Archangel

The Archangel, plural Archangels, is a kind of humanoid combat vehicle capable of aerospace flight that takes a central role in the world of Garrison: Archangel. It is a type of vehicle commonly and popularly utilized by The Solar Empire.

History
Many years ago, during the First Lull, a special Angel power suit was commissioned for use of the Emperor. However, the design team decided to put too many features and powerful components into the planned power suit, and the final product was a gigantic humanoid vehicle.

Rather than decry this oversight, the Emperor embraced it.

He called it an 'Archangel', for it towered over other Angels in power and height. Its great wings of fire, gigantic body of steel, and massive weapons of death became a new symbol of the Empire alongside its fearsome Angel corps.

He was very impressed with it, and thus commissioned Archangels to be made for his Honor Guard. Soon, rich Imperial nobles and high-ranking military officers would have their own Archangel units made.

They would be a key component of the coming wars.

Second Garrison War
After 30 years of silence in the fight against the Demiurge, the ancient Garrison-system waypoint leading to Terra Incognitae was mysteriously opened, and a fleet of monstrosities appeared : the Chthonic Swarm.

This was the beginning of the Second Garrison War. Millions died in the initial attacks, but the tides were turned by a crack squadron of Archangels that came together from all the corners of the Empire. Many of the nobility today claim descent from these heroes and martyrs.

This prompted the empire to create a true Archangel Corps, and its first mission was to close the waypoint, which had become a staging ground for the swarm. With the help of an all-out attack by the beleaguered Combined Imperial Navy, they succeeded in destroying it against all odds.

But rather than close the wormhole, it collapsed violently and transformed into a destructive rift in space called the Hellmouth. The resulting space-time collapse took out most of the Chthonic Swarm and the Garrison fleet.

Knowing that this didn't ensure that attacks from the Demiurge would cease, they quickly built a defensive system around the periphery of the Hellmouth. It consisted of static space batteries, and a patrolling fleet of warships and Archangel Carriers.

Their fears were realized when sporadic attacks emerged from the rift in the following months - however, the aggressors had suffered damage and losses from the destructive space-time anomalies and were reduced in effectiveness.

After being thwarted several times, the attacks soon ceased at Garrison, and the theater of war shifted to other places in the Empire

Incursion Wars
The Incursion Wars began shortly after the attacks at Garrison ceased. The Empire reassessed the state of the Waypoint systems throughout its territories, and found that they had several vulnerabilities that came with their annexation of colonies and starsystems. Several waypoints were connected to ancient abandoned networks that ultimately led to the region of space called Terra Incognitae, the home of their ancient enemy.

Furthermore, other previously closed waypoints leading back to TI had been recently opened, they found, by infiltrators and agents sympathetic to the Demiurge. Since the frontal assault at Garrison had failed, several small scale attacks occurred in various systems throughout the Empire.

Fortunately, the Archangel Corps had grown in number, becoming a powerful mobile force that could rapidly deploy throughout the Empire. They would fly into Demiurge staging grounds in lightning raids to disrupt the advance of their monstrous fleets, and destroy the waypoint gates at their core. Many pilots distinguished themselves during these battles, and became famous heroes, adding to the prestige of the Archangel.

To deal with traitor agents and the sophisticated Demiurge servitor-infiltrators called 'Prints', the Empire created a special cyborg police force called the Sentries, equipped with cutting-edge training and technology to hunt down cults and terror cells.

Eventually, the coordinates for Terra Incognitae were completely removed from all records, and it was against the law to proliferate information about the starsystem from which the Demiurge originated. The sentries made sure to hunt down all records of such information, and confiscated or destroyed them.

Many inquisition-like witch hunts began to spread throughout the Empire. There was a race to find these ancient waypoints, a race which the Empire ultimately won with the help of their Sentries and Archangels. They were so effective that neighboring space nations and colonies not yet under their rule willingly submitted to them or even asked them for help with their own Incursion problems.

Thwarted, the Prints and their agents began to rely on terror tactics and ambushes to disrupt Imperial military operations. It was ultimately futile, for they had no reinforcements and resources to continue. The Imperial Waypoint-closing operations were successful.

Their networks of contacts were destroyed. Many Prints were captured and dissected. Rumors say that many Sentries utilize technology developed from such research. Others say that Prints are still in hiding today.

After all waypoints identified as vulnerabilities were closed and/or destroyed and the major Print cells disbanded, many consider the Incursion Wars to be long over. However, the Empire officially remains in a state of Cold War with the Demiurge until today.

The Blessed Silence / The Second Lull
Many call this almost hundred year period 'The Blessed Silence'. Officially the Empire is in a state of Cold War with the Demiurge, but used this time to expand and annex colonies who have not yet submitted to its rule. For the most part there is very little conflict, since the Incursions and the Second Garrison War have become powerful propaganda tools for the Empire - many see no choice but to join or face the dual threats of the Incursions and the Empire.

The gigantic robots became a common spectacle during military parades and displays of power called 'Tournaments' and 'Inspections'. What started out as a pure propaganda move worked out spectacularly. People thought the giant robot fights were cool. The citizenry became enamored with the Archangels and their pilots, treating them as celebrities. Children wanted to grow up to become Archangel pilots. The masses now looked forward to every year's Tournaments and Inspections. Hardcore fans speculated fights between their favorite Archangel pilots

However, their expensive development, maintenance and repair costs commonly made their owners think twice about using them in actual combat against other humans. Deploying combat spacecraft or platoons of Angel powersuits were usually seen as less risky and inexpensive options. Thus, Archangels were usually sent out only in desperate situations; many remained in storage waiting for an Incursion-category event to occur.

