Reactive Armour

A - relatively - light weight set of "armour" worn and designed by Vanice Fionn to work in conjunction with his heat control Emblem. This was designed to only cover some areas of the body as a base, but capable of protecting all parts of the body by "reacting" to attacks.
Made of a memory alloy - a mixture of nickel and titanium that can change shape at different temperatures - Vanice Fionn designed this armour to make up for his relatively low fighting ability.
The "base" form of the armour occurs when Vanice uses his emblem to control the temperature of the armour - moulding it into an armour style shape (though this is more like plates attached to key locations on his body. Vanice then extends an area of heat around himself that is slightly different from the average temperature. If something enters this area, it alters the temperature. This causes the armour's temperature to change, and respective parts of it move to intercept any attack on that area.

Utility

The Reactive Armour was designed to improve Vanice Fionn's weak defences, while not being too heavy and cumbersome as to stop his movements, so it can be worn with relative ease.
It can only be used by someone with fine tuned heat manipulation abilities. The most prominent is Vanice Fionn due to his Emblem, but others may be able to make use of this depending on their ability.

Inventor(s)

Vanice Fionn invented this armour. While he took already exisiting memory alloy - which by the time of this invention he'd been using for months to years - he gradually built on this over time. Originally it was simply cables that he could manipulate the shape of, he refined and added to these (altering their shape, adding plates, etc.) until he'd built the reactive armour set.

---

Access & Availability

The Reactive Armour itself is exclusive to Vanice Fionn, as the inventor and person with the Emblem best able to use it.
However, the raw materials - while rare and quite expensive - are available to anyone, with the concept/design being available in Isthramir's library. Subsequnetly, in theory it could be reproduced.

Complexity

Simple in concept, but not in exectuiton. Large amounts of memory alloy are needed - which is expensive and rare due to the complex technology/process needed to create it. Furthermore, the metal is moulded into an armour shape only after Vanice Fionn wears it (as he needs to control the temperature of it to do so). Before that, the armour must be shaped into the various positions it would need to defend - a process that takes 3-D planning, knowledge of combat and time.

Discovery

Vanice Fionn as a thinker, isn't the best fighter. This isn't helped by his Emblem, that allows him to control his body temperature. While Vanice is talanted at his control of this ability - able to cause minute changes with little mental effort - unlike more physical Emblems it doesn't give him a natural defensive technique.
Over the course of his life, Vanice had been introduced to "memory alloys" - metals that alter their shape with temperature. This was a natural fit for his Emblem. He used this in various forms - orignally just cables he could alter the shape of - gradually adding to and making new uses for this material over time (for example, making [heat batteries] to store heat energy that can be given off as electricity).
Combining these ideas and aiming to overcome his weakness, Vanice developed the reactive armour.

Related Materials

• Escamoria