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Cognitive Duratanium—CogD for short—was created by mistake in a experiment trying to find a way to make Duratanium re-forgeable.

Heat resistant nanites were added to cooling batch Duratanium. The nanos were designed to weaken its molecular bonds when triggered. The experiment was only a partial success. The Duratanium/nanite mixture lost 20% of its overall strength but kept all of its mass. When activated the nanites caused the metal to become softer reducing its hardness but keeping its heat resistance. The metal was able to be bent and deformed, but when the nanites deactivated the metal partially regained its original shape as the molecular bonds reformed.

The result was shelved as a failure until discovered by an armor company years later. Here was a material that had to ability to shift it ballistic profile on the fly by modifying the nanites to present the most favorable properties in the face of attack. It was able to transition from hard armor to soft in a pico-second, all while keeping Duratanium's heat resistance. While not the best at either, its flexibility is unrivaled.

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