Approved Tech The Voidsaber

[Kal]

OUT OF CHARACTER INFORMATION

• Intent: An unusual lightsaber-analogue for Greystone's catalogue.
• Image Source: Old Republic Era Jedi Lightsaber by Mike Wilson.
• Canon Link: N/A
• Permissions: N/A
• Primary Source: N/A

PRODUCTION INFORMATION

• Manufacturer: Unknown Sith Artificer, recovered by Greystone Mercantile.
• Affiliation: Greystone Mercantile
• Market Status: Closed-Market
• Model: The Voidsaber
• Modularity: Limited.
• Production: Unique
• Material: Alchemical Alloys, Synthetic Crystals, Forcesaber Components.

TECHNICAL SPECIFICATIONS

• Classification: Forcesaber
• Size: Average
• Weight: Average

SPECIAL FEATURES

• The Voidsaber is a specialised life-ending tool, the blade of Force energies it generates having been described as "distilled entropy" and "the idealised concept of decay". Upon making contact with living tissue it induces rapid cell death, with even brief contact having been known to render otherwise healthy limbs into shrivelled and useless appendages hanging limply from their sockets. It is not necessarily more lethal than a lightsaber, however - it is simply situationally useful due to its ability to bypass virtually* every type of armour.
  • *Force-imbued armour, certain forms of shielding, and plot armour (talk to your writing partners OOC, seriously, it's called cooperative RP for a reason - you only hit or do damage if they allow it) may prove to be effective countermeasures.
• The blade generated by the Voidsaber has been described as "the absence of colour" and "a hungry void".
• The Voidsaber is entirely Force-powered/activated and thus lacks any buttons of any kind.

STRENGTHS

• Lifesbane: The Voidsaber's blade passes through armour with ease but causes widespread cell death in most organic organisms.
• Esoteric: Designed differently from the modern lightsaber, the Voidsaber works fine underwater and is wholly unbothered by cortosis.
• Twinned: Unusual for its era, the Voidsaber is a fully functional dualsaber, including being able to be split into two fully-functional sabers.

WEAKNESSES

• Incorporeal: While useful for bypassing armour, its incorporeal nature prevents the Voidsaber from destroying droids/blast doors, deflecting blaster bolts, and so on - it will, however, clash with a lightsaber's containment field, force-imbued blades, and certain types of shielding.
• Anti-Magic: The Voidsaber does zilch against the Force-resistant and is unreliable at best if the user's force abilities are disrupted.
• Corruptive: As with most Forcesabers, the Voidsaber runs on the Dark Side and may influence wielders accordingly.
• Exclusive: The Voidsaber can only be used by Force Sensitives and is unstable in the hands of the untrained.

DESCRIPTION
The exact origins of the weapon known as the Voidsaber is somewhat unclear, no record of such a weapon having been found from before a small Greystone-sponsored "archaeological team" (tomb raiders) recovered it from the grave of a little-known Sith Lord on a fairly unremarkable moon.

While originally believes to be of Rakatan origins, carbon dating revealed its age at a bit less than five thousand standard years; still, its age and novel properties placed it squarely in the "really blood valuable" category, greatly pleasing their contact among the Investors and earning it a place of prominence in some upcoming auction or another - after the appropriate analysis and records-keeping, of course.

Given the age of the weapon, it is probably among the first dualsabers made by the ancient Sith. Unlike most designs from that era, it is made up of two fully-functional sabers, more likely due to the unusual design challenges of forcesabers than any real innovation.

 

[Takui]

Under Review

 

[Takui]

Hey there, so, I'm going to need you to give me a canon example of a weapon that can do this because I've never seen anything in Star Wars that can induce Lysis on contact.

I would also like to see an example of weapon that can bypass armor by way of being incorporeal. A standard Force Saber cannot do this, and this ability is incredibly powerful, even with the expressed caveat.

With that in mind, I want to express that my initial instinct is to deny this on concept, but I'd like to give you a chance to work on it and make it fit the setting.

Kal

 

[Kal]

Takui

I have no Canon examples to speak of, as I made it up myself as a curiosity of sorts; given that we're explicitly talking about Force energies, I would assume it would be something akin to the composition of a Force Blast* but more specialised. Thus the immunity enjoyed by, e.g., the Force Dead**.

Edit: Force Plague might be able to do something like this if taken to the logical extreme by a skilled user; I've not seen it done on Canon, only Chaos itself, but then most Canon Sith seem content to sling a bit of lightning around, unlike the maniacs on this board. In the same vein, Force Drain can do this and more; I've never seen it blocked by regular armour, only wibbely wobbely magic stuff, and that works on this too.

