Two days of work stretched into ten, between interruptions and an all-too-common underestimation of this project's complexity. This isn't even over, as there is much more that could be done.
The druorns of Khandar reside mostly in massive mech-cities build round oases and lakes that dot the otherwise bare rock of the desolate continent. These mech-cities are frequently attacked by black dwarf raiders, who can bring great numbers and heavy weapons to bear. Therefore, the druorns developed some rather nasty weapons to defend themselves, culminating in steam power armour.
There are two basic variants of sartorii: guards and troopers. The guards stay mostly within the confines of the mech-cities, though they can also be sent to guard other locations, such as the entrances to the forbidden crystal caves. The troopers, meanwhile, patrol the various narrow passages through the harsh terrain to locate approaching raiders and, if possible, stop them in their tracks. A single sartorius trooper is a force to be reckoned with, and can take down quite a large number of heavily armed black dwarves with contemptuous ease.
The trooper's typical armament consists of a pneumatic sabre and 11,5mm ten-barrel rotary cannon. The latter is clamped to the trooper's arm. The trooper has the means to remove it unassisted if necessary, though such a necessity is rare.
As I've mentioned in previous posts, both weapons are powered by steam from the backpack boiler. Sartorius armour is a closed steam system, i.e. one in which exhaust flows back into the water reservoir, to be re-heated and circulated again. Closed steam systems are not only more efficient than much simpler open steam systems, but are also safer, as one need not worry about boiler explosions (except in the event of a leak, of course). The weapons tap into the steam system, with a valve on each side of the boiler to open that particular circuit.
I had some success with rendering the steam lines in the 3d model, but they need a lot of work. I can route them directly, but I have no idea how to add loops of sufficient length so as to not interfere too much with operation. This is what I have in mind:
Each of the copper bits near the bottom of the boiler is a valve to open or close the weapon lines. A druorn's tail is usually strong enough to push the lever closed in the event that a line gets broken or needs to be disconnected. Disconnecting a line is something of a challenge, and inexperienced troopers (or those who have a hard time reaching behind their backs) usually require assistance in this task.
While it is an easy task for a sartorius trooper to simply flex their elbow and fire straight forward, they usually angle themselves to take advantage of maximum armour deflection, as well as to hide their face partially behind the pauldron. Though the vents at the front of the helmet are quite tough, they aren't quite as bullet-proof as the rest of the armour.
Should anyone get past the hail of bullets from the rotary cannon (usually when it runs out of ammunition), then the trooper will draw the pneumatic sabre and use it to... it's a giant reciprocating saw, use your imagination.
By the time of The Nine Empires, the troopers saw most of the action, as raiders had been pushed back, and very few even tried to approach the mech-cities anymore. It hadn't always been that way, and the sartorius guards once fought enemies within their own cities. Given the environment, they typically used melee weapons only, with the pneumatic poleaxe being one of the most popular.
Sartorius guard armour is slightly different from trooper armour. Though each harness is custom-built, with each wearer rarely able to use components entirely from previously-built harnesses, it still a pattern, after all. For instance, guards have haute pieces on the pauldrons to lend additional protection to the sides of the head, whereas troopers typically do not. Guards also typically have reinforced helmets, with both sergeants and captains of the guard mounting adornments to these reinforcements. I have a couple of helmet variants in the works, but this particular model still has the standard helmet. I have several variants of this design in mind that I'd like to make, but that's for another day.
Much as I would have liked to show the guard in a fighting stance, trying to get this pose was difficult enough with the assembly constraints that I have. Two-handed weapons are a bit of a problem in this regard. More experimentation is required on my part, and you'll definitely see more of this pure steampunk nonsense in the future. I'm open to suggestions, by the way. For instance, I plan on tweaking various components to make different variants of sartorius armour for multiple characters, so I can (and will) make harnesses for different body sizes and shapes - they won't all be short and barrel-chested with tiny hands.
