Sword of a Thousand Truths

[Janick Beauchamp]

These past months were rough on Janick, and she will never be the same again after the events of Dagobah, after which she took time away from alchemy to fight that war, especially as it pertained to Utapau, where she had the very unpleasant experience of facing the problems her seemingly perfect memory was giving her in starfighter combat. And to sit in on NIMB meetings in the interim, with Griet as an observer that doesn't do anything other than perhaps taking notes that may be relevant to the Circle or the Verdict. With the Utai Force Detector soon going up for sale, after complications arising from the crystal-making process, and the alcoholic and drill bit portions of the business still going smoothly, with Alyssa and Griet handling those, she had to resume cold-calling potential clients for the purposes of resuming the production of customized equipment. She prepared her datapad for sending out that message to the next client, feeling that the likelihood that it will succeed is very hit-or-miss, as is the case with any cold-calling.

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ATTN: [member="Sky'ito Yumi"]

You look like someone that often goes on adventures; for this reason you desire equipment that is tailored to your needs. At the Utai Magic Circle, we can produce a wide variety of custom imbued equipment. Please let us know what works for you.

Janick Beauchamp
Owner, Utai Magic Circle

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[Sky'ito Yumi]

It had been a while since the events on Charro, once again the fighting and constant combat winding down allowing Sukai to return to more personal need and issue on hand, though one thing stuck in the young Jin mind during her last combat assignments. It was that woman, Seras Rose, the Atrsian that engaged in a traditional Samrui duel, well it would have been traditional if both participant where using Katana's or other similar weapons, but as it stood Sukai had yet to craft or purchase a weapon like that. It was actually kind of shameful that she had yet to craft a blades for her own use, Tanasuki already having forged two blade for combat use, and at a much younger age then now.

So, when checking through her messages the one from a certain [member="Janick Beauchamp"] certainly peaked the young Grey Jedi's interest, wasting no time traveling to planet of Utaqu in serch of this Utai Magic Circle organization. Perhaps she would be able to learn something while at it, herself always seeking to expand her knowledge in all aspect of the force. Landing her Eta-2 Actis-class interceptor and after a short walk, Sukai soon found herself at the entrance of Utapau Alchemy Castle.

 

[Janick Beauchamp]

Said Eta-2 Actis was eating up nearly all the space of the pavement in front of the castle's garage; such was the problems of building McMansions on half-acre plots. But one thing's likely to be: a client has arrived. Whether it was [member="Sky'ito Yumi"] or not, she would need to get out of the castle to greet the client flying the Eta-2 Actis to determine it, while leaving Alyssa and Griet to their own devices. Oh boy, I guess Daedel didn't have much of a choice; the Mobquet was far too big to land in a garage pavement, but the Eta-2 Actis was just the right size for that. Then again, for what I know, Sukai may be asking for a beskad, in which case I will have to undertake the process of folding beskar over and over, and infuse the Force-energy prior to the quenching phase, she thought, while the memory of that particular client was still lingering in her mind, alongside the memory of the process that led to Stephanie forging her own beskad, as she went from the turret storefront to the garage pavement to greet the client. She then looked at Sukai once she could get close to her:

"I'm Janick; welcome to the Utapau Alchemy Castle" she tells Sukai before taking her to the storefront, at the ground level of the castle's main turret.

 

[Sky'ito Yumi]

Sukai slowly walked up the mansion steps, but waiting a few paces away from the store front not wanting to intrude, surely someone heard her lands the ancient fighter in the nearby lot, a snug but nice fit if she was to say so herself. It was an exciting time, never having tired to get a force or alchemy infused weapon before, documents on their cutting power and strength sending a small shiver or joy up her spin as she awaited someone to greet her. 'I wonder what they will be like, the only real company people I ever met was Meran for mechanical item, but force objects that is something new'. Her wait came to an end as the sound and dark grey like feel of a individual approaching echoed into her ears, Sukai turning her head to view who it may be. Said individual being a dark haired and pale skin woman in spell weaver like attire, a red making just above her bosom, proceeding to introduce herself as [member="Janick Beauchamp"]. "It is nice to meet you Beauchamp-sama, my name I Sukai'ito Yumi", she replied with a bow before following the woman into the store front, "I was very interested in your client proposal, I have yet to do alchemy and force infusing arts as of yet".

