Ol’Rowdy
Guts & Gears — NQ 69
Perhaps no warjack better encompasses its warcaster’s personal approach to battle than the Ironclad known as Ol’ Rowdy. Long the personal warjack of Lord General Coleman Stryker, the cantankerous machine seems perfectly matched to Stryker’s bold and even headstrong tactics. Rowdy’s reputation as an overly aggressive warjack is well deserved, though its more violent urges are curtailed by the presence of Stryker. Despite its quirks, Rowdy’s service record is the most impressive of any warjack still serving in the Cygnaran Army. Sixty years on the battlefield has made it more than a simple machine: Ol’ Rowdy is a decorated veteran soldier.
The Flawed Ironclads
Master Chief Manderly,
We had another incident with one of the new Ironclads, designation #IC-29. The incident occurred shortly after its cortex was brought online for motor skill testing. The Ironclad responded well to both vocal commands and signal gestures at first but then became defiant. Some stubbornness isn’t unusual, but its battle-ready posture concerned me. Shortly thereafter, I had to intervene when it lashed out at a laborjack that got too close, doing some considerable damage. So far as we can tell, this may be a problem with the cortex — you’ll recall this Ironclad is among several warjacks we’ve equipped with the new arcanum-grade cortexes, which were sent by the Corvis branch of the Fraternal Order of Wizardry. All signs point to a very high degree of cognition, but the cortexes have come with significant quirks.
After the incident with the laborjack, I’ve been watching these Ironclads closely. I’ll admit there are aspects of their behavior that give me pause. The most pervasive is “stubborn” behavior and heightened aggression, but they also seem to be more aware of their surroundings. I’ve noticed cues in posture and movement that suggest the Ironclads are reacting to conversations around them. It may seem unscientific to say so, but I am convinced these Ironclads possess unusual self-awareness, likely a result of the arcanum cortexes. Some of my senior mechaniks recommended sending the whole batch back to the Fraternal Order of Wizardry and demanding a refund, but I am of a different opinion.
Despite the aggression and added difficulty of controlling these warjacks, my expectation is these traits will be handy on an active battlefield. I suggest waiting for more data. I predict the advanced cognition will outweigh any drawbacks. Correcting the flaw might remove this benefit. We’ve invested months of work in these Ironclads, and they are due for full delivery to the Cygnaran Army.
A few glitches is no reason to jeopardize the shipment. I take full responsibility.
— Chief Giles Norman
Engines East
Trineus 2nd, 556 AR
The Scharde Invasions
The ’jack now known as Ol’ Rowdy was one of the first Ironclads to be assembled at the Engines East facility in Corvis and was given the alphanumeric designation IC-29. The warjack received one of twenty early arcanum-grade cortexes now known to contain a flaw that suppressed aggression regulators in the warjack’s mind. This flaw was noticed by the mechaniks at Engines East, but shipment was made to the Cygnaran Army on the recommendation of that shop’s senior arcane mechanik. Subsequent batches of arcanum cortexes eliminated this personality quirk without appreciable loss of cognition.
IC-29 and the other Ironclads built from this cortex batch were assigned to the 9th division of the Third Army at Highgate to bolster forces defending Cygnar’s coast from escalating Cryxian incursions. These Ironclads saw service under several different warcasters and ’jack marshals, and early service logs reveal mixed results. Some reports describe these machines as highly effective — IC-29 and the other flawed arcanum Ironclads performed especially well against Cryxian bone- and helljacks; however, there were a number of controllers who lodged complaints and recommended cortex wipes. The following letter comes from one of the most prominent warcasters to utilize IC-29 during the Scharde Invasions.
Commander Adept Nemo,
I am recommending the Ironclad designated #IC-29 be removed from active duty. Since receiving this machine, I have become aware that this warjack is one of the early, flawed batches from Corvis, which explains its behavior. The warjack is highly resistant to control. While its aggression has some benefits — #IC-29 requires less supervision once combat is joined — I have found the machine to be unreliable and impossible to integrate into any coherent plan of action.
