LANDING CASTLE (VERS)

Name: Landing Castle
Operator(s): Vers Empire
Overall Height: Approximately 2000 meters
Accommodations: Full-scale planetary assault force


Landing Castles are designed to be dropped from orbit onto the surface of a planet. They were most likely originally intended to be used to construct colonies on Mars or other planets.

While in orbit, its four "flower arms" are closed and rotate clockwise around a central section to keep its axis stable using the gyroscopic effect. The rotation being stopped is part of the preparations for descent to the target location on the ground below.

In order to withstand the tremendous heat and impact of dropping down with several times the speed of sound, its outer side has heavy armor which doubles as protection against any attacks from the ground during descent.

The sharp tip on the lower side stabs into the ground and the kinetic energy of the castle drives it far enough into the ground to stabilize the structure. A useful side effect is the enormous shock-wave which obliterates anything and anyone in the near vicinity of the landing zone. Before the war, this was most likely used to make the ground around the landing castle easier to build on, but during Operation Earthfall it became a convenient means to clear the landing area of any hostiles. The Aldnoah Technology on board most likely prevents the crew from getting flattened by the enormous G-forces upon impact.

While approaching the landing zone, its four "flower arms" begin opening and once the landing is complete, the landing castle stands there with all four arms wide open, although some decoration details vary from castle to castle.

Once landed, the castle serves as a base of operations and is not meant for direct combat. For defense it relies on the Martian Kataphrakts of the Orbital Knights.

As they are colonization vehicles, they severely lack internal security, making them very vulnerable to enemies who managed to get inside.

Landing castles are also capable of leaving Earth's atmosphere under their own power and returning to space if the situation demands.

• Aldnoah Drive
  : The main power source of a Landing Castle. It will stay activated even if the Orbital Knight, who activated it, is absent and will only power down when either the person who activated it shuts it down himself, the said person dies, or someone of the royal lineage forcibly shuts it down.
  
  
  
• Sky Carrier: Landing Castles are equipped with a hangar for Sky Carriers, which would carry heavy machinery such as the Kataphrakts of the Orbital Knights to their destination or even infantry soldiers as well. These aircraft are equipped with turrets and missiles for defense. 
  
  
• Kataphrakts: Each Landing Castle belongs to one of the 37 Orbital Knights, and has at least one of their own Kataphrakts on board. When not in use, they are stored in a liquid, most likely to avoid damaging them during descent. Each Landing Castle is equipped with multiple tanks for storing and maintaining.
  
  
• Audience Chamber: The audience chamber enables holographic communication, it is mainly used by Orbital Knights to talk to Emperor Rayregalia Vers Rayvers. It works by projecting a holographic version of the user on mars which enables said user to communicate face to face with the emperor without the restrictions of being separated by a screen, hence the name "Audience Chamber".
  
  In order to use it, certain preparations are needed such as contacting the moon base which relays the conversation to mars with means of FTL (Faster Than Light) communication, bypassing the time one would normally need to wait until a signal reaches mars and comes back.
  
  As long as the connection is established, anyone can use the audience chamber to talk to the emperor, even if the said person does not possess the activation rights for Aldnoah or even the permission to be in the Audience chamber in the first place.