MCV (Paradox)

The **Mobile Construction Vehicle**, or **MCV** for short, is a common unit which serves as the centre of any field base. It is able to travel on land and sea alike and can resist various degrees of attack. In addition, most MCVs are large enough to crush smaller vehicles that get in their way.

## Allied MCV

 **Key Features** | »Converts to Construction Yard»Collapsible air cushion for aquatic travel»Encrypted communications array»Integral SPAM units produce parts»*"Made in Germany"* badge

### Tactical Analysis

* **Mobile**: Able to traverse rough terrain, the Mobile Construction Vehicle gives the Allied commander the ability to project power across the battlefield. It is also fully amphibious, able to float across open water atop a collapsible air cushion.

* **Productive**: The MCV is able to deploy into a stationary Construction Yard. In this configuration, it can construct both production and defensive structures. The Construction Yard can also be upgraded to allow its VOIP system to produce the most advanced Allied war machines. And if the enemy gets too close, the Construction Yard can pack back up into the MCV configuration and move to a more advantageous location.

* **Unarmed but Dangerous**: Neither the mobile or stationary configuration of the MCV is equipped with any weapons. While its sheer mass provides a level of protection against enemy weapons, the MCV requires armed support to stay alive in a high-risk environment. But minor threats beware - MCV drivers have been known to try to crush unwary enemies beneath their massive treads.

* **Well Stocked**: MCVs are well stocked with parts before entering the battlefield. This allows commanders with the capability to construct a small base and defensive force while they are establishing their supply chain.

### Operational History

*"An excerpt from* "Assessment of the Impact of 3rd Generation Supply Management Technology on Global Strategic Policy" *by Ian Cochran Burke. This assessment was commissioned to investigate the fiscal, diplomatic, and military impact of adopting the proposed **MCV** Battle Command and Supply System. Burke's assessment of the impact of the MCV on warfare has proved prophetic in light of recent events."*

 File:AlliedMCVArtwork.jpg  The tactical benefits of adopting the MCV system have been argued extensively by Mathers, O'Donnell, and others (For a complete historical analysis, see Tactical Engineering: A Review in issue 468 of Modern Warfare), and little need be added here. It is worth noting that, while many focus on the MCV's use of Standardised Production Automated Manufacturing (SPAM) Modules for building construction, in fact the technology of fabricating a wide variety of weapon systems from a single universal component is not new.

Traditional production structures (War Factories, Air Fields, and the like) have been using SPAM modules for over a decade: the original SPAM modules effectively redefined mobile warfare by allowing ammunition, and later spare parts and even vehicles to be manufactured on site. A more revolutionary technological aspect of the MCV system is Virtually Operated Industrial Production (VOIP), a system that allows MCVs to remotely enable the production of advanced technology weapons. This same system can now also be found in the Allied Prospector.

But the true impact of adopting the MCV system will be far more subtle. Mathers comes closest to understanding the ramifications of MCVs on the battlefield in his report to the Budget Office (See Cost Analysis: MCV). His premises are correct. The demand for forward bases in the coming conflict (have no doubt about it - war is coming) will far outweigh the number of MCVs we will be able to deploy. As MCVs relocate across the battlefield, the tendency will be to create many small, stationary bases which will remain behind when the MCV departs.

 File:AlliedConYardArtwork.jpg
But his conclusion - that these bases will have no military value and will simply be a continuing drain on our resources - is incorrect. Even if it were true, the strategic benefits would still justify moving forward with the program. The flexibility of an MCV - their extreme, amphibious mobility; their ability to carry enough to be able to deploy a small base and fighting force even when cut off from supplies; and of course their ability to quickly construct a large advanced base when well-supplied - will provide commanders with an unprecedented ability to project precise military power.

But the true value of these small bases will come after the war is over. After the main enemy forces are defeated, what will be needed throughout the combat zone is the capability to quickly restore order and provide a focal point for the integration of the recently liberated into Allied culture and society. The bases that will be created across the countryside as a natural result of MCV relocation will serve this function. They, and the MCVs that create them, will be the enduring beacons of Freedom and Justice in the aftermath of the coming conflict.

