Unreviewed Netheric-gate Engine - [GREAT HUNT]

[Darth Anathemous]

"Our navigator was sacrificed to get us out alive."
— Experimental log​

OUT OF CHARACTER INFORMATION

• Intent: Create a hyperspace alternative that expands upon the Great Hunt and Sundering Dawn events.
• Image Source:
  • Elite Dangerous
  • Hoboland-IV
  • Tommy Scott
  • Edits by EllieEx
• Canon Link: N\A
• Permissions: Ashin Cardé Varanin
• Primary Source:
  • The Warlock's Gate
  • Nether travel proposal
  • Netherworld of the Force

PRODUCTION INFORMATION

• Manufacturer: House of Iron
• Affiliation: House of Iron
• Market Status: Closed-Market
• Model: Netheric-gate Engine
• Modularity: Yes
• Production: Limited
• Material:
  • Alchemic glyphs
  • Kyberite structure
  • Havod Crystal
  • Cybotaro waxen glass
  • Electrical components

SPECIAL FEATURES

• Netheric Wayfinder altar
• Stained-Cybotaro waxen glass panes
  • featuring High Sith runes and art
• Kyberite force channeling structure

STRENGTHS

• Mothership's Gift - Netheric-gate engines opened a rift in and out of the Netherworld, large enough for warships and fleets to squeeze through, then snapped shut behind them on command, potentially tearing apart pursuers, one half trapped in the nether, another in realspace.
• Hyperspace Alternative - Ships passing through the Netherworld were unaffected by hyperspace anomalies and weaponry, nor triggered hyperwave warnings or scanners used to detect hyperspace activity. It was the ultimate alternative.

WEAKNESSES

• Mothership's Curse - Due to their limited availability and taxing operation, Netheric-gate enginers were typically assigned to a single "mothership" in a fleet, which opened a single rift for an entire fleet to pass through. Sith fleeters had to plan accordingly, and guard these ships well.
• Netheric Hazard - Once activated, the engine radiated an aura of inconsolable grief that could drive sentients mad, or to their deaths. Those who survived were a target for spirits and Netherworld entities who may seek to possess them in order to escape. If left unprotected, entire crews to devolve into anarchy or worse, and it became standard practice to shield entire fleets with powerful battle meditation, another logistical challenge in of itself. Exposure to the Netherworld's influence could last as long as a class-1 hyperdrive if the navigator was skilled enough to get a ship in and out quickly, or much longer if not.
• Netheric Key - The engine required a Netheric Wayfinder to function, a device which acted as a key and navigational tool both. They were difficult to use, demanding a Navigator meld consciousness with the spirit bound within, who were themselves trapped in the Netherworld once, combining it's feral desire to escape the Netherworld and one's own desire to travel great distances to find or open rifts. To lose the Wayfinder was to lose the key, potentially stranding entire fleets in the Netherworld forever.

DESCRIPTION

A towering structure of Kyberite and red crystal created by Rogue Sith of the Great Hunt. It is cold to the touch while inert, searing hot while active, ripping holes through reality, and into the realm of nightmare. The surfaces features wards and depictions of battles faced by their makers, or demons soon to be met.

The Netheric-gate engine was an invention of the sith enchantress, Darth Anathemous, proposed during the Sundering Dawn crisis, as an alternative to the collapsing hyperlanes stalked by extra-dimensional monsters. It was spurned by the Emperor, considered blindly opportunistic, for the Sith Order flagship had one such device.

One device.

One ship.

But it was not enough for Anathemous' vision.

The matter was thought resolved, but Anathemous toiled in secret, venturing to her homeworld to reverse engineer the Warlock's Gate of Dathomir. By the time of The Great Hunt, the first Netheric-gate engines were ready. They were towering structures of Kyberite and Havod which channeled the force in mysterious ways to open temporary rifts into the Netherworld of the Force, gaping rings of spectral flame which opened before their ships, straight into a world known as Sinner's Rue, and sometimes, the Field of Blades.

These rifts were massive, enough for columned fleets to pass through before snapping shut.

It was a dangerous machine however, those who entered unprotected were struck with grief so foul it drove many mad, and invited spirits of the deceased looking to claw their way out of the Netherworld by any means necessary, often possession. It was standard practice that a powerful sith would bolster the morale of entire ships, even fleets, through the power of battle meditation, shielding the minds of their crews. Some were too weak, their servants possessed by desperate spirits, their ships stranded in the Netherworld for all eternity.

A dedicated navigator, trained in the use of a Netheric Wayfinder, was therefore a must.

The Wayfinder acted as a key, placed upon an altar in the engine's center, secured by mechanical arms, and only then could a gate be opened.

For these reasons and their esoteric construction, the Nether-gate engines were only found aboard Sith flagships which fleets were expected to follow.

One ship to open the rift, and guide many more, to victory or oblivion.

​