Kraken Submersible Assault Carrier

[slappy]

My original post got deleted, so here is the new and improved War Mount Super Sub.

Kraken

When the Machine decided to purge humanity from the face of the planet, humans had to go underground in order to survive. The massive caverns and abandoned sewer lines they currently call home provide excellent protection from the Machine, but they have never been one hundred percent safe. The Machine has millions of Cable Snakes, Ratbombs, Sewer Prowlers, and other robot drones constantly scouring every conceivable hiding spot in an endless hunt for human prey. Like everyone in the Resistance, the Librarians of House Artemis realized that the safest place on the planet was under the waves of the Great Ocean, so they struggled for years to design an enormous bio-tech creature that could not only house all the humans of House Artemis safely within the ocean’s depths but one that was also mobile. They tried for years to modify a Seedling so that it could survive without the structural support of thick rock walls, but all attempts ended in failure.

Michelangelo, the Second Librarian of House Artemis, realized these designs would never succeed and decided to fabricate his own creature from scratch. He did not just want an undersea creature that was mobile; he wanted one that could defend itself with ease, like the mighty War Mounts of the Resistance. Any Librarian could have created the basic design, but Michelangelo engineered a brilliant modification that allowed his Kraken War Mount to grow to its current size. While it is the largest War Mount in existence, it did not reach the proportions Michelangelo was hoping for. He originally hoped the Kraken (or several similar War Mounts) would be large enough to hold thousands of people in spacious conditions, but this War Mount stopped growing at one tenth its anticipated size. While the experiments to create a mobile home for the entire Artemis House continue, the Kraken is being dedicated to the war effort as an enormous underwater assault carrier.

An elite company of 400 Splicers travel all across the planet within this gargantuan War Mount providing support to any Great House willing to except their aid. The Machine owns the land, but the Kraken rules the sea. It can rise from the depths and decimate the Machine’s shoreline defenses, release its payload of warriors, and then disappear below the waves before the Machine can mount any type of response. Only the Ishtar personality realizes what a danger this War Mount truly represents. If the humans ever manufactured more of these, they could easily turn the tide of the war. She hopes a stunning defeat of their cherished creation would discourage them from expending the resources to build another. Unfortunately, Ishtar cannot mount any kind of worthwhile attack against the Kraken. The aerial units are the only robots that can even threaten the Kraken, but once the battle drops below the surface of the Great Ocean, they are as useless as any other minion. Ishtar has convinced Hecate to build some robot designs that would be more effective underwater combatants, but so far they are all proving to be just too fragile once their armor is breached.

Aside from its size, the Kraken War Mount is a unique and ingenious design. The basic shape is that of a gigantic turtle, but instead of using four flippers for propulsion, the Kraken forces water through organic thrusters like some kind of underwater jet engine. The method of propulsion is also the Kraken’s main source of nutrition. All water sucked into the intakes goes through a filtration system that removes microscopic plankton and other sea creatures so they can be digested. When the Bridge Crew wants to gorge the War Mount before a battle, they can make the Kraken attack and devour other sea creatures (up to the size of a blue whale) through its giant maw, but the continuous intake through the organic thrusters provides more than enough food on a daily basis. The perimeter of the body is lined with thirty-six smaller tentacles and two large tentacles are mounted on either side of the head. The two main tentacles can extend to a length of over 1200 feet and are 50 feet wide at the base. The Kraken can grab and crush even the largest war machines with these enormous tentacles or impale them with a 20-foot long bone spike mounted on the tip. The three dozen “smaller” tentacles that run around the length of the body are each over 300 feet long and are 20 feet wide at the base.

The dorsal side of the Kraken is a twenty-foot thick turtle shell that provides tremendous defensive protection. The surface is rough and uneven like a jagged mountain ridge colored in a mixture of browns and greens to provide camouflage from overhead flybys. When the Kraken retracts its head and tentacles and sits perfectly still on the surface of the ocean, even the high-tech optics of the Machine will often mistake this enormous War Mount for a small, barren island. However, this illusion is quickly ruined when the Kraken extends its monstrous head and powerful tentacles from beneath its armored shell.

