Julius
Julius is a product family of Lorica produced by Durandal Arsenal out of OEPU Australia, as a direct inheritor to design concepts of the Lorica Prima design candidates they had proposed. Initially conceived of as a dedicated Assault Type, its manufacturing constraints during the Third World War eventually saw it relegated to Ace Type status and replaced with the much more easily produced Diego. The model was considered extremely successful in spite of its suboptimal production features and would undergo frequent revisions and updates in interwar periods, becoming popular in the state militaries of other AATO and Western Sphere Hegemony nations, even serving with distinction with the Arbitration Joint Fleet.
Model Descriptions
With a reputation for reasonable reliability given its mechanical complexity and excellent pilot survivability, the Julius's wartime exploits in the leadup to, and throughout, the Third World War made the model a commercial success for the company that produced it, and Durandal Arsenal continued making improvements and iterations on the Julius over the years, while maintaining roughly the same sillouhette throughout. Indeed, the Julius figure, with its distinctive shoulder armour configuration and rearward armour skirt, is considered one of the most iconic designs of Lorica fighting vehicles, making it a popular model to represent in merchandise and artwork. Many consider this bipedal suit design with its slightly asymmetrical "head" unit to be the standard to which all other Lorica are compared, aesthetically.
Julius Type 28
The Julius Type 28 (named for its year of introduction, 2028) was an early Lorica suit design, but nonetheless highly effective, featuring the slender waist and heavy self-modification abilities that it would later become famous for - both features making the machines somewhat more of a bear to maintain, and considerably more involved to manufacture than the next comparable model from Durandal, Diego. Nevertheless, these same features were in large part responsible for the extreme survivability of the design and its appropriateness as an Ace Type. While serving with distinction during the Third World War, the Julius is much more ironically used in the North African Wars, at which time it was the only Lorica model in use by the OUDF 1st Lorica Regiment when the OUDF was sent to reinforce their allies, the African Confederation.
By the time of the height of World War III, the Juliuses of the day were considered to be a priviledge to operate, holding their own against more modern models in spite of being over a decade old in the most extreme cases, both due to their relegation to Ace Type and their reputation for extremely efficient and well designed crew escape systems, in emergencies. In addition to specialist abilities fed in from the pilot's own computer, Durandal included specialty subroutines in the Julius that many pilots used to great effect.
- Core Unit: Terminal Block
- Manipulator Units: Shielded Fire
- Mobility Unit: Brace