IT'S THE GOOBERS! From Left to right for both pictures, Millie, Eddie, Eiche, Ritz, and Kiki.
Under the cut is so much lore so be warned.
Millipede “Millie” Millipede’s a tough and sturdy yet affectionate unit, quiet at most times and very sweet. Incendiary shells burnt half her face and refused medical care until the other units were treated, resulting in the burns becoming permanent after the components melted into each other. Though she looks wholly intimidating, she’s actually sweet as syrup. Slightly self-conscious about her scarring, Millie prefers not to show her face but finds ballistic masks more uncomfortable than having her face exposed. Millie’s girlfriend, a Eule named Rosa, makes her feel better by running her hands over the crevices of the burns and kissing them. Millie's gentle personality makes her easy to get along with by most units and gestalts, especially Eules, and gets her very mistakenly taken for a pushover. Because she spends a lot of time with Rosa, and therefore other Eules, Millipede is an excellent cook. She’s also adept at applying makeup and doing hair, after she awkwardly asked other Eules for help so she could do Rosas hair and makeup as a surprise. She uses a bolt action rifle and a large axe. She has a pet spider named Beine who lives in her backpack.
Edward Teach “Eddie” Edward is rowdy and often loud, her anxiety mostly manifesting in making her easy to startle, spiraling into cynical possibilities, and panic attacks. Eddie got her name from her choice of weapons, a break action blunderbuss and a cutlass, plus the fact that she got them in the first place by stealing from an imperial noble’s former residence. She hates to show it, but she’s often uncomfortable and has a nagging feeling that she’s in constant danger, like most Kasuars but more intense. For this reason she tends to hang around larger units such as Storches, Starlings, and Schnäppers, though she herself is plenty capable in combat. Most find this endearing. She doesn’t mind her masculine name, nor when she’s referred to as ‘blackbeard’, though most simply call her a more neutral ‘Eddie.’ While vocally loud, Edward moves silently and smoothly, making her the best suited for flanking an enemy for an aggressive close-range attack. She wears a mask whenever she’s overwhelmed.
Cricket “Kiki”: Cricket is quiet, formal, and serious. In most cases she’s extremely calm, still, and passive to the point of being creepy, though in combat, she’s excessively brutal, sometimes dismissing her already-powerful weapons in favor of discarded limbs or simply using her hands in grabbing, slamming, and more aggressive tearing movements. Her softer side shows with her squad, and even more so with Jensen, an Ara unit deployed to work with artillery, who Cricket quietly cares for and gave Cricket her nickname. Though Jensen has a nickname: ‘Jenny’, Cricket has never once used it. Often, Cricket will subtly and repeatedly tap on the people she finds comforting, ‘to make sure they’re still there’, especially Jensen. She’s doesn’t show it most times, but Cricket is extremely protective of her friends, and any officer or other soldier that picks a fight quickly ends up on the wrong side of her fists. She also has a wide knowledge of local flora, mostly because she enjoys listening to Jensen rant about random flowers she sees. She’d likely eat an axe before she admits it, but she likes holding hands with Jensen and being held. She rarely takes her helmet off, instead opting for simply raising the visor when needed, and uses a light machine gun, spiked club, and a combat knife.
Ritterhelm “Ritz”: Ritterhelm is the rowdiest of the group, finding a gritty thrill in combat and got her name by using her helmet as a cup for liquor. She’s also the more idealistic of the group; while she usually respects the hierarchy of the Eusan Nation military, castes fall short when civilians are brought into harm’s way, even beating an officer to death after she realized that the outpost they bombed was not an outpost but a civilian settlement. She was pardoned after the her allies argued that the officer was a war-criminal. It’s possible that this above-average protectiveness stemsfrom her own lover dying during an air raid, a Starling stationed on a mostly civilian-operated medical outpost. Now Ritterhelm wears the Starling’s ruined garrison hat tied around her arm, as well as a photo of the two in her helmet. Ritterhelm, beyond being wilder than the others, is more humorous and also more of a drunkard, often carrying a flask of liquor with her. She uses a glaive and a submachine gun during combat.
Eichenholz “Eiche”:
Eichenholz is the oldest of the Kasuars, and relatively old in general, older than a gestalt’s mandatory service time. She’s transferred many times through different units before ending up with the 13th Attack Unit. Long past her optimal service time, Eiche is efficient enough at her job that she’s never been put for decommissioning. Though she grew skeptical of the justness of the war, she remains loyal. With her age came the gradual persona degradation and eventual recovery of suppressed gestalt memories, mostly unpleasant ones. Memories of the gestalt life’s abuse coupled with combat fatigue from the war has left Echenholz depressed and detached, reacting apathetically to even the most gruesome scenes. During her time in combat, Eiche has attempted to end her life twice, once with a rifle and once by jumping from a height, stopped both times by her allies. As well as memories of abuse, a certain penchant for spirituality returned with it. Though she doesn’t know what they mean to her or the gestalt who felt the original connection to it, Eiche has carved numerous symbols across her armor and body, mostly of a large radiating eye. She’s more spiritual than the others and even sometimes prays, not knowing who she’s praying to but has the prayers themselves ingrained into her mind. While originally concerned about praying to an unknown entity, she eventually dismissed whatever concerns she had in favor of her comfort. Other than her religion, Eiche finds purpose in doing her best to keep her compatriots alive, which is hard enough without accounting for the fact that there is a non-zero chance of any one of them is snorting gunpowder at any given moment. After her arms were destroyed not long into her service, medical officers used what they had on hand to get soldiers back to combat, and instead of waiting on often-delayed shipments of replacement parts, utilized the components of the corpses around them, meaning for Eiche the shortened arms of a deceased security unit. Beyond her mental issues, Eiche, despite her best attempts, ends up taking the motherly role of the group, taking care of the others and being more in-tune with whatever stresses they have. Eiche can even consistently speak with Falke units if she knows her compatriots are nearby, mostly because she remembers the original source of the agitation surrounding Falke units and is able to consciously separate the fear. She excels at breaching operations and urban warfare, able to quickly navigate ruined infrastructure. She uses a longsword and a powerful automatic shotgun.