This is a work in progress, subject to much future review. I haven't even reached halfway through half of the first of the two games yet, so I am unaware of future developments or plot details. This covers the data available in Kyosuke Route of OG1, up to mission 15.
Also note, some of this information may in fact be unknown to your characters, for reason of secrecy or obscurity. And some of it may be outdated, by reason of the secret truths being revealed.
Worldbook
'Nearly two centuries ago, ushering in the dawn of a new era - The Space Era.
Due to the devastation and turmoil caused by the meteors that struck Earth in the early years of the 21st century, human life changed little over time.
In 179 S.E., a third meteor, Meteor 3, struck the Earth near the Marquesas Islands in the South Pacific.
A research team dispatched by the Earth Federal Government (EFG) discovered that Meteor 3 consisted of substances containing technology previously unknown to man. They called this new technology Extra-Over Technology (EOT).
Further analyses were conducted by the EOT Investigative Committee (EOTI) under the strict supervision of the EOT Council.
Upon conclusion of the investigation, Dr Bian Zoldark, the head of EOTI, reported to the EFG and the Earth Federation Army that an invasion by extraterrestrial beings was highly probable.
The EFG took the warning seriously, and the development of Personal Troopers, humanoid mobile units, began...'
- The summary at game-start.
What We Know of the World's History
The year is something forward of 2180 AD. Humanity has spread across the inner solar system - Earth is under a unified world government, space station colonies are scattered throughout the inner system (the United Colonies, which rather recently achieved a bloodless independence from the EFG in a movement termed NID4), and the Moon is colonized as well.
Three cities were destroyed by Meteors 1 and 2. The game is unclear on just
how Washington DC was destroyed as well, but the two meteors slammed into New York and Moscow. None of the three cities were ever rebuilt after the devastation.
There appears to be a sense of superiourity from the colonies to Earth - 'The colonists never did like us Earthlings' passes without note,
To be fair, though, at least part of this is likely because the EFG is
not a happy-happy-everyone's-nice government. It's been quite oppressive, ineffective, blatantly inhumane...
Ineffective: Members of the EFG attempted to sell out Earth to the Aerogators (an alien race) in negotiations in return for personal assurance. (In fact, the DC prevented this)
Blatantly inhumane: The School. Due to the initial difficulty of handling PTs, pilots trained to supersoldier levels were required. The School was the effort intended to do this. Children were trained from extremely early ages, in harsh, inhumane manners including heavy use of drugs. And once PT control systems advanced enough to make them unnecessary - before they could ever even be deployed in battle - 'Eh, whatever'. (Bear in mind, I mention this as an
example only, it is
not common knowledge)
Factions
EFG: The 'basic' world government. The EFG was initially based in Geneva. However, the Aerogators blew Geneva to fuck, and I have
no idea what they did after that.
EFA: The Earth Federation Army, the basic military force of the setting.
Divine Crusaders: The EOTI, mixed with defectors from the EFA. Bian Zoldark essentially sent a huge broadcast across the Earth (after his ally fouled up the EFG's negotiations with the Aerogators), lambasting the EFG and intending to unite the world under
his control to resist the Aerogators. He very nearly succeeded, and the products of this war were quite impressive in the next war - Armoured Module production lines, high-tech mecha, blooded veteran soldiers... However, in the end he was defeated through a headquarters attack performed by the Hagane's complement - the SRX Team, Masaki Ando, Irm Kazahara, and an EFA detachment that ended up getting dragged along. The DC still ended up surviving for a while, though. DC-developed mecha were known by the term 'Armoured Module'.
United Colony Corps: The military force of the colonies, and essentially the 'space' half of the EFA. Rebelled alongside the DC - by taking Columna, the control center for all the spy and communications satellites, they essentially rendered the EFA blind, and proceeded to whup ass all around until the Hiryu Custom came up from Earth. Presumably its commander, Maier Von Branstein, was defeated by the Hiryu's complement - however, I haven't reached that far yet
(Unless you go by anime canon, in which case it was a combination effort by both Hagane and Hiryu Custom that defeated the UCC)
These next three are important for you, since
one of them made your mech.
Mao Industries: The developers of the Gespenst, and numerous other 'Real-Type' PTs. Situated on the Moon, headed by Ring Mao, and damn good. Not only did they make the Personal Trooper a reality, but they did it using human technology, rather than EOT. They don't feel any shame about using EOT though - Mao was the producer of the Huckebein-008, which used a freakishly powerful EOT engine (though ironically, the 008 never ended up seeing production beyond the first prototypes given that one of them blew up and took most of the base with it - the EOT was beyond their abilities to
control)
TLI: I'm not sure what this stands for - it seems to be Tesla Leicht... Labs or Industries, all resources say Labs, yet the lettering suggests otherwise. Regardless, it's so long you're going to know it as TLI anyway. Based in the USA. Now, when people talk about TLI, it's generally prompted by a case of 'WTF? How did a mech DO that?', then answered by 'TLI could do it, if anyone could'. If you have a Super Robot, that seems to defy what a mech could sanely accomplish, TLI built it.
