OOC Writer Account
OUT OF CHARACTER INFORMATION
Designer:
Model: DARKSABRE Advanced Powered Assault Armour/Mark IX
Cost: 4,750,000 Credits
Value: ~55,000,000 Credits (Black Market Value)
Modularity: Yes (Attachments, Firmware, Reflec-Paint Overcoat, Software, Variants, Visor BIOS/Colour)
Production: Limited
Material:
TECHNICAL SPECIFICATIONS
DESCRIPTION
First Imperial Death Troopers of Project: Revenant Class-I training in their newly issued Mark/IX Armour
Source (x)
"This is everything we ever hoped it would be, the epitome of First Imperial and Alexandrian Engineering. Let the enemy have their gods, parlour-tricks and superstition, we have the Death Troopers on ours, your excellence”
-Alexandrian First Imperial Engineer on the Battlesuit and its’ wearers to Natasi Fortan.
Late into the Great Galactic War as work on Project: AFTERLIFE and their DARKSABRE Advanced Powered Combat Armour was being completed, a secret project was initiated by a First Order Security Bureau skunkworks division on Mephout to produce a Powered Assault Armour project in parallel to DARKSABRE this Project was filed as “Project: ONYX” and produced a prototype suit of Armour that was outwardly similar to the Mark/VII’s ECHO variant although significantly different in regards to its’ underlying technology and materials used in its construction with the ultimate goal to improve upon the currently issued Death Trooper Powered Armour. This suit of armour was issued under clandestine circumstances to Kyli DT-6767 due to her security clearance level and her unquestioned loyalty to the First Order. Many of the same Alexandrian Engineers who had worked on DARKSABRE as part of FOCIE were “conscripted” by the FOSB to work on ONYX.
Following intense and thorough clandestine testing of the ONYX technology, it was later officially type classified as the “DARKSABRE Advanced Powered Combat Armour/Mark IX” and accepted into production with a new and improved design based on the Mark VII’s “ECHO” variant which at the time was considered the most advanced variant of the earlier iteration. The Mark IX’s approval for mass production came at a fortuitous time for the First Imperial Special Warfare Command with Project: Revenant; the Successor program to Project: Afterlife. Graduated its’ first class of Supersoldiers who were desperately in need of their powered assault armour to realise full combat potential, Class-I of Project: Revenant were the first Death Troopers to receive production models of the Mark IX and the armour has been met with overwhelmingly positive critical reception.
The Mark IX takes advantage of the Death Trooper’s enhanced physiology like never before, granting them physical performance superior to the previously fielded Mark VII while also being more adaptable and possessing greater intelligence and counter-intelligence capability. Some observers within the First Imperial Military’s central command have described the armour as the most devastating Intelligence Platform fielded in the galaxy which is due in no small part due to its’ development by a secretive team within the Security Bureau who wished to improve upon FOCIE’s design. Like its’ predecessor armour the Mark IX has a three-tiered protective system that seeks to minimise the potential for injury from common battlefield hazards such as projectile and directed energy weapons, particularly plasma-gas based weapons in common parlance referred to as “Blasters”.
Beneath the Duranium-Duraplast outer shell is a Bodysuit constructed from a pico-sized titanium composite weave making it resistant to melee, intermediate calibre high-velocity projectile weapons and directed energy weapons while retaining not inconsiderable flexibility due to the staggeringly precise artisan construction. The bodysuit is several millimetres thick and contains multiple layers vital to both the function of the Battlesuit’s electrically-manipulated exoskeleton and interfacing with said exoskeleton for maximum efficiency. The Bodysuit insulates the wearer’s thermal energy rendering them all but invisible on that particular band of the electromagnetic spectrum. Within the Bodysuit is a moisture absorbent ‘skinsuit’ layer that comes into direct contact with the epidermis, the function of this layer is to conform the bodysuit to the occupant’s body and provide data to the environmental controls operated by the onboard droid consciousness to allow for maximum comfort for the wearer, keeping the temperature between 20-22 degrees Celsius despite the ambient environment.
The additional layers sandwiched into the Titanium Picocomposite bodysuit includes the Thermal-Gel Layer which is responsible for absorbing the kinetic energy and mechanical stresses placed upon the wearer’s body, this layer works by dynamically increasing and decreasing its’ constituent density as kinetic energy is applied to it proportionally, the greater the force the greater increase in density. The Thermal-Gel Layer incorporated into the Titanium Picocomposite bodysuit is highly advanced and can successfully absorb incredible amounts of kinetic energy from impacts, although there are inherent risks when it does. One of these two risks is that the gel layer will increase in density to the point where it renders the occupant’s movement impossible which is a common side effect when the Battlesuit and its’ wearer has plummeted great distances, the second is that if the Thermal Gel-Layer’s density and pressure exceeds that which the occupant’s body can handle it will begin crushing and pulverising their bones and other tissue, potentially crippling if not killing them.
Within the Bodysuit is another additional layer of material sandwiched, this being a layer of amorphous liquid metal-crystal that reacts with electricity under principles of the Piezoelectric effect. This layer forms the basis for the Battlesuit’s exoskeleton and without power flowing from the Battlesuit’s miniature nuclear fusion reactor it will not function. The liquid metal-crystal is constantly deforming along desirable axis whenever the occupant is moving or subjected to an incoming force, in essence, it functions much like a layer of synthetic muscle and multiples the wearer’s strength by a factor of five on average. Generation of force is significantly enhanced with the possibility to generate sufficient mass and acceleration through sudden impulse to shift a twenty-two metric ton mass, which is invaluable for shifting troublesome debris or obstacles giving the wearer unparalleled control over their warfighting environment. The newest iteration of DARKSABRE seeks to dramatically increase the intelligence gathering capability through a synthesis of organic and droid consciousness.
Supporting the integration of a droid consciousness within the Battlesuit is an additional layer within the Titanium Picocomposite bodysuit, this layer is constructed from a superconductive material and is used to house a droid consciousness unique to each different suit of armour. The Neural Processing Layer helps to create a chain between the Battlesuit, Its’ Droid Consciousness and the Wearer. Creating a true neural synthesis of the organic and inorganic parts of the combat system, the Super-Conductive Neural Memory Processing Layer’s architecture, function and relationship with the Mark IX battlesuit vaguely resembles the computer core aboard a capital-type warship. The system’s considerable power supply and superconductive neural layer leaves the droid consciousness capable of providing a wide range of combat support tasks simultaneously such as monitoring the battlesuit wearer’s physiological and medical data, translating alien languages, slicing secure systems via wireless communication, aiding the battlesuit’s occupant with hardware manipulation, and performing signals intelligence activities such as monitoring radio activity and decrypting detected signals. The Mark IX DARKSABRE advanced powered combat armour deserves its’ reputation as a near peerless intelligence-gathering platform. When it comes to long-range and special reconnaissance the Mark IX is simply with peer offering incredible magnification power the visor can increase magnification upto eighty times without sacrificing field of view or resolution permitting the wearer to perform surveillance effectively at ranges upto and including five thousand meters.
Providing the most crucial and reliable level of protection is the second tier in the form of extremely hard and durable Duranium-Duraplast laminated armour. In contrast to the Mark/VII the Mark/IX’s outer armour shell is denser while being significantly less bulky featuring a more streamlined and aerodynamic design, with a sharp reduction in the number of grapple points, shot traps and a dramatic decrease in weight despite the increased material density largely achieved through the reduction of the earlier Mark’s comparatively bulky design. The Outer Armour shell is capable of reliably protecting the Titanium Picocomposite Bodysuit from intermediate and fully-powered rifle cartridges fired from slugthrowers, while it may be tempting to claim it is impervious to small-arms fire that is not quite accurate. The Outer Armour shell will generally be impenetrable for the majority of ballistic weapons with the notable exception to the likes of tungsten or depleted duranium jacketed armour-piercing full-sized rifle munitions or anti-material calibre projectiles, the former should penetrate the outer shell with sustained fire while the latter will generally puncture it on a non-ricocheting impact.
Less impressive is the outer armoured shell’s performance regarding directed energy weapons, the immense heat generated by the likes of Blasters is generally sufficient to compromise the armour with no more than three direct hits, boiling away the protective duravlex coating before melting away the metal armour. Disruptors are devastating against the battlesuit, atomizing large chunks of the metal armour with rifles having the potential to slice straight through the outer shell and composite bodysuit straight into the wearer’s body, similar results with the armour are observable with regard to particle beam rifles which fire bolts of tightly packed and highly energised particles, which generally punch straight through the outer Duranium-Duraplast shell with little difficulty. As somewhat of a saving grace the outer shell is capable of surviving superficial contact with plasma blades such as electro-plasma weapons and lightsabres although anything beyond superficial contact should result in the armour being compromised. To remedy some of the aforementioned disappointment, incorporated into the third-tier of protective technology is a sophisticated deflector shield generator.
