Ril’s spacesuit involved a lot of thought. I try to ground the series as much as I can, so I try to think about what Roka and Ril would have actually stocked their ship with. Ideally, they’d get gear that could easily accommodate anyone in the crew as opposed to custom fit gear for each crew member. But that gear would then have to be able to fit over vastly different body shapes, which greatly complicates the design.

In Volume 1, I introduced the technology of body shells, which Hamron and his crew used. Those were just backpacks that generated form-fitting energy shields, which could easily accommodate different shapes. But that seemed like an expensive technology that Roka would not have sprung for.

I tried to think of lower-tech gear that could be a series of expandable cuffs and energy fields between them, so the same gear could fit on all bodies. But ultimately, it would’ve been too difficult to design and probably a bit too distracting to look at.

So I opted for a more traditional spacesuit, fitted to each character. Sometimes the easiest solution is probably the best solution.