Commander Spitfire · 4:29pm Jun 6th, 2022
And now we reach the fourth of our five living Phoenix-born, and General Sentry's second: Commander Spitfire.
Hopefully doing some art for phoenix-born will help me get back into the grove. Till next time.
At just over 300 years old, Spitfire is the second youngest of the phoenix-born. Born to a moderately prestigous military family, the commander is brash, competitive, and more than a little abrasive. As the leader of the Heliopolan ray of Radia, Spitfire rules over the largest community of sky-runners in the great city, as well as personally commanding of the most elite of the elite military units in all of Solaria: the Sky-strikers. A fierce patriot and a dazzlingly effective military leader, Spitfire's love for her country is matched only by her love of flying and fighting along side her soldiers. To her Sky-strikers, Spitfire is a curious mixture of commanding officer, drinking buddy, drill sergeant, and team mom: Spitfire will run her Sky-strikers ragged, but then go out with them for ale and cards afterwards. To those outside the Sky-strikers, Spitfire is far less pleasant. Much like her commanding officer, General Steel Sentry, Spitfire holds non-Heliopolans in a degree of contempt, a view not helped by how easily the Easter Territory was overrun during the War of Storms.
Spitfire had dedicated herself to the perfection of both the art of war and her mastery of flight. Exceptionally competitive, Spitfire lives to push her limits, be they physical, mental or spiritual. To Spitfire, an obstacle isn't something to fear, but a challenge to overcome.
Spitfire's bond-mate, Akari, while just as competitive as her partner, is not nearly as aggressive, and often tries to rein-in her phoenix-born. That said, Akari does love a good scrap, and like her older brother Vestian, has spent years perfecting her combat skills.
In battle, Spitfire naturally prefers to attack from the sky, where her speed grants her an enormous advantage. A master of aerial warfare, the commander has readily embraced new technologies that can augment her combat efficiency. Combined with her mastery of fire and air elemental magic, the commander is a terrifying foe indeed.
Lovely to see more of this world. Spitfire's combat uniform has a strong "militarized superhero" aesthetic, which inspires the exact sort of dread and concern you're probably going for. Well done there.
I have to imagine Sunset would need to deal with Spitfire when it comes to flying lessons given how much of an expert flyer she is. That should be interesting. The claw gauntlets look absolutely wicked.
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Thanks. Her Sky-striker armor was inspired by the wonder-bolt flight suits, with a bit of modification for combat.
Little bit of inside baseball about the suit: the basic sky-runner armor used by the sunblades didn't work for Spitfire and the Sky-strikers, because while it provided good protection, it had the cost of limiting mobility. Thus, Spitfire worked with SAWMD (Solarian Advanced Weapons and Magic Development) to produce armor that would be light and flexible enough for her purposes, but still provide sufficient protection.
The Sky-striker armor was the result.
The suits a layered armor system, with the outermost layer being made of a kevlar-like material that is highly resistant to slashing and piercing. Below that is a layer of non-Newtonian impact gel: under normal force, the gel is liquid, but when exposed to sudden impact force, it becomes hard and solid. The final inner layer is a layer of spongy padding to absorb and disperse said impact. The resulting suits, while not nearly as durable as solid armor worn by the regular Sun-blades, plays into the strengths of the Sky-strikers, allowing them maximum mobility while affording them sufficient protection against most forms of retaliation.
Spitfire is the only one who knows the process to produce the impact-gel layers, meaning she's the only one who can make the suits. Getting a Sky-striker suit is a sign of being accepted into the unit, because until you've proven yourself to Spitfire, she won't make one.
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It's a distinct possibility. And will probably leave Sunny traumatized, because as harsh as Steel was, Spitfire's on a whole other level. This is the woman that leads the Solarian equivalent of the Green Berets and Marines all rolled into one.
And thanks on the gauntlets. They're her amp Fire Claws, while the pistol is her amp Storm's Testament, and the suit is the amp Volcanic Aegis (see here). Like Steel, Spitfire doesn't fool around.