The first and most effective part of the three-tiered protective system is the deflector shield, created by a series of miniaturised deflector shield generators scattered throughout the battlesuit’s outer shell and picocomposite bodysuit. Compared to the earlier Mark/VII, the Mark/IX’s Deflector Shields are more advanced relying on several emitters which results in increased strength in addition to a slightly decreased wait for the shields to recycle at which point they recharge over one-hundred prevent faster in contrast to the technology used in the Mark/VII. The Advancement in shielding technology was achieved largely from technical data and performance of the Mark/VII’s shield, along with studying examples of oscillating shield emitters. The Deflector Shield itself will interdict and destroy any projectiles or other objects accelerating towards the Battlesuit’s occupant at a velocity greater or equal to thirty meters per second, permitting the wearers to perform daily activities without unnecessarily triggering and subsequently draining the Deflector Shield’s charge.
Treating battlefield injuries through the several hundred kilograms of Battlesuit is incredibly difficult for combat paramedics and so the Mark IX like its’ predecessor features a number of on-board diagnostic software and medical hardware which can be used to provide effective treatment to even grisly and life-threatening injuries. Included in the panoply of medical hardware is a powerful internal automatic defibrillator set into the Titanium Picocomposite bodysuit that connects to the wearer’s body through the skinsuit, the automatic defibrillator is operated by the Battlesuit’s droid synthetic intelligence or onboard computer to treat cardiac fibrillation based on neurological and cardiopulmonary data passed across the neural interface and other sensors throughout the Battlesuit’s skinsuit.
When it comes to treating trauma injuries such as gunshot wounds, plasma burns and punctures the Battlesuit’s bodysuit is equipped with a series of pre-filled bacta autoinjectors which are used to promote rapid healing of burns, fill and seal gunshot or other puncture-type wounds and eliminate or greatly reduce the risk of bacterial, fungal or viral infections arising from injury. The implementation of Bacta Autoinjectors dramatically increases the survivability of the Mark IX Battlesuit’s occupants compared to the earlier iteration. The Battlesuit protects the wearer radiological threats through its’ outer shell’s material density reducing the amount of radiation energy that the occupant would usually absorb by a whopping 75% permitting extended operation in what would otherwise be an extremely hazardous and dangerous environment due to the presence of short-wavelength high powered electromagnetic waves such as Gamma Waves and Gamma Particles. This protection makes the occupants ideal for operating in environments significantly contaminated by nuclear accidents or detonations.
The helmet’s helmet-mounted display projects via hologram a comprehensive, intuitive and programmable suite of information for the battlesuit’s occupant. This suite of information as a default includes the deflector shield’s charge as a centred horizontal turquoise coloured bar at the top of the display, with a small wireframe model of the weapon presently in the occupant’s frame along with its’ magazine or battery charge information displayed beneath it in the top right-hand corner of the helmet-mounted display. In the bottom left corner is the omnidirectional quantum-entangled macromotion monitor greatly enhancing the wearer’s situational awareness displaying contacts out to a range of fifty meters. The BIOS Software for the battlesuit permits the wearer to install and utilise additional functionality and utility widgets that can be enabled, disabled and uninstalled with but a thought across the battlesuit’s neural lace. Tertiary HMD functionality for the include being capable of tracking teammates’ biometric integrity and position relative to the battlesuit’s wearer as an example. ‘Smart-Scope’ functionality is included as standard and permits the wearer to project their weapon’s optic sight onto their helmet-mounted display as a holographic overlay that can be independently magnified from the rest of the display, allowing marksmen and snipers to effectively engage without having to remove their helmets due to concerns about cheek-weld and being unable to physically look down the sight picture.
In contrast to its’ predecessor the Mark IX was influenced extensively by data collected from the battles fought by the First Order during their wars with several different foreign powers and one area of disappointing performance by First Order personnel was that within boarding actions, this wasn’t due to poor training but merely Troops not having adequate equipment to overcome all types of common anti-boarder defences employed aboard warships specifically where opposition forces employed ray shields to either inhibit movement or even detain teams of boarders. The capture of the Battlesuit and its’ Occupants is considered unacceptable under First Imperial Legislation as sensitive assets and thus an Individual Field Disruptor was implemented into the Battlesuit. While the field disruptor temporarily drains the Battlesuit’s own deflector shield emitters for the duration of it being active, it permits the Battlesuit and its’ occupant to harmlessly pass through the likes of Ray and Particle Shields, which is extremely useful when boarding hostile vessels.
Mark IX DARKSABRE armour is equipped with a comprehensive anti-theft and anti-reserve engineering system, when the battlesuit is brought online the onboard computer uses a scanner located inside the helmet to take an imprint of the wearer’s retinal signature and then compared it to the authorised wearer’s retinal data as stored in a secure memory partition. If the wearer fails the challenge the Thermal Gel-Layer of the bodysuit increases in density until they are paralysed and would find themselves unable to move and even if they did the stresses on their body generated by the battlesuit should either cripple or kill them, ironically this anti-theft feature actually serves to protect the thief or unauthorised wearer from the battlesuit. In addition to the retinal scan, the battlesuit takes an impression of the fingerprints through the skinsuit and compares these to the authorised wearer’s and finally, the wearer must speak a passcode known only to the authorised wearer and is changed periodically to ensure its’ confidentiality and security. If all three security challenges are failed the battlesuit will shut-down and trap the unauthorised wearer inside, and if currently carrying a synthetic droid intelligence the synthetic intelligence is programmed to engage the self-destruct sequence if it is satisfied that the battlesuit is in-danger of being seized by individuals or parties hostile to the First Order.
Designed to be worn for long periods of time in an operational environment potentially for days at a time the Mark IX like the earlier Mark VII is equipped with a comprehensive heavy-duty waste recycling system. The waste recycling system processes human urine into clean drinking water to do this the battlesuit is equipped with a comfortable and flexible catheter that is inserted into the wearer’s urethra, when the wearer urinates the urine is transported into a 2.5 litre reservoir that then filters through a miniaturised purifier, and then into another 2.5 litre reservoir that connects to a capillary system connecting to a syringe within one of the wearer’s veins as part of an intravenous delivery system. This is an improvement over the Mark VII which physically required the wearer to drink the purified water, the intravenous delivery system is more efficient and allows passive rather than active consumption permitting the battlesuit’s occupant to remain entirely focused on combat.
The Mark IX Battlesuit like its’ predecessor is incredibly modular the outer shell of the system can be radically customised mixing and matching different parts from the many variants until to the point where it could hardly resemble military-issue equipment which presents the possibility for the wearers to pose as Bounty Hunters or Mercenaries when necessary such as where deployed on clandestine or covert operations. The asymmetric and often unique appearance when contrasted to the usual conformity exhibited within First Imperial society strikes some as being unusual. After receiving their glossy black reflec coating all Mark IX Battlesuits are painted either: nickel grey, olive drab, forest green, coyote brown or tundra white. Nickel is the factory default colour that all battlesuits are painted unless otherwise requested by either the authorised wearer or their commander, each of the individual battlesuit’s parts are stamped with a serial number on the inside surfaces identical to the recipient’s DT service number which aids in inventory tracking and identifying the authorised wearer of each individual component. Recycled battlesuits that have been retrieved from “Missing in action” assets have an ‘M.I.A’ stamped above or below the original serial number and are re-stamped with the new wearer’s number.
Amongst the ranks of those there are those who believe that receiving a ‘recycled’ suit of Darksabre armour is an honour especially if the original wearer was particularly decorated or possessed an excellent reputation while receiving a battlesuit previously sworn by somebody who possesses a particularly gruesome end, ill reputation or deed is considered a poor omen for its’ new authorised wearer.
Strengths:
Weaknesses:
- Intent: Producing an improved successor to the First Order's venerable Mk. VII DARKSABRE Advanced Powered Combat Armour.
- Image Source: Source
- Canon Link: N/A
- Restricted Missions: N/A
- Primary Source: AV-1s Scout Armour, Droid Brain, Juggernaut 510 Combat Power Armour, Powersuit, Powered Battle Armour, Powered Light Battle Armour, Heavy Exoskeleton, Light Exoskeleton, Mk. VII DARKSABER Advanced Powered Assault Armour, Neutral Interface Device, Thermal Gel, TYIflex-armor, Power Glove.
