TE Setting Primer

==Introduction==
This page is to introduce the pilot candidate to the current state of the world and his/her part in it. This includes the factions you are fighting for, current and former enemies, and some of the nations of the world. It will also give a brief overview of your new place in humanity or robokind.
==History==
===Suitfall===
On the 15th of June, 2014; the course of humanity changed. Across the world, suitpods were dropped with a focus on areas with high internet connectivity. A majority were set to brainwash the unsuspecting human who entered it. Some let the pilot out immediately to either act out the Vannai’s commands or act as they pleased. The rest put the pilot into an induced coma for three weeks. During this time the Vannai controlled pilots, known as the Vannai Puppets, waged war on the collective human nations. An estimated 60% of the human population of Earth was killed; causing nearly every nation to collapse.
===Human-Vannai War===
The first three main missions, Water Main, Falling Down, and Unlikely Heroes; the pilots learned the enemy suits they had been fighting were in fact controlled by aliens, The Vannai. The focus shifted to setting up two major radar sites to detect Vannai-controlled suit movement. This led into Operation Relay, the defence of the first two sites. One located in Australia, and the other at Moqaddas Headquarters in Saudi Arabia. The successful defence allowed the Armor Corps Coalition, ACC, to begin to liberate cities across Australia, South-east Asia, and the Middle-East.
With the radar stations operational and multiple cities liberated, ACC was able to shift their efforts towards infiltrating Vannai Puppet bases. While infiltrating one in Germany to shut down a radar jammer, the pilots discovered some of the Vannai Puppets had joined the enemy of their own choice. Some of them were showing the symptoms of an unknown illness that the Vannai were providing treatment for in exchange for assistance in taking over Earth. The destruction of the radar jammer allowed for ACC and some of the new and rebuilding nations to conduct a major offensive.
Termed the Bright Offensive, ACC and allied nations were able to secure large swathes of territory in a few months. Despite putting ACC on a solid footing and making their victory much more likely, this would end up having unforeseen consequences. A small group of pilots was dispatched by High Command to escort a transport plane carrying important materials from Salt Lake City to Japan. During the aircraft’s preparations, the city came under attack by an incredibly large number of Vannai Puppets. During the defence it was discovered that the Puppets were being lured by the actual cargo, a POW who had come in contact with unknown Vannai materials during Water Main. The entire transport had been a setup, the POW was strapped to a large bomb that would have devastated Salt Lake City and the surrounding area. The pilots disabled the lure’s effect and the bomb before escaping, only to be branded as traitors and hunted down.
A few months later a second group of pilots was contacted and asked to join a clandestine meeting in Russia. At the meeting, a senior pilot relayed that High Command was acting to slow the war effort, all in order to keep the positions they had gained via this war. Also during this meeting, the effects of the disease found in Puppet collaborators were revealed. All human pilots only had a few months to live; however with an experimental treatment that could be extended to four years. Armed with this information, the “traitor” pilots joined with this new group and were sent to Taiwan to retrieve the information that would prove their innocence. While successful at retrieval, a bomb was set off by either those loyal to the traitorous command or by one of the pilots sent to retrieve the data. Taipei was destroyed and the pilots later captured only to have the information leak and Command sent on the run.
With the removal of the traitorous High Command, and the replacement of the somewhat incompetent pilots who had been placed in command roles with experienced soldiers; ACC was able to restart their push to remove the Puppets from Earth. An attack group was sent with Puppet POW to China to hook her into the Vannai hivemind and gain intel about how best to finish the fight. With the successful forced access, the next attack was to be on the most heavily fortified area, Israel. For whatever reason, the Vannai had used the area as their major base on Earth. The pilots were ordered to attack and after a difficult fight were able to destroy a major nanite/sludge operation. This marked the end of organized Vannai presence on Earth, however roving Puppets and bands of Traitors would continue to be a threat.
The next major operation would be to clear the Vannai presence from orbit around Earth. A direct strike on the alien Mothership. After a successful launch of the rocket carrying the team and several decoys, the team penetrated the Mothership’s outer hull and made their way into the inner sanctum. There they found the Vannai undergoing cryostasis inside a collapsed space. Capturing and killing a Vannai technician from fright, they fought their way to the generators. Their destruction doomed the Mothership as the pilots escaped.
