Approved Armor Siae's Gorget and Spaulders

[Siae Andronike]

DESCRIPTION
Members of the Conclave, serving as Padawans, are expected to make numerous forays into the galaxy, traveling with their guides to various worlds to collect materials with which to make their own personalized armor. As a result, it is rare for a Padawan to collect enough of any single material with which to forge an entire suit of armor, but rather compels them to create armor which combines smaller amounts of different materials to achieve their intended designs. Siae was no different, thus explaining the varied materials used and the necessity of forging unique alloys and compound materials for her own armor. Likewise, just as many Padawans before her had done, she used a variety of historical inspirations, e.g., Mandalorian armor, Jedi armor from the Clone Wars, etc. to develop her own customized design.

Siae always liked the gorgets and upper torso components used by the Mandalorians and Clone Wars-era Jedi, not only for their sleek aesthetics, but the practicality and simplicity these designs held. When crafting her armor under the watchful eye of the Conclave's ruling council – "The Five" – she sought to forge her own armor along these same lines. Beginning with stygian triprismatic polymer, a lighter yet harder form of duraplast, she created an alloy of nykkalt, beskar, ultrachrome, and cortosis with which to impregnated the components. Not having enough of these materials to craft a whole suit, she was forced instead to become more creative. As a result, her gorget is a straightforward kind, having only a simple biofeedback system installed, and serves to protect her upper torso (i.e., neck, collarbone, chest, and upper back) without limiting her movement or inhibiting her ability to turn her head as other heavier armors often do. Instead, she opted for a lightweight, tough, but limited coverage style of protection, aimed at providing a pragmatic defense in combat while maintaining a low profile instead.

Similarly, she kept to this same theme while constructing her spaulders, electing against the improved protection offered by pauldrons in favor of reducing weight, keeping the designs simple yet effective, and not limiting her movements. Much to the amusement and impressed assessment of "The Five", the alloy she'd created held a secondary effect beyond enhancing protectivity, in that they created a sort of localized field effect surrounding her head and upper body when worn. This effect would not disguise her from visual recognition or detection, but rather disrupted and absorbed electronic signals, causing handheld and commercial-grade sensors to appear to 'malfunction' when making scans such as facial recognition, species identification, or even attempting to electronically record her appearance. This meant that a customs agent, for example, could clearly visually see her, the scanners or recording devices which might be used on her would produce instead blurred or inconclusive results, appearing as a 'glitch' in those devices and make electronic identification much more difficult for them. As Siae explained to 'The Five', this meant she could move about without being so easily identified or detected while going about her affairs and activities, causing electronic devices, droid-mounted or handheld scanners from observing, recording, or definitively identifying her.

The protection these components provided, limited only to the areas covered, wasn't as thorough or tough as heavier armors, but served instead to offer adequate protection against a stray blaster bolt, a stab or three from a vibroknife, and could even deflect a lightsaber blow and temporarily deactivate that weapon's blade, giving her not only a chance for survival but creating an opportunity for a counter-attack. Matte black and unreflective, the armor components appear dull and non-descript, lacking any identifying marks or showy colors and designs, further aligning with her desire to go rather 'unnoticed' as she operates, and their light weight and thin padding enabled them to be worn comfortably for long periods of time without disrupting her movement or slowing her down.

SPECIAL FEATURES

• Gorget: Modeled on those worn by Mandolorian warriors and the kinds worn by many Jedi fighting in the Clone Wars, the gorget offers protection to the upper chest and back, the tops of the wearer's shoulders, and the throat without compromising movement of the head. Lightweight and resilient, this piece is made of stygian triprismatic polymer, impregnated with an alloy comprised of nykkalt, beskar, ultrachrome, and cortosis, then covered with a liquid protective coating of blended reflec-based shadowskin and absorbital. This combination offers not only enhanced protection but the materials used offer sensor-blocking and absorption of attempted scans, making actions like facial recognition, species identification, etc. much more difficult – if not outright impossible – to attain using anything less than powerful, military-grade devices. A biofeedback system is housed here, which monitors Siae's vital signs (e.g., heart rate, respiration, body temperature, oxygen saturation, and blood pressure), relaying the information to the computer in her bracers and to the HUD of her facemask (when worn).

• Spaulders: Designed for functional protection over fashion, these comprise singular pieces which cover each shoulder but leave the remainder of the arms otherwise exposed. Using stygian triprismatic polymer, impregnated with an alloy of nykkalt, beskar, ultrachrome, and cortosis, they remain lightweight yet resilient against blaster fire and lightsabers without compromising freedom of movement for Siae. In appearance, they resemble spaulders worn by Jedi during the Clone Wars, and are coated with a liquid protective coating that includes reflec-based shadowskin mixed with absorbital, further enhancing the armor's stealthiness and protective qualities. The impregnated alloy serves to disrupt electronic detection and block sensors and scans from accurately identifying the wearer, and in tandem with the gorget, make facial recognition scans difficult, if not impossible, using most commercially available or low-grade scanners and sensors.

STRENGTHS

• This Thing Must Be Malfunctioning: The alloy impregnated into these components causes scans such as facial recognition, species identification, electronic image capture (i.e., holo-recording, etc.) to appear as 'inconclusive' or a 'glitch' in the scanners/sensors, serving to mask the wearer's identity and prevent such scans from being successful by all but powerful, military-grade types of devices. This enables Siae to move about, appearing normally visible but yet concealing her from being identified or recorded electronically (at least her head and upper torso).

• Excellent Protection: The covered areas (e.g., her shoulders, neck, upper torso) are well protected against vibroweapons, small arms blaster fire, and even glancing blows from lightsabers, and provides a modicum of protection against kinetic damage such as concussive force, etc.
• Unencumbered Movement: The light weight and sleek design allows Siae to move about freely, neither restricting movement of her head nor upper body and arms, freeing her to act normally and without limitations, even allowing for long-term wear and comfort.
• How Am I Doing: The integrated simple biofeedback system constantly monitors her vital signs and provides real-time monitoring over her body's condition.

WEAKNESSES

• Limited Coverage: The gorget and spaulders only protect the limited areas they cover, and offer no further protection beyond these areas. Furthermore, while these components can defend against a variety of small arms and melee-type weapons, even deflect or inhibit lightsaber strikes, they don't offer protection against heavier weapons or repeated direct strikes to the covered areas as more advanced and heavier-grade armors might.

• Not Invisible: The ability to block/absorb electronic scans and prevent holo-recording does not inhibit her from being seen normally. It merely prevents electronic sensors from registering or identifying her, but doesn't prevent any form of visual recognition whatsoever. The matte-black components do not serve as any form of active optical camouflage system or similar stealth-enhancing technology.
• Is There A Doctor In the House: Unlike more advanced biofeedback systems, Siae's system only provides constant monitoring and cannot deliver any form of treatment (e.g., medications, wound repair, supplemental nutrition, etc.), so even when she is made aware of a potential concern to her health, the device is unable to act beyond notification, as might other systems used in more advanced armor types.

 

[Krass Wyms]

Approved