From:SMS
To: Andy Robertson; Brett Davidson
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Hi chaps. The first pic I've been messing about with layouts for is the 'Outside on the land, Meyr ravished by Eater whilst the others weild Diskos'.
Best:
Smu 
Thus, befgore I decide exactly whom goes where, I've been doodling a lot of 'Space Armour' in an attempt to get something different from the Usual Look and to discover how these chaps occupy space. These are the present 'Shape' I'm playing with.
I'm assuming we have 'Stuff' to
disperse/repulse in the Night land which gives me an excuse for
Valvepunk-looking metallic nozzles. The helmet arrangement has a
'crest' but it's horizontal rather than the standard vertical. This is actually
an armoured array for a bank of lights that sit either side of the head
(Headlights, if you will).
The 'Helm' consists of the goggles
(Themselves, fitted with lots of lenses and do-hickeys) and 'Empty
scream'-shaped mouthpiece under a small peak, all iof which swing back onto the
helmet itself, to expose the face behind the 'cheekguards'.
The shoulders are, you'll note, topped
with a ruddy great 'Plasma dispersal' (Whatever) array' which slightly echo an
Elizabethan ruff, slightly echo some gothic yoke and generally look 'spikey'.
This is attatched to a similarly 'spikey' backpack, giving it a Gothick sort'v
look.
The chest is very prominent, akin to the
Conquistadors, but this time we have the excuse of it being filled, not with
rags but with 'Life Support Tek'
The boots were either going to be small
and dainty or big and clompy. With all that weight on the upper torso, I've
opted for the great clumpy boots and legs.
Kurosowa-style 'banners' complete the
'look'. Probably something more baroqe than the ones shown. It also occurs to me
that there's absolutely no reason we can't have fabric streamers to this outfit
if needed.
The whole thing should, finally, have a
slightly 'Insectile' texture in the plateletts, decorated with scrollwork. I
suspect Andy will interpolate the word ;'Fractal' here.
I've been presuming the 'Quints' have
different armour, but now I find myself thinking 'Why?'.
What's the verdict here?
Comments welcome.
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From:Andy Robertson
To: SMS; Brett Davidson
Some reactions
- the idea of the Helm being especially festooned with
sensors and filters is one which fits very well with other NL
stories. The developing idea is that in this era the Helms have to
filter the Night Land into a sort of virtual reality in order for the wearers to
endure it. cf for example the story "Slope" (by me, but Brett and I
have used each others' ideas extensively http://www.thenightland.co.uk/nightslope.html
Their nightsuits are not the heavy amplified coverings used by the Watchmen for patrols or close exploration work. They are as thin as cloth and as light as paper, unamplified and uninstrumented. Their only augmentation is in the complex filters in the Helms, which make up thirty percent of the suits' weight and consume all their power. Long ago, men could survive in the Land by relying only on their own senses. Now they must wear the Helms, which mount shields and sensory enhancements on a pattern two million years old. The Helms capture and amplify sound, and scavenge what little light there is in the Night Land. They map the paths through the dark, and they pass messages to other men in ways that hopefully are not obvious to the entities of the Land, where even telepathy is too risky to be used. They enhance and they communicate and they also protect, for they shield the eyes as well as the Soul from that which can destroy merely by being sensed.
but these are the heavy amplified suits
used for close in work,
- the one thing I don't like are the heavy lower limbs
and boots. Very bad mechanically - the last place you want energy-soaking
mass is at the end of your limbs. reminds me of
mecha, not in a good way. mecha are not the product of real world evolutionary
selection
- is there a risk of the "ruff" looking
foppish?, - maybe more like radio
telescope dishes / bat ears / antennae?
- another gothic suit
good stuff :-0
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