Ixionen Reflec

"You can tell a fool from a veteran by the way they flinch when a laser hits them. A fool panics. A veteran in Reflec just keeps smiling."

— Captain L. Dravon, the Damned

Overview

Reflec is a glossy bioplastic manufactured throughout Human Space, its primary purpose being defense against directed energy weapons. Most varieties are pressed polymers or ceramic composites with limited reflective and absorptive qualities. Ixion Reflec, however, stands apart as a rare, premium-grade material that combines energy dispersal, electromagnetic disruption, and structural durability in one package.

Its secret ingredient is the same luminescent sludge harvested from Ixionen cave worms that powers Ixion Ale’s distinctive glow. When treated with stabilizers and pressed into sheet form, the slime hardens into a brilliant, air-impermeable white material shot through with embedded crystalline structures. These crystals retain their quantum charge properties, lending Ixion Reflec its unique battlefield performance.

Protective Qualities

• Air-Sealed Barrier: Completely impermeable to gases, making Ixion Reflec ideal for coats, trench armor, and riot shields, though poorly suited for flexible jumpsuits.
• Electromagnetic Disruption: When struck by blunt force, the crystals within generate a magnetized backlash. This can fry unshielded electronics in handheld or melee weapons, occasionally disabling even advanced wargear.
• Energy Absorption: Electrical charges—especially D-HEWs (Directed High-Energy Weapons) and electron-sheathe projectiles—are harmlessly absorbed. With additional capacitors built into the suit or shield, Ixion Reflec can store this energy for later use, turning an enemy’s attack into free power.
• Laser Reflection: Against photonic or particle-beam weaponry, the crystals align flat to the incoming charge. Most often, this scatters the beam harmlessly away. Rarely, the alignment achieves a perfect mirror effect—sending the laser back along its beam path and into the emitter itself. Such occurrences are uncommon but devastating.

Limitations

• Kinetics Still Kill: Reflec provides no special Protection against bullets, penetrators, or momentum-based melee strikes.
• Overload Vulnerability: Sustained energy fire will saturate the crystals, after which they lose effectiveness until they can “bleed off” charge.
• Scarcity: Production bottlenecks mean Ixion Reflec is almost never deployed in mass military numbers. It is reserved for specialists, noble houses, mercenary elites, and well-funded adventurers.

Applications

• Ixion Partisans frequently wear Reflec trenchcoats, both for their protective qualities and for their white, ceremonial appearance in parades.
• House Militaries sometimes issue Reflec cloaks or shields to high-ranking officers as a mark of prestige.
• Adventurers and Black Market Buyers prize Reflec sheets for custom armor modifications, and some smugglers line their hulls with it for extra insurance against police electrolasers.

Game Mechanics (GURPS)

• Material DR vs Energy: Provides DR 15 against electrolasers, electron-sheathe, and particle-beam weapons; DR 10 vs lasers (with a 1 in 10 chance of reflected backfire at attacker).
• Material DR vs Kinetics: DR 2, no special effects.
• Electromagnetic Backlash: 1d6 (HT-2) chance per blunt strike to disable unshielded electronics in the weapon used.
• Energy Storage: With capacitors, each absorbed attack contributes 1d FP worth of usable power.
• Cost/Availability: $25,000 per suit’s worth. LC 2. Rare.