Technology
Technological Underpinnings
The Lystran Empire makes great use of the vast Legacy – technological marvels seemingly left to them by the Forerunners. These devices are capable of generating power from nowhere, of navigating the vast distances between stars and even of cheating death. However they are poorly understood, with the science of the Empire only just beginning to cope with the concepts of atoms, plastics and antibiotics. The Forerunners created many great texts on science and research by the Empire’s finest since the decryption of their script 40 years ago has led to even these meagre breakthroughs.
Out-of-Character note: Empire Tech refers to any device made using the principles of engineering and scientific understanding that the Empire currently possesses. At the start of Legacy 2, these are around 1940's levels.
Devices of the Legacy were once easy to find abandoned upon the worlds of the Empire, but now many places have been sacked, with the Guild of Technologists taking the spoils. Obscure hiding places and rarely explored worlds still hold many treasures for those brave enough to seek them, though. For more practical use, many devices can be created in vast Autofactories, ancient and complex foundries which require huge amounts of materiel input to create their produce. These facilities have to be carefully supervised by the Technologists, who are the only ones that can interpret the messages they display. The factories are divided into two types as follows:
Fixed Autofactories only ever have one internal production line. Different raw materials can often be used - the factories appear to be able to process most things into most other things - but there is usually an accepted set of optimum materials that yield the highest output rate compared to the difficulty of obtaining the inputs. Most Fixed Autofactories produce materials which are processed by Crystal Autofactories into finished goods. Example outputs include Energy Cells and Superconducting Wire.
Crystal Autofactories are either Large or Small and are activated by inserting a crystal into a special socket at the control terminal. These crystals contain the plans for the devices that are to be built by the factory and so these factories are highly prized by the Houses that control them. They are almost all found on Factory Worlds and usually require some Legacy materials to be input before they will function. Most complete Legacy items are produced at Crystal Autofactories. Thanks to the work of Aaron Vinka, blueprint crystals can now be copied and so a House can normally specify which items are to be produced in their Crystal Autofactories at any given time.
These great Autofactories mean that devices of the Legacy are for the most part too expensive for all of the commoners of the Empire to use regularly; they must make do with the goods which can be produced without them. The Empire’s devices are almost all powered by the ubiquitous Legacy energy cells, which store electricity in some unknown way for their extremely tough casings reveal little once penetrated. Energy Cells are available in a variety of sizes, ranging from about the size of a finger up to huge room sized cells which power spaceships and city complexes.
Legacy devices can still be adapted, however. Technologists work tirelessly to disassemble and recombine them into new devices, mainly by trial and error, but often with success. Hybrid devices have also been designed, combining Empire engineering principles with Legacy parts.
The discussion of various technological devices in the rest of this article uses the following classification of rarity:
- Mass production items can be distributed to vast numbers of commoners without undue expense; devices made with Empire technology fall into this category unless otherwise noted.
- Common items are easily available to the Nobility and any character may assume they have a number of such items.
- Uncommon items are still relatively accessible; you may ask for your character to possess a small number of uncommon items at game start without expending character generation points and during the game they will likely be easy to obtain.
- Rare items are sufficiently difficult to obtain that they will have to be bought as a Widget at character generation and during the game they may not be available.
- Unique items are just that; only a handful are known to exist and thus will prove difficult to obtain in game, though you may possess one at character generation by paying for a Widget.
Please note that this is not an exhaustive list of Legacy devices; ask us if you want something that isn't mentioned and we'll consider it.
Materials
The Autofactories of the Legacy produce four specific types of special materials, with varying applicability. The first of these is Durasteel (Common), the generic term given to a number of Legacy alloys which seem to be used interchangeably by the Crystal Autofactories as the basis of most Legacy devices. These alloys are of a much higher quality than the Empire can produce alone, but this does not justify their expense outside of applications where they are essential (such as in spacecraft).
