parent nodes: Weird Sun
Life on Mars
The Martian Republic
Population: 285 million
TL10^, Military mostly TL11^
Government: Federative constitutional republic
Economy: State capitalist
Currency: Martian Dollar (MD)
History
Always first and foremost an American project, but with important contributions from Russia, Britain, Australia and others, in the 21st century Mars became a de facto convict colony for the increasingly theocratic and despotic governments of Earth, in particular the Christian Republic of the USA, aka the Commanderate. The planet came to hold a lot of atheists, anarchists, libertarians, socialists, communists, left liberals, Muslims and other riffraff. This motley crew grew into a nation in the 2090 revolution, when the 60 million Martians won their independence. Throughout the early 22nd century, Mars grew enormously as it absorbed hopeful immigrants from an Earth ravaged by poverty, environmental destruction and religious persecution. At the same time, terraforming accelerated, soon rendering the planet near Earthlike. "Red" Preservationism never became more than a fringe movement. Today, the air is breathable by unmodded humans, the climate is mostly pleasant, and apart from the interior deserts, Mars is vibrant with life.
Geography
Mars' population is the largest of any state in Sola. Still, spread them across a landmass the size of Eurasia, Africa and the Americas combined and it does get rather sparse. More than anything, the Martian population distribution resembles old Australia on a massive scale, with urban agglomerations scattered along the verdant coastlines, surrounded everywhere by thousands of square miles of thinly populated outback. The Republic consists of fifteen States (Arcadia, Chantum, Corellia, Cydonia, East Acidalia, Hellespont, Mars, New California, New Michigan, New Oregon, North Elysium, Russell, South Elysium, Utopia, West Acidalia and Xanthe) and eleven Territories (Anarres, Aureum, Cimmeria, Claybornia, Hesperia, Lemuria (on Earth), Noach, Novy Sibir, Redland, Sirenum and Tharsis), not counting the exosolar settlements. The sheer areas involved may overwhelm anyone used to Earthling scales - New Oregon is the size of Texas, California and Alaska combined, and Tharsis Territory is larger than North America. The biggest population centers are found in Corellia, New Oregon and Russell, the "Heartland" lining the coasts of the Mariner Sea. Mars City, the capital, has its own state bordering Russell and New Oregon, near the straits between the Mariner and Chryse Bay. Other major cities include Kamen, New California; Dawkins, Cydonia and Byzantium, New Michigan.
Culture
Sexual, racial or ethnic discrimination has faded into irrelevance. On Mars, gender equality means that the women adopt masculine virtues, not the other way around. In a twist of fate, Africans are one of the most successful and respected ethnic groups. The conscious disregard of any Christian baggage has resulted in extremely sex-positive attitudes. Prostitution and pornography are taxed, regulated, and "clean" in the public eye. Pornstardom is sidelined with "dry" movie stardom as an accepted, if unrealistic, dream for young girls and boys. Sex on public property is legal so long as you clean up afterwards. Gays are entirely accepted. Slightly more iffy, but still no big deal, are sexual relations between humans and any of the numerous intelligent GM minority species. Of course, xenosexuality, or more colloquially, freak-fucking, is beyond the pale. Except in the most liberal Southern states (Chantum, Hellespont and New Michigan), it implies long prison sentences and, should the wheels of justice prove too slow, community retribution. Even in Hellas, it is considered perverse.
Mars was a penal colony for theocracies, and subsequent history, with the Republic attacked on all sides by forces opposed not just to science but to reason itself, only strengthened the anti-irrational tendency. Today, 85% of Mars' population are more or less Dawkinsian atheists. Religious irrationality is the most common explanation for the Great War, and openly religious people, while legally equal, face overbearing attitudes and glass ceilings everywhere. Society is permeated with a heartfelt love of technico-scientific progress, and outstanding inventors and scientists often become popular heroes. It sometimes seems as if Martians are genetically predisposed to be gifted tinkerers. In GURPS terms, Gadgeteer and scientific and technical skills are common, even with amateurs.
