Dominion Shrikes (Mechanized Spirit)

Spirits are apart of our natural universe and like all-natural parts, they have their uses. -Alistar Cobren, the first alleged Imperial Binder.
During the Titan's Fall war the Thaeruun needed a way to not only win the war but protect themselves from the greater civilizations across the known galaxy. Among their many strategies was the Ironhand program that sought to make the first practical use of mechs. Many others had tried to make this work in the past but the power sources for such large machines was impractical.
A man named Alistar Cobren approached them with a plan to develop new technology. Part mystic arts and part tech, the new technology would come to be known as Binder tech. Those able to use it would become Imperial Binders learn how to bind spirits to meticulously crafted artifices. These artifices allow a binder to use the spirit in a myriad of different ways.
The rarest of all binders are those that can ascend to the status of a mech pilot. These warriors are able to not only bind spirits but exert their will upon them or commune with the spirit to allow them to pilot a mech in an almost fluid and natural sense. It is said that a pilot is one in a hundred binders, a great pilot, one to a thousand and legendary pilots are one in a million. It is from these strong few that the Mechanized Corps are created.

Utility

"The proficiency of Dominion military tech fused with an immortal spirit. Behold the fury of our glorious empire." -Head Researcher Zokana Ra'Dashi

Nicknames:
Binder tech is a hotly debated within the Coalition Ethics Councils. Those who favor making binding illegal point out that a spirit has both sentience and sapience and according to Rhinavren Uplifter ethics this qualifies them to be given full rights like any other being. The Dominion argues that firstly Rhinavren interference was what led to the Dominion having to be established and to protect its citizens from outside interference and secondly that beings that are given rights also have responsibilities. The Dominion also argues to the nature of spirits which, like many complex topics, no one has yet to fully classify. In all matters the Dominion claims sovereignty and dares anyone to come to take their MDS.
Access & Availability
The process by which binder tech is created is a closely guarded secret only known to the Eldritch Sages of the Karbon Colleges. They craft all the binder tech for the Dominion under the guidance and watchful eye of the Thaeruun Houses. The Eldritch Sages work with the Cyberforge masters to produce a completed artifice. A task that is part assembly line, and part artistic work. Binders are taught the basics of bindercraft, allowing them to craft their own basic artifices such as totems and infusion gems.
Complexity
The technology is one of the most complete mergers of arcane mysticism and advanced technology, rivaling that of Rorance's own magitech. The technology is made with specialized metals and ingredients that have to be produced in painstaking care and precision. As a Cyberforge works to create the various parts, the Eldritch Sages weave their enigmatic arts into each piece.
The variety of purposes these artifices are nigh-infinite, though due to their complexity they are usually whittled down to three primary purposes. Energy source being the most numerous as it has many uses and in its simplist form is very easy to make. Weapon spirits and infusements bind a spirit to a particular object allowing that object to manifest the power of the spirit. The most complex is the mechanized spirit itself, due mostly to the fact that only powerful spirits can be used to power a mech.
Discovery
Alistar Cobren was said to have been studying the Kaluda shamans who were renowed within the Isac sector for their arcane prowess. Upon closer inspection, he discovered the truth. Unlike the archetypical shamans found across the galaxy, the Kaluda had developed a ritual to bind spirits to totems. It was through these artifices that they channeled the inherent powers of the spirits to perform their various powers.
Frantically, Alistar began to document all their techniques and is even rumored to have become a Kaludan shaman. After several decades of study he took his knowledge of their mystic arts and began to devise a way to create a practical technological application. Shortly after his departure from the world, a devastating plague wiped out the Kaludan people, leaving him the sole barer of their ancient traditions. He forever immortalized them with the creation of the first Mech, or Mechanized Spirit as he had called it. "The marriage of ancient wisdom and modern knowledge. A blessed guardian has awakened to defend our freedom from the tyranny of the Rhinavren Councellette."

Cover image: by Cw Tolle II

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