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| The
ES Encyclopedia supplies an ever-growing body of
short articles and descriptions of people, places and things that inhabit the
world of The Eylau Sequence. It is a great help to those wishing for a
better understanding of the background to current Eylau Sequence short stories
and gaming. If there is a favorite entry that you would like to see added,
please let us
know. |
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I
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Ice Wall Duel — This centerpiece of modern
military training has its origins in the dawn of unmanned combat. As humans
were banned from frontline combat zones by their various physical weaknesses, a
new system of hardening officers and men to danger had to be created. After the
failure of numerous combat simulation systems, it was eventually decided that
only genuine danger itself could provide military personnel with the cultural
and societal basis of their trade.
Over a century of experimentation
produced several variations, but the most common is the ice wall duel. A
soldier or officer volunteering for a duel will stand without armor protection
six paces in front of a large flat wall of superhard material, ranging from
nickel to rhenium diboride. The front of the wall is coated with a thin layer
of ice, making the surface slightly irregular. At any time after taking
position in front of the wall, the volunteer must level a side arm directly at
the wall face and fire one shot, allowing a kinetic round to strike the wall
and ricochet off. Depending on a variety of factors, the round may or may not
ricochet back and hit the "dueler." If hit, the injury may or may not be fatal,
depending on which part of the body is affected.
The odds are in favor
of the ice wall dueler, as 96% of all rounds ricochet out into the dueling
chamber and eventually end up on the floor in pieces. But regardless of the
result, the effect on the volunteer is permanent. Only two decorations are
allowed to be represented on uniforms; combat experience and ice wall duels. A
full record is also maintained for each duel, including such key scoring
elements as how long the dueller waited before firing, how directly they aimed
at the wall, the wall's specific flatness and condition at the moment the round
was fired, and a host of other details. It is well known in armed forces around
the solar system that without any combat experience or ice wall duels to his or
her credit, an officer has little or no chance for promotion. For lower ranks,
ice wall duels help pave the way for possible promotion and at the very least
help establish their position in the natural pecking order that exists in all
such groups. |
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 Ixwa —
Built by Royce-Hontura of Darwin, Australia, the AU6 "Ixwa" had an unusual
development history. The hull was originally ordered as part of a plan for
network MEK construction, but the EU12 "Falcata" won the prototype network
competition. It was decided to test the Ixwa's hull for conversion to an attack
vehicle, at which time it was discovered that the hull port originally intended
for the network antennae also worked well as part of a possible photon based
weapon system. This apparently was related to the Ixwa's unusually narrow hull
form, but in any case development proceed on this new track, giving Australia
(and the Med States) its first Class B attack vessel.
At first glance,
the most obvious aspect of the Ixwa is its flat, sun-shaped hull. It has twin
transducer drives which are rather large for a vehicle of an Ixwa's size.
Like all other Med States and Australian MGV units, the AU6 is named
after a type of blade. |
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