Maintainer suit
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The Environmental Verification (E.V.) Suit, often referred to as a Maintainer's Suit, was a special suit made from deretheni stone. It was designed to be impervious to anything an Age could potentially throw at the wearer. The suit was jet black, made of overlapping plates of the stone, and had an almost metallic, insect-like appearance.
In older models of the E.V. suit, tiny, "Stone-bound" Linking Books were encased in the gloves of the suit, one linking to the Age, and another linking back to the linking chamber. They were separated from the wearer's hand by inert membranes. To activate the link, a small vial of gas was discharged into the glove, dissolving the membrane and bringing the person's hand in contact with the linking panel. A timer was placed in the vial for the linking book back to the linking chamber, allowing a time delay before the link back was activated automatically.
Sampling devices were arrayed around the outside of the suit to collect information on the atmosphere and examined it for signs of life. The suit was hermetically sealed in order to prevent any potential contagions or toxins from entering the suit and harming the wearer.
The Guild of Maintainers created 3 designs of E.V. suits:
The first was the heaviest, largest and thickest, designed to withstand extreme envinoments. The second was the "standard duty" suit. Both can be found in the yellow locker room on Gahreesen. Finally, the third is the lightest and thinnest, and stands in stark contrast to the first two suits. However, this one does not have Linking books inside the gloves, and uses them outside it instead.
The third E.V. suit is the only one able to be worn by explorers visiting the Cavern, and can be donned via a large tube—which may be the same "decontamination module" from the Book of D'ni—at the end of each locker room when access to the Wall is granted to explorers. This suit can only be worn while climbing the Wall; it is stripped from the explorer upon reaching the top of the Wall and linking to the Maintainer's Nexus. However, the suits can be worn at will through Relto in Uru: Complete Chronicles.
Similar types of protective suits like this are used in real life as "HazMat" (Hazardous Materials) suits.
