Gauntlets of Gravitational Mastery [DONE]

[HK-36]

OUT OF CHARACTER INFORMATION

• Intent: To describe the pair of Grav-Gloves HK uses
• Image Source: DeviantArt, a piece called COM: Modulated Aetherblade Gauntlets by JNet Rocks, link here
• Canon Link: N/A
• Restricted Missions: N/A
• Primary Source: Grav Glove systems made by VT (Pair bought by HK here, with permission from Saffron and Alric Kuhn), Sourcefyre crystal as power unit, Electro-Shocking systems and claws from an Electro-Cestus

PRODUCTION INFORMATION

• Manufacturer: Vanir Technologies, modifications applied by Abregado-Rae Guild of Hammers
• Model: modified VT-Grav Glove, nicknamed The Gauntlets Of Gravitational Mastery
• Affiliation: HK-36
• Modularity: N/A
• Production: Unique
• Material: Dallorian Alloy, Plasteel, Asheran Armorweave in original Grav Glove structure, Phrik armor plating, Sourcefyre crystal as power unit, and purified Cortosis on portions of the blades.

TECHNICAL SPECIFICATIONS

• Classification: Multipurpose
• Weight: 2.5 kilograms
• Quality: 8

SPECIAL FEATURES

• Sourcefyre Power Crystal
• Grav Glove Systems
• Wrist-blades
• Phrik plating
• Electro-Shocking Systems
• Recharge Arc Emitter
• Charge Adapter Terminal

DETAILED SPECIAL FEATURES

• Sourcefyre Power Crystal- the previous power unit for the Grav Gloves have been replaced by one of the potent Sourcefyre crystals, increasing how long the "grip" of the gloves can last, 10 seconds, and its maximum range, 25 meters. The downside is that the crystal is volatile and could turn explosive when damage, although hidden within Phrik casing to not make that so easy.
• Grav Glove Systems- these Grav Gloves have slightly more miniature repulse-generators than a standard model, built into the palm, base of a finger, and finger-tips, simply because HK has more fingers than most being, as such he can mimic the powers of the Force closer with them than others, changing settings and configurations with gestures and positions of his digits like a puppet-master working strings of a marionette to push and pull objects at will, grip and crush them in strong bursts of gravity caving in, and lift and move small objects around if they're in range and not too heavy.
• Wrist-blades- forearm mounted blades taken from Electro-Cestus models, while not made out of Phrik they are forged out of durasteel blended with cortosis to render it lightsaber resistant and lined with purified cortosis on portions of their blades to give them ability to deactivate some of the energy swords. The downside is that unlike Phrik blades they are vulnerable to snapping from physical attacks and purified cortosis is very brittle, often falling off the blades in flakes during combat.
• Phrik plating- Phrik plating has been placed over the Grav Glove structure to increase its durability, allow it to function as lightsaber-resistant armor as well, and give it additional combat value by dealing extra damage in hand to hand combat when slammed into someone's face.
• Electro-Shocking Systems- Taken from Electro-Cestus models, the electro-shocking systems have been installed in the Phrik knuckle plating of the gauntlets, allowing one to deal additional electric damage when punching someone, especially damaging to mechanical components.
• Recharge Arc Emitter and Charge Adapter Terminal- Two systems linked to the Sourcefyre crystal powering the device that allow it to be recharged by absorbing energy from other crystals or sacrificing a portion of its power to recharge other crystals and gadgets.

Strengths:

• Phrik plating- armor plates based on the ones used in Electro-Cestus models forged out of Phrik, making them very durable and lightsaber resistant, to increase the protection these gauntlets offer and make them more difficult to damage.
• Gravitational mastery- due to more potent power source and more miniature repulsor generators than standard Grav Gloves, since they were made for a being with six fingers rather than five, these gauntlets can conduct more intricate manipulations of gravity, appropriating Force-born telekinesis even closer than Grav Gloves. They can lift small objects for extended periods of time, push and pull with telekinesis, and crush objects as if in a Force choke. Their range has also been increased to 25 meters and their gravitational bursts last 10 seconds.
• Sourcefyre crystal- the Grav Glove power unit has been replaced with a Sourcefyre crystal, increasing how much energy is available to its system and in turn augmenting its powers. This crystal is also attached to systems that allow it to recharge other gadgets and systems by sacrificing a portion of its power or be recharged by draining other crystals.
• Electro-Cestus additions- Multiple systems based on Electro-Cestus design have been added into the Phrik plating covering the Grav Glove, this includes Electro-Shocking systems in its knuckles, retractable forearm-mounted blades forged out of durasteel mixed with cortosis to make it lightsaber resistant and lined with purified cortosis to allow it to deactivate lightsabers upon touch, and crushgaunt-like rotors to give it more crushing power.

