- "The RPI-13 Sutherland is one of the major reasons for the Knightmare Frame to become the king of the modern battlefield. It is thanks to this combat unit that Knightmares have since become so popular throughout the world with many other powers trying to duplicate the success of the Sutherland..."
- ―Second Prince Schneizel El Britannia
The RPI-13 Sutherland had been the Knightmare that had really introduced the Knightmare Frame to the world at large with it rapidly being deployed everywhere in the Britannian Empire. It was this unit that every single other world power tried to match.
However sadly several years after its introduction the Sutherland is now set to be retired and all-out replaced by the newer Eighth Generation Knightmare RPI-212B Vincent Ward, though it is continued service in other areas of the Empire along with many serving outside of the Empire in the hands of its once enemies.
Appearance[]
The RPI-13 Sutherland bears an appearance similar to that of the earlier RPI-11 Glasgow Knightmare Frame just a bit more refined and advanced looking than the older frame. This includes not only the outside but the inside as well.
The normal color scheme for the Sutherland had been a light purple and black paint job with a few piloted by elite pilots retaining a custom scheme like those piloted by the Purebloods which sported red-painted shoulders on top of the regular paint scheme. Other custom schemes include a light gray and black paint job used by Kaite Madigan a mercenary Knightmare pilot, a blue and black paint job which is used by the mysterious Britannian Ace known as the Blue Baron, and the dark red, silver and white paint job used by Sutherlands assigned to the Britannian Life Guards, a division of the Britannian Royal Guard that directly protect the Imperial Palace of Pendragon.
However with the Sutherland on its way to becoming retired it has fallen into hands of numerous groups, as well as a redefining of its duties in the Empire itself has seen its appearance changing to better suit the needs of the Empire as it enters a third Great War.
Design[]
The new RPI-13 Sutherland is developed soon after the successful use of the RPI-11 Glasgow during the Second Pacific War and the invasion of Japan. It would be designed and developed by the Imperial Panzer Works, a sub-division of the larger Imperial Group who improve the design across the board like it being designed from the ground up to fight against enemy Knightmares instead of infantry or armored forces. This comes about after other nations starting programs to develop their own knightmare frames after the Glasgow proved itself during the Second Pacific War.
Overall, the design of the Sutherland is vastly improved from the older Glasgow with it featuring a redesigned, simplified cockpit system with improved life support functions and better user interface controls. The unit's landspinner propulsion system has been greatly enhanced, refined for higher speeds and better stability. Most of the unit's inner frame and body have also be enhanced vastly with the addition of the new Tungsten-Ceramic Composite armor plates greatly improving the unit's protection.
Though, not everything on the unit has been improved over the Glasgow for the Sutherland still sports the same Factsphere, though on a more simplified head, and Slash Harkens, though a bit improved with faster firing speeds, as the Glasgow.
Other improvements to the design include new hip-mounted storage compartments which can be used to store not only spare ammo magazines for the unit's rifle but other, newer, weapons like the Chaos Mines. Furthermore, new weapons and technologies were introduced like the new KMF-W7A1 "Sattel Waffen" Shoulder Mounted Missile Launchers, new KMF-L Series Anti-Knightmare Jousting Lances, KMF-W2 Stun Tonfas, and the aforementioned Chaos Mines.
Therefore, it should come to no surprise that the Sutherland would remain as the premier Knightmare Frame of the Britannian Armed Forces for several years till the introduction of the Eighth Generation RPI-212 Vincent Series a new Knightmare line using new technology developed by the Camelot Project for the Seventh Generation Prototype Lancelot. The Sutherland has since become an obsolete machine overpowered by newer Eighth Generation Knightmares. Though it has since received a handful of new upgrades drawn from the prototype Sutherland Club, including cockpit upgrades and upgrades to that of the Yggdrasil Drive which allow the Sutherland to use a Float Unit. Thanks to these upgrades it still remains in service of the Empire in several other different roles with the general overall introduction of the Vincent Series. As well as, serving in several forces outside of that Britannia including terrorists and resistance forces across the world.
Armaments[]
Fixed Armaments[]
KMF-W1 Slash Harkens
The Sutherland possesses two of these built into the chest flanking either side of the Knightmare's cockpit block. The Slash Harkens are the standard fixed armaments of any knightmare since the Ganymede Prototype and can be used as weapons or as anchors for non-combat purposes like anchoring to a building to climb it or to descend from a Knightmare Transport VTOL like the T4 Series.
