Knight Saber 2040 Hardsuits
Who: Combat armor worn by the Knight Sabers
What: The Knight Sabers’ hardsuits are actually heavily modified boomers.
When: The hardsuits were designed and developed by Sylia Stingray. They were first put to use in 2037.
Where: The Knight Sabers use their hardsuits in Mega-Tokyo.
Why: Sylia designed, developed, and built the hardsuits for the express purpose of combating and destroying rogue boomers on the mean-streets of Mega-Tokyo. She built them based on a woman’s form and center of balance because she herself was a woman.
How: Sylia used the life’s-work of her father to her advantage. She modified his technology and turned it into wearable combat armor.
Since the hardsuits are based on boomer technology, they use some of the same parts and power cores as traditional boomers. As such, only the purest cores are used to try to prevent the hardsuits from going rogue. They also have a limited battery life as an additional precaution.
Each hardsuit is precisely tailored and calibrated to each individual woman, matching her biology and physical strengths — Nene and computers, Priss and Linna’s natural athleticism. In order to help control the hardsuits, a skin-tight softsuit is required. The softsuits transmit nerve signals to the hardsuit’s processors, which tell the hardsuit how to move. The hardsuits are primarily designed for efficiency, not for comfort, the softsuits possessing plumbing connections.
When the hardsuits were designed and built, they were based on scans done on Sylia’s adolescent body and brain (the “original bio-data”). As such, the hardsuits try to “tap” into the wearer’s mental synapses to allow for as much seamless operation as possible. At first, Sylia recruited based on skills alone, but after tragedy struck, has taken better care with recruitment. Now, she chooses only those who had a high likelihood of mental compatibility, the same “brainwave”. Only then has she, and her team had the most success.
However, age may seem to have a significant effect on suit performance. For example, as Sylia got older, the neural feedback from her hardsuit became risky to her health, and possibly caused neural scarring. Another possibility could be physical rejection by Sylia’s downright hatred of boomers. The other three girls didn’t know the hardsuits were actually boomers and may have been more receptive to the suit.
Despite all of the safety precautions that Sylia had put into place, the hardsuits still went rogue when they were exposed directly to Galatea’s aura. New hardsuits were then needed.
The Second Generation hardsuits vastly improved on the previous models and also had some significant differences. First off, they don’t have a central power source. The battery is incorporated throughout the entire suit, allowing for improved power distribution and longer battery life.
The new suits are up to five times more powerful than the old models, with seven times the jump thrust. However, they are roughly twenty times heavier.
Along with being able to withstand armor piercing rounds, they held up against the pressures of deep water and outer space. They also seal completely, enabling them to maintain and even generate oxygen for up to a few hours at a time.
The only real disadvantage of these hardsuits is in how they are put on. The wearer has to step into a mammoth frame, naked. Then a gray goop called inner metal is pumped into the harness. The wearer then has to focus on a mental charm, which makes the inner metal bond to the harness and give the hardsuit proper shape. The mental charm also allows the suit to tap into the wearer’s mind, much like the softsuits of the previous models.
The most significant difference is that the Second Generation of hardsuits possesses a fair degree of sentience. These hardsuits and Priss’ moto-slave were capable of receiving verbal/direct thought instruction, and shifting form as such, whether to maintain integrity, form a battle suit for a hardsuit, or to form an airfoil for a safe landing.
The Bubblegum Crisis Sanctum 