Black Eis

I was late realizing that Ice Armor had been proliferated to stalkers.  It happened with the release of Issue 21 in September 2011.  Since it was an ice set (and a nice set!), I needed to create an Ice Armor stalker on Virtue.

His name comes from "black ice", with the German spelling of ice.  If you've never driven on the stuff, you're lucky — DON'T!  I experienced it on an interstate freeway in the Rockies on an early, Autumn, morning in the 1970s.  We had noticed a bus overturned in the median; our driver slowed down, but we weren't slowing as expected.  Eventually he got to the side of road, and we stopped.  I'd heard the term "black ice" before, but when I got out of the car, I realized how dangerous the stuff actually is.  It was almost impossible to walk on, and even standing was tricky.  That thin sheen of freshly-melted water on the almost invisible layer of ice is the slipperiest substance I've ever experienced.

So it would obviously make a great armor!  If all their attacks just slip right off of you, what chance do they have?  What was especially nice was the Chilling Embrace power, which you could keep on, but it only activated while not stealthed.  It slowed all foes near you, both in speed and how fast they could repeat attacks.  That effect, added to your traditional defenses, was a very nice boon.

His look is a bit extreme.  I wanted to use some of the new VIP-only costume pieces I'd acquired, from the Fire & Ice set.  The chest emblem pictured is that of his SG; I forgot to turn on his actual emblem.  I'm not sure what the spikey backpack was for; maybe that's where he stored his kleingebäck and strudel.