The Engineers

The Engineers were originally miscounted as part of the Collaborator forces during the initial invasion. For reasons either by design or by accident, they were not injected with mind-influencing nanites. Following the conclusion of Operation Unlikely Heroes, the existence of such individuals was made known, and the group of pilots that would become known as the Engineers was accepted into the newly forming Armor Corps Coalition.

Because they were not susceptible to the mysterious “mind-reading” ability the Vannai were believed to possess, individuals that tested negative for nanites were charged with working alongside what scientists the ACC could scrounge together to develop new tactics and technology to combat the aliens, as they were the only pilots who could actively research the suits without giving away what humanity discovered to the Vannai until such discoveries were ready to deploy. As humanity gradually won back parts of the planet and its scientific institutes, educated personnel recovered alongside them were pointed towards the Engineers and put to work. Not wanting to be reduced to test dummies, many pilots likewise strove to educate themselves, and the Engineers quickly became the designated “smart people” faction.

Engineer leadership is nominally democratic, with elections held annually to determine who will become the President-Director. Tommy Wilder has held the position since the Engineers formation, and has run unopposed every time. While Tommy credits this to his excellent leadership skills and charisma, the truth is that at first no one wanted to deal with the responsibility of representing the Engineers, and in the time since everyone has either been too intimidated to run against Tommy with Editi behind him, or has had their loyalty purchased anyways with Catgirls. In more recent years, the Engineers have secretly had their ranks padded with clones programmed with fanatical loyalty to Editi, meaning a change of leadership in the future is highly unlikely.

The dire straits humanity found itself in during the war saw many questionable scientific pursuits hand-waved for the sake of the greater good, no matter how pointlessly cruel or head-scratchingly stupid they were; ACC would take any advantage it could get against the Vannai, and this lack of oversight is a trend that has continued well into the post-Vannai world. It has often been joked that the Engineers could solve most of humanity's problems already had they not all possessed an inexplicable fixation with finding the most needlessly complex solution to any issue. Although this is an exaggeration, it is a fact that a considerable amount of time, money and resources allowed to the Engineers often winds up exploring 'frivolous' pursuits, moreso now that the threat of imminent extinction is no longer present to keep the Engineers on task. As the factions have grown apart from one another over the years, each one has created their own R&D departments to account for this, but the laboratories of TE remain where the limits of possibility and necessity are tested.

The headquarters of the Engineers is an underground complex located in Hokkaido, Japan, which simultaneously serves as the hub for basically everything in Japan nowadays. On the surface, the facility emphasizes a balance between nature and a “futuristic city” aesthetic. The underground majority of the facility consists of a variety of laboratories arranged in an inverted hive-like structure. Though the style can change between labs substantially, considerations for defense and security always take priority, as the experiments contained within become both more valuable and more dangerous the deeper one goes into the facility. Access to the facility is tightly controlled, and the Engineers themselves are highly secretive about what goes on in there. At first, this was done to prevent the Vannai from gleaning anything on human research into their technology and tactics via nanites, but since the Vannai are now long dead, many assume the Engineers are either using it as an excuse to keep their position of power within ACC, or to hide some unspeakable projects.

The Dokuritsu Insurrection saw the Engineers removed from their primary base of operations, and their position within ACC severely weakened as a result. The new organization ARHK has superseded the Engineers, with TE now defunct as an organization.

### Organization

The Engineers have a loose organization, with an underground technical center in Tokyo, Japan. In this facility, the engineers test and study the suits in different manners, and develop prototypes of technology and weaponry that the Vannai do not appear to be aware of thanks to a lack of nanites within the Engineer bloodstreams. The Engineers have a no direct hierarchy, and instead arrange themselves in teams, with more veteran pilots leading as guides.The Engineers are quite secretive for their type of work, and are very similar to a closely-knit unit. Many Engineers know each other quite well, and hold close ties to one another. However, they are hesitant to grant deeper access to non-nanite persons, and usually outright forbid nanite-injected pilots from going anywhere deeper than the visitor sections.

## Base of Operations

 File:EPCOT1-c-the-Walt-Disney-Company-cropped.png
Externally, the TE base has a heavy emphasis on balance between nature and a futuristic city aesthetic. Most of the actual base is underground, however, consisting of a variety of laboratories arranged in an inverted hive-like structure. Though the style can change between labs substantially, considerations for defense and security always take priority, as the experiments contained within become both more valuable and more dangerous the deeper one goes into the facility.

## Specialties

### Hacker

 File:Hacker.png
Known to maintain the numerous internal systems of the Engineer's homebase and develop increasingly advanced programs to assist pilots in the field, some system specialists find themselves given roles in Engineer operations as technicians and hackers. Those who find themselves actually recruited by Armor Corps, Moqaddas, Hanse Behörde, and the Green Initiative tend to be so advances in suit systems that they are given escorts to guard them in their unimaginable knowledge. For what it's worth, they tend to function as the IT People of the suit world.

### Engineer

 File:Engineer.png
More of the standard fare, a basic Engineer functions as a researcher, pilot, and technician rolled into a single package. Most Engineers are hesitant to leave Japan and abandon the research and development they are regularly involved with. However those who also peruse potential as combatants in the field are placed within the few operations actually performed by the faction, and are commonly picked up by other factions for their extensive suit expertise. Engineers regularly maintain their own suits, and show great skill in handling the repair of other suits as well.

### Hobbyist

 File:Hobbyist.png
Even some Engineers come under scrutiny from their superiors, and usually this is due to methods that are unorthodox to the point of being questionable in use and function. However. a number of these offshoot Engineers do tend to tinker in just the right manner, and their insistence to constantly toy with the bits of scrap and tech they have show curiosity. creativity, and unconventional thought. The Engineers known to tinker with their equipment are common volunteers for combat. if only to try and acquire the scrap that other Engineers refuse to give them.

### Apprentice

 File:Apprentice.png
Recruited largely from the pools of willing survivors, the Engineers have begun to expand their staff by introducing pilot systems to non-bonded individuals. Developed from damaged Vannai suits and made up primarily of the suits from fallen pilots, Engineers induct survivors into their program by allowing a suit to bond with an individual but prevent a nanite injection. Apprentices are important to testing, and commonly serve as guinea pigs to the Engineers' larger schemes, but have proven to be an otherwise useful asset overall in the field.

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