Isurugi Industries: Surprisingly little information is available on these people. In fact, in my current playthrough (the previous was too long ago to remember) mentions them only once, in passing. (Checks out the opening post. Ah, funky)
Military Units
These ones are of varying fame. They were all damn good, but I have no idea how much of a secret the accomplishments of SRX/ATX are.
The Aggressors: An elite pilot team that essentially created the very
foundation of PT tactics and maneuvers. The Aggressors were the best of the best of the friggin best - talented, seasoned, and deadly beyond reason. The Aggressors are like a household name in the military - the members aren't as famous individually as the team itself was, but a bit of research can probably turn them up. The team's date of formation is unknown, but they were active at least a few years past the hit of Meteor 3. The team ended up disbanding, and its members all proceeded further in the EFA - they are all presently Majors: Elzam Von Branstein, Tempest Hawker (deceased), Sanger Zonvolt, Gilliam Yaeger, and Kai Kitamura. (The legal status of Elzam and Sanger is unknown)
SRX Team/ATX Team: A pair of test teams created to run mechs through trials - both competing to pick the next production model, and trying to develop weapons viable to take on the Aerogators. The main distinguishing factor between the two was their use of EOT - ATX was almost exclusively equipped with human technology (barring the Tesla Drive installed in Weissritter - military reasons, and the designer bitched about it something fierce), while SRX made gratuitous use of EOT. Both teams of test pilots were eventually thrown into real combat, though, due to the DC War and Aerogators - they ended up distinguishing themselves as among the best the planet had to offer. ATX was a relatively stable group of military officers commanded by Sanger Zonvolt: Kyosuke Nanbu, Excellen Browning, and Brooklyn Luckfield. SRX was a wild mix under Major Ingram Prisken: Ryusei Date, a civilian enlisted; Aya Kobayashi, technically their field leader, and part of a research team; and Raidiese F Branstein, a former UCC pilot.
Mecha
Gespenst Mk II: The regular mass production mech. You can consider it the 'basic'. Very effective on its
own, however when you compare it to the high-end prototypes and almost anything else in the game, it fades to obscurity. Solid performance, cheap, reliable.
Gespenst Mk II TT: A variant of the Gespenst Mk II equipped with the T-Link System for psychic pilots, and the 'T-Link Ripper', a pair of telekinetically-controlled razor disks. Not much better than the basic Mk II, it's primary value is for training purposes.
Lion: The DC's standard-issue AM. Mass-produced, and while it wasn't a scratch on the high-end mecha, this thing walked around
owning the EFA's regular forces. They had this thing mass-produced like the Gespenst Mk II, against which... It mounted stronger weapons, was more agile, a tad better-armoured, and more to the point, mounted a Tesla Drive so it could
fly. And the DC ended up producing three distinct production runs of this thing, the last of which could potentially fight one of the crazy prototypes.
Barrelion: Think the A-10 Thunderbolt. For this sucker, the DC basically stripped agility and speed, and slapped a lot of slabs of armour onto an artillery cannon, then gave it legs and a Tesla Drive (yes, somewhat embarrassingly, even
this thing can fly). It's a slug, but it's not meant for fighting mecha, it's meant to take on battleships, serving as a mobile artillery cannon. And this thing was what prompted me, with the return of the Lions to the enemy's board, to celebrate 'the return of the mechs that actually fucking DIE!'
Guarlion: An elite-forces mech. Amped up in all respects from the Lion, and added to that it was piloted by elites anyway. Orders of magnitude more dangerous because of that.
Schutzwald: A rather antique mech, to be honest. A PT developed after the Mk I Gespenst, intended for artillery purposes. It ended up too expensive for mass production though, and the test units were scattered around - one was handled by Rai Branstein of SRX as a training machine, another was pressed into service by a 'dammit-I'm-supposed-to-be-an-engineer' from Mao Industries, Radha Byraban. It's a tough machine, but rather sluggish. Its battle performance was a lot better than the machine itself should've had, because it was piloted by real characters rather than mooks
Gespenst Mk II R: Tuned-up and customized from the original frame. Here's where we get into the 'high-end' range. The armour's beefed, and the thing's agility reaches up into the 'fighter' level now, as well as superiour speed and terrain performance. Added to the fact that the main people who pilot these are
Aggressors, and it's unbelievable. The only sample given in the game was serial number 007-01, the
original Gespenst Mk II, piloted by Gilliam Yaeger.
