Shadow Hand
- Intent: To expand the lore of Dromund Kaas with a native marsh reed whose pith grows hair-fine kyber microcrystals ("graveglass"), enabling RP uses such as fear-incense, psy-ops smoke grenades (non-lethal), and more. Designed to be used in Sith technology, as well as scene dressing in Dromund Kaas swamps, temples, battle sites.
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- Click - ChatGPT by Me
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Teresa Zambrano | Darth Pellax
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- Name: Graveglass Reed (a.k.a. "Wail-Reed")
- Origins:
- Dromund Kaas - Swamps, execution bogs, temple drainage channels, storm-sunk trenches near battlefields.
- Other Locations:
- Limited cultivation in artificial tanks in Kainate installations (performance improves near places heavy with fear or ritual residue). Struggles to naturalize off-world without precise water chemistry and low-light conditions.
- Classification: Marsh Reed (Rhizomatous Monocot)
- Average Growth Cycle:
- Spreads via rhizomes; new shoots emerge in 2–4 weeks.
- Pith microcrystals begin forming at ~3 months in fear-rich or sacrificial sites.
- Mature stands can be harvested 2–3 times per year. Perennial if the rhizome bed remains undisturbed.
- Viability:
- Prefers shade to low light, anoxic water, iron/silica-rich mud, and stagnant or slow water.
- Tolerates constant humidity and seasonal storm surges.
- Off-world, needs filtered low-spectrum lighting, iron-rich sediment, and dissolved silica.
- Dried pith retains incense potency 6–9 months in sealed black jars away from sunlight.
- Description: Tall, obsidian-sheened culms (stems) with a faint glassy luster. When split, the inner pith flashes with hair-fine, glittering "glass-thread", kyber microfilaments colloquially called graveglass. Older stands near battle or execution sites feel "quiet" and still; the air around harvested pith smoke carries a cold, watched sensation.
- Average Height: 1.2–2.0 meters (Culms)
- Average Length: Rhizome creep - 10–30 cm/month depending on nutrient load
- Color: Culms appear black to deep umber with an oily/obsidian sheen; pith shows silver-glass sparkle when backlit; seedheads are soot-grey
- Nutritional Value: Negligible
- Toxicity:
- Inhalation: Causes acute dread response in most baseline humanoids, racing pulse, cold sweats, "being watched" sensation; higher doses may induce brief, non-specific fear visions.
- Dust: Micro-glass fibers can irritate lungs/eyes; respirators and goggles mandatory during processing.
- Ingestion: Not advised; glass threads can scratch the soft lining of the mouth, throat, and stomach, causing irritation, pain, or bleeding.
- Other Effects:
- Incense effects are non-lethal at standard ritual or psy-ops concentrations; duration typically 1–5 minutes depending on exposure and ventilation.
- Users with Sith training can partially resist/direct the emotional push; unwarded handlers are not immune.
- Bright, direct sunlight over time bleaches the fear-imprint in stored pith, reducing potency.
- Distinctions: Graveglass Reed produces hair-fine kyber-like threads inside its pith that soak up the fear of their surroundings, battlefields, execution bogs, haunted temples, so the fibers effectively "remember" dread and can release it later as smoke. When the dried pith is burned as incense, it gives off a thin, low-soot smoke that nudges people into anxiety: clammy skin, a racing pulse, the creeping sense that something is standing just behind you; with stronger charges or in tight rooms, it can trigger brief, unsettling visuals at the edge of vision.
Ground into powder and inlaid into void-ceramics or lacquered reliquaries, the "graveglass" stiffens thin shells and dampens tiny vibrations, useful for masks, helms, or ritual containers and more. The plant itself grows thicker stands with richer crystal wherever the local area is saturated in fear or trauma, so reeds near fresh battle lines or terror-scarred ruins are the most potent.
- Fear Carrier Medium: Graveglass pith cures into a clean-burning incense charge that takes blends well (resins, woods, oils) and holds a stable burn rate, so you can dose dread precisely, from a faint edge of unease to brief, room-wide panic spikes. Because the smoke is low-particulate and the active effect rides the crystal memory rather than toxins, it's non-lethal when used properly (warded masks recommended). This makes it useful far beyond military tech: temple ordeals, intimidation rituals, crowd-control warnings, or theatrical "haunt" effects for interrogations.
- Ritual Grounding: When the pith's micro-threads are ground and inlaid as a thin layer inside void-ceramic shells, they stiffen thin parts and damp tiny vibrations, great for masks/helms (less rattle, clearer comms), reliquaries (stable tone, fewer micro-cracks), and sensitive sensor hoods (less jitter).
- Resonance Tunable Kyber Threadwork: The hair-fine "kyber" threads in the pith can be gently tuned during curing (by steady vibration, slow spinning, or soft magnetic fields) so they lean toward a specific flavor of fear, e.g., jumpy anticipation, tight-space panic, or "being hunted.", and more. That means you can prep incense or inlays that push one clear effect instead of a messy mix, which is great for training rooms, interrogation sets, or rite challenges that need a predictable response.
- Site Imprint & Easy Calibration: The plant records the mood of the place it grows; its pith "remembers" battlefield terror differently than temple dread. You can read that imprint with the right tools or sensitives to learn what happened there (handy for forensics or checking if a sanctum is truly calm). A pinch of a known, labeled imprint mixed into new batches also works like a standard: it evens out potency from lot to lot, so burns feel consistent across crates instead of swinging wildly. Likewise, potency can easily be increased.
- Light Environments: Extended direct light exposure degrades the fear-imprint in stored pith, weakening both incense and inlay performance.
- Backfire Risk: Incense affects everyone without proper wards/respirators, including friendly operators. Poor ventilation multiplies the effect.
The earliest notes from the ancient Sith mention a "reed that remembers terror" harvested from bogs and the darkened swamps and under temple causeways. In those accounts, priests and gardeners split the culms underwater and dried the "graveglass pith" in black jars, warning apprentices not to inhale the dust. The smoke was prized for war rites, not to break stalwarts outright, but to tilt the mind of an untested crowd: a low, creeping dread that softened the will before the first command.
As Kaas shifted hands across eras, the reed's role waxed and waned. Temple inventories record quiet periods where the stands thinned and the pith's "bite" faded, especially where swamps were drained or sites were ritually cleansed. During the Ashlan Crusade's occupation of Dromund Kaas, several known harvest bogs were either burned, filled, or sanctified, producing a generation of bleached, weak crystal with little effect beyond acrid smoke.
Things changed following the Kainate's reclamation of Dromund Kaas, their agents resurveyed the swamp belts, cross-referencing battle maps, execution records, and storm-fall charts to locate surviving fear-rich beds. They rebuilt tanks near citadels, re-established underwater splitting protocols, and standardized storage to arrest sunlight bleaching. Modern practice sets the reed as a support ingredient in Sith alchemy, and technology, and as thin inlays in sensors, helms and reliquary masks where a stiffer, vibration-damped shell is desirable.
Among acolytes and field hands, a practical rule survives the ledgers:
"If you're cutting wail-reed, cut it under the water, jar it in the dark, and mask up, fear burns clean, but glass cuts quieter than a lie."