3.4 - The First Casnel;

It bears mentioning before diving into the details of the so called 'First' Casnel that the NTME, the device we use to see the UnderCurrent through, is far from the most stable of machines - It is well known to periodically swap the perspective of who it is viewing, seemingly at random.

 Many have began to wonder if the visions we see of UnderCurrent are actually being transmitted from people on those worlds, and we on Earth are simply picking up these messages.

 Alternately the theory of an alternate reality is still held by many, an alternate Earth perhaps considering some of the similarities Bhaile and our Planet share.

 This needs mentioning now in a pursuit to acknowledge the sometimes awkward naming scheme of the UnderCurrent - With the NTME interpreting objects and language into what we 'Earth-Humans' can understand, it is possible words get miss-translated or their meanings changed to fit our cultural norms.

As such be aware when we discuss mechs of a few rather confusing things for the uninitiated;

 We have so far talked primarily of the Abhailen mech line of the 'Vijaiks', however this is separate to the term seen in present day of 'Vijaik'.

 The Abhaile machine came first and only after the war was it decided that all mechs with a less than 33% Goibniu concentration (That being 33% of parts that could potentially be made of Goibniu), would be dubbed 'Vijaiks' in honour of the first Vijaik models as seen in the war.

The First Casnel takes this another confusing step forward - For one, it probably wasn't 'The First'.

 With the outbreak of the war TSU invested in many projects to update their fleets and fighters - Including many mech projects.

 One such project was the 'Casnel Initiative' involving multiple teams researching new types of warships and mechs. Most of these Alpha and Beta Casnels were destroyed in battles we have little record of or never even made it off the testing grounds - However one team did succeed.

Nearing the end of the Wars second year a team hiding out in a civilian Nation-Satellite, completed both an operational modern-day warship and an extremely advanced Casnel.

 The ship you may of guessed was the much talked of 'Cheval De Troy', the first Troy class ship and older sister of the Curadh.

 The Casnel was unplanned in a manner of speaking, originally intended as another alpha test mech for the Union - The team's director grew frustrated with the news reinforcements would not be available to escort his creations back to Bhaile, the Tory would have to make it home through enemy space alone.

 Enraged it is said the creator used the entire budget for a fourth troy class ship, on one mech - Because of this the 'First Casnel' had a higher percentage of Goibniu then anything ever before, or since.

 Some even say the man was obsessed with creating a 'perfect being' and indeed he made something of a god.

The First Casnel's armour was so dense, so heat resistance, that almost nothing Abhaile had could pierce it -  Its generator was so far ahead of its time that it could use laser based weapons comparable to that of a full warship, while Vijaiks were still relying on regular shelled-ammunition.

 Crewed by cadets trained from the local populous of the Nation-State, the Cheval De Troy set off for Bhaile, Casnel in tow.

 Though this young crew took time to adapt, before long the real value of Goibniu became apparent - Its defensive properties combined with its power generation capability was deadly.

 Wherever the Troy went, victory followed and morale skyrocketed.

The First Casnel garnered its name from being quite probably the first TSU mech the average soldier had seen and its legend was inevitable.

 The First Casnel had one other integral advantage, its pilot was a first rate Magi.

We actually know surprisingly little about this young man or woman other then rumour, and quite the rumours they are. Said to have inhuman reflexes, intuition bordering on fact and of course the ability to see a few moments into the future. There are many reasons for why the Casnel has never been mass produced in large numbers - The cost, the very literal lack of enough Goibniu to do so and maybe most of all the absence of pilots who could match this first Magi operator.

 Despite having a bulky gen 1 frame like the Vijaiks, the Casnel was nigh on invincible, feared by all who would stand in its way and all despite being piloted by someone who was barely more then a child - That was simply the power of 78%+ Goibniu and a true Magi pilot - Many seem to believe that even now in the present, the original Casnel might still be a match for more modern versions, had it not been destroyed of course.

 Stories of the time say the pilot and machine began to almost merge into one - This may seem like folktale but there is perhaps some precedent for this - It is believed some ancient Bhailien cultures created something akin to artificial life in the form of Goibniu infused 'Golems' - It is not therefore unreasonable to think the Casnel may well of been learning and growing in power the longer it synced with its Magi pilot -  Truly a one of a kind machine.