Designer:
- Apex Manufacturing (Intellectual Property Holder)
- Daan Sarnova
- First Order Corps Of Imperial Engineers (Unlicensed Production)
- First Order Security Bureau
- Interstellar Manufacturing Corporation (Intellectual Property Holder)
Model: DARKSABRE Advanced Powered Assault Armour/Mark IX
Cost: 4,750,000 Credits
Value: ~55,000,000 Credits (Black Market Value)
Modularity: Yes (Attachments, Firmware, Reflec-Paint Overcoat, Software, Variants, Visor BIOS/Colour)
Production: Limited
Material:
TECHNICAL SPECIFICATIONS
- Classification: Powered Assault Armour
- Height: Wearer's Height + ~9.7cm (~4.0")
- Weight: Extreme
~321.3 Kilograms/708.3 .lbs
- ~49.0 Kilograms/108.0 .lbs
- ~272.3 Kilograms/600.3 .lbs
- Kinetic (Ballistic/Kinetic Weapons): Very High
- Blasters (Directed Energy/Plasma Weapons): High
- Electrical/Ion: Low
- Lightsabers (Plasma/Electro-Plasma Melee): Average
- Sonic: Low
- Annunciator (Programmable Distorter)
- Automatic Bacta Injectors
- Biometric Security System
- Closed Circuit Rebreather
- Cooling System (Air Conditioned)
- 300Ghz Comlink (Microwave Broadband, 300-500km range)
- Computer System
- Data Port
- Defibrillator
- Droid Brain
- Deflector Shield Generator
- Environmental Control System
- Global-Positioning System (W/Blue Force Tracking)
- Ion Manoeuvring Thrusters (Frontward+Rearward Cuirass Mounted)
- Helmet-Mounted LED 1,1000 Lumen Headlights (NIR + Visible Light Projection)
- Hologram Emitters
- Holographic Heads-Up Display (Programmable, Customisable)
- IFF Transponder (Encrypted; contains basic biographical information about wearer)
- Individual Field Disruptor
- Life-Support System (90 Minute Oxygen Supply)
- Liquid Induction Port (Helmet-Mounted, rotates into Wearer's mouth)
- Magnetisable Weapon Storage Strips (Upper Thighs, Cuirass Rear)
- Magnetisable Boots
- Macromotion Tracker (HUD Display)
- Multi-Frequency Targeting & Acquisition System
- Nuclear Fusion Reactor
- Power Supply Unit (1,248 hr MTBF)
- 1-80x Image Magnification
- Recoil Compensating Actuators
- Reflec Polymer
- Servo-Assisted Boot Bracers
- Sonic Dissipators (Helmet-Lining)
- Eleven Exabyte Solid State Drive
- Urethral Catheter (Waste Recycling System)
- Waste Recycling System
- Vocal Emulator
- ACH/ICH Helmet: The Mk. IX Advanced Combat Helmet/Integrated Communications Helmet is constructed from a Duranium-Duraplast laminated alloy making it highly resilient to ballistic and directed energy weapons. The helmet-mounted display is connected to the brain via neural interface device, permitting it to dynamically read information about the weapon in their hands such as ammunition or battery charge and display this information intuitively. The helmet possesses other hardware to protect its’ wearer within hostile environments such as filters that cleanse air of airborne biological, chemical and radiological contaminants, additionally, the helmet contains a closed-circuit oxygen recycling system that provides over an hour of operating time within a vacuum or other E.V.A environment. For situational awareness, the helmet possesses motion and thermal sensors, a communication antenna, a solar-powered battery, imaging and video equipment. Like most of the Battlesuit, the Helmet is modular and will accept modifications such as additional armour and hardened uplink/downlink command modules for team leaders.
- Automatic Bacta Injectors: Bacta Autoinjectors are crucial to maintain a Death Trooper’s combat effectiveness in extremely dangerous environments. Bacta gel is applied and used to fill and seal wounds and injuries or set broken bones into the correct position, the bacta is used to additionally treat any infections that might occur as a result of the wound.
- Automatic Repair Nodes: Scattered throughout the Battlesuit are tiny nodes that produce pico-sized repair drones that will facilitate repair to damaged systems including the armour plating, in the event of extensive damage these tiny drones will create bypass channels for electrical current with chains from their bodies to keep vital systems functioning.
- Deflector Shield Generator: Like its’ predecessor the Mark IX is equipped with a Deflector Shield Generator, in this iteration the Deflector Shield’s efficiency has been improved with continued development. They will begin recharging slightly under four-seconds after last being triggered and take just under two seconds to recharge. Most projectile weapons are ineffective at depleting the shields although directed energy weapons deplete them with ease.
- Duranium-Impervium Alloy Outer Armour: Constructed from a thick Duranium-Duraplast laminate alloy. The Darksabre’s Outer ‘Hard’ Armour covers the occupant’s chest, arms, hip, legs, calves, feet and hands. The armour is extremely resilient and durable capable of taking extreme punishment from ballistic weapons, truly such is its’ resistance to ballistics it is all but impervious to small arms fire from the likes of slugthrowers. Concentrated fire from tungsten armour-piercing slugthrower ammunition should eventually breach the Outer Armour.
- Fail-Safe Detonation Sequence: In accordance with the “Graush Protocol” the /Mark IX is equipped with the capability to self-destruct and obliterate the Battlesuit and its’ Occupant if they are in-danger of being captured. The Fail-Safe is activated by an alphanumeric sequence known only to the Death Trooper, in the event the Battlesuit’s occupant is deceased and the armour is in immediate threat of being captured by hostiles the onboard droid consciousness is authorised and programmed to override the alpha-numeric code and activate the Fail-Safe. When triggered, the Nuclear Fusion Reactor overloads incinerating the battlesuit, its’ occupant and all objects within a fifty-meter radius before catalysing into a miniature thermo-nuclear explosion with an explosive yield comparable to a high-yield proton warhead.
- Hermetic Seal: The battlesuit features a durable hermetic seal where the bodysuit and helmet connect. This seal keeps the battlesuit airtight when the wearer is submerged, within the vacuum of space or tolerating high-velocity impacts. It is possible to break this seal where it has exceeded the pressure or force it can tolerate which is quoted as a staggering 232 kg/cm^2 (3,300 psi).
- Inner Skinsuit: Within the Titanium Composite Bodysuit is an inner skinsuit that comes into direct contact with the wearers’ epidermis. The Inner Skinsuit is constructed from moisture-wicking absorbing material, it’s connected to the environmental controls and the occupant’s sub-dermal neural interface device. The Inner Skinsuit shifts to perfectly fit the wearer’s body for maximum comfort regulating the controls for the battlesuit’s internal temperature.
- Ion Thrusters: Located on the rear of cuirass roughly corresponding to where the shoulders are is a pair of Ion Thrusters powered by the onboard nuclear fusion reactor. While they do not generate sufficient thrust to overcome its’ weight force and therefore function as a Jump/Jetpack in a terrestrial setting it does generate enough to propel the Battlesuit forward and permit swift manoeuvres or flight in low or zero gravity.
- Magnetic Weapon Holder Strip Panels: There are powerful magnetisable surfaces on the leg, waist and back outer armour that can be used to store ferromagnetic weapons or other items. There are in addition magnetisable surfaces on the bottom of boots which permits the occupant to stay attached to metallic floors and other surfaces in low or zero-gravity environments. All of these surfaces can be toggled on or off by the Battlesuit’s occupant.
- Neural-Reaction Circuits: Neural reaction circuits are installed into the battlesuit and make direct contact with the occupant’s implanted Neural Interface, delineating and reducing the wearer’s reaction time by a factor of five, directly connecting their nervous system and thoughts to the armour significantly increasing their level of control over the battlesuit and its’ features. This permits the Death Trooper to achieve much higher levels of efficiency and dramatically increases survival rates through multiple engagements in close-quarters.
- Power-Multiplying Circuits: The Battlesuit is equipped with power-multiplying circuitry that boosts the force applied by the wearer, dramatically increasing their effectiveness in hand-to-hand fighting. The Power-Multiplying circuits make the armour difficult to acclimatise to even for its’ augmented wearers, as even the subtlest movements can apply incredible force. For this reason, only Death Troopers can wear the battlesuit as their strengthened bodies are able to withstand the increased power and speed of movement.
- Power Supply/Control Unit: Within the Battlesuit is a Power Supply Unit that manages and regulates the power supplied to the armour. Its average time before failure is approximately 1,248 hours and following failure must be replaced for the Battlesuit to continue functioning, it can be replaced under field conditions if necessary.
- Quantum Entanglement Mirror: The Macromotion Tracker aboard the /Mark IX functions by exploiting quantum physics properties and behaviour relating to photons and electromagnetic radiation. The result is a motion tracker that is omnidirectional to a range of twenty-five meters and tracks contacts that are moving quickly (such as humanoid jogging) or transmitting electromagnetic waves. The Quantum Entanglement Mirror is located outside the armour and is vulnerable to being blocked, most noticeably by sea salt in oceans which can being encrusted across its’ surface causing the macromotion monitor to fail.