The Kraken is called a War Mount for a reason. Michelangelo did not design this mighty beast to sneak around unseen; he designed the Kraken so that it would have the power to obliterate an entire division of robots. The back is covered with nearly one thousand Organic Rockets plus dozens of Casting Cannons, Acid Cannons, Napalm Launchers, and Spore Dischargers. These bio-weapon emplacements are used to bombard the shoreline defenses of the Machine from afar before the Kraken disgorges its complement of troopers. Soldiers can either exit through a large hatch just behind the neck, or for rapid deployment, Splicers can actually be launched like a cannonball from one of ten extendable pseudo-pods. These launch tubes can only fire one passenger at a time, but it can accommodate a being of any size, from a human to a Dracos with rider.

A War Mount as large and complex as the Kraken cannot be piloted by a lone Outrider. Michelangelo created an ingenious solution to this problem. Unfortunately, it requires that a team of four humans sacrifice their humanity and permanently bond with the War Mount. This group is known as the Bridge Crew. The Kraken is able to combine their individual brains into effectively one mind. Their combined mental power allows them to monitor all activities within the War Mount as well as operate all weapon systems. The Kraken is the most heavily armed and armored War Mount in the Resistance, but it is the brilliant strategies composed by this hivemind that makes the Kraken so deadly.

Class: Submersible Assault Carrier
Crew: 4 pilots permanently bound to the War Mount
Troop Capacity: Standard complement of 400 human warriors, but the War Mount can comfortably accommodate another 100 passengers (250 passengers under cramped conditions). All Splicers from the Great House Artemis are elite soldiers. Here is the current breakdown of the soldiers on board:
• Dreadguards 40%
• Outriders 17%
• Archangels 21%
• Packmasters 8%
• Falconers 4%
• Skinjobs 10%
• 1 Engineer
• 1 Saint
M.D.C. by Location:
• Main Tentacles (2): 3700 each
• Secondary Tentacles (36): 1900 each
• Organic Rockets (986): 20 each
• Casting Howitzer Cannons (4): 200 each
• Casting Cannons (10): 100 each
• Long-Range Spore Dischargers (15): 100 each
• Napalm Launchers (10): 150 each
• Acid Cannons (10): 150 each
• Kamikaze Launch Tubes (6): 400 each
• Underwater Thrusters (2): 7500 each
• Main Hatch: 4800
• Head: 9300*
• Main Body: 29,000**
• Underbelly: 17,200**

*Destroying the head will not kill the Kraken. The “brain” of the Kraken is actually the Bridge Crew that dwells deep within the belly of the beast.

**Both of these values represent the M.D.C. of the Main Body. The Kraken is more heavily armored on its back, so it can absorb greater amounts of damage before being destroyed. Depleting the M.D.C. of either value will kill the Kraken. Its outer skin will be breached and the War Mount will take on water and sink. The main hatch and pseudo-pods are designed to automatically open when the Kraken is killed to give any passengers a chance to escape.

Speed:
Running: Not possible.
Leaping: Not possible.
Digging: 40 mph. It takes 2D4 minutes to dig a hole large enough for concealment within the ocean floor.
Swimming: 100 mph
Underwater Depth: 3 miles
Flying: Not possible.

Statistical Data:
Height: 280 feet
Width: 470 feet
Length: 820 feet
Weight: 125,000 tons.
Cargo: Can store 20,000 tons of cargo plus has room for over one hundred War Mounts. Here is the current stock of War Mounts:
• 6 Behemoths
• 9 Dracos
• 11 Zephyrs
• 10 Grendels
• 22 Striders
• 14 Leviathans
• 13 Tunnel Rats
• 15 Mantis Support Cannons
• 8 Marauders
• 40 Black Talon War Hawks
• 120 Gorehounds
Physical Strength: 70
Production Cycle: 20 year gestation period plus 50 year growth cycle until maturity
Operational Lifetime: 200 years
Bio-Regeneration Rate: 4D8x10 per melee round
Horror Factor: 15
Feeding: Kraken is a Carnivorous War Mount. It needs to eat 50 tons of animal matter a day. Most of this nutrition is gathered from microscopic plankton filtered out from the water as it passes through the underwater thrusters, but the Kraken can chose to gorge on any creature up to the size of a blue whale through its giant maw.
Color: The back and head of the War Mount is a mottled mixture of green and brown colors with a light tan under-belly.
Sleep Requirements: As an artificially created organism, the Kraken only requires 4 hours of sleep per day.