The second is Insuweave (Common), a fabric which is strong, light and flexible but is a tremendous insulator of both heat and electricity. This fibre has found its way into even Empire products, often used in improved versions of the electric motor and transformer. The third is Superconducting Wire (Common), which forms the base for most Legacy electronics, but can also be used by the Empire. Each of these materials is produced at a great number of Fixed Autofactories.
Finally, Mag-glo (Common) is a material which emits light when it has been magnetised. It loses its charge over a period of a few hours. This has been found used in Legacy complexes to provide emergency lighting and can be produced at small Crystal Autofactories.
More unusual materials have also been found, but these have generally been linked to specific devices which are mentioned below.
The factories of the Empire can churn out a much wider variety of materials, but none with such interesting properties. Recent developments have led to a selection of plastics being stepped up to mass production quantities, with more and more goods being injection moulded from them each day.
Tools
Laser cutters (Common) are the standard form of Legacy laser device. As such, these useful items can be built in varying sizes and strengths at small Crystal Autofactories. They all seem to be built with a device that prevents a beam from being emitted if the cutter is too far from a solid surface. There is always a delay and an audible hum before the cutter activates, so they aren't terribly useful as a weapon. This protection can sometimes be bypassed, but it is against Guild of Technologist rules to do so. A different version of this device has been found. Emitting a blue beam instead of red, the Laser Fuser (Rare) has proved very useful for fixing many previously irreparable Legacy devices. The Technologists maintain a recorded store of these useful devices and have been known to loan them out on request.
Mining Lasers (Common) are found built into huge complexes on almost all major Mine worlds. These immense Legacy devices are fixed into their frame, but can be aimed to bore away at different sections of rock and minerals. Some mobile versions have also been discovered, but these are much rarer (Unique) and are tightly regulated for their destructive power was once used to penetrate the shields of a Legacy Battlecruiser. This military use of these items is highly discouraged as the main crystals are highly fragile and their supply is extremely limited. There are mere dozens of mobile lasers in the Empire and only a handful of spare crystals.
The crystal devices engineered by Aaron Vinka have had a large impact on the use of the Autofactories. First a Crystal Copier (Uncommon) was designed which can duplicate the data on one crystal onto another, sometimes causing the second to shatter if the amount of data is too great. Second was a Crystal Purifier (Rare) which has allowed the Empire to produce new blank crystals from the raw items mined from the caves near Legacy Prime on Sunder.
Environmental Devices
Many devices to improve the quality of life of its citizens have been invented by the Empire. Electric heating and lighting are standard almost everywhere, as are running water and flushing toilets. Water purifiers are also Mass produced and air purifiers are available, though they are energy intensive and so are not used by many people (but are Common to Nobles). One gas bottle sized Energy Cell can provide enough electricity to heat, light and purify the water used by a house for approximately a month.
For specialised outposts, the technology of the Legacy can be harnessed, with a limited number of Environmental Control Units (Rare) discovered by the Technologists. These devices appear able to regulate the temperature and atmosphere of a large area and have successfully been used in conjunction with a Forcefield technology to establish an outpost on the moon orbiting Nestron.
Health Technology
Healing devices are the preserve of the Chirurgeons and more information is available on their page. Briefly, Legacy devices that they use include Preservation machines, wound sealing devices, health capsule dispensers and machines which can grow limbs. Their knowledge of Empire producible medicine is increasing
Exploration
Since exploration is normally conducted by the Nobility, only the exotic Legacy devices used are discussed here; more standard ropes, clamps and similar equipment is also available.
One useful type of device whose function was discerned relatively recently is the Detector (Rare). This small Legacy artefact emits a high pitched beep whenever it is activated near other Legacy devices. In fact, the beep seems to come from the same direction as the other Legacy device, making it very useful for finding the treasures hidden within long-forgotten ruins.
Survival Tents are covered with Ship Equipment.
Animal Scares (Uncommon) are small cylindrical devices which scare away many animals when switched on. As they don't have any indication that they're working, it's often a pain when the power cell runs out. They are often used by explorers and can be built relatively inexpensively at small Crystal Autofactories. A larger variety (Rare) has been found on occasion and although this type works on a different array of animals, no production crystals have been found.