===Cleanup Operations===
After stopping the Vannai, focus shifted to mopping up Traitors and the Puppets. One band of Traitors were trying to escape to space, to get away from ACC’s grip. While this was prevented by the pilots, the Chosen were able to board and take control of the space colony Libra for a short period before being cleared out by combined ACC and AmC forces. 
Happening at a similar time, ACC attacked a group of Traitor scientists and engineers who were looking to access the Vannai kill-sat network. ACC and AmC teamed up to destroy their operations and chase them to Antarctica. During the assault on this base, ACC was able to capture the main scientist and his assistant behind the project. Their capture allowed for the synthesis of a cure to Wilder Syndrome. As such the pilots no longer had to worry about their rapidly approaching death.
The final cleanup was to eliminate the Vannai Killsat Network (VKN) in orbit around Earth. The VKN was designed to safeguard the Vannai from ACC attack. ACC had managed to partially disable a few satellites at great risk to themselves, but the network itself was still very intact. After detecting that one satellite was being contacted before the VKN attacked a target, an operation was drawn up to infiltrate the satellite and shut down the network. Onboard, the pilots were attacked by a different set of aliens before destroying the lot along with the station.
===Japan===
Shortly after the creation of The Engineers, they set up their headquarters on Hokkaido. This would be a temporary place for them to conduct their research and develop new technology while they worked on rebuilding Tokyo into a secure fortress against attackers. The leaders of TE would use this as an opportunity to start shaping Japanese culture into their preferred form, giving little thought to the populace themselves. While the Japanese had their own government, it was little but a puppet for TE to enact their plans. These plans would remove much of the need for the Japanese to perform any work, while simultaneously forming the national image closer to a stereotypical weeaboo’s vision. Naturally this created friction between the native populace and TE.
Resistance movements against TE were set up by multiple groups over the years. They had to contend with the massive control TE had over Tokyo as well as the difficulties in procuring weaponry. The groups would regularly come under attack by clone shock troopers, bred for the purpose of defending TE in the shadows. Eventually, with the assistance of the European Federation, dissident groups within TE itself, and pilots friendly to the cause; the rebels were able to start their revolution in Tokyo. After a long night of severe bloodshed and carnage, the rebel groups walked out victorious, having decapitated the command structure of the Engineers. Revulsion at their ignominious treatment under foreign dictatorship would lead to the creation of the Empire of Japan, a nation despising the ACC and the rest of the world.
===China War===
After the destruction of the VKN, the large Vannai constructs using the satellite system for remote guidance entered a state of dormancy, allowing the remaining, hounded Chinese population to begin a counteroffensive against the vulnerable alien machines. The various factions of survivors that had arisen and persisted over the years began to struggle against one another for dominance of China. ACC, initially involving themselves strictly to eliminate one of the last remaining Vannai Puppet populations left on the planet by that point, found itself dragged into a battle of wits and politics it was woefully unequipped to handle. After making and breaking various promises and ‘accidentally’ nuking Beijing, the Armor Corps Coalition was forced out of China, and the situation continued to intensify as outside powers began to dip their feet into the cauldron of war. However, a small group of ACC pilots operating under the banner of Task Force RETRY covertly remained to continue their own war against the Puppets and hopefully make amends with the Chinese. 
After a climactic battle against the Gigafort Long Shadow, ACC operations in China have officially ceased, but the China War continues regardless as dominance of China remains up for grabs between the Neo Liberation Army, the Iron Army, the Huang Kingdom, and the Empire of Japan. 
==Factions==
===Armor Corp Coalition===
The largest free willed pilot faction in the world currently. The Armor Corp Coalition, or ACC, was originally formed a few weeks after the pods first fell. While a monolithic faction at the beginning, it quickly split into several smaller factions: Armor Corps, Green Initiative, Moqaddas, Hanse Behörde, and The Engineers. While having different motivations, the various factions remained somewhat unified towards the greater goal of ridding the world of the Vannai and their creations.
====Armor Corps====
The Armor Corps are the longest standing pilot faction in the world, originally created by first wave pilots to lead the second wave into battle against the Vannai. They would soon fracture into multiple subsidiary factions which have only drifted farther apart as time has gone on. Despite this they would maintain their place as the largest faction in the ACC. AC Pilots don’t excel in any area, but are well rounded and occasionally take courses from other factions if specialization is needed. AC Headquarters is located in northern New Zealand.
