SS Iron Drake

The SS Iron Drake is a classified starfaring vessel created and maintained by the Stewards in joint operation with the Starfinder Society, designed around the state-of-the-art nanite-based capabilities of Lockette Endrinmaster. Inspired by the technologies of the First Ones, Jun Zhao facilitated the earliest designs, although in recent years the project was taken over by Atticus McCallow and his research divisions.
Although often attributed to a starship, the SS Iron Drake is actually the first in small suite of cutting-edge mecha suits, capable of taking the human form into combat among the stars.

Power Generation

Unique among other starfaring vessels, the SS Iron Drake's power requirements are so vast that no modern engine could hope to power it -- at least without destroying its manueverability and speed. Instead, the entirety of the design relies on the existence of Dragonglass, capable of throttling the power sources of the billions of nanites on board, producing devastating effects for a limited timespan. While research around this limitation are ongoing, some believe that Dragonglass will always be required to pilot the SS Iron Drake, even if only to traverse across the Drift.

Propulsion

The SS Iron Drake propels itself via main thrusters around the shoulders, as well as braking and control thrusters on the torso, hands, feet, and sides. While not as fast as a modern fighter, it can keep pace with starships similar in size, such as the popular starships created by the Kevolari Collective. In special cases, the SS Iron Drake may use additional Dragonglass to increase its burn, hurtling the mecha forward in a straight line at speeds that rival the most advanced single-pilot starships.

Weapons & Armament

Equipped with an immense spear and shield combo and a frightening array of missiles, the SS Iron Drake is capable of dealing damage to tiny and immense starships equally. At max capacity (which has never been tested, for hopefully obvious reasons), the Stewards believe that the SS Iron Drake could rupture the planet of Aucturn -- an option they have been weighing ever since its discovery.
Lockette Endrinmaster XI believed that the weapons array of the SS Iron Drake could be expanded by cutting power non-critical systems during combat, but she was never able to complete the design, due to her murder at the hands of Tesin Movahesh.

Armor and defense

When powered on, the SS Iron Drake is surrounded by some of the most advanced shields in the Pact Worlds, allowing the ships designers to skim on the thickness of the hull, thus increasing manueverability. In addition, given that the mecha is almost entirely controlled via nanites at the will of the pilot, the SS Iron Drake is practically unhackable, save for methods that would directly affect the pilot. While such methods have been tested in the field, the expertise required by an Iron Drake makes mental manipulation all but impossible, and thus the risk team considered the threat moderately low.

Additional & auxiliary systems

After several design iterations from Fish, the SS Iron Drake is now capable of combining with the Aga Jain and its sister ships (the Tempest, Epoch, and Shift). In this form (read-only statblock here), the Iron Drake is more akin to a starship in its own right, capable of taking on dreadnaughts and capital-class ships for as long as it has the fuel. Along with the abilities listed in SSID Ritual-Construct: Queen of Iron, certain individuals may unlock additional abilities while they are active crew:

• Lockette: The SS Iron Drake gains a nanite shroud that starts in the mech's square and spreads to a number of hexes equal to Lockette's Nanocyte Cloud Array. While in this shroud, any ally creatures, vehicles, mechs, or starships are treated as adjacent for the sake of defensive abilities (e.g. Low Guard). In addition, while in the shroud, the mech's listed Turn is decreased by 2, and it gains an additional 2 hexes of speed. Moving this shroud acts similarly to the Nanocyte Cloud Array description, and can be completed as an action in the Engineering phase by any crew member.
• Mist: When the SS Iron Drake's nanite shroud is active, any enemies inside the shroud are surrounded by Debauchery, which floods the ship and affects crew as normal during hull breaches. This cloud also weakens certain defenses, increasing any damage from a successful hit to a force field or ablative armor by an amount equal to 1/2 the ship's Tier. Once per combat, the SS Iron Drake can Skip from one part of the nanite shroud to another in place of a normal Piloting action.
• Tesin: The Drakkenspear onboard the original mech is replaced with a haft reinforced by the Tempest, which has been designed to emit arcane forces generated by the crew. The Drakkenspear becomes a Scythe in this form, and can enact any Scythe-related ability Tesin possesses while active. Once per combat, if Tesin has this ability unlocked, the SS Iron Drake may use the Child of Ambrosia ability as if it were Tesin.
• Flay: The Drakkenspear is enshrouded in White Flame, and is treated as a Blade of Purest Light while this passive ability is active. Once per combat, when reduced to 0 shields in a single quadrant, Flay may take her action in the Engineering phase to return that quadrant to full shields. In addition, if Brightsever is on board, the Burn the Black ability is enabled for any attack with the Drakkenspear.
• Isra: The portal attached to Owl's Aegis is enhanced, and gains unlimited ammo on the Gravity Tether special ability. In addition, when a target is struck by this weapon, Isra may use a special reactive action to pull that target up to half of the weapon's listed range towards the SS Iron Drake. Once per combat, Isra may use an Engineering action to pull all downed starships into the mech, which Lockette can Assimilate as an action in the following Helm phase. In addition, if Isra has brought the Infinite Band onboard, the SS Iron Drake and its crew benefit from all listed abilities.
• Cornelius: While on board, Cornelius can be found crawling from station to station, offering heart-warming encouragement alongside soul-crushing disappointment. Once per combat, when the SS Iron Drake misses on an attack, the attack may be re-rolled at advantage — if the resulting re-roll results in a critical hit, triple the number of damage dice, but keep any additional damage modifiers doubled. In addition, once per day, Cornelius may use his Mantle of the Twisted Soul ability to replicate any Synergy action he's seen one of his party members execute (this does not count against Cornelius' normal use of this ability).
• Chamas: ???
• Abelina: ???
• Anastasia: ???

Artwork by DOFRESH

Designation

SS

Manufacturer

Stewards

Owner

Lockette Endrinmaster 12 2.0

Owning Organization

Dream Team

Rarity

Unique

Complement / Crew

1