Item from Red Rising by Pierce Brown
Powered space armor used for zero-gravity and atmospheric combat. Turns a warrior into a one-person fighter craft — armed, shielded, and terrifyingly fast.
StarShells turned space from an environment into a battlefield. Before powered armor, combat in vacuum was a clumsy affair of tethers and magnetic boots. StarShells changed everything — suddenly warriors could fly through debris fields, breach hull sections, and engage in dogfights without a ship. The armor provides life support, radiation shielding, short-range weapons systems, and enough thrust to maneuver in atmosphere or vacuum. Elite units — the Howlers, Praetorian Guard, Olympic Knights — train extensively in StarShell combat, and the difference between a skilled pilot and an amateur is the difference between a raptor and a rock. Darrow is considered one of the finest StarShell operators alive, capable of maneuvers that would kill lesser pilots through g-force alone. In the great void battles of the Rising, clouds of StarShell-clad warriors swarming between capital ships became one of the defining images of the war.
Form-fitting powered armor that encases the wearer head to toe. Sleek and angular, with thruster ports along the spine, calves, and forearms. The faceplate is a smooth visor that displays tactical data on the inside. Color and markings vary by allegiance — Society gold trim, Rising red fist, Rim austere grey. When the thrusters fire, the wearer becomes a streak of light.
Also known as: StarShell, starShell, powered armor, space armor, shell