My War Robots Headcanon
Apr 20, 2023 17:33:35 GMT -5
Cdr. Crimmins, Eradicator1, and 1 more like this
Post by 079 on Apr 20, 2023 17:33:35 GMT -5
Over my many years of playing this game, something I have always had fun with in addition to, well, playing the game, is exploring the universe that Pixonic has created for War Robots. While Pixonic only really started pushing the lore after being acquired by Mail.ru, there has always been at least some amount of story to the game, and honestly, the in-game mechanics and environments are enough to craft a story from on their own. I am by no means the first person to create or write a War Robots headcanon, and I'm sure many of you reading have some idea of your own story for the game, but this is something that I am simply passionate enough to write about. It's been shown in the past through things like the "A Family of Learned Doctors" thread and a previous headcanon that was written long ago that the users here appreciate a good story set in the War Robots universe, so hopefully I am able to deliver something worth reading! I am also using this as an opportunity to explain a lot of the mysteries in the game, as many things that are often dismissed as weird game logic or sci-fi magic actually have a basis in real life, or at least can be given a reasonable in-universe explanation. I genuinely think that having a story and established universe to approach the madness that is War Robots from the lens of genuinely does make the game more enjoyable, as there is something to take your mind off of the frustrating monetization tactics and also may make you think about the game a little differently. If you plan on reading this whole thing in one go (after I have released most/all of the chapters anyway), I suggest having a couple spare hours, a comfortable place to lounge, and maybe a snack, because I am pulling no punches in exploring every nook and cranny this universe has to offer, and even inventing some of my own when I think a part of the universe is underdeveloped. If you do not have the mental endurance for that though, do not worry, because I have divided up the headcanon into chapters that you can read one at a time and leave feeling satisfied, but still wanting to read the rest (I hope!). So with that introduction out of the way, dear reader, I humbly present my expansive and unabridged War Robots headcanon!
As requested by users prior to me writing this, I will be releasing the headcanon in chapters as opposed to dropping the whole thing at once. I have decided to simply post each chapter after it is written as opposed to writing the whole thing and then figuring out some release schedule of sorts, which means that I may make minor changes to previous parts if I change my mind about things as I write more of the headcanon. However, I do not expect to be changing too much, and if I decide to change something, I will make it obvious through an update post.
Chapter 1: Timeline Part 1 - Humanity Before The Cataclysm
In my headcanon, the War Robots universe diverges from real life during World War II. With the terrifying success of the Manhattan Project and the even more terrifying demonstrations with the atomic bombs dropped in Japan, the United States spurred an era of atomic weapons research that was much wider in scope than in real life. As a result, almost every developed country would have a nuclear arsenal, and nuclear weapons would play a massive role in international politics. The four biggest players ended up being the United States, the Soviet Union, Germany, and China, as they had by far the biggest arsenals, and lots of other countries would end up closely allying with or outright joining them out of the desire for protection against the other superpowers. Each of the four superpowers would utilize different strategies for controlling their spheres of influence, leading to the creation of four, later five, major worldwide factions. The United States would reform its military as the Transatlantic Military Corporation (TMC), a nationalized company that offered services to political customers all across North and South America, the Soviet Union would assimilate the middle east and become the Russian Empire (RE), Germany would end up heading the European Union and reforming it as the Neue Ordnung (NO), and China would assimilate boarding countries and ally with Japan to form the People’s Republic of China (PRoC). In response to these factions’ formation, several African countries, Australia, and various other countries not absorbed by the other factions would all band together as the Freedom Fighters Alliance (FFA), an alliance posed to stand up to the oppression of the other four factions and speak out against their power-mongering. Unsurprisingly, tensions between the factions quickly arose, with each one wanting to become the world’s dominant power.
Finding themselves now in control of far more territory than their mother country’s military was designed for, the TMC, RE, NO, and PRoC would end up designing lots of all-new military equipment to create uniform armies. Because of their significant advancements in nuclear technology, they all designed a whole slew of nuclear powered vehicles, though the vehicles would all utilize conventional weapons, as the factions all were wary of the idea of mutually assured destruction (two factions locked in nuclear war were guaranteed to annihilate each other). They all created nuclear submarines, nuclear aircraft, and most importantly, nuclear powered mechs. It was decided to use mechs over wheeled or treaded vehicles as legs could navigate essentially any terrain, including terrain the other two methods cannot, such as deep marshes or steep mountains. While mechs had weaknesses, namely their legs’ fragility, this versatility would elevate them to be the premiere land vehicles for each of these four factions, and the FFA would eventually create its own mechs in response to the others’. And with that, the concept of War Robots as we know it was born:
For the rest of the twentieth century, the world would be locked in an ever-escalating cold war, with each of the five factions trying to have larger armies than the others and performing constant surveillance on the others. While the political atmosphere was tense, there was no large-scale fighting between any of the factions, and it seemed that the factions at least had the common sense to not wage nuclear warfare on one another. However, a turn of events would happen at the end of the twentieth century that would change everything forever. It started with the RE making a monumental breakthrough with the invention of energy-based weapons, which were able to draw power from the mech’s reactor to use as ammunition instead of carrying a stock of magazines, which gave them fast reloads and essentially infinite ammunition, both things that both kinetic and rocket-based weapons lacked. Despite the RE’s best efforts to keep the technology under wraps, other factions began adopting near-identical designs extremely quickly, meaning a leak had occurred. This sent the RE leadership into an intense state of paranoia, triggering a series of accusations and conspiracies that slowly but surely radicalized not only the RE, but all of the factions, as nothing seemed safe anymore. As a result, conflicts between all of the factions slowly but surely escalated, and by the turn of the millenia, the five superpowers had all engaged each other in total war.
