WHAT IS A POWERSUIT ANYWAY?

Although Yoali Ehecatl is prohibited by his agreement with the Huitznahua from manufacturing mecha of his own, he is able to manufacture powersuits with the cooperation of the various city-states.  Thus when characters are equipped with powersuits, all the powersuits will have the same basic chassis and some similar components.  There is some room to customize these powersuits to the taste of the individual operator however.  There are both generic add-ons, and add-ons specific to each of the city-states.  This is because powersuit construction is typically rather generic across all the city states - the powersuits of Cuauhtlicalli tend to resemble the powersuits of Ixcuina to a large extent.  Two exceptions to this are the powersuits of the Chichimecá and the powersuits of Tepeyolohtli, which require some additional rules.

Warriors of Yoali Ehecatl typically wear powersuits when dispatched to spy on the enemies of the Spirit Warrior Empire.

The standard powersuit "base" is constructed of a sandwich of refined, molecularly stabilized synthetic ruby in between two layers of beryllium alloy.  As for all Azteca technology, power is provided by a "Heart of Jade" power source mounted in the rear torso of the suit.

Several items come as standard on Yoali Ehecatl's powersuits.  The first is a war shield, usually attached to the left arm.  This shield is used pretty much in the same manner as a regular wicker or wooden war shield is by foot troops, and is usually elaborately painted and decorated by individual warriors.  As with the armor, it is constructed of a beryllium/synthetic ruby "sandwich".  Second is a powerful "Clear Seer" ECCM (electronic Counter-Counter Measures) suite built into the helmet.  ECM (Electronic Counter Measures) equipment, including a missile jammer (-2 for to all incoming missile attacks) and radar jammer (-2 for all radar spotting attempts), are built into the torso.  A set of powerful jump jets is built into the legs (+3 hexes to movement - these 3 hexes worth of movement may be used to cross difficult terrain at normal movement cost).  Finally, a comprehensive stealth system is incorporated into the suit, rendering it virtually invisible to the naked eye during night conditions.  Unless modified in some way, all Powersuits have a movement value of 8 not counting the 3 movement points bestowed by the jump jets.

Each additional component of a powersuit occupies a certain number of Construction Points (or CP).  Most items need to be installed in a certain area of the powersuit (for example, anti-gravity generators must be installed in the legs).  A few items are considered to be "upgrades" of the powersuit as a whole.  These require no CP, but powersuits are limited to only one such "upgrade".

Powersuits are also equipped with hands.  Each hand may use a single weapon occupying no more than 3 CP, or may be combined to carry a single weapon of up to 6 CP.  Weapons occupying hand spaces are jettisoned if the hand utilizing them is used for another task (for example, punching).  In the case of two-hand weapons, the weapon is jettisoned if either hand is used for any other task.  Certain weapons, such as the Sun Spear and Jade Scepter, occupy both hand spaces (for the weapon itself) and arm spaces (for power couplings, etc).  In the event that the hand carrying such a weapon is used for anything else, the weapon is jettisoned, but the power packs etc. remain.  Picking up a jettisoned weapon uses the same rules as picking up a thrown weapon

Here is some terminology used in the powersuit creation process:
SPACES - this is the number of CP spaces a given servo has for the fitting of additional components.
DAMAGE - this is the amount of damage that a given servo or component can take before being rendered inoperable.  Under most circumstances this is not an important issue for components, as any weapon or option built into a given servo is destroyed when the servo it is built into is destroyed.  However, there may be times when characters want to target specific systems (say to disarm a powersuit's weapons without destroying the occupant) and the amount of damage a system can take then becomes important
ARMOR - this is the number of points of armor a given servo has.
ARMOR TYPE - this is the type of armor that the powersuit is fitted with.  There are three types of armor used in powersuit creation:

• Standard - this is the type of armor used on Death Messenger Powersuits.  Every time a servo of a Death Messenger powersuit is hit for at least one kill of damage, that location will lose one point of armor
• Alpha - the  armor used by the powersuits of most of the City-States.  It is tougher and more resilient than Standard armor.  Each time a servo suffers an attack of 2 kills or more, it will lose one point of armor.
• Beta - used only on Chichimecá powersuits, this is the most advanced form of armor found in the Spirit Warrior Empire.  Each time a servo suffers an attack of 3 kills or more, it will lose one point of armor.

EASY STEPS TO CONSTRUCTING YOUR POWERSUIT

1. Choose your Powersuit template.  This is based on the City-State your character is from (Dog People use the Dog People template, Death Messengers use the Death Messenger Template, and everyone else uses the standard template).
2. Decide on your Upgrade
3. Fill the various CP spaces on your powersuit with weapons, options, etc.
4. Send the GM a copy

The powersuits of the Death Messengers, the Dog People, and the Feathered Serpents deserve some special mention, as they differ considerably in construction from those of the other city-states.

Long ago, before the Azteca were even brought into the Spirit Warrior Empire, the god Mictlantecutli came to an agreement with the others of the Huitznahua entitling him to all the battlefield debris and salvage that his clan could scavenge, in exchange for denying his city-state access to new parts being produced.  Because of this, the powersuits (and mecha) from Tepeyolohtli are considerably more fragile in nature than those of most of the other city-states, but generally mount considerably more armament (in game mechanics terms, the servos of powersuits from Tepeyolohtli take one less point of damage before being destroyed, but also have one more CP each, allowing for more, or larger systems to be added to each servo).  In addition, because the synthetic ruby core of standard armor is impossible to work once it has been "grown" inside the beryllium sandwich, the powersuits and mecha of the Death Messengers rely instead on a triple layer of beryllium, which is somewhat inferior in stopping power.  In exchange for this, however, they may take two "upgrades" to their armor instead of the normal one.
 

