Power Armor

Light Infantry soldiers in lightweight power armor in a swamp on Kalintos

Power Armor describes several dozen variants of powered, armored, airtight mechanical exoskeletons worn by soldiers in the Human and Jurvain militaries. A soldier in power armor is stronger, faster, better protected, and better armed than any soldier could possibly be with equipment they have to carry and operate with their own muscle power. Power Armor was originally based on primitive space suits, for use on planets without a breathable atmosphere, but rapidly developed into the equivalent of a one-man tank. There are many types of power armor, from basically lightly-armored space suits to hulking heavy-weapons suits that are more like a walking robot with a cockpit than a suit of armor.

Basic Types

• Scout Armor: Lightweight, fast, with extra sensors and more powerful jump jets for leaping over buildings or terrain features, but thinner and lighter armor.
• Command Suit: Slightly heavier version of Scout armor, with extra communications gear, intended for officers who need to communicate with and control large numbers of other troopers.
• Delta Armor: Lightweight, air-tight armor for use aboard starships. Little or no built-in weaponry, and that weak enough to not pose a serious risk of accidentally puncturing the hull. Instead of jump jets for high leaps, has full zero-gee maneuvering thrusters for EVA combat or getting around on disabled space hulks.
• Zeta Armor: Updated version of Delta Armor. Includes limited nanotech for camouflage and cushioned, non-reflective material for stealth.
• Marauder Suit: The basic trooper armor, capable of long jumps with booster jets, able to withstand most handheld weaponry, and with built-in weapons on both arms in addition to the ability to carry other weaponry in the hands or on racks along the back.
• Assault Armor: Heavier version of the Marauder suit, with less jump ability traded for more protection and heavier, bunker-busting weaponry.
• Heavy Weapons Suit: Large, heavily armored, and armed with built-in weaponry such as Lance Cannons, anti-aircraft missile launchers, or other types of heavy artillery. Generally unable to fit through doors or building halls, but tough enough to just walk through walls.
• Morph Armor: Now supplanted by Nanotech Armor, this was an early attempt to enable werecreatures to change form without wrecking their armor or injuring themselves trying. Expandible sections at joints between armor plates enable the suit to change size and shape when the wearer goes into Crinos form, although shifting all the way into animal form generally was not possible.
• Nanotech Armor: Instead of large armor plates connected by joints, this armor consists of thousands of smaller plates held together by a "soup" of nanobots, capable of shifting them around to move with the wearer, change shape as they shift through the full range of werecreature forms, change texture and color to blend in with the environment, and self-repair minor battle damage.

Notable Models

• Mark 3: Lightweight, white-colored Delta Armor. Sometimes called "Stormtrooper Armor" for resemblance to a certain pre-Gehenna movie prop.
• Mark 30: Antique (by 2243) ground combat armor.
• Mark 35: Heavy-weapons version of the Mark 30, EVA-Capable but designed for ground combat.
• Mark 77: Fast, light scout armor, with very little protection but lots of communications and sensor gear.
• Mark 100: "Centurion" power armor, the first Nanotech Armor suit. Manufactured by XTRON Laboratories.