Protector

**Key Features** | »Martins M-68 anti-tank rifle (w/ammo and rifle grenades)»Model Mo-42 Stalk grenades»Two-piece protective armour»*Matamoros Porcupine* tank trap tools»Essential armour-polishing oils

## Tactical Analysis

* **Anti-Steel Legion:** In contrast to their fellow Custodians, Protectors are trained Combine soldiers who are suited towards taking on more armored enemies. Their anti-tank rifles can accurately take on light vehicles and mount grenades for use against harder targets, while hand-flung Stalk grenades let them take on garrisons

* **Precinct Defence:** By constructing Tank Traps on the field, Protectors can block off areas of terrain from vehicular movement and force them to either destroy the (incredibly tough) traps or navigate around them.

* **Inferior Firepower:** The anti-tank rifles and grenades of the Protector do not have the same punch that rockets, missiles, or the more esoteric weapons of other forces enjoy against vehicle armour.

* **Did I shoot five particles, or six?:** Combining recent scientific achievements in miniaturization with military arms development, veteran Protectors utilize the increasingly infamous Becquilar Modelo-8 Multichambered Cyclotronic Acceleration Rifle as their weapon of choice. Such a weapon has vastly improved range over normal kinetic rifles, and the speed and nature of its projectiles is enough to create explosions on impact with vehicle armour.

## Background

*"Surrender! There is no better option for you!"*

- Protector, leading an assault on a defended resistance base.
While the frontline Custodians make up the bulk of the Technate's infantry divisions, there exists a subset of soldiers dedicated for jobs in which even the Custodians are not enough. Armoured with heavy steel-titanium composite body-armour and helmets, given specialized weaponry for their tasks, and trained to a higher degree than even their fellow Custodians, these infantry - known as Protectors - are tasked with the job of taking out heavy resistance.

The 'Protectors of Humanity' project was in many ways inspired by the Allied Peacekeeper program, originating shortly after the implementation of the Humanitarian Guard in 1964 as a this-generation method for dealing with urban combat and vehicular attacks by guerrilla forces. When first envisioned and designed, a Technocratic Protector was trained to deal with mainly infantry-based bandit groups and cultist sects who operated with light vehicles and urban zones at best, and for this role they were equipped well. Military-issue combat armour based off police riot gear was devised and modern chemical protection masks were bought in to make the Protectors almost impenetrable to small arms fire and subversive attacks on the senses, while heavy breaching grenades were introduced and issued in order to assist in the clearing of enemy positions so mainline troops and police could march in without fear of sudden machinegun fire or sniper bullets. When the first Protectors were formally inducted into the Civil Defense Force in 1964, it was thought that they would be the heavy vanguard of response warfare, clearing out positions for their fellow soldiers while shrugging off return fire and ensuring minimal loss for the assuredly superior Technocracy. And, for a time...they were. Deserters in the rural areas were driven back to the jungles and forests while gangs were methodically exterminated one by one from the cities, and the Protectors stood at the forefront of each hard-fought skirmish.

But warfare isn't what it used to be these days, even on a local level. The military remnants of the old guard get parts to fix up their old Rangers and Beagles from the Unionists now, who are always willing to work out a deal with local resistance fighters in their own backyard willing to attack the "godless green science cultists". Cultists and terrorists with influence or simple wealth can mail-order weapons and machinery of destruction from the local Syndicate Sprawl or II Warehouse. And so the Protector Program has been revised year after year, Martial councils squabbling every time over how to improve its capabilities against armoured targets and almost equally as often coming up with little more than newer armour and revised guns. Thus it is that despite the constant conferences, the Protector enlisting in 1969 is equipped almost exactly the same as one enlisting in 1964.

Though theoretically anyone can join the ranks of the Protectors from the beginning, in truth the physical and mental requirements for testing into the Program mean that most come from already active personnel. Veteran Custodians compose the majority of those selected to the point where the position of Protector is often seen as a step on the road to becoming a Supervisor. Perhaps as a result of their experience under fire, Protectors tend to be rather more serious and less outwardly zealous than their peers of lower rank, and often take the definitive meaning of their title quite seriously.