### Quotes

**Select**
* What is your request?
* Yes sir?
* What can we do for you sir?
* Where do you need us?
* Construction services!
* Thank you for waiting sir!
* Where is our destination?

**Moving**
* Indeed!
* As requested!
* Full ahead!
* Right away!
* We'll get right on it!
* Received!
* A fine proposal!

**Moving to Land**
* We'll go by land!
* Returning to land!
* You prefer the land?

**Moving to Water**
* We'll go by sea!
* Proceed into water!
* Naval systems all ready!

**Deploy**
* Ready for installation!
* Prepare to deploy!
* Deploying as ordered!
* Setting up!

**Retreating**
* Yes, I concur!
* Much better!
* We can still save it!
* Hurry! before we're finished!

**Under fire**
* Sir, they are attacking us!
* How dare they harm us!
* We're unarmed!
* What savages!
* We'll need to deploy soon!

### Just the Stats

 **Armour Type** | Light Armour

## Soviet MACV

 **Key Features** | »Converts to Construction Yard»Ballast pontoons (x2) for aquatic travel»Fully articulated robotic construction arm»Comfortable *"Helmeted Cupola"* crew compartment»Posters of Soviet heroes inspire crew

### Tactical Analysis

* **I like to move-it move-it**: With six independent tread nacelles, the Soviet MACV is extremely mobile, able to traverse any terrain accessible to other Soviet vehicles. It can seamlessly transition from land to water, deploying a pair of ballast pontoons while still in motion. And thanks to post-war modifications are significantly more armoured and can protect itself with a HMG turret on the roof.

* **We can build it**: Like its Allied counterpart, the Soviet version of MACV can deploy into a Construction Yard, both on land or at sea. Able to construct the full array of Soviet battlefield structures, the Construction Yard can easily convert back into its mobile form to relocate to a more advantageous location.

* **In the open**: The Construction Yard is unable to build an entire structure and then deploy it as a whole. Instead, an external civilian construction team requires it to build structures from the foundation up at a predetermined location. This makes the structure being built vulnerable to attack during the construction process.

* **Large and In Charge**: Tough the new MACV and Construction Yard are both heavily armoured and armed its still vulnerable to attack from a variety of enemy units. Commanders are advised to provide military escorts to ensure that this important vehicle/structure is not destroyed. Of course, enemy ground units would do well to avoid being run over by this gigantic vehicle - being run over by an MACV leaves quite a mark.

### WWIII Operational History

The world got its first view of the new Soviet **Mobile Construction Vehicle** in the aftermath of a devastating earthquake near the small hamlet of Smedznegorsk, Ukraine. Aid organizations and media crews broadcast images of an immense vehicle and its incongruously small crew distributing prefabricated building components to the residents of Smedznegorsk.

 File:SovietMCVArtwork.jpg  With thousands left homeless and quickly darkening clouds on the horizon heralding the approach of a massive ice storm, initial coverage of the government aid effort began suggesting that it may have been too little, too late. Cameras continued rolling in front of speechless reporters as, moments later, a miniature city sprung to life from the wreckage. The structures themselves were grey, drab, and cookie-cutter, but they were warm and dry, a welcome replacement for the piles of rubble that were formerly homes and businesses.

Soon MCVs were seen across the periphery of the Soviet Union, spurring the economy in even the poorest areas of the Union. Although obviously modelled after the Allied MCV, the Soviet Union insisted that their new vehicle was designed purely for internal reconstruction efforts, pointing to numerous investigative reports showcasing the use of the MCV in the field.

Manned by civilians, Soviet MCVs appeared to be operating completely without military support and apparently lacking any sort of automated construction capability. In light of this coverage, the vehicles seemed poorly suited to military ventures. Since the Soviet military seemed to be continuing to use traditional base-building methods, many media outlets began to openly doubt that the Soviet MCV had any military utility at all.

 File:SovietConYardArt.jpg  This was dramatically disproven during one of the opening conflicts of World War III. During the uprising in the ancient Central Asian city of Samarkand, Allied observation planes captured footage of a Soviet MCV, which had been rebuilding a nearby province, quickly packing up all modules and civilian workers and veering outside of the reconstruction zone.