Recreational drug use is legal and widespread, albeit regulated and taxed. Cannabis and its GM variants are a staple: even the tiniest town is likely to have a grass-bar. In the hands of a Martian, pot is only incapacitating when dramatically appropriate; otherwise, it's just chill. Weed and alcohol are legal at age 16; tobacco, LSD, MDMA and psilocybine mushrooms at 18. Heroin, meth, cocaine and similar hard drugs and their derivatives are illegal and uncommon. The resistance to these substances pales, however, in comparison to the hysteria over the new "weirdo drugs", concocted by insidious Selenese and Cytherean alchemists to destroy Mars' youth and corrupt them into a Fifth Column of Xenarchy. Simple possession can mean prison years in the double digits; distribution carries up to capital punishment in some states (like Cydonia). Still, the smuggling continues thanks to the huge profits involved.
Martians are enthusiastic sportsmen. Since 2150, the country has held its own Olympic Games - nobody else wanted to follow the rules. Martian football takes advantage of the low gravity and dense atmosphere for an airy, almost ethereal (yet intense and brutal) experience. The same conditions make unpowered heavier-than-air flight possible, and winged "birdbikes" are a common sight in the cities. Psi-powered sports such as brainball are also popular. Surfing, like sailing, is a national hobby, and even the most rednecked Tharsians vacation by the North Sea (especially New California) in summer. Some settlers have tried to re-import their beloved pastime back to Australia, but the triple gravity means the waves are disappointingly small. Winter sports are just as popular: Ascraeus Mons has the largest ski resort in the Solar System. Hunting is huge. Terran unicorn meat (properly darkened) has become a delicacy, to the furious protests of mages from Venus to Saturn. In the shadows there are bloodsports. So-called "freakfights", xenont deathmatches, get more and more popular in the most darkwing states. They're not legal, but Lady Justice often has more important things to deal with.
Most characteristically, Martians are, well, martial. The common stereotype is so jingoistic he could die of exhaustion from sheer flag-waving, and the truth isn't far off (this caricature is actually based on a true story). He is also armed to the teeth. There are officially 215 firearms per 100 citizens (compare 2008 America, with 90 per 100). Control Rating of weapons and armor is 2 in States and 1 in Territories, where the government's response to xenotic threats is much slower. To defend their lives and property, most outback families (generally ranchers or plantationists) keep a battlesuit and a handful of heavy weapons, and maybe a mininuke or two. The government offers free martial arts training to anyone who wants it, and an adult with no combat skills at all qualifies for Social Stigma (Uneducated). On the other hand, all military personnel, or even civilian combat experts, enjoy one level of Social Regard (Respected), except Marines, who get two.
Language
Martian English is mostly American with some Australian expressions ("good on ya, buddy"), and some slang incorporates Russian loanwords (pugly = frightened, oozie = chain, mord = snout, naz = idiot, gloopy = stupid, yarbles = testicles). "Gay" and synonyms lost their pejorative meaning more than a century ago; their use is the 23rd century equivalent of calling a 2008 American a "slack-jawed, yaller-livered son of a dung heap". The exception is the word "faggot", which has lost any connotation with homosexuality and returned to the original meaning of "someone to be burnt on the stake", i.e. a serious felon magic-user. For this reason it is still one of the most offensive expressions in Martian English. "Fuck", "Cunt", "Whore" and related sexual terms are not very offensive and are casually used even in government documents. Their role is filled by magical terms: freak (and freaking), weirdo (and weird-ass), pervert, xeno.
Economy and Technology
Although culturally libertarian (okay, with a few exceptions) Mars is moderately socialistic in its economy. The nation is wealthy, but generally doesn't place as much value in material riches as in honest work and service to the community. The enormous industrial base, Sola's largest, is extensively automated, freeing living minds up for matters of more import than unskilled labor. The state is the largest single capitalist, with a majority share in several big corporations including CydoniaWorks, the arms division of which (CydoniaWorks Armory or CWA) is the largest MMF contractor and regarded as the highest quality weapons manufacturer in Sola. Another big player in that market is the New California-based MADRADS (Maxwell's Amazing Death Rays And Defense Supplies), which focuses on energy weapons. Its eccentric billionaire founder, genius inventor Mortimer Maxwell, lives on a mad scientist-styled personal island fifty miles north of Kamen, and likes to sponsor risky Earthbound tech-salvage expeditions.
