Magitek armor (Type-0)

Magitek armor, or MA for short, is a war machine deployed by Milites in Final Fantasy Type-0 developed with the power of the White Tiger Crystal and powered by C-Engines that derive power from the Crystal itself. Various manually piloted types exist, both grounded and flying, and high-ranking members of the military can have their own unique models.

"Magitek Armor" is a recurring type of war machine from the Final Fantasy series, first appearing in Final Fantasy VI. Final Fantasy Type-0 pays homage to the MA's inception by having a scene where the player rides one through a snowfield, reminiscent of the opening of Final Fantasy VI where Magitek Armor debuted.

Profile
The White Tiger Crystal in Milites, the nation that instigates the war in Orience, grants the power of weapon to its people, allowing the creation of magitek armor (abbreviated as MA). Generals Qator Bashtar and Qun'mi Tru'e are two notable pilots of customized magitek armor for the war: Gabriel and Dáinsleif respectively, specifically designed to withstand the Dominion of Rubrum soldiers' magic and Eidolons. Brionac is a colossal prototype MA designed to deploy the empire's Ultima Bomb to long-distance targets.

The ability to deploy Eidolons makes the Rubrum army a formidable opponent, and the empire has developed its magitek armor teknology specifically to encounter Rubrum's magic and Eidolons. The latest MA developed for fighting Eidolons is the Militesi Colossus.

Story
Magitek armor were invented 550 years ago after Milites suffered defeat at the hands of the Lorican Alliance in the Second Lorican-Militesi War of 301, when the empire hastened its development of new weapons. Relying on the power of their Crystal, their aim was to invent more powerful and more advanced machinery.

Thanks to their C-Engine, the empire was already ahead of the alliance in Crystal energy extraction. By increasing the engine's efficiency and functionality, imperial researchers crafted a weapon superior to their tanks and dreadnoughts: magitek armor. Equipped with legs, the magitek armor had better reaction speed and maneuverability over irregular terrain.

The development of advanced weaponry was enabled by fine-tuning the empire's energy supply system. The imperial government installed high-output C-Engines throughout the state to extract energy from the Crystal that distributed the energy to smaller C-Engines, which then used that energy to generate power for the empire's various arms factories to mass-produce a fleet of magitek armor.

When Marshal Cid Aulstyne usurps power in the empire and sends the imperial forces to invade the Dominion of Rubrum, Qun'mi Tru'e's Dáinsleif is outfitted with a crystal jammer that cuts the dominion legionaries from the power of the Vermilion Bird Crystal, halting their spell-casting. Qun'mi is a White Tiger Secundus l'Cie with the power to augment machines, but Class Zero circumvents the jammer's effect and destroys her MA. Milites withdraws from Akademeia, the dominion capital, and Rubrum sets out to reclaim its imperial-occupied territories.

Class Zero is sent to infiltrate the magitek-manufacturing plant Steelworks in Ingram, the Militesi capital. They breach imperial territory on stolen MAs and sabotage Brionac, the MA built to deploy the Ultima Bomb. During their campaign against the empire, they also fight various MA deployed to intercept them, including General Qator Bashtar and his flying MA Gabriel. When the imperial and dominion forces meet at full scale war, Lady Caetuna summons a Verboten Eidolon to annihilate the imperial forces. Bashtar yet lives when the new White Tiger l'Cie enhances the Gabriel's shield so the two can survive the blast.

When the dominion marches on Ingram, imperial engineers outfit Gabriel with an Ultima Bomb without Bashtar's knowledge. He battles Class Zero but soon realizes he is carrying the bomb that is about to go off in the city itself. He flies the Gabriel into the atmosphere and jettisons the bomb to save the city, but is obliterated in the explosion. The empire falls and Tempus Finis commences. In the aftermath, the Crystals lose their power and thus, the magitek armor's C-Engines stop working.

Enemies
Though not technically an MA, Nymurod is another mechanical weapon deployed by the empire.

Trivia

 * Other mechanical enemies include the droids Martinet, Nomad and Panjandrum, the Mid-sized Carrier dreadnought