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 (if the Marine uses it like a pansy). 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-is-more 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.

The Marines make use of non-sentient combat drones to augment their numbers. They have two main models: the flying Vogel and the treaded Hund. Both are mainly used for surveillance and relaying targeting data, though many are equipped with assault-rifle-equivalent guns, grenade launchers, or rockets to provide fire support. Controlling the platoon's drones is usually the responsibility of a dedicated Marine. Vehicles (or Phalanx suit with special add-on) can serve as nodes in a network for data-sharing across a larger unit.

Marines also receives some training with other weapons, in the case that they will need to conduct operations sans armor.

Marine operate in ten-man squads. Tactically, Marines tend to be very aggressive, assaulting forward in a blaze of firepower. Marine tactics involve using their high degree of aerial mobility to engage in close-range firefights. Marines are well-protected and have lots of big guns; subtlety is not their strong point.

Recon Force

Recon Force troopers are responsible for scouting ahead of the Corps. The infiltrate ahead of the main force to secure vital strongpoints. There is one regiment of 'Rekkies' per Regimental Combat Team, but they are rarely deployed en masse. Rather, they are dispersed at the battalion and brigade level to provide the vital vanguard for the main force of Marines. Rekkies operate either in small units or alone. They are known in the Corps for a 'cowboy' or 'hotshot' attitude.

Recon Force troopers do not use Phalanx armor; they use the much lighter Peltast armor, which is equipped with a jetpack allowing it to jump long distances or over cliffs. The N4A Alpha Assault Rifle is the standard-issue weapon, but many troopers instead opt to use dual pistols 'because it looks bad-ass'. Many troopers are also expert snipers.

Recon units also make use of the Mongoose Scout Walker.

Mecha

A more recent addition to the force are its six mecha regiments. This is partly a response to growing tensions in the Web. Power armor infantry are tough and flexible, but sometimes you need something with even BIGGER guns.

The Marines initially sought the KN-Series mecha, as they were quite impressed with the flexibility of 'tankfantry'. However, the political situation in the Esper Union made acquiring these mecha difficult. The Marine eventually opted for Kuat Walkers as their main mecha choice. They helped fund the re-design of the Brawler, which now features interchangeable arms with a variety of weapons systems. Brawlers and Enforcers are the most common machines. The Corps loves how compact these models are, which makes them easier to transport on drophips or deliver to the field.

RMC Mecha tactics focus on working in tandem with the infantry, as bullet shield, transport, or fire support.

Mecha are a new branch, and although there are some promising recruits, the Corps has yet to produce an 'ace'. The Marines have a handful of Erinyes machines, and have the funding for more, but they have yet to have anyone use it at the same level as Tor Stonecliff.

Republic Aerospace Marines Support (RAMS)

Although the Republic Aerospace Fleets are Tasnica's primary space fleet, the Marine Corps relies heavily on space transports and air fire support. Since these were not missions the RAF particularly highly valued, the RMC took responsibility for it. Broadly speaking, RAMS has two main jobs: getting the Marines into the fight, and giving the Marines fire support.

The main dropship of the RMC is the Nimbus, which can deploy a Marine company. The Zephyr is capable of atmospheric takeoff and landing, and is agile enough that in can be used for in-theater strategic re-deployments. The Nimbus is quite capable of making 'hot drops', and will usually land the Marines close to a strategic objective. The Nimbus can also land a lance of mecha instead of Marines, or a number of other payloads.

For more extensive planetary assaults, the Marines have the Piledriver Battlewagon. The Piledriver is spaceborne hub of a Marine assault. In addition to housing the majority of Marines for any 'long haul', the Piledriver can launch drop-pods of various sizes from orbit. These drop-pods can house Marine squads, mecha or other vehicles, or even provide supplies to isolated squads. Piledrivers are not designed for ship-to-ship combat, though they have some defensive armament and are well-protected. As large and important ships, they are usually protected by a powerful escort.

The Kestrel Assault Carrier is called upon when the Marines need to deploy directly into battle. With four powerful vectored-thrust engines, the Kestrel has a lot of lift, enough to carry a full squad of Marines or a mecha into battle. The Kestrel can mount a few weapons, but getting the Marines in (and out) of battle is its primary role.

The Banshee is the Marines' primary craft for close air support. This low flying vectored thrust craft is extremely fast, and can mount a bevy of firepower.

Both the RAF and RMC developed their own variants of the Ballista; the Ballista-C, or Corps variant, became a high-speed bomb truck. It can mount strikes in support of troops or interdict targets farther from the front.

All this said, maintaining air superiority is important to the Corps' operations. The Marines currently use the Kuat Quickdraw. The Quickdraw's VTOL landing profile fits the Marines' need to work from forward bases. The version of the Quickdraw fielded by the Corps is heavily armed with heat-seeking missiles. Although the Quickdraw is not quite as high-performance as an Epoch, it is reliable and inexpensive, and the Corps fields quite a lot of them.

Ranks

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

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