Ashin Varanin
Professional Enabler
Intent: Flesh out an interesting canon item that I happened to get. For eventual resale, before the deadline looms and the Factory shuts down for the holidays like last time.
Development Thread: Won at the great Blackguard Holocron Auction here, from the grandfathered former owner.
Manufacturer: Unknown
Model: N/A
Affiliation: Personal
Modularity: Can be separated into three pieces with qualitatively identical but quantitatively lesser functionality.
Production: Unique
Material: Alchemical crystal
Description: The so-called Nova Holocron was once a major point of contention between Count Dooku and the Jedi Order. Its origins and provenance are largely unknown.
Unique among Sith holocrons, the Nova Holocron is fairly minimal in terms of content. It contains information on the best ways to evaluate individuals, primarily children, for Force-sensitivity. These can include blood tests, Force detectors, telepathic means, and so forth. This is fairly run-of-the-mill information. What makes the Nova Holocron unique is its ability to detect untrained Force-sensitives, even the very young, throughout large populations. The same Force-related hologram technology that would normally project a gatekeeper projects, instead, a rough map of a larger or smaller region, depending on the holocron’s power levels. The map is defined mainly by life forces, with nascent Force-sensitives as points of light. The Nova Holocron can split into three pieces, each one of which has full functionality but over a smaller area.
The Nova Holocron can be Force-empowered for greater functionality. For example, Count Dooku used the Force to draw upon the strength of an active volcano, in order to empower one section of the holocron so that it would have the same functionality as the fully assembled artifact.
The limits of the Nova Holocron’s detection range are ambiguous, likely relative to the amount of Force-sensitives it can find at any one time. In a Jedi temple, presumably, it would show a relatively small, densely populated area. In deep space, it might show a few nascent Force-sensitives on starships or stations, and guide the holder toward worlds where others could be found. The fully assembled Nova Holocron could, perhaps, locate every nascent Force-sensitive on a planet or throughout a star system. If properly empowered and assembled, it could give a general overview of Force-sensitives within a sector or more.
The implications are vast. Not only is the Nova Holocron a powerful tool for recruitment, it has surveillance functionality as well. Unless the majority of a hidden Force temple’s participants constantly concealed their presence, for example, and/or blended in with a population that had a high concentration of Force sensitivity, the Nova Holocron could strongly suggest the location of such a facility based on its inhabitants. Several weeks spent traveling from sector to sector (with a fully assembled and empowered Nova Holocron) could give a comprehensive picture of such potentially hidden concentrations within known space.
The important point here, of course, is that the Nova Holocron’s potential is forgotten, even by the powerful and wise. Its current owner picked it up at auction for the price of a midrange starfighter. The odds that any given group would be prepared for such a possibility are minimal. And since the Nova Holocron’s attention is broad-scale, immensely limited in functionality, and non-invasive, its awareness (for lack of a better term) cannot be detected. Even when active, its presence is just that of a normal Dark Side artifact, detectable at fairly short range or by fluke vision.
Primary Source: This is a canon item. However, it's from a poor-quality source that makes the artifact significantly more powerful than I've laid out (i.e. implied galactic-scale range, pinpointing individuals, etc.). I've interpolated some details in order to flesh it out, and give it what seem like reasonable limits, given its history. I'm fine with toning it down farther.
Development Thread: Won at the great Blackguard Holocron Auction here, from the grandfathered former owner.
Manufacturer: Unknown
Model: N/A
Affiliation: Personal
Modularity: Can be separated into three pieces with qualitatively identical but quantitatively lesser functionality.
Production: Unique
Material: Alchemical crystal
Description: The so-called Nova Holocron was once a major point of contention between Count Dooku and the Jedi Order. Its origins and provenance are largely unknown.
Unique among Sith holocrons, the Nova Holocron is fairly minimal in terms of content. It contains information on the best ways to evaluate individuals, primarily children, for Force-sensitivity. These can include blood tests, Force detectors, telepathic means, and so forth. This is fairly run-of-the-mill information. What makes the Nova Holocron unique is its ability to detect untrained Force-sensitives, even the very young, throughout large populations. The same Force-related hologram technology that would normally project a gatekeeper projects, instead, a rough map of a larger or smaller region, depending on the holocron’s power levels. The map is defined mainly by life forces, with nascent Force-sensitives as points of light. The Nova Holocron can split into three pieces, each one of which has full functionality but over a smaller area.
The Nova Holocron can be Force-empowered for greater functionality. For example, Count Dooku used the Force to draw upon the strength of an active volcano, in order to empower one section of the holocron so that it would have the same functionality as the fully assembled artifact.
The limits of the Nova Holocron’s detection range are ambiguous, likely relative to the amount of Force-sensitives it can find at any one time. In a Jedi temple, presumably, it would show a relatively small, densely populated area. In deep space, it might show a few nascent Force-sensitives on starships or stations, and guide the holder toward worlds where others could be found. The fully assembled Nova Holocron could, perhaps, locate every nascent Force-sensitive on a planet or throughout a star system. If properly empowered and assembled, it could give a general overview of Force-sensitives within a sector or more.
The implications are vast. Not only is the Nova Holocron a powerful tool for recruitment, it has surveillance functionality as well. Unless the majority of a hidden Force temple’s participants constantly concealed their presence, for example, and/or blended in with a population that had a high concentration of Force sensitivity, the Nova Holocron could strongly suggest the location of such a facility based on its inhabitants. Several weeks spent traveling from sector to sector (with a fully assembled and empowered Nova Holocron) could give a comprehensive picture of such potentially hidden concentrations within known space.
The important point here, of course, is that the Nova Holocron’s potential is forgotten, even by the powerful and wise. Its current owner picked it up at auction for the price of a midrange starfighter. The odds that any given group would be prepared for such a possibility are minimal. And since the Nova Holocron’s attention is broad-scale, immensely limited in functionality, and non-invasive, its awareness (for lack of a better term) cannot be detected. Even when active, its presence is just that of a normal Dark Side artifact, detectable at fairly short range or by fluke vision.
This is a canon artifact.
Primary Source: This is a canon item. However, it's from a poor-quality source that makes the artifact significantly more powerful than I've laid out (i.e. implied galactic-scale range, pinpointing individuals, etc.). I've interpolated some details in order to flesh it out, and give it what seem like reasonable limits, given its history. I'm fine with toning it down farther.