The Sutherland's Slash Harkens are the same model as those equipped on the RPI-11 Glasgow, though they have improved slightly with faster firing speeds and hardened for better use as weapons over the original units. The cable is also been improved with it being a new polymer-tungsten cable instead of the simple tungsten cable of the original.
KMF-W2 Stun Tonfas
A new weapon first introduced by the Sutherland which gives the unit better close combat abilities which had been a bit lacking on the Glasgow. This is mainly to help fight against enemy-controlled knightmare frames. It also sports an integrated stun-gun which can be used to deliver a slight shock to an enemy knightmare which can then allow a Sutherland pilot to close-in for a kill.
Hand Armaments[]
KMF-W5A2 25mm Assault Rifle
A basic assault rifle based on the earlier rile that had been first used by the Glasgow and is improved over the older rifle for the use of the Sutherland against enemy Knightmares. To do this it possesses a larger round and a larger sakuradite-laced magnetic rail to make said round more powerful.
KMF-W6A1 35mm Heavy Assault Rifle
A larger rifle first developed to use against the far-more armored Panzer Series of Knightmares used by the European Union. To do this the Heavy Rifle sports a larger, heavier round along with an extended magazine and an under-slung grenade launcher. It however has since been in use by Sutherland units equipped for anti-ship combat during the Second Black Rebellion.
KMF-W8A2 60mm Cannon
An improvement over the older arm-mounted anti-armor cannon first used by the Glasgow and is improved vastly over the original for use against enemy knightmares and heavy armor along with anti-ship duties if needed. It becomes one of the standard weapons of the new heavier Sutherland II for heavy combat and anti-ship combat.
KMF-W10A1 35mm Anti-Knightmare Sniper Rifle
A new weapon developed entirely for the Sutherland and the Gloucester for use against enemy knightmares from long range. The KMF-W10A1 uses the same round from the heavy KMF-W6A1 which is accelerated far faster due to the longer magnetic rails along the side of the weapon.
KMF-L3 Jousting Lance
First favored by one of the first organized Knightmare units, the 1st Royal Panzers "Flash Dancers" as its close-range weapon of choice. It has since become favored by several other units including those Sutherlands assigned to the Life Guards who used a more ornate lance due to their role as guard frames of the Imperial Palace of Pendragon.
KMF-L4 Advanced Anti-Knightmare Jousting Lance
A more advanced version of the above weapon that was developed with input from Second Princess Cornelia Li Britannia who was one who favored the older Lance. It was designed entirely for use against enemy Knightmares. This lance has since become the standard armament of her Royal Guard unit and her Glaston Knights Unit. Cornelia herself uses a larger, more powerful version of said weapon on her custom Gloucester. Therefore this weapon has since become a standard for Gloucesters but a few Sutherlands use this weapon.
System Features[]
- KME-L3 Landspinner High-Mobility Propulsion System
- KME-F5 Factsphere Sensor System
- FA/7 Float Unit Backpack
- KME-B2 Parachute Backpack
Variants[]
RPI-14 Sutherland II[]
A heavily rebuilt version of the older Sutherland that is designed for use as a heavy attack unit and is equipped with KMF-W7A3 "Sattel Waffen-II" Fixed Missile Launchers on its shoulders and heavy armor all across its body. It normally carries a brand-new KMF-W9A2 90mm Anti-Ship Cannon, though it can also carry the lighter KMF-W8A2 Cannon or the KMF-W6A1 Heavy Assault Rifle if needed as well. It has since been assigned to support positions in Knightmare units supporting Vincent Wards with heavy firepower alongside the new RPI-V4L Gareths with three Sutherland II units to every Gareth. It also sports a new Float Unit based on that of the Gareth's built-in Float Unit.
RPI-13/A Sutherland Club[]
Originally, a prototype unit first developed by the Camelot Group to test out the new Maser Vibration Swords, the fore-arm mounted blaze luminous shields, and the prototype FA/6 Float Unit for a short time in preparation for developing a whole new knightmare using these new technologies. However, due to troubles with these tests due to no improvements to the cockpit, frame, and Yggdrasil Drive it was pretty much left behind when Camelot started development and production of the aforementioned prototype knightmare the Z-01 Lancelot Seventh Generation Knightmare Frame. However, the now upgraded prototype Sutherland Club along with a pair of new sister units, built out of spare parts, were assigned to the new Avalon Floating Combat Ship when it arrived in Area 11 with the Sixth Generation prototype IFX-V3D1 Gawain.
