X-Series Commando Droid
The latest cutting-edge droid of the Iron Empire, built for assassination and espionage above all else
...Sure, I had my doubts 'bout those new Droids. Honest-to-god skeptic, I was. What kinda half-baked pissbot could do what I do, right? Took me twenty years to work my way into the Special Ops squads...you're telling me one of those Ivans or Super Ivans is gonna infiltrate a throne city, play the long game, and take a shot in a half-second window you've been waitin' in the same bloody spot to take advantage of for months? Piss off. Keep those clankers on the frontlines where they belong and let the experts do their bloody jobs. You can imagine my displeasure when the numpties up top decided to make my squad one of the first to get one of 'em - train it, work with it. Oh, I hated the thing. We got one, all right - weird lookin' thing. Still...after just a couple of days with the thing, I found meself forgetting I was talking to a damned clanker when I was chattin' with it. Criminy, it had a name it preferred to go by...a damned favorite food. Scared the piss outta me, that did. That was only the first part, though...still had my doubts. No matter how human the things were, how 'complex' they could think and reason, it wouldn't matter, I thought to meself - the damned things won't be able to keep up with us in the field. Well, bollocks to that I say! Didn't take long before I came to rely on 'im - er, it. 'Scuse me...anyway, the thing that changed me mind for good was...oh, what was it...? Oh, right - me and the boys were cornered in the brush outside Svisshniki. Had a real nasty dead-o at our front alongside a dozen of their finest - bastard named Deadspine, been chasin' us for weeks. Skeleton-type Dead-O, used to be one of us before he turned - fucker could handle a Stoker-Casey like a dream...make that damned rifle sing an opera. Anyway, he had us dead to rights, and we all knew it - thing is, 'till then, we had our Vik - sorry, the X-Series Unit - avoid combat in favor of scouting. Figured it couldn't handle real combat anyway. Well, with Deadspine breathin' down our necks and our commander bleedin' out, I gave the order as the rankin' officer to let the clanker go to work. Wasn't much work, as it turns out. The damned thing dodged bullets like they were rocks a little kid was throwin' - carved up ol' Deadspine before he knew what hit him. Put a bullet 'tween the eyes of every last Dead-O around us, and did it all without so much as a scratch. And the kicker? Fucker turned around to us after the fight, covered in blood and Dead-O guts, and told us 'You're right. Scouting was clearly more my style.'. Scarcasm! From a clanker! We were all believers, after that. Miss that bastard...he got reassigned after that mission.
Mechanics & Inner Workings
Though exact details of the mechanics and inner workings of the X-Series units are relatively unknown, they have been seemingly designed under an entirely different ethos than their predecessors the IV1 and IV2 series - stripped of virtually all meaningful defenses(Though still possessed of some durability due to their metal frame) in favor of sheer mobility and flexibility, the X-Series Units are assassins at their most lethal. Capable of moving so quickly, nimbly, and acrobatically and equipped with such advanced computational power and sensory abilities that they are capable of literally dodging bullets and projectiles of all kinds fired at them by calculating the exact trajectories and instantly moving out of the way, the best defense of the X-Series is their mobility and adaptability. Unfortunately, this overwhelming speed, flexibility, and adaptability has come at the cost of their carried weapons, equipment, and armor - which has all been paired down significantly from their predecessors for the sake of their reaction speed and reflexes. Though they are believed to carry some spare ammunition and melee weapons on their person, a part of their battle ethos seems to almost rely on their ability to adapt on the fly - to scavenge new weapons and formulate new strategies on the fly after making contact with the enemy.
Thanks to possessing one of the most advanced Engramatic Control Modules(ECM's) ever produced by the Technis Brotherhood - an ECM so advanced and complex that their second-to-second decision making is said to make them virtually indistinguishable from living Humans - the X-Series Droids are never far from a plan, improvised or not. Capable of adapting and improvising on the fly and using their supernatural reflexes and agility to not only dodge projectiles(Often moving out of the path of them before they have even been fired) but to fire them with literal perfect accuracy.
Ultimately, the X-Series Commando Droids are a truly terrifying fighting droid whose existence is made all the more frightening for the simple lack of facts available about them - meaning any who fight them often do so with only the purposefully exaggerated rumors of their seemingly god-like abilities to inform their strategies, thus giving the machines a very real air of 'myth' that has yet to be dispelled.
Manufacturing process
Ultimately, all design details, materials, components, tooling methods, manufacturing processes, place of origin, or any other details about them are not only kept secret but lied about and exaggerated - making gathering exact details on the X-Series Commando Droids a virtually impossible task.
History
Altogether little is known of the history of the X-Series Combat Droids - a fact which their creators, the Technis Brotherhood, would likely prefer stay the case. What little is known came to be as such when their very existence was revealed to the public some scant years before the modern day - when it was announced on the anniversary of the Empire's founding that thanks to a new generation of Combat Droid, several of the Traitorous Eight-Blade Alliance that rules The Walled District of Bartosz in The Vrýkus Throne were assassinated, crippling the city's leadership and severely weakening the western territories of the Throne. This announcement, coupled with the recognition ceremonies of the brave men and women of the Commando Squads that helped carry out the assassination, is where the history of the X-Series Commando Droids begins and ends - their activities, development, inception, and the like completely unknown to all save for perhaps Tavross, The Iron Emperor himself.
Significance
Despite their relatively recent unveiling to the world at large, the impact and significance of the X-Series Commando Droids has been immeasurable - though one may not realize as such at first glance. To the people of The Iron Empire, the Droids were a rare victory for their Empire amidst the endless darkness of the world and the seemingly endless losses against The Vrýkus Throne; a much-needed morale-boost and injection of hope that victory might one day be possible. That in and of itself, were that all, would be itself immense - hope is perhaps the rarest and most valuable commodity in all the world, after all - but in truth the significance of the X-Series Commando Droids to The Vrýkus Throne is even greater, and somewhat difficult to quantify.