Edit2: I've also had pointed out that it stands to reason that if midi-chlorian manipulation can create life from the Force itself, it should also be able to destroy it; generally considered a simpler feat. Would certainly explain it not working on the Force Dead, droids, and the like.

I can certainly understand why this seems powerful, that's sort of inherent to anything that bypasses armour, but I would like to point out that most forms of armour will be cut through just as easily by lightsabers - and lightsabers don't stop working if the wielder's Force Use is disrupted (Ysalamiri, that thing Earl made that only works on organics not artefacts, the abilities that weaken/block a connection, etc.).

I'd thus argue that against any opponent not wearing a full suit of lightsaber-resistant armour (most Jedi, for one), it is less powerful than a lightsaber.

Finally, I would actually like to argue that it fits the setting - there is a plethora of strange items out there able to do all kinds of weirdness, doubly so in Chaos itself. This is a bit out there, sure, but is it further out there than soul-eating swords? Dark Side energies that destroy life but leave unliving metal untouched seems pretty thematically appropriate to me; certainly seems like something to emerge from the twisted mind of a Sith.

*Or, for that matter, Dark Side Tendrils. Similar, but specifically mentions "flesh and bone" under Sith Magic, [12] and [13].
**Assuming the word is used in the Force-immune and not the Force Sense-immune context. It's a bit... vague.
(Bless you and your impressively in-depth knowledge of Force Abilities, Elijah.)​

 

[Takui]

Kal

SO, after a lot of deliberation, I've got a response for you!

I've determined that there are several conflicts with this fundamentally. The first regards to the ability to pass through armor. This doesn't seem realistic for the setting; and given that the magnetic field of a lightsaber would somehow interact with metal, it seems unlikely that this would be plausible.

Likewise, even were the blade able to phase entirely, it would not reasonably cut anything because it would simply pass through flesh, bone, et al in the same way it passed through the armor.

Therefore, I posit that portion of the ability be removed. Since the decay falls in line with the frosty effects of various other lightsaber crystals (e.g. elemental type damage other than heat) I would reasonably see that portion as possible and be willing to approve it.

What do you think?

 

[Kal]

Takui

Firstly, I don't believe Forcesabers necessarily have the same inner workings as lightsabers; there is no clear mention of it having a comparable magnetic field that I can find, I always just assumed the blade kept its shape due to being constructed from force energies manifested from the wielder.

To be clear, the blade itself is meant to be incorporeal, but able to affect flesh due to (insert Force shenanigans); it clashing with various things is meant more to balance it than anything else, as well as facilitate the usual dramatic lightsaber duels. Plus Ray Shields may block the Force, see Legends.

If your stance is final, then this would be left objectively worse than a normal lightsaber in every way* - it has several limitations they don't and its only real strength was the ability to pass through armour - and so I guess I'd reluctantly turn it into a more generic blade that cuts through most lightsaber resistant materials by working kinda like Force Blast. Goodness knows there's a lot of lightsabers that do that on the board with few weaknesses.

*I trust you would agree that it uses far soften language than superheated limb-severing plasma?​

 

[Takui]

As I'm reading this, bear in mind I'm doing so with the thought process that this is in some manner a Force Saber or derivative, and therefore subject to the limitations of that canon item. Since I've seen no Canon precedent for that, and no alchemical alteration from source material has allowed this sort of thing, I just don't find it plausible.

With a tangible blade, you have more options for that kind of thing, but Alchemy is still fairly finite in what it can do. Investing a blade with poisons, bringing the dead back to life as hideous abominations, its got a lot of crazy things it can do, but creative license can only go so far. Without a precedent for a blade that is incorporeal, I just don't see it fitting within the theme of Star Wars.

I'm gonna defer this one to the admins/RPJs for a final say because ultimately the call is their's to make.

Kal John Locke Gir Quee

 

[Gir Quee]

Kal , Takui raises some really solid points, and in the days of the older factory, this likely would have been denied based on its power and lack of canon precedence.

With the latest iteration of the factory, in more gray areas like this, we tend to be more permissive and this will be approved. Keep in mind, it's entirely possible for someone to call what damage this inflicts if any, and that people can devise tech (armor, shields) that may end up countering this. But with such power as it is, this is a decent chance this could still be reported and pulled for rereview and possible denial later on.

Approved!