The Art of Zor (56k DIE)

[Zor]

(Timeline-3177) A Red Army Пдб-25 Infantry powersuit. This unit weighs in at 150 kilograms total. While not as heavy as some nations powersuits, every Infantryman is equiped with one of these. Ballistic Fabric is used to protect the joints from dust. Unlike most nations, soviet power armor plugs into a neural interface. The suit is equiped with long coat-tails with ballistic panals inside it to protect the legs against shrapnal and gunfire.



East of the Fifth Western Province and West of Porgoria, the lands of the Necromancer Kingdoms and the Drow Empire stands the Formidable Weisburg Mountain range. Between their spines are innumerable river valleys and plateaus, both rich in fertile soil.. These lands have a varied population. Their are some dwarvish mining enclaves, a few areas claimed by wood elves and a few areas that are home to Orcs and Goblins, but the majority of its population remains human. These Humans live in a Number of small Barbarian principalities that have traditionally fueded with themselves. That said, they are no stranger to foreign intrusion, some of the Kings of Dellmoore and Porgoria had tried to take their lands, sometimes a necromancer or lich lord would deside to do some grave robbing with a side of "recruitment" and Dark Elf slavers seeking those to put under the lash and yoke was a constant threat. Now the Zhong Empire presses into their terriory, which is now the main frontier of expansion in the west.

Mountain Principality armies are traditionally composed of three catagories of soldiers, low class noble (Ritter) cavalry, Mercenaries and Peasant levies. Militia also exist in purely defensive capacity, but are for the most part lumped in the levies. Levies are the basic units of any Mountain Principality army, men called to fight by their lord when needed. Generally each male is given a modicum of training around ages 15 to 20 and is armed either with what is in an armory or what they can afford. When in service they are given a small wage as well as a share in whatever loot they can get their hands on. This also counts as a substitute for a precentage of their household's taxes. Their has been some attempt to reform this system along more civilized lines in the past 50 years (and especially after the Zhong invaded) and create standing armies, but so far the Levy system has been deemed superior as it is cheaper to operate. Even today, most principalities have levies along with their convetional forces.

This is a fairly typical Levy soldier. His status as a soldier is indicated by his chainmail vest, helmet and sword. Typically these men are used in Human wave attacks against Zhong formations, as well as in forest based ambushes. What is unusal is his weapon. He is armed with a stolen Zhong Army Rifle, as well as a Handle Bomb. Most Mountain Principality levies would be armed with a rifled musket or a breech loading rifle. Most of the refugee states use Porgorian made ammunition, as setting up bullet factories has been dificult for them. While capapble fighters, their biggest weakness lies in command. Levy armies simply do not have a well defined command heirarchy at the lower levels and generally lack specialized NCOs.

[Zor]

A squadron of Imperial Novan Navy Atlantis class Dreadnoughts pass by a gas giant during an engagement with a force of Interstellar Protectorate Frigates. One of them firing off a rear laser against the last fleeing enemy vessel. For safety purposes, the Imperial Capital ships have closes off their Drive Irises (also known as Sphincters) to protect the inner workings of their engines and fuel tanks during combat




This creature is from several million years in the future. A new island is formed by volcanic activity in the Pacific and is gradually colonized by life. Among the first creatures to make it are Flying Foxes blown over on windstorms. As the island grows, more forests come up and more fruit trees grow. The flying foxes eat as larger and larger versions evolve. The bigger ones slowly become more clumbsy in the air and eventually become flightless.

This meter long creature is among the first to develop. Small herds of them walk about in search of fruits and roots to eat. Theres is a lazy life, as the adults have no predators. However this will change, as other species of bats have begun to adopt more terrestrial lives and have more predatory diets.

[TheMuffinKing]

I really like that red army infantry powersuit! Keep it up, I really enjoy seeing your designs come to life.

[Zor]

I really like that red army infantry powersuit! Keep it up, I really enjoy seeing your designs come to life.

Praise on my mechanical designs from you i consider to be quite flattering.

