Article 51: Famous Pilots
Famous Mech Pilots
Though most soldiers in the galaxy rarely ever see a battlefield in our modern, relatively peaceful, age, in a mech this is not the case. A giant robot capable of leveling entire cities is such a valuable and useful piece of equipment that there will always be a need for them, and because of their scale and the tendency of pilots to perform better when they have more expressive personalities, it's not uncommon for pilots across the galaxy to gain a high degree of notoriety. It's standard practice for various product creators to create collectibles based on those with high win rates or especially noteworthy backstories or vehicles, and though most mech pilots languish in relative obscurity even when jobs are plentiful, there's enough who have achieved a high level of fame that many of them personally know each other and agree as a group for their likenesses to be placed on trading cards, holovids, posters, and t-shirts across the milky way.
The Code
Many of the pilots on these lists have fought against each other, some multiple times. Despite this, there are few grudges held at this high of a level of fame, and this is largely in part due to an informal code universally held among most mech pilots. The first and most important tenet of this code is the idea that your opponents are just doing their job, and you must do yours. Mechs are expensive and complex weapons of war, but the pilot's cockpit is very heavily shielded and the readouts on each mech's HUD de-prioritize attacks against the squishy occupant both because the thickened armor and energy shields make attacks much less effective than targeting systems like the reactor or joints, but also to ensure that their foe can walk away from a battle. Accidents still happen, but when someone is found to be deliberately targeting the cockpit with the express purpose of killing their opponent, they will lose the respect of their fellow pilots and their own body will no longer be off-limits. It's also typically considered bad form and a waste of time to continue to whale on an enemy mech that's already been downed, as there's no need to raise repair bills even further. Another rule, revered as much as the first, is to know when to step aside. A job is a job, but not all employers are created equal. When a job offer turns out to be too good to be true, or the person offering it is found to have been guilty of truly despicable acts, a respectable pilot knows to back away despite any contract that might be in effect. Likewise, these respectable pilots know better than to make claims of such acts spuriously.
Ladies
Looking through the following list, you'll likely quickly notice that all of them are female. This is not entirely down to the writer's selection bias, though it may in part contribute to it. Due to the gender disparity when it comes to activated mahou genes, the majority of pilots capable of channeling energy are female, with the proportion skewing even more heavily towards female at the most skilled percentiles. This is due to the specific nature of personality types required for high level mech performance, and while there are many males skilled in piloting and channeling, their specific personality type and skill set leads more often to starfighter or tank piloting roles.
Starchasers
Simultaneously a pop idol band and a mercenary squad, the Starchasers have specially-modified mechs provided by 5010 that, combined with their pilots' own specialized training, allow them to amplify their abilities through the performance of a concert synchronized to their mechs' weapon cooldown and walk cycle rhythms. The team will perform their first songs as they fight their foes, as their carrier and its network of deployable satellites broadcast the battle across the planet. Once their enemies are defeated, they'll stay to continue their set, dancing both in and out of their mech while they sing songs meant to uplift the spirits of the world they're deployed to. How exactly one hires them seems to be a closely-guarded secret. The group's size fluctuates as tertiary members rotate in and out to start their own solo careers, but the two primary talents since the group's inception are Kara Heartchaser and Lily Starsong, whose names the group's name is derived from. Their deployments take them across the galaxy, and they are perhaps the most well-known pilots still active.
The Twilight Hunters
Scarlett and Mahlia have reputations as the savage beauties of the Milky Way, and their incredibly high rate of effectiveness pays tribute to that. Both are incredibly skilled pilots, with Scarlett considered to have the most encyclopedic knowledge of potential enemy mechs and pilots and Mahlia's instincts being near clairvoyant levels. The pair are available for any job, but command a high price and will only choose to perform jobs that they feel are unique and challenging enough. Precisely what drives them to reach the top of the mercenary food chain is a secret they're not willing to divulge, but they're so focused on the goal that they actually lack a primary base of operations, choosing instead to require board and travel as part of their job fees. The easiest way to find them is to be lucky enough to be offering a job close to where their last job ended. They're known not to be particularly chatty in combat, and they prefer to keep to themselves both on and off the battlefield, rarely taking any other teammates unless it is vital to the job at hand.
