By Thunk
The WASP Fighter was the first successful attempt of arcanovehicle. It is built into the husk of a giant demonic bug, which gives it its distinctive insectoïd looks. It has a small bubble like cockpit, two small wings like those of a modern assault helicopter and a double set of rotor blades. It is not as dreadfully agile and wickedly fast as the newer antigravity flyers, but its ultralight ARB alloys and twin jet engines make it a great asset in most urban and Netherworld battlefields.
The WASP is not sentient as the SPUD-U-A is. It doesn't eat meat or unacredited pilots. Apart from its hull, the only arcanowave feature aboard a WASP is the control helmet. This device looks like a big chitinous skull with soft muscle tissue inside that sprout out of the orbits. The pilot puts it on (or more appropriately, sucks it on) and it automatically plugs into an AI/O port on the head, neck or shoulder. The helmet feeds the wearer's visual cortex with flight info and 360° vision from the WASP onboard cameras and electronics. The pilot is then able to control his arcanocopter by thought alone. With a control helmet on, the pilot can use his Arcanowave Device skill for any check that requires Drive. He can also fire the mounted weapons with Arcanowave Device. This system can be fitted into any modern vehicle by a good techie with some knowledge in arcanotech.
The mystic link between the WASP and the helmet is not interrupted when the pilot is out of the cockpit. In fact, the link works up to a distance of the pilot's Magic x 100 meters. This means that a pilot can remote control a vehicle (with a -2 AV, though) while lying outside (you don't run around when blinded and flooded with sensory input from a chopper!). The BuroMil forbids it because this is too risky for valuable personnel and equipment, but the Jammer velocity addicts who have equipped various vehicles with stolen or kit-bashed control helmets feel differently about this. Ain't it cool to experience a crash without risking your neck, man? This baby gives a new sense to the words car bombing!
Stats: Pep +2 / Wreck 15
Weapons : Madame Curie microwave laser cannon (15/Wreck 2/-/-), Castor anti-building rockets (20/Wreck 3/-/6)
| Unknown Armies | Aberrant | Fist of the Wolf | Links | Comments | Personal |