 

[Janick Beauchamp]

Meran Mechanics... what I did with them was to supply them a set of special alchemical drill bits for mining! Ultimately, it turned into the item responsible for drilling the Asobi 95% tihaar, which I drink regularly today and, in fact, it's the primary booze I drink, she thought, while [member="Sky'ito Yumi"]'s surface thoughts were focused on one Kami Meran, and resisting the urge to drink more of that azeotropic goodness. Of course, a stream of memories surfaced in her mind regarding the Merans and the Asobi 95% tihaar, and also as it pertained to Griet. Then again, she prepared a sterile vacutainer, just in case the client actually commissions anything that isn't already on the storefront. Other than a crystal-based item, that is. So the client was Atrisian? In Janick's mind, it usually meant that they had rather special specifications if they wanted beskar-forged items; the helmets they wanted out of a beskar'gam were usually nothing like the T-visors Mandos tended to order, and the beskads were curved, with one cutting edge. Sukai may have noticed that the red mark on Janick's bosom was also the Magic Circle's logo.

"Let's see: before we begin, there are two things I ask of you. First, is there an item you may be using on a regular basis and that you want imbued? Second, I would be taking a sample of your blood, so as to ensure that the resulting Force-imbued item is not contaminated"

 

[Sky'ito Yumi]

Sukai had already brought the parts necessary to make the Katana, not daring to forge it and assemble the parts together just yet, wanting to be in the presence of someone else and infuse it with the force while still fresh out of the fires. It may not have made a difference in the long run but it was important to her in the path of becoming a true Rien-Jin Samurai, maybe in the future attain a set of armor similar to those wore by the high class warriors. She wondered if [member="Janick Beauchamp"] had much experience with that sort of stuff, people often describing Atrisan and Jin armor and clothing style as, alien and strange, even when compared to actual Xeno's and what they consider clothes. "Guess people are just not be able to understand everything, though I have a feeling this woman know a thing or two about our culture". Continuing to follow the rather top exposed woman Sukai perked her head up upon the necessary requirements for the proceeding event.

"I have the parts that I want to craft the item out of, if you where to have some sort of forge or table where I can construct it that would be fine, and as for my blood, I do not mind, anything to make this transaction go smoothly, just tell me what I need to do, and what do avoid.

 

[Janick Beauchamp]

So the client already brought the components, but did not perform the final assembly? No problem; better imbue components before the final assembly, she thought. While Janick took out a sample of blood from [member="Sky'ito Yumi"], she went through the blood analysis to screen for pathogens and other stuff susceptible to contaminate the final product by using the equipment downstairs, and didn't find anything susceptible to contaminate the final product, or its components. Now that she had the assurance that the blood was safe for use to imbue the objects, she put the vacutainer in a special, single-use spray that and prepared the workbench with a sterile cloth, not unlike those used in hospitals' surgery rooms, so that Sukai could place the components without risk of contaminating the surfaces. After taking Sukai to the basement where the workbench is and handling the components with care, she then readies the spray for spraying the blood that will then hold the Force-energy in place. This is the sort of spray that is used to spray disinfectants onto patients so it makes tiny droplets.

"Here's what it takes: first, gently spray the blood over the components"

 

[Sky'ito Yumi]

Sukai held out had hand for [member="Janick Beauchamp"] to take the blood sample, no stranger to losing a bit of blood for a good cause, only feeling a small stab of pain when the blood was extracted. The small wound that may have been visible healing up instantly once, it kind of got Sukai thinking, would her vampire blood affect the alchemy in any way? make it stronger? darker? all questions she waned to ask the master crafts woman while following her down into the laboratory basement. While Janick got the spray ready herself went about placing down the parts of the sword she wish to make, hilt cross guard and the fine piece of metal that would be used for the swords blade. Said metal would soon be put through the trial of fire, folded many times over and forged into a deadly sharp edge. Sukai gave the alchemist a nod taking the spray she went to work covering the components with the thin mist of the red liquid.

"What may I ask the next step to be? infusing it with my force powers"?

 

[Janick Beauchamp]

"You have to concentrate and think long and hard about the properties while you are infusing the Force into those components. The blood will attract Force-energy like a magnet"

Janick remembered very clearly what she learned about forging from Stephanie Brown, one of her very earliest clients. It may well be applicable here, too, since the final item will be forged the Atrisian way by [member="Sky'ito Yumi"], which, in Janick's mind, was similar to beskar forging as far as heat treatment is concerned. Quenching and then tempering. In fact, it was the reason why Stephanie didn't alchemize her songsteel sword. But, other than Joon's Sith sword, and even then it was more of a repair than actually crafting it from scratch, she didn't forge that many items. Why is it that Stephanie comes back to haunt me here? Is it the nature of the objects Sukai just put in the table? Perhaps the usual clientele I had lately was of a different variety; she did alchemize crystals for different ends and purposes, after all. Such as Force-detectors or lightsaber crystals. Out of sawdust or mead respectively. I shall see what the effect of energy vampire blood is for alchemizing, she thought, while also remembering that she had an oil drum in the backyard for quenching items for the purposes of forging.

