Shepherd: Overview

Bipedal drones that are deployed in front of and behind Glacier, filling in and fixing the damage caused by the fortress's movement. In addition to repairing this terrain damage, Shepherds also relocate flora and fauna to remove them from Glacier's path.

When I first got the request to engineer Shepherds I swore I was having a stroke based on what I was reading, yet the more I thought about it the more sense it made. Surprisingly it wasn't Varith, Iza, or even Sonny that came up with the idea. It was Claire of all people, who proposed the concept to Iza with the sentence "How would you feel if we routed Central Access through your room?".

Thus, it became my problem.

Shepherds are designed to work with the ARS Swarm AI, the difference being their role within the swarm is more tuned towards cooperation with our Wisp scout drones. Simply put, the Wisps' responsibility is to scout all around and ahead of Glacier, marking points and entities of interest, and subsequently relaying these to the Shepherds.

Collectively, the Shepherds categorize these findings and determine if they're in Glacier's projected path. If so, the units at the front of the formation will use their tools to relocate both plants and animals off to the side. Once Glacier has passed, the units at the back of the formation will return any objects/entities that were moved to their original places. There are subroutines that check over the health of plant life and fauna as well, that way we aren't just putting stuff back that's gonna die anyway from our "efforts" to save it.

With all of that in mind, I began work on the designs and came up with a rough prototype that'd fit the requirements. The first design was a highly efficient trawler, it used articulating treads and had enough tools packed into it for a full terraforming operation.

It was promptly shit on by a bunch of meandering, witless jackasses who have absolutely no grasp of functionality and instead focus entirely on aesthetics.

Yes, I AM referring to you Varith.
You'd find issue with the design of a crowbar because it didn't have enough "distinct features that inspire the feeling of power" you fucking moron.

Now I get handed further requirements, with long winded explanations about the design direction that I didn't bother reading. The NPW-Series drones have to fulfill their intended function but be humanoid in form and walk on two feet.
Fine.

The end result of this is the NPW-33 (Shepherd) you know of today:

· Bipedal drone with two large intake vents on the shoulders to allow it to breathe.

· Baddarick Lungs on the back.

· Fibrous artificial muscles.

· Longer than average arms to provide additional leverage for tool usage.

· Generator located in the chest, enhanced by air intake and chaff burn off.

· ARS Swarm link system.

· Visual input systems that can accommodate damn near anything.

· Extremely precise, articulate, and gentle hands/fingers for the handling of plants, fauna and mosses (an absolute ache in my team's collective ass).

· Integrated Gray Conduits and Chaff reservoirs.

At all times the Shepherds are connected to Glacier and the ARS Swarm, so coordination isn't an issue. There's still some work to be done on allowing Glacier to assist with computational demands, but for now that's not necessary.

Our first prototype Shepherd was mostly a mechanical skeleton, with a gigantic backpack full of processing equipment strapped onto it. We didn't have time to do anything fancy, so all tests were conducted outside in the snow at Frostfall to prevent the processing hardware from overheating. What a goddamn fun time that was for everyone involved.

After two weeks of my limbs freezing and locking in place, while doing mental math because nobody wanted to pull their hands out of their fucking pockets to put on their comm hoods or use a calculator, we had a frame that could accept the required commands and perform the necessary functions.

I pushed back the project's deadline by three months, because doing the engineering work for this, Glacier, two different Golgothic weapons, new uniform improvements, four new firearms, and Glacier's AI at the same time was about two steps from snapping my brain in half. This deadline pushback got pushback of its own. I threatened to shoot whoever questioned it, which Nahli immediately did as I assume she was bored. Then Klein had to get involved because I don't fucking take back promises like that.
After our release from the infirmary, I could get back to work.

With the frame finished, and its bipedal traversal system working without major issue, we began to integrate the synthetic musculature and accompanying Baddarick Lungs. The first problem that sprung up was that the musculature of a Shepherd far exceeded that of our other drones, resulting in a substantially larger oxygen requirement. Worse still, when we took them outside to the frozen hellscape of Frostfall’s perimeter their airways would completely freeze or seize up.

