Article 28: CTS Norns
For decades since the treaty that brought their faction into existence, the Castaway Treaty Systems had a space fleet consisting entirely of ships that they had captured, stolen, or convinced to mutiny to their side. Priority was placed first and foremost on the maintenance of these vehicles, and thanks to the longevity of space vehicles in general, it was a couple hundred years before they were able to start production on their own spacefaring vessels. Even then, however, production was focused on ships designed to protect their convoy, primarily smaller gunboats and a smattering of fighter-class spaceships. With the mass defection of a large number of androids came the ability to mass-produce battleships and carriers, and this began the CTS tradition of "Reclaimer" fleets, generally a carrier loaded with the most skilled fighter pilots a system could produce whose sole mission was to find and secure artifacts previously looted from CTS people. These reclaimer missions typically involved using fighters for air superiority while a commando squad looted during the confusion, but such a group often found itself outmatched if looting a GA planet that employed the use of what were then called "Supremes", massive walkers that served to bridge the gap between powersuit and starfighter. To combat the Supremes, the CTS designed much smaller-scale vehicles designed to channel mahoutech called "Mahoumounts," piloted by skilled warriors dubbed "Dragoons. While Dragoon squads are still employed today, after the influx of Demi-Humans to the faction, CTS's leadership came to the realization that a large number of these Demi-Humans had been bred specifically to pilot Supreme-class walkers, and finally commissioned a series of their own large-scale mobile armors for them to pilot. These CTS vehicles are called by numerous names--Mechs, Technicals, Walkers, and even simply Giant Robots, but their specific designation is "Norn", taken from the legendary Valkyries who reportedly rode into battle with the Norse Elementals during the Legion War.
Norn production takes place on dozens of worlds, but development is done primarily on the three habitable planets in the Ralador system. Each of these planets houses a specific division of development, and while they trade breakthroughs and materials as needed, their product lines are kept seperate.
Ralador I is the home of development for Urd(URD)-class models of Norns. Urd-class Norns are created as modernized versions of older walkers, often from other factions. Many of them actually use pieces salvaged from other mecha, and an Urd blueprint can often consist of an original design overlaid with new parts and instructions on which parts to swap out for the new ones sent as the production kit. (All CTS vehicles smaller than freighter class are sent as kits to their destination. Mechanics personally assemble them, which the CTS alleges increases familiarity with the vehicles and fosters good relationships between mechanics and pilots.) Urd models are named by their progenitors, with an URD suffix before at least part of the original ship's model number. Simply knowing an Urd-class Norn's model number is never enough to know its date of manufacture as you must also be intimately familiar with its base model. There are more Urd upgrade kits than there are models of the other two Norn classes combined, and the more popular upgrades are, when the original machines are in short supply, reissued as fully updated models, with their model number appended with the letter R. Urd-class Norns are considered generally cheaper, sturdier, and more reliable than their other production counterparts, but are so closely related to their original models that strategies developed centuries ago to fight them can continue to be utilized.
On Ralador II, developers work to create the Verdanti(VDN) series of Norn. Unlike Urd-class walkers, Verdanti are based wholly on original designs. Also unlike the Urd-class Norns, Verdanti-class are designed specifically to supplement the instinctual nature of the various Demi-Human BioWarp Commandos the CTS trains and deploys. VDN-series giant mecha are considered the mainline production models, and as the production capability of the CTS improves so does the creation of this series compared with Urd-class walkers. It's estimated that by the year 2200, production of Verdanti models will finally surpass production of Urd kits and models combined. While Urd model naming schemes are fairly confusing and dozens of different Urd models are produced at any given time, Verdanti-series mecha are comparatively simple. The first VDN models were designated VDN-100, with each successive generation in the same century bearing a number 1 higher and the dawn of a new century jumping the model number forward to the next set of 100. Thus, knowing a Verdanti-class Norn's model number could help you pinpoint its year of production much more closely. The most current production model of Verdanti is the model 402. Verdanti models are all bipedal, with digitigrade legs and a cockpit located in the "head" of the unit. Within each model, a series of five variations on each is produced, with an appropriate suffix for each. A-type VDN units are generalized units, with a well-balanced loadout of weapons, shields, and maneuverability. B-type VDN models are Air and Space Superiority models, with engines that can let them keep up with starfighters but armaments which make them less able to deal with ground targets. C-type VDNs are Ground Superiority models, which are slower and more sluggish than the base model but well equipped for antipersonnel and anti-ground vehicle combat with the most powerful weaponry of any VDN types. D-type VDN-class vehicles are support units, with above-average speed and specialized cannons which can lay down impressive amounts of cover fire allowing them to quickly create a blanket of suppressive lasers to assist in advances and retreats. E-type VDN vehicles are designed as relatively unarmored recon vehicles, with sensor jammers and multiple lock targeting computers that can scan and keep track of dozens of hostiles simultaneously and long range sniping weapons.
Ralador III is home to the scientists, engineers, and technicians creating Skurd(SKD)-class Norns. In accordance with the past/present/future theming of their ships, Skurd-class Norns represent technologies that are currently too expensive or require materials too rare to use in production models, but may someday become more commonplace. Skurd-class Norns are given codenames rather than serial numbers, prefixed with the letters SKD. Rarely are more than a few dozen of any SKD-class Norn produced, but 90% of these prototypes are sent for testing to the most elite and experienced pilots the CTS has to offer. A Skurd-class walker is completely unpredictable, and might have technologies that render it invisible to all kinds of sensors, employ strange technologies like the ability to break apart and recombine, or may be equipped with weapons that are potentially very powerful but require arcane skills to utilize properly. Some of the older Skurd model features have been incorporated into modern Verdanti and Urd models, while some technologies employed have dead-ended, and while a fleet taking a Skurd walker into battle is a force to be reckoned with, it's always important to remember that these cutting edge technologies are often a double-edged sword.
