3/7 Orb Craft

The Orb Craft listed here are not canon to the setting, they are conjectural and exist in near future imaginings

Amerikka Command Sidewinder

Built in the South African United Republics (SAUR), the Sidewinder Orb craft are built from the scavenged weapons, power cores, and a-pods of the increasingly deficient AC-AfroCommand fleet in exile. The existing ships were obsolete by CE standards, and were more museum pieces and posturing tools than actual combat ready warships. Rather than continuing to funnel resources into keeping propaganda pieces operational, the Sidewinder program took the ORB concept and built the first round of orbs literally inside the hull of the ACS General George Washington. While the speed, armor, and firepower of the Sidewinder is unremarkable, the dozen built from the hulk of GGW and their sudden increase in mobility make them an actual asset to the SAUR and AC-AfroCommand, and a threat to the conventional forces of the Atlantic Federation's AfroZone.

The deployment of Sidewinders along the SAUR/AF border raises tensions and forces the AF to deploy more aerospace assets to the Kinshasa aerodrome, as well as moving more ships to the largely considered backwater African 3rd Fleet. While the AF is certainly able to contain, and when provoked into combat, destroy the Sidewinders, but not without losing several ships and a fair amount of material on the ground in the process. While a tactical victory for the AF, it is a strategic defeat because the seemingly untouchable Federation has it's eye blacked by the SAUR and their AC allies.

Brotherhood of Nod Obelisk

The technophiles of the brotherhood readily grasp at the concept of the Orb. It's purity of form and purpose, and it's near complete reliance on arcanotech makes it a pinnacle of their tech worshiping faith. Their orbs, built in hidden underground bases, combine basic arcanotech like reactors and a-pods, with the exquisite horror that is Noddite tech. The main firepower of the Obelisk is a massive naval grade thaser, capable of igniting the air around it and causing metal to burn. The secondary armaments of the Obelisk are more frightening than it's All Burning Eye. The true horror of the Obelisk is that there is an Agony Complex housed inside the vessel and it is hooked up to a massive Emotion Radiator, causing literal waves of fear and pain to pour from the craft.

Obelisks and Grand Obelisks are rare, but their appearance is a sure sign of coming terror. The Brotherhood will instigate civil unrest and promote violence and riots until the time is right for an armed insurrection, when Brotherhood forces will attack. Obelisks can move quickly from place to place and their naval THASERs are more than enough to torch mecha, drive off light ships, and turn fortifications into funeral pyres. When international forces are brought to bear against the Obelisks, they suffer loses, but the Obelisks will become evasive, use cloaking technology, and otherwise vanish as quickly as they appeared.

Rocky Mountain Republic Stoudenmire Mark 9

The RMR owes it's existence to the assault/bombardier mech the Stoudenmire. The Mark IX is a basic orb craft, but mounts the prototype 300mm MAC (magnetic acceleration cannon), a heavy naval grade magnetic driver. The Mk IX takes the advantages of the bombardier mech and negates its flaws. A handful of Mk IXs can easily defend any mountain pass from invading ground forces, while groupings of them can prove an impressive deterrent to any warship attempting to penetrate RMR airspace.

The Mk IXs are no means revolutionary, but their speed and the local's familiarity with terrain make assaulting the Rockies a fools errand. This is made worse for involved parties as the largely independent RMR is as friendly with groups like Amerikka Command as it is with the Atlantic Federation, which it is actually a member state of. While keeping their MAC tech to themselves, the industrial base of the RMR is more than sufficient to produce Orb craft parts and contract their construction for other interested parties.