Pilots

A Pilot is any individual that possesses a Suit. The title applies to anyone with a suit, regardless of whether or not the suit in question is “worn”, "ridden" or “piloted”.
Although the majority of pilots are aligned under the Armor Corps Coalition, some pilots have opted to become mercenaries instead, while others have struck out on their own and attempted to form their own groups, companies, or even nations in the post-invasion world.
The Vannai launched their invasion of Earth using the internet to target centers of human culture and civilization. The only areas of Earth that could be said to not have pods sent to them would be remote locations and areas with little development.
Beyond this, who happened to receive a pod was otherwise completely random; and very few of those who would become pilots possessed the skills and attributes necessary for the kind of world that the aliens forced them into as a result, meaning most pilots perished within the first year of the Human-Vannai War.
Without exception, every pilot has been subject to alteration by the Vannai on some level, be it through the brain scanning to incorporate aspects of the user’s psychological preferences and tendencies into their Suit’s design, or the presumably nanomachine-based chemical imbalances introduced to invoke feelings of power and heroism whenever the pilot fought. This aspect of being a Pilot has given them a reputation for killing without provocation, hesitation or remorse. Many pilots have willingly taken this leaps further by replacing their brains with cybernetics or becoming Human-Vannai Hybrids, widening the gulf between them and ordinary humans by a wide margin. Inhuman abilities such as rapid regeneration and body alteration are also not unheard of.
Despite the unsettling menagerie of traits that would concern most laymen, most pilots lack any notable fighting ability outside of their suits, though there are some notable exceptions; the Green Initiative in particular is known to train extensively with conventional small arms, for example, and eschew any and all unnatural abilities offered to the Pilots. Many Pilots have invariably developed megalomaniac tendencies over the years, either directly from the mental influence of their suits, or simply due to the power that having a suit brings.
In the early years of the Human-Vannai War, pilots carried the responsibility of fighting back against the Vannai and led the effort to clear out the Vannai Puppets controlling the planet. Since then, pilots have slowly come to be viewed in an increasingly suspicious light as time has gone on, not helped by the blunders of pilot-associated organizations such as Tommy’s Engineers, and organizations such as the Armor Corps have branched their focus from just fighting to providing a home for pilots seeking a way to finally "hang up the suit" and live their lives while assisting in world security.
Category:PACYOA: TE