Kendari
12-08-2006, 09:16
I've been planning to start this for a while, and now I have a need for it. It will contain all the general information about Kendari that I want to have available, so that it won't have to be included bit-by-bit in every thread where it's relevent. I'm going to start with an overview of weapons and shielding because that's what I need first; more will be added as it's needed, when it's asked for, or when I happen to get it posted. Question are welcome.
Here it begins:
Weapons
The weapons manufacturing industry in Kendari is largely dominated by a handful of powerful corporations, each with its own set of specialties.
Narvok
The largest of the weapon companies, Narvok provides the majority of the Kendaryn military’s standard-issue gear. They are noted for the versatility and speed of their equipment. Each of these weapons has a wide selection of possible settings, including:
-Standard blaster bolt
-Heavy blaster bolt (used against armored infantry)
-Kinetic charges (a pulse of momentum and kinetic energy, virtually identical to a projectile)
-Thermal charge
-Photon pulse
-Stun bolt
-Shield carver
-Disintegration ray
-Tech-disruption beam
-Needle ray (fires a stream of small, narrow bolts at very high speed) (heavy blaster and larger)
-Attraction/repulsion beams (heavy blaster and larger)
Cannons have even more possible settings, including constant-fire beam weapons, complex layered bolts, multiple varieties of anti-shield fire, and attacks that lock onto the target.
Narvok sells blasters, heavy blasters, blast rifles, and small infantry cannons, all of which can be adjusted for long or short range fire, in addition to larger weapons. They are also one of several companies that produce reusable, programmable energy grenades. Most of the settings on these devices are omni-directional versions of the standard Narvok shots.
Tor Ganot
Narvok’s greatest rival is Tor Ganot, which specializes in maximizing the ratio of destruction caused to energy used. Tor Ganot was founded by an inventor who developed a means of producing a strange form of energy with properties between those of matter and electromagnetic radiation. Tor Ganot bolts are massless, but travel below the speed of light and do not disperse when passing through dust or refract when entering water. Upon striking a solid object or energy shield, the unstable bolts revert to thermal and kinetic energy. Slight variations in how the bolt is formed determine the details of this reversion. Tor Ganot guns have a sliding power control on one side and a set of buttons that control the firing mode on the other. The company offers micro blasters, blasters, heavy blasters, blast rifles, and heavy blast rifles. The micro blaster is roughly the size and shape of a ballpoint pen; it has no power control, and only two modes of fire. The expense of miniaturizing the device to this degree is rarely worth the limited energy that the gun can handle, but sometimes the ease with which the tiny gun can be concealed is useful. Tor Ganot heavy weapons, on the other hand, are quite capable of taking on and destroying armored vehicles. A somewhat more recent discovery led to the design of the Tor Ganot explosives placer, which can produce a motionless form of the bolt. This device, though short ranged, is very effective for demolition work and the rapid creation of minefields.
Delvar
Using a variant on the Tor Ganot equipment, Delvar guns fire shots that are affected much more strongly by gravity. Because of this, they follow a distinct arc, rather than the straight line more typical of energy weapons. This allows them to make use of powerful indirect fire techniques, and Delvar weapons serve as the Kendaryn answer to artillery. In addition to an easily portable weapon the size of a large rifle, Delvar makes guns that fit each of the standard turret sizes, with the smaller used for ground vehicles and the larger for LRA space vessels and stations.
Yamiri
The weapons produced on Yamir are widely considered some of the best available, with literally scores of settings. Though those sold are far less versatile than the models the Yamiri keep for themselves, their price still reflects this well deserved reputation. Snipers tend to be especially fond of Yamiri guns, which are far superior to competing product for this purpose. Some of the best known forms of fire are the paralysis beam, the Piercer, and the infamous ULTRA DEATH RAY. The Yamiri also produce deadly, versatile hand-to-hand weapons.
Tolmadren Energy Blades
Developed on the border-world Tolmad, these distinctive white energy swords swiftly became one of the most popular hand-to-hand weapons in the kingdom. The company, now based on Tanorial, produces everything from basic blades with no controls beyond a power switch to super-deluxe, multipurpose models with variable blade length and energy conservation equipment. In addition to the classic blade, T.E.B. produces stun batons, practice weapons and the unique and startling Tolmadren Blastblade.
T’zarith
As Tor Ganot is the biggest competitor of the Narvok corporation, the greatest rival of Tolmadren weaponry is the work of T’zarith. These blades look like ordinary steel, but contain a power core built into the handle. At the touch of a button, the blade is surrounded by a shell of energy that makes it a match for any hand-to-hand weapon Kendari has encountered. Some are fully functional when deactivated; others use a lighter aluminum blade to guide the shell.
