Race specific armor is fine but I would also prefer a religion specific armor that at the very least affects its looks. For example, if I pick a Kran with Black Flame or Laanx religion, I'd like the armor to look on a darker side. Even though Kran seem to be mostly associated with Talad religion in PlaneShift history, I would hate to find some rare and poweful armor later in the game, only to end up looking like some kind of Paladin. I understand that some people may very well want to play a Paladin type of Kran. But others may prefer something like this instead (my favorite kind):
http://img.gamespot.com/gamespot/images/2005/311/927345_20051108_screen001.jpghttp://www.xe360.com/images/media/TES4%20Character%20DaedricX.jpghttp://elderscrolls.com/images/wallpaper/obliv_wallpaper4-800.jpg(that's a Daedric armor from Elderscrolls)
or this:
http://image.com.com/gamespot/images/2006/263/reviews/926670_20060921_screen001.jpg(Chaos armor from Warhammer)
or this:
http://www.thelandofshadow.com/mordorgate/2darkservants/sauron/darklord1.jpghttp://images.epilogue.net/users/timovihola/sauron.jpg(Sauron from LoTR movie and an artist's version)
It would make perfect sense, since I very much doubt that Talad would bless any such armor. Black Flame and Laanx on the other hand would... Although I suspect that caliber armor would be obtainable rather late into the game, with quite developed stats. Until then, there could be less elaborate variations of it. And by the way, it does not all have to include "red" and "black in it". Although those look exceptional, it is also fine to include blue, green, silver, golden etc. Heck, it can even include white. I've just given examples for a structual style and overall impression.

As I said before, I understand that some people may prefer to be a "wolf in sheep's clothing", meaning that they may want a Paladin type of armor but yet be far from a Paladin but that to me seems a bit uninspiring. What good is all that darkness and fury if you can't show it? Anyway, if someone is really determined on playing such a character, surely they can pick "Talad" or "Atheist" as their religion and pretend that they're really secretly worshipping one of the other two. And there you have a "wolf in sheep's clothing".
EDIT: Judging from some of the Bronze Doors guards and leader descriptions, as well as certain Death Realm characters, it looks like religion specific armor may already be a possibility anyway.

Anyway, I kind of like the new Kran helm with the horns, that's more to my liking. Though not a fan of Kran's silly facial expression poking through the front. Would've preferred a full face helm instead. But it's a step in the right direction somewhat.

By the way, I also like the Ylian heavy armor you guys posted on the forum. Can't wait to see more of such level of detail for all the armor/clothing in the game.