Many of the private corporations would like to adopt technomagic to increase productivity, but they have arrayed against them the state, the unions (organizing 80% of the workforce) and public opinion. Thus, the traditional oppositional Liberal Republicans are more market-friendly as well as more magic-friendly, within the bounds of decency, of course. Most corporations are okay with the current set-up: After all, the government protects them from technomagical competition, and lets them enjoy their modest profits in relative peace. In the end, they don't rock the boat very much.
Another peculiarly Martian phenomenon are the communes scattered across the outback, reminiscent of Israeli Kibbutzim. The inhabitants live in complete equality and decisions are made democratically. One in twelve Martians are commune-children, born in exowombs and communally raised. Most were founded by immigrant Socialists and Communists, but there are also religious, libertarian and anarchist ones. Many have become successful cooperative enterprises.
Outside of the big cities, the hovercraft and aircar have replaced the motorcar. Internal combustion engines are long banned, anyway: most personal vehicles are battery electric. Long-range transportation uses helium airships or maglev trains. Suborbital jets are available for quick travel at increased cost, generally only along the North Sea coast, or from there to the Hellas or Argyre areas. Extreme high priority mail may be delivered by railgun and parachute.
Politics
The system is based on proportional representation to a unicameral Senate. The majority party or coalition forms the government and chooses the President. The 2206 elections went like this:
Social Republican (SR): 62%
Liberal Republican (LR): 24%
Santurite (S): 11%
Brand (B): 2%
Xenarchist (X): N/A (banned)
With two exceptions (2158-62 and 2190-94), the Social Republicans have been in power for the last 60 years, always securing between 45 and 65% of the vote. Right now, they are more popular than ever in the last two decades, in no small part thanks to the charismatic President Dragonslayer, who has promised to be tough on cults, xenodrugs, government corruption and bad employers, and expand the Earth recivilization program. The So Reps' main bastions of support are the unionized working class, the public enterprises and the military, kept loyal with lavish welfare provisions and a $45 trillion military budget supported by Sola's highest taxes. They view the free market as a powerful force for good, but one that has to be harnessed and regulated, just like any natural force, or it will backfire like a river breaching its dam.
The other election winner was the Santurites, who have been gaining a lot of ground recently. Mysterious wetship disappearances, rumors of Cytherean superspells, and renewed cultist attacks (prominently, a Demon Prince summoned into a New Chicago mall) are currently brewing up another major witch-scare, and the So Reps, no matter how much they repeat the word "normalcy", aren't quite darkwing enough to absorb the whole spectrum of opinion. The Santurites got especially far with their demand that Conrad Washington be taken out and burnt on the stake. For six decades, the self-proclaimed "Martian sunchild" and leader of the xenarchist rebellion has enjoyed his stay in the planet's most advanced supermaximum security prison, on Face Island, Cydonia. The rumor is widespread that he is somehow still commanding his forces from the inside, despite a triply-redundant shroud, elite RSS (Republican Security Service) guards and total isolation behind yards and yards of spellproofed concrete. The story goes that the government keeps him around not so much out of respect for his person as of fear of the potential cosmic repercussions of executing a Sunchild. The So Reps are divided on this issue and it's possible that the more hot-headed Santurites will get their way soon. Depending on how exactly Weird Sola works, that might become a major historical event.
The Martian Military Forces
The three branches of the MMF are the Home Guard (responsible for homeworld shroud maintenance, missile defence and border control), Space Force (deep space operations) and Marine Corps (worldbound operations away from home). Just like a real army, the Martian military can be portrayed as noble crusaders, brutal xenophobes, or anything inbetween. Campaign tone may range from "grim, realistic war-movie" to "silly space anime". It all depends on what kind of game the players and GM want.
