Salamander
Writer
OUT OF CHARACTER INFORMATION
- Intent: Mermaid suits!
- Image Source: Loles Romero
- Canon Link: N/A
- Permissions: N/A
- Primary Source: Selkies
- Manufacturer: Atargatis Industries
- Affiliation: Closed-Market
- Model: N/A
- Modularity: No
- Production: Minor
- Material: Alchemized waterweave, imitation robeskin, specialized electronics
- Fish tail
- Fins and webbing
- Artificial gills
- Self-cleaning
- Highly addictive
- Come in various colors and designs
- Diver's Dream: This is essentially the ultimate diving suit. The wearer doesn't have to lug around heavy equipment, it's flexible and lightweight, and the fins act as new limbs, increasing maneuverability in water. It will automatically keep you warm if the temperature of the water around you decreases, along with various other adaptations.
- Highly Addictive: Something involved in the alchemizing process makes these skins incredibly addictive. The longer you wear it, the less you want to take it off. Eventually, you may find yourself living in the skin all the time.
- Not Invulnerable: While the waterweave is strong, it isn't invulnerable. If the suit is punctured or the electronics are damaged, it must be repaired or taken off as soon as possible, lest you find yourself drowning in the depths.
Developed by Atargatis Industries around forty years ago, the Atargatis Skins were created through dubious means. The methods of their manufacture were kept secret, as they involved Force alchemy, a practice associated with the Sith. The company simply wanted to optimize their diving by creating the best diving suit available, but a few employees saw the opportunity to capitalize on the romanticized idea of a suit that would more or less turn the wearer into a mermaid and began selling the skins on the black market.
The suit is made out of alchemized waterweave, a material which become buoyant when submerged in water. It includes specialized electronics which regulate body temperature, pressure, and oxygen levels. Oxygen is produced via artificial gills, drawing it from the water as a fish would. The suit fuses the wearer's lower limbs into a fully articulated long tail, with fins and webbing between the fingers improving the wearer's ability to move and navigate underwater.
Over time, divers who clad the skins found it increasingly difficult to remove them at the end of each work day, almost as if it was fusing to their bodies and becoming a part of them. What's more, they didn't necessarily want to take it off. This phenomenon was dubbed "sea mania" and initially diagnosed as a form of mass hysteria on Chaldea, the hub of Atargatis' exploits. The mania lead to the development of a community of people known as the Finfolk who have willingly chosen to forsake their lives on dry land in favor of becoming creatures of the sea, wearing the skins as if it were simply an extension of their natural form.
Due to the black market sale of the skins, the true nature of their creation was eventually discovered. Atargatis was hit by a string of massive lawsuits, driving them into bankruptcy, and while the company was bought out before it could completely collapse, they no longer produce the skins.
Well, not openly. If you know the right channels, you may be able to get your hands on one, if you really want it...
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