“To your mounts everyone. We're going for a gallop!"

--

Here is a close design of what a Vox (Fox) pilot wore in the early years of Xcyship deployments. Zippers were experimental skycraft at first, with little range and unstable performances. All Xcyship testing was done almost exclusively with Voxes. The first reason was that they fit quite neatly into cockpits without taking a great deal of room. The second was that they had potent eyesight when given certain optics in their goggles that were unmatched by any other species.

Merely decades before, the last Anthrone had been dismantled and the remaining Wulven and Voxes were forced to enter Hegemony service (in one manner or another). Whilst many Wulven were proud (or considered valuable for laborious tasks), Jardian Voxes were able to adapt to the variation of lifestyles within the Hegemony. The first included the dangerous Skyflight Corps (which would later earn a more esteemed reputation).

Before the buttoned fleece coats were worn, Voxes wore thin, unhelpful suits that had uncomfortably tight zippers. Voxes would often remove their suits and fly the earliest skycraft naked instead in defiance of the unusual discomfort that the suits gave. Fighting skycraft therefore were named 'Zippers' both for their wasp-like sound when flying and for the reputation of the early experimental pilots (who up until after the first war still flew at least halfway nude). A small initiation for most pilots which has since been made illegal is to endure one mid-altitude flight without a flight suit.

Concept by  oxillious
Art by  jagzcat