None of this is to say TSU didn't attempt replication - On the contrary by the wars end TSU would be mass-producing their answer to the Vijaik Mk2, to great effect and with it beginning the legacy that would lead to none other then the familiar Nemo itself.

3.5 -The Casnel MBT and The Casnel GT - The Beginning of Modern Day Mechs;

 This is unfortunately where my aforementioned note on the naming schemes within the UnderCurrent comes back into play. Like 'Vijaik', Casnel originally just referred to TSU-mechs designed and produced by certain development teams, however after the war all mechs with over 33% Goibniu were given the moniker - 'Casnels'.

 Where this gets confusing is the Casnel-MBT a mass-production, 'Main Battle Type' version of the First Casnel with a similar appearance and colour scheme - That isn't technically 'a Casnel'.....

The C-MBT, is actually a Vijaik having a high but none-qualifying amount of Goibniu at around 22% - This number still makes it a very expensive mass-production type (Perhaps the most expensive to date), but a Vijaik no less, despite having 'Casnel' in its name.

 For comparison the Nemo only has around 14%, the Ogre around 11% and the MBT-Mk2 around 8%.

The C-MBT was deployed in mass as the fourth most produced machine of the war and many served alongside the 'First Casnel' itself. They were a highly successful machine, easily besting the Vijaik mk2, though often times being outpowered by the likes of the Heavy.

 As far as we know, it was a C-MBT that Kolme Nilas piloted during the last year of the war. It is fitting then that he would also go on to pilot the post war evolution dubbed the 'MBT-Mk2' and later the still the mighty 'Neo' - Both tracing their design origins back to the C-MBT.

The final and tangentially related machine to address from this three year period is the 'Casnel Ground-Type' or 'CGT'.

 This machine represents alot of the design philosophy the world would adopt in the years following the war.

To set the stage, with the Casnel and the C-MBTs taking Abhaile by storm and pushing back the invasion force more and more by the day - Certain TSU member-states began demanding to have true Casnel's of their own to help with the liberation process.

 Of course as mentioned the 'First Casnel' was infinitely impractical to recreate in even modest numbers and further was designed more so for space combat then ground based engagements.

 As such TSU created the Ground-Type, A Casnel of 42% Goibniu specially intended for land use only.

These were the first production type Casnels and somewhere between 40 and a 100 were created (Sources are muddy on this topic) - Although alot cheaper then the real thing, these mechs were still top of the line and more than capable of obliterating Abhaile Vijaiks.

 However many were actually destroyed in their first few months of deployment as former fighter and tank pilots scrambled to learn the complicated control schemes, while fighting the now very experienced Abhailen army - Proving perhaps that you can not simply hand the power of God to just anyone.

 In fact the ground type and mass-production Casnels in general were nearly scrapped until one man turned the GTC into the icon it is now seen as - The at the time, 'Captain Hokuai Bachika'.

Bachika and his tank battalion were already considered heroes of the East long before the Casnel's inception and were top of the list to receive 3 GTCs, unfortunately through admin errors and the ever moving nature of the battlefield at the time, it would be months until Bachika and his men received their mechs.

 Nonetheless upon finally gaining them they learned fast, incorporating them in with their existing tank force and before long Bachika became even more famous as he now went from just holding back the Abhailen threat, to instead actively pushing through it and reclaiming lost territories - And so massively boosting the GTC's hero status and the viability of production-type Casnel's in the eyes of TSU

It is indeed complicated to look back at all the machines of the 'First War'.

 From the humble Vijaiks made by a tractor company, to the god-like Casnel wrought out of the desperation of a crumbling empire - We have in truth only touched on some of the many creations, as with any war alot was tried, alot failed and alot was only made in small numbers.

 Ultimately the mecha had proven itself to both TSU and Abhaile but not without caveat - The unstable nature of the Hindenburg generator, the awkward and ineffective shape of the Gen 1 frame and the sheer cost of Casnel's - Indeed in the years to come much would have to be revised, with TSU aiming for a standardised approach across its machines, while Remembrance and groups like them would continue to try new ideas to bridge the gap between the Wonder-Metal's Lanthanides and Goibniu.