- Reactive Amorphous liquid Crystal-Metal Layer: Sandwiched inside the Composite bodysuit between the skinsuit and outer armour is a piezoelectric layer of amorphous liquid crystal-metal that reacts to the electrical current generated by the Battlesuit’s onboard Nuclear Fusion Reactor. The layer constantly deforms along desirable axis acting as a Synthetic ‘thinking’ muscle reacting to the neural input from the battlesuit’s occupant, acting as the exoskeleton for the system. The Exoskeleton provides the wearer with access to five times their strength and lifting power sufficient to shift stationary masses weighing approximately twenty-two metric tons.
- Super-Conductive Neural Memory Processing Layer: This layer is a new addition to the Darksabre Powered Assault Armour, the Super-Conductive Neural Processing Layer is constructed to mimic the memory and processing capability and architecture of a capital-class vessel’s computer core. This technology permits a droid consciousness to inhabit the armour alongside the occupant’s consciousness, providing invaluable field support such as translating alien languages, software slicing, hardware manipulation, and performing signals intelligence activities such as monitoring radio activity and decrypting detected signals.
- Synthetic Intelligence: Standard-Issue for each Battlesuit is a “Synthetic Intelligence Assistant” which in truth is a highly sophisticated droid consciousness that provides a wide range of combat support functionality to the Battlesuit’s Wearer. Each synthetic intelligence within the differing battlesuits has a unique identity and name, using the neural link connecting the wearer’s nervous system to the Battlesuit itself the Mark IX unites organic and synthetic intelligence in a terrifying synthesis that makes for a devastating weapon. The droid consciousnesses' often come to adopt traits from their paired Trooper due to the neural link and the fact First Order policy prohibits them from receiving "Mind Wipes" considering the already impressive anti-theft and other security measures used, as a result, these droid intelligence constructs typically exhibit limited independence and behaviours usually associated with actual artificial intelligence.
- Thermal-Gel Layer: Sandwiched into the Titanium composite Bodysuit with the inner skinsuit is the Battlesuit’s Thermal-Gel Layer. The Thermal-Gel Layer is responsible for protecting the occupants from kinetic impacts, whether they be non-penetrating impacts from ballistic weapons or falls. The Thermal-Gel Layer hardens, increasing in density and eliminates or dramatically reduces the transfer of kinetic energy onto the occupant. This makes it possible for the occupants to perform and survive high or low altitude atmospheric jumps without specialist equipment with sufficient deceleration generated from the battlesuit’s ion thrusters. In the event the Thermal-Gel Layer experiences extreme kinetic or mechanical stresses such as those experienced in an unassisted atmospheric jump, it can lock and paralyse the occupants for several minutes. In the event of a catastrophic failure, the Thermal-Gel Layer distributes the load across the wearer’s body, breaking their bones and crippling if not killing them.
- Titanium Picocomposite Bodysuit: The Bodysuit is worn by the Battlesuit’s occupant beneath the outer armour shell and contains the inner skinsuit. Possessing a wide variety of functions and capability the Bodysuit is constructed from a Titanium pico-sized composite weave, it’s very flexible while retaining high strength and serves as another layer of protection from high-velocity slugthrower munitions and is coated with Duravlex to help with the dissipation of thermal radiation from directed energy weapons.
DESCRIPTION
First Imperial Death Troopers of Project: Revenant Class-I training in their newly issued Mark/IX Armour
Source (x)
"This is everything we ever hoped it would be, the epitome of First Imperial and Alexandrian Engineering. Let the enemy have their gods, parlour-tricks and superstition, we have the Death Troopers on ours, your excellence”
-Alexandrian First Imperial Engineer on the Battlesuit and its’ wearers to Natasi Fortan.
Late into the Great Galactic War as work on Project: AFTERLIFE and their DARKSABRE Advanced Powered Combat Armour was being completed, a secret project was initiated by a First Order Security Bureau skunkworks division on Mephout to produce a Powered Assault Armour project in parallel to DARKSABRE this Project was filed as “Project: ONYX” and produced a prototype suit of Armour that was outwardly similar to the Mark/VII’s ECHO variant although significantly different in regards to its’ underlying technology and materials used in its construction with the ultimate goal to improve upon the currently issued Death Trooper Powered Armour. This suit of armour was issued under clandestine circumstances to Kyli DT-6767 due to her security clearance level and her unquestioned loyalty to the First Order. Many of the same Alexandrian Engineers who had worked on DARKSABRE as part of FOCIE were “conscripted” by the FOSB to work on ONYX.
Following intense and thorough clandestine testing of the ONYX technology, it was later officially type classified as the “DARKSABRE Advanced Powered Combat Armour/Mark IX” and accepted into production with a new and improved design based on the Mark VII’s “ECHO” variant which at the time was considered the most advanced variant of the earlier iteration. The Mark IX’s approval for mass production came at a fortuitous time for the First Imperial Special Warfare Command with Project: Revenant; the Successor program to Project: Afterlife. Graduated its’ first class of Supersoldiers who were desperately in need of their powered assault armour to realise full combat potential, Class-I of Project: Revenant were the first Death Troopers to receive production models of the Mark IX and the armour has been met with overwhelmingly positive critical reception.
The Mark IX takes advantage of the Death Trooper’s enhanced physiology like never before, granting them physical performance superior to the previously fielded Mark VII while also being more adaptable and possessing greater intelligence and counter-intelligence capability. Some observers within the First Imperial Military’s central command have described the armour as the most devastating Intelligence Platform fielded in the galaxy which is due in no small part due to its’ development by a secretive team within the Security Bureau who wished to improve upon FOCIE’s design. Like its’ predecessor armour the Mark IX has a three-tiered protective system that seeks to minimise the potential for injury from common battlefield hazards such as projectile and directed energy weapons, particularly plasma-gas based weapons in common parlance referred to as “Blasters”.
Beneath the Duranium-Duraplast outer shell is a Bodysuit constructed from a pico-sized titanium composite weave making it resistant to melee, intermediate calibre high-velocity projectile weapons and directed energy weapons while retaining not inconsiderable flexibility due to the staggeringly precise artisan construction. The bodysuit is several millimetres thick and contains multiple layers vital to both the function of the Battlesuit’s electrically-manipulated exoskeleton and interfacing with said exoskeleton for maximum efficiency. The Bodysuit insulates the wearer’s thermal energy rendering them all but invisible on that particular band of the electromagnetic spectrum. Within the Bodysuit is a moisture absorbent ‘skinsuit’ layer that comes into direct contact with the epidermis, the function of this layer is to conform the bodysuit to the occupant’s body and provide data to the environmental controls operated by the onboard droid consciousness to allow for maximum comfort for the wearer, keeping the temperature between 20-22 degrees Celsius despite the ambient environment.
The additional layers sandwiched into the Titanium Picocomposite bodysuit includes the Thermal-Gel Layer which is responsible for absorbing the kinetic energy and mechanical stresses placed upon the wearer’s body, this layer works by dynamically increasing and decreasing its’ constituent density as kinetic energy is applied to it proportionally, the greater the force the greater increase in density. The Thermal-Gel Layer incorporated into the Titanium Picocomposite bodysuit is highly advanced and can successfully absorb incredible amounts of kinetic energy from impacts, although there are inherent risks when it does. One of these two risks is that the gel layer will increase in density to the point where it renders the occupant’s movement impossible which is a common side effect when the Battlesuit and its’ wearer has plummeted great distances, the second is that if the Thermal Gel-Layer’s density and pressure exceeds that which the occupant’s body can handle it will begin crushing and pulverising their bones and other tissue, potentially crippling if not killing them.
Within the Bodysuit is another additional layer of material sandwiched, this being a layer of amorphous liquid metal-crystal that reacts with electricity under principles of the Piezoelectric effect. This layer forms the basis for the Battlesuit’s exoskeleton and without power flowing from the Battlesuit’s miniature nuclear fusion reactor it will not function. The liquid metal-crystal is constantly deforming along desirable axis whenever the occupant is moving or subjected to an incoming force, in essence, it functions much like a layer of synthetic muscle and multiples the wearer’s strength by a factor of five on average. Generation of force is significantly enhanced with the possibility to generate sufficient mass and acceleration through sudden impulse to shift a twenty-two metric ton mass, which is invaluable for shifting troublesome debris or obstacles giving the wearer unparalleled control over their warfighting environment. The newest iteration of DARKSABRE seeks to dramatically increase the intelligence gathering capability through a synthesis of organic and droid consciousness.