Alteisen: ATX's first prototype - its creator insisted on calling it Gespenst Mk III, and it essentially was a customized Gespenst. All-around superiour to the Mk II - faster, more agile... And its
concept was toughness and firepower. Its armour is ranging up into the 'light battleship' category. And its guns are scary in close range - even its normal autocannon was superiour to the standard-issue M-79 autorifle, and its main weapons were an obscenely strange 'Revolver Stake' mounted on the right arm (shove it in, and a cartridge blasts it further in to exacerbate the damage), and a pair of 'Heavy Claymores' (as in claymore mines, mecha-scale) on the shoulders. The unit's balance was horrible though, only Kyosuke Nanbu could really get anything out of it.
Weissritter: ATX's second prototype, intended for aerial performance, agility, and snipery. Even more agile than the Mk II R, and scary kinds of fast. Initially intended to achieve its flight capability through thrusters due to its developers distaste for EOT, but for combat-performance reasons and the DC war which had just started, it was instead mounted with a miniaturized Tesla Drive. Then there's the snipery -
that all came from the Oxtongue Rifle it carries. Scarily long range, and it mounts both a powerful beam mode and solid rounds, enabling it to get the best performance at whatever range it happened to be fighting at. Unfortunately, all of this had a cost, and its armour is in fact weaker even than the normal Gespenst. Piloted by Excellen Browning.
Huckebein Mk II: Uncertain whether this was intended to be an ATX prototype or not, however it ended up as the primary unit of Brooklyn Luckfield of ATX. A Mao Industries prototype making use of EOT. Though it doesn't mount the freakish engine of the original Huckebein (it uses a nuclear fusion one instead, which produces
less power, yet is more stable technology), it does make use of EOT in gravitational control - forming a gravity wall to deflect enemy attacks, and a 'G-Impact Cannon' of very impressive artillery power. Scarily good. Weapons aside, the Huck Mk II is equal to the agility of
Weissritter, not quite as fast, but a great deal tougher (closer to Alteisen than the Gespenst). Even aside from its powerful weapons and friggin force field. Three were created - one was in testing by the EFA, one was stolen by the UCC (what happened to that one is thus far unknown), and the last was given to Luckfield.
Grungust Type 0: This thing was
sick. The initial prototype Grungust, further modified for ATX and piloted by its team leader, Sanger Zonvolt. Optimized for melee combat. It mounts a generator used on
warships. It packs enough power in its back-mounted thrusters to propel
this (380 metric ton) monster all the way out of the atmosphere and into space. And its primary weapon is a sword
eighty-two meters long! The damn thing requires rocket engines on the blade just to use it properly.
R-Gun: Built by Mao Industries on the Moon. An SRX prototype - a sweet mech, fast and powerful, with heavy-duty attacks. Initially required the T-Link system simply to operate, but was later modified - now it only requires T-Link for its defence shield. It's actually a transformation-type - its PT mode is a secondary one, the 'real' form is as a gun for the SRX Super Robot. Even its secondary form is scary - it packs agility equal to Weissritter, toughness equal to Alteisen, and some obscenely strong weaponry. The only 'internal' weapon is its Metal Destroyer mode - it is capable of turning itself into its gun form and firing itself at targets, obscenely powerful. Everything else is hardpoint-mounted or carried in the hands. The test pilot for this machine while it was in development at Mao was Viletta Vadim, who also piloted it throughout the DC war. It later made it to its intended regular pilot, Ingram Prisken, for the Aerogater war.
Grungust: A TLI flagship mech, and nearly the 'standard' Super Robot. The damn thing is a walking tank, almost unscratcheable, with freakishly powerful close-in weapons. It also had the ability to switch between forms - a flight form (hellishly slow) and an on-the-ground tank form. Piloted by Irm Kazahara. And yes, he had to call out its attacks - 'Hyper Blaster', an honest-to-god Boost Knuckle...
Wildraubtier: Variable PT, built by Mao Industries on the moon. Switches between mecha and fighter forms. Developed as an attempt to fill the role of aerial PT. Most noted for its early-phase lack of safety, including an accident wherein its initial test pilot, Kyosuke Nanbu, was severely wounded - difficult to balance, and particularly unstable during transformations. However, the Wildraubtier's next pilot, Ryusei Date, never experienced an accident. Ryusei piloted it as a stopgap measure for live combat in the DC war while his intended machine was being developed - his Gespenst TT had been utterly trashed by Shu Shirakawa's Granzon.
