Well, after a quite frustrating wild goose chase that has dragged me all over the net, I've decided to come here.

So, I ask: Just what in the devil's name is this supposed to mean? I've looked all over, talked to english teachers, asked translators, bothered people on irc channels, been through a lot of frustrating google searches ( Damn Adam Smith! ), all to no avail. Could someone shed some light on the matter...?

Quote from the original:
"Menegur put on the netch armor for the first time, feeling the powdery, almost velvet texture of the rendered leather against his skin. There was also a barely perceptible throb, which he recognized as the remnant nematocysts of the netch's venomous flesh, still tingling months after its death with domesticated poison. The combination made him feel energized. Aerin had described the sensation perfectly, just as she had explained how to defend himself while wearing netch leather armor."

I think "rendering leather" has something to do with treating it for wear, or something? I know I've heard of it afore. Da dictionary says about render:

12.To reduce, convert, or melt down (fat) by heating
17. to melt down; extract the impurities from by melting: to render fat.
20. to try out oil from fat, blubber, etc., by melting.

I know I've heard it talked about afore in the same way you'd talk about treated leather or what-have-you. Leather that's been worked instead of just in the raw? I mean, at the very least, from context it seems to be using it to say that it's processed and tanned instead of straight off the animal or whatever. I'm not a leather tanner so I don't really know.

Maybe it was breaking the fourth wall.
[/stupid]

Boiled leather, I'd think. Typically used to make leather hard for armour. See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boiled_leather.