Approved Tech Penumbra

[Darth Empyrean]

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OUT OF CHARACTER INFORMATION

• Intent: To create a Force Alchemized Stone, that is otherwise on par or better than capital grade proton beam cannons.
• Image Source: Here.
• Canon Link: N/A
• Permissions: N/A
• Primary Source: X

PRODUCTION INFORMATION

• Manufacturer: Jaeger Solutions │ Darth Empyrean
• Affiliation: Closed-Market
• Model: Penumbra
• Modularity: N/A
• Production: Unique
• Material:
  • Superstructure: Alchemized Obsidian w/ Sith Engravings

TECHNICAL SPECIFICATIONS

• Classification: Sith Obelisk
• Size: Extremely Large
• Weight: Extremely Heavy
• Ammunition Type:
  • Force Energy
• Ammunition Capacity: Extreme
  • Long Activation times.
• Effective Range: Extreme
• Rate of Fire: Low
• Stopping Power: Extreme
• Recoil: Low

SPECIAL FEATURES

• Capital Grade Force Destruction
  • Extreme Range / Rate / Stopping Power
  • Force Lightning Secondary Strike
• There is only one true ability of Penumbra - and that is to contain within itself a massive amount of Force energy, then expunge in a focused beam of 'Force Destruction'. Releasing a powerful exotic blast at whatever it may be pointed at - which for the most part, will inevitably be ships. Its power being of the Force, it can attack shields and armored targets with ease. While shields can hold back its torrential force, unlike more common Force Powers, it is not entirely dissipated by the likes of Ray Shields. Notably, it can tear ships asunder - as Darth Vader once said 'The Death Star is nothing compared to the power of the Force'.
  • All damage is dependent on the target writer, and in no way is any description in this post to 'call shots'. It should doubly be noted that it can not blow up planets, but can do massive damage to places on planets it strikes.

STRENGTHS

• Annihilation -
  • Built with 'Destruction' in mind, Penumbra is a weapon of untold prowess; capable of laying waste to vast areas at once, using the very power and essence of the Force. Utilizing a massive network of Force sigils and enchantments, the obelisk will fire a long, drawn out blast into the darkness of space - only ceasing when it is commanded. Its ability to do so is so strong, it can disrupt sensation through the Force through its mere activation, sending panic through those with a hypersensitivity to such things.
• Exotic Weapon -
  • While it is on par with the strongest proton beam cannons and Class D Super Disruptors of the era, it is more notable in its design due to its lack of 'technological' foundations. Instead of a large team of engineers and scientists helping to fire an equally large laser, it relies on nothing more than spells engraved into obsidian; deep as those gashes are, as flooded as they become with the Dark Side of the Force - like the Nile River during harvest. When the crop is ready, it is able to fire a beam of destruction many can not understand; and terror follows with it as it passes through mere technology.

WEAKNESSES

• Compatible Systems -
  • Due to the oddity of the system, the size and weight of the obelisk, and any number of safety reasons in regards to people going slowly insane around the weapon for took long, it has a very specialized place. On the ground, or in a dreadnaught; there is no other place the Penumbra can exist - and even then, it will serve to turn its crew members and localized populations into insane, rambling messes as it slowly drains from them their sanity, and all the Force around it.
• Force Light -
  • Just like any alchemized weapon, Force Light has the ability to absolutely destroy this with little effort. Due to its heavy dark side corruption, and passive ability to corrupt those around it, it holds no defense against any power dedicated to cleansing the darkness from the area; those primarily being a Wall of Light, or its less refined 'Force Light' abilities.

DESCRIPTION

Built of a black, oily stone the reflects infinitely into its own abyss - Penumbra is a sight to behold for anyone that understands the intricate nature of the Force and its Alchemic partner. To modify the reality of the world through Sith Magicks is in itself a masterful craft, and there are few who equal Darth Maliphant in his trade; especially when given the resources to accomplish whatever he sees fit. ​

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So too did the Confederacy see this potential; and asked Maliphant to create for them a monster that would be without equal in the spaces around the Galaxy. With considering in his heart, and a quiet darkness building in his mind, Maliphant settled on an abysmal creature that would show just how far his abilities had stretched, and just how powerful the Sith of the Confederacy truly were - but more than that, he required a symbol of its strength. ​

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Cursory research into the various weapons implemented by Dreadnaughts around the galaxy had left Maliphant vaguely disappointed. For all that the Sith were, few truly embodied their histories with their ships - at most offering small meditation spheres for their own sake; but Maliphant had a plan far past any of that. With cruelty in his heart, he would create in his image a weapon like which the Galaxy had yet to see - an obelisk that embodied the strength of the Dark Side in such a way that few could doubt what it meant to face it.​