The first step on this road to what would eventually end in the familiar Nemo, was TSU's next attempt during the peace years at a more reasonably priced version of the Casnel-MBT - The more generically named, 'Main-Battle-Type-Mk2'.

3.Extra - Mechs Since 'The First War';

With these last few appendix entries it is hoped we now have a clearer image of how the UnderCurrent came to be a civilisation reliant on humanoid fighting machines - From the God-like 'First Casnel', to the more humble but just as historically impactful Vijaiks of Abhaile.

 Unfortunately details grow ever more vague once one looks past the First War's machines - The myriad of Fortress's, experimental designs and peace year mechs have yet to be shown in much detail to those of us looking into this world via the NTME.

We know that Remembrance used a great number of older mechs simply retrofitted for their Rebellion a few years prior to the current IAFS conflict - However we are in the dark on what their original Casnel's looked like.

 Similarly TSU have tried many war machines in the decade since the First Casnel's creation - Including dozens of prototypes - But foremost among them all was their replacement for the Casnel-Main Battle Type;

 The MBT-Mk2, named as such to be a direct successor but droping the 'Casnel' moniker for the confusion that caused, was to be TSU's main weapon for the next decade. With a new 'Generation-2' frame that allowed for greater weapon diversity, pilot safety and cheaper production costs - The MBT-2 became the pinnacle of mass-production types.

 It would serve as the primary 'grunt' machine during the Remembrance incident and many are still in active service today.

 Notably there is an MBT-Mk2 aboard the Am-Fluchtig - It has been heavily experimented on, including the removable of almost all safety features and is not used by any of the Neo-Squadron but is instead kept for testing new weapons and moving cargo around the Fluchtig's massive hanger-bay.

This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road. If you spot it on Amazon, please report it.

Performance wise the mech varies from unit to unit - Many having been customised to great affect and with plenty of updates to the design over its decade long service - That said this machine is essentially just an older iteration of the modern day 'Neo', performing to a similar standard.

 In the present day The States Union now contains two major factions, with TSU-s having now completely phased out their MBT-2's in favour of the 'Ogre', which while being on a 'Gen-3' frame, is generally considered an inferior machine - While regular TSU forces, still keep a majority of the MBT-2's around.

It should maybe be no surprise then that pilot aces like the eponymous Major Moncha of the Curadh still use an MBT variant simply called the 'MBT-Special';

 The Special was first deployed during the Remembrance Incident and many pilots refer to it as the MBT-2.5 for how different it is to its older sibling despite the name. Created in limited numbers, the speical internally has the same Gen-2 framework and cockpit layout - However everything else is almost entirely different.

 As we were afforded a view of when Kolme Nilas'es Neo-squadron fought at Station-9, the Special is a sleek angular machine with jagged edges and thin armour - Further the machine is actually a little shorter than most other mechs.

All this in order to allow the speical to move faster than almost all other mechs with light armour and a smaller generator. That said care was placed in having the Special have reinforced joins as to still allow it to clash blades with larger mechs. All this combined made the Special the ideal close-quarters combat machine, capable of remarkable speeds on land or space and much more manoeuvrability than the average, more cumbersome mecha.

 Although ineffective for long range battle and not coming with a standard issue shield or much defensively - The speical is a clear example of creative thinking in mech design, despite being very much so a last generation mech with very low levels of Goibniu concentration - It is a machine the still competes for the best close-range Vijaik - Designed for, and successful at being a flurry of dagger-like blows in combat.

As such it is perhaps curious that neither regular TSU or the tyrannical speical forces branch that IAFS have sworn to put a stop to - Have tried to iterate on the Special.

 In fact for highly skilled pilots like Moncha and his wingmen, there is still no better alternative to the now half-decade old Special - In fact it is believed Moncha's squad were offered a batch of Ogre-Units, but turned them down in favour of having a 4th, spare Special kept in reserve aboard the Curadh.

In contrast we have the machines used by the Independent Alliance of Free States, IAFS.

 From their inception as a group of former Remembrance and TSU defectors the organisation started life with a handful of MBT-Mk2's of their own, as well as some Remembrance mechs - Neither of which seemed suitable for the Mass-Scale gruella warfare the group intended to act upon.