While the war was fierce and bloody, it would turn out to be the least of humanity’s worries, because sometime in the first few years of the twenty-first century, an event that would come to be known as The Cataclysm occurred. Nobody remembers who fired first, what specifically caused the call to be made, or why anyone would think this would be the solution, but The Cataclysm marked when all regards for safety and morals were discarded and nuclear weapons were brought into the equation. Within a few short hours, all of humanity had been devastated. Several of the world's biggest population centers were now craters, faction leaders were now radioactive ashes, and supply chains were in utter shambles. Only a few third-world countries that were not deemed worth striking were spared getting bombed, but that would not be much of a blessing. For those who survived the first few hours of The Cataclysm, they now had to contend with the resulting nuclear winter. Weather patterns in several regions were altered due to the reshaping of the land and the pollution of the atmosphere, tectonic activity was altered by the amount of energy released, radiation exposure was almost impossible to avoid, and any semblance of long-distance trade or communication was now gone. It quickly became apparent that Earth was now a different planet, and the old way of human life was no longer possible. Between desires to preserve their way of life and speculation that Earth would soon become uninhabitable, the survivors of each faction began seeking a new, extraterrestrial home, all eventually settling on a place that had already been considered for long-term habitation: the red planet of Mars.
Pre-Cataclysm Equipment
Robots (then known as mechs)
TMC Standard: Destrier, Gl. Patton, Griffin, Fury
TMC Wild Bunch: Jesse, Doc, Butch
TMC Knights of Camelot: Gareth, Galahad, Lancelot
RE: Cossack, Rogatka, Vityaz, Natasha
NO: Schutze, Gepard, Boa, Leo
PRoC: Bolt, Fujin, Raijin
FFA: Stalker, Golem, Carnage, Rhino
Weapons
Light Weapons: Punisher, Spiral, Pin, Molot, Aphid, Gekko, Noricum, Magnum, Pinata, Arbalest, Gust
Medium Weapons: Punisher T, Molot T, Orkan, Hydra, Tulumbas, Taran, Ballista, Storm, Ion, Vortex
Heavy Weapons: Thunder, Trident, Nashorn, Kang Dae, Zenit, Trebuchet, Zeus, Avenger, Exodus, Flux, Chimera, Tempest, Thermite
Chapter 2: Timeline Part 2 - Humanity After The Cataclysm
Due to the sudden occurrence and severity of The Cataclysm, each faction had to scramble to prepare arcs to send to Mars to build long-term colonies there. Between their available resources and conclusion of how to best survive on Mars, each faction took different strategies to colonize the red planet, but as history would have it, another factor would play a far larger role in humanity’s voyage: the shifting attitudes of the common folk in regards to their leadership and the state of civilization before The Cataclysm. While some factions were much worse than others, all of the factions’ focus on militarism and territory acquisition were quite off-putting to general populations, leading to an overall strong desire to start new on Mars. As a result, as each of the factions that traveled to Mars, they would all morph into different organizations entirely:
As humanity’s colonization of Mars advanced and the new factions came more and more into their own and their Earth-bound counterparts faded into history, several changes slowly took hold in regards to how the factions approached each other. Seemingly eternal tensions, paranoia, and/or open war gave way to simple coexistence, and later to a form of pseudo-cooperation. While the factions all usually maintained some amount of secrecy, the sharing (or stealing/copying) of technology was much more common, with the apex of this being the bi-monthly events showcasing the newest developments, and the factions all took a much more business-like approach to interacting with each other. The factions would eventually wholly adopt this commercialization of militaries and foreign relations, henceforth identifying as megacorporations instead of factions. Additionally, people’s attitudes towards mechs changed, as they were by now the dominant symbol of robotics, and, catalyzed by the advent of autonomous mechs, would simply be known as robots after a good while. Robots would eventually be supplemented by a subclass of mechs known as titans, which were far larger and more powerful than robots and meant to be the battlestations of revered commanders, rather than simple pilots. Additionally, YdV scientists would invent devices known as modules, which were, as the name suggests, modular attachments to robots that gave them additional capabilities. Lastly, scavengers would adapt technology from the Gray Swarm to produce combat drones that assist mechs in engagements, thus giving them a proper place in military history.
