And now for something completely different. A piece of art related to the Eclipse of Elyssia story/setting I've been working on for a while now. Evidently, Elyssian zebras come in only three possible varieties: playful naughty and mischievous, laid back and full of worldly wisdom, or grim and intense as all hell. It's an easy bet that the soldiers of the Republic Legion would belong mostly to that third category. Elite commandos of the Phoenix Legion were extensively modified with biological and cybernetic augmentations, and outfitted with the best weapons and equipment produced by the Republic. They received the best training, too, and were conditioned to be utterly ruthless and remorseless, following the orders of their Legate without hesitation.

Like wraiths, they could move behind enemy lines undetected, sabotaging supplies and infrastructure, eliminating high priority targets, and generally sowing panic among enemy ranks. One of their most - perhaps the most - feared weapons was the Ultor sniper rifle; essentially a coilgun, it used electormagnetic field to accelerate projectiles to variable speeds, ranging from sub-sonic, resulting in virtually noiseless and undetectable shots, to hyper-sonic, able to penetrate entire concrete buildings or the heaviest tank armour. With effective range of over five kilometres, they could strike unsuspecting targets with impunity. Arcadian soldiers came to call the Ultor snipers 'the last thing you never see'. In addition to these rifles, the commandos carried a variety of silenced pistols and sub-machine guns, and a slew of melee weapons, and their augmentations made for deadly weapons as well.

Eclipse of Elyssia © me