Almost half a year ago, during a conversation with a friend I had an idea for a suit of armor that a TF:V tactical teams could wear. That same night I wrote this in a surge of inspiration, then forgot about it for months.
So here it is, please comment :)
We call it the Twilight suit. Sure, there's an official designation for the paper pushers, but in the field we call it the Twilight suit. It's the crowning achievement of Applied Field Defenses department. Its exact origin I can't tell you about because only the top brass and the design team know it, but I know the components were discovered and used separately before one of the eggheads thought outside the box.
No bullshit, it's the best ally you'll ever have in the field, bar your team members.
The suit itself is actually a compound material applied to the inner side of (depending on the area you are deployed) a riot gear suit or a standard military combat armor. Once the material bonds with the surface of the armor it's damned hard to remove it. Luckily it doesn't do the same to your skin. Yes, the stories are true: we wear nothing under the suit once we deploy. The suit needs to be in direct contact with our body, otherwise it doesn't function.
The compound material itself looks like, as a friend of mine once put it: „bile and blood inside an amber plate“. First time you see it, the idea of that covering your entire body is bound to freak you out.
The 'amber' (that's what we call it in the field) is actually some weird type of metal. It's dark yellow, it's transparent but it's also tougher than anything the army possesses while at the same time being very light and flexible. We mine it from under a ziggurat in a Mexican jungle. I was there once, just saw the ziggurat, didn't have clearance to go into the mine itself. Funny thing about that ziggurat: no markings of any kind on it. The 'amber' plates can take a full burst from a Gatling gun and only get dented, but that's for armored vehicles. The body armor plates though can withstand a lycanthrope's claw and teeth. This I can vouch for.
The 'blood' is a dark red gel of some kind. It's manufactured in a facility in Germany and spun into a fine mesh inside the 'amber'. What it does is it taps directly into your sensory system and enhances it. The mesh essentialy becomes a hyperperceptive sensory organ that basically upgrades your own senses. Want to see in almost pitch dark? How about literally hear a pin drop? Just try sneaking up on a guy in a TS. Can't be done. Few years back we also discovered it can 'sense' Code 5s when they're veiled.
The 'bile' is ectoplasm. Yes, you heard me right. The stuff ghosts are made of when they physically interact with our world. Have no idea where they get it. Not sure I really want to know. Here's a funny thing about ectoplasm: it exists in both our world and the ghostspace at the same time. So once the 'bile' was mixed with 'blood' we could now not only percieve ghosts who were still on the other side but also any other entity that exists within ghostspace. Needless to say this pissed off the guys who work on those nifty goggles of ours to no end. Claimed the Twilighters were cramping their style, butting in on their turf. Also, once the ectoplasm component was included the suit now allowed you to be aware of other suits in the vicinity. Instant friend or foe identification.
Did I mention it's alive? Well, semi-alive and semi-sentient, and I'm quoting one of the designers here. Long story short, the suit itself is aware of the wearer. And you are definitely aware of it. That's where the nightmares come from, you know, when there's another sentience inside your personal thought space and there is no way in hell you could ever comprehend it. It's a bit like looking at those Escher paintings of infinite steps and multiple gravity centeres. It's against everything you know to be right. After a while you feel like you're gonna lose it. That's why we only let people with extraordinary willpower wear the suit. Take it as a compliment. Just know when to take it off, okay?
It adapts. We figured that out in the field. Seemed logical in the end. If it's alive, it could evolve. A strike team member fell out of a chopper. 50 yard fall. Should have been dead on impact. The suit somehow changed the 'amber', cushioned the blow. Guy ended up in traction for twelve months. Still on the job. How did it do it? Honestly? I think the eggheads aren't sure they know how.
Another time a Code 5 did this thing with his voice, burst the eardrums of four field agents that were trying to take it down. The two guys from the tac team in the suits? The sound was dampened enough to let them bag and tag it with extreme prejudice. Their ears did ring for a few hours though. It helps with flashbangs too.
I know what you're thinking. You're thinking the eggheads are nuts for making it and we're nuts for using it. A living, sentient armor? That's got 'disaster imminent' written all over it, right? Well, the truth is the things out there we have to deal with every day and night, they don't play fair and they got advantages we can only dream about. So anything that evens the field a bit, I'll take it.
Mechanics of the Twilight suit:
In order to take full effect, must be worn directly over the skin. TF:V agents that use the suit in the field usually carry spare clothes in a backpack, in case of an emergency that requires them to change into civilian wear.
The benefits the suit conferrs to its wearer:
The 'blood'
->grants a +5 bonus to perception (but only if the helmet's worn)
->also no penalties due to lighting conditions (i.e. see in anything but pitch black darkness) but only if the lighting is not influenced by a supernatural source
->grants the normal benefits of the Danger sense merit; if the player character already posesses the merit, the extended application still applies
->the extended application of Danger sense provided by the suit is that it allows the player to roll a perception roll to detect ambush by creatures not normally visible. This however has limitations: it only applies to situations where the creature in question is preparing to directly attack the wearer (or if there is more than one suit wearer in the room it can also detect an impending attack on one of them; also an extension of the 'bile's ability to sense other suits) and only to creatures that are not visible but are still in this world (in other words, an obfuscated vampire yes, but a werewolf in the spirit realm using Two-world eyes and getting ready to step over and tear the agent to pieces no).
->the 'blood' also dampens the effects of any kind of sensory attack on the wearer by reducing the damage rolled by half, rounded down (e.g. a Badacelli's scream)
The 'amber'
->armor rating 5/5
->reduces falling damage by half
The 'bile'
->character is able to percieve the ghosts and other entities (astrally projecting Kindred) in Twilight (ghostspace in TF:V speak)
->the character is intuitively aware of the location of other Twilight suits for Resolve*100 yards
Effects of prolonged use
The suit can be worn for up to (Resolve) hours without penalty inside a 24 hour period. If the suit is worn for more than that in a 24 hour period the player rolls Resolve+Composure.
For every hour over (Resolve) the required number of successes on the roll is increased by one. If it's been less than an hour over the mark, only one success is required. If it's been over an hour, two sucesses are required. If two hours passed, three successes and so on.
If the roll is a success but the target number has not been reached, all subsequent rolls are made at a -1 penalty. Penalties are cumulative and achieving a required number of successes on a subsequent roll doesn't negate the penalties. Time is running out for the wearer.
If the required number is achieved the wearer has staved off any negative effects for one hour. But he's really pushing it.
If the roll is a failure, he subtracts from every mental and physical pool a number of dice equal to hours spent in the suit over the mark, due to effects of the suits alien semi-sentience on his psyche. This effect continues for as long as he is in the suit, with the penalty increasing with every next hour. If the suit is taken off, the penalty effect lasts for another (Resolve) hours. Should the player wish to put the suit back on before (Resolve) hours have passed, an exceptional success on a single willpower roll is required. Failure means that the character is too worn out to even contemplate putting it back on until the effect wears off.
A dramatic failure has the character enter a state of panic equal to a phobia attack and remove the suit as fast as possible, even resorting to attempting to cut it off. For the next (Resolve) days he cannot force himself to even think of wearing the suit and will do everything in his power to prevent anyone from forcing him to wear it.
ratmonkey84:I'd like to see the suit take over the host, like the Venom symbiote.