The T’zarith Crescent, perhaps their most unusual weapon, is a double bladed long knife with a slightly curved grip, angled blades, and a hand guard in between. They are intended to be used in pairs, and were designed to counter those who wield an energy sword with unnatural speed and reflexes, such as Jedi and Sith, by giving the customer four short blades against the opponent’s single, longer weapon, and a quick, easy means of blocking.
Spark Grenades
Produced in cooperation by Narvok and Dektrel (a large company that specializes in combat drones), Sparks are the most versatile and expensive programmable grenade on the market. Somewhat larger than most such weapons, they are far more sophisticated, and notably more powerful.
Shields
Perhaps because of certain ties with the kingdom’s past, shields do not tend to be divided as thoroughly between companies as weapons in Kendari. There is a tremendous number of types of energy shielding, most of which can be projected by slightly modified forms of the same basic shield generator. A few of the most common are described below.
Barrier/simple/classic
This form of shielding simply projects a barrier of the specified shape and location. Objects, bolts of energy, and anything else that strikes the shield either bounce or splatter, depending on the durability of the colliding item. The power required to maintain the shield is minimal, but additional energy is needed to stop each attack. If incoming fire requires more energy than the shield generator can handle, it will either overload the device (damaging or destroying it) or pass through without triggering the shield, depending on the margin and the sophistication of the computer controlling the shield. This is the strongest form of shielding a standard generator can produce, but blinds the vessel using it unless hyperlinked observation drones are used.
Screens
Almost as strong as the simple barrier, a screen provides much greater control over what can and can’t pass through the shield. It does not stop electromagnetic radiation within a given frequency and intensity range, and can even be used as an air filter. Aside from this advantage and a slightly lower overall strength, this form is very simple to the classic.
Deflection Shield
The easiest way to describe this shield is that it is very hard and perfectly smooth. Light beams striking it are reflected perfectly, projectiles bounce off smoothly, and other attacks tend to react in a similar manner. It is not as strong as a screen when struck at a steep angle, but is far more effective against glancing blows. It is usually weaker against explosions.
Absorption
This easily maintained shield draws off the energy of an incoming attack, converts it into a usable form, and stores it in the attached power core. Projectiles slow or stop, and direct energy weapons diminish or vanish. However, there is a limit to how fast it can take in energy, and an attack with too much power will pass right through the shield.
Refire
A more complex form of the absorption shield, this barrier takes in the energy of an incoming attack, then puts it back out in the same form, but the opposite direction. This usually has the effect of ‘throwing’ the weapon back at the attacker. This added complexity limits it to about two thirds the power an ordinary absorption shield can handle; an attack carrying more energy than this will still have at least part of its energy reversed, but will overload the generator.
Cyclone
The Cyclone extends a field of energy around the protected object that accelerates incoming attacks in a direction parallel to the surface of the shield, making them more likely to miss. Although it is affected much less by the energy of the attack than most shields, it also requires a great deal of power to maintain. It often has little effect on guided missiles.
Scrambler
This setting projects a layer of constantly shifting, swirling layer of many kinds of energy and shielding. It is designed to shatter targeting locks and disrupt tractor beams, a task it usually handles well. It has no effect on attacks that do reach this layer.
Pulse Shield
In effective a very thorough close range point defense system, this setting sends a rapid series of destructive energy waves radiating out around the shield to detonate explosives and smash delicate equipment. It is highly effective against complex missiles and mines, but does little to simple projectiles and nothing to direct energy weapons. Only well-shielded weapons can get through without feeling these effects, but the range of the Pulse Shield is too short to render missiles completely harmless. A fair amount of power is required to maintain the shield.
Cloak
When electromagnetic radiation strikes part of the cloak, it is quickly absorbed, and a corresponding wave is emitted by the part of the shield that the radiation would have emerged from had nothing been present in the path. It provides near perfect camouflage across the EMR spectrum, but no direct protection against attack, and an intense EMR weapon can easily overload the generator while it is active. It does nothing to disguise other signs of the vessel, such as its gravitational signature, and ships designed with stealth in mind carry additional equipment for this purpose.
Siege/Bubble Shield
This variety of shielding requires a special generator, unlike the standard model. The shield is always perfectly spherical, and is not as quickly raised and lowered as most types, making it much more difficult to return fire while using siege shields for defense. It is, however, the strongest shield that Kendari can produce by a considerable margin, and has the unusual property that multiple generators can be used to power a single shield. Although it is rarely used by ships, it is well suited to protecting a planet during a nearby space battle or assault. Bubble shielding can serve as a filter or screen, and conditions affecting the surface can be monitored from within the shield.