Giganscudo: Probably one of the first mecha ever developed. This thing was built and in service even before the PT was designed. It's an antique, and definitely in the class of a Super Robot. It was designed for defence - its arms are mounting massive shields. This thing took a blow from the Grungust Type 0's sword (which is designed to cleave battleships), and both the Gigan and the sword were crippled from it. It's the toughest-armoured machine in the game, and apparently also mounts some form of defensive field. Sluggish, but powerful short-range attacks. Rather astoundingly, it can compete head-to-head with more modern mecha, even the high-level prototypes. It's got a lot of 'firsts' to it, and a lot of history. A lot of rather dark history - referred to as 'The devil that triggered the Hope Incident' (said incident isn't detailed very much, but presumably it was suitably horrible), and 'A tough but cursed shield'. The colonists hate and demonize this thing, and almost everyone is reluctant and mildly superstitious about it (partially because of how it
should be outdated). Eventually, it was pressed into service for the DC war, mounted with a Tesla Drive (so yes, this thing - eighty meters tall - can fly), and driven right into combat by Tasuku Shinguji.
Non-Mecha Units
Type-79 Waldung: The standard issue tank. It's probably pretty good in normal battles, but against high-end prototype mecha, it ends up as rather unspectacular.
F-28 Messer: The EFA's standard fighter model. Very frigging agile, but also very frigging fragile. Not much more to say about it. It's fast, serves as an effective interceptor/dogfighter, and if handled by a good pilot can be godlike. However, similar levels of agility can be achieved in some PTs, and if
those are handled by a good pilot they end up even more obscenely dangerous.
SF-29 Rangzen: The standard-issue space fighter, used by both the EFA (its limited space arm) and the UCC. Similar in performance to the F-28, but it equips beam weapons primarily rather than missiles, since it doesn't have to worry about blooming. It still has hardpoints that can mount other things, though.
F-32 Schwert: A fighter that had not been released for combat use yet. However, the DC mass-produced it, and made extensive use of it during their revolt. ... When one looks at its stats in the game, it's actually inferior to the F-28 (understandable, given that you see real
characters in F-28s, not F-32s). You might do better to presume it is in fact vastly superiour
Taussendfussler: The EFA's primary transport craft. Nicknamed the T3 for obvious reasons. Appears to work either in space or air, though whether it can make it out of the atmosphere itself is unknown. Largely unarmed, slow, not even slightly agile. Because those aren't the point. It's friggin huge, though - this thing is a
plane that can carry at least one
large mech.
Space Noah: A high-level space battlecarrier class. Damn powerful, and hell, this thing can achieve spaceflight on its
own, with no need for a rocket pad. Also, quite capable of coasting along in the atmosphere, and even serving as a submarine. Only three were produced. Shirogane, the first, was blown to hellandgone by Dr Shu Shirakawa's OMGWTF mech, the Granzon, while he disrupted the Aerogator negotiations on behalf of the DC. The Hagane, mounting a powerful Tronium Cannon, was pressed into service and still flies to this day as SRX's flagship. The Kurogane was stolen by the DC, captained by Elzam Von Branstein (who, in his apparent fetish, even called
it 'Trombe', as he does anything he pilots) at the battle of Aidoneus Island
against the Hagane, then against the Aerogaters
alongside the Hagane, and I have no idea what ended up happening to it.
Hiryu Custom: Initially created as the first space expedition ship, for purposes of exploration and going boldly where no man has gone before - that was the Hiryu. However, it encountered Aerogator bugs around Pluto in SE 179, and was owned. It later was rebuilt into a high-grade battlecarrier - the Hiryu Custom.
Killer Whale: A DC-developed heavy transport submarine.
Rhinoceros: A DC land battleship. This thing is simply used for artillery support, mainly - it's not even slightly agile, its weapons aren't really precise enough to target sanely-sized land forces... However, it packs a lot of power. And by not having to make the damn thing
fly, they can make it a lot cheaper than multi-environment battleships like the Space Noahs and Hiryu.
Peregrine: A UCC space battleship. Sadly, anything further I could say for it will fade against the pwnzage of the Hagane and Hiryu Custom
Except, it's cheap enough that there exists more than one to three.
There is no problem that cannot be solved through the proper application of immense levels of firepower.
- Finally promoted to Spammaster Indeterminate Rank as of June 18, by Stratagemini
<Stratagemini> My Titanium Anus Armour will repel all challengers!
Would you believe this is one of the more tame bits of dirt I've got for him?