Rule of Two
Portable Dampening Field [PDF]
#1615182012125-4113165149147-695124
#1615182012125-4113165149147-695124
OUT OF CHARACTER INFORMATION
- Intent: To create a piece of technology which prevents other forms of technology scanning the interior, design, cargo or individuals on board a vehicle, small vessel or a room inside a building.
- Image Source: https://www.freepik.com/premium-ai-image/scifi-box-3d-model-concept-art_56970210.htm
- Canon Link: N/A.
- Permissions: Cone of Silence.
- Primary Source: Crystal gravfield trap, Sensors, Scanners, Force sense, Hyperspace Orbiting Scanner, Sound-dampening field.
- Manufacturer:
Alicia Drey
- Affiliation:
Alicia Drey
, Order of the Sith Lords
- Market Status: Closed Market.
- Model: N/A.
- Modularity: No.
- Production: Semi-Unique.
- Material: Cerillium, Polycarbonate, Power cell.
- The ability to create a dampening field around a vehicle, small vessel, or a room inside a building which prevents sensors or scanners from scanning the interior.
- Dampening Field: The PDF, when activated, will create a dampening field wide enough to encompass a vehicle, small vessel, or a room inside of a building. For larger vessels, such as a Star Destroyer, the PDF is capable of covering most hangar or cargo bays. When active this dampening field will prevent sensors or scanners from scanning the interior of the vehicle, small vessel, room or cargo and/or hangar bay from detecting whatever is inside it. This includes inanimate objects, organic and indeed individuals. A PDF is even capable of stopping someone from learning the design, model or make up the vehicle or ship a user is on board if a dampening field is active, and this is because they would not be able to scan them. To avoid any confusion the Portable Dampening Field stops ALL sensors or scanners being used except for the ones stipulated in the weaknesses below.
- Multitude: The PDF is not a unique device. Therefore a multitude of these devices could be installed across a number of places to create several dampening fields all at once to create the same effect that a singular device can create, but over a wider scale than normal. To do this someone would need to have multiple PDFs in their possession, but this is unlikely as the technology is expensive, and rare.
- Adaptability: The PDF is an adaptable and versatile piece of technology. It can be installed in a matter of a couple of minutes on board a vehicle, small vessel, room etc. by simply having it on board and activating the device. Therefore the device can also be deactivated and uninstalled from such places by an owner, who can take it with them.
- Hand-held: The PDF is a heavy device but your normal, average sized Human male or female could pick up such a device to carry and move it about with both hands. For species stronger than your average Human (or in possession of multiple limbs) multiple PDFs could be carried in theory.
- Material: The PDF is made up of two materials: Cerillium and Polycarbonate. As a consequence of this it is not a durable device. A well placed blaster shot would destroy the device, as would other forms of conventional weaponry, such as a Lightsaber, and it is even possible that if the device were thrown into something with enough force it would break and stop working.
- Power Cell: The PDF has both the strengths and weaknesses of your common issued Power cell. If the technologies Power cell runs out then the device will deactivate. If a user needs to switch the Power cell in order to keep the device turned on there will be a lapse in time where the dampening field will be deactivated, therefore leaving a user susceptible to being scanned. A Power cell can be damaged, sabotaged or destroyed therefore deactivating the device. The PDF is also a potential safety hazard, as a cunning individual might find a way to detonate it's Power cell which would cause a small explosion.
- Sight: The PDF is capable of creating an invisible static barrier in a relatively small, enclosed space. However, the device itself is completely useless in most situations if it were active in an open area. If you are transporting cargo that you don't want people to know about someone might recognise whatever you are transporting if they can see it with the naked eye. If you don't want people to know what you're carrying make sure it's hidden from sight, and the device will work just fine at stopping most scanners or sensors from detecting your stuff.
- Heat: As a consequence of the materials which make up the PDF it is susceptible to heat. If a room were on fire, or if it were exposed to intense heat, then it would likely short-circuit and stop working. Depending on temperatures this device could melt.
- Not Entirely Impervious: The Crystal Gravfield trap is an old piece of technology that the PDF cannot stop. If this device is installed and active aboard a vessel utilizing the technology and it enters the vicinity of the gravfield trap it would not prevent the trap from sensing fluctuations in space, allowing a third party to sense the movement of the vessel. A PDF does not stop a gravfield from detecting gravity, but does prevent conventional scanners or sensors from trying to do the same thing.
- Force-Sensitives: If the technology is activated in the presence of a Force-sensitive it's dampening field would not stop that individual (if roleplayed) from sensing any danger to themselves or others. All life, such as an individual or group standing in a dampening field, would be open to being Force Sensed by a trained Force-sensitive, as well as other forms of energy. It is even possible that a Force-sensitive would be able to detect the devices Power cell with enough concentration, and focus.
- Hyperspace Orbiting Scanner: If a HOS is in deployment in a star system it would still detect the hyperspace shadows left behind by a computer on board a vessel utilizing the PDF technology. This is because the dampening field that the PDF creates does not prevent particles from being detected by such a system.
- Expensive: Only a rich and powerful individual is likely to have a PDF in their possession, except of course, in rare circumstances where one was stolen. As a consequence it is likely that a user would only have one or two them in their possession.