 As such IAFS's main financial backer, Bayley Mechanic, began work on two flagship machines to be used. The first of these would be a modernisation of the Vijaik-Heavy, an almost nostalgic favourite among the Abhaile residences of IAFS and a solid candidate for their purposes - The second would become known as the Nemo.

 Production of these two machines went smoothly for a time, until an impulse decision sent the entire solar-system into disarray. 6 beta units of the new 'MBT-Heavy' had just been distributed between two ships, one the brand new Celtic-Class Command type vessel, 'Tradech' - The other being an older but heavyily retrofitted Cruiser type ship, the 'Mithril'.

 Originally it had been intended that the final product of the MBT-Heavy would be a limited-production-type that could go toe-to-toe with an enemy Casnel - However that idea would soon be scraped. During a test flight of both the Tradech and the Heavies, Lt-Commander Ceathair and his wingmen would stumble across a hidden TSU-s production facility in the process of creating brand new Casnel's - Ceathair saw an opportunity and quite literally picked up the dormant Casnels and flew away back to his ship.

This truly audacious act of spontaneity would score IAFS three Casnel's of their own which they have continued to use and improve upon in various ways during the conflict - While for TSU-s it was an act they couldn't possibly ignore and began the conflict as we know it.

 The IAFS board of directors now saw no need to keep improving the heavy seeing that they had these three state of the art machines at their disposal - And further with the destruction of the other three Beta types during the 'Skirmish of the Fourth', it was decided the Beta model would be put into production as the final product and only given out in very small numbers.

 With most of this limited run being given to further bolster the Tradech, the rest of IAFS still needed a replacement for the MBT-Mk2, especially now that war had broken out.

Developed in tandem to the heavy, the 'Neo-M' (M for 'Main-Use' or 'Main-Battle-Type'), was first deployed about a month into the conflict (Ahead of schedule) with pilots like Kolme receiving their own shortly there-after.

 Apparently the 'Nemo' as it is 'loving' known, was developed from the ground up to be the cheapest, yet most effective a 'grunt-machine' as Bayley Mechanics could muster and its designers supposedly took great pride in this fact.

 Built on the new Genration-3 frame, with a highly efficient generator and easy control-scheme. The Nemo could be pumped out in massive numbers as a superior mech to TSU's Ogre-model, while costing less then anything else on the market.

 This came with issues.

For one the Nemo is under-utilised, coming with just one low-medium range rifle, a sliding shield and a single arc-staff (Two if you happen to acquire one from a fallen ally), when in fact the machine could easily support shoulder mounted cannons, rocket launchers, extra appendages and more adequate sensor & safety features - But all those equate to extra cost.

 Its important to understand that IAFS is run by a board of directors, many of whom are businessmen and women first and foremost. The exceedingly high turnover rate of Nemo pilots is often seen as acceptable compared to the cost of the Nemo itself - The loss of one MBT-Heavy costs more than the pilot inside it is worth in their eyes - The cost of one Nemo, is about the same as the pilot - To that sort of businessmen atleast...

 It is probably no wonder then, that the business people of the board were the ones who encouraged the training time of pilots be reduced from the nearly 2 years a pilot like Sabban Vint got, down to just 6-8 months, like Una O' Conchobar had.

You may be asking what exactly is wrong with the Nemo, and in some ways nothing - It is indeed superior to the Ogre in a one on one, but IAFS aren't fighting even battles.

 Nemo's are almost always either outnumbered, or outgunned - Whether it be the awesome firepower of the Casnel we see aboard the Curadh, or facing off against new types of Fortress - The Nemo simply can't keep up.

 Visually the Nemo looks almost identical to the decade old MBT-Mk2, except that has a military green and navy blue colour scheme - Where as the MBT was cream coloured or grey as appropriate.

 Their cockpit layouts are also identical (technically a feature intended to make transition from the MBT to the Neo easier). To many veteran pilots, despite internally being a much better machine, the Nemo is to them a decade old design, simply given a new coat of paint...

 This leads us to the last mainline machine IAFS has deployed as of the start of Operation Deadlight - 'The Neo-C'

The Neo-C is known by many pilots in the know as 'The Nemo-Compromise', in that it certainly is an improvement, but not a mind-blowing one.