By the time life on Mars was fully mastered, the megacorporations had lost most of their familiarity with Earth, and thus looked back on the broken planet with interest as to what treasures may be lying on its battered surface, as well as if there is any possibility of restarting Earth-based civilization. The spiteful scavengers refused to reveal any of their secrets regarding Earth civilization, leaving the megacorporations to study the planet and make their own conclusions. And well, this is where the story of my headcanon leaves off, since it is where the official story also leaves off. Five Martian megacorporations, with the mild assistance of Earth-bound scavengers, all competing with each other to have the most powerful military, while all having an obsession with Earth great enough to be conducting campaigns on its scarred surface to uncover and hopefully understand the remnants of what once was. These explorations will likely be endless and the robot wars accompanying them equally so, but that will not stop the megacorporations from, in their own unique ways, carrying on humanity’s legacy of endurance and ingenuity.
Post-Cataclysm Equipment
Robots
ST: Cossack, Vityaz, Rogatka, Natasha, Hover, Ao Qin, Raven, Ao Guang, Orochi, Ao Jun, Hawk, Seraph, Nether
DaSC: Destrier, Gl. Patton, Gareth, Jesse, Galahad, Butch, Doc, Griffin, Lancelot, Fury, Rayker, Bulwark, Harpy, Siren, Behemoth, Invader, Blitz, Nightingale, Shell, Mars
IT: Schutze, Gepard, Boa, Leo, Kumiho, Bulgasari, Haechi, Nemesis, Demeter, Hades, Ares, Phantom, Revenant, Skyros, Imugi
EL: Bolt, Fujin, Raijin, Cerberus, Weyland, Mender, Loki, Tyr, Typhon, Fenrir, Jaeger, Erebus, Fafnir, Leech, Angler
YdV: Stalker, Golem, Carnage, Rhino, Strider, Hellburner, Inquisitor, Falcon, Pursuer, Spectre, Mercury, Scorpion, Ravana, Khepri, Lynx
Scavengers: drone line used in Extermination mode (Grey Swarm)
Titans
ST: Ao Ming, Murometz, Aether, Sirius
DaSC: Kid, Arthur, Luchador
IT: Minos
EL: Nodens, Heimdall
YdV: Sharanga, Indra
Scavengers: boss in Extermination mode
Weapons
All weapons are a part of this era of the timeline, and while different megacorporations invented different weapons, they do not take ownership of them and instead consider them public designs for any military to use. Thus, there is no finite list of weapons or categorization into megacorporation of origin.
Modules
All modules are inventions of YdV.
Drones
All drones are inventions of scavengers.
As requested by users prior to me writing this, I will be releasing the headcanon in chapters as opposed to dropping the whole thing at once. I have decided to simply post each chapter after it is written as opposed to writing the whole thing and then figuring out some release schedule of sorts, which means that I may make minor changes to previous parts if I change my mind about things as I write more of the headcanon. However, I do not expect to be changing too much, and if I decide to change something, I will make it obvious through an update post.
Chapter 1: Timeline Part 1 - Humanity Before The Cataclysm
In my headcanon, the War Robots universe diverges from real life during World War II. With the terrifying success of the Manhattan Project and the even more terrifying demonstrations with the atomic bombs dropped in Japan, the United States spurred an era of atomic weapons research that was much wider in scope than in real life. As a result, almost every developed country would have a nuclear arsenal, and nuclear weapons would play a massive role in international politics. The four biggest players ended up being the United States, the Soviet Union, Germany, and China, as they had by far the biggest arsenals, and lots of other countries would end up closely allying with or outright joining them out of the desire for protection against the other superpowers. Each of the four superpowers would utilize different strategies for controlling their spheres of influence, leading to the creation of four, later five, major worldwide factions. The United States would reform its military as the Transatlantic Military Corporation (TMC), a nationalized company that offered services to political customers all across North and South America, the Soviet Union would assimilate the middle east and become the Russian Empire (RE), Germany would end up heading the European Union and reforming it as the Neue Ordnung (NO), and China would assimilate boarding countries and ally with Japan to form the People’s Republic of China (PRoC). In response to these factions’ formation, several African countries, Australia, and various other countries not absorbed by the other factions would all band together as the Freedom Fighters Alliance (FFA), an alliance posed to stand up to the oppression of the other four factions and speak out against their power-mongering. Unsurprisingly, tensions between the factions quickly arose, with each one wanting to become the world’s dominant power.
