Steel Gaians

“Watch the sparks fly! Hear the hammers’ heartbeat! Smell the hot metal! Taste the electricity! Work is our life! Good honest work!”

## Steel Gaians

 Where First Encountered
 Tribe Size
 Tribe Organization
 Male %
 Highest Caste Class
 Technology Level
 Relations With Outsiders
 Relations With Other Shemarrians
 Prefered Mode of Combat
 Prosperity

aka ‘Anvil Fists’

In continua where Greater New England and Paladin Steel dominate the American Northeast, the situation with regards to the Shemarrian Nation has led to a degree of necessary accommodation. Tribes such as the Darkwaters and Blood Riders, whose territories overlap the core of Greater New England, are permitted to come and go as they please, aloof as always. However, there is a small group of Shemarrians who associate more freely with their neighbors. Even the tribal icons seem to allude to the GNE’s own tree-centered coat of arms and green state colors.

Members of the Steel Gaians live and work in the environs of Greater New England, living in small guarded private enclaves, but working in the cities and communities of the GNE. There they openly work adapting Paladin Steel-made technologies to their own use and occasionally sharing their developments with their neighbors. Even their tribal name, ‘Steel Gaians’, invokes the idea that though they may be cybernetic, the Shemarrians are linked and devoted to Earth (and by association, their terrestrial allies and neighbors). Their sense of industry and of constantly being seen working on something has also earned them the nickname ‘Anvil Fists’.

For their part, the civil authorities cautiously regard the Steel Gaians much as they do the Longhouse Preserve; effectively as ‘aliens in residence’, friendly but independent. This means that while the Shemarrians may live and work in the GNE, they don’t pay income taxes (entirely voluntary), can sell their goods duty-free, and cannot be expelled or arrested without due process of law. They are also required to show proper identifications when traveling in and out of the GNE, and some areas of national security are forbidden to them, without proper authorization. Though the Steel Gaians may profess to being ‘dissidents’, they clearly still have strong contacts and connections with the rest of their Shemarrian kin, and thus the GNE is eager not to alienate the Shemarrian Nation by mistreating the Anvil Fists. GNE and Paladin Steel intelligence organizations are also under no illusion that the Steel Gaians aren’t sharing information with the Shemarrian Nation, but the SGs have obligingly kept the GNE in the loop on a number of important subjects, and Shemarrian Star Nation vessels often escort, free of charge, PS/ASI cargo vessels through trouble spots in the Three Galaxies.

The Steel Gaians have sometimes been derided as ‘House Shemarrians’, rather than proper Shemar, by both other Shemarrians and the more paranoid or cynical outsiders. They’ve also been known to have been derogatorily referred to by the more conservative Shemarrians as ‘meatphiles’ or ‘meat-rumpers’. For their part, the Shemarrian Nation elders recognize and even encourage the Steel Gaians’ public relations value, as the GNE sees ‘happy, friendly, helpful Shemarrians’ allied to them, rather than a separate and potentially dangerous alien culture encroached on GNE borders. Indeed, it is more than likely that more than a few of the ‘dissidents’ are actually deliberately planted operatives of the Ten, meant to further their domestic spying on their allies, and plant misinformation where appropriate.

Note: The Steel Gaians are also likely very prominent in the infiltration of Awakened AIs in the GNE, and either deliberately or inadvertently responsible for the sentient 'awakening' of PS-made robotic systems and androids.

## Statistics

### Motif

A stylized white (or grey-silver) tree on a green circle, with a Shemarrian star imposed on the center. The Steel Gaians have adopted green-colored armor and dress in imitation of their ‘hosts’.

### Origins

Splinter-tribe, made primarily of early dissidents from the Hawkmoons. The Steel Gaians have since attracted misfits and orphans from other Tribes.

### Where First Encountered

Rifts Earth, Greater New England territories.

### Tribe Organization

Meritocracy; Steel Gaians rise through the ranks by being recognized for hard work and innovative designs, akin to the old Renaissance guild masterworks systems, where apprentices achieved mastery status by producing exemplary works.