Zor

[Zor]

For Shroomy



An Imperial Bragulan Legionnaire, standing at attention while smoking a heavy Cigar after a triumph. One of vast hordes of Bragulan Conscripts that stand as the Iron Hammer behind the will of the Beloved leader Imperator Darvyl S. Byzon . Clasped in its hands is a mighty B-11 K-Bolter with its massive hydraulic based recoil suppressors. He is clad in heavy Bragulan Plate armor, specially awarded to him for past valor against the Enemies with various patches in it. Foolish Humans say that this is because Bragulan Military is too cheap to buy new armor for its soldiers and simply patches up old armor. These propagandic lies are completely false, The Armor of fallen Heroes of The Bragulan Star Empire is repaired and issued those conscripts which show particular valor in combat. Behind him burns the flag of the despised enemy, the Byzantines. Never the less, soon with righteous fury and atomic fire the armies of Bragule shall march on, for eternal vigilance is the Price of Bragulinity.

[Shroom Man 777]

Lovely, Zor. The idea of giving conscripts the pitted armor of fallen comrades is a great one, I shall be using it! And I'm glad to see the Brags have gained a following. BRAAAGH!

[Zor]

(The Zhong) The Refugee States are no strangers to war, having fought with natives, the occasional attempts at reconquest during the waring states period, several times with the Nagato and many times with themselves. As there are many differences between refugee states and they are united in only the loosest of ways, their is much difference between the armies. The following is from the state of Green Valley, which is among the larger and richer.

Refugee state soldiers are armed with a broad spectrum of equipment. This ranges from conscript infantry with little more than cloth uniforms, helmets and rifles to fairly well armed and armored soldiers. Green Valley is in the latter, providing its fighting men with Brigindine and silk armor, offering comprable protection to that offered to that used by Imperial soldiers. They are also notable for being keen on newer technologies, Among these being their self loading rifles in which each pull of the discharges a spent casing and loads a new case. Examples of these new firearms have been studied and while they do have a high rate of fire, they cost more than three times as much to manufacture, are more complex and difficult to repair and are more prone to breakdowns when compared with more tried and true weapons. That said, some engineers believe that the Mechanism could be useful in heavier weapons.



(Timeline 3177) The SpW-45 Reichsritter (Imperial Knight) Ultraheavy tank is the powerhouse behind the European Alliance Ground forces. A venerable design, the Reichsritter has been in service since 2172 and has seen action against Soviets, Americans and Now Japanese forces. These beasts are some 20 meters long and weigh in at 310 tonnes. Heavily armed and armored, they are at the spearhead of any EA ground offensive. The European Alliance has 150,000 of these vehicles in service. In particular, Kaiser Dietrich-III has a praticular interest in these vehicles.

The Main armament of the Reichsritter are two 165mm gauss cannons. These guns are contained in armored tubes to protect their sensitive coil assemblies. Secondary weapons include a set of four anti-infantry machine guns in two ball turrets, two anti-aircraft lasers cannons, a pair of 75mm gauss cannons to deal with lighter vehicles and a 75 mm mortar for light indirect fire support. Reichsritter tanks have heavy armor. Each individual Reichsritter tank has a crew of eight tankers.

Reichsritter tanks mostly operate alongside the much more common Italian made Testudo Main Battle Tank with a ratio of one for every six Testudos. In the various wars they have fought in they have served admirably, although they have begun to show their age. At best, they can do 40 kilometers per hour and while generally resilient and reliable they are very difficult to repair due to the nature of their armor. Against the Japanese they have been effective against even fearsome Yokai Mechs, although even their frontal armor can not match the protection offered by a Yokai's frontal screen. While their armor is resistant to anything but a side attack from the standard assault rifle issued to Yokai Mechs, they can not withstand a Yokai's full missile barrage nor being fired on by the dreaded 2cm gauss sniper rifle designed for anti-heavy vehicle work

[Zor]

In the STL colonial age, many worlds were terraformed, in which new ecosystems were created. Mostly, the longterm aim was to establish a duplicate of Terra's ecology, although their was some variation. Some Planets required specialized flora and fauna to deal with certain climates and they were created. In others, odd creatures were genetically engineered as Biological Anachronisms for aesthetic purposes. This critter is the result of the more extensive moves, Native to the world of New Busan the settlers decided to turn a significantly island into a land of wheeled creatures. This creature is this land's equivalent to the Wolf or the Hyena and is the size of Leopard, with packs of these critters roving over the mat like shooter spreading plants with considerable speed in search of Prey and ramming them.