:AC Military Police
:A sub organization of the Armor Corps, the ACMP acts as the law enforcement branch of the coalition. The ACMP acts and enforces the laws against pilots and organized crime, leaving normal crime up to the local police. Pilots of the ACMP are very effective at their job, occasionally toeing the line of wanton brutality. The ACMP have their headquarters in northern New Zealand at ACHQ.
====The Engineers and ARHK====
Originally The Engineers (TE) were a faction created from failed Vannai Puppet pilots. Due to errors with the pods, these pilots were never injected with the AO nanites used to help control the suits. It was decided that these pilots would be used to assist in developing ACC’s weaponry and associated technology. They would set up headquarters in Hokkaido, eventually moving to Tokyo. With the ending of the Human-Vannai War, their ranks opened up to all pilots of scientific or technological background.
After the events of the Dokuritsu Insurrection, TE were left reeling at the loss of their headquarters, a large portion of their staff, and the destruction of their trustworthiness. Most TE personnel were unaware of how much hatred the Japanese had for them, while still knowing that friction was developing. A group of TE personnel decided that was the moment to rebrand and cast off their former name, becoming ARHK. ARHK would take the TE facilities in the Philippines and make them into their new mobile headquarters, the Towers of ARHK. ARHK pilots focus on hacking or battlefield engineering and act as researchers in their spare time.
====Green Initiative====
The Green Initiative was the first faction to split off from AC after the tragic Operation Falling Down. The GI take a very stiff stance on the rejection of transhumanism, preferring to train their minds and body to the maximum. Unlike most other factions, the GI train their pilots in unsuited combat; making them lethal both in and out of suit. They also have significant experience in the use of regular infantry in suit formations. The GI rely on stealth and guerilla tactics to make the most of their strict training. The Green Initiative is an infamously decentralized faction with various camps scattered around the world, the largest one known to the rest of ACC being located in Venezuela. 
:GI Medical Division
:The GIMD was split off from the GI to accommodate those who were looking to provide a more humanitarian side to the ACC. Acting as a small scale Red Cross, the GIMD operates out of Venezuela and Moqaddas Headquarters. They provide medical treatment and training to the other pilots. Most of their pilots had previous medical training or wanted to help others.
====Moqaddas====
Moqaddas was originally an Islamic jihadist group fighting against the Vannai in The Holy Lands. After the split of ACC, many religious pilots also looking to reclaim the Holy Land started to assist the jihadists with their fight. This influx of other Abrahamic faiths started to convert the faction to a more general religious group. This had the effect of making Moqaddas into the designated “Religious Guy Faction”, adding many religions to the mix. While the disparate religions managed to hold together via a common enemy in the Vannai, after the war they started to be held together by the slow formation of a common identity. This identity led to the formation of the Cult of Hereafter. Moqaddas pilots fight with extreme devotion and courage, preferring direct attacks to subterfuge. Moqaddas is headquartered in the deserts of Saudi Arabia.
====Hanse Behörde====
Hanse Behörde split off from the Armor Corps to act as a diplomatic side to the pilots' fight. Eschewing the large scale assaults and mass bombings they preferred diplomacy and espionage to keep the rising nations as allies.The difficulties of long, solo missions and trying to placate increasingly frustrated allies leads to a large amount of stress in Hanse pilots. Hanse pilots are well educated in business, politics, and world affairs. Hanse Behörde headquarters was located in Neidersachsen, Germany but moved to Bern, Switzerland with the establishment of the European Federation.
===Vannai===
The Vannai were an alien race fleeing the destruction of their homeworld due to their overuse of resources and wanton experimentation. Highly isolationist, the Vannai rarely entered full blown war amongst themselves. Instead conflicts were settled with subterfuge, misdirection, and information warfare. All of this left a civilisation with few barriers to technological progress. As they fled onboard their mothership, they soon came to realise that they were missing a vital portion of their reproductive method. Their form of mitochondrial bacteria never fully integrated with their cells, meaning it was required to be obtained from outside the body during reproduction. Their plan was to cultivate the bacteria on Earth, while simultaneously throwing the planet into chaos to prevent their destruction at the hands of mankind. The entire remaining Vannai race was onboard their mothership when it was destroyed by the hands of ACC, eliminating them from the universe.