Rank..Marines/HG...Space Force
8.......Field Marshal..Sky Marshal
7.......General..........Admiral
6.......Colonel..........Commodore
5.......Major.............Master Chief
4.......Captain..........Banneret
3.......Lieutenant......Reeve
2.......Sergeant........Ensign
1.......Corporal........Killick
0.......Private...........Spacer
A ship's commanding officer is referred to as Skipper, not Captain. All branches are part of the Department of War, and the President is Arch Marshal - the title "Commander in Chief" does not exist, in remembrance of the fate of the United States.
The Space Force
Vessels follow the rules in GURPS Spaceships. Martian capital ships possess reactionless "inertia-bubble" drives, but since contragrav tech is not advanced or cheap enough to dispense with spin-gravity, all large ships are essentially cigar-shaped with the decks arranged like a tree's growth rings. The four types of capital hulls are cruisers (SM +15, 700 yards), frigates (SM +14, 500 yards), corvettes (SM +13, 300 yards) and brigs (SM +12, 200 yards). The largest general purpose warship is the Deliverance-class battlecruiser (of which there are eight more: Vigilance, Enlightenment, Liberty, Normalcy, Solidarity, Republic, Vindicator and Avenger), massing three million tons and bristling with laser cannons and thermonuclear missile launchers, not to mention a three-terajoule range spinal X-ray laser. Its counterpart is the Arcadia-class Carriercruiser (with sisters Cimmeria, Corellia, Cydonia, Hesperia, New California and Utopia), less heavily armed but capable of transporting two entire Marine Armies (120,000 troops), and thus of dominating a whole star system. All amenities are provided on board including bars, brothels, gyms, casinos and enough "Tunguska" 25MT nukes to glass a Mars-sized planet in a matter of days. A ship like this is a great 'quest hub' for an MMC campaign, especially an interstellar one.
Carriercruiser Arcadia, Flagship of the Martian Republic
TL10 (weapons and armor, TL11)
SM+15; 3,000,000 tons; 700 yards
dST/HP: 1,000; dDR 500; HT 13
Hnd/SR: -3/5; Move 1G/c
131,200ASV; 6,300 workspaces total
Cost: $554,120,000,000
Front
[1] Diamondoid Armor, 500 dDR: $30B
[2-3] Cargo Hold (300k tons total)
[4] Hangar Bay (100k tons, 5,000 tons/minute launch rate; Workspaces 300): $300M
[5!!] Heavy Force Screen (dDR 1,000/2,000, Workspaces 300): $150B
[6] Habitats (15,000 Bunkrooms, 3,500 Cabins, 150 Cells, 150 Briefing Rooms, 200 (400) Establishments, 100 (200) Labs, 100 Offices, 500 Sickbays; Workspaces 300): $3B
[core] Fusion Power Plant (2 Power Points, 200 years endurance; Workspaces 300): $30B
Central
[1] Diamondoid Armor, 500 dDR: $30B
[2] Open Spaces, 200 (auditoriums, farms, gardens, pools, theaters; Workspaces 300): $20M
[3] Tertiary Battery (30 64cm Launcher Turrets, 100 shots; Workspaces 300): $15B
[4!] Tertiary Battery (30 X-Ray Laser Turrets, 30GJ, 6dx10 dDamage; Workspaces 300): $15B
[5!] Major Battery (X-Ray Laser Turret, 1TJ, 2dx100 dDamage; Workspaces 300): $15B
[6] Habitats (15,000 Bunkrooms, 3,500 Cabins, 150 Cells, 150 Briefing Rooms, 200 (400) Establishments, 100 (200) Labs, 100 Offices, 500 Sickbays; Workspaces 300): $3B
Rear
[1] Diamondoid Armor, 500 dDR: $30B
[2] Multipurpose Array (Level 16, Workspaces 300): $6B