Just getting the damnable machine to the battle without harm to our own warjacks has proven difficult! Its presence has resulted in collateral damage to no fewer than four other warjacks, each requiring extensive repairs. This resulted from incautious use of its quake hammer as well as shoving an expensive Arcane into a nearby wall when it got in its way. A cortex wipe may be in order for #IC-29. Regardless, I recommend it be removed from frontline action.
— Commander Birk Kinbrace
Cinten 14th, 584 AR
The personality quirks with these warjacks quickly became more pronounced. Despite this, Sebastian Nemo overruled Kinbrace’s recommendation to wipe their cortexes. Nemo briefly took control of IC-29 and decided the combat experience of these Ironclads made them useful despite their problems.
Nemo discovered these warjacks became most intractable while under warcaster control but performed better when given greater autonomy under ’jack marshals. Nemo recommended they be used until they were destroyed in combat, allowing them to take a toll upon the enemy first. He offered advice on how to incorporate their independence into attack plans. Not every warcaster was pleased with these directives, and at first, these machines developed a stigma among field mechaniks and warcasters alike.
In time, however, the flawed warjacks proved to be useful. Once battle was joined, they required little supervision to reach peak fighting ability. The biggest challenge, as Commander Kinbrace noted, was preventing damage to friendly warjacks. This was especially the case with IC-29, which refused to cooperate with others. Most of these Ironclads became cannon fodder and were sacrificed to soften up the enemy before the warcasters and their more manageable warjacks joined the fray. One after another was destroyed in this fashion.
Yet IC-29 refused to succumb to damage and earned the admiration of its mechaniks. No matter how many times it was thrust directly into the teeth of the enemy, it survived and prevailed, earning a reputation among the soldiers. These aggressive warjacks were given nicknames in battle and were looked upon with fond regard by the rank and file. IC-29 was nicknamed Crasher, as the Ironclad had a habit of slamming its body at a full charge into enemy helljacks. Despite their orders to use these ’jacks to the point of their destruction, mechaniks continued to repair them, going so far as to extract cortexes from wrecked hulls and place them in new frames. Crasher racked up an impressive string of victories. It was a custom for mechaniks to inscribe marks onto its torso, representing the warjack’s kills. The impressive roster of Cryxian warjacks killed by it during the Scharde Invasions became a matter of record:
Deathrippers — 11
Defilers — 8
Leviathans — 3
Reapers — 4
Ripjaws — 5
Slayers — 6
By the end of the Scharde Invasions, only two of the flawed arcanum Ironclads survived. Each was decorated with the coveted Scharde Invasions service marker, but their volatile temperaments and resistance endured.
Commander Birk Kinbrace retired from active duty at the end of the Scharde Invasions and was placed in charge of the Strategic Academy headquarters in Caspia. One of his early tasks was to evaluate the most damaged and quirky of the warjacks to survive the conflict. He determined whether they should be decommissioned, dismantled, wiped, or repaired and returned to active duty. The following letter relates to the fate of IC-29, aka “Crasher.”
Retirement
Crew Chief Kenneth Tate,
Among the warjacks I evaluated, I had several where I had to make a difficult judgment call. These were machines that had performed admirably, even heroically, but appeared to be severely and irreversibly mentally compromised. This includes a Defender (#D-107), two old Ironclads (#IC-25 & #IC-29), and a Charger (#Ch-278) presently in your charge.
The Defender can be returned to service, though I recommend it be put on reserve with the Fourth Army, and it should be watched. The Charger and Ironclads have developed extreme personality flaws. They are no longer suited for combat action. My tests show Ch-278 and IC-25 must be considered severe threats to service personnel. I have no choice but to authorize cortex wipes for these two warjacks. After the wipe, extract their cortexes and send them to the Fraternal Order to see if repairs are possible. If not, they should be disassembled and salvaged for new cortexes.