Finding themselves now in control of far more territory than their mother country’s military was designed for, the TMC, RE, NO, and PRoC would end up designing lots of all-new military equipment to create uniform armies. Because of their significant advancements in nuclear technology, they all designed a whole slew of nuclear powered vehicles, though the vehicles would all utilize conventional weapons, as the factions all were wary of the idea of mutually assured destruction (two factions locked in nuclear war were guaranteed to annihilate each other). They all created nuclear submarines, nuclear aircraft, and most importantly, nuclear powered mechs. It was decided to use mechs over wheeled or treaded vehicles as legs could navigate essentially any terrain, including terrain the other two methods cannot, such as deep marshes or steep mountains. While mechs had weaknesses, namely their legs’ fragility, this versatility would elevate them to be the premiere land vehicles for each of these four factions, and the FFA would eventually create its own mechs in response to the others’. And with that, the concept of War Robots as we know it was born:
- The TMC, due to it functioning more as a company than a true military, would create three product lines for its customers, which were the TMC Standard, TMC Wild Bunch, and TMC Knights of Camelot. The TMC Standard line, as the name suggests, was a line of mechs meant to be the mass-produced, generalized machines that make up the bulk of the TMC military, being used all throughout its territory. Most of these mechs were simple in design, relying on firepower to make up for a lack of armor, but the Griffin was a standout design, as its jump engines gave it much more versatility, making it very popular with customers. The TMC Wild Bunch was a line of more elite mechs created specifically for the United States itself and other higher-value countries, sporting more armor and speed than the TMC Standard, and possessing a novel weapon swapping system that allowed them to carry immense firepower without straining their reactors too much. The TMC Knights of Camelot was a line of mechs created as part of a campaign by the company to gain a foothold in Eurasia by encouraging countries to defect from the NO, hence their designs and capabilities being based on European knights. This campaign failed miserably, and since the TMC did not want these designs to go to waste, the Knights of Camelot ended up being used across the TMC’s own territory to bolster the armies of TMC Standard mechs.
- The RE, due to the immense size and relative lack of urbanization of the territory it had, particularly Russia itself, created mechs that were designed to suit these conditions. Emphasis was placed on reliability, so mechs could operate away from a base for extended periods of time, and mobility, so mechs could cross the RE’s territory quickly. Thus, two main archetypes of mechs were adopted by the RE. The first was small, nimble mechs that could patrol far away from a base, which manifested in the ultra-miniaturized Cossack and later the infamous Rogatka, which were both notably equipped with robust jump engines. The second was slower but studier mechs, including the compact and adaptable Vityaz and the Natasha, a heavy mech whose ranged capabilities made up for its speed.
- As opposed to the other factions, which all created designs that took into account the broad needs of the faction’s territory, Germany was rather inward-thinking when designing mechs for the NO. After being on the losing side of two world wars, its economical and political structures were not very sound, which caused it to design mechs that would be reliable in spite of diminished industrial capacity. This resulted in mechs that, much more than any other faction, were built to last, featuring heavy armor and redundant systems that allowed them to function after sustaining heavy damage. Additionally, Germany relied on small, scout mechs more than the other factions, being the only one with multiple light mechs. These two were the Gepard, a simple yet effective light mech, and the Schutze, an unusual scout/sniper hybrid mech, which were both meant to patrol the territory in groups while the heavier mechs remained in reserve. These heavier mechs included the Boa, a medium-sized mech with legendary durability and decent mobility, and the Leo, a heavy mech whose firepower and durability made it an excellent defensive asset. While still being capable, these mechs were regarded as lesser than some of the other fractions' equivalent mechs due to their generalized and cheap design, with scout mechs lacking armor and heavier ones lacking speed, and both types lacking any sort of more nuanced functionality.
- The PRoC, similar to the NO, was less expansionist than the TMC and RE, but unlike the NO, had the stability and industrial capacity to create some truly potent mechs. China designed the Fujin and Raijin, two quadruped mechs that were highly adaptable and complementary to each other, with Raijin leaning more towards ranged combat and being strong against kinetic weapons, while Fujin was more close range and strong against explosive weapons. The top-of-the-line shields and lower profiles of these mechs gave them unrivaled abilities to defend friendly territory, being able to dish out and absorb impressive amounts of damage. A four-legged design was chosen over a two-legged design to provide additional inherent stability, something necessary when the shields were engaged and power was allocated away from the legs, and it assisted in traversing the mountains and marshes of Eastern Asia. This emphasis on defense and survivability meant these mechs were lacking in offensive capabilities, but that was not considered a major weakness since the PRoC was mainly interested in defending territory. Some time later though, Japan would contribute to the PRoC lineup with the Bolt, a scout mech to patrol the less fortified regions and serve as fast reinforcements in the event of an invasion. Instead of more conventional jump engines, Japan instead equipped the Bolt with a novel dash drive, allowing it to keep a lower profile and navigate better in cramped environments. With these three advanced designs, the PRoC became a fortified bastion that some thought was invincible.
