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This wasn't some training machine—it was a real engine of war, a Cyklop Stormwalker.

Leviathan

A Cyklop Stormwalker is a two legged walking machine. Alek pilots one in Leviathan until it is destroyed by a zeppelin in the Swiss Alps.

Appearance

Stormwalkers are large, yet cramped, bipedal combat walkers. They move about via two chicken-style legs, each protected by a metal plate decorated with the Iron Cross. The main chasis is large and bulky, with the fuel tanks mounted outside the main body above the legs. This position of the tanks protects the crew from the possibility of being killed if they explode, at the cost of exposing them to gunfire, and thus, deprivation of the walker's fuel. The entry hatch is located in the walker's pelvis, and sports a heavy metal chain ladder protected by spikes. There are two vision slits for the crew to look outside; one to the right of the main gun, and one on the front of the walker's "head," as well as a hatch on top for a crewman to poke out of for an easy view of the walker's surroundings. The engine block is mounted on the back, and the entire machine is assisted in staying upright via a balance system.

Crew, stats and armament

Stormwalkers require a crew of five, including a commander and a pilot, though the interior cabin can support more than five people, at the expense of elbow room. It's power comes from dual Kerosene-powered Daimler engines. Its armaments include two MG-08 Spandau Heavy machine guns for close quarters and anti-infantry combat, and a 57 mm cannon for long range bombardments and anti-armor battles. These armaments, however, are mainly designed for fighting anything short of a land dreadnought.

Stormwalkers are rather common war machines, mainly used in light skirmishes and scouting runs, due to their extremely fast running speed. However, they are extremely unreliable to operate. Crews must be thouroughly trained, and even an experienced pilot can fail to keep the machine upright. If a walker is caught in the shockwave of an explosion, there is a chance the machine may be knocked over, and if they do get knocked down (which they are prone to), it is extremely hard (if not, impossible) to get them back up. Because the dual machine guns generate such a high amount of sound and smoke, only one can be operated at a time, and because none of the vision slits are protected with bulletproof glass, this makes the pilot vulnerable to headshots (along with the crew if a bullet ricochets into and around the cabin. To compensate for these issues, crew members usually wear face masks to protect themselves from being killed by a lucky shot to the head.

In the series

Count Volger and Otto Klopp take Alek to the Stormwalker and tell him that they are planning a night piloting exercise for him to get him to go along with their escape. Alek, Volger, Klopp, Bauer, and Hoffman are chased by the Germans through Austria when they travel to Switzerland in the Stormwalker. Both Alek and Klopp pilot the machine; Alek usually pilots at night because he has better eyesight.

Deryn, Dr. Barlow, and Tazza all ride in the Stormwalker on their way to and from the castle to get food for the Leviathan, and the Stormwalker hauls the food back to the airship with a sled made from a door from the Castle. The Stormwalker is destroyed by a bomb from a zeppelin, but Alek is able to trade the engines to the crew of the Leviathan in exchange for passage on the ship to the Ottoman Empire.

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