Here it begins:
Weapons
The weapons manufacturing industry in Kendari is largely dominated by a handful of powerful corporations, each with its own set of specialties.
Narvok
The largest of the weapon companies, Narvok provides the majority of the Kendaryn military’s standard-issue gear. They are noted for the versatility and speed of their equipment. Each of these weapons has a wide selection of possible settings, including:
-Standard blaster bolt
-Heavy blaster bolt (used against armored infantry)
-Kinetic charges (a pulse of momentum and kinetic energy, virtually identical to a projectile)
-Thermal charge
-Photon pulse
-Stun bolt
-Shield carver
-Disintegration ray
-Tech-disruption beam
-Needle ray (fires a stream of small, narrow bolts at very high speed) (heavy blaster and larger)
-Attraction/repulsion beams (heavy blaster and larger)
Cannons have even more possible settings, including constant-fire beam weapons, complex layered bolts, multiple varieties of anti-shield fire, and attacks that lock onto the target.
Narvok sells blasters, heavy blasters, blast rifles, and small infantry cannons, all of which can be adjusted for long or short range fire, in addition to larger weapons. They are also one of several companies that produce reusable, programmable energy grenades. Most of the settings on these devices are omni-directional versions of the standard Narvok shots.
Tor Ganot
Narvok’s greatest rival is Tor Ganot, which specializes in maximizing the ratio of destruction caused to energy used. Tor Ganot was founded by an inventor who developed a means of producing a strange form of energy with properties between those of matter and electromagnetic radiation. Tor Ganot bolts are massless, but travel below the speed of light and do not disperse when passing through dust or refract when entering water. Upon striking a solid object or energy shield, the unstable bolts revert to thermal and kinetic energy. Slight variations in how the bolt is formed determine the details of this reversion. Tor Ganot guns have a sliding power control on one side and a set of buttons that control the firing mode on the other. The company offers micro blasters, blasters, heavy blasters, blast rifles, and heavy blast rifles. The micro blaster is roughly the size and shape of a ballpoint pen; it has no power control, and only two modes of fire. The expense of miniaturizing the device to this degree is rarely worth the limited energy that the gun can handle, but sometimes the ease with which the tiny gun can be concealed is useful. Tor Ganot heavy weapons, on the other hand, are quite capable of taking on and destroying armored vehicles. A somewhat more recent discovery led to the design of the Tor Ganot explosives placer, which can produce a motionless form of the bolt. This device, though short ranged, is very effective for demolition work and the rapid creation of minefields.
Delvar
Using a variant on the Tor Ganot equipment, Delvar guns fire shots that are affected much more strongly by gravity. Because of this, they follow a distinct arc, rather than the straight line more typical of energy weapons. This allows them to make use of powerful indirect fire techniques, and Delvar weapons serve as the Kendaryn answer to artillery. In addition to an easily portable weapon the size of a large rifle, Delvar makes guns that fit each of the standard turret sizes, with the smaller used for ground vehicles and the larger for LRA space vessels and stations.
Yamiri
The weapons produced on Yamir are widely considered some of the best available, with literally scores of settings. Though those sold are far less versatile than the models the Yamiri keep for themselves, their price still reflects this well deserved reputation. Snipers tend to be especially fond of Yamiri guns, which are far superior to competing product for this purpose. Some of the best known forms of fire are the paralysis beam, the Piercer, and the infamous ULTRA DEATH RAY. The Yamiri also produce deadly, versatile hand-to-hand weapons.
Tolmadren Energy Blades
Developed on the border-world Tolmad, these distinctive white energy swords swiftly became one of the most popular hand-to-hand weapons in the kingdom. The company, now based on Tanorial, produces everything from basic blades with no controls beyond a power switch to super-deluxe, multipurpose models with variable blade length and energy conservation equipment. In addition to the classic blade, T.E.B. produces stun batons, practice weapons and the unique and startling Tolmadren Blastblade.
T’zarith
As Tor Ganot is the biggest competitor of the Narvok corporation, the greatest rival of Tolmadren weaponry is the work of T’zarith. These blades look like ordinary steel, but contain a power core built into the handle. At the touch of a button, the blade is surrounded by a shell of energy that makes it a match for any hand-to-hand weapon Kendari has encountered. Some are fully functional when deactivated; others use a lighter aluminum blade to guide the shell.
