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Mechu-deru


Krath Apothos

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Originating thousands of years before the Great Sith War, Sith sorcerers developed the art of Mechu-deru as a way to manipulate technology. Despite its wide variety of uses, the art saw less and less practice as time went on, though a small group of Jedi specialists managed to create their own form of the art after observing its use.

Note: For PC droids and owned NPC droids, along with PC cybernetics and personal equipment, consider mechu-deru to be equivalent to the Jedi mind trick in restrictions. Your strong will protects your technology, and PC and strong-willed NPC droids can resist being directly manipulated. This doesn't extend to larger pieces of tech like ships or vehicles.

 

Comprehension:
The first and most basic art of mechu-deru, this ability allows a user to sense and comprehend mechanical systems. For most this ability only accounts for the purely physical, but true masters can perceive and interpret electronically stored data with intense concentration. This is usually a moot distinction as mechu-deru practitioners can often hack computer systems using the next level, Control, thereby forcing a computer to willingly reveal its secrets.

 

Control:
Once a student of mechu-deru can perceive mechanisms, they learn to control them. This ability only functions on sufficiently complex devices. A good rule of thumb is that a device is complex enough to be controlled if it is linked with a computer (or is a computer). A blast door or droid could be controlled, but a blaster or lightsaber couldn't. For most this functions as temporary, brute force commands overriding a mechanism's function, with the device either reverting to normal behavior or breaking down afterwards. Masters of mechu-deru can be more precise and thorough, intuitively adding or rewriting code to keep a device behaving as desired even after they've stopped influencing it. Droids or technicians who are aware of and/or experience mechu-deru can install specialized, unconventionally patterned circuitry to foil a user’s intuitive grasp on their tech. This does not render it/them immune to mechu-deru, but does make it/them more resistant to its effects.

 

Assembly:
Once a user of mechu-deru has a solid handle on Control, they can begin Assembly. This application of the art takes existing tech and recombines it into new, cobbled forms to suit the user. A collection of droid arms and a few power supplies might weave themselves into a multi-limbed arachnid, or the gutted remains of a starfighter and some freight lifters might be cobbled into the rough form of a quadruped that follows the user's mental commands. The most often used and basic form of this power is converting any handy mechanical parts and devices into tendrils of scrap that the user then controls. Any creation made with Assembly is inherently unstable and requires constant low-level concentration from the user to keep it functioning and held together.


Transformation:
A more complex and permanent version of Assembly, Transformation marks a user’s beginnings of true mastery of mechu-deru. This ability, which usually takes between several minutes to several hours depending on the complexity and scale of the project, takes existing tech and reshapes it to the preferences of the user. This is unlike Assembly which only cobbles together what’s already present. This can be used to make something created through Assembly stable and permanent, or to adapt something to a new purpose. A blaster rifle might be altered to a short range laser drill, or sabotaged to explode when used. A nav-computer might be redesigned into a droid brain or a targeting system. The rule of thumb is to evaluate how close the current tech is to what the user wants it to eventually do. While the function might be different, it should still be within the same “family” as the original function. It’s also important to keep in mind the limitations of what the user has to work with. The example of a blaster being converted into a laser drill is possible, but will likely draw far more power than what the blaster has available, and will need additional components to function for any useful amount of time.

 

Repair:
Repair is a refined version of Transformation, compelling a damaged mechanism to reassemble itself into its previous functional state, provided the parts (or suitable replacements) are present and not completely destroyed.

 

Note: The following techniques, due to their immoral and warped nature, are exclusive to Dark Side users.
Infection:
The first of the Dark Side advancements of the art, Sith Sorcerers are able to use Infection to imbue a sufficiently complex device or computer system with an element of their malice. This corrupts the technology into a murderous, hateful creature that only desires to torment and kill anything outside of itself. More complex subjects show more signs of intelligent behavior but are also more difficult to infect. Even a master will be unable to infect anything greater than a droid, though a cabal of sorcerers working together could theoretically infect something greater. The entity will usually target the weakest and most vulnerable victims first, so a sign that something infected is on the loose might be the conspicuous absence of droids and maintenance workers. This behavior will continue as the evil creature works it's way up to more difficult targets, until it is either found out and eliminated/purged or it runs out of victims, at which point it enters a state of stasis. 
It should be noted that the creator of the entity has no control over it, and in fact it seems to have specific resistance to its creator's use of mechu-deru. Also, with all else being equal, it will prioritize its creator's destruction before other potential targets. Some of the most intelligent of these entities have gone so far as to create intricate plots to cause the suffering and demise of the sorcerer who created it. This makes the technique of Infection a risky move, and it is wise for a sorcerer to avoid infected systems once the spell has taken hold, especially droids with their innate potential for independence. Infection is a tool of sorcerers overconfident in their strength, ambitious enough to take the risk, or desperate enough to have no other choice.

 

Replacement:
While true healing is beyond the capacity of the Dark Side, the technique of Replacement can serve as a close substitute. A specialized combination of Transformation and basic elements of Infection, a Dark Side user can take technology and change it to replace lost flesh. Metal plating can serve as skin, tubing can double as veins, etc. The graft is unconsciously sustained by the user, and can be swapped out for better parts if they become available. Skilled users can even add functional augmentations like weapons from what they have available.
There is a hidden downside to the technique however. Any flesh replaced in this way will never heal, even with the use of bacta. Cloned grafts and transplants will be numb, lifeless, and quickly rot. Even if a whole limb were replaced with a transplant where only a portion of the previous limb had been replaced with technology, that portion would inevitably turn lifeless and rot away on the new limb. The mind is incapable of comprehending the need for flesh in any part of the body where this dark magic is employed.

 

Conversion:
The darkest art of mechu-deru, this technique requires the sorcerer to craft a seed mechanism, a dust sized speck of metal that nevertheless requires days of precise rituals and meditation to create. If this seed is injected or ingested into a living creature, the sorcerer can awaken it, causing it to begin converting the victim into an amalgamation of technology and flesh over the course of several days, though legends speak of masters accomplishing the transformation in mere minutes. The resulting creature, a technobeast, has had its will broken by the process and is under the sorcerer's control. However, a potential victim can resist the transformation altogether and exhaust the seed through sheer force of will.
Note: While willpower is the in-universe reason this power may not work on a PC or owned NPC, it should be emphasized that Conversion is only to be used with the consent of the other player.


 

Edited by Nok Morliss
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