"In fact, what I have to say here is applicable whenever you wish to forge imbued items the Atrisian way or forging imbued from songsteel or beskar: better infuse the Force before the item is quenched. The reason is that the Force may contribute to the internal stresses in the object"

 

[Sky'ito Yumi]

"Think long and hard, okay I think I understand, sort of like meditating but making your force aura flow around you in a more physical sense".

It was something she had only really read about in history holo books and informational study sessions with some Jedi masters, though most of that was light side alchemy and force enhancing stuff, nothing really to do with blood. Still it felt like a fitting arrangement and slightly ironic, having to coat her own blood on the metal to be blade and other components, once again being a vampire and all. After infusing the metal Sukai turned her attention back to the alchemy master, a little surprised [member="Janick Beauchamp"] knew about Atrisan forging methods, well she was a crafting expert after all, guess she was just used to everyone treating her race as strange.

"So your saying the force infusing making the metal stronger thus means the forging practice makes the blade even powerful if done separately"? That made a good amount of sense since the enhancement made the blade tougher and heavier, most likely counteracting the down side of Atrsian forging that often left a sword a little more brittle then regular forging. As such her blade would probably be stronger and thus deadlier then a regular force enhanced blade, a befitting weapon of a Samurai and hopefully once she reaches such rank a Jedi Master, that got her thinking a bit.

"Question, would I be able to study alchemy here some time"? If she was one day to be a Jedi master, learning everything she could was a must, regardless of its force alignment.

(song steel is restricted so I may have to use Desh-Ternthium)

 

[Janick Beauchamp]

"Pretty much; in fact, you're learning alchemy as applied to metallurgy now. But yes, the aim is to render the metal stronger and hence more cutting power, more durability and, of course, lightsaber resistance"

There were four branches usually associated with alchemy: genetic modifications, metallurgy, crystallography and chemistry. Janick knew the last three, on the back of her own chemistry knowledge, physical, organometallic, analytical and whatnot, but she knew she shouldn't make Sukai use Drain Knowledge on her, lest [member="Sky'ito Yumi"] fall to the dark side. But Janick was satisfied with the answer; she knew Atrisian techniques were recommended when the impurity content was heavy on the impurities. Much like the first beskad she alchemized, belonging to one Kami Meran, who used Atrisian techniques to forge a flammenschwert. Even then she was lucky that the beskad was not that brittle, not as she remembered it. Was Kami an Atrisian Mando? she thought, while memories of Kami's beskad, folded 700 times, were flashing in her mind, and perhaps the answer to this question will allow her to allay any issues regarding imbueing of the material. Just that there were a few rooms for learning new stuff in alchemy, and often it made learning easier if auxiliary intellectual learning is made first. In fact, it would have been a lot more painful for Janick to learn alchemy if she didn't know anything about chemistry at all.

"Crystallography or chemistry might be the next step for you in your alchemical learning. Before you return here, you may be interested to either read on chemistry or consult holocrons that contain chemical knowledge. It's surprising just how that kind of knowledge can make your life easier when learning alchemy"

 

[Sky'ito Yumi]

"I did not know alchemy had different branches, interesting, well that is nice to know, and yes, being able to resist sabers, such an interesting ability, is it bad to say I cannot wait to try this out"?

It was interesting to not how skills could branch off form one thing to another, similar to how certain force powers then had sub abilities, like force lighting with kinetic, force sense with empathy. It would only make sense that something as versatile as alchemy would work the same, Sukai assuming that there would be parts allocated to the field of chemistry, perhaps magic and spirits, maybe even more but those were all that came to mind.

"Crystallography, I am assuming that is to do with light saber crystals and other kinds", like the one for cloaking shields, blaster and maybe even just plain old jewellery, that would be a rather interesting concept to work with. Perhaps she would be able to see what made her Sith saber work, herself always being a bit reluctant to take it apart without a proper master nearby to keep careful tabs.

"I will once getting back to the Jedi temple, have been meaning to pick up on some more books as of late", a small conversation with a certain Verd clan Mando making her get into mechanical stuff as well. "So what is the next step in crafting, am I able to forge the blade now or must I do something else with the metal"?