Weaknesses :

• Vulnerable repulsor generators- since the Grav Glove repulsor generators on the palm of the gauntlets are not exactly protected by the Phrik armor plating, they could be damaged in combat and their special telekinetic abilities stripped away, that was in fact how these gauntlets first came to be.
• Grav Glove limitations- these gauntlets, although stronger than normal Grav Gloves, still have to obey the same limitations. Their telekinetic strength is only as potent as user's own strength, so they cannot conduct such incredible feats as lifting an X-Wing or throwing a Star Destroyer around, even then this strength wanes over time the longer the gravitational bursts last and the farther away the target of their manipulation is. As such, they are most effective in close proximity. The gauntlets are also still under the rule of physics, so when used to block a high speed object, like a sword, lightsaber, or a projectile, that force is still exerted upon them, launching the wielder's arm back as if it was just hit.
• Volatile power source- while the Sourcefyre crystal offers more power than a standard power unit, it is also much more unstable, should it be damaged to the point of being cracked it can explode. This explosion would instantly damage all of grav glove's components, leaving behind only its Phrik plating and spreading out in an explosion similar to that of a thermal detonator going off, right on the wielder's arm, which would be a very unpleasant experience. It would also set the immediate area on strange colorful fire. Thankfully it's hidden behind Phrik casing, so while damaging it is possible, it would not be as easy as in some of the other gadgets using Sourcefyre as their power source.
• Cortosis brittleness- While Cortosis has amazing energy absorbing properties, it does not deal that well with kinetic energy and physical attacks. As such, the purified Cortosis could be chipped away from the blades it is attached to, even by lightsaber strikes, and rendered useless, making it really a one shot ability against energy weapons. The blades within gauntlet's forearms are also not as durable as Phrik, and as such they could be potentially snapped or broken by enough physical force.
• Electric, Ionic, and Electromagnetic weakness- since the gauntlets utilize a lot of electrical components they are weak to electrical, ionic, and electromagnetic attacks which would target their wiring and make them short wire, being disabled temporarily, most likely losing its stored power, and rendered useless.
• Gestures and Patterns- because the repulsor generators are built within the palm and fingers of the gauntlets, using them requires specific gestures and patterns of movements from the digits, the more elaborate the manipulation, for example lifting something up, the more elaborate the movements. Often this looks like wizards and sorcerors from fairy tales casting their spells, or a puppet master tugging on the strings of marionettes, making it rather obvious when one is about to use these gauntlets for telekinesis, also if someone is exposed to them enough they could actually learn the patterns and be able to anticipate ahead of time what sort of attack is going to be used.

DESCRIPTION

Introduction: HK has always been looking for new ways of gaining advantage over Force users or mimicking their powers in anyway possible in mockery of their sacred mystical arts. It was no wonder then that the machine jumped on the opportunity when he heard about the Grav Gloves manufactured by VT and bought multiple pairs of the gadgets for himself and his Greycloak honor guards. The gloves proved to be useful as it opened up a doorway for the droid to utilize limited telekinesis, a power he previously would never dream of.

History and Technical Details: During one of the battles against Sith HK came to face off with one of his previous students, Krest, the Zabrak managed to deactivate one of the Grav Gloves HK was using by shooting it and damaging its systems. Afterwards it was up to machine to replace the broken components and repair it, however having no proper VT power sources around HK decided to use a Sourcefyre crystal, commanding his Gados lackeys to properly install the new power source to make sure it's integrated with the original systems. What HK found out as a result was that the more potent power of the crystal augmented Grav Gloves systems, allowing them to run for longer and at more extended range. He then had Phrik plates attached to the gloves, turning them into gauntlets, along with some standard features of Electro-Cestus his forces often use to increase both the gauntlets' durability in future engagements and give it more combat value.

Gravitational Mastery: HK's Grav Gloves have always been more potent than normal model due to the fact that the miniature repulse generators are built into their palm and fingers, and the machine just happened to have six fingers rather than five, giving more room for additional repulse generators to conduct more elaborate feats of manipulating gravity. This has been further improved by replacing the power unit with a sourcefyre crystal when the old ones were damaged during HK's battle with Krest, increasing the range of the gloves to 25 meters and allowing their bursts to last 10 seconds. Other than that not much has been changed about the Gloves, they still use the same systems ARGH did not try to modify or retroengineer for the sake of respecting copyrights for once, and still follow the same limitations, making them more potent at shorter range and in quick bursts. The way HK uses these gloves is by modifying their power and repulse settings by tweaking, folding, and extending his fingers in proper sequences, the more elaborate maneuver he wants to do, the more elaborate and longer movements of his hands and fingers get. It looks quite strange, like someone trying to cast a spell, or a puppet master pulling on strings of his marionette, but is what he has to do to use them.

