Chariot

While the cyloid and structural subspecies of skyphoform already can serve as mounts and vehicles respectively for their more humanoid compatriots, such mutualistic arrangements are less common within the Matrioshka where the choir blank descendants of those individuals tend more often to take humanoid form. Nevertheless, sometimes even the powerful choirs require an extra layer of protection and personal enhancement when dealing with dangerous business out in Unallocated Space, such as combatting shamblers or investigating holon bubbles.
For these occasions, special 'powered armor' suits called 'chariots' may be employed by choirs in the field. Constructed of verse weavings unique to the intended operator, a chariot enlarges and enhances the abilities of its wearer while also providing an additional layer of protection against dangerous conditions they may encounter in the course of their work. Chariots are primarily functional in nature, but they can also serve as elaborate pieces of fashion and a means of expressing the unique cultural heritage that a given choir might hail from.

Mechanics & Inner Workings

A blank doesn't so much wear a chariot suit as integrate themselves into it, doffing their embodiment, taking on their skyphoform physiology, and slipping their now cloth-like arms and legs into the suit where the knee and elbow joints would normally sit. This merging process is not unlike that which structural-class skyphophorms undertook in the service of their arcopel masters so long ago, and, indeed, the firmware built into structural skyphoforms was the inspiration for the verses that constitute the chariots themselves.
One so clad, the blank can then reassume its more humanoid guise, but will appear to be a taller and more powerfully-built version of themselves clad in statuesque armor. The appearance of such individuals has, at times, had the effect of inspiring actual statuary in the instances where they made unintentonal appearances.
A chariot is not simply a static piece of armor or powered suit. Though not itself sentient, the chariot adapts to the environment and, most importantly, takes action to protect its user from evolving threats. Sheets of what appear to be glistening marble and golden filligree comprise the chariot's structure, but these quickly shift and flow to cover parts of the choir's body where an enemy's blows might otherwise land. This malleability also allows a chariot to submerge damaged portions of itself to allow to allow its self-repairing functionality to take effect; it takes a terrific amount of damage - or, in rare cases, an unorthodox applicaiton of the Word - to actually harm a chariot or the blank wearing it.

Significance

The actual appearance of a chariot, both in its resting and equipped states, is subject to the aesthetic whims of the choir who owns it. Every chariot is constructed by the owner or an ally to fit the needs of the owner, including the need to project a certain air of authority and keen stylistic taste. After all, though choir blanks may be quasi-immortal beings of graphene, silicon, and code, they are also a social species who are compatriots with the electronic descendants of similarly social organic beings and, therefore, are subject to appraisal by their peers on matters of taste.

Item type

Armor