====Vannai Puppets====
The Vannai Puppets are the collective name for the suits and their pilots whose mind was destroyed by the Vannai. Like all pilots they entered the suit pods dropped on Earth of their own free will; however the nanites they were injected with destroyed their minds and rewrote them to serve the Vannai’s purposes. The VP were used to attack the militaries of the world to reduce their threat to the Vannai as well as to further their strategies of divide and conquer by serving as an obvious enemy for the first and second wave ACC pilots. The Vannai Puppets are capable of following simple commands or plans, but require constant control to be a serious threat outside of numerical advantage. At the start of the Human-Vannai War, VP forces outnumbered the other pilots by a large margin. Currently, VP numbers are small and dwindling as they are mopped up by ACC and other nations.
====Traitors====
The Traitors are free-willed pilots who joined the Vannai cause of their own choice; whether out of an urge to prevent humanity's complete destruction, their own self-interest in escaping Wilder Syndrome, or out of hatred for ACC and other nations of the world. Traitors usually acted as their own groups, with little to no contact with other cells. They did have assistance from the Vannai in creating strange weaponry or other deadly research projects. While most of the Human-Vannai war Traitors have been mopped up, some disbanded and still survive to this day. Most Traitors today are sole actors who previously worked for the ACC but abandoned their duties illegitimately.
===American Coalition===
The start of the American Coalition was the city of Chicago, USA. Surviving the start of the war with help from the ACC and mercenary pilots, the city managed to be a small place of stability in the chaos of America. As the war continued, Chicago assisted ACC efforts to free other cities in the Great Lakes area, expanding their borders and changing from a lone city-state to a full-fledged nation. 
At the start of 2015, Chicago came under attack by a large group of Traitors with Puppet assistance. Moving a flying battleship over the city, they began their attack with resistance coming from PC and ACC forces. After a long battle, the battleship was taken down; crash-landing in the city below. This event was the catalyst for AmC to begin a rebuild of their military. Not wishing to leave everything in the hands of others.
During the evacuation of Salt Lake City, the AmC would welcome most of the refugees into their territory, some living in the western-most reaches, with others joining into the major cities of the Coalition. The sudden influx of refugees, and the eventual reveal that Salt Lake’s near destruction was caused by the ACC; greatly turned the favour of the Coalition against the ACC. While they would continue to use ACC assistance in their reclamation of America, they accelerated their rebuilding of the military to lessen their dependence on ACC.
After a period of time where ACC personnel other than Moqaddas were expelled, the Coalition would reopen its doors after assistance with another traitor problem in Colorado. In the following years, Romania and the nation of Quebec would be brought under AmC control following political deals. Romania, to protect the vampiric inhabitants from attack by mercenaries, while Quebec’s treaty occurred after a strange incident involving the head-of-state, Puppets, and a hacking attack on the ACS Arrow Reforged.
The American Coalition is one of the strongest nations in North America. Their military uses mostly pre-Fall designs assisted by killbots, suits, and flying battleships. It is one of the few factions capable of putting serious strength into orbit.
====Phoenix Collective====
The Phoenix Collective (PC) started as a small group of mercenaries protecting Chicago after Suitfall. PC acted as the city’s main defence while it started rebuilding in return for a secure and welcoming place to base. As the city-state and its ambitions grew, so did the Collective; gaining new members to retake American soil. At some point, the group became more of a mercenary guild house; contracting various other mercenaries to jobs with the American Coalition, the ACC, or with anyone else who could pay. Those contracted to the Collective were granted the ability to live within AmC territory; however it is not a requirement. Although the Collective began contracting with other nations and factions, they are required to ensure these contracts don’t interfere with the security of the AmC. PC pilots' fighting style is mostly left up to the pilot’s choice. Some even go as far as to obtain training in out-of-suit combat in order to increase their perceived worth to potential employers.
===European Federation===
After the beginning of the Human-Vannai War, the European Union and the armies of its constituents soon collapsed under the weight of the Vannai. Areas of Germany, Britain, and Scandinavia would recover quickly with the help of the ACC, with the lion’s share coming from Hanse Behorde. Germany in particular would go on to assist Hanse in bringing the other nations of Europe under control during the Bright Offensive and other operations. This led to the Hanse-ordained, Bundeswehr-powered pacification of France, which quickly turned into a quagmire. Disgusted by Hanse’s moves that pushed them into the mess, Germany would start to assist other nations in setting up Federalist governments across the continent. They were assisted in this by the British Republic. The election of a Federalist government in France, during a very suspect election campaign would result in the formation of the European Federation. This was to Hanse’s great dismay as both they and the Federalists had engaged in ballot stuffing and other electoral fraud during the campaign. Shortly thereafter, ACC was ejected from the Federation.
