Developer Dave Williams provides us with a couple of nice screenshots as well as background information about some of the new Culture Armors which will be introduced to Age of Conan very soon.

From A Treatise on Niello

Long before the rise of countries which today are scattered across the continent, there was commerce between the ancient nations of Stygia and Acheron. Trade brought discovery, as goods traveled the span of the known world – and elements native to the far-flung reaches of the civilized kingdoms were first mingled in forges and workshops to form hybrid metals that exhibited the best properties of each ingredient.

Many such alloys were forged by the master sages of that era, who deduced the specific proportions necessary, and likewise the methods of construction. Niello, that black metal described centuries later as the Scales of Set, was purportedly used in the secret rites and rituals of the Dark Lord's many adherents in this age and the last. I cannot attest to the veracity of this notion, but I will remind the reader that in every legend lies some thread that can be traced back to its birth, and ultimately to some hidden truth.