[3!] Psychotronic Gestalt (Workspaces 300): $30B
[4!!] Heavy Force Screen (OSF; Workspaces 300): $150B
[5!] Hot Reactionless Engine, 1G (Pseudo-Velocity; Workspaces 300): $10B
[6] Control Room (Complexity C11, Comm/Sensor 14, Control Stations 60, Workspaces 300): $6B
[core] Fusion Power Plant (2 Power Points, 200 years endurance; Workspaces 300): $30B
Design Features
Spin Gravity (1.5G max): $300M
Stealth (-8 to sensor detection): $500M)
Battlecruiser Deliverance, Flagship of the Martian Republic
TL10 (weapons and armor, TL11)
SM+15; 3,000,000 tons; 700 yards
dST/HP: 1,000; dDR: 500 (Hardened 1); HT 13
Hnd/SR: -3/5; Move 1G/c
9,000ASV; 5,100 workspaces total
Cost: $620,800,000,000
Front
[1] Diamondoid Armor, 500 dDR total (Hardened 1): $60B
[2!] Major Battery (X-Ray Laser Turret, 1TJ, 2dx100 dDamage; Workspaces 300): $15B
[3!!] Heavy Force Screen (dDR 1,000/2,000; Workspaces 300): $150B
[4!] Spinal Battery (Fixed X-Ray Laser, 3TJ, 3dx100 dDamage; Workspaces 900): $50B
[4!!] Heavy Force Screen (OSF; Workspaces 300): $150B
[6] Fusion Power Plant (2 Power Points, 200 years endurance; Workspaces 300): $30B
[core] Control Room (Complexity C11, Comm/Sensor 14, Control Stations 60, Workspaces 300): $6B
Central
[1] Diamondoid Armor, 500 dDR (Hardened 1): $60B
[2!] Major Battery (X-Ray Laser Turret, 1TJ, 2dx100 dDamage; Workspaces 300): $15B
[3!] Tertiary Battery (30 X-Ray Laser Turrets, 30GJ, 6dx10 dDamage; Workspaces 300): $15B
[4!] Tertiary Battery (30 64cm Launcher Turrets, 100 shots; Workspaces 300): $15B
[5] Habitats (2,000 Bunkrooms, 450 Cabins, 25 Cells, 100 Briefing Rooms, 50 (100) Establishments, 50 (100) Labs, 125 Offices, 100 Sickbays; 127,500 tons of cargo; Workspaces 300): $3B
[6] Fusion Power Plant (2 Power Points, 200 years endurance; Workspaces 300): $30B
[core!] Spinal Battery
Rear
[1] Diamondoid Armor, 500 dDR (Hardened 1): $60B
[2] Tactical Array (Level 16, Workspaces 300): $6B
[3!] Psychotronic Gestalt (Workspaces 300): $30B
[4!] Spinal Battery
[5!] Hot Reactionless Engine, 1G (Pseudo-Velocity; Workspaces 300): $10B
[6] Fusion Power Plant (2 Power Points, 200 years endurance; Workspaces 300): $30B
Design Features
Spin Gravity (1.5G max): $300M
Stealth (-8 to sensor detection): $500M)
The Marines
The two-million-strong, all-volunteer Martian Marine Corps is the Solar System's undisputed master of technological ground combat. Its philosophy is to take the fight to the enemy, and with its numerous bases scattered around the Martian sphere of influence, it is the Republic's main line of defense in Sola and beyond. The largest deployment by far is Earth, housing one fifth of the Corps' total strength in addition to the locally-recruited Earthling Legion. To terrestrials, the official face of the MMC is Field Marshal Julian MacMagnus III, officer-in-charge of Army Group Earth. This spry octogenarian is a veteran of every major encounter of the last half-century and has 48,705 kills to his name. He earned the moniker "Godfucker" when he dispatched a rampaging avatar of Shiva with an anal nuke. The Field Marshal still goes on the occasional planetside MX-hunt to get away from all the drywork, despite living on the geosynchronously orbiting Carriercruiser Corellia with his husband and kids. He also likes to surf.
