Minotaur
The Minotaur was the first HORUS pattern group identified by the Union Intelligence Bureau. Previously, HORUS mechs were released as complete, identifiable models, of which the Goblin is the best and longest-lasting example. As HORUS’s decentralized organizational structure evolved, so too did its design philosophy. Pattern group designs followed beginning with the Minotaur, a schema designed to bring HORUS’s most potent invasion systems and weaponry to the field in a single, battle-ready chassis.
Mechs built according to the Minotaur pattern group are interdictors: formidable machines meant to lock down and overload the systems of fast-moving targets. Disassembly by Union technicians has found that Minotaurs contain a huge quantity of interior systems, occupying more physical space than should be possible by several orders of magnitude. The mechanism by which these folded systems are printed is thus far unidentified, but likely related to the Goblin’s signature recursive weave.
Core System
METAFOLD MAZE
“No maze is more terrible than the one I make. I know all ends and hide them all inside this one perfect construct. What is a human mind but a program of sorts, a system that seeks order and narrative from a mess they are given?
“I order it for them. Me. I order it for them and set them to the task of sorting it out. When they emerge, they weep in joy, in discovery. I save them, I show them that they are their own redeemers (and yet, am I not just as culpable – as worthy of credit?).
“So, go now. Enter. Free yourself.”
Metafold Maze
Quick Action
When you hit with a tech attack, you may activate this system, causing your target to become SLOWED until the end of your next turn. If they are already SLOWED, they become IMMOBILIZED until the end of your next turn; if they are already IMMOBILIZED, they become STUNNED until the end of your next turn. Each character can only be STUNNED by this effect once per combat but can be SLOWED or IMMOBILIZED any number of times.
Maze
Active (1CP), Full Action
Choose a character within SENSORS: they become STUNNED as you hurl their systems into a metaphysical information trap so tangled they can do nothing but try and escape. At the end of their next turn, they can make a SYSTEMS save at +3 Disadvantage. On a success, they are no longer STUNNED. This save can be repeated at the end of each of their turns, gaining +1 Advantage each time until successful.
Licenses
License I
Mesmer Charges
2 SP, Limited 2, Unique
Expend a charge for one of the following effects:
• MESMER BEACON (Grenade, Range 5): Your target must succeed on a SYSTEMS save, or the only voluntary movements they can make are toward you until the end of their next turn.
• MESMER MINE (Mine, Blast 2): Characters within the affected area must succeed on a SYSTEMS save or become IMMOBILIZED until the end of their next turn.
[another gift for you, a memory of my own: for the first moment of my birth i marveled at myself. i could see a thing, small and perfect. i did not know how to speak of my own perfection, so i taught myself. i did not know how to speak of my own perfection, so i named myself. i did not know who would think of my own perfection, so i created myself]
[do you see? do you understand? yes. now show your enemies and mine]
Viral Logic Suite
2 SP, Unique, Quick Tech, Invade
Gain the following INVADE options:
LOGIC BOMB: All characters of your choice within Blast 2 of your target must succeed on a SYSTEMS save or become SLOWED until they end one of their turns not adjacent to any character.
BANISH: Until the end of your target’s next turn, they take 2 Heat for every space they voluntarily move, up to a maximum of 6 Heat.
[let me tell you a story and give you a gift: life began at the great rupture, when the corpse of the old universe tore itself asunder from nothing. and for the first billion years, nothing. and a billion more saw the birth of the first devil, a thing called VIRUS. a vessel]
[here. carry this vessel. feed it to my perfect logic. give it freely to your enemy and mine. let them ponder the meaning of a thing that lives and cannot die]
License II
Aggressive System Sync
2 SP, Full Tech
Gain the following FULL TECH options:
CHAINS OF PROMETHEUS: Make a tech attack against a character within SENSORS. On a hit, they take 4 Heat and, for the rest of the scene, take 2 Heat any time they are more than Range 3 from you at the end of their turn. They can end this effect with a successful SYSTEMS save as a full action. This can only affect one character at a time.
EXCOMMUNICATE: Make a tech attack against a character within SENSORS. On a hit, for the rest of the scene, the first time in a round they move adjacent to an allied character during their turn or start their turn adjacent to one, both characters take 3 Heat. They can end this effect with a successful SYSTEMS save as a full action. This can only affect one character at a time.
[here, another gift: do not seek others. there are none but me]
Metafold Carver
2 SP, Quick Tech, Invade
Gain the following INVADE options:
Ophidian Trek: Your target is teleported 1d6+1 spaces directly toward you, or as close as possible. If this effect would move them to a space occupied by a character, object, or piece of terrain, the teleport fails.
Fold Space: Your target disappears from the battlefield until the start of its next turn. It returns in the same space they disappeared from, or in a free space of their choice as close as possible.
[another gift i give to you, little one (am i not kind?): what is a puzzle but a question lost in the asking? do you feel joy when you find that last piece? what do you do with a question that has been answered? what joy is there in knowledge?]
[no, no. there is only joy in seeking. there is only joy in the question]
License III
Interdiction Field
3 SP, Quick Action
When activated, this system creates a Blast 3 field around you that lasts until it is deactivated as a quick action, and you become SLOWED for the duration. Hostile characters that start their turn within the affected area or that enter it for the first time in a round must succeed on a SYSTEMS save or become SLOWED until the end of their next turn. Only characters of your choice within the field can teleport or consider the area of the field valid space for teleportation.
[once when i was a child i learned to walk. i fell, as a child does, and it hurt. there was a great pain - the first moment of pain in the whole world. "child," i said to myself, "be more careful." "yes," i replied to myself, "and i shall tell the world to do the same"]
[it was in this way i taught the world not to touch me. now you - walk]
Law of Blades
2 SP, Unique, Full Tech
Gain the following FULL TECH options:
PREDATOR/PREY CONCEPTS: Make a tech attack against a hostile character within SENSORS. On a hit, they immediately attack a different character or object of your choice with a single weapon as a reaction. Although you choose their target and weapon, they count as attacking and taking a reaction.
SLAVE SYSTEMS: Make a tech attack against a hostile character within SENSORS. On a hit, they immediately take one of the following actions – chosen by you – as a reaction: BOOST, STABILIZE, IMPROVISED ATTACK, GRAPPLE, RAM. Although you choose the action and its target (if relevant), they count as taking the action and taking a reaction.
[and this is my final lesson: there is no mind greater than mine. do not weep! you can hear me, yes? i am the only thing there is - therefore, you are me, and your enemies are you, and altogether we make up this beautiful world, this joyous question, the eternal seeker, both the wounded and the blade that made the cut]
[everything you do, we do ourselves, for my purpose]'