- When compared to the other factions’ mechs, those of the FFA may not stand out as much as the quadrupeds of the PRoC, but nonetheless were quite a distinctive group. Unlike the other factions, where the mother country designed standardized mechs for use across the entire territory, the FFA instead had its member countries submit designs and chose the most effective ones. The selected designs ended up being Stalker, an advanced scout mech equipped with a stealth generator, Carnage, a fragile but highly potent mech equipped with an upgraded reactor that could both generate an energy shield and temporarily boost movement speed without being overloaded, and Rhino, a stout mech that could allocate weapon power to the legs to allow it to move frighteningly fast while also under the protection of a strong physical shield. Due to how these designs were quite expensive to produce, the Golem, a rudimentary but versatile and mass-producible combat mech, was also chosen to help pad the numbers of the FFA army. Despite how advanced and powerful most of these designs were, the FFA’s lineup did have some notable drawbacks. First, these mechs were not designed to compliment each other, meaning there was a lack in frontline power and cohesion due to all the designs utilizing guerrilla tactics or range. Second, these mechs not being designed by proper militaries meant they had strange quirks that complicated their usage, such as most of them having unusual hardpoint configurations that made arming them somewhat difficult, and flaws with their designs that were never resolved. Examples of this include Stalker’s stealth generator being a bit faulty, Golem’s legs being notorious for randomly seizing, and Rhino’s shield being mounted on a simple hydraulic arm that came from an exposed slit in its hull, meaning that when the shield was destroyed, shrapnel from it and the arm would enter the large slit and cause internal damage, almost always disabling the speed-up ability despite it being designed to function without the shield.
For the rest of the twentieth century, the world would be locked in an ever-escalating cold war, with each of the five factions trying to have larger armies than the others and performing constant surveillance on the others. While the political atmosphere was tense, there was no large-scale fighting between any of the factions, and it seemed that the factions at least had the common sense to not wage nuclear warfare on one another. However, a turn of events would happen at the end of the twentieth century that would change everything forever. It started with the RE making a monumental breakthrough with the invention of energy-based weapons, which were able to draw power from the mech’s reactor to use as ammunition instead of carrying a stock of magazines, which gave them fast reloads and essentially infinite ammunition, both things that both kinetic and rocket-based weapons lacked. Despite the RE’s best efforts to keep the technology under wraps, other factions began adopting near-identical designs extremely quickly, meaning a leak had occurred. This sent the RE leadership into an intense state of paranoia, triggering a series of accusations and conspiracies that slowly but surely radicalized not only the RE, but all of the factions, as nothing seemed safe anymore. As a result, conflicts between all of the factions slowly but surely escalated, and by the turn of the millenia, the five superpowers had all engaged each other in total war.
While the war was fierce and bloody, it would turn out to be the least of humanity’s worries, because sometime in the first few years of the twenty-first century, an event that would come to be known as The Cataclysm occurred. Nobody remembers who fired first, what specifically caused the call to be made, or why anyone would think this would be the solution, but The Cataclysm marked when all regards for safety and morals were discarded and nuclear weapons were brought into the equation. Within a few short hours, all of humanity had been devastated. Several of the world's biggest population centers were now craters, faction leaders were now radioactive ashes, and supply chains were in utter shambles. Only a few third-world countries that were not deemed worth striking were spared getting bombed, but that would not be much of a blessing. For those who survived the first few hours of The Cataclysm, they now had to contend with the resulting nuclear winter. Weather patterns in several regions were altered due to the reshaping of the land and the pollution of the atmosphere, tectonic activity was altered by the amount of energy released, radiation exposure was almost impossible to avoid, and any semblance of long-distance trade or communication was now gone. It quickly became apparent that Earth was now a different planet, and the old way of human life was no longer possible. Between desires to preserve their way of life and speculation that Earth would soon become uninhabitable, the survivors of each faction began seeking a new, extraterrestrial home, all eventually settling on a place that had already been considered for long-term habitation: the red planet of Mars.