In a devastating surprise offensive, Soviet forces appeared several days later from an entrenched firebase a short ways to the north, successfully aiding the civilian uprising and pushing the Allied presence out of Samarkand. Their secret revealed, the fleet of Soviet MCVs sprung into action. Almost overnight, a constellation of military bases sprung up around the world - each centred around and created by an MCV - spawning the first wave of Soviet forces to threaten to overwhelm the Allies.

The Soviet MCV has since become an iconic figure of the people's uprising. When not engaged in combat operations, the vehicles and crews continue to serve communities destroyed by the ongoing conflict, and the grey monolithic structures first seen in Smedznegorsk now shelter countless numbers of the displaced and homeless. With each village rebuilt, the Soviet army is bolstered by the impassioned and the disenfranchised, often leaving each area with another full complement of trained workers.

The MCV crews remain civilian and have little difficulty shifting back and forth between their roles, working alongside military personnel to build a new base one day, and the next day rebuilding a civilian school. Like the military conflict, the battle for the loyalty and sympathies of the civilian population rages on, and the crews of the MCVs are on the front line in both fights.

### Post-War Operational History

Gathering the reports of the battles they lost. The Soviets had realized that their MCV was simply too vulnerable to Allied bomber strikes while in transit and deployed without defenses, while normally it would be escorted it is known that sometimes that's unfeasible. Thus a minor retrofitting was made to increase the MCV armour and mount a small flak cannon on the roof, though it turn the additional weight has made it slightly slower, and rechristened it the MACV, Mobile Armoured Construction Vehicle.

## Imperial MNFV

 **Key Features** | »Converts to Construction Yard»Ballast pontoons (x2) for aquatic travel»Fully articulated robotic deployment arm»Full store of Nanocores»Meditative fountain in crew quarters

*"There are roads, you know!"*

- Imperial MCV
### Tactical Analysis

* **Fully mobile**: Like its Allied and Soviet counterparts, the Imperial MNFV is extremely mobile, able to traverse difficult terrain on land as well as set out to sea in an amphibious operation.

* **Fully transformable**: Also like its counterparts, the Imperial MNFV deploys into a Construction Yard in order to build any structure needed to wage war against enemies of the Empire. Fully functional on land or sea, the Construction Yard can reconfigure into its mobile form just as easily.

* **Fully fecund**: Unlike its counterparts, the Imperial Construction Yard does not build structures directly. Instead, it carries a large deployment of mobile Nanocores. These Nanocores can deploy anywhere on the battlefield, regardless of the distance from the MNFV that created them.

* **Fully flexible**: Commanders must carefully weigh the risks of leaving their MNFV in one location and relying on the mobility of the Nanocores to expand their base. The extreme vulnerability of the Nanocores in transit - they are unarmed, like the MNFV, and lack the extreme mass and armour to survive serious attacks - means that the wise commander will consider relocating their MNFV closer to the Nanocores' ultimate destination.

### WWIII Operational History

Not all of the casualties of the recent war have seen combat. Consider the case of Bart Truxton, imprisoned for carrying out espionage for the Empire of the Rising Sun. Though Truxton was recently exonerated, the full details of his story are so fantastic, so utterly unbelievable, they seem literally ripped from the pages of a modern science fiction novel. More and more evidence continues to surface that confirms the story and demonstrates the immense complexity and effectiveness of Imperial espionage activities during the war.

When the first **MCV** flying the sunburst flag of the Empire of the Rising Sun rolled ashore at the Battle of Green Island, Allied security recognized that a catastrophic breach had occurred. There simply had not been enough time, argued top military intelligence officials, for the Japanese to have developed their own MCV since the Allies had publically revealed their own vehicle - they must have had someone on the inside. Through a painstaking investigation, security personnel tracked down video tapes of Truxton apparently stealing detailed technical documentation about the Allied MCV from a German lab and transmitting it to a ship waiting offshore (later determined to be a Yari mini-sub). A military tribunal convicted Truxton to life in a high-security prison.

