This article serves as a supplemental source for additional information on the Winter II. It is not strictly necessary for roleplay but is here for players who want more information.

The control system of the frame, located in the torso features an unusual half-by-half input system: able to be drive manually with hand-controls like most equipment with fine control and special operations handed to an advanced neural system called intention recognition or IR. (Replace blurb, graphics)

Elements to detail:

Pilot-suit fitting interlocks Shock absorbant pockets Neural interface systems Ejection control Cockpit seal control Startup control Hand controls Display systems Debugging tools

The cockpit, located in the torso features a control system working half by hand-controls and half by a unique neural interface called intent-recognition. Just as parts of the brain recognize a person wants to walk and make it happen without the conscious mind doing each foot-step, intention-recognition or IR-Neural control (IRN for short) works in exactly the same way. It also takes over the pilot's own autonomic responses (like respiration, heart-rate, hormone control) all to keep the pilot calm and alleviate stress (achieving a zen-like state) while driving the frame, lessening the workload on the pilot mentally.

In practice, the sensation is described as both being the frame and driving the frame from the inside at once, with third person perspectives of not only yourself but everything around you with unknown information simply shadowed out in darkness or assumed to fill in the gaps.

Used to determine what is happening in the environment, simulate possibilities and pass it back to the pilot, the tactical computer depicts to the user the environment as points of mass and energy through a perception altering neural input system. This allows pilots to see the interior of objects, their contents and have a three dimensional awareness of their environment rather than any sort of area-wide radar depiction, though backups are usually in place within the manual visual elements of the cockpit.

The tactical computer reads unconscious and conscious decisions, feelings and thoughts by the user as well as situational context to pool and process the information entering the system, reducing it to simple elements which can be spoon-fed contextually to the pilot. The result is an input system which is instinctive, supplementing user conscious decision making of the pilot with cold hard data and statistics, rendering ordinarily subjective pilots objective and the logical nature of warfare natural.

Inspired by the control system of the Mindy M2, Reward Conditioning Imprint Loop or RECOIL is a decidedly Lorath means of psychoactive re-enforcement for specially assigned consequences (typically when enemy kills are scored) through two methods.

The adjustment of the user's neurotransmitter levels, by gradually and contexturally inhibiting seratonin, norephinephrine and dopamine re-uptake, meaning these neurotransmitters linger longer in the brain. This is how the system keeps the user interested long-term or encourages acceptance of the system at work.

Contextually selected effects include…

• Euphoria: a sense of general well being and happiness
• Entactogenic effects: increased empathy or feeling of closeness with others
• Increased sociability and feelings of communication being easy or simple
• Enhanced sensation, perception
• An irrational desire to please others, typically the commanding officer or captain
• A need to act

Physical symptoms include…

• Fast heart-rate
• Sweating
• Enlarged pupils
• Bruxism (grinding teeth)
• Unintentional vocal expressions of pleasure

Endorphins (endogenous morphine) are electrolytically altered to behave differently from conventional endogenous opioid neuropeptides, using a system called Advanced Heuristic Endorphin Generation and Amplification Operator or AHEGAO. The endogenous opioids are shifted into pattern matching fentanyl: an opioid 80 to 100 times more potent than morphine and roughly 15 to 20 times more potent than even the purest heroin and due to this extreme strength, is only administered after a particularly long or difficult mission and even then in very small amounts, with the purpose of re-enforcing success.

Side effects include…

• Sexual arousal/excitement/interest
• An unusual interest in others
• Reduced physical weakness, aching
• Numbness in extremities
• Weak auditory and visual hallucinations
• Obsessive pleasure seeking
• Itchiness
• Reduced willingness to do uninteresting tasks
• Sleepiness
• Difficulty acknowledging refusal (“no means no”)

The effects usually linger for up to four hours after disembarking. It is not unusual for this reason for pilots either to disable ECR/AHEGAO for their own self-respect or to disregard the consequences of the system as communal with a form of comrade, pilots engaging in sexual contact exclusive to the duration of the system's after-effects. In the words of test-group commanders, “it has a habit of making our pilots a bit rapey”.