In the 902 ABY Alicia Drey encountered a problem. She owned a star ship capable of engaging a cloaking device to make the ship completely invisible to the naked eye. But her opponents were often cunning, and smart. Using sensor and scanning equipment aboard Star Destroyers (or other similar forms of technology) Alicia would often be scanned and through sensors her opponents would still be able to keep track of her. Furthermore, in instances where she was not cloaked, her vessel would be scanned for it's cargo, which was often filled with illegal paraphernalia or other items that would result in demands to be boarded, or stopped.
To circumvent her opponents Alicia went to the drawing board and designed the Portable Dampening Field or PDF for short. The PDF is a box made up of Cerillium with a Polycarbonate shell and powered by your common issued Power cell. Usually used in the construction of droids Alicia utilized Cerillium to host the many wires and the devices Power cell to connect it altogether in order to create the dampening field effect, while the Polycarbonate was a cheap and vital material used in the construction of the devices shell, which provides some protection too it's innards.
During Alicia's invention of the device she explored using an Aluminium shell to host the parts which make up the technology, but discovered that it would make it too heavy. As a consequence she resorted to the less durable but lighter Polycarbonate shell which gives the device it's box like shape. Buttons on the side control the device, allowing a user to turn it on or off, with a canister found at the top of the device which can then be opened to remove or insert a Power cell inside. Cosmetically the device can be changed into a multitude of different colours for the individuals using it due to the Polycarbonate that provides the technologies shape and shell. Users can also adjust the power of the device to strengthen or decrease the power of it's dampening field depending on the situation. For example, if a user were using the device to avoid detection, they could lower it's energy output in order to conserve power so that it's Power cell depletes slower.
When activated the PDF creates an invisible static barrier around the area which prevents scanners or sensors from being able to detect anything inside of it. This works in a similar way to a Sound-dampening field found on a wide variety of Imperial vessels across the Galaxy, but instead of reducing or distorting the sounds inside of a ship, the PDF outright stops a scanner or sensor from being able to detect anything inside of it. This includes inanimate objects (bombs, weapons, guns etc.), organic objects (foodstuffs, paraphernalia, animals) and people (a wide variety of species and races). This makes the PDF extremely useful in smuggling operations as it will hide virtually everything inside it's vicinity except in three rare cases.
The Crystal Gravfield trap is a rare and old piece of Imperial technology that does not see much use anymore. However, if this rare piece of technology were active in the vicinity of a vehicle, ship or person using the PDF then the technology becomes fallible as it's dampening field cannot stop a gravfield trap from detecting gravity.
Another rare, but more common instance of the PDF becoming fallible to detection comes in the form of a well trained Force-sensitive. From your lowly Sith Acolyte or Jedi Padawan through to a powerful Master of the Force the dampening field of the PDF does not stop a Force-sensitive from using the technique of Force sense to detect anything living inside of it's vicinity, or something dangerous, such as a weapon. However, the Force-sensitive does, of course, require a reason to utilize such a technique in the first place, so a cunning individual might dissuade them from using their powers to fell the technology, and they would also need to know how to Force sense as well.
A third, and rare occurrence lays in an old piece of technology called Hyperspace Orbiting Scanner. The HOS can detect particles left behind as shadows by the computer systems of any ship or vessel exiting hyperspace into a new star system. Even if the PDF were activated before the ship entered a new star system the HOS would still be able to detect these particles as the dampening field cannot stop them from being detected.
The technology is supposed to be used in a small, enclosed space. Numerous examples include a vehicle; a small vessel, such as a transport; the cargo, or hangar bay of a larger vessel; or the room of a building somewhere. With the device being so adaptable and capable of being reproduced in number it is possible for someone to create a rather larger dampening field to cover a vessel of a Star Destroyer, for example, but this would require the user to have many PDFs to accomplish this.
Conversely, the device is fallible to sight. If a smuggler were transporting a cargo haul of Spice, for example, and someone recognised it for what it was then, obviously, the PDF isn't going to stop them from seeing it. There are rare times a PDF might be useful in an open area to help prevent detection, but it's main use is for small, enclosed spaces that have walls which prevent the obvious weakness of sight affecting an owners ability to keep their cargo unknown.
The PDF is an extremely expensive piece of hardware to own. It was expensive to develop, and is costly in it's manufacture. Your average criminal or citizen isn't going to own one of these devices, except in rare cases where the technology was sold to a third party cheaply, or if a device were stolen by a criminal, or if it was given to someone as a gift. The standard price of a Portable Dampening Field stands at roughly a million dataries, using the Galactic Credit Standard of the time, and of course, like all other forms of technology the device is open to be bartered for at a cheaper price, or traded in exchange for something worth while.
In summary: the Portable Dampening Field is a Polycarbonate box that is capable of creating an invisible static barrier around a relatively small space, or area that will stop most sensors or scanners from being able to detect anything inside of the field.
Alicia Drey
referred too this particular static barrier as a 'dampening field' and so the term stuck as an understood reference to parties who knew what the device can do, also consequentially becoming the name of the technology, with the portable part in reference too it's ability to be carried or transported to numerous locations.If used in conjunction with other technology, such as a Stygium powered generator, or other technology such as the Cone of Silence a user could, in theory, become completely undetectable.
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