A Locator (Uncommon) is a two piece device which displays the current direction of the transmitter piece on the receiver piece. These require a small Crystal Autofactory to produce and the expense is too great for large scale use, although they prove useful to explorers. They have a limited range of a few thousand miles. This isn't a problem if the devices are on the same planet or in the same orbit, but doesn't allow you to transmit information between planets.
Magnetic clamps (Uncommon) are used in a variety of applications. The high powered magnets required can only be created by small Crystal Autofactories, rather than Empire technology. Clamps have not only proved useful for climbing (especially incorporated into Magboots (Uncommon) or Mag-gloves (Uncommon) worn by Contestants of Acquisition) but also in goods moving and exploration.
Finally, there are a number of devices which have been found to aid research into possible places to explore: a great Galaxy Map (Unique) was found, which projects a hologram of vast areas of the galaxy, but this view can be adjusted to zoom in or out as desired by the operator. The Galaxy Map takes pride of place in an ornate map room on the House Lystra City Ship, the Imperial Dream. Additionally, a small number of other Holoprojectors (Rare) have been discovered, though no mechanism to change what image is displayed has been found. The Crystal Library on Sala comes equipped with a number of Bookscreens (Rare) which display the textual and pictorial data from a crystal on a large screen or in some cases a hologram.
Military
Empire technology is also leveraged by the Military. Equipment generally in use includes rifles, autoguns which fire around a bullet a second, rocket launchers, grenades and artillery. Spaceships are normally fitted with large cannon to modify them for a military role, though some already have Legacy laser devices which are repurposed as weapons.
In terms of other Legacy items, Laser pistols (Common) and rifles are available, but their expense means that they are not very widely used. Often, an army only equips its Senior Officers with laser weapons.
A wide variety of unique weapons have been found over the years, ranging from a glowing monofilament sabre to a gauntlet which gave the wearer amazing strength at a cost of occasional losses of control.
Notable are the number of devices first encountered just over 40 years ago which were termed Killbots. These machines were equipped with both laser weapons and forcefields, making them formidable opponents once activated. Their only weakness was to close range attack from within the forcefield, which the Nobles of the Empire excelled at delivering. Rebuilt from these machines were a number of Personal Forcefields (Rare) which prevent all ranged attack but quickly drain any attached power cell and take a number of seconds to activate.
Transportation
Spaceships
Details of travel in spaceships can be found on the Space travel page.
Hyperspace Capable Classes
The largest spaceships owned by the Empire are the City Ships (Unique). They are prized possessions and only 7 are still working. Each City Ship houses rooms containing Preservation machines and the City Ships are the only known locations of this valuable technology. One ship has been allocated to each Noble House, one to the Technologists and one to the Imperial House. There used to be 8 City Ships until experiments conducted in 204EY by the Technological Explorers and Decoders Organisation caused the last one to disappear. Research on the ships has been slow ever since and the potential for disaster the primary reason that the Technologists were allocated their own following the Lystran Revolution. The Chirurgeons also conduct research aboard the Technologist ship.
In terms of appearance, the City Ships are spherical, with two domes separated by a comparatively small section which houses the engines, ship cores and docking facilities. Each of these domes holds a full city which is home to a few million people at any given time. People can remain on City Ships for much longer than ordinary ships without succumbing to the effects of Space Sickness, however City Ships make hyperspace jumps very infrequently; this is one of the reasons for the Chirurgeons' theory that Hyperspace is the cause of the sickness. Since the domes have differing opinions on which way is "up", transition through the central section is normally made via elevators built into the ship. Those technicians who work directly in the centre often have adverse psychological effects which are presumably related to this rather than the more common form of Space Sickness.
There are no facilities big enough to house a City Ship so that it can be examined from the outside, though the development of spacesuits has made this possible. More of a problem is the fact that no Legacy ship will open its doors when it is not safe outside, though this can be overridden on some smaller ships by the Technologists.