These creatures grow wheels in what are modified hands/feet. A special sheath organ exists on the end of each which seals over the wheel, using excretions to grow it and repair it. Colonial Symbiotic bacteria form a soft tire layer along the rim. The wheels form during the infant stages of these creatures lives and are built on. Should a wheel be destroyed, it can be replaced although this will take some time, although during this time they are very vulnerable.

(Inspired by some old Sketches that NemoRamjet did, although i did not aim to simply replicate what he did)

[Zor]

A trio of extrasolar colonists from the Pre-FTL era. Millions of men and women traveled to the stars at sublight speeds for centuries to lay claim to five thousand star systems before the development of Hyper-drive. Using pre-fabricated equipment, bravery and determination, they deployed themselves to planets which could have harsh climates, unbreathable atmospheres, extreme temperatures, unknown Geological or Meteorological hazards, deadly predators and even in a few cases, hostile native sapients and while their were failures, these settlers would carve out a home on remote lands, Terraform barren wastes into living landscapes and give rise to new civilizations.

Among these figures are...
1-An head engineer, overseeing th establishment of a new housing complex, stylus and datapad on hand. She has a gas mask and dust goggles on had as the world she does some work outdoors on a planet that has a rather unpleasant atmosphere, although much of her work can be done inside a filtered environment.
2-An external laborer who works on various construction and excavation projects well away from the base, doing alot of work in muddy, wind swept areas in heat and rain for hours at a time. In time, it will become fertile farmland, but to him, only a handful of genetically engineered plants and small ponds filled with algae hint at whats to come.
3-A Machine shop worker, unlike the other two, she spends most of her time indoors with other men and women assembling various components that are needed for the new colony. While her workshop is not an assembly line, she and her fellow workers can use the available fabrication equipment produce a vast array of machines that, while primitive in comparison to those on developed worlds, are good enough to meet the needs of a growing colony in its early stages of development.

[Zor]

(Terran Sphere) A couple of Interstellar Protectorate soldiers. One of whom is clad in Protectorate Lor-28 Power Armor the other in dress uniform. Protectorate Power armor offers somewhat better protection than its Novan counterparts and is stronger, but has 35% less battery life, less flexible, heavier and is somewhat more maintenance intensive. Its helmet has a retractable face covering. In case of emergency or damage to the camera, it can be pulled up so that soldier can observe the battlefeild with the Mark-1 Eyeball, though this can get stuck.

[Zor]

A colored version of the Imperial Novan Army Soldier from Sergeanting. It took some time to do the Camouflage pattern.

[Zor]

The Western world is home to many monsters: dragons, hydras, manticores, minotaurs, ogres, pheonix, gorgons, cave horrors, trolls, Ettins, and so forth that while on the whole less aggressive than native folklore makes them out to be they threaten towns and cities. Many of these creatures make their home in mountains, dangerous tracks with high background magic, deep caves where armies can not go and often have hides that can turn away a blade. For this reason, their are slayers.

Slayers are a fairly broad category of western warriors trained to deal with these creatures. Typically Slayers are either Humans or Dwarves with the occasional Elf. Most slayers are mercenaries though a few are retained by kingdoms. In both cases, they are among the fiercest and Dangerous Barbarian warriors of the west. Considering the perils they face this is no surprise. Some have likened them to Nagato sword saints, although slayers are far less specialized in their mastery of combat. They are quite capable at passing unseen through woods and making quiet dispatches, but their mastery of stealth and silent death falls far short of Nagato Shinobi or Dark Elf Assassins, especially when it comes to hiding in plain sight. The way of the slayer involves the mastery of several forms of combat, including fighting at a distance and getting in close to deliver a killing blow. The trademark weapon of a slayer is a heavy double handed sword or battle axe inscribed with ruins to maximize durability and damage. That said, Slayers are supposed to capable with a variety of weapons including one handed weapons, knives, bare handed combat, clubs, improvised weaponry, thrown weapons, bows and in modern times firearms and explosives (it is rare for them to master all of these, but generally slayers are capable of fighting). They typically wear a heavy high end runic breastplate and helmet to allow maximum durability and mobility. Their equipment is expensive, but they command heavy fees for their services.

