Directorate Officer
OUT OF CHARACTER INFORMATION
- Intent: To create a minimalist set of body armor in Lucerne Personal Defense's catalogue
- Image Source: here modified by yours truly
- Canon Link: N/A
- Permissions: N/A
- Primary Source: N/A
- Manufacturer: Lucerne Personal Defense
- Affiliation: Directorate, Silver Jedi Concord, Lucerne Personal Defense Customers
- Market Status: Closed-Market
- Model: Chargreck-series Lightweight Plate Armor
- Modularity: Cosmetic appearance; can attach various personal items to vest webbing; various helmet accessories (camouflage netting; night vision; comlinks, etc)
- Production: Mass-Produced
- Material: molecularly bonded alusteel armor plates and helmet; defensa textile plate carrier, polyweave straps, gription panels, Betaplast hardware helmet fixtures
- Classification: Multipurpose
- Weight: Very Light
- Resistances:
- Energy: High
- Kinetic: Very High
- Lightsabers: Average
- EMP/Ion: Average
- Radiation: Very Low
- Sonic: Very Low
- Elemental: High
- Environmental: Very Low
- Rugged Construction: Chargreck is a very simple, but very rugged design. Its plate carrier vest is made of several layers of Defensa fabric with reinforced stitching. Its helmet and trauma plate inserts are made out of alusteel that has pressed into shape and undergone molecular bonding. This very simple construction makes its fairly easy to repair in the field - fabric tears can be simply sewed by hand or machine, whereas armor plates can be repaired through welding and hammering.
- Widely Variable Appearance: Chargreck isn't so much a standardized design as much as a standard method of construction for lightweight armor paltes. Garment fabricators can easily retool from making a cut of the plate carriers and metal presses that nearly perfectly replicates an ancient, ceremonial Core World parade uniform to more practical, olive drab affairs for an outer rim militia. While their appearance will be widely different, their actual protection and most basic features will be entirely identical.
- Modular Attachment Points: Chargrecks have a large number of gription panels, clips, and lashing framework on the plate carrier. This can allow almost any individual-sized item to be attached to the plate carrier in order to be more easily carried. Most commonly the attached items are weapons holsters, ammunition packs, and other personal gear needed by individuals in a field or combat setting. Chargreck's helmet has a pair of rails mounted on either side just above the wearer's ears and a forward facing mounting point, allowing a variety of devices from simple comlinks to advanced tactical nightvision sets to be attached to the helmet.
- Quick Detach: Chargrecks have quick detach buckles and magnatomic gription panels that hold it to the user, allowing the system to easily and quickly be jettisoned if necessary.
- Resistant (Energy Weapons): Both the alusteel armor plates and the Defensa base layer provide excellent protection from most common energy weapons.
- Resistant (Kinetic Weapons): Both the alusteel armor plates and the Defensa base layer provide excellent protection from most common physical weapons.
- Resistant (Elemental Weapons): The alusteel helmet and trauma plates are thick enough to provide some protection via insulation against elemental weapons like some flamethrowers, cryoban sprayers, or electric weapons.
- Light Weight: Because Chargreck only covers part of the body, Chargreck is fairly light and allows a fair amount of movement and less fatigue than many fully encasing armors.
- Partial Armor: Chargreck does not protect the entire body, such as the face or the limbs, from weapons.
- Vulnerable(Environment): Chargreck does not provide much meaningful protection against most environments, in large part because of it only partially covers the body, but also because the materials used aren't known for protecting against rain, dust, atmospheric conditions, or other potential environmental hazards.
- Vulnerable(Sonic Weapons): Chargreck was not made with any thought to protection from sonic weapons. While the armor plating provides some incidental resistance to some sonic brute force attacks, this is offset by Defensa's particular vulnerability to sonic weapons which largely lets sonic vibrations pass through it entirely unhindered. It is possible for a sonic weapon to entirely destroy the armor in several hits by dissolving the carrier vest that holds the plates in place.
- Vulnerable (Radiation): Chargreck was not made with any thought to radiation protection. While the sheer density of the plating provides some resistance, this is largely offset by Defensa's particular vulnerability to radiation which can cause it to rapidly degrade.
While modern, fully encapsulating battle armors get of the mainstream attention in most military circles, there are circumstances where the old fashioned basic helmet and protective vest can really shine. Its simple enough that manufacturing tends to be fairly cheap, allowing budget-minded organizations to concentrate credits elsewhere or equip more people. It's also simple enough that no real training is needed to use it. And it's light enough that it doesn't encumber its wearer's much, even if they are relatively out of shape. These are all traits that endear this classic combination to low priority local defense forces, law enforcement agencies, corporate security groups, and private citizens.
Realizing that the lucrative potential of this market via its sheer volume, Lucerne Personal Defense embarked on making their own version of this classic kit. Lucerne Personal Defense sought to largely stick to the basics of the design, in order to appeal to its strengths, especially to the budget minded. Consequently, it's fairly low, especially compared to the company's other products. What sets it apart from many of its contemporaries and surplus competitors is the quality of the material and fabrication itself. While Alusteel itself is fairly common, using the molecular bonding process after pressing into its shape makes it especially resistant to kinetic threats. In a similar vein, the material science behind the company's Defensa textile, already in production for other LPD products, tends to be of higher quality and more innovative than many of its older competitors. Since the manufacturing techniques behind it are relatively simple, it's very easy for the company to make custom orders of Chargrek, either in different aesthetic styles or getting the exact fit down to the wearer via garment fabircator readings, possibly even taken light years away from the company.
Lucerne Personal Defense is counting on the Chargrek production line being profitable by sheer volume of sales. So far, this gamble appears to have paid off - thousands of sets have been produced for Outer Rim militias and civil defense organizations closer to the Core. There is also a small but steady percentage of sales to individuals, largely to dangerous game hunters, law enforcement agents, farmers, and others who found themselves outdoors with the occasional need of serious protection from a variety of threats.