Nobles and Governors selling away old Archangel units are not unheard of. Due to their highly specialized spare parts and expensive maintenance costs, many older models found their way to the black market to be taken apart for parts. Some pirates and crime lords possess a small collection of older Archangel models as a result.

A blessing for the Archangels came when some corporations came forward with an idea for a yearly super-sport using such vehicles, based on Imperial tournaments and drills. This would also allow the corporations to demonstrate their wares and give them some revenue from ticket sales and advertising. The Empire agreed, and the modern Archangel Arena was born. It replaced the tournaments held by the Empire, becoming a multimedia spectacle. It was received very well by the Empire's citizens and became a key institution of Imperial life.

The Empire and a coalition of corporations decided to maximize on their success by creating a yearly Grand Tournament. The Arena was now open to civilian commoners to join... if they somehow got their hands on an Archangel. This allowed for special corporate-sponsored athletes of common birth, with training specific to arena combat, to join.

Many governors and corporations now held smaller tournaments within their colonies, trying to ride on the success of the Grand Tournament. This made Archangels and Tournaments even more common, and many pursued the life of an Arena Jockey as a career. To standardize tournament rules and regulations, a regulatory board called the Archangel Tournament Council was created.

Due to the growing popularity of Archangel Arena, underground Archangel tournaments exist in seedier places within the Empire. They usually do not have the same safety standards and license requirements of the ATC and thus are subject to crackdowns by the Sentries. An Arena Jockey that participates in such events will have their licenses revoked if discovered.

Despite their current ubiquity in the entertainment business, Archangels are still used in actual military operations, though the true combat capabilities of a contemporary military archangel are generally unknown to the common imperial citizen. Garrison Prime's Invictus Squadron is one of the more popular military Archangel Squadrons still in service today.

Technology
Like the angel exosuits they were derived from, they were flexible units capable of operating in any environmental condition, and could even use terrain to their advantage in a way other traditional craft could not.

Their larger size came from the fact that they carried larger (or just simply much more) munitions, more powerful engines and limbs, and more fuel and propellant. This meant they could operate farther and for longer periods of time. They could also potentially deal much more damage than the exosuit units that had already brought much success to the empire.

They were excellent strike and special ops units. They used their speed, range, relatively small size (in the theater of space conflict), destructive ordnance, and capability to 'land' on enemy vessels, to destroy specific targets and cause much chaos on the battlefield.

Their manipulator flexibility allowed them to be outfitted with with a wide variety of weapons between and even during missions, requiring less preparation time compared to traditional multirole craft with more limited options. They could even use makeshift melee weapons with surprising effectiveness in the chaos of battle, something unheard of in a society that had long embraced ranged combat as the norm.

These factors were important during the Second Garrison War and the Incursion Wars. Many attributed the empire's victory to the Archangels.

Modern Archangels
During the Blessed Silence, Archangel technology began to shift towards the Arena, with a higher demand on elegant designs, graceful motion and melee combat capabilities.

Since ATC-approved Arenas utilize a specialized force-field technology to ensure safety for all involved, many newer Arena Archangels are actually much less durable compared to their military counterparts. Much of the armor and bulky power systems are removed to allow for sleeker designs.

They also generally do not have the capability to operate farther and for longer, since fights are usually quick affairs and fuel/propellant are expected to be readily available.

Arena Archangels also generally do not possess long-range sensors, and if they do, they are not as powerful or as sophisticated as those utilized by military-grade archangels.

Many newer Archangels, however, instead possess a hybrid tactile-visual-aural sensor system that allows one to better interface with the mech's systems via the use of a neural jack. Theoretically, these allow for better reactions from the pilot, because of the link between pain and athletic performance.

Coupled with the auxiliary mental control feature of the neural jack, the Archangel is accurately able to perform the pilot's desired reaction at the right moment 90% of the time, assuming the Archangel is capable of performing the action without obstruction. Minute movements and details that are not normally capable of being conveyed via handheld controls are instead 'imaged' from the Pilot's mind, and these 'images' are used to fine-tune the command received.

It is possible to pilot the Archangel using only the neural jack, but it requires intense concentration from the user to actively image the commands throughout the battle. A very small percentage of the pilot population can achieve this state while taking the sensory feedback, and tests found the control method ineffective without such feedback.

Since the neural jacks require surgery on the pilot's end, they are not yet a common feature. There are alternate control systems that instead use a specialized helmet that connect to the the neural jack, but these are rarer and more expensive than an implant.

Due to these developments, commercially-available Arena Archangels have actually become cheaper and more accessible to the populace. However, they remain luxury items; akin to a personal spaceship. Only the rich and those with a serious desire for a career in the Arena would consider purchasing them.

Notable Archangel Units
Several Archangel units are notable due to their significance in the history of the setting, or their role in the game.
 * The First Archangel, Adam / Engelkaiser
 * Xortdux
 * Domino
 * Valiant
 * Mannuk
 * Ran-Doom
 * Mister Surprise
 * Blitz Airmaster
 * Crystal Starqueen
 * Gorgonaut
 * Kuroyami Moonshadow
 * Hikarilight Sunsparkle