Typically Slayers train their sons to be slayers as well as taking foundlings and promising young men. In any case their training is set out to weed out the weak and those who overspecialize (those who do so often become masters and can command powerful salaries as instructors or mercenaries). Newly graduated slayers tend to have high attrition rates on their first missions. Generally slayers will normally alone or in small groups of no more than ten. In addition to fighting wild monsters, they are often employed to engage tamed monsters and things like golems. The biggest weakness of slayers (outside of lack of numbers) is that they are not good at engaging large numbers of enemies in the open. Slayer training is optimized about dealing with threats one at a time or in small groups in short intense combat. They also are not ones for micromanagement. Their are maybe 2,000 slayers in the west, a number which is always fluctuation because of attrition.

Since the Zhong invaded, Slayers have been among the greater dangers. Being a rowdy, uncontrollable lot of Barbarian mercenaries. While they have suffered considerable casualties in doing so, they have been responsible for the destruction of Walkers, Phoenix Warriors and Iron Beasts while attacking supply lines at night and harrasing Zhong formations. That said, in the first three years of the Invasion, some 1,300 slayers were killed. Since then, a new generation of Slayers has emerged, which has become a bigger threat. That said, while they are a definite risk to soldiers on the field and to specialized equipment they do not pose a threat to the Zhong Empire's presence in the west. Typical tactics when engaging a slayer is to spread out and converge.

[Zor]

While the Novan Nobility is on the whole a nation which believes in Tight regulation of personal weaponry, nobles are generally allowed a much greater access to weapons, even when in non military circumstances. This includes the ability to own and operate suits of power armor with only token registration. A recent vogue among the Nobility of the Novan Empire is that of Custom made suits of power armor for themselves and for their bodyguards. Many of these suits are built to higher operating parameters than Standard Issue power suits or have a greater degree of ornamentation. Several Specialist firms have emerged for the creation and support of such powersuits, some of which do custom jobs for export

[Zor]

Tower Ships (Lou chuan) are the heavy hitters of the Zhong Navy. The term was first used to describe large barges used to carry men and trebuchets, then large ocean going sailing ships used by the Nagato, the Warring States and latter the refugee states that fought in Linear formation. Now it refers to the Heavy Ironclad warships, second only in size to the gargantuan Iron Islands. Unlike the Iron Islands, they are built purely for combat, being faster, as well armored and carring guns of similar caliber. In terms of troop transport they typically only carry small numbers of marines.

Typically measuring 100-140 Bu in length and carrying heavy armaments, few things can pose a threat to these mighty warships. Anything that gets within 15 Li of these craft will end up staring down the barrels of cannons up to a Chi in caliber. Decks of smaller guns are used to provide a heavier barrage of fire. Some Admirals have said that developments in Torpedoes have made these cannons obsolete, although their is some debate about this. While better than being onboard some of the smaller ships, life onboard a Tower Ship is generally a hot, dirty affair for all save the officers.

Currently, the Zhong Empire is operating a fleet of some thirty two tower ships. Eight have been assigned to the Western Fleet. This was once ten, but two of them were left trapped in the Silver Sea after the High Elves managed to close off the two straights leading into it using a set of powerful storm spells creating and omnipresent hurricane around them. Cut off from supplies, these ships (along with thirty four other warships and a couple of ammunition ships and tenders) were slowly taken by Elvish Raiders over the next six months, one of the greatest losses of the war. That said, outside of that one instance, no Tower Ship has been lost. They proved indispensable in the bombardment which brought many western cities to their knees in the first waves of their invasion. Now, with most of the west's coastline secured with only the occasional elvish or dwarvish raid, these craft merely patrol the coasts.

