwards, Ves finds that it has spirituality. Once he takes a portion of its strength, a design spirit he hasn't spent much time on flares up in his mind with desire. The design spirit of the Blackbeak, the Black Pheonix, wishes to consume the fragment. This is a somewhat rare situation, as Ves usually prefers to control the direction of a design spirit, but the prior example of the Illustrious One compels him to take the risk. The new Black Pheonix becomes a pheonix not just in name, but ability. The black flames that give it its name inundate its glow and are highly destructive. Those who approach too closely feel the heat of flames. The fiery glow does not affect the physical world, but scorches the spirit and will. Unlike the glow of other spirits that are more effective against those with weaker will and ineffective against most expert pilots, the Black Pheonix is able to burn everyone. The black flames burn the force of will and spirituality, causing damage to even experts. However, this is not without a price. The source of the Black Pheonix's flames is the pilot's own will and spirituality. The greater the sacrifice, the greater the power. Yet, it is not all a loss, as the Black Pheonix is a pheonix after all and even after burning away all of their own will and spirit, they will rise again from the ashes. The damage caused by the black flames are not permanent, the pilot and their enemies will eventually recover their will and spirit with time. Because of the cost, the default glow is likely to be only at grappling ranges. -Intelligence 1 The Black Pheonix has evolved, but it is still a combination of real and imagined beasts. -Adaptability 3 The Black Pheonix's use is not restricted to any specific mech type or role. If it can be properly applied, its strength could even be leveraged on smaller totems or defensive structures. As long as someone is willing to suffer the side effects, they can harm their enemies. -Ability Diversity 1 Ves can develop methods to focus the scope or intensity of the glow, but their self-sacrificial nature remains. -Ability Power 5 With sacrifice comes the power to face off against foes that are much stronger than oneself, at least for a while. Against large power gaps, there isn't much hope, but against those only a few times stronger, a sufficient sacrifice can give them a fighting chance. -Activated Ability Ideas- Dark Burst: Using a flamethrower or plasma rifle, the flames change color and are fueled by the will of the pilot. Blackblade: Wreath a melee weapon with black flames, which then slice portions of will off when they strike the enemy. The usage of a medium to directly transfer the flames reduces the spiritual expenditure.

The Grave Exemplar, when christened, has a large disc of armor at the prow. Behind the prow, the ship narrows rapidly in a sort of cone shape, looking much like the rootball of a tree that has been dug out of the ground all in one piece, yet without the tree. Over time, as the scrapped mechs accumulate, it comes to look like an open grave of mechs from the front, broken up by the parts of salvaged ships that resemble mausoleums. The Grave Exemplar is much wider than it is long and even large ark ships can hide behind it. It is intended to escort Mechs into combat range, with combat bunkers around the edge of the graveyard armor to provide support fire and also cover for the assault. Ves uses Lufa and a portion of the Unending One as a seed to create a spiritual construct within the gravity generator on the prow. It collects the remaining portions of spirituality and will, compressing them into a shield not just against the physical, but the immaterial.

Grave Exemplar - Capital Combat Carrier -Size: 1 - Carries a sizable complement of mechs, and a large armored prow. -Defense: 3 - The armored prow is not made of a homogenous single alloy, but it is large and dense. -Mobility: 3 - Meant to move quickly, but the size of its prow slows it down. -Productivity: 3 - Can restore its own armored prow using a high gravity crusher on scrapped mechs. During the expedition into the Nyxian Gap, the Larkinson Clan lost many ships while trying to close the distance with warships and other taboo weaponry. While not planning on doing this again anytime soon, Ves wants to be ready just in case. With so many third rate ships, and a distinct lack of proper Combat Carriers, the fleet took far more damage than necessary. With so many valuable ships in the future fleet, there is a great need for something to lead the charge. A ship to act as a vanguard, a shield for the mech assault forces. Especially if they are forced into combat in a place without any asteroids to use as cover and the Larkinson Clan mechs have to advance upon a warship without any protection whatsoever. The Grave Exemplar is a capital class combat carrier, intended to not just carry them around in peacetime, but to accompany them onto the battlefield. Contrary to the doctrine of some other Combat Carriers, the Grave Exemplar doesn't have bunkers for thousands of mechs so it can act as a sub-par warship. Instead, it focuses upon defense, mobility, and sustainability. The Grave Exemplar's main feature is its large armored prow. It acts like the shield of a knight mech, adding a powerful defense, while also being easy to repair and replace. It is also the most iconic part of the ship as the armored prow is created out of whatever scrap can be scavenged upon the battlefield. Destroyed ships and mechs that aren't valuable enough or too numerous to salvage are collected and added to the front of the Grave Exemplar. Just strapping or welding scrap to a ship would not be very effective as armor as they would easily be blown apart and would also greatly affect the ship's maneuverability. To remedy this problem, the Grave Exemplar is equipped with a large gravity generator. Most ships can only generate a standard gravity level to make them comfortable for humans and prevent bone degeneration. Ves trades another favor with Master Willix in order to get a large scale system that can output many times more gravity at the nose of the Grave Exemplar. The destroyed pieces of mechs are compressed by the high gravity to create a non-homogenous, but dense layer of armor. It also has the side effect of looking like a mountain of metallic corpses. Fallen mechs are 'buried' in the cemetery upon the prow of the Grave Exemplar. For a mech to be alive, means it also may someday die. All the mechs that fall to the Larkinson Clan and are not brought back to life and working order will be interred upon the prow of the Grave Exemplar to be used to protect the Larkinson Clan in the future. The life and spirituality of those fallen mechs will not be lost as it can be contributed to the Grave Exemplar. Even as the massive tomb is damaged by enemies and worn down, as long as it is never completely destroyed it will still carry the souls of the fallen ships and mechs that are constantly compressed into an even more dense mass.

I believe there's 4 tiers of pilot: God, Ace, Expert, Expert Candidate; and they correspond to 4 tiers of engineer: Star Designer, Master, Senior, Journeyman; Novice and Apprentice Mech Designers must correspond to like normal mech pilots and trainee pilots, since none of them have any 'supernatual' abilities.

I love this idea of a tomb(and processing), but it should probably just be a part of another ship. It definitely doesn't need a whole capital class ship just to be a tomb. That would be really cool if Exlor just added this idea to one of the other ships.

Agreed. Sort of how I feel about the rest of the novel so far too. Some parts are pretty good, some parts not so much.

When do the mechs show up? I loved the beginning of this novel with all the fun armor and weapons, but lately its just spirit this and spirit that. When does it get fun again?

Joshua can do it!