Forthenan Land Vehicles

The Forthenans have only a small range of land vehicles, designed mostly for fighting defensively around the Forthenan plateau and other mountainous environments.

Forthenan Armored Vehicles

GigaCrawler Armored Carrier

A unique design in the web, this low-to-the-ground personnel carrier was actually one of the first mechanized vehicles in Alter-Mana to move on legs. Its sturdy design enables it to traverse almost any terrain with ease; in particular it was built to negociate the treacherous mountain passes leading up to Laurent. The GigaCrawler has remained virtually unchanged since its introduction into the Forthenan arsenal, and remains to this day the primary personnel carrier of the Forthenan land forces.

The GigaCrawler is typicallly equipped with two forward-mounted Shamshir repeaters, and a topside turret that boasts a Shamshir gun and a GAP launcher.

Bulette 3 Armored Artillery Vehicle

The Bulette is basically a massive walking tank. It is the third generation of Bulette armored vehicles, and is decidedly larger and more heavily-armed than either of its predecessors. This four-legged monster is actually somewhere between a tank and a mecha. Its proper classification varies depending on who you talk to.

The Bulette retains the distinctive appearance of its line of vehicles, boasting a triceratops-like head section, mounted on a squat armored body. Each flank of this vehicle bristles with five Shamshir Light Repeaters. At its "head" section, three forward-turretted weapons are mounted in triceratopian formation, with two Tyrving heavy repeaters high on the head and a GAP rocket launcher in a forward nose-mount position. Each of these turrets requires a gunner.

The main weapon of the Bulette 3, however, is the massive Dark Force cannon mounted on its back. The Dark Force cannon can be positioned to fire straight forward as an energy artillery device, or into the air as a sky-raking anti-aircraft weapon.

Bulette 2 AAV

Not entirely phased out yet, the Bulette 2 is a smaller vehicle, and the Bulette 3's immediate ancestor. Unlike the Bulette 3, the B2 does not have side-guns. Its entire armament consists of two forward-mounted Shamshir guns mounted onto the head section, and a Dark Force gun placement on its back. It is lighter and generally faster than the B3, its principle design focus being moving the Dark Force cannon around the field to quickly get it where it needs to be. Despite this utility of design, it tends to not be nearly as impressive as the massive, lumbering Bulette 3.

Haggar Siege Pummel

This vehicle, like the Bulette and the GigaCrawler, travels on legs rather than wheels or treads, giving it greater flexibility of negociable terrain. It travels low to the ground, and somewhat resembles a large mechanical crab. In effect, the Haggar is little more than a massive, mobile slab of armor, whose true purpose is unrealized until it gets right up next to an enemy fortification. That's when the Haggar deploys its weaponry: on one arm, a crushing, steam-shovel-like claw, and on the other a high-powered, diamond-edged drill.

The Haggar is not entirely ineffective outside of strictly siege combat. Its weapons can be turned easily on masses of infantry or battlesuited regulars, and the vehicle's thick armor ensures that it is unlike to be taken down without more substantial fire support.

Haggars are sometimes re-configured as mobile supporting-fire platforms, with a turret placement on top housing either a Tyrving heavy repeater mount, dual Shamshir light repeater mounts, or a combination Shamshir-GAP launcher mount. In this configuration, the turret gunner is near completely exposed to enemy fire, while the Haggar's pilot enjoys the full benefit of the pummel's thick armor.

Forthenan Jet Vehicles

Forthenan Swoop JetBike

Appropriated from the Guardians, the Swoop is used by the Forthenan Cavalry as a rapid deployment ground smirmisher. The Swoop differs from the Guardian Model-C JetBike in that the pilot's seat is pushed back, and the forward section houses a large weapon mount. This makes the entire vehicle tilt forward somewhat, though the JetDrive compensation eases the weight imbalance somewhat.

The Swoop's weapon mount typically houses dual Shamshir repeater guns, and a single GAP launcher. This combined with the JetDrive's capacity for high speeds gives the Forthenans a rapid, hard-hitting cavalry advance effective against both infantry and armor. Unfortunately, the Swoop's weight lowers its flight ceiling significantly, and in order to retain its speed the vehicle sacrifices an uncomfortable amount of armor and protection for both its pilot and its engines.

Forthenan Loki Light JetTank

The Loki is a stripped down model of the Cyrus JetTank, equipped with a topside turretted half-strength Dark Force cannon and a forward battery of triple Tyrving heavy repeaters. It is less an artillery vehicle than a rapid assault vehicle, useful as an all-terrain escort vehicle for Bulette walkers and GigaCrawlers, or as heavy fire support for a column of Swoop riders.

Tonpole Assault Buggy

A simple, open-topped JetCar mounted with a gunner's turret on the back. The Tonpole is an infantry support vehicle that is variously configured and equipped either with a single Tyrving repeater, dual Shamshir repeaters or a combination Shamshir-GAP launcher.

Forthenan Vehicle Armament

SBR Shamshir Light Repeater

The Shamshir is a large anti-infantry gun that rapidly fires multiple single-pulse shots of Saint Beam energy. As an infantry weapon, the Shamshir must be loaded onto a tripod to brace the weapon and wielder for firing, but this gun is frequently mounted on vehicles to provide anti-personnel supporting fire.

SBR2 Tyrving Heavy Repeater

The Shamshir's larger cousin, the Tyrving is larger and has a faster rate of single-pulse Saint Beam fire. The Tyrving can also be switched into a continuous sustained beam fire mode, allowing it to rake across troops and enemy armor and vehicles for up to 116 seconds at a time.

GemMissile Armor Piercer (GAP)

A unique conjurative weapon system, the GAP is commonly mounted on battlesuits or light infantry vehicles. It is, ostensibly, a rocket launcher without the need for conventional ammunition: the weapon conjures within its firing chamber raw earth elemental energies, which it then crystalizes into a missile-shaped mass of razor sharp diamond. The weapon then fires this projectile at sub-sonic speeds toward a target selected by the GAP's attached target computer. The projectile explodes shortly after first impact, sending out a shrapnel-shower of smaller crystalline projectiles, which later dissipate back into unformed strands of earth-elemental mana.

Because of GAP's ability to pierce very thick armor, it makes for an effective tank killer. Because of its secondary shrapnel-fire capacity, it makes for a devastating anti-personnel weapon (especially if said personnel are trapped inside an APC).

Dark Force Cannon

The Forthenans' premier energy-based artillery weapon, found primarily on the backs of Bulette AAVs. A scaled down version is also carried by the Loki JetTank.

The Dark Force Cannon can blast away at fortifications and energy shields either in single-pulse mode, or as a sustained beam. The sustained beam can only be held out for 40 seconds at a time before the weapon must cool down.