Progonos Super-Heavy Tank

**This article, Progonos Super-Heavy Tank, was written by ChibiPotatoes. Please do not edit this article without their explicit permission.**

> "*The Dark Age of Technology was a time of innovation and discovery. While we have been limited to certain STCs as a consequence of the Age of Strife, occasionally we stumble on old relics of a time long gone.*"
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> —Harrowmaster Vissarion Achitzis on the discovery of the Progonos on Neiyama

The **Progonos Super Heavy Tank** was an extremely rare and unique pattern of Imperial super-heavy main battle tank. The origin of the Progonos is unknown and a Standard Template Construct has never been found. What examples were discovered by the Gamma Harrow during the Great Crusade were mostly concentrated in the area of the Geirland Sector of Segmentum Ultima, so it can be assumed the tank is native to that area of space. By the time of the Horus Heresy, five known examples of the Progonos had been found by the Gamma Harrow, but given the secretive nature of the Alpha Legion the exact number cannot be truly determined.

The closest super-heavy vehicle in the Imperial arsenal of comparable performance at the time was the Legion Fellblade. While both the Fellblade and the Progonos had similar armament in their quad lascannon arrays and hull-mounted demolisher cannon, they differed in their primary weaponry. The Progonos was equipped with a twin-linked particle projection cannon, an energy-based weapon that fired concentrated streams of ions that resulted in both thermal and kinetic damage. Those that witnessed a Progonos on the battlefield were often recorded saying that the projectile fired from a Progonos' PPC was as bright as a star. Very little is known about particle projection cannons as the Progonos is the only vehicle known to have possessed one.

## Armament

The primary armament of the Progonos was a twin-linked particle projector cannon (abbreviated to PPC), an energy-based system that utilized a complex arrangement of capacitors and generators to create and store massive amounts of high potential electricity. The charge-up and firing sequence of a PPC was characterized by a deep, low humming before a bright flash and sharp crack similar to that of a lightning bolt. As the PPC was an energy-based system, it produced no recoil which made the PPC a highly accurate weapon of war. The PPC could be fired in two different modes, dependent on the charging time and energy stored for each shot. The first, and perhaps most common, was the high-output discharge which was capable of inflicting serious damage on infantry formations and light armor. The second was the concentrated discharge which was more focused on penetrating heavy enemy armor.

In addition to its characteristic PPC, the Progonos was also armed with a variety of secondary weapons to supplement its main armament. The sponsons of the Progonos could be armed with either quad lascannon arrays or laser destroyer arrays. On the front of the Progonos was a hull-mounted demolisher cannon. Various other weapons could be added to the Progonos as well, although many of these were ad-hoc additions depending on the theater of operation or to meet certain battlefield conditions.

## Crew

The Progonos could be crewed by humans of the Mechanicum, Serfs of the Legion, or by Legionaries; as the Progonos was operated almost exclusively by the Gamma Harrow, they were likely crewed by Legionaries. Much like other technology found within the Geirland Sector, there was a level of automation aboard the Progonos that set it apart from other super-heavies in the Imperial arsenal and allowed it to be crewed by only a handful of soldiers.

* **Commanding Officer** - The CO was the senior officer on board the Progonos and served to coordinate the crew of the vehicle.
* **Tactical Officer** - The Progonos' TO was the second-in-command responsible for the vehicle's auspex and augury sensors.
* **Driver** - The driver steered the vehicle and also controlled the front facing demolisher cannon.
* **Primary Gunner** - The Primary Gunner operated the Progonos' turret-mounted weapon systems.
* **Secondary Gunner** - The Secondary Gunner managed the firing of the port and starboard sponson weapon systems.