Iconmen

Grawla Iconmen​

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"Battleship of the land. Macro barbarian. It strides across lakes, ignores them mountains, kicks over 'yur cities like sand fort. Each finger is like a fellow, is.

It's blood is death. It's walking is a rolling thunder. When it opens its mouth to speak, the bellow deletes the other guy's ears, so that it cannot be heard.

Probably good not to be around one too much." - Lorehunter Yoltchis

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"Ewmans follow gods. Grawla kill them." - Boss Gearminder / Master Xenoarchivist Metzukorig Kmadro

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-General Description-

Iconmen are gigantic, generally humanoid, multi-crewed Grawla mech-vehicles of immense destructive power. Their origins are mysterious, their exact method of operation lost to time, and their crews half occultist, half ramble-roused mercenaries.



Rather than being associated or deployed by any perticular Grawla clan, they are literally 'icons' in themselves. Lumbering, thinking, pseudo-magical land battleships that amble from place to place at their own accord, the crew and support staff generally consider themselves a clan in their own right. There are thousands of different Iconmen with varying designs, apparently designed to some military specification hundreds of years ago, but diverging and becoming modified with each passing decade of maintenance and repair.



Most are over seven stories tall, have meter-thick metal hulls, a bipedal construction, and are bristling with defensive turrets. All have an arcane, ancient reactor assembly that is powered by what the Grawla call "Green vapor" or "Rotmetal", known to the human as primitive, naturally occurring exophages (Such as those used in the Echoni). Many, many vital components cannot currently be replicated or truly understood by modern Grawla technicians at all, forcing them to scrounge archaeological sites or trade for clan stockpiles in order to obtain what are often called "black boxes".

-Crew-​

Between six and twelve Grawla crew is generally considered the norm, all earning their positions from decades spent in various positions within the Icon-clan's support crew and baggage train. Operating an Iconman is a dangerous and physically intense process, requiring a very specific type of personality and skill set. All must wear special environment suits to prevent the heat and often poisonous interior from killing them during operation.



Specific posts include the "Headboss", who makes direct communion with the Greenvapour from his throne within the cockpit, physically moving the limbs of the machine using analog controls, and also gaining a special otherworldly sense from their connection. The next are the "Guneyes", auxiliary controllers, who sit adjacent to the Headboss in the head, and operate all of the defensive turrets, extra sensors, and navigation operations. Third are "Engine Minders", who toil away down within the chest section, stoking the reactor and pressure levels to keep the machine in peak stable performance.

-Abilities-​

There is no way that an Iconman would function at all using sensible, traditional technologies, but the machines can stride around, jump, punch and project waves of gravitational force regardless of their tremendous size and weight. They are the perfect slayers of giant monsters, something that Hawking/Azong Fura has had to deal with many times in the distant past. Many have giant melee weapons to further help them in this regard.

Furthermore, the exotic nature of the reactor can be weaponized, and used to fire incredibly destructive beams of energy. This 'plasma gun' somehow superheats traditional matter into a hyper-energized, magnetized gas state, and can be used to literally blow holes through mountains.

Units are almost always both water and air tight, and can operate in space for up to three weeks.

-Commonly Sighted Customisations-​

• Extra Head Armour, like full-brimmed helmet.
• Helmet with horns.
• Head section with an oversized plasma gun assembly.
• Extra antenna for snooping on enemy radio signals.
• Defensive ball turrets on torso, often bearing machineguns.
• Extra external radiators.
• Additional boxes of dumbfire rockets.
• Large vectored thrust engines, using reactor exhaust to assist in jumping.
• Replacing one of the arms with a large automatic cannon.
• Replacing one of the arms with a 'treadcutter', basically a gigantic chainsaw.
• Handheld weapons such as Axes, Swords, Maces, Flails.
• Extra spikes.
• Giant canvas capes, used for disguising the unit in forests or underwater.
• A crawler rack, literally a backpack that can hold two or three Guncrawlers.

-Risks-​

Both due to the unstable nature of the forces involved and the guesswork involved in centuries of bodged repairs, Iconmen have massive drawbacks to go with the benefits, which is the basic reason why normal Grawla clans do not operate or maintain them.

At the very bottom of the hazard spectrum, the reactor may melt down and explode.

Slightly less common but significantly more dangerous, the Headboss or the Iconman itself may develop unpredictable personality changes, based on exotic energy exposure (Or perhaps seeing something that normal mortals can't?)

Darker still are those Iconmen that entirely ascend and start breaking the laws of reality to defeat their foe, creating anomalies such as unexpectedly disappearing, only to sporadically reappear in the following years like a shimmering, half-corporeal ghost.