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The Stratos Design Bureau is a group of Void Engineers, Iteration-X Biomechanics and ex-Son of Ether engineers who also happen to be test pilots for the experimental new Void Engines they create. Their designs push the envelope of static reality and are thus prone to Paradox.

The Bureau is run like a hybrid between a research lab and a paramilitary organization. Most SDB personnel wear blue uniforms with a thin grey stripe down the left side (pilots reverse this color scheme). All SDB members report to Dr. Anton Shepp, the kindly old Void Engineer who designed the SDB Flagship, Stratos Prime. Dr. Shepp is a brilliant designer who has a talent for administration. He now laments that he never has time to design new Void Engines, but loves to oversee the new engineers' creations. He has a beautiful daughter named Keiko who no one would suspect of being a New World Order assassin.

The SDB has a major facility in the Asteroid Belt, called Stratos Point. The base is a sort of space head quarters, and can be used in case the SDB's Earth-based facility is compromised. The SDB uses The Point as a center for Iteration X's mining in the belt, as well as its primary purpose of researching new Void Engine Designs.

The SDB operates one primary vessel: Stratos Prime, which is a research and exploration vessel that delves into unexplored regions of the Deep Umbra in search of new resources of quintessence to exploit. It maintains a tenuous gate with Stratos Point so it can serve as a platform for testing new designs.

Several SDB designers (ex Sons of Ether, mostly) are working well ahead of the timetable with Iteration X to create giant mecha for use in space exploration. This project would be shut down immediately if any high-ranking technomancers discovered it. The designers know this and are preparing a contingency plan should this unfortunate situation occur.

Prototypes

SDB Gluon

The Gluon is a one-man minifighter about the size of a large motorcycle (with sidecar). It flies using advanced antigravity materials to render it massless and is powered by a quantum field linked to its matter. The Gluon is needle-like and metallic. The quantum field shifts colors like the Aurora Borealis giving the Gluon a very distinctive look. The Gluon is armed with a quantum focus projector which intensifies the quantum field around objects, but leaves life patterns unharmed.

The speed of this design is unparalleled, Void Engineer astrophysicists theorize that it can achieve faster than light velocities if the Quantum Prime drive is activated. Unfortunately, all tests involving the Quantum Prime drive have resulted in the loss of the drive, and massive amounts of Paradox.

The Gluon was designed and is flown by Nestor Williams, a Void Engineer who once considered joining Iteration X, but decided that his love of flying was too great. Nestor is a fanatic pilot, and will go to great lengths to get more time in the cockpit. He also has a cybernetic left arm, which replaced one he lost in a plane crash. The circumstances of this accident are not on record.

SDB Muon

A delta-winged, triangle shaped affair composed of neomatter, a new state of matter which can currently only exist in the Umbra. Neomatter is not composed of atoms, but exists in a quantum state that is best described as hardened gel. Being contiguous, neomatter can be corresponded with much less difficulty than conventional materials. This makes the Muon able to jump across huge gulfs of space. During one test run, the Muon "went the distance" and made it into the Oort Belt and back.

The Muon was designed and is flown by Asquith Smith, an ex-Son of Ether who joined the Void Engineers when his Chantry expelled him for unauthorized use of facilities. Smith wears an odd partially animate translucent red suit made of neomatter. Smith is somewhat overweight.

SDB Void Dancer

Iteration X's creation of a highly maneuverable swept winged craft to stress G-forces on Biomechanical elements surprised many Void Engineers with its graceful beauty. The craft uses antigravity power cells to allow almost any maneuver, and can also shield living beings contained within from excessive G-forces.

The Void dancer is piloted by 1011-1011 a Hit Mark VI Nanotech assemblage programmed for higher piloting and space skills than most other NT-1 Hit Marks. 1011-1011 often takes the form of a female human.