DEATH MESSENGER POWERSUIT TEMPLATE 

Servo Location	Spaces	Damage	Armor	Type
Head	21	2	2 pts	standard
Left Arm	32	2	2 pts	standard
Right Arm	4	2	2 pts	standard
Body	33	3	2 pts	standard
Left Leg	34	2	2 pts	standard
Right Leg	34	2	2 pts	standard
Powerplant	0	1.		Heart-of Jade

¹Two CP in the head are filled with an ECCM suite (+2 on all rolls to counter enemy ECM effects)
²One CP on the left arm is filled with the addition of a 4-pt armored shield.  .
³Two CP in the torso are filled with an advanced ECM suite (-2 to all enemy attempts to hit with missiles, to detect using standard sensors, or to detect using radar).
⁴One CP in each leg is filled with Jump Jets (+3 Leaping - see movement for details)

Powersuits of the Chichimecá, on the other hand, are the most highly advanced in the Spirit Warrior Empire.  They are built with stronger and more advanced hydraulics, and more sophisticated armor plating which contains a core of "foamed crystal" ruby contained in a beryllium-niobium alloy shell.  This refined engineering does not come without cost, however.  Mechs of the Dog People have one less CP per location due to the addition of redundant hydraulic systems, and they may not take any "upgrades" on their powersuit.  However, they have "SHIELDED POWERPLANT" as an upgrade on all Powersuits without cost.  This does not take up any space on their powersuit.
 

DOG PEOPLE POWERSUIT TEMPLATE 

Servo Location	Spaces	Damage	Armor	Type
Head	01	4	3 pts	beta
Left Arm	12	4	3 pts	beta
Right Arm	2	4	3 pts	beta
Body	13	5	3 pts	beta
Left Leg	14	4	3 pts	beta
Right Leg	14	4	3 pts	beta
Powerplant	0	4		Heart-of Jade

¹Two CP in the head are filled with an ECCM suite (+2 on all rolls to counter enemy ECM effects)
²One CP on the left arm is filled with the addition of a 4-pt armored shield.  .
³Two CP in the torso are filled with an advanced ECM suite (-2 to all enemy attempts to hit with missiles, to detect using standard sensors, or to detect using radar).
⁴One CP in each leg is filled with Jump Jets (+3 Leaping - see movement for details)
 

Powersuits of the Feathered Serpents aren't really Powersuits at all, being more similar to small aircraft in the shape of (you guessed it) Feathered Serpents!  Rather than walking, Feathered Serpent powersuits fly.  This means that they can cover a lot more ground than your typical powersuit, but also imposes some penalties on them.

1. Feathered Serpent powersuits MUST move a minimum of 4 hexes during a single turn.  This means that at least one action must be taken up with movement each turn.
2. Feathered Serpent powersuits, unlike other powersuits, are rated not only for their Movement Allowance (or MA) but for their Movement Value (or MV).  The MV of a powersuit is the number of hexes it must move in a straight line before executing a 60 degree turn to the right or left.  Vertical movement does not count.  Because of this restriction, it is important to keep track of the facing of the Feathered Serpent powersuit at all times.
3. Unlike arms, Wings have no hands, and therefor no spaces in which to place hand-held weapons.  They may not perform any Strike or Fight maneuver which requires hands or feet.
4. As a small compensation for #3, Feathered Serpents gain +1k to any Strike or Fight attacks they can perform.
5. If the Feathered Serpent mounts the same weapon type on each wing, these weapons are considered to be linked.

FEATHERED SERPENT POWERSUIT TEMPLATE

Servo Location	Spaces	Damage	Armor	Type
Head	11	3	2 pts	alpha
Left Wing	3	3	2 pts	alpha
Right Wing	3	3	2 pts	alpha
Body	23	4	2 pts	alpha
Left Thruster	04	3	2 pts	alpha
Right Thruster	04	3	2 pts	alpha
Powerplant	0	1.		Heart-of Jade

POWERSUIT COMPONENTS

WEAPONS - things that do damage to enemy powersuits and mecha

SLAVES - smaller, semi-autonomous units under the control of the powersuit pilot, Slaves are only available to the Death Messengers and the Way Bringers.

OPTIONS - these are non-combat items such as sensors which are used to enhance the capabilities of a powersuit.  Most options take up CP spaces.

UPGRADES - substantial improvements that can be made to powersuits.  Generally, each powersuit gets one upgrade.

EXAMPLE OF POWERSUIT CREATION

He first decides on weapons.  He chooses a Tempest (hand held, requires both hands), a War Club (requires no spaces), and four missile pods (taking up all 4 of the CP spots in the legs) and two linked Wasp Stings in the left arm.  His powersuit now looks like this.
 

Noting that Slaves are really cool, and that they are only available to the Way Bringers and Death Messengers, Huzgotabotl decides to take a couple.  He purchases a flying buzz saw with standard control which he places in his powersuit's head, and a remote sensor unit with advanced control which he places in his powersuit's body.  His powersuit now looks like this:
 
 

Since the Way Bringers have access to lots and lots of cool weapons, Huzgotabotl decides to install a changeable weapon mount as an option in his powersuit's right arm, thus allowing him to put any 2-pt weapon he wants in there.  He opts for an Adder Strike for the moment.  Finally, as his Upgrade, he decides to go with "Thought Control".

The final version of the suit looks like this:
 
 
 

1. Regardless of the powersuits current MV value, it receives a +2 MV bonus
2. The powersuit automatically receives one additional action per turn, regardless of how many actions it has.
3. All weapon accuracies are increased by +1.

For every three "kills" or fraction thereof of internal damage suffered by the powersuit, the pilot suffers one hit of damage directly to the head, without armor bonuses or protection.

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