Anachronistic armour
Anachronistic armour refers to various anachronistic high technology found in the first two Ultima installments. Due to the presence of a time machine in Ultima I and of time gates in Ultima II, a number of exotic devices reached the feudalistic lands of Sosaria and the most ancient millennia of archaic Earth.
After the disappearance of the time machine and of the time gates, the lands that would become Britannia lost use of these futuristic artifacts. This happened possibly because of an inability to manufacture them without alien guidance from the future. The world of Earth in the meantime was restored to temporal normalcy, and the civilizations of the past were left without access to the legacy of their future.
Armour[edit]
Reflect Armour[edit]
This is the most protective personal armour available known to civilization, besides the slightly better power armour. It appears in Ultima I and Ultima II.
Little is known about exactly what reflect armour was or how it functioned. The materials and possible magic used in its creation have been lost to the darkness of time, as it was not seen after the disappearance of the time gates. Whatever its origin, the armour was of significant tenacity, capable not only of protecting its wearer from the rigors of combat, but also able to shield a star-walking adventurer from the vacuum of space.
Power Armour[edit]
The most powerful personal armour available in the times of early Sosaria and has not been replicated since.
Much like the contemporary reflect armour, little is known about exactly what comprised a suit of power armour. Appearing only briefly in the course of the Stranger's adventures, power armour has long since faded from the fabric of modern Terran reality, likely having vanished with the disappearance of time gates. It is known that in addition to providing the wearer with significant defenses against the toil of melee, power armour was suitable for use as protective gear during space travel, much like the vacuum suit.
Vacuum Suit[edit]
Prominently used for space travel during that era, and vanished along with many other forms of anachronistic technology from the future toward the end of the Age of Darkness.
The vacuum suit appears to have been some form of space suit or pressure suit designed to protect its wearer from the stresses of travel on a shuttle or rocket breaking through a planetary atmosphere. Attempts to man such vessels without wearing one (or a suit of reflect armour or power armour) ended with messily fatal results.
It is not known by what mechanisms or magics such a piece of equipment operated within Sosaria, as the level of technology in the realm was far behind that necessary to produce the equivalent of the multi-layered marvels of engineering produced during the Terran twentieth century. These suits also appear at similarly low-tech points in Earth history, although this may have been a result of the relativity of time lines produced by the time doors in that age.
Lore[edit]
| “ | Your journey will inevitably lead you into outer space. Special attire is needed to successfully travel through the solar system. – from The Second Age of Darkness (Ultima II)
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Trivia[edit]
- Mechanical Note: in Ultima II, a Strength statistic of at least 29 is required to don reflect armour.
- Mechanical Note: in Ultima II, a Strength statistic of at least 31 is required to don power armour.
See Also[edit]
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