Wonder
Description:
Ancient protective suits from the World Before, a set of Eternal Armor will protect its wearer from searing heat, freezing cold, the crushing depths of the sea, poisonous vapors, and nearly every other form of harm they may encounter. However, as powerful as Eternal Armor may be, some rightfully call it a kind of prison.
Enclosed entirely within the adamant plates, the wearer never again shall feel the cool breeze on their skin, nor taste the flesh of ripened fruit, nor smell the scent of wet soil after rain. Eternal Armor’s protection is all-encompassing. Some find the bargain acceptable, however, and all those who find these Wonders go down in history as saviors, or monsters, or someone who enabled them to walk among us.
Besides their shield, certain sets are said to offer their wearers other abilities as well. Legends speak of armored figures flying sprightly as a hummingbird, or manifesting great irradiated rods from the sky, or seeing through walls. The truth of these tales is unknown, but all agree that the armor calls out to those capable of wearing it. Whether this is a lure for the unwary or a clarion call to the worthy, who can say?
Quirks:
Fact vs Fiction
Many of the stories about Eternal Armor are true, if somewhat distorted over time and through retellings. It can protect the wearer from nearly any kind of physical danger—from blunt force trauma to energetic radiation and even more exotic source of harm—and most sets do grant their wearers incredible abilities. However, there is more to Eternal Armor than meets the eye.
Gestalt Hivemind
Every suit of Eternal Armor holds within it a gestalt hivemind composed of its previous wearers. In some sets, this gestalt functions as a sort of advisor, offering advice but never taking direct control. Others reverse the situation instantly, taking over and piloting their would-be masters like puppets. In every case, however, the hivemind slowly absorbs the wearer’s consciousness into its own, at which point, the old body is ejected to expire, and a new body is required.
A Pilot is Needed
Study of broken sets (for no active one will allow an examination of its inner workings, as a number of dead Timekeepers could attest to...if they weren’t dead) offers strong evidence to suggest that while Eternal Armor can operate independently of its wearer’s will, it must have a wearer to activate most of its functions.
Thus, even the most terrifying sets cannot function as automatons, but many a scholar worries that such a day may come eventually, some Wonder unearthed or Place of Interest explored that allows such a situation to occur, and on that day, we can only hope the sets of Eternal Armor that care for us will come to our aid...
Adventure Hooks:
The Wise Ruler
The Shining Seed Territories are ruled by the Shining Seed itself, a set of Eternal Armor that always glistens like sunlight through morning dew and is capable of emitting beams of light that can cut through mountains. And yet, the greatest gift the Shining Seed offers the Territories is its wisdom, carefully curated over generations. Each time the mortal part of it dies, a Great Examination is declared throughout the land, with those who enter it tested on their knowledge of whatever subject the Shining Seed declares.
Topics often include ethics, diplomacy, and other standard items of politics, but word has it that the next Great Examination shall be on undersea construction. As the Territories are almost a hundred miles from the nearest coast, some worry the hivemind of the Shining Seed has suffered a breakdown of some kind and seek adventurers to help their ruler. (Of course, some loyal citizens would be offended at the suggestion that the Shining Seed could possibly be in error, and so may be less than friendly to outsiders seeking to confirm such heresy...)
The Forever Tyrant
The Horrorplain of Kal-to-mehr owes the first part of its name to the atrocities committed there over the centuries, and the second part of its name to the armored figure that has committed them. Kal-to-mehr claims dominion of everything it can see from the chamber atop its twisted tower, and with the ability to cast its vision farther than a boundloper can gallop in a day, its demense is quite expansive.
As the righteous are too fearful of Kal-to-mehr to enter its lands, and the locals (villagers that eke out a hardscrabble existence thanks to bitter knotgrass and tamed scriggles) are too frightened to leave, bandits, murderers, and criminals of all kinds take advantage of this shield from righteousness, gathering in broken keeps scattered throughout the Horrorplain and gathering “taxes” in its name. And so a group of adventurers may find themselves facing a tough decision while traveling through the Horrorplain—truly, driving off a band of Kal-to-mehr’s “bailiffs” plundering a small homestead would be the just thing to do, but is any deed worth doing if it may draw the attention of the Master of the Horrorplain?
The Glimmering Knight of the Mirrored Forest
Almost everyone who lives in or near the Mirrored Forest has a story to tell about Itinerant, the glimmering knight of the woods. Numerous accounts claim Itinerant constantly emits a cloud of vapor that confuses the senses (organic and digital alike), and there are those who say the knight can travel through any kind of reflection, not merely those created by the chrome-plated growths of the forest.
Disagreements as to one’s feelings about Itinerant’s vigilante kidnappings seem to depend on one’s social class—the elite dub the glimmering knight no more than a bandit with delusions of grandeur, while the common people appreciate that wealth and connections no longer serve as bulwarks against richly deserved justice.
Adventurers themselves might encounter Itinerant while traveling through the Mirrored Forest, a humanoid figure constantly shrouded in swirling mist. Of course, they might only see tricks of the light reflected in the fog that often drifts through the chrome-plated “trees.” Either way, adventurers with inclinations towards the criminal would be advised to keep their activities on the level when Itinerant’s about...
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