IC-29 is unusual — like IC-25, it is equipped with a flawed, early arcanum-grade cortex, but its behavior is more complicated. Its service record is nothing short of awe-inspiring. After deliberation, I have determined this warjack’s memories should be saved; like all good soldiers, it deserves to keep them. I am convinced it can be of use. I do not say this lightly — I had personal experience controlling this warjack and once recommended it for a cortex wipe several years ago. I would like to arrange an honorable retirement for this highly decorated machine. I recommend IC-29 be given to the Point Bourne Strategic Academy to assist in training junior warcasters. So long as precautions are taken, IC-29 should serve ably in this capacity.
— Commander Birk Kinbrace
Doloven 17th, 588 AR
Kinbrace clearly had a change of heart about IC-29 at the end of the war. His language when speaking about these machines after the Scharde Invasions suggests he began to see warjacks akin to soldiers, not just as weapons. That someone in Kinbrace’s position concerned himself with the “retirement” of a warjack was unprecedented. Kinbrace believed the Ironclad would make a good challenge for young warcasters, letting them experience losing control of a warjack amid chaotic combat situations.
To this end, IC-29 was frequently employed in one of the most difficult tests a cadet might face at the Strategic Academy. The test was simple: the Ironclad was placed within a battlegroup of three warjacks, which was assigned to a second-year cadet and apprentice warcaster. The cadet was ordered to engage a group of “enemy” warjacks with the Ironclad, and it would invariably attack without being ordered to do so, breaking free of the warcaster’s control. Depending on its handling, IC-29 might attack friendly warjacks as well. The cadet would be forced to attempt to reestablish control while preserving his or her other warjacks and evading the enemy. Most cadets failed this task miserably, though it was seen as a valuable learning experience, which also instilled proper humility. Some few candidates were seriously injured when the big Ironclad swept them aside to get at its foes. It became common for Point Bourne instructors to reserve this test for cocky and arrogant young warcasters.
Back Into Action
Glaceus 10th, 595 AR
Commander Shay Terswell, Chancellor of the Point Bourne Strategic Academy,
I am requesting the service of an older Ironclad (#IC-29) currently serving as a training ’jack at your facility. I would like the liberty to reassign the machine to my journeyman, Lieutenant Coleman Stryker, who has been training with your staff in Point Bourne for several months. I have a plan for a training regimen involving this temperamental warjack that will hopefully humble my reckless charge, if it doesn’t kill him first. The last was said in jest, by the way. I have no actual interest in endangering a talented journeyman warcaster, at least not beyond reasonable limits. He will be supervised.
— Commander Adept Sebastian Nemo
Special Advisor to the Strategic Academy
IC-29 had spent the intervening years as a training warjack at the Strategic Academy in Point Bourne prior to being presented to Lieutenant Stryker. Based on Kinbrace’s assessment, there were no plans for this Ironclad to see active duty again. This all changed when Commander Adept Sebastian Nemo took charge of the brash, young Coleman Stryker.
Stryker received his initial warcaster training in Caspia but was subsequently sent to Point Bourne to complete his training. There, Nemo took in Styker, hoping to mitigate the influence of Asheth Magnus, his previous instructor. Stryker’s reckless and headstrong ways infuriated the older warcaster. Nemo had IC-29 assigned to Stryker early in his journeyman tour, expecting the cantankerous old warjack to teach Stryker about his limits, a role it had succeeded at many times in the past.
Though Stryker struggled at first (like every warcaster before him) to control the machine, it was soon apparent that he had found a kindred spirit in the ornery old warjack. Stryker gave the Ironclad the name it is now known by: Ol’ Rowdy. Instead of directly trying to control the warjack, Stryker guided Rowdy through mental suggestions, and the young warcaster’s own aggressive nature meshed with the machine’s, allowing them to work in concert. Nemo’s plan worked, though not quite as he had expected. Teaming Stryker with Rowdy did augment Stryker’s training and improve his control with warjacks in general, though the senior warcaster had not foreseen the powerful bond that had formed between his journeyman and one of the most notoriously difficult warjacks in the Cygnaran Army. Any hope for a lesson in humility was dashed.
