Source: Graeme
First Appeared In: Yet to make an appearance
Invented by: Thomas Crapper
Owned by: Thomas Crapper
Availability: Unique item
History:
Thomas Crapper has quite an aversion to being shot. On the odd occasion when he has been injured by an assassin’s bullet he has found it to me most debilitating and, on the whole, something he would quite like to avoid in future.
With this in mind Crapper has investigated the effectiveness of several different varieties of ballistic armour.
From America he has tested the latest bullet-resistant vests woven from layers of tightly packed silk. He found them not only to be extremely bulky but also entirely ineffectual against the most modern firearms.
He then experimented with a British design composed of a shirt of interlocking metal scales. This concept proved extremely effective at stopping bullets but Crapper found it too noisy and heavy for practical use.
Lastly he turned to the Orient for a solution to his problem. In the lands of the East warlords and petty rulers have often surrounded themselves with attending troupes of fanatically loyal servants. These troupes follow their Lord everywhere and their densely packed ranks act as a human shield capable of thwarting the bullets of even the most determined assassins. Many tyrants from the sub-continent have been spared death at the hands of usurpers by hiding under the dead bodies of fallen retainers in the ensuing panic of an assassination attempt.
While this last method does have its appeals the logistics involved are entirely incompatible with the practicalities of modern living as well as being prohibitively expensive to maintain. It was thus that Crapper came to the conclusion that there were no suitable products on the marketplace which fitted his requirements and that he would have to start from scratch in his search for suitable body armour.
Description:
Holism is the idea that the properties of a system cannot be determined or explained by the sum of its components alone. If we look at the construction of Crappers holistic ballistic armour the component parts look fairly innocuous; a bible, a hip flask and a cigarette case, only the inclusion of a gorget seems to relate to the true purpose of Crappers latest invention.
The odd design for this body armour is a direct result of a startling discovery Crapper made while researching the history of bullet proof armour from the time the term was first used during the English Civil war up to the modern age. Throughout history there have been numerous reports of soldiers cheating death when a bullet intended for them has deflected off a cigarette case in their breast pocket or embedded itself in a bible they were carrying about their person.
Crapper had dismissed these tales as fanciful until he stumbled upon a detailed medical report relating to the Crimean war which recorded soldiers who had miraculously avoided injury when shot on the battlefield. The table below summarises the findings of this report.
Item bullet stopped by Percentage of reported cases
Pocket Bible 33.5%
Hip Flask 20.1%
Body Armour 18.9%
Cigarette Case 15.1%
Talisman/Medal 5.2%
Miscellaneous 7.2%
It is thus apparent that a soldier in the Crimean war was offered two-and-a-half times more protection by carrying a bible and a hip flask into battle than by wearing the standard issue military armour available at the time. With this information in mind Crapper set about designing his new generation of body armour.
The first piece to be put on is the gorget which is fashioned from high grade Dwarven aluminium. This is the only conventional part of the armour and its purpose is to protect the vulnerable areas around the neck. Metal clips around the neck piece allow a starched collar to be fixed in place concealing the gorget. At the front of the metal collar, just in front of the Adams apple, is a recessed V shaped blade which is designed to foil attempts to garrote the wearer by cutting through the ligature.
A leather harness is then passed through slots on the gorget and fastened to a sturdy leather belt around the wearer’s waist. From this harness a bible, hip flask and cigarette case are strapped across the user’s chest. The final piece worn is a St. Christopher talisman which is suspended from the gorget to offer addition armour to the chest.
This armour fulfils all of Crappers original criteria offering substantial protection while at the same time being discrete and comfortable to wear. There is also the added advantage that whereas conventional armour may arouse peoples suspicions if discovered this armour would just characterize the wearer as a highly religious chain-smoking alcoholic with a paranoia of being garotted and robbed on London’s busy streets.
Stats: Wearing the armour has two main effects:
1.The gorget automatically defeats any attempt to garotte or strangle the wearer. Any attempt at garotting the wearer from behind results in the ligature being cut.
2.The wearer takes damage as normal up to the point that they become incapacitated. Once they have taken enough wounds that they fall unconcious the player can split the pack to see whether the armour has been effective:
* If a red card is revealed then the armour has offered no protection from the incapacitating wound and they remain unconcious and in need of medical attention.
*If a black card is revealed then the armour has stopped the bullet. All damage from the wound that incapacitated the character is ignored and after missing a turn from shock the wearer gradually realises that he is not dead and is free to return to the fray. The armour is only effective once per combat.
Cost: Entirely dependent on the quality of the materials used.
Research Hours: Two weeks for fabrication of the gorget. The rest of the armour can readily be constructed from off-the-shelf items.