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In this, he began his long and tedious work - of collecting, building, and merging the obsidian of multiple planets into a massive pillar capable of withstanding the raw energy that would soon pump through it. Months of tireless labor saw Maliphant carve every individual sigil, ever needed piece many layers deep into the jet black stone; before he eventually found himself finished. With sweat on his brow and a pride in his gut, he stood back to witness what he created. ​

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In it, was Penumbra; a half a kilometer of weapon that arched against the ground, sent lightning through the earth with the energy it held. Passively gathering the energies of the Force, and with encouragement firing all of that through the directionalized tip like a cannon - Maliphant could feel that pride in him grow; for he had made something terrifying, that could not be comprehended by the common man. With grin swept wide, Maliphant watched those small villages nearby his work place slowly descend into madness, and he knew he had accomplished what he set out to do.​

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With this set, Maliphant began the arduous process of getting robotics towing vessels to the planet, and dragging off his creation to a deep space black site where his creation still slumbered. Soon, it would face the Galaxy - and Maliphant could only hope it impressed the others of the worlds as it had him.​

 

[Darth Empyrean]

John Locke

This is ready for judgement, pls and ty

 

[John Locke]

Darth Empyrean

Upon reviewing this submission, there are several areas which stand out to me that would need to be addressed before the submission can be considered for approval.

Recoil

Recoil: Extreme

Could you please explain how a stone obelisk which unleashes a beam of force destruction has any recoil, in particular an extreme level of recoil? In every use of Force Destruction I've been able to find there was no physical feedback from the use of the power, it is a beam of energy, so the sith sorceries affecting this weapon should also have no recoil.

Shields

[QUOTE[
There is only one true ability of Penumbra - and that is to contain within itself a massive amount of Force energy, then expunge in a focused beam of 'Force Destruction'. Releasing a powerful exotic blast at whatever it may be pointed at - which for the most part, will inevitably be ships. Its power being of the Force, it can power through shields and directly into armored targeted with ease. Notably, it can tear ships asunder - as Darth Vader once said 'The Death Star is nothing compared to the power of the Force'.
[/QUOTE]

While in concept this is very similar to a solar ionisation cannon, there is also a key difference. A solar ionisation cannon has counters that can be used to negate the shield piercing attacks. No such counter exists to an attack of pure force on this scale. Any ships so targetted would have no recourse against this attack, an extremely powerful attack directly against their hull.

In addition, what is there to prevent the beam from being used on the surface of a planet in a planet buster capacity?

Length of Blast

Utilizing a massive network of Force sigils and enchantments, the obelisk will fire a long, drawn out blast into the darkness of space - only ceasing when it is commanded.

Unlike most weapons, which fire an energy burst of a finite length, the Penumbra appears to have an infinite length. Combined with their ability to penetrate shields, this would almost allow the weapon to drill through the hill of a ship or surface of a planet that it was deployed against. I would suggest limiting the time the beam is active before the Pendumbra can be fired again. The force, while a vast and mystical energy field will take time to charge up a weapon of this magnitude.

Anti-Force Fields

While other Dreadnaught defining weapons require dedicated reactors to fire their weapons, the Penumbra relies on the Force. While in itself a plentiful, omniscient entity, it does lack when faced with the likes of mass void stone fields; or even Ysalamiri fields. Should Penumbra ever come into contact with either of these, a vast weakness becomes present - that it would slowly drain its existing charge, and would not be able to fire until released from the situation. It also does not affect ships that are protect from Ysalamiri fields - as the 'shots' would dissipate upon reaching the ship.

The types of vast void stone or Ysalamiri fields you are talking about in this submission simply are not widespread enough to classify as a weakness for your submission. These fields only exist on a tactical level, protecting a single individual, or a small unit, but not on the scale required to protect a capital ship.

Force Light

Just like any alchemized weapon, Force Light has the ability to absolutely destroy this with little effort. Due to its heavy dark side corruption, and passive ability to corrupt those around it, it holds no defense against any power dedicated to cleansing the darkness from the area; those primarily being a Wall of Light, or its less refined 'Force Light' abilities.

As was previously pointed out, Force Light and its various derivatives are a very Niche power, and not enough to balance out the strengths of this weapon.

