Lorica

Lorica are the common name for a class of (usually) military armoured vehicle, typified around standards originally developed during Project Lorica, a Special Research Force project of the Oceanic Econo-Political Union. The standard specifies a universalized cockpit design along with special "joint" interfaces, providing for a vehicle usually consisting of discreet units best described as a "torso", unitized "legs" unit, and two or more "arms". The concept was originally classified as a military secret intended to give the Terran Hegemony a manufacturing and development edge in the new doctrine of mechanized warfare, and they introduced vehicles based around the standard into their military service in 2029. However, nearly five years later, in 2043, Junichi Satoyama of Shoshin Heavy Industries, a member of the Project Clarity NGO, leaked the full standards definition as well as existing designs. This resulted in a sudden and extreme proliferation of the technology, and ultimately was considered a contributing factor to the beginning of the Third World War, ultimately leading to the formation of the Western Sphere Hegemony, a precursor to the Terran Hegemony. Throughout, the Lorica standard remained a critical military technology and though it underwent several revisions, expansions, and faction-specific modifications over the subsequent years, it has remained a mainstay military technology. Eventually, maintaining and updating the standard fell to the Solar Lorica Working Group, a Non-Governmental Organization that defines military and civilian Lorica standards, after the establishment of the organization under the Three Spheres Treaty

Lorica Standard Vehicle Design

Granted the long period of service and innovation following the introduction of the Lorica standard and the proliferation of new designs, the standard itself specifies something not unlike a standard anatomy for humanoid or semi-humanoid crew-served fighting vehicles. While the standard makes no absolute specification on size, most vehicles designed to the standard have an average height of roughly 5.5 metres; a few prototype and one-off custom designs can exceed this average by as much as 100%, though these tend to use only the human-interface portions of the standard and do not have mechanical compatibility with the remaining design.

The standard specifies three primary "classes" of vehicular module and establishes infrastructural standards for the mechanical, telemetric, and control interconnection of those modules. Originally designed to allow ease of manufacture and innovation for private companies within the Oceanic Econo-Political Union working on designs for Lorica-class vehicles, the proliferation of this standard means that in principal, you could assemble a full Lorica unit made up of the requisite modules, all sourced from different manufactures, even in different countries, and expect a minimum of hassle in the performance tuning of the resulting vehicle.

Core Unit

The Core Unit (sometimes colloquially referred to as a "torso" unit owing to the humanoid design of many Lorica units) is usually both the location of the vehicular center of mass as well as the unit which contains the most vital systems within a full Lorica vehicle. Accordingly, the standards governing the construction of Lorica Cores are the most verbose and thoroughly-documented, covering everything from the topography of available interconnection points (both for additional modules and for external systems), to life support and human interface standards.

Core units tend to be the most robust portion of the vehicle, and for good reason - loss of a core unit is so significant that it is effectively the loss of the vehicle.

Cockpit

Regulations surrounding cockpit design and layout are relatively stringent, and for both ease of training as well as general portability, cockpit design rarely deviates from the standards. Many manufacturers produce a "containerized" cockpit design that they use across their entire product line of Lorica Cores, and some national standards even make this cockpit layout entirely universal.

While the standard does allow for some limited customization by the pilot, especially in the area of input sensitivity, it explicitly forbids several other modifications. Even on civilian models, a Pilot Ejector System is a mandatory requirement. Substandard 17 specifies a connector type for pilot computer modules (storing pilot-specified configuration data including movement macros) known as S17 that enjoys ubiquitous support.

Because situational awareness data is provided via displays and augmented reality, the design preference is usually to place the actual human cockpit as close to the center of the machine as is practical for boarding and mechanical considerations, especially in military models. Some civilian models augment the displays and AR with clear or open panels and place the pilot closer to the front of the module for better visibility in the event of display system failure.

Power and Cooling Systems

By specification, the Lorica Core Unit is also the location of the second most vital Lorica resource - power. Power plant designs are less standardized than the overall Lorica standard, but by standard must produce take-off mechanical power, electrical power, and hydrolic power, at the specified interface points for additional modules. The means of doing so varies, but in general, falls into one of three varieties:

• Thermochemical Generative including internal combustion (of fossil-fuel derivatives or hydrogen), hydrogen cell, and so on.
• Electrochemical Storage powered by battery banks running off of power derived from some other source, or;
• Thermonuclear Generative, usually seen only in experimental military modules under Lorica-S (see below).

