The Octopus Armour

The elaborate 'Octopus Armour' is thought to have belonged to Dominus Charles I of the Khibsian Dynasty (r.1517-1559AU) and can safely be attributed to the famous Eggroll family of Wehs (still an independent state within the Elamadh Alliance, not a province of Rhanukhan, at that time), the dominant makers of this type and quality by the mid-16th century. The armour takes its name from the multiple octopuses sculpted into its most prominent surfaces. Perhaps most impressively, the helmet is fashioned to 'beard' the face with an octopus' arms. Its overly fanciful style suggests that it was created purely for parade purposes rather than the field of battle.

The armour seems to have been in Rhanukhan from the mid-1500s, indicating that it was probably commissioned by or for Dominus Charles I himself. Between about 1640 and 1662AU, during the reign of Charles’ great-grandson, Dominus Matthias II, several nobles are known to have posed for portraits in this armour - the Dominus evidently bestowing favour on his supporters by loaning this splendid artefact out for such purposes. Paintings survive of Edward, Baron of Skarthe, Andrew, Baron of Drahvala, and Lionel, Lord of Pretakhonia.

After this time the armour largely disappears from the historical record - full plate armour having fallen out of use. At some point over the intervening centuries it was altered, most obviously with new, larger pauldrons and a new cuirass. By the mid-18th century it had become the property of the Chief Armourer of Domina Melissa II, John Anvil - presumably having been gifted to him by Melissa or her father, Dominus Matthias III - who apparently lent it for exhibition at the Palace Armouries in Rhanukhan Kaglakh, which had become a public museum during this era. It was presented there as the armour of Dominus Anthony I in the display of mounted figures known as the 'Grand Lineage', and was later displayed as that of Dominus Geoffrey and then, correctly, Dominus Charles I.

This was the last confirmed appearance of the armour. After the exhibition closed down it passed into private hands and its story up to the modern day is unknown. There is a record of "a suit of decorative full plate, adorned with octopuses" in the catalogue of a collection being auctioned in 1863AU and a sketchbook of various antiquities by an unknown hand, dating from c.1910AU, appears to include a representation of the helmet.

The armour was imagined to be broken up and scattered among various private collections, if not lost entirely, by the late 1980sAU when the story took a surprising turn. A young woman in Phanasthan province had recently inherited her uncle’s entire estate, which turned out to include a small private museum of arms and armour across the ages. Uninterested in the subject, she had written to the nation’s most prestigious museum of military technology, the Palace Armouries in Rhanukhan Kaglakh, to enquire if they would accept the collection as a gift.

The museum sent one of their researchers to assess the collection, to see if it contained anything of value. Imagine their surprise when the centrepiece turned out to be the Octopus Armour! Not only was it complete and intact (though, as previously noted, the cuirass and pauldrons were the later updates - the originals, seen in paintings from the 15-1600sAU have yet to be rediscovered), but it had been maintained in superb condition. The rediscovery of this iconic piece of Rhanukhan’s history was met with much excitement and thousands of visitors flock to the Palace Armouries museum every day to gaze upon the splendour of the nation’s past rulers.