Originally posted by GrackleTheAvian Name: Targeted Area Lock-On Negating (T.A.L.O.N) Avian Assault Boots Description: At a first glance, the T.A.L.O.N system look like your average pair of armored avian footwear, but once worn and used, they are in fact much more. Essentially a pressure plate encased in a steel-fiber alloy, measuring 3mm across the talons, 5mm around the sole and foot itself, and 1.5mm around the calf/shin leg braces, and an optional added 1.5mm for a full calf/shin encased brace for modular use with Zero-G and Void EVA suits, and aided with the help of six heavy-duty springs for the raising and lowering of the boot's talons, these boots are designed to be heavy duty, low maintenance (in recommended usage conditions), and easily repaired. Abilities: Ability to latch the user on to solid inorganic objects, or deliver a brutal and definitively fatal killing blow to organics. Conditional abilities (optional): Due to the stress put on the springs by the constant push/pull effect of the talon's actuators, the boots are more at home in pressures of 1-1.5 atmospheres or less. Limitations: Extended and strenuous use, such as running, falls from extended heights, or improper treatment of the actuator springs can lead to one of three possible malfunctions with the boots themselves. 1. Failure to Actuate-Retract: Talons refuse to retract, forcing the user to apply extra force to remove the boot from the attached surface. Caused by continued strenuous use beyond the spring's limitations or continued and strenuous use in high-pressure conditions. Corrected by actuating the manual spring retractor on the upper forward surface of the boot. 2. Failure to Actuate-Extend: Upon stepping, the talons remain in the retracted position, denying the user the ability of latching onto the surface of the object being stepped on. Caused by improper boot actuator maintenance and weekly recommended cleaning of spring surfaces. Corrected by re-stepping or manually aiding in spring extension by cleaning of the spring surface area. 3. Half-Actuation: Upon stepping, only one of the two forward talons actuates, causing a significant decrease in the functional latching ability of the boots. Caused by the same faults as above, but only affecting half of the actuating system. Corrected by using one or both of the solutions stated above, depending on the issue at hand. Conditional limitations (optional): Not recommended for use in arctic or continuously wet environs. Use in these climates can further degrade springs by freezing them in-place or speeding up the oxidization process of the springs, rendering them partially or fully ineffective. How does it work: Actuated by constantly using applied force on each spring. Once the user takes a step, the tension on springs 1, 3, and 5 is released, forcing the talons into whatever is under the user's feet, be it stone, low-to-mid grade starship and non-orbital craft hull, and even organic material. The opposite action happening on springs 2, 4, and 6 when pressure is taken off, causing the talons to retract into the retracted position until the next step is taken, repeating the process. The movement of the talons have been quoted to act somewhat akin to the large killing claw seen on Velociraptors, but over both forward 'toes' of an Avian foot. Flavor text: Designed by the Hesperian Navy crew of the H.S.S Jackdaw along with Executive Officer Grackle Passer, the T.A.L.O.N Assault Boots (affectionately called "Tabbies") were designed for both shock-and-awe and functionality. With the noted history of the crew and officers for using unorthodox methods in both their combat and navigational strategies, Passer and his crew tasked themselves with engineering armor with both offense and agility in-mind while on an extended deployment. Their idea was the T.A.L.O.N. Upon first operational field tests upon returning home for a crew rest and training period, members of the crew were reported using the boots for, quote, "...Scaling the vertical battlespace and descending upon their foes like diving birds of prey...". An account of the actions from the ship's Weapons Officer stated that the Guardsman "...Jumped from the edge of a cliff-face and attached himself to the hull of a low-flying, drone operated, training combatant aircraft..." for planetside operations. From the report, the Guardsman was successfully able to navigate the outer shell of the craft and succeed in making his way to the forward optics of the drone and fire his weapon into them until the drone fell from the sky. It was soon after that the crew realized that while climbing and jumping was easy, landing was the true trouble. In order to fix this issue, shock absorbers were added to the both the inboard and outboard spring surfaces and adding a level of padding to the inner portion of the boots. After functionality had been assessed, offensive capabilities were taken into account. Other than the obvious ability to latch onto hardened surfaces, the boots also were found to be rather effective on both infantry training drones and enemy combatants. The three puncture wounds causing increased blood-loss in organic foes and substantial damage to inorganic combatants. As an added bonus, the boots found great use when used by scavenging and boarding parties. In the event of entering a ship with little to no gravity, the boots allow the wearer to keep themselves oriented in the vessel without the use of bulky maneuvering packs, albeit with less active maneuverability. Now, along with the obvious military purpose in mind, the system has found use in the civilian and industrial sector in limited quantity; the most frequent users being salvagers and off-planet miners. Since it's creation, production of the T.A.L.O.N system has moved to Xalari Armor Systems Inc. of Hesperus-II. Referenced Technologies (optional): N/A Attainability: [Open] (Previously Semi-Open) Tags: [Military] [Industrial] [Racial:Avian]