To counter this, we outfitted the Shepherds with massive vents on their shoulders, which in turn led into their lungs, and then back into their generators to provide bioelectric energy for their musculature. These vents provided filtration, temperature normalization, and increased intake all held within a singular system. Further methods to harden the Shepherds’ systems and functionality against environmental hazards led to them gaining an environmental rating of Env-4. Better still, these advancements were used to enhance the Gray Conduit and Baddarick Lungs of our other drones, leading to higher environmental ratings and greater efficiency.

With that all taken care of we could finally design their tools, update the ARS Swarm with new training data, and send in an order to Fabrication for the production of a few dozen units for testing.

Now with all of this completed, we could begin proper trials.
The first test involved sending 10 Shepherds out on a rescue mission into the Frostfall perimeter, where they would need to work alongside their Wisp counterparts to track down 20 pre-placed legionnaires. Some of these legionnaires would be buried in snow, down within ice crags, or stuck beneath old vehicles we used for target practice. Once rescued, they would need to bring the legionnaires back to a central point, and then construct a shelter in the perimeter’s wasteland using only the terrain around them.
After four hours, all Shepherds passed without issue.

The second test consisted of another 10 Shepherds being sent to our Sun Keh fortress to verify their operability within a mountainous, forest covered area. This trial would involve 5 Shepherds walking in front of an armored convoy to clear the way, while the other 5 would follow behind to restore the area. To be deemed successful, the ecological damage would need to come in as “minimal” or “nonexistent” after being surveyed by biologists and environmental researchers. Flora and fauna would both need to be preserved and maintained despite the fact fifty armored trucks and tanks had rolled through the area.
Since this also required observing the area for a longer term to check for any lasting damage, we didn’t get the results back until a month later. As I expected, it was a passing grade.

Lastly, we had a third test.
For this trial, 10 Shepherds had to work underwater and clear a path through a coral reef, then restore it back to a fully intact, unharmed state. This was done to ensure they could still function as intended in the event Glacier had to pass through an entirely aquatic world. A situation absolutely none of us had accounted for.
They of course, failed, and I put about ten gunshots through the top of my desk.

IT WAS HARD ENOUGH AS IS, THEN YOU WANTED ME TO MAKE THEM WORK UNDERWATER TOO? OH, DO YOU WANT TO RUN ANOTHER TEST TO ENSURE THEIR OPERATIONAL CAPACITY ISN’T DIMINISHED IN THE EVENT GLACIER HAS TO WALK ACROSS THE SURFACE OF A FUCKING STAR? ANY OTHER GODDAMN ASTRONOMICALLY UNLIKELY EDGE CASES I SHOULD BE AWARE OF?
_{Not a good look for an induction manual that’ll be read by new legionnaires. Acris, please revise. – Hansuke
For how nauseatingly well-funded your legion is, yeah, I expect that to be doable. – Iza}

I took about a week off, spent most of it unconscious, and then came back to try and tackle the problem. The issue wasn’t that the Shepherds needed to breathe; we could solve that with oxygen systems akin to those worn by divers.
The issue was that Shepherds, on top of not having the programming necessary for underwater traversal, relied on Wisps to help coordinate their efforts. And aerial recon drones don’t exactly make for gifted swimmers.

We dropped Shepherds into some pools, had them perform basic movements and actions, then took that data to program their underwater functionality. While that was being worked on, we then designed and tested thrusters for the Wisps that would be used solely for underwater recon. Given the modularity of their usual engine systems, it wasn’t too much of an ask.

Three months later, we had Shepherds that could function underwater, and the final trial was passed. A series of bipedal drones that could oversee nature conservation, aquatic conservation, undertake search and rescue, repair terrain, and ensure there were no signs of Glacier’s passage across a planet’s surface. All while being operable within Env-4 rated hazardous environments, without so much as a hitch in their movement.
It was simply the hardest drone system design I had ever undertaken, without question.

And then, as we were wrapping up, Klein walked into my office and ruined my goddamn life again.

- FrW Dr. Acris Baddarick