Gaiaterra: Elysea's Conflict/Cataphract Land Ironclad

"None shall pass."

-...

The Cataphract Land Ironclad is armoured battle station on four legs, used by the Grey Steel as their superheavy MBT. Planned to be voiced by.

Overview
* TBA*

History
"The Cataphract is here. Fear its power and you will get a quick death."

-Cataphract "Executor" High Besieger Gilbert Reinar

The Cataphract Heavy Ironclad Walker, referred to as the Cataphract Land Ironclad by the rest of the world who has ever seen this behemoth and survived to tell, and "Devil's Executor" by the Heralds Of Chaos. The Cataphract is a massive fighting machine, only beaten by the even larger Crawler and the largest of all, the Shogun Executioner.

The Cataphract is called to action only when it is absolutely required, and when it appears, anyone, even the most bravest men, runs for their lives. By some rumors, the Cataphract is a product of the Devil, or by the Order's men, by Sigmar himself, but the truth is different and dates to the time of "Aperta Scriptum".

When Aperta Scriptum, as the Order called him, appeared to other forgemasters, bishops, and leaders of the Order with sketches for new machines, it caused great controversy between forgemasters and craftsmen. At the time, Order used old war machines like battering rams, catapults, and then-new "automobiles" with steam engines and weapons.

The largest vehicle they had was little more than a locomotive on many large wheels, armed with six steam cannons and crossbows. Its armor consisted of half an inch of Talon Steel, with one-and-a-half inches around the furnace. It wasn't fast, more of a slow-moving mobile fortress, but its production wasn't that difficult. And now Aperta Scriptum came up with a design that would make the "Battle Locomotive" look like an ant in comparison

The craftsmen and forgemasters criticized its proportions and its armor; three inches seemed for them too large a waste of the precious Talon Steel, which wasn't easy to produce. But the inquisitors, priests, and bishops liked the idea of the quadrupedal "walking landship", absolutely indestructible and with its armament able to raze to the ground a medium-sized city on its own. This conflict nearly ended in blows between the forges and churches, but Aperta Scriptum resolved it.

If the forgemasters would give him men and enough Talon Steel and the bishops space and funds, he would personally produce "Cataphracts" and other walkers in the new forges. This shushed both sides and Aperta Scriptum moved to a forgotten corner of already forgotten Gilneas, where he secretly founded the Aperta Scriptum Holy Forges, right under the noses of the Gilneasians. There the production of all walkers for the Order was stationed, the prototype Ironmongery rolled out, and the first Cataphract stood up after the Hawke War, as it was evident producing this walker takes much time and effort.

The Cataphract is the third largest surface vehicle in the world, dwarfed only by the Imperial Shogun Executioner and Order's own Master Crawler. Aperta Scriptum took inspiration from War Elephants used hundreds of years ago, and the Cataphract serves a purpose similar to its ancient counterparts; smashing through enemy lines and bases.

Its weight is around 2,500 tons, its height is around fifty feet, and its weaponry would put the combined firepower of an entire battalion to shame. Under the command bridge are two 305mm steam cannons, capable of destroying Alliance Battle Tortoises in a few barrages, while point-defense guns spread across the Cataphract's body deal with faster-moving ground targets and aircraft.

For its size and weight, it is rumored that a Cataphract can destroy Voshkod Apocalypse tanks just by stomping on them. The machine itself must be piloted by fifty skilled crew members commanded by Besiegers, who aren't in many cases mere fanatical believers to Sigmar like one would find in a Crawler, but professional mechanics and highly experienced veterans of many battles, meaning that Cataphract crews are some of the most capable and skilled crews in the entire Order. Each Cataphract receives a name, for only seven of them exist, one for each Crawler (with the exception of the prototype Ironmongery).

There is also a persistent rumor among the Order that during the Ironmongery creation the blueprints of it, whether stolen or accidentally dropped, fell into the hands of a wandering Zemurian. That Zemurian would dedicate his life to decyphering the plans, which eventually led to the ADI finding said blueprints and making the Mammoth Mk2.