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The Northern War MachinesHACS-01MG-MP Hunter
In its standard configuration, the Hunter Mark II serves as a "general purpose" or trooper Gear. Its field of duties mimic those of standard infantry as well as some tasks traditionally entrusted to armored units. Typically, the Hunter will be used for patrol and light assault duties, often in conjunction with some scout and fire-support units. The standard armament of the Hunter reflects its generalized military duty. A Riley M222 autocannon rifle provides a good combination of firepower and range against other Gears and lightly-armored targets, while a RP-109 Pepperbox provides added punch and limited indirect fire capabilities. A Mark IV anti-personnel grenade launcher provides defense against infantry, while several Gear-scale M-2A hand grenades and a vibroknife allow the Hunter to enter close combat if needed. Service RecordWithout a doubt, the Hunter has seen more action than any other Northern combat Gear. First deployed during border conflicts between the expansionist United Mercantile Federation and the other major Northern leagues, the Hunter encountered its Southern counterpart during the Merchant Wars of TN 1686 and TN 1688. As the Confederated Northern City-States was formed, the Hunter spread to the other Northern leagues and could soon be found across the hemisphere. The devastating battles of St. Vincent's War were also fought by the Hunter, and the wide-scale warfare saw the machine begin to spread into the Badlands as well. By the time the Northern economy had rebuilt itself, many communities had acquired salvaged Gear and a new market for Northco had opened up. The Gear was modernized and renamed the Hunter Mark II in the TN 1850s, in response to the redesign of the Southern Jäger. In the cycles before the War of the Alliance, many analysts were claiming that the Hunter's days were numbered. The hard times of the war, however, proved the endurance of the "old man" of Northern Gears. Expensive spare parts and complex repair procedures limited the availability and service of the more sophisticated machines, and the Hunter continued to shine. The familiarity of the design to almost every military technician on the planet made the Hunter very popular with units strapped for supplies. Its success showed that high-performance vehicles and low-maintenance ones can coexist in a military force. Even if the Hunter is eventually phased out of elite units, it will have a home with civil defense and Badlands militias. HACS-01LG-SCT Cheetah
The Cheetah's release also marked the arrival of Kenema's Shaian Mechanics on the Gear production scene. Previously specializing in actuators and movement sub-systems, the Cheetah marked their first independently produced Gear. At the time, its technological superiority sent shock-waves through much of the military-industrial complex of the CNCS. In the 35 cycles since the Cheetah entered production, Shaian has passed from a sub-contractor of note to one of the "big two" Gear producers in the North and has established itself as one of the centers of the Keneman economy. Despite rumors that Shaian is producing a new line of heavier machines, the Cheetah remains its flagship Gear and is featured in almost all the company's advertising campaigns. Service RecordThe first production run of the Cheetah came off the newly-built Shaian Mechanics assembly line in Keneman in TN 1888. The first machines were sold to the Northern Guard and used by the locally stationed "Busybees" (B Company of the 18th Gear Regiment). The Busybees and few other selected regiments, however, remained the only Northern Guard forces to use the Cheetah for a long time. In The early TN 1900s internal tensions led to many of the Northern leagues not wanting to share cutting edge technology, and almost all the Cheetahs produced between TN 1899 and 1906 were purchased by the Norlight Armed Forces. The Norlight War Department authorized renewed sales to the Northern Guard after TN 1906, but very few sales to the other national armies occurred until the War of the Alliance. The attempted invasion of the Terra Nova by the Colonial Expeditionary Force in TN 1913 provided the Cheetah with ample opportunity to prove its worth in battle. Although little could match the combination of speed and firepower presented by the CEF's deadly hovertanks, the Cheetah was able to hold its own. Combat capable scout units provided an critical edge to many Northern forces facing the initial drive of the CEF. As all Northern forces became centralized, the Cheetah was widely distributed, with many units being transferred to the Mercantile and Western theaters. The war also saw the development of a wide variety of variants as the flexibility of the Cheetah chassis was pushed almost to the limit. Since the end of the war, the Cheetah has secured its place as the premier scout unit among almost all Northern forces. HACS-02MG-MPS Jaguar
The Jaguar also benefited from the introduction of the S-V1110 V-Engine and new armor materials, in this case durasheet composite reinforced with steel alloy sub-plates. Additional chassis struts allowed the Jaguar to be more resistant to damage from shock and weapons fire and also made possible the inclusion of paratrooper capabilities on the production model. To avoid the problems of airdrop vanes and chest mounted parachute bags found in models such as the Hunter Commando, the Jaguar featured modular parachute attachment points and a standard drop pack instead. The only real drawback of the Jaguar design is that the interface for the new IHADS system is bulkier than the system found with the Hunter Mk II; this entails that, in conjunction with the compact sensor array of the Jaguar, the head room of the pilot is very cramped. Service RecordThe development of the Jaguar coincided with a period of great political tension across Terra Nova and within the Confederated Northern City-States. With trusts between the Northern leagues