Approved Tech Phobis Core

[Malok]

Spoiler

INTENT: To ascend to the mantle of Dread Master.
IMAGE SOURCE(S):
Arturo James & Star Wars: TOR
CANON LINK(S):

Phobis Core
Phobis Device
RESTRICTED MISSION: In Brightest Day
PRIMARY SOURCE(S): Not Applicable

NAME: Phobis Core
MANUFACTURER: Sith Empire (Old Republic)
AFFILIATION: Darth Metus
MODULARITY: None
PRODUCTION: Unique
MATERIAL(S):

Alchemized Agrinium
Alchemized Zersium

CLASSIFICATION: Phobis Device
SIZE: Handheld
LENGTH: 9.6 centimeters
WIDTH: 9.6 centimeters
HEIGHT: 9.6 centimeters
WEIGHT: 1.5 kilograms
CONTENTS:

Summon Fear & Battle Meditation

THE DARKEST TUTOR
Meditation upon the Phobis Core grants an innate understanding of Fear itself. The mind of the aspirant is bombarded with Terror: paralyzing and personal glimpses into their own fears. Should a man overcome the shackles of his own fears, he will be rewarded with intimate knowledge. The Phobis Core will tutor its wielder, equipping them with a vicious perversion of Battle Meditation. Then, by their own hand will Terror be planted directly into the thoughts and minds of their enemies - even over an entire, localized battlefield.

SHROUD OF TERROR
As is the case with numerous, Alchemically-forged creations, the Phobis Core possesses a natural aura in the Dark Side. In fact, it is a literal Nexus of power whose radius is actually defined. Upon entering the outermost fringes of its presence (15 meters), the average soul will feel pronounced Discomfort (i.e. Shivers down one's Spine, Chills, Etc.). Drawing ever closer magnifies the sensation with every step until the Fear invades his mind (10 meters; mid-tier Force Fear). Breaching this distance, the affect only grows to the point where proximity can result in True Terror (i.e. high-tier Force Fear). It is to be noted that, those who master the Core are immune to its natural affects. What's more, the wielder may tap into this wellspring of Darkness to further enhance their own vicious assaults, (to a marginal degree) or replenish their own reserves (to a modest degree.)

DOMINION
The Phobis Core is, literally, a component of something far greater. It was designed with its counterparts and similar artifacts in mind. As the Core, it shares a unique relationship with these devices, allowing the wielder to augment their natural abilities by a moderate degree. For this reason does the Core not possess the innate ability to cast a localized and perverse Battle Meditation. Instead, it possesses a smaller presence in the Force and the ability to impart the arcane art through knowledge.

ALL IS NOT LOST
Although the averate, non-Force Sensitive, soul is highly susceptible to the ravages of Fear, providence has seen fit to place capable defenses within Nature itself. In particular, the reptilian natives of Mrkyr - Ysalamir - project a neutral bubble that can veil any mind from the Core's affects. Likewise, a material known as Voidstone can minimize the Core's potency the closer in proximity it becomes. Some sentient species, such as the Epicanthix, possess minds that are naturally closed to the Force; and are thereby immune to the Core's affects. Lastly, the extragalactic Yuuzhan Vong and their Force Dead creations are literally deafened to the Force; thereby enjoying full immunity.

ONE PRISON FOR ANOTHER
Although what the Core offers is great, it comes at a high cost. Those who successfully meditate upon it become enslaved to it. They become intoxicated; much akin to the pitfalls of wielding Force Drain. And, the more a man wields the power, the deeper his ensnarement becomes. In the end, the wielder becomes an extension of the Phobis Device; so much so that severence from it can easily cause Utter Madness. In essence, an aspiring soul will trade being susceptible to Fear for being its Slave.

THE LIGHT
As is the case with all alchemical creations, the Phobis Core is divinely susceptible to Force Light. It can be damaged or outright destroyed upon exposure.

The Tale of the Phobis Core is shrouded in mystery.

In the modern era, Darth Metus endeavored to unravel the secrets of this terrifying artifact - but was only afforded sparse glimpses. Between Force-driven investigation and the marvels of current technology, the Sith Lord dated artifact to the Old Republic period. Of course, his own journey with the Phobis Core did not begin with a fully functioning engine of terror, but rather a fragment. For months, Darth Metus followed the trail of the fabled Device, invistigating rumor after rumor until he found a modicum of success. Atop a Fennesan spire, in what appeared the wreckage of a starship, did he discover what was initially dubbed the Seed of Fear. With this discovery did the Sith's journey truly begin.