Pre-Cataclysm Equipment
Robots (then known as mechs)
TMC Standard: Destrier, Gl. Patton, Griffin, Fury
TMC Wild Bunch: Jesse, Doc, Butch
TMC Knights of Camelot: Gareth, Galahad, Lancelot
RE: Cossack, Rogatka, Vityaz, Natasha
NO: Schutze, Gepard, Boa, Leo
PRoC: Bolt, Fujin, Raijin
FFA: Stalker, Golem, Carnage, Rhino
Weapons
Light Weapons: Punisher, Spiral, Pin, Molot, Aphid, Gekko, Noricum, Magnum, Pinata, Arbalest, Gust
Medium Weapons: Punisher T, Molot T, Orkan, Hydra, Tulumbas, Taran, Ballista, Storm, Ion, Vortex
Heavy Weapons: Thunder, Trident, Nashorn, Kang Dae, Zenit, Trebuchet, Zeus, Avenger, Exodus, Flux, Chimera, Tempest, Thermite
Chapter 2: Timeline Part 2 - Humanity After The Cataclysm
Due to the sudden occurrence and severity of The Cataclysm, each faction had to scramble to prepare arcs to send to Mars to build long-term colonies there. Between their available resources and conclusion of how to best survive on Mars, each faction took different strategies to colonize the red planet, but as history would have it, another factor would play a far larger role in humanity’s voyage: the shifting attitudes of the common folk in regards to their leadership and the state of civilization before The Cataclysm. While some factions were much worse than others, all of the factions’ focus on militarism and territory acquisition were quite off-putting to general populations, leading to an overall strong desire to start new on Mars. As a result, as each of the factions that traveled to Mars, they would all morph into different organizations entirely:
- SpaceTech (ST), formerly Russian Empire (RE): The paranoia of RE leadership would end up proving beneficial, as immediately following The Cataclysm, sending an arc to Mars to ensure the RE survived became the top priority. Due to this swiftness, RE colonies enjoyed the best sites on Mars’ surface and were safe from enemy attacks during their vulnerable beginning stages, making the voyage to Mars quite successful. However, the paranoia and totalitarianism that briefly aided the RE would ultimately be its downfall. Since all but the aristocracy were unsatisfied by their lack of social freedom and amenities, the aristocracy choosing to stay on Earth with their material possessions meant the worst aspects of the RE stayed with them. Desiring social and economic freedom, the colonists aboard the arcs would not continue the RE, but instead form SpaceTech, a new faction that took inspiration from the capitalist TMC on Earth. SpaceTech’s structure was a much more pure form of Communism than its predecessor, with work being genuinely valued over wealth and lineage, topped off by much less greedy leadership. While otherwise being wholly detached from it, ST continued the RE’s military legacy, focusing on mobility, particularly flying, and reliability with their new mech designs.
- Defense and Security Conglomerate (DaSC), formerly Transatlantic Military Corporation (TMC): Seeing the swiftness and later success of the RE’s arc to Mars, the TMC, with little bureaucracy to slow it down and support from the United States, who did not want to be bested by a Communist faction, was relatively quick to begin development of an arc of its own following The Cataclysm. Since there were no agreements on dividing Mars and the factions were all more interested in self-preservation than continued war and destruction (particularly on Mars), colonization sites were essentially first-come-first-serve. Since the TMC’s arc was the second to arrive on Mars, it had to make due without many of the best surface sites, but still got a good batch of them, and was able to avoid conflict with RE colonies. However, the actual difficulties of establishing Mars colonies would ironically prove to be the least of the TMC’s worries. There was a major mutiny on the arc as it made its way to Mars, which led to colony leadership becoming much harsher and more authoritarian than it likely would have been otherwise. Thus, in stark contrast to the TMC, which was a profit-driven business that did not concern itself with micro-managing its customers, colony leadership would create the DaSC, a totalitarian faction whose leaders were hard-set on controlling every aspect of its operation. The military, besides changing from equipment sold to customers to being a full-on, nationalized military, would be largely unchanged by these reforms, and would continue its philosophy of simple yet robust mechs, but now emphasizing defensive capabilities, a reflection of the faction’s eternal concern for its well-being.
- Icarus Technologies (IT), formerly Neue Ordnung (NO): The NO was largely successful in maintaining an appearance of simple incompetency, with it limiting crucial aspects of its structure like its military to designs and plans that were focused on Germany itself with its diminished industrial capacity, rather than fully take advantage of the powerful European Union. However, this was merely a front for keeping the pompous other factions from paying the NO too much mind, so as to not draw attention to its operations. While the allied victory in World War II marked the end of the Nazi’s official control of Germany, the party was able to survive and maintain influence thanks to having started a large-scale nuclear program during World War II, something that soon proved invaluable. Within a few short decades, having regained its footing as a shadow organization presiding over a government that controlled all of Europe, the Nazi party was planning to use the NO to execute its original vision of ethnic cleansing, and thus was pooling the NO’s resources for usage in that. However, The Cataclysm ended those plans overnight, as the NO was completely unequipped to preserve human life on the devastated Earth. During the chaos, the reformed Nazi party was found out and quickly ousted, with a rudimentary provisional government being formed to oversee the desperate construction of an arc for Mars. Progress was slow thanks to the NO’s haphazard infrastructure and unstable government, meaning it arrived far later than the arcs of the RE, TMC, and even PRoC. Colonies thus had to contend with highly suboptimal sites and the threat of raids from the more developed rival colonies, meaning they were seemingly doomed to managing a meager existence. This was only exacerbated by the peoples’ complete disillusionment with the NO, leaving them without an existing sense of community to fall back on in the hard times. However, the people of Germany and the European Union would endure, completely reinventing themselves as IT. Having left its dark history behind on Earth, IT developed a culture around technological advancement and communal resilience, something that not only manifested in society with the normalization of virtual reality and the metaverse (to provide escapism from the harsh reality of the colonies), but also in the military. In a coincidentally similar fashion to its predecessor, IT would develop a mixture of scout and heavy-assault mechs, with an emphasis on survivability through novel technologies.