 

[Darth Empyrean]

Recoil -​

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Force Destruction in itself, doesn’t actually have recoil (nor does it go through shields - since it has been spoken that Ray Shields stop Force Powers). The reality is that I put its Recoil this high as more a means to represent the ‘feedback’ of the system - meaning that while it can coalesce a massive amount of Force Energy, it can’t fire it forever because of the heat / energetic feedback / or any other various reasons that stop it from being a constant weapon. For the most part, this was simply to compensate for a scaled up version of the force power - a fictionalization written by me to help balanced the submission.​

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Shields -​

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While it was originally designed as a ‘Solar Ionization Main Gun’, such as the Assimilator here (which absorbs shields), or Helios Cannon here - the rationale for it being a ‘Force Driven’ version doesn’t change that it doesn’t surpass the equivalent main guns of those other ships. Ray shields, being a great example, would counter this to some capacity - despite me failing to introduce it into the submission. If you’d like, I could certainly add that, or if you could give me ideas on what Solar Ionization Cannons are not effective against - I would appreciate that as well.​

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As far as being pointed at a planet? Nothing, I imagine, but nor would it actually do anything more than any other Proton Beam Cannon on the factory as is. Would it be destructive? Surely, but would it sweep through continents and destroy planets? No, that would be silly. While I understand going through with this with a fine tooth comb, and no factory submission is subject to precedent, I would put this one as no better than either the Decimation I Superlaser, or the Annihilation II Superlaser - both of which would do equal amounts of damage fired as a bunker buster at a planet. (Minus the linked post in the Decimation I submission. Penumbra does not shoot a blast miles wide.)​

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In the worst case, I am willing to remove this if the Judges think it is beyond the level of reasonability on the site. The end goal is strictly for this to serve as a site restricted, main line gun for an SSD; and not to be a super weapon. The most tangible difference I've tried devising is that it looks cool, and it uses the Dark Side instead of big reactors and kyber crystals.​

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Length of Blast -​

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It certainly has a finite length to its blast - but the wording might be a bit ‘grandiose’ to the implication. While a focused beam of energized light would continue on forever (in theory), it doesn’t actually happen on Chaos for balancing sake; and I would consider this at the same range. Is there a disclaimer you would have me put, or advice on how to rephrase it so it is known its ‘extreme’ rating is just that - or should I drop it down its ratings to better represent it?​

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Anti-Force Fields -​

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So, this one is a weird thing. As far as I understand, Ysalamiri have a collective effect (as stated by the Wiki in regards to making 'Kilometers of Bubbles') - meaning that the more there are in a set area, the greater the range they create. As I recall, this has been used on Mandalorian vessels for a long time - with one having a large tree in the center of it that effecitvely made entire portions of planets outside of the Force’s touch.​

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While I can’t seem to find the examples off hand, and one that was seemingly reported here; it isn’t really important if you believe it isn’t a weakness. I’ll remove it entirely.​

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Force Light -​

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I believe it being a ‘niche’ power might be a bit subjective, as it has been used in many, many threads as ‘The Wall of Light’. I couldn’t go back through every Jedi post in history to find it, but it isn’t the most uncommon power on Chaos for Jedi to use - and is why it is often seen as a weakness on things like alchemized armor, sith weapons, and anything regarding the Dark Side of the Force.​

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I would like to keep this weakness, if at all possible, because I do think against Light Side users it should be relatively obvious it is a strong counter to the weapon - just like on many other proton cannons reactors are considered a weakness. If not, however, I am fully willing to remove it.​

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John Locke​

 

[John Locke]

Darth Empyrean

Thank you for your reply. For both of our eases of reading, I will continue to use the categories provided in my answers.

Recoil

While I understand that you were trying to show the limitations of the scaled-up force power I don't believe that recoil is the correct place to do this. I have quoted the Cambridge dictionary's definition of recoil below.

the sudden backward movement that a gun makes when it is fired

So, in our case, recoil is the physical counter-reaction to a weapon being fired, however as we have both agreed the force power Force Destruction has no physical force so there will be no counter-reaction to the firing of the weapon. While I applaud your attempt to balance the weapon I do not believe recoil is the best choice of a field to do this.

The reality is that I put its Recoil this high as more a means to represent the ‘feedback’ of the system - meaning that while it can coalesce a massive amount of Force Energy, it can’t fire it forever because of the heat / energetic feedback / or any other various reasons that stop it from being a constant weapon.

The above sentence from your reply would lead me to believe that an adjustment to rate of fire would perhaps be a better choice in this situation. The weapon isn't able to be fired continuously, as you say, which is a rate of fire situation, not a recoil situation. This would in fact be borne out by your own text in the exotic weapon strength.

deep as those gashes are, as flooded as they become with the Dark Side of the Force - like the Nile River during harvest. When the crop is ready, it is able to fire a beam of destruction

Shields

While it was originally designed as a ‘Solar Ionization Main Gun’, such as the Assimilator here (which absorbs shields), or Helios Cannon here - the rationale for it being a ‘Force Driven’ version doesn’t change that it doesn’t surpass the equivalent main guns of those other ships. Ray shields, being a great example, would counter this to some capacity - despite me failing to introduce it into the submission. If you’d like, I could certainly add that, or if you could give me ideas on what Solar Ionization Cannons are not effective against - I would appreciate that as well.