Supporting the integration of a droid consciousness within the Battlesuit is an additional layer within the Titanium Picocomposite bodysuit, this layer is constructed from a superconductive material and is used to house a droid consciousness unique to each different suit of armour. The Neural Processing Layer helps to create a chain between the Battlesuit, Its’ Droid Consciousness and the Wearer. Creating a true neural synthesis of the organic and inorganic parts of the combat system, the Super-Conductive Neural Memory Processing Layer’s architecture, function and relationship with the Mark IX battlesuit vaguely resembles the computer core aboard a capital-type warship. The system’s considerable power supply and superconductive neural layer leaves the droid consciousness capable of providing a wide range of combat support tasks simultaneously such as monitoring the battlesuit wearer’s physiological and medical data, translating alien languages, slicing secure systems via wireless communication, aiding the battlesuit’s occupant with hardware manipulation, and performing signals intelligence activities such as monitoring radio activity and decrypting detected signals. The Mark IX DARKSABRE advanced powered combat armour deserves its’ reputation as a near peerless intelligence-gathering platform. When it comes to long-range and special reconnaissance the Mark IX is simply with peer offering incredible magnification power the visor can increase magnification upto eighty times without sacrificing field of view or resolution permitting the wearer to perform surveillance effectively at ranges upto and including five thousand meters.
Providing the most crucial and reliable level of protection is the second tier in the form of extremely hard and durable Duranium-Duraplast laminated armour. In contrast to the Mark/VII the Mark/IX’s outer armour shell is denser while being significantly less bulky featuring a more streamlined and aerodynamic design, with a sharp reduction in the number of grapple points, shot traps and a dramatic decrease in weight despite the increased material density largely achieved through the reduction of the earlier Mark’s comparatively bulky design. The Outer Armour shell is capable of reliably protecting the Titanium Picocomposite Bodysuit from intermediate and fully-powered rifle cartridges fired from slugthrowers, while it may be tempting to claim it is impervious to small-arms fire that is not quite accurate. The Outer Armour shell will generally be impenetrable for the majority of ballistic weapons with the notable exception to the likes of tungsten or depleted duranium jacketed armour-piercing full-sized rifle munitions or anti-material calibre projectiles, the former should penetrate the outer shell with sustained fire while the latter will generally puncture it on a non-ricocheting impact.
Less impressive is the outer armoured shell’s performance regarding directed energy weapons, the immense heat generated by the likes of Blasters is generally sufficient to compromise the armour with no more than three direct hits, boiling away the protective duravlex coating before melting away the metal armour. Disruptors are devastating against the battlesuit, atomizing large chunks of the metal armour with rifles having the potential to slice straight through the outer shell and composite bodysuit straight into the wearer’s body, similar results with the armour are observable with regard to particle beam rifles which fire bolts of tightly packed and highly energised particles, which generally punch straight through the outer Duranium-Duraplast shell with little difficulty. As somewhat of a saving grace the outer shell is capable of surviving superficial contact with plasma blades such as electro-plasma weapons and lightsabres although anything beyond superficial contact should result in the armour being compromised. To remedy some of the aforementioned disappointment, incorporated into the third-tier of protective technology is a sophisticated deflector shield generator.
The first and most effective part of the three-tiered protective system is the deflector shield, created by a series of miniaturised deflector shield generators scattered throughout the battlesuit’s outer shell and picocomposite bodysuit. Compared to the earlier Mark/VII, the Mark/IX’s Deflector Shields are more advanced relying on several emitters which results in increased strength in addition to a slightly decreased wait for the shields to recycle at which point they recharge over one-hundred prevent faster in contrast to the technology used in the Mark/VII. The Advancement in shielding technology was achieved largely from technical data and performance of the Mark/VII’s shield, along with studying examples of oscillating shield emitters. The Deflector Shield itself will interdict and destroy any projectiles or other objects accelerating towards the Battlesuit’s occupant at a velocity greater or equal to thirty meters per second, permitting the wearers to perform daily activities without unnecessarily triggering and subsequently draining the Deflector Shield’s charge.
Treating battlefield injuries through the several hundred kilograms of Battlesuit is incredibly difficult for combat paramedics and so the Mark IX like its’ predecessor features a number of on-board diagnostic software and medical hardware which can be used to provide effective treatment to even grisly and life-threatening injuries. Included in the panoply of medical hardware is a powerful internal automatic defibrillator set into the Titanium Picocomposite bodysuit that connects to the wearer’s body through the skinsuit, the automatic defibrillator is operated by the Battlesuit’s droid synthetic intelligence or onboard computer to treat cardiac fibrillation based on neurological and cardiopulmonary data passed across the neural interface and other sensors throughout the Battlesuit’s skinsuit.
When it comes to treating trauma injuries such as gunshot wounds, plasma burns and punctures the Battlesuit’s bodysuit is equipped with a series of pre-filled bacta autoinjectors which are used to promote rapid healing of burns, fill and seal gunshot or other puncture-type wounds and eliminate or greatly reduce the risk of bacterial, fungal or viral infections arising from injury. The implementation of Bacta Autoinjectors dramatically increases the survivability of the Mark IX Battlesuit’s occupants compared to the earlier iteration. The Battlesuit protects the wearer radiological threats through its’ outer shell’s material density reducing the amount of radiation energy that the occupant would usually absorb by a whopping 75% permitting extended operation in what would otherwise be an extremely hazardous and dangerous environment due to the presence of short-wavelength high powered electromagnetic waves such as Gamma Waves and Gamma Particles. This protection makes the occupants ideal for operating in environments significantly contaminated by nuclear accidents or detonations.
The helmet’s helmet-mounted display projects via hologram a comprehensive, intuitive and programmable suite of information for the battlesuit’s occupant. This suite of information as a default includes the deflector shield’s charge as a centred horizontal turquoise coloured bar at the top of the display, with a small wireframe model of the weapon presently in the occupant’s frame along with its’ magazine or battery charge information displayed beneath it in the top right-hand corner of the helmet-mounted display. In the bottom left corner is the omnidirectional quantum-entangled macromotion monitor greatly enhancing the wearer’s situational awareness displaying contacts out to a range of fifty meters. The BIOS Software for the battlesuit permits the wearer to install and utilise additional functionality and utility widgets that can be enabled, disabled and uninstalled with but a thought across the battlesuit’s neural lace. Tertiary HMD functionality for the include being capable of tracking teammates’ biometric integrity and position relative to the battlesuit’s wearer as an example. ‘Smart-Scope’ functionality is included as standard and permits the wearer to project their weapon’s optic sight onto their helmet-mounted display as a holographic overlay that can be independently magnified from the rest of the display, allowing marksmen and snipers to effectively engage without having to remove their helmets due to concerns about cheek-weld and being unable to physically look down the sight picture.
In contrast to its’ predecessor the Mark IX was influenced extensively by data collected from the battles fought by the First Order during their wars with several different foreign powers and one area of disappointing performance by First Order personnel was that within boarding actions, this wasn’t due to poor training but merely Troops not having adequate equipment to overcome all types of common anti-boarder defences employed aboard warships specifically where opposition forces employed ray shields to either inhibit movement or even detain teams of boarders. The capture of the Battlesuit and its’ Occupants is considered unacceptable under First Imperial Legislation as sensitive assets and thus an Individual Field Disruptor was implemented into the Battlesuit. While the field disruptor temporarily drains the Battlesuit’s own deflector shield emitters for the duration of it being active, it permits the Battlesuit and its’ occupant to harmlessly pass through the likes of Ray and Particle Shields, which is extremely useful when boarding hostile vessels.
Mark IX DARKSABRE armour is equipped with a comprehensive anti-theft and anti-reserve engineering system, when the battlesuit is brought online the onboard computer uses a scanner located inside the helmet to take an imprint of the wearer’s retinal signature and then compared it to the authorised wearer’s retinal data as stored in a secure memory partition. If the wearer fails the challenge the Thermal Gel-Layer of the bodysuit increases in density until they are paralysed and would find themselves unable to move and even if they did the stresses on their body generated by the battlesuit should either cripple or kill them, ironically this anti-theft feature actually serves to protect the thief or unauthorised wearer from the battlesuit. In addition to the retinal scan, the battlesuit takes an impression of the fingerprints through the skinsuit and compares these to the authorised wearer’s and finally, the wearer must speak a passcode known only to the authorised wearer and is changed periodically to ensure its’ confidentiality and security. If all three security challenges are failed the battlesuit will shut-down and trap the unauthorised wearer inside, and if currently carrying a synthetic droid intelligence the synthetic intelligence is programmed to engage the self-destruct sequence if it is satisfied that the battlesuit is in-danger of being seized by individuals or parties hostile to the First Order.
Designed to be worn for long periods of time in an operational environment potentially for days at a time the Mark IX like the earlier Mark VII is equipped with a comprehensive heavy-duty waste recycling system. The waste recycling system processes human urine into clean drinking water to do this the battlesuit is equipped with a comfortable and flexible catheter that is inserted into the wearer’s urethra, when the wearer urinates the urine is transported into a 2.5 litre reservoir that then filters through a miniaturised purifier, and then into another 2.5 litre reservoir that connects to a capillary system connecting to a syringe within one of the wearer’s veins as part of an intravenous delivery system. This is an improvement over the Mark VII which physically required the wearer to drink the purified water, the intravenous delivery system is more efficient and allows passive rather than active consumption permitting the battlesuit’s occupant to remain entirely focused on combat.