As well, Lorica Core units provide the central takeoff for various other systems such as lubrication circulation or coolant circulation.

Additional Systems

Depending on applicable standards or overall system design goals, Lorica Core modules may provide additional systems. The original version of the Lorica standard did include a life support standard suitable for handling NBC protection. The later Lorica S standard expansion added an additional standard for compliant units to have full space-handling life support systems.

In addition to the pilot computer described under cockpit, various other ECM, ECCM, sensor, and data handling packages exist. Even civilian Lorica units usually include an additional primary and secondary computer system, with the primary serving to control performance functions of the vehicle in full, and the airgapped secondary used as an infotainment system. Many military units include a tirtiary maintainance computer (which may or may not be folded into the primary computer), allowing the vehicle to be fully configured by the pilot with no additional tooling, adding to the flexibility of the craft.

Mobility Unit

The Lorica standard further specifies a class of unit called the "mobility unit", which may be the area in which the greatest taxonomic variety is seen. Colloquially known as the "legs" unit (due to the bipedal configuration having become iconic early on in the adoption of the standard), the specification grants that the mobility unit should attach to the core via a connection point known colloquially as the waist, and should be adequately controlled by the interfaces in a standard cockpit, with or without computer assistance, requiring no additional modification of the vehicle. Beyond that, however, variety is limited only by practicality and manufacturer inventiveness.

Mobility units that consume propellants must store them on board as no standard is provided for storing them in another module.

Varieties

These are the most common varieties of mobility unit in production:

• Bipedal MU - a design using two legs, possibly with additional thrusting or traction surfaces, to provide a mixture of mobility and poise not found in other leg types. By far the most common design in use.
• Multipedal MU - a design using more than two legs, usually a multiple of two (most usually, 4, occasionally, 6). Less mobile overall than bipedal designs, sacrificing thruster-based mobility or tractor agility for the ability to deploy into a more stable platform.
• Thruster Effect MU - Less agile leg design intended principally for aquatic, amphibious, or counter-minefield deployment, which relies on ground effect thrusters to lift the vehicle physically off the ground. Can "land" into an extremely stable configuration when appropriate, but also extremely power hungry, usually leading to a larger overall profile to allow for an auxillary power unit within the mobility system itself.
• Tracked or Wheeled MU - a tracked or wheeled base not unlike those used in more traditional AFVs. These are almost always the cheapest type of MU to produce and in some situations are more appropriate. Many Lorica fans would describe tracked MUs as "not real lorica", but standards purists simply site Substandard 7 which specifically includes them.
• Astronautical Skirt MU - a new module type introduced by Lorica-S (see below). This design is a specialized skirt of thrusters, propellant storage, and reaction control systems designed to facilitate Lorica use in space.

Manipulator Unit

The Lorica Standard specifies at minimum two mounting points on the core for "manipulator units". While this description was originally euphemistic, it eventually became standardized with the introduction of the arm type. In principle, there are two types of manipulator units:

• Weapon Hardmount Arms, which may or may not resemble an arm, and in original conception are simply a weapon module (perhaps even lifted directly from another kind of AFV, such as a missile pod or an auto cannon) more or less grafted onto a standard mounting. Originally preferred by early adopter pilots as "simpler", the refinement of the standard has relegated the perception of Weapon Hardmount Arms to antiquity, and they are now used only for their usually significant cost savings.
• Humanoid Arms, which more strongly resemble an arm as we're used to thinking of them (in the sense of having a manipulative hand at the end of a posable limb), were eventually added to the standard. Combined with standardization of hand designs, this rapidly became the standard thanks to its flexibility over simpler weapon types. Most common military-application Arm-type manipulator units include an integral shoulder mount-point for weapon systems. Some include other additional systems or integrate specific weapons instead of a manipulator hand. Humanoid Arm manipulator units for civilian models have a radically different hand-manipulator design meant to prevent them from using Handheld Weapons.

