Wiki Highlight: Maradonian Technology

Psi-Wars has three major branches of humanity.  The branch from whence came the psychic elites and space knight aristocracy were the descendants of the war torn Maradon and their hero, the brutal crusader Alexus Rex, who conquered the galaxy thousands of years ago.

In Tall Tales of the Orochi Belt, we had several space knight pilots who wanted a slim, fitting, fashionable alternative to the generic vacc suit. Thus, I set about creating the Chevalier suit, a cross between a space knight "duelist" armor and a vacc suit.  The result, is a slender, form fitting armor that, I hope, pleases them.

But while working on it, I decided to see if I could pull together a few scattered bits of Maradonian technology I had wanted to do for awhile:

• A tweak to force swords
• The Maradonian Signet
• The ARC pilot suit

And a unified page for everything.  True, you can find their technology on the collected, singular page, but I think some people would like to explore the technology of a single group and look at its implications.  This was inspired by Traders, who have quite some detailed elements that would best be served by having their own page, but if they have one, why not the other cultural groups?

So, today's post is a grab-bag of Maradonian elements. You can find the Maradonian Tech page here.  Enjoy!

The Maradonian Signet

Every Maradonian aristocrat in good standing bears on his finger a maradonian signet ring. These signet rings are crafted from diamondoid, the light-catching, white, carbon-lattice metal from which the Maradonians craft their all their finest weaponry and armor; they also bear a gem, in which the sigil of the house has been carved. The type of gem varies from house to house and from noble to noble.

The intent of a signet ring is proof of identity and in applying that security to documents and forms, to data. The gem of each maradonian signet comes with an imprint of the House Sigil, a nod to the original and ancient purpose of a signet ring to stamp a seal into sealing wax. However, built into the gem and the ring itself is a tiny computer and data set. These contain numerous things, including holographic images of the character’s ancestors, a detailed breakdown of the character’s genecode and their ancestral genecode and, most importantly, a series of cryptographic sequences that act as data-keys. These “data-keys” allow the character access to secret data, ancestral infrastructure, vehicles, weapons and other things that have been “sealed” from the rest of the world. When Maradonians use a biometric scanner, they’re often just playing their signet ring within proximity of a security scanner: it actives that micro-transceiver within the ring (with a range of no more than 2 yards) which calculates the proper cryptographic response based on the data-keys and returns it to the scanner, granting the bearer access.

A Signet Ring is not enough to grant the bearer access. The bearer must have the expected gene-sequence. Each ring contains within its band a very tiny and highly specialized biometric scanner that checks the DNA sequence of the wearer. If any data is requested from the internal computer, if the bearer’s DNA does not match the expected DNA, it will not transmit.

Signet Rings have no power-supply of their own. They rely on “beamed” power. The scanner or computer supplies the power as it transmits its requests or new data. Most Maradonians have a “Ring reader,” a small, round, flat device which lights up when a ring is placed upon it, allowing the data within to be accessed or altered, typically when new permissions are being granted to the bearer, or if the bearer wishes to gaze upon the holographic imagery of their ancestor.

A Maradonian Signet ring is $1,000 and 0.1 lbs. They’re very durable, thanks to their diamondoid construction.

Typical Gemstones:

• House Alexus: Diamond
• House Apex: Emerald
• House Elegans: Green Beryl, Cats Eye or Garnet
• House Grimshaw and Daijin: Moonstone or Diamond
• House Harrow: Onyx or Bloodstone
• House Kain: bare metal (no gem)
• House Korenno: Chalcedony, pink or purple Tourmaline
• House Mistral: Iolite, Opal and Diamond
• House Sabine: Amethyst or Diamond
• House Tan-Shai: Peridot or Topaz

The Revised Force Sword

Originally, I hadn't posted the stats for force swords because, uh, they're force swords and I don't want to replicate information I don't have to.  But one question came up often: what happens if someone from House Grimshaw Surges your Force Sword? Seems an "easy win" no? Well, then it makes sense they'd harden their force swords.  And if I'm going to revisit force swords in general, I've also used GURB's force sword design rules to further unify them. The result is not terribly unfamiliar, but I've added a few new weapons:

• The force blade (a force short-sword, typically as a side-arm, loved by the Satemo of the Umbral Rim)
• The grand force sword
• The grand force saber (a "long rapier" force sword)

The Chevalier Pilot Suit

ARC “Chevalier” Pilot Suit: Unique to Maradonians, this over-priced, well-tailored battleweave vaccsuit is built to spec for each pilot. It resembles a lighter version of dueling armor, and integrates vacc suit elements, such as an air-supply. The specifics vary from pilot to pilot, but each suit is tailored to the wearer and fits like a glove; most suits sport a "combat heel," typically a "high" heel for women and a "cowboy heel" for men. One can hear the approach of an aristocratic pilot by the sound of these heels! It also has a diamondoid psuedo-gauntlet that provides additional protection to (generally) the right arm, though the defense is largely symbolic. Apply the higher DR to the wearer's primary arm. This armor is stylish and, in addition to the normal benefits of vacc suits, provides 8 hours of air.

ARC "Chevalier" Pilot Helmet: Patterned from the dueling helmets of space knights, this expensive, diamondoid helmet has an ornate and stylish design, and has a light set of transparent diamondoid eyeslits that grant nightvision to the wearer. They come with an integrated Psi-Amplifier that add +2 to a single talent (chosen when the helmet is created); this bonus is not compatible with the bonus from other Psi-Amplifier!