Other Data:
Alignment: Principled. The Bridge Crew was chosen from some of the noblest champions within House Artemis. They work together as one mind to protect the troops under their command, strike against the Machine, and liberate all humans suffering under her tyranny. They will only sacrifice people if it is absolutely necessary. Otherwise, they will explore any possible strategy to safeguard the lives of all humans. This seems like a weakness, but the brilliant hivemind formed by this bond allows the Bridge Crew to process options and decide on the best course of action almost instantly. The collective consciousness that pilots the Kraken is as valuable a resource to the Resistance as the Kraken itself.
War Mount Attributes: I.Q.: 27, M.E.: 22, M.A.: 24, P.S.: 70, P.P.: 10, P.E.: 30, P.B.: 9, Spd.: 100 mph.
Number of Attacks per Melee: 20 (up to three bio-weapons of any combination can be fired as a single volley)
Combat Bonuses: +6 on initiative, +7 to strike, +7 to parry, doge not possible, +2 to disarm, +4 to pull punch, +3 to save vs. psionics, +45% to save vs. coma/death, +8 to save vs. magic, critical strike on an unmodified 18-20, paired weapons, +7 to strike with long range bio-weapons
Combat Capabilities:
• Restrained Main Tentacle Strike: 9D6
• Full Strength Main Tentacle Strike: 4D6x10
• Main Tentacle Bone Blade Strike: 5D6x10+50
• Crush with Main Tentacle: 1D12x10 per melee
• Power Main Tentacle Strike: 1D6x100, but counts as two attacks
• Restrained Secondary Tentacle Strike: 5D6
• Full Strength Secondary Tentacle Strike: 3D4x10
• Crush with Secondary Tentacle: 1D8x10 per melee
• Power Secondary Tentacle Strike: 4D6x10+10, but counts as two attacks
• Bite: 1D8x100, but there is a 30% chance that metallic debris will lodge in the mouth and trigger a Nano-Plague response.
• Body Block/Ram: 4D6x10+60, but counts as two attacks

