Ashin Cardé Varanin
Are you on the square?
OUT OF CHARACTER INFORMATION
- Intent: Training equipment
- Image Source: Pain box, Dune
- Canon Link: N/A
- Permissions: N/A
- Primary Source: None
- Manufacturer: Ashin Varanin (design), Bard Independent (manufacture)
- Affiliation: Closed market
- Model: Tonkutaji ('bitten by lightning' in an old Zuguruk technical dialect)
- Modularity: No
- Production: Limited
- Material: Turadium, steristeel, electronics, electrical insulation
- Electrified steristeel injection needle x2 (opposed: palm and back of hand)
- Toxin/drug reservoir
- Trains multiple skills simultaneously
- Can use any injectable toxin or drug
- Only trains those skills relative to the student's hand
With very few exceptions, Force training tools fit comfortably under the heading of 'a ball.' Impatient with the available offerings, Ashin Varanin designed and commissioned this specialized tool to teach various kinds of precise Force protection.
The student puts their hand in the box, at which point a pair of opposing electrified needles attempts to inject them with a preselected toxin or drug. A typical choice would induce pain, numbness, confusion, or convulsions. The nonlethal electric charge is calibrated for similar effects. The student must use the Force to protect their hand from the needles and the electric charge for as long as possible. If the student gets injected, resisting or controlling the charge instantly becomes vastly harder, and vice versa.
A typical training session involves standing with one's hand in the box for minutes or even hours - often followed by an impromptu session on detoxification. Breaking the needles or internal circuitry out of anger or desperation is a more serious failure than poor endurance. Cheating is discouraged in the strongest possible terms.
The name is an extremely niche joke. Apart from its fitting literal translation ('bitten by lightning'), Tonkutaji is also the title of an obscure and trashy romance novel from the Marka Ragnos era.
