Lancaster pilots often adopt roles as sappers and engineers in frontline support. Sometimes ridiculed for piloting the old-fashioned frame bu newer, untested pilots, veteran Lancaster jockeys know the truth: the Lancaster is one of the most reliable and well-made mechs out there, indispensable on any serious long-range mission.

Not every mission is won with bullets, lasers, and bombs: without the engineers and their Lannies, few of those hotshots would come home alive.

IPS-Northstar (IPS-N) was created from the merger of
two civilian interstellar freight and transportation
companies, Interplanetary Shipping and Northstar.
The resulting firm, IPS-N is a titanic entity – one of the
first corpro-states – with a virtual monopoly over
interplanetary and interstellar shipping. Other firms
exist, but their gross fleet strength is but a shadow of
IPS-N’s fleets of tankers, haulers, freighters, and
intergate/interstellar liners. Wherever goods and raw
materials need to be moved, you can bet a crew in
IPS-N uniforms will be there.

The story of IPS-N is inseparable from the history of
interstellar piracy. Whatever dangers the galaxy might
hold, piracy remains the greatest threat to interstellar
shipping lines, costing fleet managers and states
hundreds of thousands in manna and trillions more in
local currencies. Tremendous capital losses, schedule
delays, losses of life, and false-scarcity famines
convinced the myriad unions, conglomerates, and
cartels of the need to comprehensively safeguard
civilian shipping. A process of agglomeration and
consolidation that lasted for years eventually gave
birth to two major firms, Interplanetary Shipping and
Northstar. They finally merged into a single corpro-
state in the waning days of Union’s first government,
the First Committee.

Following the merger, IPS-N began the work of
phasing out its fleets of late-model GMS mechs in
favor of new proprietary designs. The corporation
now sports a range of versatile, durable, and modular
mechs that place equal priority on weapons and
engineering systems. IPS-N mechs are a good choice
for pilots who want a tough chassis that’s built for
close quarters and melee combat situations, such as
when the possibility of breaching a ship hull is on the
table. IPS-N chassis are sturdy, meant to take as
much damage as they deal – and then some.
IPS-N is closely associated with the Albatross, an
anti-piracy and peacekeeping force known across the
galaxy for its long history of humanitarian interven‐
tions. IPS-N supports the Albatross materially,
providing it with chassis, ships, cutting-edge techno‐
logy, and temporal rehabilitation worlds for its pilots
and crews to retire in relative peace. The relationship
is mutually beneficial; IPS-N makes a point to
emphasize its close relationship to the Albatross in
marketing campaigns and PR materials