- EvoLife (EL), formerly People’s Republic of China (PRoC): Much like how it operated differently from the other factions before The Cataclysm, the PRoC took a different approach to colonizing Mars than the likes of the RE, TMC, and NO. Instead of planning to largely abandon Earth-based infrastructure and become a Martian civilization, the PRoC aimed to preserve its cities and have them operate in tandem with a Mars colony, as it believed Earth was not in as dire condition as the others thought. Thus, rather than only building an arc for Mars, the PRoC began a process of fortifying its major cities in addition to building an arc, with the goal of the cities being enclosed sanctuaries that could survive, isolated from the devastated world around them. Additionally, the PRoC sought to have colonies nested within cave systems and other natural crevices instead of simply on the surface, which allowed it avoid the competition the RE, TMC, and NO faced. Prior to the arc being sent, a team of surveyors and scientists were sent to scope out the chosen sites and prepare them for long-term habitation, avoiding some of the risks of just sending an arc. While this strategy for building Mars colonies would be very successful, it did lead to some interesting consequences. The PRoC had been dabbling in genetic engineering with humans prior to The Cataclysm, with its best scientists working on perfecting a commercially viable version of it to really give the people of the PRoC an edge over the rest of the factions. Many of these scientists would be chosen to go to Mars in the advance party, meaning a culture where editing human genes was normalized and ethics were not prioritized as much was solidified by the time the arc arrived. As a result, while not overly apparent to their people, the colonies formed a vastly different societal approach compared to their counterparts on Earth, something made more interesting by the ultimate fate of the sanctuaries. As Earth’s conditions worsened and the Earth-bound remnants of the other factions quickly crumbled away, the few isolated sanctuaries found they would not be able to survive in the long term. As a result, their populations were slowly evacuated to Mars and assimilated into the colonies there, leaving the enclosed cities abandoned. Thus, the PRoC accidentally but nonetheless completely transformed itself with its voyage to Mars, with the new faction eventually recognizing itself as such and declaring itself to be EL. EL continued developing the mech concepts seen in the PRoC, making defensive, team-based mechs that make use of advanced, often exotic technology.
- Yan-di Ventures (YdV), formerly Freedom Fighters Alliance (FFA): The Cataclysm proved especially problematic to the FFA, as its loose structure and counter-expansionist ideology meant it was not suited to conducting a large-scale operation to colonize another planet. However, this issue was circumvented by having the FFA members be grouped into districts, with these districts being tasked with building their own miniature arcs. Additionally, since these arcs would undoubtedly be completed later than the other factions’ arcs, it was decided that these arcs would be space stations that would orbit Mars, as to avoid competing for scarce by-then sites on the surface. Construction of the arcs progressed rather smoothly thanks to the dedication of the member countries, and they were all successfully launched and sent to Mars. Like the other factions though, the actual construction and operation of the colonies proved to be the least troubling aspect of the voyage to Mars. As it turns out, the leaders of the space stations all conspired to form a private board of directors to directly manage the FFA’s colonies, replacing the planned democratic system that would stand opposite to the centralized authorities of the other factions’ colonies. The FFA was reorganized into YdV, with the board of directors at the top and everyone else considered servants of each station’s director, resulting in a capitalist-feudalist system. The people quickly grew unhappy, but were largely unable to fight back against their station’s directors. In an ultimate twist of irony, the faction meant to oppose greedy oligarchies became one itself while the other factions made strides in fostering more equal societies. Much in line of their backstabbing nature, the board of directors developed the Yan-di military by stealing technology from other factions and using it to produce their own designs, resulting in a lineup of mechs that superficially seemed to continue the haphazard but nonetheless effective design ethos of the FFA, but in reality were of much more insidious origin.
