Akestos
Surge Lord
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Canon Link: Vonduun Skerr Kyrric | Charon Battle Armor
Primary Source: Terminus
PRODUCTION INFORMATION
Manufacturer: The Hive Mind
Affiliation: Closed-Market | Anyone with a Terminus or other Infection agent at Stage 5 or Stage 6 | SwarmSurge
Model: Terminus Armor
Modularity: Highly. It is up to the individual or creature how it shapes.
Production: Mass-Produced
Material: Biological
TECHNICAL SPECIFICATIONS
Classification: Multipurpose
Weight: Average
- Blasters/Particle: Average
- Kinetic: Very High
- Lightsabers: Average
- Heat/Plasma: Very High
- Acidic/Biological: High
- Ion: Average
- Electrical: Average
- Sonic: Average
- Sonic Wave (Concussive) Average
- Radiation: Average
- Explosive: Average
- Tensor or Tractor: Low
- Cryoban (Heat Absorption): Very Low
- Cold: Very Low
SPECIAL FEATURES
Strengths:
- Acidic and Biological: This armor has high resistance to these damages. The outer shell is hardened to biological warfare. The Hive IS biological warfare, it fought long and hard to be top of the food chain.
- Heat/Plasma: Very High Resistance. The armor really enjoys the heat, the hotter the better. The reverse is true for cold.
- Kinetic Damage: Very High Resistance. Built as a melee armor, most kinetic damage is resisted very well. This is especially true of impact damage, with which the armor is designed to cushion the creature or individual from specifically as it is thrown about, crushed or pulled.
- Bio Restoration. Slow Regrowth of Damaged Parts. Damage regrows over a couple of days if it's superficial to the armor, the terminus microbe can also help with slow healing of any wounds beyond it. For larger damage to the exoskeleton, it might take a week.
- Can grow to shape any creature or individual, adaptable to extra weapons, talons, claws, tails, wings or other additions designed by the Hive Mind's focus and the Terminus Microbe's integration. These additions don't grow on the spot, they take months.
Weaknesses:
- Cryoban: Very Low Resistance. Snap freezing or taking the heat quickly from the armor will be very effective in damaging it.
- Cold: Very Low Resistance. Cryomancy or cold grenades, for example, would have a large advantage. Long exposure to a freezing environment also makes the armor less effective in healing or repairing itself, taking twice or three times as long.
- Tensor or Tractor: Low Resistance. Like most biological armors, tensor and tractor damage rips them to shreds more easily.
- The armor needs to grow and is the result of biological infection, meaning if you are wearing it, chances are you are part of the hive mind, swarm's will or surge impulse and under its influence. It also takes extra nutrients to grow, and significantly more food than usual while it is growing. The usual infection period for the Terminus microbe is 15 days to reach stage 6.
- The armor doesn't come off naturally. It's a natural exoskeleton grown around a creature or individual.
- You stand out in this armor. On its own, with no extra biotech, you are not going to be hard to spot in a crowd.
- Often but not always, there are several spots to grab hold of on this armor and throw your opponent about or pull at, though pulling is difficult given how much tensile strength there is.
- There is a lot of pain associated with growing an exoskeleton if you are not used to it.
The Terminus armor is the first incarnation of a natural exoskeleton grown around infected creatures and individuals. It is the standard variation on most creatures, growing to suit their body shape, size, and mass. The microbe is capable of altering DNA, cells and making other mutations to better serve the host. Wings, Talons, even extra limbs are possible. Though the creature wouldn't have full dexterity in an armored limb, it could still serve as an outstretched weapon, tail, horns, or claw with limited movement.
It's cheap to produce and takes time obviously given the rate of infection. 15 Days is the usual amount to cover most of the body, but up to a month to create any extra additions such as elaborate wings or talons. This sounds very useful. But it's painful. Do you remember growing pains growing up? Well, condense that into a month. The Swarm Collective Will feels this sensation as well and understands the process as a collective because most of them experienced it. The individual creature is usually given time to adapt and to stand on its own legs.
The eventual design of this also didn't magically happen overnight. There were MANY attempts at getting this exoskeleton to adapt to multiple host creatures, and even now the Terminus infection often doesn't take. So you can imagine some of the creations this armor makes, being the same way, half done. However on established species that the hive is used to working with, and the microbe is well adapted to, the armor works well, with few mistakes. Trial and error is the way this works for a new species, there is no magic bullet. There are however Hive Maturation chambers to put subjects in if further work is even needed or wanted, most cases of failure are just left as they are.