 The 'C' actually standing for 'Custom', this version comes with a number of enhancements based on the combat data of the Nemo's in the first few months of the war;

 Enhanced sensors, optimisation to the generator, fixes to technical malfunctions in the Air-Con unit (which periodically used to lead to accidently 'fires'), addition of a second arc-staff as standard aswell as anti-missile + anti-personnel flak pods, new bulkhead/torso armour improvements - And framework modifications to make customisation easier out in the field.

All these changes have lead to the Neo-C actually being a pretty good frontline Vijaik - The new rounded blockhead alone is probably all that saved Una's life during the 'Battle of the Clover' and generally it is agreed by the military wing of IAFS that the 'C' is a massive improvement.

 However, it does cost a little more to manufacture...

Another part of the 'Nemo-Comprise' nickname, stems from so few of this model actually being produced.

 Despite being designated as a 'Mass-Production Type', only about two dozen have been issued, mostly to bases and more quiet patrol sectors - Almost as though Bayley Mechanics deliberately want to claim to be improving their design - While in reality keeping it away from the frontline, while mostly still pumping out the cheaper version.

 That said, to give credit where due, the original Nemo has been retroactively updated to have the aforementioned fix to its Air-con implemented across all units, so that's something...

Ironically only 4 Neo-C's have actually been customised - Those being piloted by Hoki

Bachika, Sabban Vint, Scarlet Grimizan and Kolme Nilas of the Am Fluchtig.

 A fifth Neo-C is also on the Fluchtig piloted by Una O' Conabhair, however this one has yet to be customised considering her inexperienced abilities. Nonetheless, even an un-customised Neo-C is a marked improvement on the alternative.

Speaking of these customisations, this author would once again be inclined to believe they are once more a PR stunt - True the Fluchtig was specially fitted to have a large workshop but said workshop takes up valuable hanger space which is one of the reasons the ship only carries 5 active mechs - Compared to the Tradech's 14.

 Further the custom weapons are all made from 'spares'. Scarlet's red Neo-C has armour and Calibre blades taken straight from an old First-War heavy, along with a rocket launcher from an MBT-Heavy.

 Sabban and Kolme both have salvaged back-units made from old battleship generator cells and thrusters -  Kolme's shoulder mounted cannons being literally off the wreckage of an old ship the Fluchtig happened to pass by, and both of which had to be striped away when the Neo-Squadron fought inside Station-9's gravity.

Maybe most 'awkward' about Sabban and Kolme machines is that they were originally regular Nemo's - Units '3' and '27' (being the 3rd and 27th units to serve aboard the Tradech - Not necessarily being the 3rd and 27th ever made) - When the two transferred over to the Fluchtig their machines were sent too and retrofitted to the new standard - Proving the regular Nemo actually can be upgraded to the better specs with relative ease.

 Even Hoki's gear and high-power rifle, are made up of old Casnel-Ground-Type parts left-over from the First War, parts that were sent with her when she joined IAFS on her father behalf - Nothing is truly original on the Neo-squad's mechs, most of it doesn't work in atmosphere and surely it can hardly compensate for the possiblity of having a second squadron aboard the Fluchtig.

 All this is to say that the Neo-C is a great mech, but hardly seen on the battlefield and under-funded in the 'customisation' department - While the regular Nemo is ill-suited to the current conflict and really should be replaced with the better IAFS models.

And so on that note we come to the end of this somewhat depressing look at the most recent mechs of the UnderCurrent - While TSU-s continue to try new ideas and Fortresses in their many fights against the flagship Tradech, Operation Deadlight most often focuses on the Neo-C's and MBT-Specials - Ironically both machines who's ancestry goes back to the original Casnel-MBT.

 Perhaps this is simply a period in the UnderCurrent's history that has stalled, stuck in a cycle.

 The Vijaiks and Casnel's we looked at in the earlier segments of this appendix changed the field of battle and made the fighter jet irrelevant - More than 10 years on and the mechs have actually changed little, except for the odd coat of paint - Perhaps TSU-s have the right idea in investing in a new weapons of the future, one to invalidate the mechs of this last era...

 Whatever the case, we can but wait to see what exactly the next monster of war shall be in this seemingly endless series of conflicts...

Appendixes End,

Pierre Havelock.