The classes
Each class comes from its own Cradle gene-line, and each barracks has its own name for it.
- Vanguard (Murus, "wall"). Auto-rifle and shield. The barracks calls them "the Wall".
- Reaper (Messor, "harvester"). Fast and light, with dual SMGs and a scythe. The barracks calls them "Cutters".
- Titan (Malleus, "hammer"). Heavy frame, heavy cannon and hammer. The barracks calls them "Anvils".
Vanguard
Background. Vanguard stock was specified for one job: to be the thing the line forms behind. Dense bone lattice, slow-twitch muscle, a heart tuned for long, steady output. Vanguards go through every breach first and leave last. They are calm because they were built to be the calmest person in the room.
Voice. Calm, formal, brief. "We", never "I". They report and do not boast. "Holding." "Contact, left." "Stand behind me." "Bulwark up."
Armor Plating (passive). The lattice learns each blow and lays another layer where it landed, so the Vanguard takes less damage with every level.
Bulwark (ability). It is not a force field. The Vanguard drives the shield edge into the deck and commands a Lock: the lattice goes rigid as one mass. A locked lattice cannot be dented, only pushed, and the anchor stops the push, so nothing hurts. On the first beat the stored force leaves outward as a ring, which is the knockback. A lock that rigid cannot be held for long. The cooldown is the suit letting itself flex again.
Reaper
Background. The Reaper was specified for the problem the Vanguard cannot solve, a swarm too dense to hold. The Vanguard holds a lane. The Reaper holds nothing. Messor stock is thin-boned, fast-twitch and light-framed, bred to be accurate only in motion. A Reaper that stops is a Reaper that misses.
Voice. Fast, clipped, dry, a little amused. "We", like the Vanguard, but shorter and never formal. "Moving." "Cut left." "Don't wait." "Keep up."
Velocity Edge (passive). The lattice reads each kill as the cue for the next stride, a harvest reflex, and trades a little more actuator output for the next step. It is capped, because the lattice cannot go past the limit of the bone it was grown on.
Phase Shift (ability). A dash taken out of phase. The lattice flickers so the Sentinel passes through bodies, and the actuators dump heat out behind, so the path burns. The Reaper's off-hand is the scythe, the Falx, a curved blade that clears what the guns cannot.
Titan
Background. The Titan is the heavy-frame cousin of the Vanguard. Where the Wall holds a lane, the Titan breaks it. Malleus stock is dense, broad and slow-twitch, specified for impact. Only the Titan can carry the Heavy Cannon. Its off-hand is the Percussor, a two-headed hammer. Its dash is short and hands its mass to whatever it hits.
Voice. Slow, plain, deadpan, few words. "We", like the others. "Brace." "Down." "Clear the lane." "We are arriving."
Heavyweight (passive). The frame's mass is fed through the cannon's breech, so every projectile shoves harder.
Earthshaker (ability). The Titan drives the Percussor into the deck. The shock runs through the decking and every nerve in the brood nearby misfires at once, which is the stun. It is not magic. It is a hammer and a very good floor. A node's body is too large for one slam to misfire, so bosses take the blow and keep moving.