Ray shields are indeed a good example of a technology which would inhibit a force-based weapon this is true, and I would prefer if you would include the mention of them in the body of the submission. Solar Ionisation Cannons, as with all energy-based weapons, are countered by Molecular Shielding. Molecular Shields aren't a be-all and end-all counter, and enough energy will bring them down, but they prevent the shield piercing effects of the Solar Ionization Cannons from affecting their user while they're active.

While you do link the TSE superweapons, both of them contain wording which expressly prevents them from being used in a planet buster capacity.

and while it was incapable of destroying a planet, it could devastate the surface in the vicinity of where it struck.

If you could add a similar text to your submission it would alleviate this concern, not just for your future use, but for anyone who ends up using the weapon and super star destroyer in the future.

As far as I am aware no SSD main weapon has yet been an upscaled Solar Ionization cannon, for the simple reason that the sheer power of these weapons makes the shield piercing qualities useless. There is simply so much power that all but the toughest ships have their defences overwhelmed, and those ships have the technologies needed to survive the attacks. This is why using the force as a weapon is so difficult, because while Ray shields do provide some protection it is still not absolute. My gut feeling is that we should find a way to remove the shield penetrating quality of the weapon, and let it simple overwhelm smaller ships, however, if you wish to keep it I am willing to work with you to see if we can achieve that.

Length of Blast

I think I might have been unclear with my wording on this point. Your text made it seem like the beam would be fired continuously until the command to cease is given. Is this true?

My concern is that that allows a massive amount of damage to be inflicted on a target, far beyond normal. Most weapons fire for a short duration, and only have that time to transfer energy to their target. A continuous beam gives an extended time to transfer that energy, which results in more damage. I just wanted to clarify the intent here.

Anti-force fields

It is true that Ysalamiri do have a cumulative effect which extends the size of the anti-force field produced, the previous statement on this still stands. Ships on Chaos are not produced with Voidstone armour or lining, or hordes of Ysalamiri onboard. While it might have been used in the past it currently isn't and as such I'm going to hold the line that this is not really a weakness in the current meta.

Force Light

I'll happily accept that force light isn't a truly niche power, and a group of Jedi could cast Wall of Light on the weapon which would in effect destroy it. This isn't a weakness that everyone, such as TSE, would be able to exploit, but I'm more than happy for you to keep this weakness.

I would suggest however adding a weakness to the submission that can be used by anyone who might come up against the weapon.

 

[Darth Empyrean]

Recoil -

Changed Recoil to Low, and Rate of Fire to Low as well for balance purposes.

Shields -

While I would argue that all damage is up to the writer to determine, and the Force Destruction makes no difference against shields or not - I don’t think its a super important point in the grand scheme of things. Much of this was to just make it a tad more unique, and not just ‘another’ mainline SSD cannon. I made the mention of Ray shields, which are a standard for most shield systems, but with the caveat that Ray Shields are not the ‘hard counter’ many believe them to be; to make the weapon not entirely useless when faced with those things. I have also removed any mention of it going through shields, I believe.

Also mentioned it cannot blow up planets, though I assumed that would have been implied if I’m honest. A clarification doesn’t hurt, however.

Length of Blast -

It can be shot for a prolonged period, but the intent was never to be ‘endless’. In either time to fire, or distance the shot can go; it is just a beam that shoots for a while. Inevitably, its no different than anything else; and can only be shot until its internal ‘capacitors’ or energy reserves, or what have you - run out. In which case, it stops.

Its just for writing sake, damage over a prolonged period, compared to damage instantly like more one shot cannons can be. Same result, inevitably.

Anti-Force Fields -

Removed it as a weakness.

Force Light -

As far as a ‘tangible weakness’ anyone can take advantage of, what would you have in mind? Any comparable weapon has no tangible weakness besides ‘the gunners might screw up, but safeguards keep us safe’ - which makes me a bit wary on putting something so overbearing it would take the meat out of the submission; as of right now, it stands exactly the same as more standard cannons.

However, I realize I have no position to deny anything at this point. If you’ve an idea for a tangible weakness, I would be more than willing to put it in.

John Locke

 

[John Locke]

Darth Empyrean

Having read through the submission and the changes made to it I am happy with the current state of the weapon.

Enjoy this frankly terrifying weapon.

APPROVED