### Tribal Composition

Tinkers constitute 40% of the tribe, followed next by Warriors 30%, while the remaining 30% are a mix of Males, Acolites, and NeShemar.

### Home Environment

Temperate Earth-like worlds; the Steel Gaians currently have little presence off Rifts Earth, save for a few members who have hitched rides with GNE interdimensional parties or joined megaversal scouting/adventuring parties.

### Technology Level

Equivalent to Rifts Earth. The Steel Gaians exhibit few, if any, of the proprietary technologies of the Reformed Shemarrian Nation, but do copy and siphon off know-how from their ‘hosts’.

### Relations with Outsiders

Friendly and open; the Steel Gaians are the Shemarrian face of trade and public relations to their neighbors, creating and selling ‘genuine Shemarrian’ goods to outsiders (not that the products aren’t good, but they have more aesthetic embellishments and far less cutting-edge tech than the Reformed Shemarrian Nation issues to its own people). There are, however, some subjects (particularly cultural) that are taboo to outsiders.

### Relations with Other ‘Shemarrians

Open; though the Steel Gaians are noticeably more prickly around those who have been critical of them in the past. The Steel Gaians have contact with a number of other fringe tribes, including Clan Motron, with whom they trade.

### Purpose

Profit; the Steel Gaians seem unique among Shemarrian tribes in their desire to make MONEY. Though they mainly make it by doing engineering work (contract or commission), Steel Gaians also hire themselves out as security and mercenaries.

### Preferred Mode of Combat

Blitzkrieg; the Steel Gaians favor combined arms attacks, only FAST. Just like their host nation. Showers of artillery and air strikes presage fast ground units hitting hard and fast before the infantry closes, using long range fire to pick apart an enemy before they can come into melee range. Steel Gaians often volunteer to act as mobile units and mechanized cavalry when the GNEAS goes to war, especially against the Splugorth.

### Unique Attributes

#### Warmounts

The Steel Gaians started out with the baseline (canon) Warmounts of the old Shemarrian Nation (none of the new designs), but, even though they live under the thumb and watchful eye of the GNE, the Anvil Fists have had both opportunity and privacy enough to start hammering together their own unique Warmounts. These creations are the epitome of Frankensteeding, amalgamations of Shemarrian tech, Paladin Steel hardware, scavenged Kittani vehicles, and common North American robot designs. While some of these are obviously pure robots, others, the Steel Gaians have managed to convince their hosts, are cyborgs created using certain parts of various monstrous critters (like Peryton) that the EShemar have helped GNErs hunt and exterminate. This story fits well with the perceived stories of Shemarrian tech, but sometimes it works TOO well, as some GNErs are reminded uneasily of slave cyborgs or biowizardry at work.

##### EcoS-70 Sistrus

A warmount based on a GNE APC with six legs and long tail with a rattle-like bludgeon.

##### EcoS-K-71 Gatar

Amphibious warmount that seems to combine traits of an APC and a squat, bull-nosed, four-legged animal.

##### EcoS-K-101 Jagerwagen

A Steel Gaian version of the Edselator or Willey, only based on Paladin Steel's SuperBug.

EcoS-K-102 VolksVore

A flying variant of the Jagerwagen warmount.

EcoS-K-108 Killdeere

A utility warmount that resembles agricultural tractors.

#### E-Nimals

Eco-KRP22 Cyertone

A war beast based on the Peryton demon-deer.

#### Equipment

##### EShe-PMW-07 Plasma Polearm

A Steel Gaian adaption of Paladin Steel's Saber Rifle.

### Prosperity

Successful. The Steel Gaians are rather successful, banking on the Shemarrian reputation, bounties from adventuring, contract work, and scavenging, and growing respect for their workmanship. They make enough to fortify their communities, arm their members, and still have enough surplus to help out their immediate neighbors.

### Origin Tribe

The Steel Gaians are made of primarily of early dissenters from the Hawkmoons. They have since collected walkouts from other Tribes and Eccentrics on walkabout.