Republic Marine Corps

The Republic Marine Corps are the principal ground forces of the Tasnica Republic, though in times of war or crisis it is augmented by the guardsmen of the National Militia System. Rather then build a huge army to guard the frontier of its extensive empire, Tasnica has instead focused on creating a smaller, more mobile force. The RMC are thus rapid deployment forces, capable of quickly responding to any threat and also serving as first-strike troops.

See also Tasnican Battlesuits, Tasnican Support Vehicles, and Tasnican Support Aircraft. The Marines place great emphasis on battlesuits.

Marines are organized into three combined-arms Regimental Combat Teams (RCTs), called Freedom, Liberty, and Democracy. Each RCT has approximately six regiments of Marines, one Recon Force regiment, two mecha regiments, and the RCT's associated aerospace support vehicles (primarily dropships). This gives the Marines a combined strength of 24 regiments, making it relatively small for a Great Power military, though it is very well equipped.

Marines are drawn from all of the Republic's races, though humans are the most common. R-Series and V-Series robots serving in the Corps are given the same respect and treatment as any biological Marine.

The Marines

The Marines are the heart of the Corps. Everyone in the RMC considers themselves an infantryman first and foremost, and has gone through at least basic combat training and marksmanship.

The most distinguishing piece of equipment for a Marine is the Phalanx Powered Combat Armor. This dome-headed battlesuit is fully enclosed, and has an internal oxygen supply allowing the Marines to fight on other worlds. The Phalanx is somewhat heavier then the battlesuits such as the Esperian Ifrit (Phalanxes can't jump) or the Guardian K-Series (if a Marine were to ride a Jetbike, he would probably fall off a lot.) It does, however, have excellent protection, increased strength, and built-in gyrostabilization that allows the Marine to handle weapons too heavy for an unarmored individual.

The foremost of these weapons is the N6 High Velocity Man Portable Light Machine Gun (N6 HV MP LMG), nicknamed the 'Hailer'. Usually used with a drum of ammunition, though it is capable of excepting a belt feed, the Hailer is so-called for the sheer amount of firepower it can put out on full-auto. The Hailer is also capable of burst fire, and is surprisingly accurate in single-shot mode. All Marine-issue Hailers are designed to link with Phalanx battlesuit to provide a heads-up display including a targeting reticle, ammo count, and heat information to the Marine.

Many of the Marines' weapons follow this "more dakka" model. These include a quad rocket launcher and a double-barreled shotgun. A special backpack provides extra energy generation when magitek-based weapons such as lucent beams or twin flamethrowers.

For platoon-level fire support, specialized fire support battlesuits are used. These include the Ursus, with its twin miniguns, and the Morty, with its mortar-arm.

The focus of the Corps is its heavy infantry, however it does employ a number of support vehicles. The High-Mobility Ground-Effect Skirt Transport (Hum-Gee) is a small vehicle with a vectored thrust skirt that allows it to hover; it can carry about five marines at high speed and boasts a Tiger autocannon. The von Buroch Ground Transport ('von B') is a large, treaded vehicle with a distinctive rhombus shape. It is capable of carrying ten marines and some spare equipment; it is the Marines preferred transportation when deploying from orbit or through the air is not feasible (a major issue when fighting in Kakkara in the Leviathan War).

One area where Marines are light is in magical support. Though the Corps offers recruitment bonuses for magickers, they can't compete with the even more lucrative offers from the private sector. The magic establishment in Tasnica also has a lingering anti-militarism; magicians fighting on the front lines all but wiped out Tasnica's magical traditions in the Great War.

Marine operate in ten-man squads. Tactically, Marines tend to be very aggressive, assaulting forward in a blaze of firepower. Marines are well-protected and have lots of big guns; subtlety is not their strong point.

Ranks

• NCO
  • Private
  • Corporal
  • Sergeant
  • Master Sergeant
  • Master Sergeant of the Corps

• Commissioned
  • Leutnant
  • Oberleutnant
  • Hauptmann
  • Major
  • Oberst
  • Generaloberst (Colonel-General)
  • General Major