Gilamar Skirata
The most important step is always the next one
"Pull till you hear it click-Just like that! Now let it go. Let it Go..."
-Gilamar to his younger cousin Dorn on how to use the Mandalorian Pulse Caster
OUT OF CHARACTER INFORMATION
- Intent: To create an interesting cultural weapon for the Mandalorian people and to create an interesting platform that others can build off of
- Image Source: Star Wars Rogue One Concept Art
- Canon Link: Bowcaster, Mandalorian Ripper, Pulse-Wave Blaster, Lightbow
- Restricted Missions: None
- Primary Source: None
- Manufacturer: Handcrafted by Mandalorians
- Model: N/A
- Affiliation: Closed-Market (Rare outside of Mandalorian Space. Usually a collector's item or passed down in a family unit)
- Modularity: Materials
- Production: Limited
- Material:
Wood from any of Mandalore's Native Trees - Various Metals, usually durasteel or in rare cases Mandalorian Steel or Beskar*
TECHNICAL SPECIFICATIONS
- Classification: Energy Propelled Magnetic Accelerator
- Size: Large
- Weight: Heavy
- Ammunition Type: Energy Enveloped Metal Quarrel
- Ammunition Capacity: 6-25
- Reload Speed: Very Slow
- Effective Range: Battlefield
- Rate of Fire: Low
- Stopping Power: (How powerful the weapon is, in relation to its class. Choose from
Very Low: "Point Blank", "Personal" Ranges - Low: "Average" Range
- High: "Long Range"
- Extreme: Battlefield Effective Range
[*]Recoil: Very High
SPECIAL FEATURES
- None
- Devastating: At its intended range, the Mandalorian Pulse Caster is a devastating weapon. Designed to take down Mythosaurs, this primitive weapon could potentially damage or take down a starfighter.
- Accurate: While true accuracy is dependent on the user, similarly to the the Wookie Bowcaster and Lightbow, the weapon puts the projectile where the user points and aims it with little error.
- A Trained Hand: The Mandalorian Pulse Caster is an ancient weapon with a very, very slow reload time when compared to standard blasters within the last few thousand years
- Weapon Range: The Mandalorian Pulse Caster is only useful at medium to long range making it utterly useless at short ranges, to the point of standard military armors and even spacer's leather being able to shrug off shots from it at close range. Even at medium range blows are rarely fatal.
- Collector's Item: The weapon as little use in actual combat as it is incredibly difficult to maintain.
- Fire: While the weapon is treated to resist some heat and energy transfer, the bows are mostly made of wood and metal and as such will catch fire or belt. Slagging these bows is incredibly easy.
- Form is Everything: The Pulse Caster was a large and unwieldy weapon. To be used and aimed properly required one to be fairly light and flexible as the force required to pull the rod could prove exhausting if wearing heavy armor. To be used effectively light armor is a must, plain clothes is better. While the weapon is usable in medium armor it can be difficult to aim and would often slow down the reload time of each projectile. Using the weapon in heavy armor unless one was a very large and strong species was nearly impossible.
- One by One: While each cartridge held anywhere from 6 to 25 quarrels, each shot had to be manually loaded effectively limiting it to a single shot weapon in use and practice.
The Mandalorian Pulse Caster, colloquially known as Sacarhr, the Mando'a word for bow, was a powerful weapon that predated pulse wave cannons or blasters. One of many precursors to the hand held pulse-wave blaster, it was a long-range weapon utilized by the Taung and early Mandalorian tribes as one of their main ranged weapons and were used alongside standard bows and slugthrowers. Made to take down the massive creatures of Mandalore such as the Beskar Epar and Mythosaur it was not a weapon to be reckoned with. Battles with these weapons could often be heard for miles as it had a distinct sound that came from the energy enveloped projectile being thrown through a tube and launched from through a crude magnetic accelerator.
The Mandalorian Pulse Caster fired a magnetically accelerated projectile. In order to prime the weapon the user had to pull back a metal rod. Pulling back on the rod charged the energy that would envelop the projectile which would also allow the priming rod to load a quarrel into the barrel. A loud click would indicate that the internal power cell was charged and the quarrel had been pulled into place and when released would generate an energy field around the projectile and launch it through the barrel until it passed between the two arms of the bow-shaped weapon. These polarizing arms would generate a magnetic field that would then propel the energy propelled projectile through the air and into the target. This was done because technology of the time could not maintain packets of coherent energy at all without aid from a magnetic field and something to help keep its form. Thus, unlike the pulse-wave cannons that would come after that had problems keeping packets of coherent energy at long ranges, the Pulse Caster could not even puncture the treated hide of ancient Mandalorian armor at short ranges and even medium range blows were rarely fatal. This concept of an energy enveloped projectile would go on to inspire the Mandalorian Ripper later on.
As thousands of years passed and the Mythosaur became a distant memory to the Mandalorian people, the Pulse Caster stayed, one of the few relics of that ancient time. It is now hand crafted by few beskar smiths, usually made with whatever Mandalorian tree is local to the smith along with durasteel or Mandalorian Steel. In rare instances, expensive collector bows are made with beskar*, though these were often required to be specially ordered. The Pulse Caster now is often used to train young Mandalorians marksmanship as the bow takes an incredible amount of precession to use effectively. The bow has become even more rare since the destruction of Mandalore and the Civil War. Toys made in its likeness are popular with Mandalorian Children and fire colored, soft, chunks of plastic. Because it makes use of ancient pulse-wave technology it is often barred as an illegal weapon in most of civilized space and territories.
*Indicates that users recognize beskar variants will require subs with the Unique production value with either a company, workshop, or individual smith as the Manufacturer