Stryker and Rowdy were sent north for Stryker’s journeyman tour, fighting Tharn as well as Khadoran border forces. Warcaster and warjack learned how to fight together, and Stryker perfected his ability to control the warjack in the crucible of battle. Six months after assigning Ol’ Rowdy to Stryker, Nemo would write a letter to Warmaster General Turpin expressing considerable admiration for Lieutenant Stryker, specifically mentioning his ability to control Ol’ Rowdy despite all expectations. (Editor’s note: See No Quarter #50, p. 45.) By the time Stryker’s journeyman tour ended, he had established a close bond with the Ironclad, and the warjack would obey his commands like it would with no other warcaster.
Damage & Retrofits
Khadoven 14th, 605 AR
Chief Mechanik Balen Lovejoy,
You have no doubt received the repair order for my Ironclad warjack, designation #IC-29. (He’ll respond to Rowdy, by the way.) In addition to those repairs, I have enclosed a list of additional modifications I would like made to the Ironclad’s chassis. You will also find an enclosed note drawn against my own salary to pay for the additional work.
The most extensive of these modifications involves Rowdy’s right arm and fist. He has a habit of leading with his right shoulder against enemy warjacks; it’s effective, but he’s getting banged up on that side an awful lot (as you can see by the repair order). I’d like you to strengthen and bolster the right arm with additional plating and add a heavy pauldron to that shoulder. Those might keep Rowdy from getting his right arm torn off again as well as preventing internal damage.
— Commander Coleman Stryker
Commander Coleman Stryker,
We’re in the midst of making the modifications you requested, which involves adding substantial weight to the chassis, well beyond tested limits. This will compromise the maneuverability and speed of the Ironclad to an unacceptable degree.
I have a solution, one involving experimental steam engine modifications. This involves a larger boiler with better pressure regulation and will necessitate a bigger fuel box and a more extensive exhaust system so the engine can run hotter. These changes will all be quite costly, but I should be able to manage it with minimal risk of catastrophic engine malfunction if we use higher-grade alloys. I’ve attached an itemized list of costs and parts requisition form. Please just sign and return that to approve the additional material costs. I’m going to go ahead and begin.
— Chief Mechanik Balen Lovejoy
Chief Mechanik Balen Lovejoy,
Glad to hear you proceeded without waiting. I’m on board for your proposed engine alterations. Attached is the signed requisition form. As
before, you have permission to tap my salary.
— Commander Coleman Stryker
Ol’ Rowdy differs from a standard Ironclad in more than just the flaw in its cortex, which his current master considers an advantage. Lord General Stryker, at great personal expense, has heavily modified Ol’ Rowdy to improve both his combat prowess and durability. The warjack’s fighting style all but necessitated heavier armor, but a number of other modifications were made over the years. Most of these changes were made during regularly scheduled maintenance and repairs, although the bigger alterations often coincided with Rowdy leaving the battlefield in pieces with little but its cortex intact.
The first major modification Stryker made to Rowdy was to augment the armor on Rowdy’s right shoulder and arm, allowing the Ironclad to better use its body as a battering ram. This required both the size and efficiency of the warjack’s boiler to be increased to compensate. Extra exhaust ports were added to vent the excess heat generated from the new boiler, allowing Rowdy to move as quickly as before despite the additional weight. This modified steam engine has required more frequent maintenance and repair, and despite the extra exhaust ports, the added heat continues to damage adjacent parts. Finally, Rowdy wields a larger and sturdier version of the Ironclad’s quake hammer. The big ’jack had bent or broken three of the standard variety in combat, and the heavy duty hammer it currently carries into battle was built to better withstand the punishing blows Ol’ Rowdy regularly delivers to its enemies.
Ol’ Rowdy has clocked more hours in the mechanik’s repair hoist than any warjack in Cygnaran history, and Cygnaran mechaniks have kept meticulous track of the warjacks repairs over the years, an ever-expanding testament to Rowdy’s endurance and ferocity.