The Mark IX Battlesuit like its’ predecessor is incredibly modular the outer shell of the system can be radically customised mixing and matching different parts from the many variants until to the point where it could hardly resemble military-issue equipment which presents the possibility for the wearers to pose as Bounty Hunters or Mercenaries when necessary such as where deployed on clandestine or covert operations. The asymmetric and often unique appearance when contrasted to the usual conformity exhibited within First Imperial society strikes some as being unusual. After receiving their glossy black reflec coating all Mark IX Battlesuits are painted either: nickel grey, olive drab, forest green, coyote brown or tundra white. Nickel is the factory default colour that all battlesuits are painted unless otherwise requested by either the authorised wearer or their commander, each of the individual battlesuit’s parts are stamped with a serial number on the inside surfaces identical to the recipient’s DT service number which aids in inventory tracking and identifying the authorised wearer of each individual component. Recycled battlesuits that have been retrieved from “Missing in action” assets have an ‘M.I.A’ stamped above or below the original serial number and are re-stamped with the new wearer’s number.
Amongst the ranks of those there are those who believe that receiving a ‘recycled’ suit of Darksabre armour is an honour especially if the original wearer was particularly decorated or possessed an excellent reputation while receiving a battlesuit previously sworn by somebody who possesses a particularly gruesome end, ill reputation or deed is considered a poor omen for its’ new authorised wearer.
The Mark IX/ALPHA variant is the standard production iteration of the Mark IX Darksabre Advanced Powered Assault Armour and was the first version of the Mark IX developed, in terms of design its’ genesis is found within the Mark VII/ECHO, being an FOSB improvement over FOCIE’s original design. Chief among the concerns from the Alexandrian First Imperial Engineers when examining the ECHO was the rounded breastplate which according to operator feedback made adopting and maintain a prone position next to impossible at worst and very difficult at best and namely the all too frequent occurrence of projectile ammunition ricocheting undesirably.
Compared to the Mark VII/ECHO that it was developed from the Mark IX/ALPHA is significantly streamlined in appearance, less bulky without sacrificing protective qualities and is more comfortable to wear for its’ occupant in all conceivable physical positions offering greater flexibility and range of motion, there is a sharp reduction in the number of grapple-points for increased effectiveness in close quarters or disarmed fighting, the helmet’s filters are now shielded to prevent them from becoming clogged or damaged by large debris, particles or contaminants. This variant features a sun visor like its’ predecessor that is supposed to reduce the glare experienced by the occupant.
Improved design of the Mark VII/ECHO as first fielded by Kyli DT-6767 during the Mark IX's early testing and development, the "B" variant shares a few outward similarities with the Mark VII/A and E particularly in regards to the helmet's filters and sun visor. In contrast to the Mark VII/E the Mark IX/B possesses a more flat and traditional breastplate carried over from the Mark VII/A which is conducive to comfortable marksmanship and reducing the possibility that ballistic projectiles will richochet unpredictably. This particular variant is issued largely to team leaders and officers for its' modularity featuring attachment ports on both sides of the helmet for a hardened uplink/downlink module for data transmission and marksmen who like the ability to add additional titanium armour above the sun visor for increased armour envelope before the frontal bone, reducing some of the effectiveness from counter-sniper operations making the helmet's front more difficult to penetrate and thus harder to incapacitate the battlesuit's occupant. The vaguely 'T' shaped visor grants a wide field of view both horizontally and vertically making it also desirable for close quarters fighting.
The most popularly issued armour besides the ALPHA variant, this variant of the Mark IX armour is type-classified as the "Close Quarters Battle" class and is a more refined and developed version of the Mark VII/CQB variant featuring a more streamlined design as is typical of the Mark IX while additionally also offering better protection through increased armour coverage without sacrificing excessive or unacceptable amounts flexibility. Like the Bravo variant the CQB variant features a roughly 'T' shaped visor and tapers together more narrowly while reaching down to the maxillofacial region, among the improvements is a pair of pauldrons that offer increased coverage over the deltoids reducing the risk of dismemberment, decapitation and decreasing the effectiveness of return fire once the occupant has engaged the enemy when they've adopted the correct unsupported and supported firing positions. Compared to the Mark VII iteration, the Mark IX offers increased abdominal protection without sacrificing flexibility in this region with bodysuit reinforcing and increased thickness in this region providing adequate protection against ballistic and energy weapons albeit less than 'hard' armour.
The Mark IX/CQC or "Close Quarters Combat" variant was developed and constructed concurrently with its' CQB cousin due to concerns about the latter's sacrifice of flexibility in some joints particularly in the shoulders, to rectify this problem this variant of the Mark IX was put into production. In contrast to the CQB model, the Mark IX/CQC more closely resembles the Mark IX/ALPHA in terms of outward appearance and is equipped with thickly layered pauldrons that are mounted lower so as to not interfere or inhibit flexibility or range of motion, with strips of Duranium-Duraplast laminate armour to offer the shoulders themselves some modest hard armour coverage. Additional supplemental Titanium armour is featured on the breastplate to provide increased armour coverage and increase the amount of matter that plasma weapons, in particular, have to burn through before reaching the battlesuit's bodysuit, on the supplemental titanium armour is a short gorget to prevent ballistic projectiles from ricocheting up into the wearer's clavicles or throat area. The visor closely follows the shape set by the Mark IX/B although the visor itself features a tapering envelope of armour as it reaches down to the maxillofacial region to offer a smaller target from the sides or wide angles, the helmet's cranial area is heavily reinforced with Duranium-Impervium laminate armour to reduce the effectiveness of sniper attacks against the wearer. Among the variants of the Mark IX the CQC has a pair of distinct filters and the trio of heavily shielded antenna housings on the top of helmet are conspicuously visible.
DARKSABRE Advanced Powered Assault Armour/Mark IX/EVA
Source (x)
Featuring more armour coverage compared to the other variants, the E.V.A or "Extra Vehicular Activity" variant is optimised for use in strange and extremely hostile environments such as the vacuum of space or subjected to the extreme pressures experienced when submerged deep within an ocean. The increased armour coverage reduces the risk of depressurisation of the bodysuit that lies beneath the outer laminated armour shell when impacted by debris and projectiles. The massive visor offers unparalleled situational awareness and field of view and helps increase the surface area that pressure can be applied to, the other variants' visors, in contrast, have a tendency of cracking and shattering into microscopic gains when submerged at great depth due in part to their comparatively smaller size. Despite the increased armour coverage, this particular variant doesn't sacrifice flexibility as it accomplishes this with an intuitive harness system. The EVA variant additionally features reinforced and stabilised gauntlets to aid in the manipulation of heavy debris and the boot bracers are stabilised to help support feet and ankle movement when moving over irregular and tenuous terrain.
DARKSABRE Advanced Powered Assault Armour/Mark IX/G
Source (x)
The Mark IX/G is in fact a variant of the Mark VII that was adapted to be compatible with the new platform due to its' effectiveness. The G or 'Grenadier' as it is type-classified is a variant of the standard DARKSABRE Powered Assault Armour that happily sacrifices flexibility for maximal armour coverage beyond what the other variants already provide, it's used for the absolutely most dangerous close-quarters environments imaginable with significantly increased armour coverage and protection at the front of the torso and abdomen when compared to the other variants with a gorget that prevent ballistic projectiles from ricocheting off the upper cuirass into the wearer's throat, the deltoids also receive greater protection at the cost of flexibility. The Grenadier's helmet provides an overall slightly wider visor and greater field of view when contrasted to the Mark IX's A/B classes and the front of the helmet above the brow receives additional armour to protect the frontal region of the wearer's head from ballistic projectiles, explosive force and sniper fire.
All the armour coverage of the Mark IX/E but with a helmet and design more focused on highly dangerous close-quarters fighting and employment of heavy weapons the "Katarn" variant of Mark IX Powered Assault Armour features an uncompromising armour envelope and widespread support for webbing attachments for carrying the excessive amounts and cumbersome ammunition and battery packs demanded by heavy weapons. The Katarn variant is surveyed as being among the least comfortable variants to wear although its' protective qualities are largely praised the outer shell's coverage surpassing even that of the EVA with a much-requested armour plate placed directly over the throat to protect from projectiles that might richochet up off the top portions of breastplate front. The visor is remarkably narrow but is efficient and minimises the field of view loss with careful design choice of copying the fabled Katarn-Class Commando Armour's design that is its' namesake. The protection over the deltoids is noticeably heavy and this was a design decision to reduce the risk of dismemberment and decapitation from debris, projectiles or melee weapons although according to wearers the thick pauldrons impact joint flexibility in the shoulders allegedly making the climbing of ladders as an example difficult and uncomfortable.