Altearth Defenders
It's no secret that many of the galaxy's politicians, CEOs, and other movers and shakers are massively corrupt, and will go to extraordinary lengths to secure power over those most vulnerable, often away from the eyes of those who have the power to stop them. One more common way to do this is to stage an invasion on a planet recently dropped from the Watcher Protected Planet list, allow them to be subjugated for a time, then come to their rescue in hopes that their specific branch of whatever faction they represent will be chosen to rule over the planet and its resources. Morgana and Masako's home planet was the target of one such scheme, but they were able to use their own cunning, help from an outside agent, and their nascent magic channeling power to procure their own mechs and fight back against the many waves of invaders to keep their planet free. They now do mercenary work around the galaxy, though they are naturally skeptical of any government contracts and they will pursue any lead that they believe will bring them to another situation like their planet was in so that they can help those in need. Rumors abound that Masako was able to save Morgana from certain death by uploading her consciousness to the mech she was piloting at the time, though sightings of Morgana describe her as having a normal-sized Android body.
Atlas Incorporated
Known as two of the most brazen pirate hunters in the Galactic Anarchist sectors, Vesta and Minori go out of their way to take on jobs against the least respectable mech pilots in the galaxy. Vesta, a Balrog from a planet controlled by one of the Pirate Kings, managed to escape from her homeworld and worked for the previous owner of Atlas Incorporated, then a large-scale salvage company, until his retirement. On one of her assignments, Vesta found the long-forgotten vessel of Minori, a Djinni who used her powers to leverage the business dealings to the point where Vesta managed to piece together a handful of complete mechs, which the two of them now pilot. They've been known to bring on new hires to help with their workload, which often involves repairing or custom-building mechs for other mercenaries. The two are known for their unorthodox battle tactics involving fielding experimental or reclaimed systems running in their personal mechs.
Enigma Company
The carrier Resolute Vision was one that had gone missing after its expedition into the galactic rim, but never re-emerged in possession of any of the Enlightenment Fleets of the Galactic Anarchists and was declared lost centuries ago. Less than a decade ago, however, the ship, apparently fully restored, began being sighted on various planets across the border between Elemental League and Golden Alliance space, stocked with a full company of modern Mechs. None of the vehicles onboard the carrier have any markings identifying their origin such as serial numbers, while none of their pilots will divulge their own past, but the organization that calls itself Enigma Company is a group with a diverse selection of pilots and mechs that can quickly deploy into almost any situation. The listed owners of the company are a Zettanian named Lorelai and a troll named Kiva, both of whom are as elusive on the battlefield as off. Their company seems to be growing with each passing season, though they have no open recruitment despite many mech pilots clamoring to be added to the ranks of Enigma Company.
Willow's Reach
Queen Willow is one of the most sympathetic of the Legion Queens, taking in orphans from around the galaxy to give them a safe place to grow. While there are many, Legion and non-Legion alike, willing to transport troubled and imperiled youth to her sanctuary, there are times when she learns of a situation where simple transportation will not be sufficient. Against the most heinous abusers and exploiters of the innocent, Queen willow will deploy her personal servant, Willow's Reach, to retrieve them. Willow's Reach is a mysterious pilot, though fully supported with a carrier crew and a large selection of Legion mechs to pilot, never speaking to anyone as when she is put into a situation, it has long past gone beyond the time for words. Ruthless, efficient, and able to take on swarms of enemy pilots stupid enough to stand against her, various rumors swirl around the most feared Legion pilot outside of the Rogue hives. The most circulated rumor is that the current Willow's Reach is not the original, and that Willow's Reach was herself guilty of terrible crimes against children. Once she feels she's atoned, she will choose another abuser to transform into an identical copy of herself before finally retiring in whatever way she sees fit.
