Warmachine

Warmachine and its crew: Killian, James and Elliot are a group of characters in the Non-Canon battle The Byzantine Consternation

Biography:
“My friends! My brothers! Hear me now!”

Warlord Isanovic looked around the crowded hall, amongst the gathered militia and soldiers that had pledged themselves to him. The warlord had seen much in his life: the day the bombs first dropped, the sun being erased from the sky as soot obscured the air, the years of bitter cold and strife. The elderly warlord’s yell was heard, and all attention was directed towards him. The snows were beginning to thaw, and the warlord knew that today was the time to make his move against the squabbling parties that opposed him.

“When I look amongst you, my brothers, I cannot help but feel proud. Together, we have worked to achieve much. We have restored a sense of order to what was a chaotic world! We have given men and women, stripped of all they have, a sense of dignity! With every day that goes by we bring ourselves closer to restoring the glory of our fallen nation, and closer to bringing back the safety of those long-since forgotten times!” Isanovic yelled, watching the crowd cheer and yell as he spoke. He paused, waiting for them to grow silent once again.

“Alas, I wish I could say that all others share our vision and our dedication. However, outside of the fortresses and town we control, countless petty bandits plot and scheme and plan to take what we have created. Even our former allies, whom we once traded with and supported when they requested it, plot against us.” A few among the crowd began to yell, but Isanovic quieted them.

“This treachery, my friends, cannot go unpunished. We cannot allow them to take what is ours-- not our land, not our possessions, not our dignity and certainly not our freedom. I ask of you, my compatriots, that together we go out and punish their insolence. We will show them what the punishment for treason is!”

The crowd burst into jubilant cheering and raucous yells. Isanovic was lying-- their allies had done nothing wrong except have something he desired. He didn’t need to concern himself with having a pretense for war, all that concerned him was that he could make sure his men were willing to fight and kill their supposed enemy.

As he retired to contemplate his plans on the eve of a new conflict, it came as a surprise to him that one of the weapons he was depending on-- the tank “Warmachine” and its mercenary crew-- had disappeared without a trace.

Description:
Killian, James, and Elliot are the crew of a scavenged and jury-rigged tank, currently in the service of a warlord and fighting across a world devastated by nuclear winter. As a collective group, the three crew-members of the tank are visibly famished, unshaven, and covered in grime and oil. While they have some sense of hygiene, the soot and filth that is associated with their vehicle impedes their effort. While they eat slightly better than most, due to the valuable services they provide to their warlord, that merely means a slightly larger portion of wilted turnips and stale bread.

Elliot is the gunner and commander of the group. His combat skill is not the best among the three, but he has something of a way with words, both in swaying the impressionable and discrediting naysayers. While he has pretensions of being a mighty leader, choosing to alter his wardrobe with a selection of military uniforms and peaked caps, when presented with a fair fight he tends to run. Granted, the majority of his conflicts are against infantry when he has a tank, but should things turn sour he is quick to run.

Killian is the most intelligent of the group, and as such is in charge of driving and radio operations. When not operating the tank, he tends to be quiet and avoidant. He has the most experience with the machine’s operation, and takes offense when it is subjected to neglect or damage. While he tends to disagree with Elliot, he has a habit of not voicing his opinion.

James is strongest amongst the group, and thus works in loading and clearing shells of the tank’s main cannon. His mental faculties are exceedingly lacking, and he is unable to distinguish between Elliot’s truth and elaborate lies, making him an unwitting pawn in the commander’s various schemes. He looks up to both Killian and Elliot-- Killian for his intelligence, and Elliot for his supposed cunning. He is almost always eager to assist either of them, and dislikes when they occasionally bicker and disagree.

Weapons/Abilities:
The most obvious weapon they have is their tank, referred to by the crew as “Warmachine” in absence of a proper model name and designation. The tank itself has seen better days, and now the majority of the armor is either stripped away or crudely replaced, with few of the original mechanisms remaining in place. The crew is fairly well protected within the tank. In terms of offensive capabilities, the tank has a cannon-- not large enough caliber to be effective against larger armored targets, but capable of dealing with most smaller targets. The crew has a supply of high-explosive ordnance and armor-piercing shells, which are used depending on the target. When explosions cease to amuse, they have a coaxial machine gun to pepper enemies with bullets.

Their tank is not enough to make them invincible, however. Ammunition and fuel have always been scarce, and while Warmachine and company were abducted just after they resupplied, they don’t have enough ammunition or supplies to last through several exotic locales. Additionally, it is almost certain that some parts will break or fall off throughout its operation.