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[Onrai]

Armor. With Circe having lost to Rave Merrill, she had chosen to develop for herself a new suit of armor. Currently in the room, a somewhat reforged suit of Mandalorian Beskar armor sat on a table, taken from Yvorre Morcade some time back. The twin pontite crystals, shining blue, sat on the table, delivered by Kaine after Circe asked for them. Yorik coral was already beginning to grow on the armor's shoulders, a layer of cortosis having already been installed to prevent her from suffering an onslaught of attacks like last time. The biofiber inserts were already installed, freshly set as Circe tinkered with the servos from the disassembled SIA-C in the corner. A Mist atomizing pistol was in pieces on the ground, refurbished and otherwise being properly augmented to work as a part of the armor Circe was developing. When it was finished, the armor would be nearly impervious to attack, even from powerful beings such as the one who would be dropping in to eye the woman.

@[member="Ashin Varanin"].

 

[Ashin Varanin]

@[member="Circe Savan"]

"This is ambitious" were the first words out of Ashin's mouth as she entered the room. Her fingers grazed the rough, stonelike yorik coral. "Vong, biofibres, beskar, cortosis, crystals and tech, all in one? You better have one heck of a rationale for this." She grimaced. "I can still help with the concepts for the alchemy, to some extent, but this is starting to look...very complicated. Explain it to me."

The two blue crystals rose, spiralled around each other, and settled into Ashin's open palm. "You could start with these. What do you intend for them do do?"

 

[Onrai]

"You remember that pleasure droid turned sentient agent known as MAI?" Circe smiled, chuckling. "Of course you don't... Well, When I upgraded her, her Diatium power cell was busted. As a result, she could only run without using a wife for brief periods of time. I disassembled the cell and replaced it with an energy crystal, given power by me through direct electrical infusion, injection of Force energy, and Sith sorcery. The power source allowed her to operate indefinitely at normal operating levels."

Turning back, she motioned to the crystals themselves. "Those are Pontite. Rare Adegan crystals. Someone could make an excellent lightsaber crystal or two out of them were they to be cut down to size. They should store energy more efficiently and whatnot than the small shard of common crystal that I used. The energy should be enough to power the main gun, the suit itself, and any other features I intend to add to the suit as time goes by."

Ashin didn't have to ask why he was making this. She knew why.

@[member="Ashin Varanin"]

 

[Ashin Varanin]

@[member="Circe Savan"]

"I won't lie to you, I've rarely seen a machine that drew its power from a Force artifact. In fact I'll chalk that one up to never." Ashin chewed her lip in thought. The crystals rotated above her palm, leaving blue afterimage contrails in her vision. "But if you've made it work, I can give you a portion of my strength for this. Alchemy's still something I understand, but for obvious reasons I'm not in that game anymore."

The crystals settled down. "To what degree are you integrating yorik coral?"

 

[Onrai]

"The yorik coral is just for the shoulder pieces. With the re-molding of the right arm to accommodate the Mist, there wasn't enough spare Beskar to fit on the shoulders and provide room for the energy crystals. Not to mention that its self-healing nature allows for superb defense against critical damage. Besides, I can dye the yorik coral with natural dyes such as ones made from berries. You know, to make it look like the rest of the armor." Pausing, she smiled, noticing the distinct yorik seeds waiting to be implanted into slots of the shoulder pieces. A base at the bottom would allow for power from the mounted crystal to be directly dumped into the suit.

"Please, ask whatever other questions you can. I enjoy answering them."

@[member="Ashin Varanin"]

 

[Ashin Varanin]

@[member="Circe Savan"]

"If you'll let me make an alternative suggestion," said Ashin, "yorik coral is heavy, and I mean really, really heavy. And integrating it with a technological setup and a Force-based setup, when Vong constructs are antithetical to both -- it seems too much complication and too much weight for something you could do just as well with, for example, duraplast or Eol Sha fireworm scales. Or even the skin of a tikulini or a terentatek. But mostly, duraplast comes to mind. It'll stop a laser cannon or a lightsabre, but it's much lighter than yorik coral, far more easily integrated, and doesn't require nutrition."

 

[Onrai]

"True... But it doesn't repair itself. Not to mention it doesn't have the creepy organic texture I'm looking for... Unless you know a way to mold duraplast into an organic-looking shape for the shoulder pieces. If so, I would really appreciate it." Sighing, Circe looked over the suit, considering the pros and cons. Regardless, this suit was definitely going to be what she would need. Perhaps she could finally wield the power necessary to destroy Rave...

No, that was too simple. This armor needed to stand up against gods.

@[member="Ashin Varanin"]

 

[Ashin Varanin]

@[member="Circe Savan"]

"If you're after aesthetic concerns, yes, duraplast is far more easily shaped and molded than yorik coral, at least while it's being formed. As for the self-healing factor, that's often oversold. Yorik coral will flow together and re-harden in vacuum after a laser blast, but I doubt you'll be working in vacuum. Stick with duraplast. It's saved many, many lives, my own included."