A few weeks following this all three units, all equipped with newly produced FA/7 Float Units, were used by the Camelot Group and the crew of the Avalon to help rescue the inhabitants of Ashford Academy during the last part of the First Battle of Tokyo Settlement. The first unit being piloted by Camelot Co-Developer Captain Cecile Croomy, the second unit piloted by former Lancelot test pilot Mariel Labie, and the third unit piloted by the mysterious Anya Alstreim who originally test piloted the Gawain. These three units were easily able to counter the Black Knight Infantry and Knightmares who were occupying the Academy all the time. Thanks to these units the Z-01 Lancelot, and its pilot Major Suzaku Kururugi was recovered safely and the captured inhabitants of the Academy were rescued with little further injuries.
Thanks to this success and the successful use of the Lancelot during the entire Black Rebellion funding to Camelot was massively upgraded and new development of new custom seventh generation knightmares began. While a small production run of the Sutherland Club was started for the purpose of equipping a few Knights of the Rounds, elite squads, and the Britannian Royal Guards with a superior unit. However, these units have since been replaced with superior custom Seventh Generation Knightmares and RPI-212A Vincent Commanders. Even then a handful of these units would remain as commander-use units for the regular Britannian Armed Forces alongside the Vincent Ward till the start of the Third Great War.
RPI-13/FA Sutherland Air[]
Not really a true variant but a regular Sutherland equipped with a FA/7 Float Unit which is a possibility due to the data that is drawn from the three RPI-13/A Sutherland Club units during the First Battle of Tokyo Settlement. For aerial combat, the Sutherland is often equipped with a basic KMF-L1 Lance and a fast-firing KMF-W2A3 20mm Carbine though this can be changed up depending on pilot or mission preference.
RPI-13/S Sutherland Sniper[]
A specially modified Sutherland that is equipped for the use of sniper duties and is equipped with a variety of extra equipment needed for such a sniper-use unit including advanced optics and sensors. It is also equipped with a brand-new KMF-W12A2 35mm Heavy Sniper Rifle for either anti-Knightmare or anti-ship combat from long range. Like the regular Sutherland, this unit can be equipped with a FA/7 Float Unit. Unlike the sort-of sister unit the Sutherland-II the Sutherland Sniper is only rarely ever deployed alongside regular Vincent Wards and are only deployed by special operation teams.
RPI-13/ESC Sutherland Eye[]
An advanced variant that had been produced in small numbers. It is equipped with advanced sensors along with new optics and an advanced electronic warfare suite that allows this unit to be used heavily as a scout and electronic warfare unit. It takes a deft hand to pilot this unit, therefore, is often only deployed in solo units to larger units. The only real unit who possess more than a single unit of this variant is the Anti-Terrorism Unit Glinda Knights who sport three units of this variant assigned to them. This allows them to easily find enemy hideouts and eliminate them. Later a new version of this variant is introduced that is equipped with a custom-built version of the Float System which allows it to fly at higher attitudes.
LE-E108 Knightpolice II[]
As with the older Glasgow, the now outdated Sutherland has seen a variant developed for the use of the Knightpolice which is a simply a stripped down unit and equipped for police duties. This new LE-E108 Knightpolice II units are far superior to the earlier Knightpolice units based on the Glasgow and are equipped with non-violent anti-riot equipment along with the basic equipment used the older Knightpolice units.
RPW-13 Workland[]
A Sutherland that is stripped of all its military equipment and equipped as a civilian-use Frame for various non-combat duties. It is supposed to replace the old Springburn series of non-combat Frames that had been in use for the last several years. Thanks to this it can be equipped with a variety of different civilian equipment including shovels, pile drivers, and other useful equipment. However, due to various greedy nobles, many former military-used Sutherlands would be sold to nefarious groups as Worklands but still possessing its military equipment. Other civilian-sold Worklands would due to their former military nature be turned back to military Knightmare Frames by other groups.
