The Sylph BattleArmor design was created by Clan Cloud Cobra and when the Snow Ravens moved to the Inner Sphere they took samples of the suit with them. They commenced widespread production of the design in their new home and deployed them throughout the Raven Alliance. After the Jihad ended, the Raven Alliance began to expand into systems that seceeded from the failing state over the centuries and invariably it was the flying Sylph the locals saw first, flying over their homes to pave the way for other units.
         On the planet Medron, they received a slightly different response than normal. The "Sparkworks" of the still-operational Axel Industries fell in love with the design with a maniacal glee that promised much hacking and slashing the moment they saw it. In mere weeks they were "tinkering" with the design, though no official bill of sale has ever been found for the first example they obtained. It took years of work and hundreds of failures, many of them very spectacular, for Sparkworks to come up with a final design that actually flew. It took them another few months to come up with something that could fire the main weapon without shutting down the jump jets, an unhappy occurance for the test pilots. In the end though they were happy with the final product.

         Like the Sylph, the Icarus achieves flight by means of an advanced propulsion system adapted from standard BattleArmor jump jets. Computer controls divert portions of the jet's main thrust through dozens of directional exhaust ports to obtain stable flight as well as complete VTOL capabilities. The result is an incredibly agile unit that is the swiftest BattleArmor design to date.
         Sparkworks of Axel Industries spent over a year working on the computer to give it the ability to balance greater weight, and then layered it with as much armor as the frame could support. The final result even matches the famed Elemental suit in ability to take damage, a fact that every test pilot says is the reason they are still alive, though the impressive mobility came at the cost of firepower. The increased armor forced Axel Industries to sacrifice the bomb rack. It still mounts the main micro-pulse laser as its primary armament though, allowing it to at least match the offensive power of a Genasi.

         The increased ability to sustain damage, without losing any mobility, has caused the Icarus to be more popular in some circles than the Sylph, though the loss of the bomb rack does limit its uses. In practice, a point of Icarus suits often escort a point of Sylph suits, keeping the lighter units safe while performing bombing runs on enemy ground units. This has resulted in a (usually) friendly rivalry between the Icarus "fighter jocks" and the Sylph "bomber pilots" with practical jokes between deployed units a common practice.