Black Iron Armor

Purpose:

Black Iron Armor is a type of armor specifically made to function as both a prison and protection, for a criminal forced to wear it. A man or woman who is forced to wear this armor cannot remove it unless someone with the proper magical seal undoes it, and so long as they uphold the commands given when they donned the armor, it is light and sustains them. Should the wearer attempt to remove it, or act against the geas they were given when it was placed on them, it becomes enormously heavy, suffocatingly hot, and claustrophobic.

The first suit of Black Iron Armor was made for Sir Ymbert the Cruel, a knight of no small skill with lance and blade, but found himself afoul of the king. Given the choice between the headsman's axe and trying a new form of punishment, Ymbert said he was always ready to give something fresh and ripe a go. Thus, he was bound in the armor and set to guard the Emerald Bridge at the River Gloveroy. For his crimes against the crown, specifically the virtue of the queen and the first princess, he stood as the guardian of the bridge for ten years.

When the King granted his pardon, and the queen her pardon, Ymbert took a knee and accepted their grace, and spoke. For those who thought transgression and treason, of the two, the axe or the armor, the axe would be the kinder stroke. After that, Ymbert retired to a country estate for a short time before ending his own like in a puddle of strong spirits and dangerous potions.

Functionality:

The Black Iron Armor is exceptional armor, having a very high physical defense rating, and an equally high magical defense rating. So long as it is worn, the wearer need not sleep, eat, drink, or eliminate waste. Their injuries heal at an accelerated rate, and even the armor will mend itself if damaged. The power of the armor is tied to geas that is issued when it is wrapped around its intended victim and the life force of said victim. The longer the armor is worn, the less lifespan the wearer will have when it is removed.

Sample Geas

Defend the bridge and collect it's tolls for the King

Stand watch at a certain wall or tower, and defend it at all costs

Guard a room or a doorway, at all costs

Follow, obey, and protect a certain person or object, at all costs

Drawbacks:

If the wearer 'runs out' of life while wearing the armor, they will become a magical form of undead and will bond with the armor. The thing that remains will be a zombie-like undead, in very fine armor. They will be held to their original geas, but the armor will be unpowered, its spell abilities depleted until the corpse inside kills someone, and absorbs their life force through the weapon they carry. Then, the armor will be restored and the cursed man inside will return to a semblance of life. Those who kill regularly can exist nigh indefinitely, and might not even know they've died and the armor is sustaining them. Those that have long been forgotten might rest as near skeletal guardians until they kill and are restored.

The second drawback is that lacking the ability to sleep and rest, to eat and taste, and live, many such cursed men go completely mad. The geas is the only thing that gives them purpose, and if they spent too long in the armor, the only thing they know is serving the geas, and they are broken to it.

The power of the armor can be undone with a Dispel Magic spell, and any sort of anti-magic effect will render it into still good quality, but heavy iron armor. The armor must be taken off, and then the bonding ritual must be redone to restore its function. If done on a 'dead' knight in the armor, they will become a very slow zombie with very high physical defense. A Remove Curse and then a Dispel Magic can free an ironbound knight.

Usage:

Black Iron Armor was created as a way to punish 'heroes' and 'villains' with very high combat abilities, without killing them, or placing them in a position where they are a burden to keep imprisoned. Part of the geas when a iron knight is placed is that they cannot open their visor where any being can see, nor can they speak their name, nor their crime. When they are placed, it is done in secret, and often at such a level of secrecy that many are simply lost.

Where was Sir Hubert the Polite stationed?

The knight that liked touching kids? Fucked if I remember sir, guarding some bridge near the troll marshes I think.

There are like thirty bridges down there.

Forty-seven, but no one is counting.

Ultimately - why is there a black armored knight guarding X in the middle of nowhere? Because they were a bastard, offended the wrong person, and were caught and punished for it.