It is ultimately hard to fully express the sheer terror the reveal of the X-Series inspired in the lands of The Vrýkus Throne - for rather ironically, the Throne learned of the truth of the deaths in The Walled District of Bartosz at the same time as the Ironite Public. Initially believing the deaths to be a result of mere humdrum Throne Politics, the denizens of the Throne were sent into a panicked frenzy at the reveal that not only had the assassinations(Which were the first of their kind - the first time Vrykus Leaders has been slain by the Empire in their own homeland) been the result of Ironite Attack, but that Ironite Droids, who until then were dismissed by many of the citizens of the Throne as a pathetic tool used only by the 'weak, pathetic' Ironites to stave off their seemingly assured deaths, were not only capable of striking them in the heart of their lands, but doing so completely unseen and unnoticed to them.
Even now, the reactions to the actions of the X-Series are sending seismic shockwaves through the entire Vrýkus Throne - inspiring in the throne a general grip of paranoia and panic that has yet to subside, and has given The Iron Empire a much needed few years of relative peace as entire Districts of the Vrykus Throne have fallen to infighting over suspicions of who may or may not secretly be an X-Series Unit in disguise. With this subtle blade driven into the very heart of The Vrýkus Throne, the X-Series Commando Droids have turned the very nature of the normally fearless undead against themselves - a significance which is difficult to overstate. For this reason alone, details about them are not likely to become public anytime soon - for if the truth of their schematics, capabilities, numbers, and the like were to get it, the myth of their seeming 'invulnerability' and 'omnipresence' the Iron Empire has fostered is likely to crumble alongside the blade their existence has driven into the heart of The Vrýkus Throne.
Related Reading
Item type
Robotic
Owning Organization
Rarity
As the most recent and modern of all the Ironite Combat Droids, the X-Series Commando Droids are an utter rarity - virtually never seen by the Ironite Public, the X-Series Droids are rare even amongst the ranks of the Ironite Military; Deployed only alongside Ironite Wetwork Squads or other Special Operations Units in a handful of specific mission types or circumstances that call for their unique talents. Deployed on the orders from the most powerful members of The Iron Empire, the X-Series Droids are virtually never encountered on traditional battlefields or in the cities of the Empire - their very nature means they are so rare as to essentially by myth to most of the Empire.
To the average Ironite Citizen and Soldier, the X-Series Commando Droids are a mythological creature - one they have heard stories of, read news articles about, and maybe seen art or a picture of, but little more; God-like machines whose capabilities are exaggerated with each retelling of their deeds, whose capabilities and abilities are so deeply embedded in the cultural zeitgeist of The Iron Empire that a non-insignificant portion of the Ironite Populace has begun to spin conspiracy theories, each more wild than the last, that the X-Series Droids are replacing their leaders in positions of power, assassinating any who dare oppose Tavross, The Iron Emperor or the Techno-Cult that creates them, or any other number of wild and totally unsubstantiated rumors. Not even the military is immune to such rumormongering - with some fearing that them to be a plot by the Technis Brotherhood to render them obsolete, to take their jobs or kill and impersonate them, or any number of similarly wild and outlandish tales.
Nevertheless, despite their rarity, the X-Series Units(Dubbed "Viks" as a nickname the preferred name of one of the first X-Series units to work alongside an Ironite Commando Unit) enjoy a wide and mythological popularity amongst the general public and the military in ways that even the IV2-Series Combat Droids lack - objects of superstition and suspicion, but also overwhelming reverence; thanks largely to a hugely successful PR campaign that accompanied their announcement to the general public(A lesson the Empire's Government and the leadership of the Technis Brotherhood likely learned from The Beckenbrook Disaster that marred the reveal of the IV2-Series.
Raw materials & Components
Ultimately, though all design details, materials, components, tooling methods, manufacturing processes, place of origin, or any other details about them are not only kept secret but lied about and exaggerated, they are known to be a surprisingly lightweight and agile-framed construct - sporting an entirely steel construction which has been stripped most all armor and excess weapons and equipment for the sake of making them as flexible, nimble, fast, and acrobatic as possible.
Tools
Ultimately, all design details, materials, components, tooling methods, manufacturing processes, place of origin, or any other details about them are not only kept secret but lied about and exaggerated - making gathering exact details on the X-Series Commando Droids a virtually impossible task.
- [CLASSIFIED UNDER THE TECHNIS TREATY]
- Though rumors abound of the origins of the X-Series, the Technis Brotherhood has kept a fanatically tight grip on information regarding the their creation or places of manufacture - perhaps as a diorect result of the Beckenbrook Disaster which befaell the production of the IV2-Series and led to the leaking of the IV2 Design Documents, Places of Manufacture, and other critical information.
- Lightweight Steel Chassis with Grade-II All-Purpose Environmental Shielding
- 1x Saxon Model-1908 Semi-Automatic Pistol, Matte-Black Commando Variant
- 1x Carson Model-88 Longrifle, Matte-Black Commando Variant
- 1x Saxon Model-1511 Vibroslicer Combat Knife
- 2x Standard-Issue Combat Knife, Kinslayer Variant
- 4x Remote-Activated Demolition Charge with Timed Backup Detonator
- 5x Model-1908 Backup Ammunition Magazines(Regular or Kinslayer Bullets)
- 2x Model-88 Backup Ammunition Magazines(Regular or Kinslayer Bullets)
- Fire Support and Trajectory Calculation Package
- Engramatic High-Speed Neural Response Package
- Self-Oiling Flexi-Joints
- PANOPTICA Sensory Suite
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