Durloid Armor

"I shouldn't even be talking to you anymore..."

-Mrcillian soldier after surviving a high-energy photon bolt to the chest

Description
Created and designed to protect the Mrcillian soldier from the extreme dangers of inter-planetary warfare, Durloid armor offers some of the best protection available in the galaxy to those who wear it. Forged from pressure-tempered Durloidium billet, this armor is easily capable of defending the user from a wide range of energy, bludgeoning, and piercing damages that are inflicted by weapons found throughout the galaxy; countless infantrymen of the Empire owe their lives to its effectiveness.

Principle of Operation
Durloidium is known as a flux-state metal, which means that the atomic structure of the metal can fluctuate violently depending on forces at work around it. Durloidium is an alloy of that metal that has the ability to absorb kinetic energy and nullify its effects on the surrounding area. This characteristic makes the metal ideal for use in armor. Durloid armor, when struck with kinetic energy- be it in the form of a laser blast, a plasma burst, a club, gamma ray, bullet, spear-tip etc.- changes its atomic structure to absorb and nullify the kinetic energy instantaneously.

Development
Before the discovery of Durloidium, and other flux-state metals, the best protection available to the Mrcillian fighter was blast armor, cast from advanced carbonite polymers. blast armor worked well in protecting soldiers from native weaponry, but was ineffective against much of the exotic, high-powered alien weaponry being faced by pioneer colonists. In UD 986, the mining corporation Blanst Industrial began investing money in deep space asteroid mining, a practice that was expensive and looked down upon as a dangerous waste of money. Several years passed without any significant findings. However, in UD 989 during a routine asteroid search in the fringes of the Dagra system, Mining Party 789-A came upon an asteroid that had an unusual substance in it. This substance was an unrefined flux-state metal, never before seen in the galaxy. Upon collection and research, developers discovered the metal's incredible ability to react dynamically with pure kinetic energy on an atomic level. Many years were invested in developing a stable variant of the metal, and in UD 994, Durloidium was created by blending flux-state metals in the form of gas with a chain of odd chemical agents in liquid form. Durloidium was immediately put to use in ship building, and armor for the foot soldier was developed shortly thereafter.

Design
Durloid Armor has changed slightly in aesthetic design over the years, but the basic structure and layout remains the same. The armor suit that is worn by the soldier is composed of a Durloidium helmet, torso plate, gauntlets, shoulder pads, elbow and knee pads, shin plates, and plated boots. These protective plate areas (minus the helmet) are chemically fused into a thick carbonite-woven, weather tight base layer. Commonly, the base layer is a dull grey or black in color, and the Durloidium plates are a dull metallic in color, but are often camoflaged by individual troops to fit the environment. In principle, Durloid armor is very simple in design, but upon asking why newer versions of the armor are not developed, engineers proudly reiterate: "'If it's not broken, don't fix it...".This motto seems to have worked well; Mrcillian troops have some of the lowest mortality rates in the galaxy.