The famous Drood torc. It is a metal ring around the necks of all Droods. It is the source of the legendary Drood armour which gives it’s bearer many superhuman features. The armour slides out of the Torc and covers the body like a second skin, someone who wears it is almost indestructible, can make themselves invisible and much more.
The armour is given to each Drood right after they are born. It’s bound to them through their nervous system and their souls. When a torc was severed, person wearing it is supposed to die.
Once, the torcs were granted by the Heart, a powerful extra-dimensional and evil entity, but the Heart and thus all the torcs were destroyed by Eddie Drood who found out where the power of Droods came from: to get a torc from the Heart, you had to sacrifice your own twin.
But Eddie found a new source of armour: a good extra-dimensional entity that was even stronger than the Heart; it was the strange matter which was slowly killing Eddie throughout his run from the Family. At first, only Eddie had the new silver torc, but soon the other Droods got a torc too and the colour was changed back to gold. There wasn't a price anymore to pay except, to amuse the strange matter which called itself "Ethel". From there on, the Drood torc and armour were much more flexible and every armour-shape or thing was possible as long as you focused on imagining it. For example, forming things like swords out of the armour or hacking a computer with it.
Looks and Abilities:[]
In it’s inactive state, the armour looks like a metal ring around the user’s neck. When Drood using it says the Word, a metal-like shell covers their body, giving them transhuman speed, reflexes and strength together with near invulnerability to physical, technological and magical damage; other abilities include limited shapeshifting, like molding the armour’s surface into abnormally sharp blades or claws and other things and Second Sight, an ability to see more than a mere human’s mind can. User can also make themselves invisible.
When Droods still got their armour from the Heart, the torcs looked like they were made out of gold; when Eddie Drood destroyed the Heart, the torcs it gave went away with it. However, once Edwin secured the help of another extradimensional entity who called itself "Ethel", they were granted new silver armour. It was later proven that the armour’s color was a purely cosmetic feature, and it did not affect the torc’s power in any way, since Ethel changed it back to gold later.
The torc can only be damaged by a weapon called Torcutter, a pair of black scissors. Due to this ability, it’s safely locked in Armageddon Codex. Molly Metcalf demonstrated it’s power by cutting the torc of James Drood.
Torcs can also be used by non-Drood persons. Blue Fairy stole one in exchange for acceptance of the Fairy Court and successfully used it.
Torcs were once gained by sacrificing a twin to the Heart. When Ethel took over the torc granting, it did not ask for this kind of sacrifice.