Kainan Wolfe
Shadow of War
- Intent: To create a planetary shield for Kalidan
- Image Source: Rogue One
- Canon Link: N/A
- Primary Source: Shield Gate | Nyalsan II-class Planetary Shield
- Manufacturer: Karavin Concern, Eternal Army Logistics Corps
- Affiliation: Closed-Market | Eternal Empire, Kalidan
- Model: Arx Aeterna-class Planetary Shield
- Modularity: No
Production: Unique
- Material: Shield gate, Planetary shield generators, molecular shield generators
- Shield Gate: The Arx Aeterna is equipped with a shield gate, which allows the Eternal Empire to maintain the shield active at all times and restrict movement through a single point of access. This helps policing the planet and makes it more difficult for smugglers to pass through
- Shutter Shield: Rather that consisting of a single bubble, the Arx Aeterna is designed around a decentralized power grid and consists of sections which can be opened or closed to allow additional traffic and weapons to fire through, without exposing the entire planet
- Concentric Shields System: The Arx Aeterna is not a single planetary shield, rather consisting of three concentric ones within a small distance of eachother
- Resilient: Consisting of three concentric planetary shields, the Arx Aeterna is much more resilient against enemy attack and can hold up for extended periods of time under continuous bombardment
- Air Traffic Control: A shield gate exists to police access through the single section which is left open, allowing much more effective control over the planet and making it much more difficult for smugglers to enter. The gate can be closed in case of an enemy attack
- Shutter System: The Arx Aeterna is built around a shutter system similar to the one featured in the Nyalsan II-class planetary shields. Rather than a single bubble, it consists of multiple generators which maintain individual sections of the three concentric shields of the planet. This allows for additional access points to be opened for weapons to fire through or ships to pass, if needed, without exposing the entire planet
- Decentralized Power Grid: The shutter system and the three concentric shields require that the Arx Aeterna's generators be spread around, making it much harder to secure them and increasing the risks of a special forces attack sabotaging some of these generators, thus opening up sections of the shield for enemy ships to pass through
- Shield Gate: No matter how well defended, a shield gate is still a shield gate. It is a massive, vulnerable structure which, if destroyed, could crash into the shield and overload it, opening up an entire section of all three shields beneath it
- Inflexible: The shutter system requires that each section of the shields have a preset shape and thus the Arx Aeterna can not contract and expand, or extend a bubble out to protect an orbiting object
- Two Way Street: Whenever one of the sections opens up to allow ships to pass through and ground-based weapons to fire at orbiting targets, it also exposes that section of the planet to enemy fire, or access by enemy ships such as landing craft
Kalidan has historically been a backwater, wasteland world, neglected by most galactic powers due to its harsh climate and hazardous, post-nuclear enviconment. That changed after the Eternal Empire's secession from the Confederacy of Independent Systems and its subsequent colonization of the planet, beginning a process of accelerated industrialization and militarization.
Giving access to modern industry and education to the local population, while also uplifting them into the ranks of the Empire's citizenry has gradually increased the new nation's manpower and technical expertise, allowing it to exploit the planet's vast untapped mineral wealth, becoming one of the most rapidly growing economies in the Unknown Regions and one of the most important sources of minerals in the region.
Taking advantage of these minerals and the growth of the military-industrial complex, Kalidan has become one of the most heavily militarized and influential planets within the Confederacy. Under the tenure of the Eternal Empire, it has been reclassified as a Fortressworld in accordance with the nation's planetary classification systems and defenses have been constructed to reflect that.
One of the most notable defensive features of Kalidan is the Arx Aeterna, a unique, very powerful planetary shield system which incorporates some of the most notable technological developments in existence. Consisting of three concentric, segmented shields, it features a shuttering system of overlapping fields similar to Nyalsan II-class shields, a decentralized network of generators and emitters controlling different sections of the entire system. This allows some of these sections to be opened up to allow for ground-based weapons to fire and for ships to pass through, although this also exposes those sections to orbital bombardment and enemy landing craft, when opened.
Additionally, a shield gate has been constructed, similar in design to the one deployed on Scariff by the first Galactic Empire, hundreds of years ago. This allows the Eternal Empire to maintain the shield active at all times, restricting traffic to a single point of access that can be more easily and effectively policed, presenting another major obstacle for smugglers and other criminals seeking to enter or leave the planet. This has the downside of creating a vulnerability in the defenses, since should this gate be destroyed, it would crash into the shields below, overloading the entire section and leaving it exposed to enemy attack. As such, it must be defended by minefields, weapons platforms and ships.
Construction of the Arx Aeterna was one of the lengthiest and most elaborate projects undertaken by the Eternal Empire, surpassing even the planetary capital of Arcenon in complexity and difficulty. Hundreds of shield generators had to be constructed across the entire planet, along with the logistical network required to support them. The shield was designed by Karavin Concern, a Kalidan-based military-industrial conglomerate which also manufactured some of the main components, while everything else fell to the Eternal Army Logistics Corps, which had to work out all the challenges of construction, requiring a massive mobilization effort.
This decentralization makes it more difficult to properly secure each one of the hundreds of generators, leaving the system vulnerable to sabotage by special forces and sleeper agents inserted weeks, or months before a full-scale invasion. A resourceful special forces unit could shut down entire sections of the Arx Aeterna, leaving parts of the planet exposed to outside attacks.
Despite planning and development beginning not long after Kalidan's colonization, the entire project suffered delays that exceeded the initial projected date for completion, by more than twice that amount of time and cost the Eternal Empire an estimated hundreds of billions of credits, although the exact number is classified, along with most information regarding the specific placement of the various generators. Following a rapid period of testing and adjustment, the Arx Aeterna was finally declared operational and went online not long after the conclusion of the evacuation from Nelvaan.
November 1st, 2019
- Updated description and links