[Zor]

A colored image of a Zhong Rifleman. Ready to beat down some Western Barbarians as the first stage of Liberating them from their own backwardsness

[Zor]

Fei Haiping is a Scholar Bureaucrat assigned to administrate a southern district in the the Fifth Western province, mostly dealing with agricultural improvements. He is generally well regarded for competency in executing his duties but he is never the less considered something of an eccentric and holds interest in Western things. He has a rather extensive collection of Western glass works, runic armor and books of poetry. Among the more visible examples of this is his Go Pavilion, a structure which he had built on his estate. This is built in the style of traditional local temples. He much admires western architecture and has petitioned to Mandarin Zsen to scale back demolition of western architecture. Here he is about to enjoy a game with his daughter Xiaoyi on a warm day before he gets back to his paperwork.

[Zor]

The Commonwealth Homeguard is the Last Line of defense of the Commonwealth of Democratic Worlds. While the Commonwealth Joint Army is a respectable fighting force, well equipped and trained and capable of going on the offensive, its numbers are limited against a foe which has a considerable advantage in terms of population and scale of its ground forces (particularly Attrition Robots). The Homeguard stands as a defense force and is noted and respected for its efficiency as a combat force. Homeguard Personnel on duty are known as Guardians.

At age 20, every fit Commonwealth Citizen (with a few exceptions) are required to engage in nine months of national service, typically military although non combat service is available to those with religions which abstain from it. Typically this includes three months of basic training and Six months of Homeguard Service unless they take a tour in the Joint Army, System Guard or Star Force. Officers and NCOs in the homeguard are often hardened veterans that have been honorably discharged.

Homeguard forces are mostly light infantry with some vehicles for logistical support, as well as a few artillery forces. Homeguard equipment is generally fairly cheap, but reliable. The standard Guardian is armed with a commonwealth QBZ-258 Assault rifle and is clad in Guardian Armor. This armor is classified as light power armor, having modular servo systems on the legs to make it easier to run in and allow the soldier to carry more material, although these can easily be removed (along with usually some of the additional armor). Since private ownership of Power Armor is legal in the Commonwealth (with some registration), this is occasional supplemented with more sophisticated suits but this is fairly rare. By tradition, Guardians have transparent face-coverings to show off to their fellow citizens that they are, despite being under arms, their friends, neighbors and so forth.

Homeguard forces are usually mobilized when an enemy fleet enters a system. Quickly the commonwealth can muster large formations of infantry to defend their worlds. Most major cities have armories and their have been periods of time in which billions of Homeguard forces were activated. While many nations make use of defensive reserve militias, the Commonwealth's Homeguard is notable for not only brave defense, but competence as a fighting force up to the Battalion. They are typically subordinated to Army Command and have proven invaluable to commonwealth forces in numerous campaigns against Novan invaders. That said, their effectiveness at co-ordination above the battalion level runs short and its still true that a Novan Imperial infantry division is generally worth about four times its number in Commonwealth Guardians on the battlefield.

[Zor]

It was twenty years after the bombs fell. Politics were a bit stressed between the big powers of the earth, but who decided to push the button is a fact forgotten and irrelevant. When one flew they all flew. At the same time, a bioweapon was loosed, a virus that added to the burnt out ruins of the worlds cities a dangerous new threat, the zombies. Its effects were not uniform. Some people got the full effect from airborne microbes early on, others required some mixing of fluids, some were completely immune. Some would become mindless creatures attacking everything that moved while a few would be reduced to beastial behavior, but could use weapons, open doors, build crude shelters, act in small packs and even breed. Some of the infected quickly degenerated into beasts within hours, others slowly lost their faculties over days or months, some would get nothing more then some light coughing and would get over it in a few days and in some it would lay dormant until death, when it would bring them back to life. The scattered survivors lived in constant dread of these creatures.

Despite this, something nonhuman survived. A self aware computer endured and sought to secure its existence and rebuild civilization. As such, it used an army of whatever robots it could salvage to patrol. Among the machines it managed to acquire was a number of high end waitress gynoids and spare parts for them. Surprisingly intelligent novelties, the AI gave them combat training and used these robots to scout out areas over-run by zombies for machinery that might be of use and (after being sterilized) as ambassadors to local humans. Many Zombies attacked these mechanical maidens, only to break teeth on the Gynoid's skin if they were among the slim minority that ever got that close to them.