at an all-time low, the United Mercantile Federation Army made of the Jaguar a "strategic federal resource" in TN 1905 and banned Northco from selling their new model to foreign powers, regardless of alliance. As it turned out, the attempted Earth invasion broke the tensions and the massive Jaguar production lines were brought to full capacity with a desperate need. They first filled the ranks of the Northern armies and, once a rapid agreement had been reached, were sent south to fill the desperate need for high-technology commando Gears in Southern forces. The Jaguar more than earned its stripes during the war. The machine with the best overall performance in the conflict, the Jaguar saw action across the planet as a commando, a trooper, a command unit, an anti-armor unit and a make-shift airdroppable fire-support Gear. It also kick started Southern Gear development and inspired the deadly Black Mamba which appeared just after the war. The Jaguar has yet to replace the Hunter because of its higher cost and increased complexity, but with every cycle it enters service in more and more units. Some consider it only a matters of time before it becomes the lead Gear of all Northern forces. HACS-02HG-MPS Grizzly
Despite its heavy armor and impressive weapons load, the Grizzly is usually deployed with lighter machines as defensive escorts. Tank-hunting enemy Gears can be frighteningly effective if they are allowed to close range with the Grizzly, because of speed and maneuverability advantages. The standard tactical deployment remains in mixed companies, using squadrons of Grizzlies in secondary positions, with strike squadrons moving forward and including at least one forward observing unit to relay coordinates and laser targeting data. The successful use of the Grizzly has led to the progressive decommissioning of the Bear, but has entailed corporate difficulties for Northco. Indeed, Shaian Actuators continue to be critical in the performance improvement of the Grizzly over the Bear. Service RecordThe Grizzly has proved its worth repeatedly over the sixty cycles of its existence. It first saw action in a Northern Guard campaign to suppress a particularly vicious Wounded Knee smuggling ring in the TN 1880s, and was responsible for a stunning number of kills. The Grizzly was also involved in an increasing number of skirmishes with Southern MILICIA troops in the Badlands. The true test, however, was the War of the Alliance. Faced with the fast armor of Colonial Expeditionary Force hovertanks, the Grizzly proved effective in combat, especially when deployed with forward observing units to "tag" hovertanks with laser designators. The War also saw the development of the first Grizzly variants, most of which pressed into front-line assault roles against the heavy armor of the CEF. The success of the Rabid and Assault Grizzly eventually led to the development of the Kodiak heavy assault Gear. Since the war, the Grizzly has continued to serve with distinction across the Northern hemisphere. The TN 1920s saw an especially wide distribution of Grizzlies as the Northern Guard made a final decision to replace most of its Bears in favor of the more modern machine. Northern tacticians, however, feel that the Grizzly's low speed and lack of maneuverability are critical flaws in the design. In anti-armor or fire-support roles, these drawbacks are not very serious, but other Gears are needed to shield Grizzly units, limiting the flexibility of the force. Northco and Shaian technicians have repeatedly stated that agility and heavy firepower are extremely difficult to mesh together, but a program is nonetheless underway to overhaul the Grizzly. The first result of this program has been the so-called "Panda" prototypes. WACS-01FS-AST Mammoth
The weapons systems of the Mammoth are based around a mixed heavy-assault and fire-support mission profile. The primary fire-support weaponry is a Fireball-II guided missile launcher located in the left battle arm. The launcher carries a load of six anti-tank missiles and features a side mounted laser targeting device. This combination allows the Mammoth to paint its own targets for the Fireball missiles or to accept such information from a friendly forward observer. The right arm houses a devastating SB-90 Assault Gun with a 25-shot drum magazine. Light anti-armor capability is assured by a turreted GU-20 autocannon, while close defense and anti-infantry needs are met by a pair of KJ-16 miniguns capable of filling the air in front of the Mammoth with a sheet of small-caliber fire. Service RecordThe Mammoth remains the heart of strider units to this day. First released in TN 1848, the Mammoth has seen many battles and undergone many refitting and modernization programs. The original release of the strider was less maneuverable than the current model and featured a less secure armored compartment. The current layout of the Mammoth was introduced in TN 1901 and has remained roughly unchanged since, except for an update of the AFLIC sensor system and the control software. The success of the Mammoth has made striders into an integral part of the Northern and Southern arsenals. Northern developers, however, have remained faithful to the basic systems of the Mammoth and the chassis has been used for a number of variants. The Mammoth began as a Norlight design and was used by the Norlight Armed Forces almost exclusively until the Northern Guard decided to adopt the new weapons system. Since then, the Mammoth has been a mainstay of almost all Northern Guard armored regiments and found a similar place in the UMFA and WFPA. Like all Terranovan combat vehicles, the Mammoth was pressed into service during the War of the Alliance. The strider proved itself effective against hovertank columns when used in conjunction with fast moving scout units using target designators, or when they could take advantage of terrain. When up against the fast-moving CEF hovertanks on open ground, however, the slow-moving Mammoths faired quite poorly.
