Powered Gloves

One thing non-spacers seldom consider is that, unless it is also powered armor, the gloves of a space suit may be even less dexterous than their bulk might suggest. The gloves that come with a soft suit become inflated along with the rest of the suit, meaning that moving one's fingers presents resistance like that of squeezing a balloon - a small exertion at first, but one that compounds the user's fatigue over the course of an extended spacewalk involving the use of tools. For skintight suits, like the Nautilus I, air pressure is replaced with a close-fitting, often stiff material that impedes movement. For the Nautilus III and similar hardsuits, the gloves are bulky and often not dexterous for activities more complex than pulling a trigger. To overcome these difficulties, spacer equipment companies in the Cobalt Protectorate have developed sets of special gloves that integrate miniaturized artificial musculature to enhance the grip of the wearer.

Mechanics & Inner Workings

Powered gloves may operate on a variety of principles, but the most common means of operation involves fabric that can somehow be made to contract by the application of electrical current in the manner of artificial muscle fibers. A typical set of Evermornan powered glove is made of a thick, dark-colored material that thickens at the fingertips and the backs of the phalanges to provide additional protection against abrasion and impact. The glove features a long, thick cuff that houses the power supply and control circuitry. Evermornan powered gloves have a limited ability to adjust for fit via contraction, reducing the number of sizes that must be held in stock. Like the Nautilus I self-tightening underlayer, piping along the seams expands under vaccuum conditions because of inert gas contained within, tightening the gloves and providing pressure so that the operator's hands do not swell up as they would otherwise do. Many Evermornan models provide haptic feedback and can also be used for motion capture, telepresence, or virtual reality control purposes if connected to a card computer with the right software installed.

.

Significance

Far from simple protective gear, powered gloves can also serve as tools or weapons in their own right. Species not otherwise known for their physical strength, like emoxi and qogant, get great benefits from powered gloves even in non-space settings. At the same time, powered gloves enhance the grip of individuals who already exhibit great grip strength, and they see common use in applications like construction, rescue, and law enforcement. For this reason, powered gloves are commonly used as a shorthand for the blue collar lifestyle, even if that class definition might include the space travel that might have seemed fantastical or implied great wealth in eras past. The symbolism inherent in powered gloves is not all positive, however; for many cultures advanced enough to produce them, the image of a jackboot or clenched gauntlet as a symbol for oppression has been replaced with one of a clenched glove.

Item type

Clothing / Accessory

Rarity

These powered gloves are ubiquitous in Protectorate space, especially among blue collar workers and soldiers with the Cobalt Knights. In fact, powered gloves are more common than limb cybernetic augmentations designed for the same purpose. Other spacefaring nations have similar devices exhibiting varying levels of complexity, from the thin and almost dressy gloves of the Vbyifabid Family-Flock to the blocky, industrial-looking gauntlets of late Karstinean make.