[member="Janick Beauchamp"]

 

[Janick Beauchamp]

"You may be able to forge now, just that the forge in my backyard is, well, cold. I'll start it now, using coal"

So [member="Sky'ito Yumi"] has, in fact, successfully infused the Force into these components, but it's putting it all together that was still left to go. The forge equipment, a hammer, an anvil, both of which are duranium, and hence pretty heavy to use, and other equipment that seem to be more appropriate to work metal using Atrisian methods. For this reason, she took all of the components in a location near the sharpening stone, where [member="Sky'ito Yumi"] could collect them and put any combination of those in the fires. For now, anyway, Janick simply checked whether the three components of the triangle of fire were present to light the fire: she could most readily act on the fuel or on the heat; the oxidizer was another aspect entirely. The heat was the missing part, and hence she proceeds in bringing up the heat above the coal, and, since she feels it is easier to act on the gas for heat, rather than the solid coal, she simply tries heating the air above it by calculating PV = NRT in her head, while using the calculations to act upon the air with the Force. And then... the coal is igniting, and is being brought to the temperature Sukai needs to forge the sword.

 

[Sky'ito Yumi]

"I guess you do not get many people that want to forge their weapons on sight".

She would have suggested using fire shaping or alter enviroment to make the flames come to life, but it would have been disrespectful in several different ways, not only that the quality of the flame would also not be up to proper forging standards. After all a blade was only as good as the fire it was made in, similar to baking a cake or other food, just needed things to be at that perfect point, least you screw it up and have to start all over again. Slowly Sukai followed behind [member="Janick Beauchamp"] as they made it to the forge, all the equipment hanging up with nice pristine look, the fire place not looking to have been used all that recently. Standing to the side she inspected her components one last time, feeling the metal she would use, itself already feeling much heavier, thus may take a little longer to forge, but time was not really a problem to Sukai, though she still wondered if her unique blood added something new to the steel. Soon though the feel and sounds of crackling flame began to take over her senses, turning back around to the furnace which was now ablaze with a very hot flame and charcoal, herself walking over, placing is over the flame, but that would not be all. As to make the blade even stronger Sukai would be implementing the use the Honsanmai method which used high carbon medium carbon and low carbon steel into the mix in different layers. Such a method made the point of the sword the hardest sharp and cutting but not making the overall weapon brittle as the core was kept normal and the side made with hard but still testily strong medium steel, it was the most common method of making a Katana, but with the use of her Desh-Ternthium alloy and force infusion such a blade would be much, much stronger.

 

[Janick Beauchamp]

"The main item to watch out for is, of course, contaminants in the blood or the base materials. As for vampire blood, it didn't seem to be much of an issue here: when blood is involved, the spirit ichor tends to bind to the midichlorians in the blood"

Talismanic effects usually came from different varieties of spirit ichor vs. what was infused here, but a Force-user's blood, and is usually key here, since the midichlorians are magnets for the spirit ichor, she thought, while recalling on the effects of the dark side in a chemical context: she could induce early drunkenness with infusing the dark side in a few drops of blood blended in a case of beer, delirium tremens and anaphylactic reactions with mead, and she can even have spirit ichor induce reactions that can transform a molecule into one of its isomeres. Once the flames reached the proper temperatures, [member="Sky'ito Yumi"] was now in position to get the forging process started, with the oil drum for quenching being next to her, should Sukai even get into the position to plunge a red-hot or white-hot blade into it. For now, anyway, she'd rather let Sukai work on forging the alchemized katana using the Honsanmai method, and she returned to the castle proper, in hopes of creating some sort of potion that would help people fall asleep while replenishing their nutrients. Or some other alchemical consumable.

 

[Sky'ito Yumi]

"Contaminated blood? like illnesses or some sort of narcotics that may be in the blood stream, how do those effect alchemy, does it have to do with the midichlorains, and the fact certain substances mess with them"?

It was an interesting field to consider spirits bonding and the wide science behind the force and it's many wonders, but would have to wait, the forge heating up, making the steel placed within its glowing coals burn brightly. Slowly she moved the metal around allowing it to become soft enough to bringing it out of the forge and hammering it out flat along with the it's softer steel counterpart, bit by bit making the atoms on the inside more oval shape, increasing the already insane strengths. Once again, she inserted the metal into the flames, banging it out, folding the metal as standard on Atrsian frogging methods, hardening it more so, each time it folded becoming slightly more difficult to the increased hardness and tensile strength, any minor impurities in the metal now gone. Finally, it came to the lamination, Sukai hammering the edge steel into a U shape, inserting the soft core and medium mental on the sides, making the fit snug before letting the forge heat slowly meld the pieces together. Once again, Sukai bringing it out of the fire, bit by bit with precision hammering the material into the slightly curved shape of the iconic Katana repeating the process over and over until finally dunking it into the nearby water filled oil drum, a huge well of steam coming up. Once all don't and clear a dull but tough looking blade looking metal appendage sat within Sukai's grasp, many hours having passed since the beginning, but well worth the tedious task.