Ashin moved across the laboratory to peer into a tank.

"So tell me about these biofibres -- what's their use?"

 

[Onrai]

"The biofibers are directly imbued into the suit itself. They act as the suit's arms and legs, giving it the strength of a human replica droid. Think Guri, but in powered armor." She smiled, letting the coral grow, then making a mold of it that would be used to form a duraplast copy. "If you notice how the suit has no room for my right arm - I won't be using my arms by the time that happens. In fact, I'll be just a torso and a head. The front portion of the chestplate is hinged to open up and fit me inside, and the helmet itself can retract back so my head will fit in. I can ether lose my arms and legs, or retract them. Either way, I'll have to integrate with the suit biologically."

Sighing, she looked the armor over as it neared completion. A bit more and it would be ready to go.

@[member="Ashin Varanin"]

 

[Ashin Varanin]

@[member="Circe Savan"]

Ashin blinked and took a closer look. "I'm impressed. That's a sacrifice not many would be willing to make for effectiveness. Some will calll it foolish, I'm sure -- one good electromagnetic pulse or ion strike and you've got no way to get out or act effectively, you've got no limbs. But tying the suit into your nervous system instead of limbs, well...that is fascinating. How thoroughly have you tested the concept, apart from simple medical-grade biofiber prosthetics?"

 

[Onrai]

"Such a concept is still in the experimental stages, admittedly. The good thing about biofiber is that it's resistant to such electromagnetic pulses. Hence why the prosthesis I offered you, fit onto... Well, I'd rather not talk about her at the moment." A tear came out of the corner of her eye over Ven's death. "Basically, I make them because they integrate better and don't suffer the vulnerability. At this rate, though, it might just be better to keep my arms and legs in the suit. Either that, or add a quick release hatch to the torso plate and helmet so I can fall out and quickly regrow my limbs. I suppose that proper dampening would as well make it more resistant to EMP strikes."

She eyed the suit over, beginning to pour the duraplast into the molds of yorik coral. "This will be the best shit of armor in the galaxy - and perhaps alchemized it will be even more powerful."

@[member="Ashin Varanin"]

 

[Ashin Varanin]

@[member="Circe Savan"]

"Quickly regrowing your limbs?" Ashin snorted. "Hardly friendly to the law of conservation of mass."

But she opted to tread lightly. After all, she'd been the one to kill Ven'Rain Sekairo.

"If there's one thing I know about alchemy, it's this: Focus on simplicity first, and grow from there. This suit is like the ancient Darkstaff, which was a dog's breakfast of an artifact -- it did twenty different things. Focus first and foremost on what this suit is. Beskar, cortosis, duraplast. You could make a very, very good non-powered suit out of that. How much experience do you have fighting in powered armor?"

 

[Onrai]

"I trained hard in those Mk IF power suits the Fringe had, as well as the SIA-C. Without powered augmentation, this suit would be almost unbearably heavy. Probably heavier than your own alchemical battle armor. Besides, it'll hit harder with the augmentation." Pausing, she looked the suit over before fitting another couple of wires together. "I can quickly regrow my arms and legs assuming I've ingested enough water and absorbed enough biomass beforehand. If I can just get my plant control abilities perfected, I can absorb my arms and legs so I won't have to regain the body mass each time before I regrow them."

She did admittedly need to brush up on her plant control. And resistance to external control as well.

@[member="Ashin Varanin"]

 

[Ashin Varanin]

@[member="Circe Savan"]

Ashin grimaced. "So you need the torso and midsection of this armor to adjust automatically, then. At its smallest, it has to support and work with your trunk when you've sacrificed mass to regrow rudimentary limbs. At its largest, it has to support and work with your trunk when you've absorbed full-size limbs into a full-sized torso and midsection. That's a substantial variance.

"So. You've got beskar as the majority of this. What's this cortosis for? How, exactly, do you plan to integrate it?"

 

[Onrai]

"The cortosis is mostly an outer layer of protection, particularly for the gun arm. Since I had to reshape the Beskar, the armor doesn't entirely provide protection against energy weapons like it should around the joints and the That's where the cortosis comes in. The cortosis later is purified, but very, very thin. Gives the suit another layer of protection alongside the Beskar without having to rely on plates of solid cortosis, which are generally more expensive and not as resistant to lightsabers." With a smile, Circe looked Ashin over, examining her. "If you have the time, I'd be glad to test the armor out."

@[member="Ashin Varanin"]

 

[Ashin Varanin]

"How are you making this cortosis alloy work? Mesh? Segmentation? Mail?" Ashin peered closer at the half-formed armor components, squinting. "Advantages, disadvantages, things to consider.

"As far as stress testing goes, Circe, most of what you need to do can be accomplished without putting it on. Not terribly interesting, I'll admit. But if you do need me to take a few swings at you while you're wearing it, I can oblige. Once it's fully assembled, of course. What's your next step here?"