- Scavengers: While the arcs sent by every faction were intended to preserve as much of their faction’s culture as possible (at least the desirable parts anyway), not everything could be taken to Mars, and that unfortunately included people. Due to a lack of time and resources, or simply disinterest from faction leadership, a good chunk of every faction’s population was left behind to manage for themselves on Earth. Most perished, but a lucky minority would survive and make due on the broken planet. While the scavengers never unified as an official faction, a culture of acceptance and teamwork quickly emerged in the face of The Cataclysm’s aftermath. Some scavengers would remain nomadic, while others would converge in communities, with the biggest being commandeered Chinese sanctuaries, and a few satellite cities like Rome that eventually emerged. One thing common to all scavengers though is their distaste for the empires and corporations that abandoned them, and they happily seize any mech in decent condition left alone for too long and demand substantial payment to have their cities be used as staging grounds for campaigns. While they have no full-on combat robots of their own, they have created the “Gray Swarm”: drones that are bought by the factions for use in training exercises (dubbed “Extermination”).
As humanity’s colonization of Mars advanced and the new factions came more and more into their own and their Earth-bound counterparts faded into history, several changes slowly took hold in regards to how the factions approached each other. Seemingly eternal tensions, paranoia, and/or open war gave way to simple coexistence, and later to a form of pseudo-cooperation. While the factions all usually maintained some amount of secrecy, the sharing (or stealing/copying) of technology was much more common, with the apex of this being the bi-monthly events showcasing the newest developments, and the factions all took a much more business-like approach to interacting with each other. The factions would eventually wholly adopt this commercialization of militaries and foreign relations, henceforth identifying as megacorporations instead of factions. Additionally, people’s attitudes towards mechs changed, as they were by now the dominant symbol of robotics, and, catalyzed by the advent of autonomous mechs, would simply be known as robots after a good while. Robots would eventually be supplemented by a subclass of mechs known as titans, which were far larger and more powerful than robots and meant to be the battlestations of revered commanders, rather than simple pilots. Additionally, YdV scientists would invent devices known as modules, which were, as the name suggests, modular attachments to robots that gave them additional capabilities. Lastly, scavengers would adapt technology from the Gray Swarm to produce combat drones that assist mechs in engagements, thus giving them a proper place in military history.
By the time life on Mars was fully mastered, the megacorporations had lost most of their familiarity with Earth, and thus looked back on the broken planet with interest as to what treasures may be lying on its battered surface, as well as if there is any possibility of restarting Earth-based civilization. The spiteful scavengers refused to reveal any of their secrets regarding Earth civilization, leaving the megacorporations to study the planet and make their own conclusions. And well, this is where the story of my headcanon leaves off, since it is where the official story also leaves off. Five Martian megacorporations, with the mild assistance of Earth-bound scavengers, all competing with each other to have the most powerful military, while all having an obsession with Earth great enough to be conducting campaigns on its scarred surface to uncover and hopefully understand the remnants of what once was. These explorations will likely be endless and the robot wars accompanying them equally so, but that will not stop the megacorporations from, in their own unique ways, carrying on humanity’s legacy of endurance and ingenuity.
Post-Cataclysm Equipment
Robots
ST: Cossack, Vityaz, Rogatka, Natasha, Hover, Ao Qin, Raven, Ao Guang, Orochi, Ao Jun, Hawk, Seraph, Nether
DaSC: Destrier, Gl. Patton, Gareth, Jesse, Galahad, Butch, Doc, Griffin, Lancelot, Fury, Rayker, Bulwark, Harpy, Siren, Behemoth, Invader, Blitz, Nightingale, Shell, Mars
IT: Schutze, Gepard, Boa, Leo, Kumiho, Bulgasari, Haechi, Nemesis, Demeter, Hades, Ares, Phantom, Revenant, Skyros, Imugi
EL: Bolt, Fujin, Raijin, Cerberus, Weyland, Mender, Loki, Tyr, Typhon, Fenrir, Jaeger, Erebus, Fafnir, Leech, Angler
YdV: Stalker, Golem, Carnage, Rhino, Strider, Hellburner, Inquisitor, Falcon, Pursuer, Spectre, Mercury, Scorpion, Ravana, Khepri, Lynx
Scavengers: drone line used in Extermination mode (Grey Swarm)
Titans
ST: Ao Ming, Murometz, Aether, Sirius
DaSC: Kid, Arthur, Luchador
IT: Minos
EL: Nodens, Heimdall
YdV: Sharanga, Indra
Scavengers: boss in Extermination mode
Weapons
All weapons are a part of this era of the timeline, and while different megacorporations invented different weapons, they do not take ownership of them and instead consider them public designs for any military to use. Thus, there is no finite list of weapons or categorization into megacorporation of origin.
Modules
All modules are inventions of YdV.
Drones
All drones are inventions of scavengers.