Other Strengths: Other strengths of these gauntlets are taken from them being combined with Electro-Cestus design by having Phrik forged armor plates added onto the existing Grav Glove structure along with new weapon systems installed into these plates. The new armor layer itself is lightsaber resistant and extremely durable, as most Phrik gadgets are, a very handy feature used to protect the vulnerable Sourcefyre crystal used as its power source, it is not indestructible however and does have its limits. The weapon systems themselves include crushgaunt rotors that increase the user's strength, electro shocking systems in the gauntlets' knuckles to deal extra electric damage, and claws forged out of durasteel mixed with cortosis to be lightsaber resistant and lined with purified cortosis to deactivate lightsabers upon contact with the energy blades. There are also charge emitter and terminal systems attached to the Sourcefyre crystal, allowing it to channel its energy to recharge other crystals or drain it from them to recharge itself.

Grav Glove Limitations: these gauntlets still posses the same limitations original Grav Gloves have, to begin with they are useless outside of their limited range of 25 meters, can last only in short bursts of up to 10 seconds before the need to recharge its miniature repulse generators. Even then the most power these gauntlets can exert is equal to the power the wielder is putting behind them, so stronger wielders would be able to lift or crush heavier objects than weaker ones, this power of course decreases rapidly the farther away their target is and the longer they are exerting gravitational anomaly upon it. If the object they are manipulating struggles against them then the wielder will also feel that power exerted back on them, for example if they were to stop a lightsaber, sword, or a bullet with these gloves, the blunt trauma would carry through and it would feel as if they were hit by it, possibly damaging the gauntlets' systems, if they are trying to lift an object they would feel its weight on their hands pushing back, if they are trying to push a person, they could feel them push back on them as well. The miniature generators are also still left vulnerable as they were not covered by Phrik plating to keep them functional, as such they could potentially be damaged once more as they were when the power supply in grav gloves needed to be replaced, rendering them useless until repaired once more.

Other Weaknesses: Other weaknesses of the Grav Gloves include its volatile power source, a price to pay for using any of the Sourcefyre crystals as they turn explosive should they be damaged to the point of cracking. This is quickly done with physical damage, and the resulting explosion would be comparable to a thermal detonator going off on the wielder's arm, damaging more vulnerable components of the gauntlets until only the Phrik plates were left behind, injuring the wielder, and setting immediate area ablaze with strange colorful fire. Thankfully the crystal is protected by a Phrik casing, while it could be broken through with enough Force and damage, it is more protected than some of the other Sourcefyre gadgets out there. Another weakness is the brittleness of purified cortosis used in lining of the forearm mounted claw blades in the gauntlet's plates, while it does work wonders against lightsabers, it could be very easily broken off, making it more or less a one shot ability against the energy blades. The claws themselves, while made lightsaber resistant because of the cortosis mixed with their durasteel structure, are not as resistant as Phrik, with enough physical power confront them they could be shattered or broken off. There is also the weakness to electromagnetic, electrical, and ionic damage these gauntlets suffer from due to the amount of electronic components like the repulse generators they utilize. This could be solved by user using such defenses as Abregado Combat Shields, but without them they gauntlets would be quickly deactivated, hopefully merely temporarily. Last weakness tied to these gauntlets are the elaborate gestures and hand movements one needs to conduct to use them properly, for most beings it would be rather difficult to remember all of them and learn how to utilize these gauntlets to the fullest, they are also a dead give away of when the gauntlets are about to be used as it is hard to hide these movements, and if one is exposed to these gauntlets enough they could memorize these patters and know ahead of time what attacks are going to be thrown their way by simply recognizing the gestures behind them.

Conclusion/Summary: In conclusion these gauntlets are not that different from the original grav gloves HK bought for himself, the only modifications applied to them was replacing the damaged power source with a Sourcefyre crystal and covering the glove in Phrik plating to convert it into a gauntlet, to which weapon systems from an Electro Cestus were added for additional value on the battlefield. The new, more potent power system increased the gauntlets' range and how long their bursts can last, also turning them somewhat explosive in the process, but being still under the previous limitations of grav gloves, while the Phrik plating made them more durable and functional as a lightsaber-resistant armor piece, although it still has its limits as it is not indestructible and the weapon systems added to its versatility in melee combat.