Editing Republic of the Sphere (section)

== Military ==
Because the RAF was designed as a lean fighting machine with very little mercenary input and few BattleMechs within their borders, one could be forgiven for assuming the RAF was woefully underequipped for the job at hand of keeping all the Great Houses from trying something. And to an extant...it might've been true. This would be however a ''massive'' understatement of what made the RAF special, for while it was much, much smaller than most Inner Sphere armies, it was well-organized, ''extremely'' well-equipped, and well trained. Each Prefecture had three regiments each; a Regiment of Hastati Sentinels (Elite Units), Principes Guards (Armies of the people, beloved by pretty much everybody), and the Triarii Protectors (Named for roman veterans, but in reality a parade unit mostly to help create an integrated and passionate body of soldiers that the other two could call on), supplemented by independant units that were upgraded from Mercenary bands, such as the Corps of Knights or the Northland Highlanders. All of these units were led by Knights and Paladins, and while their actual experience level varied between Prefectures, the sheer preparedness and skill-level was higher than that of some of the very best of the Inner Sphere. In terms of black ops, the Knights of the Republic also operated a sub-branch of deep cover agents known as the Ghost Knights.

Augmenting all of this was the mysterious and secretive Fidelis. Secretly the survivors of [[Clan Smoke Jaguar]], they are an independent branch of the RAF that answered only to the Exarch and swore a blood-oaths to defend Republic space, and in an army of small but elite fighters, these guys were the very elitest of elite. Seven Fidelis Infantrymen could overwhelm and de-pilot an active BattleMech in only a few minutes. They also had a fanatical hatred for any Clanners they encountered (stemming from their betrayal during the Great Refusal) and their aggressiveness at killing them on sight made their Republic allies speculate if they were the [[Clan Wolverine|Minnesota Tribe]]. That's how badass they were.

Most Mechs from the RAF were designs that were either repurposed from blueprints created during the Jihad, or from developments immediately after where the last of ComGuard often left behind valuable LosTech for them to exploit. This, alongside the Republic Institute of Strategic Combat’s aggressive if risky R&D into hybridizing the best samples of ClanTech and SpheroidTech (particularly ComGuard and Blakist gear) churned out experimental wargear that often surprised the Republic’s enemies in combat. Most notable among the Republic's stock were the first major adoptions of drone technology into BattleMechs, allowing the Republic to minimalize pilot casualties in a time of Powered Armor becoming widespread on battlefields, as well as unique Tripod designs that acquitted themselves quite well in combat, though as a rule all of the Mechs they use are generally slower than average.

Lastly, one of the Republic's greatest and riskiest weapons was an obscure technology called "the Fortress Walls." Rumored to have been taken from the Word of Blake's research data, the Fortress Walls enabled Terra to seal off all worlds within the central Prefecture from KF Jumps and HPG transmissions into and out of those systems. Any attempts at breaking through without the access codes to lower them resulted in misjumps that returned mangled JumpShip wreckage. Unfortunately, use of the Wall was risky as any Jump blocks required the sacrifice of KF drives (which are hard to replace) to charge the Wall's shields. By the twilight of the Republic and the dawn of the Third Star League, only the Fortress Wall around Terra remained operational for the Wolf Empire to use.

==== Notable Mechs ====
* '''''Ares:''''' One of the aforementioned Tripods, one the heaviest OmniMechs, and Mechs in general, ever produced. Clocking in at over 135 tons, bristling with weapons in any configuration, and piloted by three mechwarriors at once, the ''Ares'' was one of the most surprising and yet brutally effective Mechs of it's time. It was made even worse for enemies that each configuration was nicknamed after a greek god (and most of those were taken up by other Mechs), meaning that not only was seeing an ''Ares'' a nasty surprise, it was often able to counter it's foes simply by overwhelming them when they were expecting a much different 'Mech. It is quite slow due to it's sheer mass, however.
* '''''Doloire''''': The ''Doloire'' is the flagship Mech of the RAF, an 80-ton all-rounder OmniMech of which all four of it's configurations; Anti-vehicle, Long-range, Command Support, and Close Combat, are all kitted out with nearly 32 tons of OmniPod space to get crazy with, with it's fixed weaponry being quite formidable; ER Large Pulse Lasers on the arms, and a Gauss Rifle and Two chest-mounted ER Medium Lasers mounted in the chest, all protected by the CASE system.
* '''''Osprey''''': A previously obscure Star League-era design that went extinct centuries ago revived for the modern day, the ''Osprey'' was revived by the Blakists and adopted quite quickly for Republic use thanks to it's impressive payload of a Gauss Rifle, an MML-7 system, two ER Medium Lasers, and an ER Small Laser, all combined with a Beagle Active Probe that meant not only could it punch above it's weight, it could find you if you started running. It's low speed was covered by four Jump Jets.
* '''''Lament''''': The epitome of "punches above it's weight", though at 65 tons it's already packing quite a punch to begin with. a gloriously unsubtle design with two Heavy PPCs on the arms and two ER Medium lasers on the head, packed with Ferro-Fibrous armor and 15 double heat sinks which allowed the ''Lament'' to pound it's enemies with a full volley and not overheat immediately.
* '''''Prefect''''': A 'Mech created out of Devlin Stone's desire to have a 'Mech that could better perform the guerilla fighting that had been instrumental to the Word of Blake's defeat, but also to keep the industrial sectors that he'd harangued during their reign busy. The Mech accomplishes most of the goals set out of being a fast energy weapon platform; it's slightly undergunned for it's size, as the 'Mech had to include a number of things to win over the manufacturers, but it ''does'' do it's job pretty well.
* '''''Raptor II''''': A Medium Mech with a piece of technology so powerful it became legendary until it's re-discovery from the Jihad; the Void Signature System. Unlike other camoflage, the VSS straight up turned 'Mechs "Movie"-style invisible, meaning you could see it's outline if it moved around too much. As a result, it became the premiere ambush predator of the RAF, able to completely shut down 'Mechs entirely with a 'Mech Taser before they got a moment to assess their damage.
* '''''Celerity''''': one of three drone mechs created by ComStar and the Word of Blake before the Jihad, it was an Ultralight quadrupedal design with an OmniPod interface that made it a versatile and fast disposable scout at the cost of being fragile
* '''''Revenant''''': the second drone Mech salvaged from Blakist designs, it was a light Mech armed with a modest spread of lasers and support equipment once the Republic fixed the Blakist prototypes’s finicky electronics.
* '''''Lich''''': the last drone Mech seized from the Blake Protectorate, it’s a Heavy Mech designed as a fire support platform with heavy ordinance while keeping valuable personnel out of harm’s way.
* '''''Ryoken II''''': The latest in Jihad-era Clanner-tech, essentially a two-seater Stormcrow redesigned to incorporate shoulder LRMs; basically turning it into a better Mad Dog that can still throw down and go fisticuffs if it has to.  The Ghost Bears sold a bunch of these to the Republic, inducing quite a bit of rage from the other Clans.  

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[[Category: BattleTech]]