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Galactic Citizen

The Shield of Faith, GC

Long ago, in Azguard Myth, the great god Yunos protected an entire city from the catapult-rocks of the army of Jarl, soley by providing a shield made from the raw courage of the people who defended it. Wheras many would characterize this as fantasy, Azguard have reasons for believing it.

Why? Well, namely they asked Yunos, who (between mouthfuls of pie) told them a long, meandering story about the war, his back-itch, and the quality of rice these days.

So the scientists of Azguard got together, bickered for some time, and eventually dug up the lost city of Upyermuckluck. In the middle, a great, ancient, rock artefact was found. After some prodding with bread-sticks, it came alight and provided a tiny energy shield around the scientists.

It was returned to the lab, tested, poked, stabbed, sampled, tasted, chipped, moulded, danced upon, peed upon, kicked, stabbed thrown off of buildings, set on fire, until finally, the scientists figured out not how it worked, but how to copy it until it worked.

What they know so far is this: A crystal, found in the fore-head of the Fraxian dragon on Azguard, feeds off of the light-force-energy generated by people, particularily by people who are corageous. When stationed in the right-shaped reciprical, it will funnel all the excess light-energy into a protective dome.

A network of such devices, across the planet, could create a huge energy shield of light, covering the whole planet.

The dome comes in three intensities, based on threat.

1. Regular level. This shield is powered by the general feelings of the people. It is strong enough to last for days on end against all types of weapons, before the force-shield gets burned faster then it can be replaced. Usually it remains in this level, hence the name. An advantage to this level is that ships can get through it, albiet they are slowed heavily and the force-mystics (more on them later) can detect their entry.

2. Super-holyness level. This level creates almost a solid wall of light energy. There are two ways for this to happen. One, and this is very unlikely, is that the entire population is galvenized into heroism and courage. The second is that the mystics (more on them later) or indeed anyone, puts their hand on the orb, lifts it, and drops it back into place. Suddenly, everyone feels the tug of light-energy, and it pours off of them to immeadietly power the shield. This can only be maintained for a day at most, and afterwards the shield is completely gone for a day, but for one day the shield is indestructible, nothing can get in or out unless it is generating light energy. That includes ships and bad people.

3. Burn-out level. The shield is down for a day, until then it cannot be reactivated.

There is one small problem with this system, we need someone to tend it.

Enter mystics. And no, not those ones with the incense, going "ooooOOOOOooooohh" at people ad rolling their eyes all the time, people who mastered the force with no outside training. These mystics, that can be found throughout the galaxy, have an important job to play in the maintenance of the shield. Two to be precise.

One is the Premonition. How are you supposed to know when the enemy is going to attack? How are you supposed to get the shield up in time? These mystics, tending their stations, constantly sense the space around the planet. Should they forsee a danger, or detect the dark side, they prepare to raise the shield, and do so very quickly. The crystals at the station help amplify their powers, so that they can reach into space, even hyperspace, to sense incoming doom.

The other is mechanic/revrend. Someone has to keep to people generating light-energy and the stations intact. They make sure the shields are always ready to spring into action, and the people are warned. We have yet to find out what would happen if a people channling dark energy would do should they ever get ahold of one of these stations.

(OOC: This is a planetary defence, taking the place of traditional shields. They're amazingly powerful, extreemly mystical, and provide people with some assurance - at last - that they can go out fleeting without getting attack, and defend against WMD-waving madmen.)

Comments

#9 2:09am 12/02/04

Then what's the point in having them? It'd be just my own spin on conventional shields, not much better. Worse, in fact, as it relies on people not being afraid.

The Super-Holy is what makes it different, and better. Make the build-time longer, but please don't remove that power. I need it to counter things like Phages, Shrouds, and Sith. I mean, the only way to counter a good R&D is with another good R&D, it seems. And with the Jedi slacking big-time, no way we can rely on them to stop the sith.

#8 6:45pm 11/02/04

Considering that most battles don't last for a day, I think the Super-Holy idea is a bit over-powered. What if your two versions mirrored the existing Gencore shields?

#7 2:54pm 11/02/04

Well, I don't know what the Shield and Hull rating of a planetary shield itself is, but it's the same as that. The stations themselves are just squat stone objects about the size of a well, so it would be considerably easy to destroy, IF you got past the shield.

And in the mode I dubbed "Super-Holy", yes the shield is indestructible for a whole day, but then it's down for a whole day. Plus, when it's indestructible, no one can get in or out, so a good enemy can make it as much a disadvantage as a bonus.

In fact, the only thing that makes it really any good is it's force-mystics and their ability to sense danger and make sure the shield is ready to become invincible.

So if, say, a Phage was incoming, they would know and know just when to raise the shield before they get hit with it and die. Or if, say, an Imperial Warfleet was coming to attack, they could prepare to raise the shield to keep them out for a day, in hope of allies coming to their rescue before the shield falls (a day is a long time).

I got the idea from a book, where the villagers were hiding inside a castle, hoping the knight and his men would arrive before the mighty walls could be breached by the invaders.

If the forcyness is really that much of an issue, I could make it so that it's lost mechnology that no one undestands, and it detects threats in advance thanks to some sort of unusual radar-thing that knows what is dangerous to the planet and what is not. Friendly fleet? Ok, all good. Sith Battle-cruiser? RUN FOR THE HILLS!

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#6 6:11am 11/02/04

Did I interpret it correctly, Dolash? I was under the impression that the shield would be able to fall only by having its "cast duration" wear off, regardless of damage sustained.

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#5 6:07am 11/02/04

Either way, pseudo-science or the force, works, as far as I'm concerned -- at least for this particular device. Here, the force doesn't make the R&D's function any more or less reasonable than science would.

Although there may be reason to demand a rewrite. I don't know. As long as we're not asking him to change around his concept for its own sake...

The main issue, I think, is the utter power. The "regular power" version is reasonable as ships can penetrate, but as for, uh, "super-holyness," I'm not so sure (being completely impenetrable and all).

#4 6:02am 11/02/04

This is probaly the only force-powered origional R&D that I have ever seen submitted on TRF, and I truly don't have any problems with it. Just give me an SBD and RU rating and I will be happy.

Very origional, Dolash.

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#3 5:16am 11/02/04

Then break it down into little laws of science.

#2 4:43am 11/02/04

What's wrong with the force-using? It's science too, just because it LOOKS magical doesn't make it any less break-downable-into-little-laws-of-science.

#1 4:21am 11/02/04

Lose the force using part and replace it with scientific mombojumbo and Ill take another look...

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