Senses and Features:
• Advanced Sight: Can see clearly at distances up to one mile, also possesses passive nightvision 6000 feet, and polarized vision.
• Sound Amplifying Hearing: Can hear a whisper at 300 feet (1200 feet underwater).
• Sense of taste and smell is about one hundred times as acute as humans.
• The War Mount automatically can sense magnetic north.
• The War Mount has built in gills which pass on enough oxygen for the Bridge Crew and all passengers. Carbon Dioxide released from the passengers is funneled into the food processing room where it is used to grow the bio-engineered fungus that feeds all the passengers. Enough food is grown on a daily basis to feed all humans and War Mounts onboard.
• Crew Quarters: There are enough beds for 500 human passengers (although they are quite compact). Each bed is topped with a thick pad of fatty tissue that acts as a rather comfortable mattress. They are grouped into 8 barracks rooms containing 58 beds each and one larger barracks room with 36 beds for all the officers.
• War Mount Corral: An enormous room for storing War Mounts. They spend most of their time in cramped, individual pens. However, they do get to leave their holding cages each day for a walk around the Exercise Track.
• Gorehound Kennel: This room is dedicated to housing the Gorehounds. Each Packmaster has an individual cage for his hounds. Each cage is actually quite roomy plus there is a communal area in the middle to let the multiple packs mingle. This means all the Gorehounds on board are more willing to accept commands from a different Packmaster and will easily join another pack if their Packmaster is killed.
• Black Talon Aviary: This spacious room is nearly as large as the Gorehound Kennel. It is shared by the Black Talon War Hawks and their Falconer Masters. The room is actually larger than necessary because these moody little War Hawks expect to be treated as equals by humans, and they demand “adequate” living quarters. In truth, the humans have to sleep in much more cramped conditions, but the intelligent war birds seem to glance over this fact. Like with the Gorehounds, the communal living arrangement means that Black Talons that lose their Falconer will quickly adopt another one as their leader.
• Nursery: This large room houses the two onboard Engineers with plenty of space for their staff of ten human assistants and all the maturing organic technology and War Mounts that they care for.
• Exercise Track: A large tunnel runs around the perimeter of the Kraken. It is primarily used as an exercise track for the War Mounts and humans, but if the outer wall of the Kraken is ever breached, this will be the first line of defense against the invaders. This is where the hyper-active Striders spend most of their time, since they hate being penned up in the War Mount Corral.
• 10 Pseudo-pod Ejection Tubes: Ten rapid deployment ejection tubes are located at various points along the top of the Kraken’s back. They are primarily used to quickly launch Archangel defenders into the skies. The tubes are completely hidden until extended, and they can be aimed in nearly any direction. Only one soldier can be deployed through each tube at one time, but it only takes one melee round to fire one trooper and load up another to be fired the next round. The pseudo-pod can adjust to accommodate any size passenger from a Dracos down to an unarmored human. Of course, anyone fired from one of these pseudo-pods will be flying through the air at 200 mph, so it is best to have some sort of protection (or flight capabilities). The launch tubes can fire troopers up to 1500 feet.
• Bio-Comms: Organic resonators create sympathetic vibrations that other bio-comm units can translate. The communications are undecipherable to the machines. Each room has its own bio-comm that allows communication with any chamber within the War Mount or externally up to a maximum range of 6 miles.
• Radar: Maximum range is 6 miles, but it can only be used on the surface of the ocean.
• Sonar: Maximum range is 2000 feet.
• Super Regeneration: Regenerates 4D8x10 per melee. Can regenerate lost bio-weapons within 2D4 hours, secondary tentacles within 6D6 hours, main tentacles within 10D6 hours, and can even regenerate the head after 4D4 weeks.
• Circadian Rhythms: Allows the Bridge Crew to stay awake for 4 days straight without ill effect, and they can recover from days of sleep deprivation after only 10 hours of sleep.
• Enhanced Operational Lifetime
• Enhanced Neurological Connections
• Floating Air Bladder: Increases depth tolerance to 10,000 feet. In the alternative, the War Mount can float effortlessly on the surface of the water indefinitely.
• Reinforced Exoskeleton