Semistandard Accessories

While not included in the Lorica Standard per-se, a variety of devices have sprung up through conventional use that most military-grade equipment supports. While many require specialist work for installation, some are common enough to be worth mentioning here:

• The entire class of backpack system expansions, which include everything from additional cargo modules on through electronics countermeasures or mobile repair equipment;
• Doppellorica, a customized upgrade package granting "over armour" of various capabilities to Lorica "suits".
• Lorica Transportation Vehicles

Weapon Systems

Weapons systems on board military lorica usually fall into three different classes:

• Integrated Weapons such as those on board Weapon Hardmount Arms, the well known Type 26 Autocannon on the Java Heavy Metals Type 26's mobility unit, or otherwise built into a Lorica component;
• Hardmount Weapons, a class almost entirely made up of the weapon systems designed to operate from Manipulator Unit shoulder mounts, and;
• Handheld Weapons, designed for the Humanoid Arms standard manipulator.

History

As part of their pre-War deterrence posture, the Oceanic Econo-Political Union instructed their Special Research Force to prepare a weapon system that ultimately became the earliest versions of the modern Lorica standard during Project Lorica. Over the intervening century, this standard has been updated and expanded several times into its modern version.

Project Lorica

Beginning in 2014, under direct order from then OEPU President Duncan Heeler, Special Research Force was given a black-budget project and relative carte blanche to produce a weapon system under Project Lorica. Originally intended to be a single-pattern design, early field test simulations showed enough promise that eventually it was decided to expand the project into a variety of specialized designs. In order to facilitate this, SRF director Juan Luiz Ramos made the decision to establish the earliest versions of the Lorica Standard which were used to work with Durandal Arsenal, Shoshin Heavy Industries, and Java Heavy Metals to produce components and designs for the specialist models.

The earliest completed Lorica models, patterned off the popular Julius model line by Durandal Arsenal, entered military service under the OUDF 1st Lorica Regiment on April 2, 2029.

The Satoyama Files

In September of 2034, ostensibly concerned about the ethics of a proposed new weapon system being produced by his employers, Shoshin Heavy Industries engineer Junichi Satoyama leaked the full specification including worked example firmware, software, and hardware designs for the overall Lorica standard on several internet websites. In reality, Satoyama was a member of the radical Project Clarity organization, which sought to reduce military conflict by exposing military secrets, thereby removing the "illusion" of military supremacy. The ensuing social media firestorm ensured that the files were spread faster than they can be removed, and while the documents were initially dismissed as a hoax, they were later inadvertently confirmed when the Eurasian Soviet introduced their own off-standard Lorica-pattern vehicle, the Ursa Ruska later that same year, with a KGB official confirming that earlier partial leaks of the standard were in part responsible for the rapid proliferation.

Proliferation on Earth

Proliferation of the early Lorica designs was assured, and by 2039 essentially all earth-based political factions had some version or other of a Lorica system, often more than one, in active service in their military. This remained the case throughout the entirety of the Third World War and beyond.

Lorica-S Space-Navigable Extension

From 2042, the Solar Lorica Working Group, concerned with safety and lack of ubiquity in pre-standardization attempts at equipping Lorica for use in space, introduced the Lorica-S Space-Navigable Extension, which provided new standards for Lorica design including the necessary life support, redundancy, and navigation system upgrades as well as introducing the Lorica-S Large Type, a size specification that allowed for a standard for overall-larger vehicles designed through Lorica S.

Unsurprisingly, Lorica S vehicles played a critical role in the Martian Conflict.

Lorica-N Alternative Cockpit Specification

From 2044, with the declassification of pre-unification military records by the Terran Hegemony, experiments by the Free Market Block's Defense Research Initiative into the use of neurological interface equipment with other vehicle types were adapted for use with the Lorica Standard. While the technology was ultimately banned by the Terran Hegemony, the leak of this information eventually made it necessary that the Solar Lorica Working Group release another extension to the standard to support it. Though highly illegal, Lorica-N Cockpits exist in some pirate Core Module designs and most who pay attention to such things agree that all three military research factions are likely working on even more advanced versions of the system.