[member="Janick Beauchamp"]

 

[Janick Beauchamp]

"Spirit ichor tends to amplify the power of things such as narcotics or pathogens, rendering the items poisonous, with effects that are, most of the time, amplified versions of the original contaminants' effects" Janick answered, while returning to the forge.

The most dangerous stuff came from mixing two or more such contaminants in the blood: usually it was because of intermolecular interactions, including but not limited to, multi-drug interactions. That is, when one mixes two or more molecules, and their conformations change as a result, with the corresponding change in properties, such as how they interact with cells, and other chemicals, as explainable by stereochemistry. It didn't necessarily mean that the resulting mixture was more than the sum of its reagents, just different, and sometimes unpleasantly so. Oh: Sukai isn't the only one that was humbled by my sheer knowledge of alchemy, backed by my chemical knowledge, and, perhaps I left Sukai a lasting impression of me as a knowledgeable person, maybe even as a genius, while remaining mindful that the correlation between knowledge and intellect, while positive, is far from perfect, she thought, while remembering her various encounters where her knowledge was a factor, like Iturizu. [member="Sky'ito Yumi"], on the other hand, seemed to be busy and embroiled in the process of forging the blade, using Atrisian methods. Time-consuming as they were, she could tell Sukai knew what she was doing in the forge.

 

[Sky'ito Yumi]

Sukai turned her head around to see [member="Janick Beauchamp"] walking back, giving her the answer to the narcotic question, "poisons hu, would that affect the users and the person hit by the blade"? A double edged affect, but if you were a species that could resist drugs or something of that manner, would it be a benefit to the user? Well Sukai never took drugs anyways, nor drunk that much either so was not really one to try out such methods, maybe her brother, Tana sometime partook in drinking, and being an assassin of sort you probably like a weapon with doping effects of some kind. "Well that is an interesting though, but I best get to finishing off the blade, much work to be done still, shaping a little more, sharpening, polishing all that". Taking the blade in hand Sukai took it over to the grind stone, sitting down as the wheel turned, slowly filling down the edges removing and small bumps and extra pieces that where unneeded. In but a few minutes the blade was not mostly smooth, no ridged sides, flat and straight, 'no time to sharpen it'. Rummaging through her belongings she produced a wetting stone, one used to sharpen a blade to make it's edge razor sharp, the Jedi sitting down in a kneeling position, gracefully sliding the blade against the fine sharpening stone. "So tell me Beauchamp, where would I be able to take lessons in alchemy, does you company run classes"?

 

[Janick Beauchamp]

"The reason why I wanted to ensure there would be no contaminants in the blood is because poisoned items affect both a blade's user and people hit by the blade"

Handle with care, they said, she thought, while memories of her chemistry lab courses are surfacing in her mind, regarding the handling of toxic substances. And also remembering that there was another person from her time as an undergraduate whose studies were cut short not because of Directive 12, but because that person was a disaster in the lab, or rather, a disaster at handling toxic substances, and yet, that person had superb book-learning comparable to her own in that era. And, while [member="Sky'ito Yumi"] was sharpening and polishing the blade, using a traditional Atrisian rotary whetting stone, she had to shake her head to stop replaying that unpleasant memory. All of that came to a head when Sukai was asking a question about whether the Utai Magic Circle could actually deliver alchemy lessons. To be frank, the other two alchemists in the Circle had their specialties: Sukai was not going to learn much from Griet that she didn't already learn from me, and Alyssa is more on the chemistry side, so I am the one handling all three, especially if Sukai is good enough to do crystallography, she thought, before providing an answer.

"To be frank, it's probably a thing for which you should request an appointment beforehand"

 

[Sky'ito Yumi]

"Ah I gathered as much, that would be nasty, but what if the user is imune to poison or certain effect? or what if the alchemy part was lets say, and arrow head of sorts to be used in a war Yumi"?

Her brother expressing interesting in archer but wanted to use a more old styled bow, not the modern energy ones, silence and also the lighter frame if she remembered correctly. Slowly the blades end became almost silver life, sharpening to a razor point in a few minutes, the tip pointy like the finest of spear, yes this would do nicely, now all she needed to do was put the handle on and wrap the grip around it, a small adjustments here and there, then, then she could test it. While gathering the Brylark tree wood hilt, holding the blade in one hand while slightly tapping it onto the sword end, finishing it off with a metal pommel. While gathering the armor weave that would make the grip she once again turned attention to [member="Janick Beauchamp"].

"Well I have no problem making an appointment and coming at a later date, it was more just a general question on weather the Utai Magic Circle ran them or not, sorry if there was any misconception".