Matar (BattleMech)

In Introduction Year::2775 as Aleksandr Kerensky's forces were tightening the noose around the Amaris Empire, weapons development became increasingly frantic in hopes of finding a "miracle weapon" to turn the tides of the war. The most well known of these is the Matar, commonly referred to as "Amaris' Folly", an attempt to create a BattleMech able to withstand an entire company. Carrying devastating firepower and counters to all perceived threats, the Matar was unfortunately doomed to never see production when its leg actuators proved incapable of moving the massive machine. After Amaris' execution of the design staff for "treasonous incompetence", the project was cancelled. The project lead, Stefan Amaris' cousin Rifkin Amaris, attempted to take his work into exile, and was apprehended by Kerensky's troops in an attempt to flee Terra.

Even though the Matar has earned a reputation as a dead-end project instigated by a madman's dying regime (and rightfully so), the Matar would return to terrorize the Inner Sphere with the Clans, reborn as Clan Smoke Jaguar's Stone Rhino. Decades later, the Word of Blake surpassed them both launching the Omega BattleMech.

Weapons and Equipment
With an intended role of static defense, the Matar was built around long range firepower, toting a pair of Gauss Rifles in the side torsos supplemented by a dorsal-mounted ER Large Laser. To deal with faster units the Matar was ill-suited to fight, a pair of Large Pulse Lasers were equipped, one in each arm. A simple pivot of the torso would enable the pilot to even hit targets directly behind him with one of the arm lasers, both capable of dealing crippling hits to lighter assets. When coupled with the rear-mounted Medium Pulse Laser, there was no true "safe angle" from which to attack a Matar. Reportedly at Stefan Amaris' personal insistence, the Matar carries a pair of Flamers to roast opposing infantry alive. To guard against advanced munitions that could threaten the Matar from long range, a Guardian ECM was installed in one of the legs.

Design Quirks
The Matar is subject to the following Design Quirks:
 * Distracting
 * Illegal (Superheavy built on standard BattleMech rules)
 * Nonfunctional (Upper Leg Actuators, Lower Leg Actuators)
 * Obsolete/2778
 * Prototype

Variants
No variants of the Matar were produced during the Amaris Civil War.

Related BattleMechs

 * Stone Rhino - The SLDF took the data for the Matar with them into exile, eventually leading Clan Smoke Jaguar to rework the design.