Mk5-R13P2 Silberitter[]
Thanks to some limited data gathered on the Sutherland by Europia Union Intelligence and complete development data on the older RPI-11 Glasgow handed over to Europia by former Knight of Two Micheal Manfredi when he was exiled to the Union in late 2011 a.t.b a new Knightmare Frame based on this gathered data would be started to be developed. However, due to politics and the belief by the higher-ups in the Europia Armed Forces that their new Panzer-II "Hummel" Knightmares are already far superior to that of the Britannian Sutherland this development never fully went through. Even then this didn't stop Industrial Vehicles Corporation of Italy and Rheinmetall AG of Germany from going through with introducing the Mk5-R13P2 Silberitter to spite Krauss-Maffei Wegmann GmbH who has started to become the go-to company to produce Knightmares inside Europia. Sadly through it would only be produced in small numbers and would be used by a few elite knightmare formations across the Europia Union. This includes the Holy Paladins of Saint Michael who not only directly protect Vatican City and the Holy See but fight against the invading Britannians on the Italian Front in early 2018 a.t.b.
History[]
The RPI-13 Sutherland is the premier mass produced Fifth Generation Knightmare Frame that was produced by the Imperial Panzer Works in late 2014 a.t.b around five years after the Glasgow first started to roll off the production lines. Soon after its development, it would become notable as the standard of Fifth Generation Knightmares everywhere. It is for this reason that the Europia Union would start a program to clone the Sutherland while other groups and factions try to outdo the Sutherland including the Chinese Federation, Middle Eastern Federation and the Kyoto Group of Area 11.
Like the Glasgow, before it, the Sutherland become notable when it was first used by Britannian during the invasion of Cambodia and the establishment of Area 13. Over the years it would continue to be used by Britannia to fight through several conflicts and battles across the planet including the invasion of Papua New Guiana and the establishment of Area 14. Along with the further invasions of North African Union, the Middle Eastern Federation, and several other locations across the world. It would even take part in the Second Great War and would fight against the Mk4-E2E8 Panzer II "Hummel" of the Europia Union.
However, as time went on it looked like the Sutherland would be left behind by new advancements first by the new Z-01 Lancelot Seventh Generation Prototype and then the Type-02 Guren Mark-II used by the Black Knights during the First Black Rebellion. Therefore, it could come to no surprise that the Sutherland would started to be slowly phased out of the Britannian Armed Forces.
A couple years after the end of the Second Black Rebellion and the start of the Third Great War the Sutherland has now been all out replaced by the new and superior RPI-212B Vincent Ward. The Sutherland like the Glasgow before has been entirely removed from service in Britannian Knightmare formations. However, the Sutherland has a new lease on life thanks to several greedy Britannian Nobles many Sutherlands have been sold off to unknown parties and are in frequent use by various terrorist or rebel forces that have sprung up since the end of the Second Black Rebellion. They become the standard Knightmare of choice for many terrorist groups around the world alongside the cheaper Rk-92 Savage, and thanks to that several custom versions have been developed by several groups.
Even then the Empire hasn’t fully phased out the Sutherland and many have been re-purposed into new LE-E108 Knightpolice II units to replace the now obsolete original Knightpolice units. Other Sutherlands have been rebuilt into the larger Sutherland II Knightmares which become a heavy assault unit for the Britannian Armed Forces. Another new variant introduced would be the Sutherland Sniper a unit customized for a sniper role. Therefore even out-shined and all-out replaced by a superior Knightmare the Sutherland still keeps fighting on.
Notes and Trivia[]
- Really a vastly expanded profile and background for the Sutherland since besides some basic information on the unit and some history we really haven't gotten that much on it. Therefore, I fully explored the Sutherland in this expanded profile and I hope you all like this.
- Just a note on the Sutherland Club variant mentioned in this page is not the same Sutherland Club that is the precursor to the Lancelot Club of the Lost Colors game. It is basically the Sutherland Air piloted by Cecile during the last couple episodes of the first season. I just called it that name to split it from the regular Sutherland Air, the Float Unit equipped Sutherland. On a side-note I kind of went a bit overboard with its back story.
- I based the color scheme of the Sutherlands in use by the Life Guards on those of the Knights of Saint Micheal from the Akito the Exiled OVA.
- If you wish to use pieces and such of my profile here for your own stories. I only ask you to give me some credit on creating it.