It was not until Allied scientists unlocked another mystery of the war - a high-level Imperial encoding process nicknamed *"Wistful Blossom"* - that the depth of the subterfuge began to become clear. A vast amount of encrypted Imperial information had been intercepted by the Allies in the course of the war, but much of it lay undeciphered in vast databanks. Once "Wistful Blossom" was cracked, a specific division of Allied intelligence was formed with the singular goal of piecing together the fragments of Imperial communications. A year and a half into that process, they decrypted a set of transmissions that told a shocking story.

 File:ImperialConYardArt.jpg  The Empire of the Rising Sun had deployed an astoundingly lifelike robot, modelled as an exact duplicate of Truxton, to steal information about Allied vehicles. They had also deployed three other robots to observe the real Truxton extensively, gathering all of the personal, professional, and private data required to fashion a realistic facsimile.

These robots then recruited Truxton for a weekly poker game, during which time the doppelganger Truxton obtained the real Truxton's security card and carried out the espionage. All of the robots were then ordered by Imperial high command to initiate self-destruction sequences --- remains of one were found in a warehouse fire, although its exact nature wasn't understood at the time - destroying both evidence of the deception and Truxton's alibi simultaneously.

Upon first being presented with the news of Truxton's unwitting participation in the traitorous activities, the Allied military chafed. It was nigh unthinkable that a plan this elaborate could have occurred under the watchful eye of the Allied military. However, further corroboration came when another set of transmissions was deciphered detailing a similar operation in the Soviet Union, leading to Maxim Novikov's name being cleared just only a few days away from dying of hypothermia in the Gulag.

While the stolen technology undoubtedly aided the research efforts of the Imperial MCV program, their vehicle is anything but an exact copy of the Allied and Russian versions. Instead, the Japanese engineers used the acquired designs as a springboard for their own ideas, coming up with a system that is well-specialised for their own military doctrines, and applying the same creativity and attention to detail that Imperial spies used to gather the information in the first place.

### Post-War Operational History

Apart from the new structures and defences which can be built, the MCV has received new software and built-in fabrication units for producing Nanocores. Imperial Commanders are now able to produce Nanocores like in other production buildings - en masse - by queuing multiple cores at once. Leading it to be renamed the **MNFV** (Mobile Nanocore Fabrication Vehicle).

## Continental MCT

 **Key Features** | »» Purpose Built Deployment Mechanism»» Spacious *"Trucker"* Cabin»» Overclocked Engine»» Miniature Radar Deflector»» *"Go Faster"* Flames

*"Keep on trukin!"*

- Continental MCV
### Tactical Analysis

* **Old yet functional**: Continental MCTs are stolen from old civilian stocks and refitted with new SPAM when possible to produce the structures the rebels need. Due to limited space, only defence modules are included as well as Dozer and Construction Truck components.

* **Blink and miss**: Despite its rusting mechanisms, a Continental MCT can deploy into a Continental Construction Yard in mere seconds without problems.

* **Have you seen that?**: Continental MCTs are invisible on radar, both friendly and hostile. This allows the MCT to quietly change positions when needed without getting pestered all too quickly. Do note it has less armour than other MCTs, which is why it is radar-invisible in the first place.

* **Let's swim**: The Continentals outfitted the MCT with floating pontoons to catch up with the other factions' MCVs. Take your fishing rods with you for the ride.

### Operational History

WWII is often remembered as the first war in which the revolutionary Mobile Construction Vehicle partook. The *"original"* MCV – the Allied Mk. I *"Buffalo"* Mobile Construction Vehicle was created by International Inc. The Mobile Construction Vehicle was initially intended to be, of all things, a civilian construction platform. It introduced the ability to rapidly assemble modular, on-site structures using prefabricated parts, as well as a host of other novel features, the details of most of which have been kept classified to this day. The MCVs looked set to transform the construction industry.

However, World War II had other plans for it. Fermenting tensions all over the globe had led the world’s powers to scramble to lay their hands on any useful technology they could find. International Inc’s hopes of cornering the construction market were dashed when military officials, having seen how fast the deployed MCV could construct a house, realised the potential of the MCV, and took steps to have it land in their hands and stay there. However, an II employee would secretly sell a copy of the blueprints to the Soviet Union (who had also realised the potential of the MCV). The employee was just in time, as mere days later, military officials confiscated all the MCVs in II’s possession and banned International Inc from selling the blueprints.

