Soaring Gyrkin
Type: Scout Warstrider Rating: ••• Magical Material: Blue Jade Attuned: Triumph-of-Will
Description
Soaring Gyrkin is a scout warstrider of blue jade and simple aesthetic, armoured panels left smooth with little adornement, save the pentagram of the Realm upon its chest and the eagle feather of House Sesus on its shoulders and back. The helm of the warstrider has the most ornamentation, its shape reminiscent of a stylized raptor's head and beak. A cloak of burgundy is embroidered with the markings of its pilot and the 4th Imperial Legion, though an attentive observer will note that beneath the cloak several jade panels have been shaved or stripped. The warstrider stands 16ft tall.
Soaring Gyrkin is armed with a mundane warstrider-scaled slashing sword of good Steel, and another of Iron. At its back can be seen two stubby, winglike projections.
History
Soaring Gyrkin was commissioned by House Sesus in RY671 at the behest of the Scarlet Empress, to serve with the forces of the 4th Imperial Legion after they had suffered the loss of a warstrider to unknown causes. It was constructed at the Factory-Cathedral of the Exalted Battle Girded in Power and Fury, and commissioned into service in RY689. An attempt was made to replicate the flight systems seen in some of the most complex of ancient warstriders, but this effort ended in failure, the results deemed not worth the cost of production and attunement.
Serving with the 4th, Soaring Gyrkin saw use mostly in policing and bandit suppression actions in the northern and northeastern Threshold... though scout class warstriders are not built to combat major supernatural threats, it proved more than able to terrify mundane-armed mortals by its mere presence. In the Campaign against the Anathema-Voivode, it was deployed as a scout and raiding unit, attatched to the 4th's ranger scales, north of the Thousand Rushes River. It accounted well for itself, claiming a number of kills and the destruction of supply depots. It was originally considered by strategoi Sesus Dochao for deployment to the Battle of the Wall of Ice, but that task was eventually granted to the cavalry of Sesus Septimus. Behind enemy lines, Soaring Gyrkin was not able to join the Battle of the Drowned, but it assisted in mopping up operations following the death of the Anathema, and joined the initial charge against the walls of Azer.
Soaring Gyrkin is currently attached to the 4th Imperial Legion Warstrider Talon 3rd Warstrider Fang. It is piloted by outcaste scalelord Triumph-of-Will.
Ever-Soaring Leap Mechanism
The failed flight system incorporated into the Soaring Gyrkin increases its attunement cost by three motes. While incapable of true flight, the system does have a limited effect: count the wearer's Athletics as one higher when calculating jumping distances.