V5.00_TarasqueTRQ-2E Ğ D DAA@MA 7 7 4 3 12 3J  + @Blankenburg HeavyaHollyiHolly8Blankenburg Technologies:Donalaaii :::    @@@@@@@888       The Tarasque was named after legendary dragon that terrorized southern France untill st. Martha pacified the beast. TRQ-2E was meant to be dominant force on the battlefield. While the most of periphery nations tried their best to get their hands on Mackies that were slowly phased out by the militaries of the great houses, Teran haegemony was already finishing works on new generation of battlemechs that was meant to ensure further domination of Terran forces over any challenger to their might. Ian Cameron himself pressed new project to it's final stages by supervising the funding of researches (there are rumors indicating that great sums came from Cameron family accounts) that lead to discoveries of new materials for military use. TRQ-2E used top of the line weapons of the time. Many systems were experimental and were also direct predecessors of systems that later appeared on well known and feared Star League mechs like Highlander or Crockett. Core of Tarasque's armament is Blankenburg Heavy Autocannon, big bore weapon able to deal terrible damage to almost every mech available to the great houses or periphery, and Donall PPC that already proved it's qualities on Warhammer battlemechs. Secondary armaments include reliable Holly short- and long-range missile launchers and Blankenburg technologies lasers mounted in triangular pod under left torso. The most striking feature of the design is the armor. Made from top secret mix of composites that allowed greater protection for less weight. The alloy has distinctive silver shine that usually makes the mech easily recognizable, because large areas are usually left unpainted. The Tarasque is also one of the first assault mechs to mount Jump jets. The developement of thrusters strong enough to lift 95 tons of steel and weapons to the air took five years, but thanks to them the Tarasque has the type of mobility that makes the other mech warriors gape in amazement. Tarasque type battlemechs saw action in smaller skirmishes with various periphery powers. The greatest fame for the Tarasque was gainedduring the reunification wars in compaign against the Taurian Concordat. The mech proved it's strength more than once, but the production stopped in 2612 and since then the numbers of TRQ mechs declined until the last one was given to military museum of Proserpina in 2704. No other Tarasques were thought to make it to sucession wars era, but there are reports that Amaris forces used two Tarasques to defend Paris against Star League army. During three days of siege the Tarasques managed to crush eight mechs before being disabled by numerically superior SLDF forces. There was one popular modification of the Tarasque, the TRQ-2F. This variant removes Holly SRM launcher in order to increase the size of LRM launcher and to install massive Deathgiver autocannon. This variant made the Tarasque even more popular with warriors, but techs dislike it because it requires extensive modifications to the armor and makes repais pinfully long even to experienced repair crew.%The Beast and Tyler family Cpt. Julian Tyler was the media star of Reunification war and holovids with his Tarasque, the Beast, filled day-to-day reports from the field. Julian left the service in 2623 with impressive 13 mech and 25 vehicle kills. The Beast was inherited by his son, Niel, who used it for another thirty years untill he left service in the rank of General. The last pilot of the Beast, Jannet Tyler, Niels daughter-in-law, used the mech until she retired in 2704 and passed the mech to The Military Musum of Proserpina. Where the mech rested until it mysteriously diappeared in 2786. Many legends started to circulate around the fate of the mech. Some claim that the mech was taken by the last descendant of Tyler family as he gathered few faithful and left the Inner Sphere to follow Kerensky,the other claim say that the Tylers still wanders the Inner Sphere, killing anyone found guilty of poison gass attack on Planet in 2920. Neither stry was confirmed so far, but the ghost stories with the Beast remain popular around the Sphere.After the brief period of service with Teran Haegemony the mech entered service with the Star League army. During The reunification wars the mech was a common sight with SLDF assault companies, but after 2612 the mech was quickly phased out and replaced by more advanced machines.  [ none ]Blankenburg TechnologiesTerraStrand (Unknown)Geometric 95 Hard CoreHector VScope 20 RNDSTHildCo Model 10