Bio-Weapon Systems:
1. Kamikaze Launch Tubes (6): Each of these launch tubes contain one Kamikaze Organic Cruise Missile. The tubes sit empty during peacetime so these organic missiles do not starve to death while they wait for action. Seconds before the missile is fired, hidden tendrils emerge from the walls of the launch tube to sever the Kamikaze’s blindfold and restraints. Once prepared, a powerful muscle contraction fires the missile from the tube. This method helps propel the Kamikaze Missile through the water and into the air where it takes flight on its own. They can be fired from a maximum depth of 200 feet below the surface. Another advantage of launching Kamikazes from these tubes is they allow the Bridge Crew to mentally issue targeting commands. The War Mount is fed an image of the target to get it excited and aggressive plus what direction to travel and how far to go. This preprogrammed “firing solution” keeps the Kamikaze on track and focused on the preferred target. Even if a higher priority target comes into view, there is only a 10% chance that the War Mount will break off its initial pursuit to chase down the new robot. This firing method is also the only way to make Kamikaze Cruise Missiles attack large buildings like Industrial Centers and Robot Repositories. It is still difficult to keep it on track against non-robotic structures. If a high priority target comes within visual range, there is a 35% chance that it will attack the robot instead of a building.
Primary Purpose: Assault
Secondary Purpose: Anti-Building
Mega-Damage: 1D4x1000 with a blast radius of 100 feet.
Effective Range: Can travel 1000 miles before needing to rest, but they will come across a robot and attack it long before then.
Rate of Fire: One at a time or in volleys of 2, 4, or 6.
Payload: 1 missile is stored in each launch tube for a total of 6. It takes one melee round to reload a launch tube. 30 mature Kamikaze Cruise Missiles are stored in the War Mount Corral and 50 are currently growing in the Nursery (1D4 reach maturity every other week).
Bonuses: +2 on initiative and +2 to strike. These are in addition to the standard bonuses Kamikaze Cruise Missiles already possess.
2. Organic Rockets (986): The enormous shell of the Kraken is covered in almost one thousand Organic Rockets. They are not arranged in any sort of pattern on the camouflaged rock-textured shell, so it is nearly impossible to locate the Organic Rockets unless one inspects the surface of the Kraken up close. Each rocket has its own independent neurological bundle and a single eye mounted in the nose. This allows the rocket to see and track its target. If the rocket misses, it will continue to track its target until it strikes, is shot down, or until it dies after 2D4 melees. The rocket has one attack per melee as it hunts down its prey.
Primary Purpose: Bombardment
Secondary Purpose: Defense
Mega-Damage: 5D10 damage with a 20-foot blast radius.
Effective Range: 2 miles.
Rate of Fire: One at a time or in volleys of any amount (the Bridge Crew rarely fires volleys of more than 10 at any one target).
Payload: 986 rockets, it takes 6D6 hours to regrow spent rockets.
Bonuses: +5 to strike and dodge.
3. Casting Howitzer Cannons (4): Scattered all across the Kraken’s back are dozens of organic spires that look like barren, lifeless trees. They help add to the Kraken’s disguise as a small desolate island, but they serve a more important function. Each of these spires is actually a powerful long-range howitzer cannon capable of firing various types of munitions. Each cannon has a dedicated ammo feed, which makes them incapable of changing ammunition types. Four of the larger cannons fire enormous casting shells filled with a powerful explosive. They are primarily used to bombard shoreline defenses before the Kraken’s troops storm the beach. Concentrated fire from these howitzers can bring down a Sentry Tower or clear out platoons of enemy forces.
Primary Purpose: Bombardment
Secondary Purpose: Assault
Mega-Damage: 4D4x10+40 damage per individual round with a blast radius of 40 feet.
Effective Range: 11,000 feet.
Rate of Fire: Up to three weapons of any combination can be fired at one time. Each volley counts as one melee attack.
Payload: Each Casting Howitzer holds 30 shells for a total of 120 rounds. The War Mount can produce one replacement shell per cannon every 3D6 minutes.
Bonuses: +2 to strike.
4. Napalm Launchers (10): Ten of the long-range organic howitzers fire shells filled with a sticky, long-lived napalm. The five-foot wide shells explode on impact, showering a 20-foot radius with deadly flames. They are rather useless against water-based targets (even though the flames are not doused by water) and aerial units (too hard to strike), so they are almost exclusively used against shoreline defenses. The act of shattering the hard outer casing of the shell ignites the napalm.
Primary Purpose: Bombardment
Secondary Purpose: Assault
Mega-Damage: 3D8 damage to a 20-foot radius. The fire burns for 2D6 melees.
Effective Range: 11,000 feet.
