Gernadders

Gernadders are a species of artificially engineered humanoids designed by the Engineers to act as tough frontline soldiers and enforcers. Their creation was inspired by the Turtle Death Legion, which saw Kantoku clones of the deceased Pilot codenamed "Turtle" be disposed of by being sent on suicide missions. Although the Engineers had been forbidden by the ACC from creating further clones of Pilots, the extensive genetics program built around their creation remained in place to support the creation of Kantoku and Catgirls, and it was decided that there was promising potential for a military-oriented program to be developed as well, leading to the creation of the Gernadders, Watchmen and the commando-subspecies of Catgirl.
Gernadders were created with the intent of providing a powerful Heavy Infantry unit to the Engineers, which could be employed as shock troops or as riot enforces. Adhering to the restrictions laid out by ACC, they are not clones of any one person, but an amalgamation of genes collected from a variety of sources by a variety of means. Their genetic makeup is allegedly "98% human, 1.38% boar, 0.6% sloth, and 0.2% potato", though this remains to be confirmed. As a result, their biology is considerably different from a human's. They average a minimum of 210cm tall and 170kg in weight. Their musculature and bone density is greatly expanded, making them exceptionally tough and strong. Areas of the body such as the neck and abdomen are covered in a subcutaneous layer that provides additional protection from stab and slash wounds. They are omnivorous, though their metabolism tends to slow to a crawl when not on mission or training. During periods of activity, this can rise to a staggering 10,000 calories of required intake; enough food for four adult men, meaning that Gernadders on extended missions are required to eat anything and everything they can get their claws on should they run short on TE NutriPaste, even going as far as to eat the corpses of slain enemies and allies when struck with mad hunger (though this does add a certain evil reputation about being sent to purposefully kill and eat their targets in order to make an example of them). This ability to alter their metabolism also allows them to adjust their body temperature according to their environment, granting them an advantage to evading thermal detection at the cost of near torpidity. They can even use this ability to stop their own hearts, should a Gernadder be captured by the enemy. They have an excellent sense of smell comparable to canines, and have high tolerance to poisoning via venom or toxins. However, their eyesight tends to fail at longer distances, and their colour vision is somewhat worse than a human’s, seeing in more muted tones. Their clavicle structure allows them to rotate their heads up to 270 degrees around, rather than the 60-80 degrees typical of humans. Their head size is somewhat smaller in proportion to the rest of their body, with small, beady eyes and a wide, flat nose and sloping forehead. Their skin is thick and mottled, and they tend to be hairless or albino.
Unlike their standard Kantoku brethren, Gernadders tend to be actually less intelligent and imaginative on average, as these are not traits Editi saw as desirable in disposable soldiers. They are only semi-sapient; capable of conversing and reasoning, but only within the scope of executing orders, putting them on a level below human intelligence. This does not mean that they are unintelligent, however, and many discounting a Gernadder's ability to think would be shocked by the tactical acumen imparted upon them by CMI. Although Gernadders are not programmed with the explicit purpose of dying in battle, they do not have the capacity to feel pain or fear and think nothing of sacrificing themselves to accomplish their mission.
After the Engineers were evicted from Japan, the Japanese inherited TEHQ and with it almost all Gernadder production facilities, leading to the question of what to do with these facilities and the surviving Gernadders. Japan established the Imperial Science Academy to take over TEHQ and related operations, and the new Imperial Army reorganized the remaining Gernadders into the Tsumiheishi Special Battalion, a unit that existed for little purpose more than to serve as a means for aspiring officers to compete against one another in cruel treatment of the abhumans. As the China War gradually grew in intensity and the Japanese began to make considerations for their own entry into the conflict, certain individuals in the ISA recognized the need for a powerful shock troop that could be sacrificed on the frontlines in place of a human soldier, leading to the reorganization of the TSB into a proper military unit. Gernadder production was streamlined and expanded, and the Tsumiheishi unit became a permanent component of the Imperial Army.
Meanwhile, the Iota One base in Madagascar was contacted by the Kantoku Corporation subsidiary Kantoku Ironworks (now reorganized under the leadership of the human Vincent Myers into Heisei Extraction Corporation) with a special request to utilize the equipment and expertise there to make improvements to the Gernadder stock, resulting in the Enforcer subspecies. Enforcers retain all the distinctive traits of the Gernadder, with slight alterations made to suit HEC's needs. They benefit from increased intelligence and as a result independence, which is curtailed by heavy indoctrination to ensure loyalty to HEC is maintained. Enforcers are tougher and far meaner than their base cousins, and feature prominent tusks and hard glares under their heavy T9R armor.
Kantoku Corp's attempts to replace the Gernadders without the knowledge or technology they lost from the Dokuritsu Insurrection resulted in a variety of programs, such as the California-specific "enhancements" to the Watchmen and the creation of the Saurgan.
File:Gernadder_Face_by_UWU-b011.png|thumb|A Gernadder unmasked.
File:GRNDDRFIN_by_UWU-b011.png|thumb|A Gernadder equipped with T8R body armor and an NTK-62.
File:Tsumiheishi_Face_by_UWU-b011.png|thumb|A Tsumiheishi unmasked. Note the sagging skin on the neck and cannibalized face.
File:TSMHSHFIN_by_UWU-b011.png|thumb|An Imperial Tsumiheishi equipped with T8T body armor and a JSJ-00.
File:Enforcer_Face_by_UWU-b011.png|thumb|An Enforcer unmasked.
File:NFRCRSFIN_by_UWU-b011.png|thumb|A HEC Enforcer with T9R body armor and a shock maul.
Category:PACYOA: TE
Category:The Engineers
Category:TE Species
Category:Engineer Species
Category:Demi-Human
Category:Japan
Category:Heisei Extraction Corporation