Armor with a life of its own

A necromancer hired a bodyguard, a giant of a man who boasted of his skill in combat. The bodyguard died at the first sign of trouble, an arrow to the throat. Chiding himself for trusting the foolish living, the necromancer turned to the steadfast undead. With one spell, the bodyguard's body was skeletonized. With another, the bones rearranged themselves, becoming a suit of armor with an extra pair of bony arms extending from the shoulders. The bodyguard's arms are far more effective in death than they were in life, holding shields in the necromancer's defense, leaving his hands free for spell casting.

An elf wanted to protect his woodland home. He begged a dryad for strength, so she cut open his chest and planted an acorn beside his heart. The acorn took root and began to grow into a might oak, reinforcing him like a tree strengthens a stone wall. He patrols the borders of the woods, walking more slowly each season. One day he will join the trees he has protected.

The ogre was going to eat the gnome, but the gnome kept explaining how he should be cooked until the ogre found himself with the gnome on his shoulder, being directed to find herbs in the forest. He grew used to the situation quickly, and before long the gnome was dictating all aspects of his life from a seat on his shoulder.

Even dragons grow old. When its scales began crack and fall of, one dragon began to replace them with the shields of those that had tried to slay it. The colors of heraldry are a riot across his body. When he next went ravaging across the countryside the survivors told only of an army that ate towns.

278. Plate Beetles

Plate beetles (actually engineered primarily from ticks) are large saucer-shaped arachnids with massive carapaces and very little else. They are limbless and immobile, consisting of a hypostome for sucking blood and a pocket of tissue feeding on that blood and maintaining their exoskeleton, which makes up over 90% of their mass. Placed on bare skin, a plate beetle will anchor itself (usually with the aid of non-toxic glue) and begin sucking blood. Attached, the beetles act as a form of ablative plate, absorbing damage.

Mechanics

Plate beetles are armor [Low]

They provide 6/6 armor, reduced by 1/1 for each hit.

251. Skin-Suits

Solemn is one of the most habitable exoplanets discovered, but it is not without its environmental hazards. in particular, temperatures ranging from freezing to literally boiling. As part of the Solemn Initiative, Argonaut work-groups have designed a biological alternative to hazmat, vacc, and combat suits. Skin-suits are all those in one package, but have yet to catch on.

Skin-suits not only replace combat armor, but act as environmental protection against dangerous gasses, non-breathable atmospheres, high and low temperatures, and allow for digestion of a greater array of foods. In fact, the suit effectively takes over a number of the body's tasks, using a feeding tube, breathing mask, catheter, colostomy, and associated recycling systems.

The suit designers have done their best to shy away from biohorror. From a distance the suit looks like tight leather with protective sports gear. Looking closer, however, reveals that the "leather" is a living hide, and that the helmet, knee pads and other extra protection is chitin, melded into the hide. The face is minimal, as early attempts to maintain a human face fell deep into the uncanny valley. Instead, the mouth is almost invisible when closed and the ears and nose are simply small openings. They eyes are large, blank and reflective, looking like insectoid sunglasses.

Mechanics

Skin-suits are armor [Expensive]

A skin-suit provides 11/11 armor (equivalent to carapace armor, stacks with bioweave), as well as purifying air to human-tolerances (equivalent to enhanced respiration), providing improved insulation (equivalent to temperature tolerance) and expanded options for sustenance (equivalent to digestive symbiotes).

The primary variant is designed for vacuum (with vacuum sealing and oxygen reserves). Medichines are also common, as the suit can be healed just like a morph, but requires a special variety, and does not benefit from the medichines of the morph wearing it.

67. Smart Camouflage

Before the development of chameleon cloaks, the standard for military uniforms was smart camouflage. Like a chameleon cloak, smart camouflage consists of one network of sensors, and another of emitters. Unlike a chameleon cloak, smart camouflage is not capable of mimicking its background to simulate transparency, but will continually create dynamic camouflage patterns suited to its surroundings.

Chameleon cloaks may have supplanted smart camouflage for military purposes, but they have had a place in fashion ever since. Actual camouflage patterns are rarely trending, but the software can be altered to produce more abstract patterns that still react to their surroundings. As commentators often note, however, it must be used carefully, for it can very easily collapse into a fractal mess.

Mechanics

Smart camouflage is an armor mod [Trivial]

Smart camouflage gives +30 to infiltration tests as long as the wearer is moving no faster than a slow walk.

14. Medichine Service Pack 4: Biomineralization

Service pack 4 for Go-Nin brand medichines (subsequently copied by their rivals and open source projects) provided support for enhanced biomineralization. A biomineralization upgrade can be used by any morph with carapace armor, reinforcing the typically keratin or chitin based carapace is reinforced with layers of hydroxyapatite.

The upgrade is purchased as two pieces of software: a patch for your medichines, instructing them on how to build and maintain the extra layers, and the blueprint for a supplemental mineral pill, providing extra calcium and phosphates. Once your medichines have been updated, simply ingest one pill a day for two weeks. After two weeks, you'll find that your exoskeleton is tougher than ever before!

Mechanics

Upgrades carapace armor to 14/14. [Low]