Venator-Class DARKSABRE Powered Assault Armour was designed to support a single operative in a special reconaissance or clandestine operation environment and comes stock standard from the factory with a plethora of different vocal emulation patterns. Notable among its' qualities is that the Venator variant offers considerable protection despite having a staggeringly small sensor cross-section with its' helmet being designed to minimise risk of decapitation and the deltoid pauldrons being designed like the Katarn variant's to reduce risk of dismemberment albeit with considerably less bulk at the cost of coverage. The Security Bureau provided this variant with a more powerful uplink/downlink module that allows the battlesuit to detect EMS activity in a wider radius permitting the wearer and the onboard synthetic droid intelligence to detect and codebreak detected comm signals with increased efficiency. The Venator's narrow visor provides better than average protection to the maxillofacial region from projectiles and reduces glare considerably, of note the breastplate's shape strongly resembles the Mark VII/ECHO although it protrudes less and is overall less bulky, this was a design choice to aid in the deflection of incoming ballistic projectiles as its' unlikely the wearer of these battlesuits will be operating close to friendly assets who might be struck by said ricochets. The upward shot-trap created by this design is mitigated somewhat by the inclusion of a short gorget designed to push projectiles up and straight into the air away from the throat.
Compared to the Mark VII/ECHO that it was developed from the Mark IX/ALPHA is significantly streamlined in appearance, less bulky without sacrificing protective qualities and is more comfortable to wear for its’ occupant in all conceivable physical positions offering greater flexibility and range of motion, there is a sharp reduction in the number of grapple-points for increased effectiveness in close quarters or disarmed fighting, the helmet’s filters are now shielded to prevent them from becoming clogged or damaged by large debris, particles or contaminants. This variant features a sun visor like its’ predecessor that is supposed to reduce the glare experienced by the occupant.
Improved design of the Mark VII/ECHO as first fielded by Kyli DT-6767 during the Mark IX's early testing and development, the "B" variant shares a few outward similarities with the Mark VII/A and E particularly in regards to the helmet's filters and sun visor. In contrast to the Mark VII/E the Mark IX/B possesses a more flat and traditional breastplate carried over from the Mark VII/A which is conducive to comfortable marksmanship and reducing the possibility that ballistic projectiles will richochet unpredictably. This particular variant is issued largely to team leaders and officers for its' modularity featuring attachment ports on both sides of the helmet for a hardened uplink/downlink module for data transmission and marksmen who like the ability to add additional titanium armour above the sun visor for increased armour envelope before the frontal bone, reducing some of the effectiveness from counter-sniper operations making the helmet's front more difficult to penetrate and thus harder to incapacitate the battlesuit's occupant. The vaguely 'T' shaped visor grants a wide field of view both horizontally and vertically making it also desirable for close quarters fighting.
The most popularly issued armour besides the ALPHA variant, this variant of the Mark IX armour is type-classified as the "Close Quarters Battle" class and is a more refined and developed version of the Mark VII/CQB variant featuring a more streamlined design as is typical of the Mark IX while additionally also offering better protection through increased armour coverage without sacrificing excessive or unacceptable amounts flexibility. Like the Bravo variant the CQB variant features a roughly 'T' shaped visor and tapers together more narrowly while reaching down to the maxillofacial region, among the improvements is a pair of pauldrons that offer increased coverage over the deltoids reducing the risk of dismemberment, decapitation and decreasing the effectiveness of return fire once the occupant has engaged the enemy when they've adopted the correct unsupported and supported firing positions. Compared to the Mark VII iteration, the Mark IX offers increased abdominal protection without sacrificing flexibility in this region with bodysuit reinforcing and increased thickness in this region providing adequate protection against ballistic and energy weapons albeit less than 'hard' armour.
The Mark IX/CQC or "Close Quarters Combat" variant was developed and constructed concurrently with its' CQB cousin due to concerns about the latter's sacrifice of flexibility in some joints particularly in the shoulders, to rectify this problem this variant of the Mark IX was put into production. In contrast to the CQB model, the Mark IX/CQC more closely resembles the Mark IX/ALPHA in terms of outward appearance and is equipped with thickly layered pauldrons that are mounted lower so as to not interfere or inhibit flexibility or range of motion, with strips of Duranium-Duraplast laminate armour to offer the shoulders themselves some modest hard armour coverage. Additional supplemental Titanium armour is featured on the breastplate to provide increased armour coverage and increase the amount of matter that plasma weapons, in particular, have to burn through before reaching the battlesuit's bodysuit, on the supplemental titanium armour is a short gorget to prevent ballistic projectiles from ricocheting up into the wearer's clavicles or throat area. The visor closely follows the shape set by the Mark IX/B although the visor itself features a tapering envelope of armour as it reaches down to the maxillofacial region to offer a smaller target from the sides or wide angles, the helmet's cranial area is heavily reinforced with Duranium-Impervium laminate armour to reduce the effectiveness of sniper attacks against the wearer. Among the variants of the Mark IX the CQC has a pair of distinct filters and the trio of heavily shielded antenna housings on the top of helmet are conspicuously visible.
DARKSABRE Advanced Powered Assault Armour/Mark IX/EVA
Source (x)
Featuring more armour coverage compared to the other variants, the E.V.A or "Extra Vehicular Activity" variant is optimised for use in strange and extremely hostile environments such as the vacuum of space or subjected to the extreme pressures experienced when submerged deep within an ocean. The increased armour coverage reduces the risk of depressurisation of the bodysuit that lies beneath the outer laminated armour shell when impacted by debris and projectiles. The massive visor offers unparalleled situational awareness and field of view and helps increase the surface area that pressure can be applied to, the other variants' visors, in contrast, have a tendency of cracking and shattering into microscopic gains when submerged at great depth due in part to their comparatively smaller size. Despite the increased armour coverage, this particular variant doesn't sacrifice flexibility as it accomplishes this with an intuitive harness system. The EVA variant additionally features reinforced and stabilised gauntlets to aid in the manipulation of heavy debris and the boot bracers are stabilised to help support feet and ankle movement when moving over irregular and tenuous terrain.
DARKSABRE Advanced Powered Assault Armour/Mark IX/G
Source (x)
All the armour coverage of the Mark IX/E but with a helmet and design more focused on highly dangerous close-quarters fighting and employment of heavy weapons the "Katarn" variant of Mark IX Powered Assault Armour features an uncompromising armour envelope and widespread support for webbing attachments for carrying the excessive amounts and cumbersome ammunition and battery packs demanded by heavy weapons. The Katarn variant is surveyed as being among the least comfortable variants to wear although its' protective qualities are largely praised the outer shell's coverage surpassing even that of the EVA with a much-requested armour plate placed directly over the throat to protect from projectiles that might richochet up off the top portions of breastplate front. The visor is remarkably narrow but is efficient and minimises the field of view loss with careful design choice of copying the fabled Katarn-Class Commando Armour's design that is its' namesake. The protection over the deltoids is noticeably heavy and this was a design decision to reduce the risk of dismemberment and decapitation from debris, projectiles or melee weapons although according to wearers the thick pauldrons impact joint flexibility in the shoulders allegedly making the climbing of ladders as an example difficult and uncomfortable.
Venator-Class DARKSABRE Powered Assault Armour was designed to support a single operative in a special reconaissance or clandestine operation environment and comes stock standard from the factory with a plethora of different vocal emulation patterns. Notable among its' qualities is that the Venator variant offers considerable protection despite having a staggeringly small sensor cross-section with its' helmet being designed to minimise risk of decapitation and the deltoid pauldrons being designed like the Katarn variant's to reduce risk of dismemberment albeit with considerably less bulk at the cost of coverage. The Security Bureau provided this variant with a more powerful uplink/downlink module that allows the battlesuit to detect EMS activity in a wider radius permitting the wearer and the onboard synthetic droid intelligence to detect and codebreak detected comm signals with increased efficiency. The Venator's narrow visor provides better than average protection to the maxillofacial region from projectiles and reduces glare considerably, of note the breastplate's shape strongly resembles the Mark VII/ECHO although it protrudes less and is overall less bulky, this was a design choice to aid in the deflection of incoming ballistic projectiles as its' unlikely the wearer of these battlesuits will be operating close to friendly assets who might be struck by said ricochets. The upward shot-trap created by this design is mitigated somewhat by the inclusion of a short gorget designed to push projectiles up and straight into the air away from the throat.
