Armor of the Open Road

Aura moderate abjuration and enchantment; CL 10th
Slot armor; Price 29,350 gp; Weight 30 lbs.

DESCRIPTION

This +1 mithral breastplate is polished to a brilliant sheen and decorated with intricate silver and enamel inlays. Across the breast is a winding road that branches and rejoins repeatedly before vanishing beyond the horizon. Along that road are scenes of travelers, families, laborers, artists, soldiers, priests, and lovers rendered in exquisite detail. No two suits are exactly alike, as each armorer incorporates imagery reflecting the communities that commissioned the piece.

The wearer gains a +4 competence bonus on Diplomacy checks and a +2 resistance bonus on saving throws against enchantment effects.

Whenever the wearer successfully uses Diplomacy to improve a creature's attitude, they gain 5 temporary hit points, up to a maximum of 20 temporary hit points. These temporary hit points last for 1 hour.

Three times per day, the wearer may speak words of encouragement as a swift action. One ally within 30 feet gains a +2 morale bonus on attack rolls, saving throws, skill checks, and ability checks for 3 rounds.

Once per day, when the wearer would be affected by a fear effect, charm effect, compulsion effect, or magical attempt to silence, suppress, or control their actions, they may immediately reroll the saving throw and must take the better result.

LORE

The first Armor of the Open Road was commissioned by a loose alliance of civic advocates, wandering priests, scholars, and community organizers who found themselves repeatedly defending those whom society preferred to ignore. They believed that every person traveled their own road through life and that no authority possessed the right to dictate where another's path must lead.

The winding road depicted upon each breastplate reflects this philosophy. Some roads diverge. Others intersect. Many wander through difficult terrain before finding safer ground. The imagery serves as a reminder that there is no singular correct way to live, love, build a family, or seek happiness.

Several surviving examples have accumulated additions over the generations. New scenes are occasionally engraved by skilled armorers to commemorate local victories, acts of courage, or individuals whose efforts improved the lives of others. As a result, some suits have become living historical records worn openly upon the chest.

Many organizations dedicated to civil rights, legal reform, mutual aid, and community support regard the armor as a treasured symbol. While its enchantments provide tangible protection, most who wear it value the stories engraved upon it even more than its magic.

CONSTRUCTION

Requirements Craft Magic Arms and Armor, heroism, eagle's splendor, protection from evil; Cost 14,675 gp, 1,174 XP

Kelwyn's Notes

Civilization possesses an unfortunate tendency to treat conformity as evidence of virtue. The moment enough people perform a behavior, wear a style, worship a tradition, or express affection in a particular manner, that behavior begins to masquerade as natural law. Those who differ are then asked to justify their existence as though individuality itself were a crime requiring defense.

Same-sex activism emerged as a challenge to this assumption. Its advocates did not discover some hidden truth that others had missed. Rather, they pointed toward a truth that had always been visible and asked why so many people worked so diligently to ignore it. Human diversity is not an anomaly within civilization. It is one of civilization's defining characteristics. Every attempt to erase that reality has ultimately required more effort than simply accepting it.

The road engraved upon this armor is therefore an appropriate symbol. Roads are not valuable because they are identical. They are valuable because they connect different places. A civilization composed entirely of identical people would possess all the resilience of a forest planted with only a single species of tree. Such things may appear orderly for a time, but they rarely survive adversity with grace.

What has always impressed me most about activists is not their willingness to confront hostility, though that is certainly admirable. It is their capacity to imagine a future larger than the present. Every meaningful reform begins as an act of imagination. Someone must first believe that people can live together differently before the rest of society can begin the slow and often frustrating work of proving them correct. The road toward that future is seldom straight, but history suggests it is worth traveling nonetheless.