It took a number of creative means to accomplish: from acquiring "volunteers" to personally restoring the Core. In the end, Darth Metus was forced to look himself in the eye. That which he feared the most was laid bare, and he had a choice to make. He could either buckle under the mountain of terror...or understand. For once in his life, there was no dramatic defiance. There was no act of overcoming. For once, surrender was the only viable option. And when the Sith Lord gave in and accepted his terror...His eyes were opened. The reconsituted weapon blessed him, as it did a congregation of others. He understood...No...He was fear.

Now, the Phobis Core exists in the hand of its new Master.

The modern age has a new reason to be afraid.

C A N O N​

Spoiler: Disclaimer

This item, much like a Disruptor, is powerful.​

This item, much like a Disruptor in Chaos PvP, cannot and will not inflict damage that the writer does not decide.​

 

[Travis Caalgen]

Hello, I'll be the factory judge reviewing your submission. If you have questions, please feel free to respond to this thread once we are underway.

 

[Travis Caalgen]

Awesome. Pending Admin Approval. Thanks! [member="Cira"]

 

[Jamie Pyne]

Hi [member="Darth Metus"]! [member="Travis Caalgen"]

First of all I want to say that I am always impressed with the look and layout of your submissions. They are some of the nicest looking submissions that come through the factory and I am always happy to see the amount of artistic work put into each of them. That being said, because these devices have very limited information publicly available via the Wiki and Google, this needs to have some clarity and focus brought to a more narrow level to be approved at current factory standards, as its general purpose and constraints are too vague as they currently stand.

a vicious perversion of Battle Meditation. Then, by their own hand will Terror be planted directly into the thoughts and minds of their enemies - even over vast distances

• I understand that the idea behind this is a reversal of Battle Meditation, and that is perfectly fine with me, however it does need to have limitations in that I don't want to see this being used to terrorize planets six star systems away. Even over vast distances is a vague identifier and needs to have some clarity. I'm okay with the wording being similar to Battle Meditation, where it is capable of projecting to a localized battlefield on the ground, or to an enemy fleet currently engaged with an ally. I'm not okay with this being used to affect a different warzone, such as one that would be involved in a Hex invasion. Please narrow the wording.

Breaching this distance, the affect only grows to the point where proximity can result in True Madness (i.e. Force Insanity). It is to be noted that, those who master the Core are immune to its natural affects.

• I am not okay with this portion of the ability in the slightest. Force Insanity is an extremely powerful and volatile Force power, and even has the ability of being reversed against its' wielder. This singular strength includes Aura of Uneasiness, Fear, and Force Insanity, three incredibly potent Force Powers, yet does not include the one and only potential balance to Force Insanity. Please remove Force Insanity from the strengths entirely.

What's more, the wielder may tap into this wellspring of Darkness to further enhance their own vicious assaults.

• The same strength noted above also includes a well of Force power with seemingly no limit whatsoever. Please remove this from the Shroud of Terror and place it under its' own strength, with added balance, if you wish to retain it. I will then re-review that strength.

The Phobis Core is, literally, a component of something far greater. It was designed with its counterparts and similar artifacts in mind. As the Core, it exercises dominance over these Creations, allowing the wielder to increase, decrease, or nullify their affects entirely.

• At no point in time will a submission be permitted to negate, or otherwise control the affects of another person's submission. (At least one of these have been submitted in the past by another member.) Furthermore, no information on the core or devices hint at this ability, and it is far reaching in its' goal. About the only thing I would be comfortable with here is stating that in the presence of the other devices its' aura and ability to spread fear is increased marginally, dependent upon how many of the devices are in close proximity.

For this reason doe the Core not possess the innate ability to cast their terror abroad, instead possessing a smaller presence and the ability to uplift its wielders.

• I am confused about this. Are you saying that the core also allows for Battle Meditation's effects to be felt? We are beginning to tread into the waters of a device that simply has too many Force powers attached to it if so. Please clarify what you mean here so that I can better judge this portion of the strengths.

Finally, while the weaknesses here are a fine general template to follow for an item similar to this, the submission is question is vastly outweighed by its strengths and therefore the weaknesses listed simply are insufficient. You will need to build further on them to better balance this, and/or make the necessary changes above before I can better judge this submission.

Please tag me when ready or with questions. Thank you.

 

[Malok]

[member="Jamie Pyne"]

Hey there, thanks for picking up the submission!

So, my intention here was twofold. One, if a writer studies the Core and subjects themselves to its full effects, they will learn a perversion of Battle Meditation that can be employed over a large distance. This, per SWTOR, is the Canon ability of a Dread Master, as they were able to use the ability to terrorize ships in orbit. The Core itself isn't producing the affect, but I was attempting to describe the Canon ability the user can learn. Over vast distances means localized battlefield and I will be making that clear in the edits. The Dread Masters never used their powers to strike fear on Coruscant while they were on Nar Shaddaa.

