Brain Chargers

Brain Chargers
Type	Supersoldier Unit
Allegiance	The Kingdom of Edolas (T.K.O.E)
Branch	Royal Edolas Special Forces
Equipment	VAJRA MK VII Powered Assault Armor, Artificial Intelligence.
Wars	Dark Brotherhood Wars, First Shadow War, Crescanian Civil War.
Commanders	Field Marshal Asura, Brigadier General Riku, Colonel Alexander Anderson.

The Brain Chargers, originally known as the Gravity Children, were part of a program to cure what was seen as a genetic deficiency in Ventus; the lack of a desire to fly. This soon changed to an effort to produce elite soldiers through mechanical and biological augmentation once the potential of these 'genetically deficient' children were found. The Gravity Children program would be the first attempt to meld advanced exoskeleton technology with the soldiers' superior physiques; thus creating the perfect soldiers to aid in ensuring peace across the galaxy.

History

Origins

In the millennia following the end of the Great Daimao War, Edolas began noticing a persistent thorn in it's side; the Dark Brotherhood. Due to the secrecy and strength of the organization fighting against it using conventional means proved ineffective, and using regular spec-ops forces did not pan out well either. It was soon after, when the Dark Brotherhood began taking over cities on Extalia, that Edolas decided a Supersoldier program -taking from earlier Supersoldier programs mentioned in Earth history- was necessary. As it so happened, a program by the name of the Gravity Children Program was nearing it's final stages at that time, in it's goal to find a purpose for the so called 'Gravity Children' which had no desire to 'fly'. The desire to fly was ingrained in all Ventus from birth, and to stray away from it so heavily was seen as a massive abnormality.

The researchers found that while Gravity Children had no desire to fly, they made up for this with an enhanced desire to live; and their bodies likewise adapted to this desire. They went far beyond the Ventus averages for strength, agility, and mental capability on nearly all the tests; proving that the Gravity Children were not defects and were, in fact, an evolution. The scientists heading the supersoldier project heard about this almost immediately, and without a second thought began integrating them into their program; which would now be named the Brain Charger Program. The project was created with several goals in mind; the first goal was to create a group of elite soldiers meant to subdue Dark Brotherhood insurrections without substantial military casualties, the second goal was to minimize civilian casualties and avert civil war via stopping problems before they happen, and the third goal was to substantially reduce the cost of conventional means of pacification in order to create peace across the galaxy once FTL travel was invented.

Though conventional body armor had protected Ventus soldiers for millennia, among the Brain Charger project's radical changes involved integrating the subject with a new powered exoskeleton device, designed to help keep its user safe and provide a powerful means of combating enemy forces. The drawback of this new armor was its requirement for augmenting the subject in order for them to use it, effectively turning them into human guinea pigs for the first few subjects.

Despite the tremendous risks, the project got the green light by the Sky King, who concluded that the lives that could be saved far outweighed the risks involved. The project was initially granted funding for 300 candidates, though funding was later granted to create more. 300 suitable candidates had been identified through DNA gathered throughout the empire. The children, all six years old and of both sexes, were found and gaven away by their parents; who gave little love to the abnormal 'Gravity Children' and were only to happy to know that the child would be gaining a purpose; some opposition was met, but eventually most parents agreed that it was for the best. The identities of the Brain Chargers' full names are deleted from all military records, and only Saix and the Sky King have the originals of the secret files that contain the full names.

Training

The Brain Chargers are taken to the colony world Tenroujima, and begin their training under both trained military veterans and Saix himself. To marginalize the civilian lives they had once led, their names become solely their given names, with family names being discarded; this is not a very uncommon practice among Ventus, so not much is thought of it. The Brain Chargers endure a great deal of hardship during their first years of training: being placed into situations and drills that push their abilities to their very limit and beyond. Their hard training is complemented with high-level education, which includes mathematics, science, reading, writing, and military tactics.

Although this training methodology is tough, even brutal in some regards, Saix and the trainers always instill discipline, honor, and respect into the Brain Chargers. They teach the Brain Chargers how to kill, but at the same time teach them the difference between right and wrong. They are trained until, at the age of fourteen, they go through the toughest part of their training: the biological augmentation procedures, which, until more recent times, would kill on average half a quarter of the conscripted children and cripple others who would "wash out" of the program, going on to join military intelligence programs and the like; many did not survived the procedures with no physiological deformities. The bodies of those candidates who died were honored in whatever religious or non-religious ceremony they were inclined to, in honor of their service. Since 1975 ADW, the procedure has been made completely safe and as such has no casualties or 'wash outs'.

Equipment

Project VAJRA

The VAJRA Powered Assault Armor was created in parallel to the project and is among the most technologically advanced piece of hardware in Ventus hands; it can provide a Brain Charger with an incredible amount of protection, speed, and strength all powered by a limited Sakuradite Fusion Generator. The on-board computer system relays basic tactical information including IFF tags, a Motion Tracker, weapons information and health and energy shield level readouts. The VAJRA system is capable of carrying an A.I which can provide tactical data on the fly. While VAJRA Armor has all these advantages, only Brain Chargers are capable of controlling it. The speed and power behind it is to great for a normal soldier. The latest variant, MK VII, is both shielded with Radient Wave Technology and is inner armored with advanced Cilcila armor as well as a titanium alloy outer shell and a layer of hydrostatic gel. In addition, it contains a reactive metal liquid crystal layer sandwiched between the external armor and the internal padding which increases the strength, reaction time, mobility, speed, and all around physical performance of the Brain Charger. Some variants carry plasma swords imbedded in several sockets on the armor, but this is up to personal preference.