Strengths:
- Deflector Shield Generator: The DARKSABER Advanced Powered Combat Armour features a Deflector Shield and this greatly increases the survivability and endurance of each user providing adequate protection from common energy weapons and high levels of protection against kinetic energy-based attacks. It's not perfect however, the shield doesn't react to any projectile travelling slower than thirty meters per second and has other exploitable flaws and vulnerabilities.
- EMP Hardened: DARKSABER Powered Armor is hardened and resistant to damage from short-burst electromagnetic pulses released from the likes of Nuclear Weapons and dedicated EMP Bombs. It is possible however that certain aspects of the Battlesuit might be temporarily disabled by a particular potent EMP such as the onboard Droidbrain or Helmet-Mounted Display. Despite this, the exoskeleton has vulnerabilities to Ion Weapons.
- Exoskeleton: The Exoskeleton within the battlesuit works as a sort of artificial muscle, with several different mechanical and electrical techniques applied in tandem permitting the augmented wearers to lift and manipulate masses upto approximately twenty-two metric tons. The Armour also permits the augmented wearers to reach running speeds between 70-110 km/h although the higher end of this range is only achievable very briefly at the risk of tearing the wearer's muscles and tendons in the lower body which can subsequently immobilise them.
- Kinetic Resistance: Generally speaking the DARKSABER is highly resistant to kinetic attacks as an example anything short of anti-material rifle ammunition tends to fail to penetrate the alloyed armour plating. The Deflector Shields used by the DARKSABER exasperate this resistance and they easily disperse kinetic energy transferred to them by physical impacts such as that from high-velocity slugthrower ammunition or other fast-moving objects and missiles.
- Neural Interface Device: DARKSABER Advanced Powered Combat Armour features a Neural Interface Device which eliminates any delay in response to stimuli for the wearer permitting them to respond as fast as sensory data is received and processed by their brain in a way this allows a sort of 'thought-to-action' permitting the wearers to fully exploit their decreased reaction time and truly renders the armour as a second skin as opposed to just any ordinary suit of armour or power armour.
- Reflec Coating: DARKSABER Armour is equipped with a standard spray-polymer coat of Reflec which helps to reduce the Armour's sensor and radar cross-section to the profile of a normal Human if their presence was detected in the hope this will ease or even eliminate suspicion so as to the contact's true nature as a suit of Power Armour. The Reflec also helps stifle the emission of Infrared or Ultraviolet radiation that can be detected with the use of specialist imaging equipment.
Weaknesses:
- Charrics/Masers: Charrics exploit both high amounts of thermal and kinetic energy; as a result they've got higher than average effectiveness at both depleting the Deflector Shield Generator and punching through the armour plating protected beneath when compared with typical Blaster or Plasma-Based Weaponry making it an efficient weapon for use against the battlesuit. Rather disturbingly, Masers have a chance of immolating the wearer inside their armour.
- Disruptor Weapons: Disruptor-based weapons such as pistols or rifles are frighteningly effective against the battlesuit; a single shot from pistol or rifle can usually deplete the Deflector Shield if not break it and continue on its' path. Impacts that strike the battlesuit's armour can violently tear through it and the wearer behind it with the potential to inflict grievous bodily injuries in the event it doesn't outright disintegrate the wearer.
- Force Lightning: Contact with Force-Lightning has the potential to fry the battlesuit's power supply unit which leaves the wearer with a significant deadweight on their body with the potential to adversely impacting the wearer's efficiency at retaliatory action against the user of such an ability.
- Force Powers: For an adept or master certain force powers such as telekinetic based abilities are quite effective at restraining or constraining the movements of the wearer without necessarily having to engage in a protracted engagement, a skilled force adept in theory could simply restrain the wearer rendering them unable to protect themselves adequately from attacks.
- Ion Weapons: The effects of Ion Weapons on the DARKSABER Armour varies and correlates usually with the power of the weapon being discharged against the suit; a single shot with an Ion Pistol can temporarily drain the suit's Deflector shields rendering the suit and its' wearer far more vulnerable to damage or injury. Ion Cannons and Heavy Ion Rifle-Type weapons can potentially shutdown or overload the onboard Power Supply Unit which leaves the wearer with an extremely heavy dead-weight on their body significantly inhibiting if not crippling the wearers mobility for the duration of the effect.
- Limited Production: These Battlesuits are extremely resource intensive and costly to produce in total there is a total fifty-five suits authorised for manufacture to equip just as many Death Troopers, the wearing of a DARKSABER battlesuit marks the wearer as one of the First Order's new generation of Death Troopers and additionally identifies them as high-priority and valuable targets. Due to their rarity it's extremely unlikely most of the First Order's enemies will ever encounter an individual wearing the battlesuit and it's production is almost certainly never going to increase beyond the current authorised number.
- Mechanical Stress: The Thermal-Gel Layer also absorbs any excessive kinetic or hydrostatic shock applied to the wearer although it had its' limits. When the Thermal-Gel Layer reaches the mechanical stress, it can tolerate it increases in density to the point it makes movement impossible. Exceeding the mechanical stress, it is capable of withstanding causes the layer to fail and transfer the massive load onto the wearer's body creating sufficient force to liquify a normal Human's tissue or fracture the practically unbreakable bones of its' wearer.
- Melee Weapons: The Deflector Shields aren't triggered by any objects moving slower than thirty meters per second and as a result melee weapons generally bypass the Deflector Shields entirety and permit a potential attacker to target sensitive areas such as the abdominal space between the thoracic region and pelvis or the throat. This also means that the wearers are highly vulnerable to being struck by moving vehicles moving slower than 108 km/h or shrapnel and large debris from explosives which could potentially penetrate the bodysuit.
- Particle Beams: Highly energised streams fire from particle beam-based weaponry has little difficulty at completely draining the Powered Battlesuit's Deflector shields and punching straight through the armour plating and the individual interred within. Particle Beams are second-to-none for their ability to both drain the Darksabre's shields and penetrate the Duravlex covered Duranium-Duraplast armour plating, with the potential to cause grisly injuries to the battlesuit's wearer.
- Plasma Blades: The Armour is slightly resistant to Plasma Blades and can survive glancing strikes and near misses with the likes of Plasma Torches and Electro-Plasma Weapons without being compromised but it cannot survive full-blown contact with Lightsaber-based weapons; these weapons easily cut through the metal armour plating with their immense blade temperatures. Contact with Lightsabers or Electro-Plasma Blades also drains the deflector shield generator due to the disruptive effects of the powerful magnetic field that contain their plasma blade.
- Plasma (Blaster) Shots: Despite the suit's bulk and large armour envelope the Duravlex coating and Duranium-Duraplast Armour plating is ineffective at stopping repeated hits to the armour as the Duravlex coating boils away to ablate the staggering heat generated by plasma weapons such as Blasters. Repeated hits quickly compromise the armour's protective qualities and rapidly punch through the wearer's tissue down to the bones. Impacts from Energy weapons additionally deplete the armour's deflector shield generator at speed and it cannot tolerate sustained fire without failing.
- Power Supply Unit & Nuclear Fusion Battery: In the cuirass' rear there is a miniaturised Nuclear Fusion Reactor that powers the Battlesuit and the Corresponding Power Supply Unit, if either of these are compromised it can result in insufficient power being supplied to the Battlesuit disabling a variety of features including the Heads-Up-Display; the inability to generate an electric charge also means that the suit's corresponding physical enhancements and exoskeleton support is lost leaving the wearer with several hundred Kilograms of armour on their bodies significantly inhibiting if not crippling mobility.
- Sinking: There isn't a quick way for the wearer to remove their armour without access to specialist stations, if the wearer was to find themselves dropped into a liquid like Water, they certainly will sink in the liquid which can make operations on worlds covered with water difficult due to the armour's negative buoyancy as they cannot ascend from depth independently, they can, however, maintain neutral buoyancy using their Ion Thrusters when submerged.
- Solar Ionisation Weapons: Due to their nature and properties when used in weapons such as Cannons or Blasters. Solar Ionisation Weapons are capable of completely bypassing the battlesuit's deflector shields and hitting the armour with effects not dissimilar to a particle beam.
- Sonics: Due to the nature of Sonic Weaponry they completely bypass the Battlesuit's Deflector Shields and strike the armour and its' wearer even if fully charged conversely as they do not trigger the Deflector shields they do not deplete them either which is somewhat of a saving grace.
- 09/04/2019: Edited the Affiliations, Manufacturer and Designer to include the Interstellar Manufacturing Corporation, changed the affiliation to closed-market but left the actual affiliations themselves unchanged.
- 04/03/2021: Updated the broken links through the submission to new site addresses., split affiliations into individuals and groups sections.
- 26/03/2021: Updated the nominated broken links, I note that Isaac Hannaford appears to have deleted the CQC armour variant source from his artstation page.
- 28/03/2021: Updated hyperlinks.
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