Greetings Elyrians!

Can you guess what day of the week it is? Perhaps the glare from the every-present shiny will clue some of you in. :)

That's right, it's shiny time!

We're actually getting close to the end of our series on armor concept sculpts, for that matter. There are very few tribes left unrepresented at this point. Though there are still some unseen armor concepts for the tribes that are represented too, I suppose. This time, let's go for something a little rare.

Let's take a look at the Kypiq medium armor concept sculpt:

This one is actually a favorite of mine because it investigates one of the more interesting materials the Kypiq have at their disposal: Ironwood bark. The Kypiq, ever clever, have a bit of a secret. They know both how to collect useful Ironwood bark and how to treat it in a way that temporarily softens it to allow it to be better formed before curing it back into its famous hardness. This makes them both, similar to the To'resk, who guard the secrets of their lacquering agents, and also a direct competitor to the To'resk commercially as both control a monopoly (for however long that lasts) on technologies that can mitigate a lack of mineral resources, something that literally every tribe on Elyria would find useful.

Just between you and me, I think the Kypiq have the competitive edge here. Someday the secret to To'resk paper forming will come out, and anyone will be able to do it who takes the time to learn, but to use the Kypiq techniques, you'll need Ironwood. The Kypiq control both the technology and the resource; that's a powerful monopoly if used well.

Enjoy!