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The Hunter Gear has the distinction of being the first exclusively military walker machine on Terra Nova. The father of all the subsequent designs of the North (and to a great extent, the South), the "old man" of the Gear world remains among the most commonly seen Gear designs in active military service. The Hunter chassis has been refitted several times in its 250 cycles of service to keep it competitive with more recent designs, but its greatest strength has always been its versatility and simplicity. The simplicity of its design has also enabled a proliferation of specialized variants designed to excel at specific combat tasks. The standard Hunter (actually the Mark II, introduced in TN 1852) remains in wide usage, however, even in the face of more advanced machines. 
The Cheetah was designed to surpass the speed and maneuverability of previous scout machines without utilizing their less flexible motive systems. The new machine's almost fully humanoid design allowed it to be used a variety of specialized combat roles, including assault roles that were previously off limits to the combat-shy Bobcat and Ferret. The Cheetah is lightly armored, but it relies on outstanding speed and superb maneuverability to give it a defensive edge. The Gear is equipped with a variety of hardpoints, allowing it to carry a wide range of weaponry. A series of waist level attachments for deployable pack-guns supplement any shoulder or arm-mounted weaponry. The standard armament consist of a single pack gun, supplemented by a RP-109 Pepperbox missile pod; grenades and a vibroknife are standard issue for close combat duty, in which the Gear's unparalleled maneuverability gives it a deadly advantage. 
The most advanced commando/general purpose Gear in the Northern armed forces, the Jaguar was developed by Northco in the early cycles of the TN 1900s as the successor of the Hunter. The new machine featured a wide variety of improvements over the venerable Hunter and even over the more advanced Tiger. While the weapons load was not significantly changed -- the main direct fire weapon became the heavier Riley MR25 machine cannon rifle -- the performances were improved across the board. A new second-generation IHADS control interface was introduced; in combination with the targeting systems originally developed for the Tiger, this allowed a generalized improvement in fire-control that made the weapons load much more effective in combat. A more powerful communications array also allowed the Jaguar to function in mild EW battlefields and to be used as a command unit. 
The result of a cooperation between industrial giant Northco and Kenema's Shaian Mechanics, the Grizzly heavy fire support Gear has been a mainstay of the Northern armies since its introduction in the TN 1870s. Designed to replace the Bear, the Grizzly brought a combination of raw firepower and armor to the battlefield. The basic armament of the Grizzly was similar to the Bear's, featuring a Riley M225 heavy autocannon as its main direct fire weaponry, supplemented by twin GH-8 rocket pods. Indirect fire capabilities are provided by TD-76 mortar unit, capable of lobbing guided high-explosive shells more than two kilometers away. This long-range guided weaponry makes the Grizzly extremely dangerous when paired with a forward observing unit using a laser designator -- such as a Cheetah or Ferret scout/recon Gear. To provide point defense, the Grizzly is equipped with a built-in GU-10 machinegun.
The Mammoth is the most common strider unit in use by the forces of the CNCS. Originally a Norlight design, the Mammoth is now built under license by no less than three companies throughout the Northern Hemisphere. The machine is rugged and tough, and its large clawed feet and balance plates are perfectly suited to the rocky environment of the North. The machine has a crew of two, one pilot and one system operator/gunner. They sit in a tandem configuration similar to the layout of a helicopter gunship. The Mammoth is sturdy and well-armored, featuring heavy durasheet plates supplemented by additional ceramite layers designed to redirect shaped-charge ammunition and to burn off to absorb laser fire. The Mammoth uses an AFLIC sensor pod mounted on the nose as its main array, supplemented by several redundant system to prevent the strider from being blinded in combat.