Igni Irae
OUT OF CHARACTER INFORMATION
Intent: I was wondering how Elpsis reads a map. This is the result.
Image Source: Here.
Canon Link: N/A
Permissions: Blanket permission for Kal's stuff here.
Primary Source: N/A.
PRODUCTION INFORMATION
Manufacturer: Firemane
Affiliation: Elpsis Kerrigan
Market Status: Closed-Market
Model: Amorphous Tactile Positioning Array
Modularity: There's an audio feature which can be added and/or disabled so that as you touch part of the map it tells you its name. The device can be connected to a database to download and display additional maps.
Production: Semi-Unique
Material: Animatter, electronics.
SPECIAL FEATURES
- Morphing tactile map
- Encrypted Holonet access, with anti-slicing countermeasures and anti-virus software.
- The device uses different feelings to show different locations. Water feels slick and smooth, deserts feel gritty, forests feel 'twiggy'. And roads and rails are represented too by their own tactile feel.
- Morphing tactile map. A tactile atlas enables blind people to read a map. As Elpsis can 'see' this enables her to read and orient herself with. The Amorphous Tactile Positioning Array takes things a step further because it is connected to the holonet, so it can be spoken to say "bring up a map of the [insert system name]" or, to use another example, "show me a map of the northern hemisphere of Hoth", and the metal reforms into the required map to be read.
- Unless the morphing tactile map has proper holonet access, it has a limited database of planetary maps (say 10) that it can store. if you aren't on one of those and don't have holonet access it can only show you local maps (1km from current location). This also limits its efficacy on backwater worlds without holonet access.
- EMP can obviously disrupt holonet access.
The galaxy is highly vision orientated. So many day-to-day activities are based on physical sight. This can pose a problem for Elpsis. Ever since she was blinded by a reactor explosion aboard the Omega superweapon many years ago, she has used Force Sight to see. This has its advantage, but also presents an obstacle for certain things. Such as map reading, which happens to be an essential skill for any soldier or officer. After a while more improvised solutions would not do, so she commissioned a device that would help her.
To this end she enlisted the aid of Nydris Saal, a Miraluke member of her unit and an occult researcher with certain off-the-books connections. Fortunately, being acting matriarch of House Kerrigan meant Elpsis had sufficient credits. Essentially, the Amorphous Tactile Positioning Array is a morphing tactile map made of Animatter, a highly flexible living metal that is able to reconfigure itself.
As Elpsis can 'see' this enables her to read and orient herself with. The device uses feelings to show different locations. This is helpful because while Elpsis' physical sight is no longer functional, other senses have been heightened. One of them is touch. Moreover, the device is connected to the holonet, so it can be spoken to say "bring up a map of the [insert system name]" or, to use another example, "show me a map of the northern hemisphere of Hoth", and the metal reforms into the required map to be read.