The European Federation is to this day, still highly suspect of ACC and all other suits. Preferring to use Vannai technology to improve upon existing technology. The Federation has great military strength in all areas other than space, but are currently curtailed by the cost of sustaining such military growth.
==Pilots==
===Locations and Factions===
Pilots control or have controlled a suit. While not chosen by the pods, they are the ones showered by its luck, or burdened by its curse.The majority of pilots work for one of the factions of the ACC, some work as mercenaries under the banner of the Phoenix Collective, others as soldiers for their nations, and the smallest of groups remains independent.
The pilots working for the ACC are either found living in New Zealand or at their factions main base. Phoenix Mercenaries usually live in Chicago, but have some freedom in living spots. Pilots and suits are nearly entirely banned from residing in Europe, except for Switzerland, parts of Eastern Europe, and the Balkans. Independents live anywhere they please, provided they follow the laws of their host.
===Abilities===
The majority of pilots were untrained in warfare before entering the pod. People of all physical ability, mental ability, and willpower were able to use the pods. As such, most pilots are not combat capable outside of their suits. The Moqaddas, Green Initiative, and SP factions train their pilots in out-of-suit combat; while PC pilots may have had training, depending on who they work for.
===Cyberbrains===
Some pilots have cyberbrains, allowing for perfect memory, increased mental computation, and the ability to live on after death. Provided the pilot's brain does not take damage, the brain can be installed into an avatar drone body. While this does give a second chance at life, dying in an avatar body will result in the brain frying itself.
===Wilder Syndrome===
Wilder Syndrome is a medical condition that was capable of affecting all pilots with the exceptions of Hybrids and Avatar copies. A combination of damage from the injected nanites and the rejection of Ligma, Wilder Syndrome was incredibly lethal. A treatment for it was available to Traitors, and eventually one was fabricated by the ACC, but this only delayed eventual death. It wasn’t until after the Mothership’s destruction that a full cure was developed by ACC, using recovered Traitor research. The cure was made widely available as a show of ACC’s good will.
==Avatar Drones==
There are two types of Avatar drone, Combat and Civilian. The combat grade is produced by suits and pods and is capable of wielding suit-tier weapons. They are less capable of replicating a person’s exact form due to the necessary functions to fulfill their combat role. Combat avatars are not usually allowed in civilian areas while carrying weapons. Civilian avatar drones were made to match the human form as closely as possible. Their strength and range of motion closely match the pilot’s previous body. How exact a copy is made changes the price of the drone, the most basic of models can be obtained for a reasonable sum. All avatar drones must mimic human proportion to prevent severe mental confusion for the pilot. Avatar drones can also be obtained for uplifted AI’s to utilise.
==Artificial Intelligence==
With intelligence there are two major branches of AI: Vannai-derived and Human-derived.
===Vannai-derived===
Vannai AI were created to assist Pilots with the control of their Suit. They come in Base and Uplifted forms. AI specialize in one or two modes of use between ranged combat, melee combat, hacking, and technology. AI cannot be stably duplicated and are unique to the Suit and Pilot that created them. Base AI are simple constructs only capable of assisting with the suits various operations. They can be switched between with no worry of damaging the AI.
====Uplifted AI====
Uplifted AI are base AI granted more processing power to develop a personality. This personality starts as a blank slate, slowing learning from the Pilot and environment to develop their unique traits. Uplifted AI can not have their specialty changed from one form to another without severe personality damage. Additionally, should the AI be lost, it is near impossible to recreate the original’s personality. While they are AI, their actual intelligence depends on how long and how they have been taught by the Pilots and others. As an example some AI show a clear child-like level of social understanding but are capable of hacking into secure networks with ease.
===Human-derived===
“Human AI” covers a range of artificial and simulated intelligences created wholly through Human technology. Autonomous drones and certain supercomputers are considered Human-made AI. These tend to be simple even in their most advanced forms; with Human-made AI on par with their Vannai counterparts being rare in the extreme and usually the product of taboo sciences. Category:PACYOA: TE