John Locke
V U L K A N
OUT OF CHARACTER INFORMATION
Intent: To submit a superweapon for the Devastation Factory Contest
Image Source: Full Spectrum Dominance
Canon Link: N/a
Restricted Missions: N/a
Primary Source:
Mass Shadow Generator
Molecular Shields
PRODUCTION INFORMATION
Manufacturer: The Sith Empire
Affiliation: Faction Name: The Sith Empire
Model: Erebus
Production: Unique
Material: Neuranium hull for central unit, Turadium Hull for the wings.
Classification: Dreadnaught
Length: 5000 meters.
Width: 5000 meters.
Height: 10000 meters.
Armament: Extreme.
Long Range Turbolasers
Long Range Ion Cannons
Long Range Railguns
Orbital Autocannons
Missile Launchers
Kyber Enhanced Tractorbeams
[*]
Defenses: Extreme.
Molecular Shielding
Standard deflector shields
Point defence cannons
[*]
Hangar Space: 10000 Meters: Average: 51
[*]
Hangar Allocations:
Starfighters: 40 squadrons
Support Craft: 11 squadrons
[*]
Maneuverability Rating: Very Low
[*]
Speed Rating: Very Low,
[*]
Hyperdrive Class: Average: 1
STANDARD FEATURES
Crew Quarters
Bridge
Flag Bridge
CiC
Mess Halls,
Officers Quarters
Socialising rooms
Hangars
Engines
Military sensors
Other locations found on all ships.
ADVANCED SYSTEMS
Mass Shadow Generator
Molecular Shields
Strengths:
Planet Killer: The Kronos is first and foremost a vessel designed to do one thing, destroy planets and do it in the worst way. There is no defence, and very few escapes once the Kronos arrives, the citizens of a world are forced to watch in terror as the Sith Empire arrives, knowing they have no recourse but to die in the very worst of ways.
Gunslinger: The Kronos is bristling with guns, while not primarily designed as a mainline combatant it is vastly more capable in combat than any battlecruiser.
Tough nut: Powerful shields and a heavily armoured hull provide the Kronos with an incredible level of defence. If you’re planning to come after this ship, you had better bring your best because it is not an easy target to take down.
For a brick, he flew pretty good: No-one ever accused the Kronos of being fast or nimble, even for a 10km vessel the ship is slow. It won’t catch you in a race, but then it’s target isn’t going anywhere. Besides, there is something terrifying about the slow progress of an unstoppable ship, an unstoppable weapon. If caught out alone, or deployed without a backup fleet it would be very easy for a well-organised fleet to slip in to attack the Erebus. Like all larger ships, while it has
I cannae do it captain, I just don’t have the power: The Mass Shadow Generator is a powerful weapon, a superweapon to be precise. The original Mass Shadow Generator was used on the planet, but the Sith-Imperial engineers had other thoughts in mind. Utilising the same technology as is widely used in Interdictors they gave the generator the ability to affect objects from further away. To do this, however, requires a massive amount of power. In order to use the Mass Shadow Generator, the Kronos has to come to a stop, transferring all power from its weapons and engines to the superweapon.
Mass Shadow Generator
At its core, there is one fundamental force that unites the galaxy, that ties it together more than any other, the force of attraction, the force of gravity. It is the force of creation, that first created the stars and planets that populate space, but what happens when that force is turned against the galaxy. That is the question that the Kronos asked, this is the question it answered so horrifically.
At the core of the Kronos is the Mass Shadow Generator, a superweapon dredged from the murky depths of history, the very weapon that Revan used on Malachor 5. The weapon that turned a planet into a broken cluster of planetoids. This was the technology that the Kronos was built around, the technology to shatter planets, to devastate them.
Many super weapons exist, from lasers that could split a planet into pieces to weapons that could destroy a sun, however against all these weapons some form of defence existed or could be envisioned. There was no defence against gravity though, no way to prevent gravity from attacking, no way to prevent the weapon from destroying a planet. However, it was more than that, the attack of gravity wasn’t one quick attack that would destroy a planet, it was an attack that would slowly tear the planet apart as the people on the planet could only watch in terror as they saw their world coming apart around them, the fear and the terror would be just as important as the destruction of the planet, sending a clear message to the galaxy.
There was one additional benefit of the use of gravity as a weapon, it wasn’t just the planet that would be destroyed but the ships and stations surrounding the planet too. When the attack starts the options slowly start to be reduced, leaving the citizens of the planet with no other option but to stand watching in horror and terror as their world came apart around them.
The Ship
The Erebus is when all is said and done a very recognisable ship, and designed to be. The Sith Imperial engineers wanted people to know what was coming when it entered the system, to be unable to avoid the fear that it would bring with it. An iconic ship that would come to represent fear and the might of the Sith Empire.
The curved organic design has a two-fold design, aside from the unique shape and the terror that it inspires the curved shape also keeps the gravity projects sufficiently far apart to prevent interference with one another. The curved prong design meant that the gravitational waves produced by each emitter were contained within their specific prong. While this was a design choice, it means that while the superweapon is active the gravity within the prongs that make the greatest mass of the ship is variable. With each step, you could go from an area of high gravity to an area of low gravity and then back, or gravity could be reversed, all according to the swirls and eddies produced as a side effect by the gravity projector. Impossible to predict it makes these prongs so dangerous to travel in, with the crew regularly rotating to prevent themselves from wearing down too badly. Ironically those very eddies made the prongs the best location for any boarders to land, with minimal crews and limited patrols they would have the opportunity to set themselves up before being assaulted by counter boarding teams.
The vanes also hold the majority of the hangar bays onboard the Erebus, while normally this is a good use of space, it also requires all fighters to be deployed before the superweapon is used, or else the pilots risk having to launch in the weird gravity situation that could make their lives very tricky indeed.
The majority of the ship's facilities can be found in the central unit, the command and control facilities, the crew quarters and their associated facilities, the engines and the like. The central unit also contains one hangar, albeit one with a smaller capacity than those located on the wings. The primary purpose of this hangar is for visiting dignitaries or to allow fighters to refuel and rearm in rotation during a battle. The central unit is also the home of the marine/military forces on board the ship, and where they would deploy from.
Unlike the rest of the ship, the central unit is armoured in Neuranium, the ultra-dense material able to protect the crew from the effects of the gravity the ship wielded as a weapon, preventing them from suffering the same effects as those in the wings of the ship, and preventing any side effects.
Ultimately the Erebus is precisely what it is intended to be. An unsurpassed weapon of terror and destruction to be wielded by the masters of the Sith Empire to fulfil their will.