The basic Marine unit is the squad, consisting of 3-8 troops, which is further organized into the platoon, company, battalion, regiment, brigade, division, army and army group. A decent starting point level is 500, but may reach as high as 1,000, depending on how far over the top you want to go. No Marine may possess any physical attribute below 15, nor IQ below 12, and many have attributes well above this level. For this reason, the Marine Corps is mostly composed of superhuman genetic upgrades, homo superior parahumans, cyborgs, bioborgs, or combinations. Of baseline humans, only the very best gain admission. Depending on mission requirements, psykers are injected into standard units or formed into squads of their own. What, weirdos in the military? You've got to be kidding.
Like the way of life it defends, the Corps is simultaneously egalitarian and individualistic. Similarly to Old Earth fighter pilots, all troops have a callsign, or moniker. Marine monikers nearly always come from a member of his squad or other coworker, and it is considered bad form to try to give oneself a callsign. It's common for fresh apes to be initially assigned a fairly derogatory moniker, with the expectation that the ape will work hard enough to earn the respect of its community, and with it a better (and usually permanent) callsign. The Corps maintains its own atmospheric, seaborne and land-based vehicles, prominently featuring "Thunderbird" fusion-vertol gunships, "Berlin" tanks and "Baron", "Duke" and "King" mechanized walkers (mechs). For orbital assaults, Carriercruisers store drop pods that can deliver a dog squad anywhere on a planet within 20 minutes. The Corps proper wages constant war against hostile demons, vampires, megabugs, aliens, cultists, dragons and countless other malevolent xenonts; more delicate operations fall within the sphere of the Marine Corps Special Commandos, AKA Dark Ops or just Spec Com, Mars' special forces. A whole different ballpark is the Republican Security Service, the federal police cum intelligence agency. An RSS campaign would be lighter on the firepower, focusing more on aircar chases across the Marineris cityscapes, last-minute thwartings of demon-gate rituals by evil terrorist cults, gun-running to rebels in Cytherean Africa and Jovian Australia and nerve-wracking undercover hobnobbing with the Brilliant Families.
Standard issue for every Marine is a CWA U80 Gauss HMG with an underbarrel U12 Auto EMGL. The whole package weighs 115lbs. unloaded and costs $90,000, and its component weapons otherwise retain their stats. Each Marine also gets another heavy weapon. Common selections include Tactical Missile Launchers from Olympus Ordnance (often loaded with "Nutcracker" mininukes, for major targets), Rainbow Strike Lasers from MADRADS (for sniping, sometimes issued solely), U95 "Six-Shooter" Gauss Miniguns (for lots of weak foes), MADRADS Tactical MAD (for crowd control) or X-Ray Lasers (only in vacuum), double-O Semi-Portable Blasters (for electronic and robotic targets), Tactical Neural Disruptors (for search and extract), Semi-Portable Flamers (against botswarms or hordes of undead), and Fusion Gatling Guns or Semi-Portable Fusion Guns (for various uses). In general, one in twenty-five issued rounds are tritonic, and warheads otherwise come in a rainbow of flavors from shaped charges and thermobarics to nerve gas and disassembler nano. The most devastating infantry weapon in the Corps' arsenal is the N-88 "Spellbreaker" tritonium-salted nuclear warhead, capable not just of vaporizing most any magic-based entity within half a mile in a pitch-black mushroom cloud, but drenching the soil in spelldeath for decades to come.
Should that not be sufficient, it's time to call in the bombard. A Tunguska warhead does 8d x 150,000 crushing explosive damage, linked with 6d x 300,000 burning damage with the surge, radiation and explosive modifiers, the latter divided by distance in yards instead of 3 x distance. In other words, at 1000 yards the numbers are 8d x 50 and 6d x 300; at 10,000 yards they are 8d x 5 and 6d x 30. Even at one thousand kilometers from ground zero, it will start fires and kill small animals. If launched from the orbit of an Earth-sized planet, the bomb will strike within five minutes of launch in ideal conditions. A carriercruiser holds up to 8,000 of these, and a single Spellbreaker version can extinguish an entire fiendish or undead nation. Strategic nuclear bombardment usually has significant political implications, and is only used as the very last resort on Earth. On the other hand, some backwater exosolar diabolic civilization that nobody cares about? Nuke 'em 'til they love you. (Then nuke 'em 'til they die.) Incredible as it may sound, even carpet-nuking is not enough sometimes. The military has been rumored, in cases of extreme resistance, to evacuate all ground forces, mount a fusion rocket on an asteroid, initiate full thrust towards the planet and call it a day. ("We didn't want it anyway.")