Rachel
The Angelic Protectorate's planets all feature a column of holy light through which their Divine agents can reincarnate. It's a little known fact that in certain extreme circumstances truly exceptional non-Angels can be reborn in the light, and that is due in large part to the Angelic Protectorate keeping this information a secret, but when one looks up Rachel Sunglow, one of the Angelic Protectorate's most prolific pilots, it is very easy to infer from her prior deeds that she was in fact an Elf who died in service to the good of all and as a reward was reborn as an Angel, taken in by the Protectorate, and granted the use of a Colossus to help continue her fight. Unlike standard Colossus pilots who are deployed by their Cherub, Rachel has the unique ability to feel where a hopeless situation is brewing and often shows up just in the nick of time, occasionally even sacrificing herself in combat to turn a loss into a victory or hold off a summoner's Construct Demon just long enough for civilians to evacuate. In each of these situations, she's been shown demonstrating the even more miraculous ability to reincarnate her mech into a new Colossus form by taking it into the planet's Light column. Over the centuries her own appearance has changed little, but she's piloted her mech in over fifteen recorded forms and it doesn't look like she's prepared to stop in her crusade against the wicked anytime soon.
Valentina
Valentina Hopsford has been active in the galactic scene for well over a hundred years, despite her youthful appearance, and her story is well-known among the various early Demi-Human heroes. Bought as one of the first generation Demi-Human slaves, she was presented as a gift to a young Vampire lord who was so enthralled by her willful personality and pure morality that he chose instead to pass along his Vampiric essence to her, making her one of the earliest immortal Demi-Humans. Rather than allow himself to be cut off from his family fortune, the lord instead hastily used a portion of that fortune to purchase a freighter which they would use to escape the planet Elstrange. Crammed into the freighter's dusty compartment was an old, unused mech which sprang back to life under the channeling power that had awakened upon Valentina's conversion. Seeing it as a sign, the two took off to find a new destiny across the galaxy, and since then Valentina has made a name for herself, first by freeing enslaved Demi-Humans, but then later by taking other jobs. As the pair continue to build up their reputation with each successful battle, they've drawn the attention of the mysterious Humanists, as Valentina has slowly unearthed evidence that her partner may be the true heir to the Darkrider legacy.
Felicity
Felicity Umbrana has been the public face of the Castaways Treaty Systems' biowarp commando academy for the last 5 years, and she has the pedigree and skills to back up her immense popularity. As the most decorated member of the Dark Elven Royal Guard, it has been her solemn duty to defend the matriarchs against assassination attempts at every scale, and seeing her at a function is a sure sign that someone is expecting trouble. Because her position is a military one, she is rarely seen outside the primary planets of the CTS or their mobile citadel, but that has not stopped her from gaining media attention that many mercenaries would kill for. Were she ever to strike out on her own, her reputation as one of the most skilled guardians to ever take up a mech's controls would surely put her among the top earners in the galaxy, and others often question why she continues to show such fierce loyalty towards the Matriarchs despite her obvious financial opportunities. In combat, she's known to field an experimental Shaman unit with incredible efficiency, which may have been one of the primary reasons for its larger adoption despite still being a Skurd-designated Norn.
Destiny
When the Equine Demi-Human inhabitants of the planet of Pastorus drove away the slavers that had been secretly controlling heir society, much of their population began to worry over their lost tribes, those who had been taken off-planet and sold into slavery. Among Demi-Humans, Pastorians have an incredibly long lifespan, and many of those sold into slavery are still alive today. Their shamans told them that one day, destiny would bring home all wayward children, and most accepted this prophecy as a means of calming tensions. One magically-gifted woman, however, took it upon herself to fulfill the prophecy. Taking for herself the name "Destiny", she began a singular quest to find and bring home all of the lost tribes still living in the galaxy. Rewarding her for her struggle, the CTS Council granted her an Undyne Norn, which she keeps maintained and ready to use at a moment's notice during the course of her investigations. She only seems to participate in a battle if she believes doing so will lead her to one of her people, but in battle she's a fearsome opponent who has dominated enough battlefields to make a name for herself outside of the one she chose to subvert the whims of fate.