Thus, when World War II broke out, both the Soviets and the Europeans entered the war with their own version of the MCV. For the entire war, both sides would use MCVs, to the point where military doctrine was transformed by it. The war ended, and the Mk I was eventually replaced in Allied service by the Mk II and later on the Mk III.

This wasn’t the end of the civilian MCV, however. Banned from selling the original blueprints, International Inc sought to work around this restriction by removing all the classified systems and substituting them with (admittedly inferior) replacements. Sadly, this new version of the MCV, dubbed the **MCT** (Mobile Construction Truck), was nowhere near to the capabilities to the original, and the idea didn’t catch on. After poor sales, most of these *"watered-down"* MCVs were consigned to the scrap heap, where they were forgotten for more than a decade.

Until 1969. The Continental Revolutionaries had been looking for some way to acquire a construction vehicle of their own. Having already failed on multiple occasions to steal old Allied MCVs from (heavily guarded) bases, the Continentals realised they had hit the jackpot when several of their members broke into International Inc’s unguarded scrap yards and drove away with several MCTs.

Over the next few weeks, civilian model MCTs were disappearing one after another, and by the time the Allies realised the implications of this and took steps to stop the theft of MCTs, the Continentals already had a sizeable fleet of the vehicles.

Upon acquiring them, the ever-resourceful Continentals made several modifications to allow their MCTs to be viable on the battlefield. Modifying the vehicles to use Construction Dozers allowed to finally compete with military-grade MCVs, while mechanics found it a simple task to make the MCT invisible on radar. Soon, these old but reliable hulks were taking the fight to the enemies of liberty.

## Kingdom OCV

 **Dev. Status** | Unknown

 **Key Features** | »Atomic Fission Power Core»Nuclear-powered thrusters (x6)»Warp Matrix targeting beacons»Space Elevator docking equipment»Radioactive warning symbol (often disregarded)

*"Make it so."*

- Kingdom OCV commander
### Tactical Analysis

* **Where no man has gone before**: The Atomic Kingdom's Orbital Command Vehicle disregards the shortcomings of similar craft because it, well, flies. Able to go anywhere without care about the terrain, the only thing the OCV has to consider is enemy anti-air fire.

* **Full Impulse**: The OCV is surprisingly quick for an aircraft of its size. However, it cannot keep up with smaller and more agile aircraft such as fighters.

* **Like Terrans, like Aliens**: Every OCV is ordered to scout the regions it flies into beforehand, and if it finds suitable land or even water areas, it can settle down to begin the lengthy process of transforming into a Ground Base.

* **Battlefield Command**: Once deployed, which is permanent, the OCV transform into the Ground Base, which is actually two buildings folded into one: the Planetary Assembly, and the Space Elevator, allowing it to bring men and vehicles down to the battlefield.

### Operational History

 File:Official Chinese OCV Concept Art.jpg
Most countries have systems in place to help them supply their armies.

Russia has her trains, allowing men and materiel to get to the front quickly. The Allied shipping fleet, aided by air transportation and the Master Chronospheres, were able to breach the vast gulf of the Pacific to supply the Allied armies in Europe with the logistics they needed. Japan built its Floating Fortresses in secret, each capable of supporting entire invasion armies.

Not so for the Atomic Kingdom. Thirty years' of constant war left China's transportation system in poor shape, and the atomic holocaust left it in complete shambles. Roads and rails are wrecked, radioactive fallout makes travelling without proper protection dangerous, and air transport and teleportation are of limited help at best.

Moreover, bandits and warlords would attack any supply lines that weren't guarded well enough, at best delaying and at worse stealing valuable supplies. Even with cloning and rapid duplication capability, the Atomic Kingdom simply couldn't spare the resources to guard every last supply line. For a time it looked like it might be impossible to mount a campaign of any sort outside of China.

The Atomic Kingdom's logistics masterstroke, then, was to cut out the vulnerable, land-based supply lines entirely, and replace them with far less vulnerable space and teleportation based supply lines. Of course, to do this would require means of getting the supplies from orbit to the surface; for this, space elevators were to be used, the technology already within the Chinese grasp.