The T’zarith Crescent, perhaps their most unusual weapon, is a double bladed long knife with a slightly curved grip, angled blades, and a hand guard in between. They are intended to be used in pairs, and were designed to counter those who wield an energy sword with unnatural speed and reflexes, such as Jedi and Sith, by giving the customer four short blades against the opponent’s single, longer weapon, and a quick, easy means of blocking.
Spark Grenades
Produced in cooperation by Narvok and Dektrel (a large company that specializes in combat drones), Sparks are the most versatile and expensive programmable grenade on the market. Somewhat larger than most such weapons, they are far more sophisticated, and notably more powerful.
Shields
Perhaps because of certain ties with the kingdom’s past, shields do not tend to be divided as thoroughly between companies as weapons in Kendari. There is a tremendous number of types of energy shielding, most of which can be projected by slightly modified forms of the same basic shield generator. A few of the most common are described below.
Barrier/simple/classic
This form of shielding simply projects a barrier of the specified shape and location. Objects, bolts of energy, and anything else that strikes the shield either bounce or splatter, depending on the durability of the colliding item. The power required to maintain the shield is minimal, but additional energy is needed to stop each attack. If incoming fire requires more energy than the shield generator can handle, it will either overload the device (damaging or destroying it) or pass through without triggering the shield, depending on the margin and the sophistication of the computer controlling the shield. This is the strongest form of shielding a standard generator can produce, but blinds the vessel using it unless hyperlinked observation drones are used.
Screens
Almost as strong as the simple barrier, a screen provides much greater control over what can and can’t pass through the shield. It does not stop electromagnetic radiation within a given frequency and intensity range, and can even be used as an air filter. Aside from this advantage and a slightly lower overall strength, this form is very simple to the classic.
Deflection Shield
The easiest way to describe this shield is that it is very hard and perfectly smooth. Light beams striking it are reflected perfectly, projectiles bounce off smoothly, and other attacks tend to react in a similar manner. It is not as strong as a screen when struck at a steep angle, but is far more effective against glancing blows. It is usually weaker against explosions.
Absorption
This easily maintained shield draws off the energy of an incoming attack, converts it into a usable form, and stores it in the attached power core. Projectiles slow or stop, and direct energy weapons diminish or vanish. However, there is a limit to how fast it can take in energy, and an attack with too much power will pass right through the shield.
Refire
A more complex form of the absorption shield, this barrier takes in the energy of an incoming attack, then puts it back out in the same form, but the opposite direction. This usually has the effect of ‘throwing’ the weapon back at the attacker. This added complexity limits it to about two thirds the power an ordinary absorption shield can handle; an attack carrying more energy than this will still have at least part of its energy reversed, but will overload the generator.
Cyclone
The Cyclone extends a field of energy around the protected object that accelerates incoming attacks in a direction parallel to the surface of the shield, making them more likely to miss. Although it is affected much less by the energy of the attack than most shields, it also requires a great deal of power to maintain. It often has little effect on guided missiles.
Scrambler
This setting projects a layer of constantly shifting, swirling layer of many kinds of energy and shielding. It is designed to shatter targeting locks and disrupt tractor beams, a task it usually handles well. It has no effect on attacks that do reach this layer.
Pulse Shield
In effective a very thorough close range point defense system, this setting sends a rapid series of destructive energy waves radiating out around the shield to detonate explosives and smash delicate equipment. It is highly effective against complex missiles and mines, but does little to simple projectiles and nothing to direct energy weapons. Only well-shielded weapons can get through without feeling these effects, but the range of the Pulse Shield is too short to render missiles completely harmless. A fair amount of power is required to maintain the shield.
Cloak
When electromagnetic radiation strikes part of the cloak, it is quickly absorbed, and a corresponding wave is emitted by the part of the shield that the radiation would have emerged from had nothing been present in the path. It provides near perfect camouflage across the EMR spectrum, but no direct protection against attack, and an intense EMR weapon can easily overload the generator while it is active. It does nothing to disguise other signs of the vessel, such as its gravitational signature, and ships designed with stealth in mind carry additional equipment for this purpose.
Siege/Bubble Shield
This variety of shielding requires a special generator, unlike the standard model. The shield is always perfectly spherical, and is not as quickly raised and lowered as most types, making it much more difficult to return fire while using siege shields for defense. It is, however, the strongest shield that Kendari can produce by a considerable margin, and has the unusual property that multiple generators can be used to power a single shield. Although it is rarely used by ships, it is well suited to protecting a planet during a nearby space battle or assault. Bubble shielding can serve as a filter or screen, and conditions affecting the surface can be monitored from within the shield.