Two, I wanted to flesh out the Core's Darkside presence. It has been demonstrated via the Dark Harvest event that Phobis Devices on Chaos can affect a vast distance/localized battlefield by themselves. This is not a user employing what they've learned but rather the device itself affecting a large portion of the Dark Harvest fleet engagement. So, rather than have that affect, I vastly narrowed and condensed it to a roughly 15 meter Nexus with fringe effects.

At its center, the terror on the untrained mind is at its worst, but lessens significantly the further out one is from it. Admittedly Aura of Uneasiness was a poor choice of words and will be removed as a comparison, but the goal here was that, if one is on the edge of the Nexus, they feel significant unease. If they get closer, they feel afraid. Get within arm's reach and don't have applicable resistances/defenses? Get the full brunt of Force Fear. I'll remove the mention of Force Insanity entirely as well.

For comparison's sake the Nexus/wellspring is one typical of any Master work alchemical creation. It can be drawn from for an additional boost to potency or to refresh one's reserves to an extent, but it won't be a bottomless well by any stretch. The later mention of "uplifting it's user" was in reference to the availability of extra energy from the Nexus. I will add the following disclaimer: "...to further enhance their vicious assaults to a marginal degree, or to provide a modest refreshment to their reserves. However, both the Wellspring and the assistance drawn from it are the furthest thing from infinite and can be considered on par with Masterwork alchemical creations."

So, TLDR, I will be making the following edits (and I'm getting this straight with you before making them because Photoshop will most likely be involved as will yelling at code, lol)

- Clarifying that the Core does not produce the corrupt Battle Meditation.
- Clarifying that the corrupt Battle Meditation occurs over a localized battlefield.
- Removing Aura of Uneasiness and Force Insanity as descriptors: it's Force Fear at varying levels within the Nexus/Wellspring radius.
- Clarifying that the Wellspring gives only a modest replenishment to reserves/modest boost to corrupt Battle Meditation on par with typical, Masterwork alchemical creations.

And, instead of the Core itself getting a boost, would you be fine with the Core giving other Fear-centric creations a boost if it is in their proximity? Regardless of answer I will be removing the ability to influence the creations of others.

If we're on the same page after this I will make the applicable edits immediately.

 

[Jamie Pyne]

[member="Darth Metus"]

I think that will clean things up. I will check it over again afterwards, but I think that should mostly cover it.

 

[Tefka]

Approved.

 

[Tefka]

[member="Jamie Pyne"] [member="Darth Metus"]

This submission's original approval has been rejected. This does not count against Second Chances and is not reflective of the submission's content. Please continue with the normal approval process and any edits requested by Factory Staff.

 

[Jamie Pyne]

[member="Darth Metus"]

Let me know if you need additional time to make the edits as I will move this to pre-factory if so.

 

[Malok]

[member="Jamie Pyne"]

I'll have the edits done by tomorrow morning!

 

[Malok]

[member="Jamie Pyne"]

"The Phobis core will empower its wielder with a vicious perversion of Battle Meditation" has been changed to "The Phobis core will tutor its wielder, equipping them with a vicious perversion of Battle Meditation."

"even over vast distances" has been changed to "even over an entire, localized battlefield."

"...the average soul will feel pronounced Unease (i.e. Aura of Uneasiness)" has been changed to "the average soul will feel pronounced Discomfort (i.e Shivers down one's spine, Chills, etc.)"

"...until Fear enters his mind (10 meters)" has been changed to "...until Fear invades his mind (10 meters; mid-tier Force Fear.)"

"Breaching this distance, the affect grows...True Madness (i.e. Force Insanity)" has been changed to "...can result in True Terror (i.e. High-grade Force Fear.)

"enhance their own vicious assaults" has been changed to "enhance their own vicious assaults, (to a marginal degree) or replenish their own reserves (to a modest degree.)"

"As the Core, it exercises dominance over these creations...nullify their affects entirely." has been changed to "As the Core, it shares a unique relationship with these devices, allowing the wielder to augment their natural abilities by a moderate degree."

"For this reason does the Core...the ability to uplift its wielders." has been changed to "For this reason does the Core not possess the innate ability to cast a localized and perverse Battle Meditation. Instead, it possesses a smaller presence in the Force and the ability to impart the arcane art through knowledge." Furthermore, all mentions of the Phobis Core affecting/nullifying other fear-inducing artifacts has been removed.

 

[Jamie Pyne]

[member="Darth Metus"]

Thank you! Given the disclaimer in the spoiler and the edits made I am comfortable approving this.

 

[Jamie Pyne]

Approved.