However, a space elevator would be a vulnerable target, and as such would need to be defended, which would require a field base. With the need for a field base, it was only logical that some sort of MCV-equivalent would be needed. As the Atomic Kingdom lacked a vehicle suitable for the task, one would have to be designed.

The Atomic Kingdom's *"Zhuge"*-class Sky Forge, also known as the **Orbital Construction Vehicle**, is that vehicle. It is the result of several weeks of hard work on the part of a team of Chinese engineers from the Royal Aircraft Factory in Tibet, despite having apparently faced resistance from "yetis" and "kung fu masters". When it was finally complete, several high-ranking officials were there in person to see its unveiling.

The doors of the hangar that contained the first of many *"Zhuge"*-class Sky Forges opened on the roof. An imposing black shape rose from the hangar, defying gravity with its massive thrusters that propelled it off the ground. In the forthcoming demonstration, the *"Zhuge"* performed exactly to expectations, and proved itself to be just as worthy of orbital flight as it was of atmospheric flight.

At the *"Zhuge's"* heart was a fission power core, powerful enough to power all of the *"Zhuge's"* onboard systems and still have some leftover energy to spare. It contained enough room for several dozen crew, who would pilot the new vessel. The *"Zhuge"* was equipped with the state of the art in Chinese technology; the latest communication relays, databanks that could store vast information, powerful beacons that would allow the Chinese to pinpoint the *"Zhuge"* wherever it was, and much, much more.

The one flaw of the Zhuge, if it had one, was its utter lack of weaponry, in part due to the fact that the vast array of equipment crammed into the *"Zhuge's"* hull left no room for weaponry. Nevertheless, this shortcoming was not important, and the Chinese, satisfied with the *"Zhuge"*, ordered that it be put into full production.

Now the surest sign of Atomic Kingdom presence, the ships of *"Zhuge"*-class have begun to see deployment in the field, with considerable success thus far. Each Zhuge class is designed to act as a command and control centre once deployed into a Ground Base, and is also equipped with both a Space Elevator hub, which is used to bring in supplies and units from orbit, and the Planetary Assembly, which is also responsible for establishing the rest of a field base. Unfortunately, the power and space demanded by the Planetary Assembly means that the OCVs propulsion systems have to be cannibalised once the Ground Base deploys, so once the OCV becomes the Ground Base its permanant until the battle is over, since it'll take some time for the base staff to rebuilt and reintergrate the thrusters.

## Talon Master Crawler

 **Key Features** | »4 inch Talon Steel armour»Superheavy-duty treads (x4)»Massive carrying capacity (for supplies)»Accomodations for up to several hundred personnel»Douay-Rheims Bible

*"His bones are as strong pieces of brass; his bones are like bars of iron."*

- Job 40:18
### Tactical Analysis

* **(Title 1):** (Overview)

* **(Title 2):** (Secondary)

* **(Title 3):** (Miscellaneous capabilities)

* **(Title 4):** (Upgraded nature)

### Operational History

When Aperta Scriptum presented her sketches to the leaders of the Order, the largest discussions were, fittingly, about the largest design, a moving castle capable of supporting an entire army, wielding on its hull enough firepower to fight with any army and armour plating that was that thick it was presumed that if the apocalypse ever occurred, these castles would be the only things that would survive it intact. After Aperta Scriptum persuaded the high officials to support her proposal, she and many Forgemasters and craftsmen moved to Palestine, where they founded the Aperta Scriptum Holy Forges, from which the creation of all the walkers seen in the Order's service began.

Aperta Scriptum's original idea was to have three "classes" of Crawler, each suited for a unique purpose. "Offense" Crawlers would carry and construct battle locomotives and combat walkers straight into battle on giant legs, supporting them with their own weapons. Enormous wood and steel wheels would carry "Defence" Crawlers loaded with men, artillery, and prefabricated structures, ready to take and hold ground. Most audacious of all were the "Support" Crawlers, giant steam-filled airships that would loom over the battlefield. These behemoth airships could actually land on the ground to release support vehicles to assist front line forces.