• This particular system is almost purely handiwork of designer Aiesu Kalopsia and uses a number of her registered patents.

Rather than making adjustments in chemestry and the behavior of neural circuits, neural networks are subject to indirect excitation using the Winter II's neural system. This is usually the main “burst” of pleasure the system issues.

• Sensory: Feelings of tingling, swaying, swimming
• Motor: eye movements, vocal arrest, automatisms, laughter, crying without sadness
• Autonomic: Blushing, pupil dialation, sialorrhea (drooling), tachycardia, sweating
• Emotional: Anxiety, mirth, sensations of unreality, hypomania
• Cognitive: The desire to please others (“fetch-quest”), pleasure seeking behaviour,
• Social: Serious loss of inhibition

The Winter II contains two cargo-spaces by default, located in its intermediaries. Initially empty, these areas are designed to be fitted with mission specific equipment or serve as personal storage space. Each has an interior volume able to accommodate one small child These cargo-spaces are usually included with the cockpit of the Winter II during its ejection.

Primarily concerned with long-term survival, the left-side is loaded with useful equipment which can allow a pilot to last alone and away from civilization on a planet for many months and used properly in conjunction with training, even years.

1. Frame-Pilot survival pack
2. Two spare pilot-suits (vacuum sealed)
3. Solar-powered Datapad
4. Two 3 litre capacity water-filter jerry-cans (full)
5. etc, etc (consult list)

Empty by default, the right-side intermediary utility compartment is meant for personal posessions. Interestingly, it contains a rack for tools and whatever armaments the pilot wishes to bring along (typically a good rifle and a good submachine gun are ideal choices).

Within the cockpit can be found jelly-like pockets which are usually filled with sealed rations, while doubling as surface padding for the pilot. In addition, the interior space of the personnel scale arms where the hand-controls are located is quite large and roomy, providing room for equipment and personal items stuck to the interior walls that can be accessed without having to unseal the cockpit.

An alternate configuration mode of the cockpit called ACCESS MODE can be activated which directs the forward space of the cockpit both raise and extrude forwards into an oversized coffin-like configuration, stretching and hardening to create a relatively roomy space roughly equivalent to the accommodations in a capsule hotel.

The Winter II is designed with a wide variety of ejection modes intended to address different circumstances. Some of these are intended especially for use during atmospheric flight, while others are more suited for space where there is no atmosphere and the environment is extremely hazardous. The mode is selected automatically by the frame's onboard intelligence based upon situational data, however it may be overridden manually by the user.

In all cases, the Scout Sphere or Automatic Companion travels with the user.

The pilot is ejected in pilot-suit alone. Similar to that of most platforms. Offers no special protection.

The simplest and fastest of the three modes, quicksave surrounds the interior core of the cockpit around the pilot (including rations) with multiple layers of picojelly foams. Beginning with the outermost layer, the quicksave is able to withstand atmospheric re-entry and automatically ablate into a simple parachute.

The main layers beneath are water-proof and are able to act as a dingy. The pico-jelly itself is able to grow and replicate if chunks are buried, able to be grown to form shelter and coverings.

The innermost layers, known as superfoams are extremely reliant to different temperature climates: One dyed orange which is able to withstand great heat from the sun and another silver which has been dyed pale blue which excels in retaining heat. Like the other picojelly, the superfoams can also be grown.

The stasis module is included with the quicksave.

Stasis mode, is available as an addition to all modes. When activated it engages a Lazarus stasis system; This puts whatever is left in a state of very low power consumption while an internal quantum transponder and subspace radio call for help. In theory, stasis mode can operate for decades. The operator can also be periodically awoken, informed of current conditions, offered the option to preform any specific repairs as needed and then return to stasis.

The stasis system can be shut down or re-activated when special computer programmed conditions are met.

The torso, head and intermediaries are ejected as a single module. the result resembles a strange shuttle-craft, with the front of the torso lifting with the mandibles to form a nose-cone and intermediaries along with wing arrays providing the main source of thrust.

The power-plant may optionally be ejected or taken with the craft in this mode. If components and parts from other platforms can be salvaged, much of the frame can be rebuilt and improvised depending on the quality of the parts.