I usually dont draw armor as I’ve never had a good experience drawing them well...but I decided to swallow my pride and let my inspiration take the lead on this one. I had an idea for what I wanted for the helmet and just went from there. This is another one of Ai/Ia’s tools/items, known as the “Armor of Kirdeth,” one of her lesser used items but nonetheless just as reliable as the rest.
Used as a defensive against magic or energy blasts, the Armor of Kirdeth protects the wearer from all concentrated, tangible forms of such once per use. This is done by activating the inlaid blackstone jewels in the armor, activating normally invisible seal markings across the entire armor. Using her hands, the armor absorbs all incoming energy through her hands, as the armor fills with the absorbed energy. This stored energy can then be forcefully shot back in what’s known as its “Paladin Form,” where the armor shines completely opposite colors from its dark, monochrome palette while bringing forth and charging up her hands with the absorbed energy before firing it. The armor quickly returns to normal before dissipating. Spiritual power and overall strength determines how much energy the armor can absorb, and so the value of its use varies from person to person. Once this counter is successful, the armor de-materializes, and Ia must summon it again in order to continue to use it, but this action is rare, as it requires a significant portion of her Ether to augment its defensive capabilities to the level it is used.
I think with this addition that leaves roughly 2-3 more tools. But yeah I’ve been on a roll with these, hopefully it wont take me long for the rest.
The Armor of Kirdeth: Lore
Eons ago, when the planet of this armor’s origins still existed, the armor was originally stored in pieces in numerous reliquaries before they were all reunited together later on. However, before that point the armor belonged to a woman named Kirdeth, a special kind of sword-wielding fighter known as an Executioner. A discipline founded mainly in the old country of Mesverys, Executioners carried out the executions of powerful people who were tried for death, as part of their namesake, but Executioners came to be much more. Becoming major frontrunners in Mesverys’ military, Executioners used their expertise in the power of Ether in order to silence insurrection and rebellion by purging radical elements on a far deeper level: by taking, sealing, or corrupting one’s chaotic and etherial power, one could essentially manipulate the affected and bend their broken minds to their will.
Hailing from the small town of Raedul near the castle city of Naelfeihm, Kirdeth was one of the first prominent ones of her kind to ascend to much prestige, becoming one of the strongest as well as coming to lead one the main armies of Mesverys before the appointment of the King’s current 2 children. During the time of Kirdeth, the Defender discipline had not come to exist yet, and it is believed that the history left by Kirdeth led to its later development. Enraptured by the cultural and ethnic destruction that Mesverys’ Executioners wrought on its western borders, Kirdeth came to the aid of many during Mesverys’ occupation, offering succor to the displaced and even protecting them from her own. However, Kirdeth had found a way to utilize chaotic energy and transform it using one’s own Ether, assimilating the chaos itself. Giving her new insight and enlightenment, she had learned this through the people of present-day Rivylsae, who had intimate contact with Nakaruii, resulting in the achievement of a form no other Executioner had reached in their development. It was because of this that Kirdeth saw the importance of the forest-city and adamantly opposed against its removal. These actions only grew bolder as the Empire grew fiercer in its assimilation attempts, and it had an effect on not only some of her own soldiers, but those in the opposition as well. Her loyalty finally came into question when she ferverntly opposed a superior commander’s orders to cut down swathes of the Nakaruii forest for further settlement.
Kirdeth became instrumental in inspiring rebellion against the Mesverys Empire, recognizing and recounting the brutal acts of its leadership as obscene and sinful. Though she was never captured, her armor was the only thing left of her after the events leading to the closing of Mesverys’ borders, along with her sword, which was lodged in a great rock that was said to have purified the corrupted land around it by releasing the Ether from her weapon. Acquired in different areas of the northern continent, the entirety of the armor was collected in different reliquaries and preserved accordingly, serving to present-day Choradia, Rivylsae, and Korvania as a reminder of the actions she took in watching over and inspiring change and aspiration for a better life amongst them, and “as a light to create hope to drive away the evil of the Mesverys Empire.” It is rumored that part of Kirdeth’s soul still lingers within the armor.
Based on accounts and minor folktales, the sword came to be removed some decades later by another, and inspired by the deeds of Kirdeth, used his prowess and abilities to usher in what would come to be called the “Defender” discpline that exists today. Though his name is unknown, the man is immortalized in Choradian history and mythology as a great, decorated swordsman that resides in the capital as the founder of the Defenders and a continuing legacy to hope and change. The association of both this hero and Kirdeth seem to have become synonymous with each other and have come to develop a religion centered around them, further myth and speculation turning them nearly into transcendental figures of light and redemption. Kirdeth’s more “factual” details seem to have been lost to time and religious fervor to the figure now praised by the masses, but pockets of society throughout the northern continent still remember the impact she made on future generations, however small or large.