Specialized Neural Interface

A specialized version of the Ventus Neural Interface is implanted into the skull of a Brain Charger, this both allows an A.I to be carried on board the VAJRA armor and allows it to limitedly control it's movements to save it from danger; it also provide the neural link between the Brain Charger and the VAJRA armor. Latest variants allow Joint A.Is to be carried, which synchronize and allow for tactical commands to be fluid and useful to situations among the Brain Chargers; greatly increasing their combat lethality. Taking from Unani A.I technology; the A.Is can also modify the biological state of the Brain Charger, preventing bleeding out, fainting, and in extreme cases the sensation of pain itself.

Brain Charger Augmentation Procedures

One of the most essential aspects of the Brain Charger Program is the augmentation procedure that a Brain Charger must endure. The process consists of many injections and surgeries, including serum injections following the events of successful augmentations for several weeks until no longer needed. The process is extensive, with advanced material grafting onto skeletal structures to make bones virtually unbreakable, a protein complex injected intramuscularly to increase tissue density and decrease lactase recovery time, a platinum pellet containing human growth hormone catalyst being implanted in the thyroid to boost growth of skeletal and muscle tissues, submergence and boosted blood vessel flow beneath the rods and cones of the subject's retina producing a marked visual perception increase, and alteration of bioeletrical nerve transduction to shielded electronic transduction for a 300% increase in subject reflexes and a marked increase in intelligence, memory, and creativity.

In addition, the Brain Chargers are subject to extreme mechanical augmentation; replacing and augmenting several bodily functions with cyborg enhancements taken from the technology of several different empires. This pushes their ability beyond regular augmented soldiers, becoming complete bio-mechanical beings with various functions that vary from Brain Charger to Brain Charger. Recently, the Brain Chargers were implanted with a variant of the Blacklight Virus; which worked by "plugging in" and activating the formerly dormant non-encoding regions or 'junk DNA' in a Brain Charger, causing vast biological changes inside the soldier. It acted by affecting the protein encoding regions of the promoter introns in each cell. As a retrovirus, it contained both RNA and the reverse transcriptase enzyme, allowing it to insert its own genetic codes into living cells. It entered, re-purposes and changed the cells; replicating previously dormant non-coding segments of DNA. The full effects of this viral augmentation are unknown, but preliminary tests indicated enhanced reaction speed, enhanced strength and durability, and enhanced healing abilities.

Personel

The Brain Chargers are split into Teams, made by individual Brain Chargers during training (and after, in some cases). Once a Team is given approval by the overseer of the Brain Chargers, it becomes an official part of the Edolas military and is given all the privileges such as personal transport, team barracks, and additional equipment requests. Teams are created only when four or more Brain Chargers agree on name, leadership, and allocation of resources. Some Brain Chargers use this system to request personal customized weaponry, armor modifications, and equipment to aid in their combat lethality. Each request is mulled over by the main A.I of the Brain Chargers Mithra, who decides if the specific Team or Brain Charger actually needs the requested equipment. If it is decided that they do not actually require it, Mithra will instead propose an alternative or explain why it is unnecessary; but this rarely occurs.

The Brain Chargers are mainly overseen by General Asura, a former member of The Guardians; the first Brain Charger Team that has long since disbanded. He currently belongs to no Team, and oversees Brain Charger allocation, training, and facilities. Mithra, his A.I, is the main A.I of the Brain Chargers and handles more mundane matters such as the aforementioned resource allocations. A number of non-Brain Charger personel also oversee the project, but their roles are minimized due to a need for independence and lack of constraints in the Brain Charger Project. Saix also aids in overseeing, often assisting in matters such as construction, resource allocation, and even training.

Brain Chargers

The following is the list of all known Brain Charger personel from the inception of the program to the present day, active and non-active.

Active

• Asura - General and Overseer of the Brain Chargers, former member of The Guardians.
• Yasha - Brain Charger Lieutenant General, former member of The Guardians.
• Deus - Brain Charger Major General, former member of The Guardians.
• Riku - Brain Charger Brigadier General, leader of the Black Knights.
• Simon - Brain Charger Colonel, member of the Black Knights.
• Kuroi - Brain Charger Lieutenant Colonel, member of the Black Knights.
• Erza - Brain Charger Colonel, member of the Black Knights.
• Gray - Brain Charger Lieutenant Colonel, member of the Black Knights.
• Kimblee - Brain Charger Lieutenant Colonel, member of the Black Knights.
• Alexander Anderson - Brain Charger Colonel, leader of Iscariot.
• Heinkel - Brain Charger Lieutenant Colonel, member of Iscariot.
• Enrico - Brain Charger Lieutenant Colonel, member of Iscariot.
• Yumie - Brain Charger Major, member of Iscariot.
• Gaius - Brain Charger Major, leader of Legion.
• Dekimus - Brain Charger Captain, member of Legion
• Octavia - Brain Charger First Lieutenant, member of Legion
• Lydia - Brain Charger First Lieutenant, member of Legion
• Septimius - Brain Charger Captain, member of Legion

Non-Active

• Augus - Former Brain Charger Brigadier General and member of The Guardians, WIA (Wounded In Action) during operations against the Dark Brotherhood.