(This is done to be a bit lighthearted and to let the world know that i firmly believe that Robots are infinitely cooler than Zombies)

[Zor]

Corvettes are the smallest warships employed in the Terran sphere and among the most basic. Measuring under 150 meters long, these spacecraft lack many ships that other warships possess. They lack Hyperdrives limiting to their effective range to in system use and because their low range, they rarely carry more than two months worth of supplies while their crews live in cramped conditions. They are also very lighty armored and even point defense lasers can destroy many corvettes in close quarters. This bare basic design has its advantages in the long term, corvettes are cheap, easy to build and maintain even with fairly basic space industries and they have high acceleration rates and maneuverability. Corvettes are designed as low cost garrisons for systems for defensive and anti-piracy roles.

Corvettes tend to be built along specialist lines, normally point defense, beam and missile. This is a trio of typical missile corvettes (two Arbalesta-class ships and one Hastatus-class vessel) in service of the Interstellar Protectorate. These Corvettes are on patrol and accelerating. Their main weapons are a trio of swiveling box missile launchers carrying 24 medium range missiles. In case of combat, they will loose their payload and then fall back, either to base or to a nearby point defense screen. They also carry a limited stock of countermissiles and several point defense clusters.

[Zor]

A Russian Strelet (Plural Streltsi).

[Zor]

A Cyber-Converter, A Cyberman specially tasked with the conversion of additional life-forms into new Cybermen. Behind it is a work bench, which is being hosed down of all the blood left from the creation of the latest Cyberman.

This Cyberman is inspired by the first Cybermen from The Tenth Planet with a few minor tweeks (servos and bracings on the arms, arms, metal face-mask and gloves).

Doctor Who-BBC

[Zor]

Another Cyberman



A Cyberscout, a specialized cyberman who's main purpose is recon, acting alone and identifying threats. Its arm servos are covered in cloth to protect them from dust and its chest unit is moved to the back. Its weapon is a energy sniper rifle. Cyberscouts are quicker on their feet than the average cybermen

This is a more combat oriented cyberman compared to the Cyber Converter, but is along the same lines.

[Zor]

A pair of typical Civilians from the Commonwealth of Democratic worlds dressed in Typical Shenzhou style business wear (which has become the norm across most of the commonwealth since the 2220s-30s century despite some movements to maintain local fashions). Their are some variations on this theme. Neckties are fairly rare in the commonwealth as they are usually associated with the Novan Empire.

[Zor]

Mandarin Zsen Hao of the Zhong Empire's fifth western province, addressing a set of westerners who are currently Kowtowing before her (out of frame) in her courtroom, even though she does most of her ruling in her office and prefers it. Behind her is a fresco depicting the Zhong's conquest in the west and its elevation of the western barbarians to civilization.




The Prototype Timeship's flight was a mix success, while it did manage to successfully enter and leave the Time Vortex, in doing so it burned out most of it's systems, forcing it to make an emergency landing. Its location was earth, in the year 1942. It crashed into an area know as Thuringia near a rural village. With their engines beyond repair and unable to contact the Fleet from which they launched or Mondas, they set to work digging in. They were engaged by a force of Waffen-SS infantry which had been recruiting and parading in the area, but though the Timeship's crew was outnumbered the Natives were completely out-gunned. Before the Luftwaffe could send bombers or ground attack aircraft to the site, they had managed to restore the Timeship's shields, which encompassed their crash-site, the nearby town and the SS troopers under its bubble. Within 36 hours they were all captured.

The surviving crew of the Timeship numbered less than a hundred and even with the shield, they knew that to survive they needed to expand their numbers. Fortunately they had plenty of raw materials. They scavenged up enough material and set up a conversion center which allowed them to process a four or five humans at once. To start, they went with the captured SS members. Of those people that were now under their thumb, they were deemed the most dangerous, they were healthy adults and they could pose a problem if they escaped. Here, some more of the prisoners are brought in as the conversion of the first batch of new Cybermen is complete. It would take some time to build up, but they would eventually have the resources to upgrade this claimed "Master Race".

Doctor Who-BBC

Zor

[Zor]

A 1930s era tank armed with a 75mm frontal sponson mounted anti-tank gun, four machine guns (two turret mounted, two on side mounted sponsons) and a 37mm turret gun.