The crux of the outfit, and indeed the entire Corps, is the CWA B-9 "Diamond Dog" dreadnought battlesuit. Powered by a micro-fusion reactor with a ten year lifespan and equipped with the latest TL11 nanocomposite armor, shielding, OSF and cool accessories, the B-9 will amplify individual strength, mobility and protection to Herculean heights. For close combat, each sleeve may sprout a foot-long hyperdense vibroblade (treat as Talons, use Brawling skill). A lone Diamond Dog is a terrific force; a squad is a local superpower. Alternatives include the B-13 "Black Dog" military cybersuit, utilized by the RSS and sometimes by Spec Com. Many Marines grow very attached to their Dogs, getting personal with its AI and developing custom paintjobs.
Dogfighting
To maximize battlesuit efficiency the Corps has developed so-called dogfighting, a martial arts style that emphasizes presenting a mobile target and utilizing the environment through jumps and flips while maintaining fire with one or two heavy weapons. Most hounds are also experts in "naked" martial arts. In his second skin, a Marine can sideflip into cover from a one-handed stand and then leap ten yards up onto high ground, while dodging xenont death-rays and releasing a torrent of destruction spot on target, all without breaking a sweat. That is the realistic version. Cinematic dogfighting is the province of Martian action movies and videogames, and features such acts as winning a fight with your sensors out and visors obfuscated, employing a Nutcracker as your personal Orion Drive, laser-cleaving incoming railgun slugs and blasting strategic missiles and even starships out of the sky.
Dogfighting (6 points)
Skills: Environmental Suit (Battlesuit), Acrobatics, Gunner (Machine Gun), Gunner (Cannon), Brawling.
Techniques: Acrobatic Attack (Any Gunner), Acrobatic Stand, Acrobatic Dodge, Dual-Weapon Attack (Any Gunner), Move and Shoot (Any Gunner), Off-Hand Weapon Training (Any Gunner).
Cinematic Skills: Blind Fighting, Zen Marksmanship (Any Gunner).
Perks: Quick Jump.
Optional traits:
Advantages: Ambidexterity, Combat Reflexes, Cultural Familiarity (Martian), Enhanced Dodge, Gunslinger, High Pain Threshold.
Disadvantages: Duty (MMC), Intolerance (Xenonts), Sense of Duty (MMC).
Skills: Aerobatics, Armoury (Battlesuits), Armoury (Heavy Weapons), Artillery (Cannon), Artillery (Guided Missile), Fast-Draw (Ammo), Fast-Draw (Heavy Weapons), Free Fall, Jumping, Gunner (Beams), Gunner (Rockets), Guns (Any), Judo, Karate, Melee (Knife), Throwing.
Perks: Weapon Bond, Shtick.
New Technique: Acrobatic Attack (Hard)
Default: Skill-2
Prerequisite: Any weapon skill, cannot exceed skill
Normally, when using an acrobatic maneuver (leaping, vaulting, flipping etc) as the Move part of a Move and Attack maneuver, you are at an extra -2 in addition to the Move and Attack penalty. This technique lets you buy off the extra penalty.
New Technique: Move and Shoot (Hard)
Default: The lower of skill-2 or skill-Bulk
Prerequisite: Any ranged weapon skill, cannot exceed skill
You are practiced at firing while mobile. This lets you buy down the skill penalty when performing a Move and Attack maneuver with the ranged weapon of your choice.
New Perk: Quick Jump
Normally, you must concentrate for one second before jumping, or you will only reach half your maximum distance. This Perk represents extensive jump experience, and lets you jump the maximum distance without preparation.
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