Restricted Modification Stygium Cloaking Device

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STYGIUM CLOAKING DEVICE

AFFILIATION
Free use.

MANUFACTURER
Various.

TYPE
Starship stealth upgrade.POWER SUPPLY
Starship power-plant.

SENSORS
N/A.

SIZE
Varies.

COMPOSITION
Stygium.

DESCRIPTION​

In space combat, true stealth is very difficult to achieve. Space is, by definition, empty, and nearly any object traveling through it will almost certainly stand out to anyone who may be watching. There are certain ways to keep from drawing attention to oneself - masking or eliminating active sensor and drive emissions is standard operating procedure for many combatants - but one can always be seen and tracked anyway. Invisibility would prove an enormous advantage to most; it enables surprise attacks, or undetectable retreats which cannot be followed.

As it happens, true stealth is possible, it just has a few drawbacks, and indeed, is ruinously expensive to implement.

Cloaking devices, indeed, have existed in various forms for millennia. The first known examples date back to the ancient wars between the Jedi and the Sith, during which the Sith were said to field cloaked vessels which used arcane alchemical materials in their construction and were powered by Force magic. Later, science took its turn unlocking the secrets of stealth, and over the years, various materials were used in cloaking devices, to varying degrees of success. By the later years of the Old Republic, cloaking devices ran on one of 2 materials: stygium crystals or hibridium, both exceptionally rare and costly elements. Nevertheless, they were extremely potent in their effect, with cloaking devices constructed of them able to completely mask a ship's presence from nearly any sensor system, including the naked eye.

Stygium and hibridium cloaking technology began to mature just prior to the Clone Wars, and by war's end it was more or less perfected, although it was seldom used. Even the Galactic Empire, which fielded millions of starships and had almost unlimited funding for special projects, built only a scant handful of ships which featured cloaking devices as standard equipment. Trade in cloaking devices was almost entirely banned on the civilian market as well, a practice which continued into the New Republic era. In the Free Worlds Alliance era, some of these restrictions have been relaxed, making cloaking devices a much more common sight in the present day - or not, as the case may be.

Contrary to popular belief, cloaking devices do not really have a lower limit on the size of the vessel they are fitted to, although it is generally not seen as cost-effective to cloak very large or very small vessels. Cloaking devices are split into two categories, based on the element they utilize for their effect.

Stygium cloaking devices are the more "common" of the two types, and are powered by a stygium crystal core. Stygium cloaks are easily the more useful of the two; when engaged, they render a ship invisible to standard sensors, as well as to visual scanning. The main drawback is that, while cloaked, a vessel fitted with a stygium device cannot use its weapons, as this would both give away their position and burn out the cloak, the latter of which would also short out the ship's power systems, similar to a heavy ion blast. Once de-cloaked, a stygium cloaked vessel must wait until the following posting round before firing its weapons, and an additional round before it can re-cloak.

Like their hibridium counterparts, stygium cloaking devices are extremely energy-intensive to use, and will cut the top speed of any vessel retrofitted with one by half while they are engaged. Specially built vessels incorporating a cloaking device may sidestep this problem, although they typically have other drawbacks.

Countering a cloaked ship is actually fairly straightforward, although generally harder in practice than in theory. Cloaking devices tend to be effective only from a distance; although they cannot generally be targeted while cloaked, guided munitions fired at a de-cloaked vessel will continue to track their target's magnetic signature even after the target re-cloaks, provided they are within a reasonable following distance when this occurs.

Additionally, a cloaked ship can be detected by a vessel monitoring low-frequency sensor bands not typically used to detect other vessels. The main drawback is that while scanning these frequencies, the sensors cannot detect non-cloaked ships and objects, and interfere with any normally tuned sensors nearby, making the ship highly vulnerable to other threats. In some navies, specialized ACW (Anti-Cloak Warfare) vessels are used to counter cloaked ships during operations, typically as part of fleet formations where they can be guarded against more mundane threats. Low-frequency sensors are fairly low-resolution, of course, and can be countered by a cloaked vessel through "silent running", that is shutting down all nonessential systems and either coasting through space or using absolutely minimal engine power for maneuvers.

Regardless of their designs and shortcomings, cloaking devices are extremely rare, even in the present day. Typically, only stupendously wealthy individuals can afford to fit them to their craft, and most are owned and operated by large governments and other, similar organizations, and even then only in small numbers. This is slowly changing, however; as the Galaxy slides deeper into war, the utility of cloaking devices - including specialized vessels, tactics and doctrines for their use - is being investigated, and it is believed they will become an indispensable part of future warfare, in spite of their high cost.

LEGALITY​

Restricted. Though used by state actors, cloaking devices tend to be highly regulated, and are not generally available to individuals except at very great expense and with many stipulations put on their legal use. The sort of people who can afford or otherwise acquire a cloaking device tend not to bother with such things, of course.

INTENT​

To create a stealth upgrade for starships, an to bring a technology from canon into our fanon.

RESTRICTIONS​

Cloaking devices of any type are rare, highly regulated and highly expensive pieces of technology. They are available only to the very wealthy, as rewards from same, or to beings willing to steal them from people or organizations who have them. They also should not be abused; staff will be keeping a close eye on how these devices are used.