M2 Tigress Powered-Armor

> *"This beautiful, bug-eyed face is what every Ivan, Omar, Nazi, Collaborator, and Chinaman fears. After all, it's quite hard to stop a jingoistic meathead clad in a near-impenetrable inch of prism-coated, molecular nanocomposite armor plating all welded to another armored layer in the form of a highly-mobile, trauma resistant frame that gives the strength of twenty normal men. And you, Private, get to use it to defend this Goddess-forsaken town..."*
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> -Army Corps Sergeant Alice Yates introducing an air-dropped Tigress to her subordinate, Private First-Class Franco Cazalla during the Siege of Genk, WWIV
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## Introduction

The **Mark Two Heavy Powered-Armor**, more commonly known by designation "**Tigress**", is a power armor developed for the Imperial Military. It sees service in all branches, however, it is most notable in it's use in the Imperial Vanguard Corps, who use the extremely durable and (reasonably) nimble Tigress as part of their standard kit - an act that has led many, Imperial or not, to mistake the Tigress as the "uniform" of the Vanguards.

## Characteristics

The Tigress' main selling point is its unsurpassed levels of durability. With nearly an inch of nanocomposites

and electro-reactive plating, the Tigress is capable of standing up to nearly all forms of small arms fire, and to some degree, even explosives and autocannon fire. Despite advances in weapons technology since the Tigress was first developed in 2128, the armor plating has seen many upgrades to keep it up to par, including a thick prism coating to increase resistance to energy and electromagnetic weaponry. The armor also allows a hefty boost to the user's strength, allowing sustained operations with heavy weaponry, such as microguns or nuclear catapults.

Built around the same basic design characteristics as the pre-war models, the Tigress is a bonded system of armor plating and electronics fused to an ultraheavy exoskeleton - the "frame". This allows the wearer to feel almost none of the armor's intense weight, and as a result, move unhindered. Because of this design, the user is completely independent from the armor itself, making the Tigress more akin to a vehicle than foreign models. The armor is entered and exited via hatch, which opens up the entire backside for the user to step into, with enough space to accomodate moderate gear (such as an unarmored Vanguard or an Army Corps trooper without a MAGIS). When necessary, this also allows users to instantly evacuate the suit, and (depending on scenario) can leave the area or continue operations as unarmored infantry.

The unique appearance of the Tigress is also notable, as the heavily-armored figure of the armor suit complemented by the wasp-like features of the helmet is widely regarded as a symbol of the Empire. As such, the Tigress is very often featured in propaganda, be they patriotic, domestically-produced recruitment posters or extremely negative foreign pamphlets. The unique look of the helmet in-particular has spawned many nicknames for the armor's wearers (typically Vanguards), including "Eagles", "Frogs", and, in a more derogative sense (and often by MAF personnel), "Roaches" or "Bugs".

## Trivia

* The Tigress, like all USA/Frenkish power armor, is based on a preexisting model from the *Fallout* universe. The M2 is based off the Enclave Advanced Power Armor/X-01, the most advanced model in Fallout lore.