Armors

Armor has not progressed since the years of axes and spears, as little progress has been made in making steel lighter or more flexible. However, modern machining and industrial forging techniques have made armor significantly cheaper, and some progress into more exotic materials has arisen. For those willing to spend a pretty penny, Elethian mages can enchant material to be lighter and amulets to protect one's self, while Artificers can work to craft personalized suits of extraordinarily light, responsive armor fit for the finest warriors.  

Modern Materials

Standard armor is similar to that listed in Low Tech with minor changes. Firstly, due to industrialization processes, metal armor costs 75% of it's TL4 value. Most soldiers opt for heavy steel plates to protect their chest and lighter mail across their limbs to preserve mobility. Some advances have been made in fortifying cloth and leather, primarily through Elethian engineering of animals and plants to optimize their potential for armor; cloth and leather can benefit from an "Engineered Silk" and "Engineered Leather" quality, respectively, which grants +2 DR, +4 CF; weight is divided by 2.   Similarly, shirts and other clothing can be made of such enhanced materials. Long coats are common attire for those who require mobility, and can provide respectable armoring to the entire body; see Low Tech pg. 99. Well-equipped warriors and assassins use clothing made of engineered silk as flexible and concealed armor; treat as spider silk as listed in Low Tech pg. 104 with a CF of 49.   Helmets have also seen significant advances, and are capable of being fully sealed; any full helm made of non-permeable materials can benefit from a "Hermetic Mask" quality, which grants 2 DR to the eyes, Filter Lungs, Immunity to Eye and Nose Irritants, and Tunnel Vision, +3 CF; add 5.5lbs to weight. Glass lenses can be individually added to a helmet without the mask as a "Reinforced Glass Lenses" quality, which grants 2 DR to the eyes and Tunnel Vision, +1.5CF; add 0.75lbs to weight.  

Enchanted Armors

Infeasible for most, enchanted armors are a precursor to powered armor, requiring the services of Elethian enchanters, and come at a major premium due to the intensive work required. The final cost of enchantment is variable depending upon the enchanter. Armor requires a certain level of base cost to be enchanted.   There are two main enchantments that any self-respecting armor enchanter is able to perform: Fortify and Lighten. Fortify adds 1 DR per level of enchantment, and costs $15,000 for the first level and $5,000 per further level. Each piece of armor can only be fortified up to 1.5x it's starting DR, rounding down. Lighten comes in two levels; the first costs $30,000 and reduces the weight of the armor by 15%, the second costs $50,000 and reduces the weight of the armor by 30%. Other armor enchantments may be available depending upon the enchanter.