Ken Martano
Character
Brakhan Core Crystal
OUT OF CHARACTER INFORMATION
- Intent: To provide a thematic reward for high-quality participation in the Brakha treasure hunt.
- Image Source: Andy Seibel Fine Minerals (Top Pic), TOR Fashion (Bottom Pic)
- Permissions: N/A
- Primary Source: Brakha
- Manufacturer: Naturally Formed
- Affiliation: Closed Market
- Model: Thumb-length crystal
- Modularity: Used to modify lightsabers or blasters
- Production: Semi-Unique
- Material: Hydrogen, Carbon, Uranium, Sodium, Calcium, Oxygen
- Classification: Gemstone
- Weight: Very Light (Individual Crystals)
- Color: Fluorescent Green
- Resistances: None
- Brakhan core crystals are powerful energy conductors, and are excellent for producing plasma bolts or blades.
- Brakhan core crystals are very brittle. Due to this, crystals growing larger than a human thumb are extremely rare.
- Brakhan core crystals are dangerously radioactive. Handling one unprotected, even for under a minute, will result in radiation poisoning.
- When used as a lightsaber focusing crystal, a Brakhan core crystal has impurities that affect the properties of the magnetic field containing the plasma blade. As a result, the core of the blade absorbs light rather than reflecting it, and appears black rather than the shining white core of an ordinary lightsaber. Thanks to these added energy absorbing properties, Brahkan crystal lightsabers burn hotter the more blaster bolts they block as the power is transferred into the weapon.
- Brakhan core crystals can replace the power pack of a blaster weapon. In addition to providing a massive charge, the crystals make blaster bolts generated through them mildly radioactive. Organic targets whose armor or personal shields would normally resist the blaster bolt's impact can still be sickened by the radiation, which can induce nausea and vomiting as the symptoms of mild radiation poisoning take hold.
- Because they fully absorb blaster energy, Brakhan crystal lightsabers cannot deflect blaster bolts back at a target. The bolt simply disappears into the weapon.
- While combat shields do not block radiation from Brakhan crystal blasters, standard environmental suits and hazard shielding do.
- Any breach of the core crystal's housing exposes the wielder to a dangerous burst of radiation, leading to radiation poisoning.
- No crystals have ever been discovered big enough to power something larger than a lightsaber or blaster rifle.
When the Hutt Cartel shattered Brakha to efficiently extract the valuable minerals deep beneath the planet's crust, rare elements in the planet's core abruptly spilled out into the void of space. As these elements rapidly cooled in hard vacuum, they occasionally crystalized into unusual forms unseen anywhere else in the galaxy. Cartel scientists examined these crystals during construction of the Brakha shipyards, and soon discovered that the brittle gemstones were powerful but radioactive energy sources. They envisioned squads of elite Cartel troops wielding radiation-powered blasters, but the Hutts' dreams of empire collapsed before that could become a reality.
The conditions that allow Brakhan core crystals to form are precise and rare, so even within the system they are uncommon. Small caches of them are sometimes uncovered inside dense metal asteroids, but breaking open such an asteroid in search of them is a gamble - the dense metal prevents virtually all scanners from detecting whether there are crystals buried deep inside. Most of the processed crystals, discovered as a byproduct of the ore refining process, are stored in the half-constructed Brakha shipyards in sealed and shielded crates. It is possible that a few sit deep in the vaults of prominent Hutts, but almost none have ever left the Brakharst system.
The crystals themselves are small, jagged, and brittle, fitting easily into the palm of a human hand - though holding one unprotected is a very bad idea. The uranium in the gemstones is an unstable isotope, and emits extremely harmful gamma radiation as it decays. Even under a minute of exposure can lead to nausea, vomiting, weakness, and internal bleeding, and prolonged exposure can be fatal - or, at a lower level of proximity, cause cancerous growths to develop. In a few hundred million years, as half-lives pass, the Brakhan core crystals will cease to glow with their sickly inner light, and their energy-transmitting properties will fade. For now, however, they have great value.
