Ashin Varanin
Professional Enabler
Intent: +1 to Instinctive Astrogation, -1 to internal clan harmony, but mostly I just wanted to see how long of a haiku dev thread I could do in a single sitting while maintaining a coherent plot.
Development Thread: Chitin of Calypho (70 posts)
Manufacturer: Clan Rekali
Model: Calypho Compass
Affiliation: Dark-leaning elements within Clan Rekali.
Modularity: No
Production: Limited
Material: Biotech merging of orbalisks and a Sith tracking device creature.
Description: The Calypho Compass is an alchemical/biotech symbiont, an irregular palm-sized creature which grafts itself to your skin. It retains many of the disadvantages of an orbalisk and few of the benefits.
(-) Once attached to you, the Calypho Compass cannot be removed without a risk of poisoning you. (Common placement locations include the spine, the belly, the sternum, and the forearm. Effectiveness generally proportional to proximity to vital functions.)
(-) The Calypho Compass is vulnerable to Force lightning. If it dies, it will poison you.
(-) The best way to heal such poison is to graft on a new Compass in the place of the old one. However, time is short, a matter of days, and the pain and damage may persist throughout. Other healing techniques and substances can keep the host alive if no new Compass is forthcoming, but major scarring may occur.
(-) The Calypho Compass will neither grow nor propagate, and only a few were made. This means that the standard use of orbalisks -- as lightsabre-resistant armor that covers the entire body -- is not applicable to the Calypho Compass. At most, you could cover a single forearm or chunk of torso, compounding all relevant risks. The vast majority of Compass holders only have a single creature.
(-) Activating the Calypho Compass induces extreme pain -- in you, not the creature. The pain lasts as long as the creature is active. Thus, it is crucially important (pun intended) that you familiarize yourself with pain management techniques or drug yourself to the gills, if you hope to perform instinctive astrogation while the Compass is active.
(-) Stocks are limited. The creation of the Calypho Compasses relied on a specific location and a complex series of rituals from Vahla, Dathomiri, and Tashai crafting traditions. It was done in secret, unknown to the Clan Father, and contentious heartache was the result. Most existing Calypho Compasses already have hosts. A few are kept in stasis, either for new hosts or to replace damaged symbionts.
(+) The Calypho Compass is capable of accelerating healing processes in a minimal way, nothing compared to a full complement of pure orbalisks.
(+) The Calypho Compass is highly durable, capable of shrugging off lightsabres and heavy weapons fire. Such protection, of course, does not apply to the flesh surrounding the palm-sized symbiont. As a result, for most cataclysmic death scenarios, the Compass will generally outlive its host, drawing nutrition from the corpse as long as is practical. It can attach itself to a new host and has limited mobility for that purpose.
(-) The Calypho Compass can bond to anyone, and will work for anyone when triggered by a small blood sacrifice, but can only be used to its full potential by a Force-sensitive host.
(-) The Calypho Compass cannot be used by a staunch Lightsider, and has a vested interest in keeping its host on the Dark Side.
(+/-) The Calypho Compass draws its strength from the host. Eat frequently and well, and avoid utter Force exhaustion.
(+) The tracking device creature, as an alchemical version of a standard S-thread tracker beacon, permits hyperspace tracking via S-thread tunnels. The adaptation renders these tunnels much wider and much more diffuse. As a result, the Calypho Compass, much like the great instinctive astrogators, smooths the tangles of hyperspace ahead of the host's starship, allowing ships to blaze temporary trails into uncharted space. These trails are quite short, never more than a hundred light-years or so. The idea is to have a scout with a Calypho Compass go somewhere that cannot normally be reached due to hyperspace turbulence, such as complex mass shadow interactions (primarily in the Hard Roil), the edge of the Unknown Regions, etc. The scout would then verify the location's worth or repeat the process, ultimately dropping an S-thread booster at an appropriate point. This allows the creation of short, high-risk, high-reward lanes of travel through very difficult territory. In essence, the Calypho Compass acts as a multiplier to instinctive astrogation skill.
Primary Source: Not influenced by any other Chaos submissions.
