Approved Tech Wraith Shroud Projector Mk. I

[Darth Prazutis]

• Intent: A compact, squad-scale deception & psychological emissions suite for the Nyctophage-class Wraith Drone. Produces believable multi-spectrum ghost returns and dread-tuned sensor artifacts to mislead defenders, fracture target solutions, and create openings for lethal strikes.
• Image Source:
  • Headers - Teresa Zambrano | Darth Pellax
• Canon Link: N/A
• Permissions: N/A
• Primary Source: N/A

• Manufacturer:
  
  • Malsheem Hypernautics and Manufacturing
• Affiliation:
  
  • The Kainate
• Market Status: Closed-Market
• Model: Wraith Shroud Projector Mk. I
• Modularity: No
• Production: Limited
• Material:
  • Bloodsteel Frame
  • Phantom Emitter Nodes
  • Psychocrystal Cells
  • Holo-Lattice Mapper Core
  • Phase/Scatter Mesh

• Phantom Emitter Array: Compact directional emitters and passive reflectors that broadcast shaped false returns across radar, IR, thermal, passive RF bands and other forms of sensors. These nodes create physically plausible echoes (engine harmonics, plume shapes, thermal blobs) rather than random noise, making false targets convincingly "real" to automated and human systems.
• Holo-Lattice Signal Mapper: Fast, on-the-fly mapper that scans local sensor modalities and composes multi-spectrum ghosts which match the defender's sensor expectations. It fuses sampled environmental data and Nyctophage signature templates to produce consistent ghosts that resist basic pruning algorithms.
• Signature Mimicry Kernel: A library of harvested Nyctophage telemetry templates (engine harmonics, weapon discharge transients, Nightcloak residues). The kernel injects unique, consistent signature quirks into ghosts so they convincingly imitate real drones and fool fire-control prioritization.
• Temporal Orchestrator (Packlink Sync): Sequences and phases ghost returns across multiple drones to choreograph bait→lure→strike patterns. Packlinked Projectors coordinate timing so ghosts appear to move, flank, retreat, or split in ways that draw attention and shape defensive responses.
• Psychic Overlay Module: Lightweight, sigil-wired routines that layer subtle visual and audio artifacts onto optical and neural-assisted feeds. Flickers, silhouettes, micro-audio echoes, heartbeat-like pulses. This module is tuned to provoke hesitation and emotional bias in organic crews and mid-tier AIs trained on organic cues. (Effect is diminished in Force Nullification)
• Phase-Smear Engine: Intentionally offsets and smears timing relationships of plumes, doppler, and thermal bloom to make velocity vectors inconsistent and force trackers to re-solve movement and range data.
• Emitter Discipline & Sink Manager: Schedules emissions and routes waste signatures into Hexphase channels to avoid unrealistic energetic spikes; manages heat and RF budget to maintain deception without betraying itself through sustained emission artifacts.
• Local Friend-Flagging & Safe-Exit Beacon: Short encrypted friend-flags emitted on allied channels and a limited reveal window to mitigate friendly fratricide; allows Kainate controllers identification of the true unit among ghosts.

• Tactical Misdirection: Generates believable, multi-spectrum ghosts that force defenders to waste point-defense, cycle shields on false arcs, and reassign interceptor vectors. The result is time and space for Nyctophages to close, strike, or disengage with reduced immediate opposition.
• Psychological Pressure: The ritualized overlay injects subtle sensory artifacts that increase human operator hesitation and degrade morale. Paired with Dreadskin Field, the Projector compounds sensory confusion into outright panic and poor decisions.
• Pack Multiplication: Effects scale non-linearly with squad size, each additional projector multiplies the illusion's credibility and enables complex choreographies (baiting lanes, simulated flanking, feigned routs).
• Low Physical Cost: Designed for lightweight fighters. Small mass/energy footprint relative to effect. Can be podded or hull-panel mounted without heavy rewiring of the Nyctophage frame.
• Adaptive Learning: Built-in learning kernels refine ghost behavior against repeated opponents, increasing effectiveness over multiple engagements unless defenders adapt.

• Prunable by High-Fidelity Correlation: Defenders using simultaneous, independent sensor bands, and high sample rates can cross-verify and prune ghost returns eventually, weakening the deception.
• Vulnerable to Dedicated EW / Analysis: Signal analysts and dedicated EW teams can fingerprint Projectors over time and issue counter-signatures or filters that reduce effectiveness against the same opponents.
• Force Nullification: While under Force Nullification the Psychic Overlay weakens or fails, reducing the Projector to purely electronic ghosts and removing the dread amplification.
• Not a Physical Decoy: Projector illusions collapse under direct physical inspection, so it cannot replace physical decoys or hard masks in prolonged engagements.
• Maintenance & Calibration: Sigil wiring and psychocrystal microcells require ritual re-attunement and periodic maintenance; neglect reduces realism and invites quick detection.

The Wraith-Shroud Projector Mk. I is an instrument of elegant cruelty. Rather than forcing an enemy to look away, it teaches them to look wrongly. Conceived in the ritual foundries of the Shadow Mind and assembled in the obsidian workshops beneath Malsheem, the Projector was born from a doctrine of deception. The Kainate long ago learned that fear sharpens weapons; the Projector weaponizes that lesson by turning sensors into storytellers that tell frightening, false tales.

Technically it is a layered deception suite. At its core the Phantom Emitter Array and Holo-Lattice Signal Mapper build multi-spectrum echoes that mimic the Nyctophage's physical and electronic signatures. The Signature Mimicry Kernel stitches the ghosts with the small, identifying quirks the Kainate harvests from real kills, a sputter of ion bloom here, the micro-recoil chirp of a Phantasmal Ripper there, so defenders treat ghosts as plausible friends or foes. The Temporal Orchestrator then animates those ghosts into dance: feints, flanks, retreats, movements selected to force poor choices from defenders.

Where the Projector becomes true Kainate art is in its ritualized edge. The Psychic Overlay Module weaves sigil wires and psychocrystal harmonics into the generated imagery, producing those tiny, uncanny moments that snag human attention. a silhouetted face that dissolves, a heartbeat echo on a sensor channel, a micro-glimpse of a supposed crew scrambling. The overlay does not smash minds; it biases them. Under that bias, crews misfire, watchers hesitate, automated scripts drop confidence thresholds, all the things the Nyctophage needs to bite.

Doctrinal use emphasizes pack behavior. One drone becomes bait; another the stroker; a third hides in the pattern's negative space. The Projector's greatest power is multiplication: a single projector confuses, a squad of projectors convinces. When coordinated with other Kainate technological overlays, the Wraith-Shroud Projector turns a hit into a rout, not by sheer force but by teaching the enemy to hurt itself with misapplied defenses.

Yet commanders who prize it understand its limits. The Projector buys breathing space, not permanent invisibility. Against modern fleets with high-fidelity fusion, LIDAR interrogation, or expert EW cells, its ghosts can be pruned. Its psychological tricks are weakest in Force-dead locales. The Kainate accepts these constraints; they make the Projector a surgical tool rather than a blunt one. Use it for approach lanes, baited points, and to shape the psychology of encounters, then strike decisively.

 

[Krass Wyms]

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