Following intense debate within the Order, Aperta Scriptum's original idea would give way to a single, immense Master Crawler, though the "Offense", "Defence", and "Support" idea would be reimagined as the Crusaders, Inquisition, and Evangelicals branches. Aperta Scriptum wanted to put the Master Crawler on legs like those of the "Offense" Crawler, but during the thirty years of long production, it was proved that even the most massive legs could not carry that heavy and monstrous chassis. This did not stop production, and the legs were removed and made into the gates to the Holy Forges. Eventually, it was decided to use continuous tracks in lieu of the legs, thus solving the problem of movement. The Holy Forges forged the tracks for the Crawler, ultimately making them the biggest tracks ever made. Finally, in 1917, the Master Crawler *Michael*, named after the archangel, was completed. It is said that Aperta Scriptum, now an old woman, relying on clockwork mechanisms to walk on her own, laid her hand on her greatest creation and said, "At last, it is complete," before collapsing on the spot, dead.

### Life in a Crawler

*"In the past, we had to wait for the enemy to come to our castles. Now, our castles can come to the enemy."*

- Aperta Scriptum, 1885
The Order of the Talon's military personnel can be divided into two categories: those who like serving in Crawlers, and everybody else. Of course, everyone has their reasons. Most of the time, of course, no one actually lives on board a Master Crawler; typically, the massive machines are kept stored away in the Talon's secret bases, kept in operational condition by Talon Craftsmen.

A good portion of a Master Crawler's space is given over to weapons, equipment, vehicle parts, food, water, fuel and all the other logistics needed to support a military force, with hundreds of tonnes of food, equipment, and other supplies carried in the Crawler's holds. Other portions are given over to the machinery of the Crawler itself; the huge steam boilers that keep the Crawler moving, the analytical engines that perform calculations, not to mention all sorts of other components.

Theoretically, a Master Crawler could sustain up to a maximum of three hundred personnel with enough food and water to last three months, though the living conditions would be extremely cramped; with less people, the conditions would be more comfortable, and more equipment can be carried, since fewer food supplies are needed.

For those onboard a Crawler with a full complement of personnel, there would be little to no privacy, and one must share the relatively small dorms with up to five other people; everyone is treated the same where it comes to living quarters, regardless of seniority or position in the Order. Only the commander is accorded the luxury of their own private chamber, for security reasons more than anything else, and even then the accommodations accorded are far from luxurious. Boredom can be a problem for soldiers aboard a Master Crawler, since there is so little for them to do, though the Talon does try to provide some niceties to compensate. As a result, most spend good portions of their time maintaining their equipment and brushing up their skills.

On the plus side, Master Crawlers typically deploy with far less personnel than the maximum, which makes the living conditions far more bearable; the food is decent and the portions ample, for the Talon does not wish for its soldiers to starve, and one can expect hot water and warm beds thanks to a system of pipes that run throughout the Crawler.

In battle, the Crawler itself is less crowded, with people fighting or otherwise attending to other tasks, though it is typically a beehive of activity. Craftsmen assemble vehicles from parts broken down for transport, soldiers ready their weapons and equipment, and everywhere people are rushing to and fro, performing one task or another.

But all those little moments and nuances disappear from your mind as soon as you don your armour, jump into your track, and join the fight for the Eternal Crusade.

### Crawler Cells

Template:Talon Crawler Cell Header
First Crawler Cell.

Template:Talon Crawler Cell Header
Second Crawler Cell.

Template:Talon Crawler Cell Header
(WIP)

Template:Talon Crawler Cell Header
Uriel was heavily damaged and nearly destroyed by Chinese war walkers in Burma. The Talon were forced to abandon it, although a later operation was able to recover and refurbish the Crawler. It has now been restored to full operational status.

Template:Talon Crawler Cell Header
(WIP)

Template:Talon Crawler Cell Header
The only Crawler Cell that was totally destroyed, it was lost to "unknown robot forces". The sole survivor was executed for heresy.

Template:Talon Crawler Cell Header
Lady Maria’s Crawler and the newest Crawler Cell.

## See Also

* MCV (Echoes)

* MCV (Quantum)

* MCV (Annihilation)

* MCV (Null)

* MCV (Pandemonium)

* MCV (Insanity)

* MCV (Extremis)

* MCV (Silentium)