Rate of Fire: Up to three weapons of any combination can be fired at one time. Each volley counts as one melee attack.
Payload: Each Napalm Launcher holds 15 shells for a total of 150 rounds. The War Mount can produce one replacement shell per cannon every 4D6 minutes.
Bonuses: +2 to strike.
5. Acid Cannons (10): The remaining organic howitzers fire shells filled with a powerful organic acid. The five-foot wide shells explode on impact, showering a 40-foot radius with a deadly corrosive liquid. They are rather useless against water-based targets (The acid dilutes almost immediately) and aerial units (too hard to strike), so they are almost exclusively used against shoreline defenses.
Primary Purpose: Bombardment
Secondary Purpose: Assault
Mega-Damage: Inflicts 4D8 per melee round to inorganic matter and only 1D4 S.D.C. damage to organic matter. The acid burns for 1D4+2 melees.
Effective Range: 11,000 feet.
Rate of Fire: Up to three weapons of any combination can be fired at one time. Each volley counts as one melee attack.
Payload: Each Acid Cannon holds 20 shells for a total of 200 rounds. The War Mount can produce one replacement shell per cannon every 3D6 minutes.
Bonuses: +2 to strike.
6. Casting Cannons (10): Smaller organic cannons are mounted sporadically across the Kraken’s back. They are primarily used to defend against aerial attackers. The cannons can rotate to attack a target at any angle, but they cannot arch downward enough to attack robots that land on the Kraken’s back (unless the robot is standing right next to the cannon).
Primary Purpose: Defense
Secondary Purpose: Assault
Mega-Damage: 6D8 damage per individual round or 2D8x10 per four round burst.
Effective Range: 3000 feet.
Rate of Fire: Up to three weapons of any combination can be fired at one time. Each volley counts as one melee attack.
Payload: Each Casting Cannon holds 60 rounds for a total of 600 rounds. The War Mount can produce one replacement round per cannon every 2D4 melees.
Bonuses: +3 to strike.
7. Long-Range Spore Dischargers (15): A number of Long-Range Spore Discharges are mounted on the shell of the Kraken. These relatively small tusk-like protrusions can rotate to attack any target within a 360 degree arc. They fire metal eating spores suspended in a liquid medium. The spores do not inflict any damage to organic tissue, so they are primarily used to safely strike at robots that land on the back of the Kraken. Their increased range also allows them to strike aerial forces and to rain deadly spores onto large concentrations of shoreline defenders.
Primary Purpose: Defense
Secondary Purpose: Assault
Mega-Damage: 4D8 to an 80-foot radius for the initial attack plus 1D8 each melee for an additional 3D4 melees.
Effective Range: 2400 feet.
Rate of Fire: Up to three weapons of any combination can be fired at one time. Each volley counts as one melee attack.
Payload: Effectively unlimited.
Bonus: +3 to strike.
8. Hydro-Cutter Beams (10): Mounted around the perimeter of the Kraken, just above the tentacles, are nearly a dozen high-powered Hydro-Cutter Beams. They are primarily used to engage underwater targets, but they can fire at targets just above the surface.
Primary Purpose: Defense
Secondary Purpose: Assault
Mega-Damage: 3D4x10.
Effective Range: 800 feet above water (only 300 feet underwater).
Rate of Fire: Only one Hydro-Cutter Beam can engage a single target at a time. Equal to the number of attacks per melee.
Payload: Effectively unlimited.
Special Damage: If a robot’s main body M.D.C. is reduced to below 40 percent, the Hydro-Cutter Beam has penetrated the robot, maybe causing a short circuit as follows:
01-30% Target lucked out. No additional problems or side effects.
31-50% Temporary short circuit, sensors momentarily blink out and sparks fly. It snaps back online 1D4 seconds later, but the target loses the initiative and one melee action.
51-60% All weapon systems are temporarily out and there total failure in the targeting systems. One comes back online in 1D4 melees. Penalty: -2 to strike, parry, and disarm even in hand to hand combat.
61-80% Communications, radar, and targeting are fried, but weapon systems are okay. Must rely on optical targeting and cannot call for reinforcements. Penalty: -3 to strike, -2 to parry and dodge, as well as no initiative.
81-00% All systems are temporarily out and the robot is paralyzed and completely defenseless. Comes back online 1D4 melee rounds later.

[NMI]

Color version of The Kraken

[GhostKnight]

Nice! Love the pick too. Do you have a larger one?

[NMI]

Nice! Love the pick too. Do you have a larger one?

not my art. i didnt draw it. Chuck Walton did.

[taalismn]

Nice brooding color palatte...

[NMI]

For more of Chuck Walton's work, check out - http://madjaguar.deviantart.com/gallery/

[Premier]

Nice! Love the pick too. Do you have a larger one?

u..rang...
http://madjaguar.deviantart.com/art/The ... -105358942

just double click the image for best results. you want be disappointed

[Aramanthus]

Very nice! I like that mount! Thank you for reposting it! And thank you NMI for the link to the pic!