Smaller than the City Ships but also too big to fit into any Space Docks are the Carriers (Rare). This class of ship is really a large n-shaped frame with an engine on the back, a pressurised area at the front and Spiders attached inside the frame. The main use of Carriers is to house other space-sealed ships in the n-shaped central section, affixing them to the rest of the ship using the Spiders. These ships can then all be jumped through Hyperspace together, which is especially useful because the smaller ship classes have a limited range through Hyperspace that they can travel in one go.
The largest ships that can fit into the Space Docks are known as Frigates (Rare), though this designation covers a variety of classes and sizes. The common feature they share is the ability to transport thousands of people or their equivalent in goods through Hyperspace in a properly space-sealed hull. Some Frigates have been outfitted with Empire tech weaponry such as cannon; the most important also incorporate large Legacy laser weapons, though these are very rare. Most Frigates are equipped with docking bays which allow them to house wings of Fighters as well as Landers vital for transferring their cargo planetside at the end of a voyage. The Space Docks above Rigel (Mix World; direct Imperial control) have an inbuilt Autofactory which can build new Frigates, though they are always lacking in the data crystals which make the ship systems work as expected. These crystals can normally be salvaged from even irreparable Frigates once they have been brought to the docks, however.
Smaller than Frigates are the Explorers(Rare), a class of ship that can house between 10 and 50 people depending on the equipment loadout. These are the smallest Hyperspace capable ships barring the Spiders and are variable in performance. Although most have been modified to mount a few weapons and can deal with a small wing of Fighters, they are no match for Frigates. Many Explorers are not actually used for exploration as they have become popular with smugglers who wish to remain undetected and with pirates.
The Spiders (Uncommon) are strange contraptions which are crewed by only 5 people in the centre of a sphere which contains a Hyperspace engine. Extending from the sphere are various arms which can attach to other ships, allowing them to be dragged through Hyperspace along with the Spider. However, the engines are not terribly powerful; a single Spider can only transport one Explorer unaided, needing help from at least three others to transport a Frigate. For this reason, the Spiders are primarily used to carry Fighter wings through Hyperspace; they can easily carry as many Fighters as they have arms. Spiders can be constructed at large Crystal Autofactories.
Non Hyperspace Capable Classes
Lander (Uncommon) is the designation for almost any non-combat ship that does not have a Hyperspace drive. As such, it covers a variety of actual classes, but all carry fewer than 5000 people and most carry fewer than 500. These ships are designed for atmospheric as well as space flight, making them unique among the common classes. Landers can be constructed at both large Crystal Autofactories and some rare Fixed Autofactories. A special variety of Lander is used on Sulidae, the Imperial prison planet, but the specific Legacy plating found on these ships has never been successfully replicated.
Fighters (Uncommon) are combat ships designed for 1-5 people. They are not designed for atmospheric flight, but have been known to survive it when a pilot has needed to make an emergency landing. Fighters are typically fitted with autoguns to allow them to attempt to puncture the hulls of opposing vessels, though some bomber types with explosive shells attached by magnets are also used. Fighters can be constructed at both large Crystal Autofactories and some Fixed Autofactories but require modification in Empire factories afterward to add weapons.
Space Docks (Rare) are facilities that allow a ship to enter a huge hangar which is then pressurized. This allows external repair work and modification on ships small enough to fit in the hangar. The Docks contain a number of automated armatures which attempt to repair ships within range; in the space outside the Docks, these arms are mounted on autonomous Spider-like spheres which can effect repairs to the larger ships that cannot enter the hangar. Space Docks are fixed in orbit above certain planets in the Empire and cannot be relocated.
The ships of the Triquetra also fit into this category, for they are able to travel the vast distances between stars without the use of hyperspace. Instead, these ships harness the vast power of a Gravi-psychic, bending space to their will.
Ship Equipment
Most Hyperspace capable ships have a special area that crews dub the Cold Room. The temperature of this section of the ship is indeed lower, and food stored within it is preserved remarkably well. This is not the same as a conventional freezer as the food never actually freezes and can be eaten normally mere minutes after having been removed. However this does not make a good storage area for live cargo - past experiments with livestock and even people did not have satisfactory outcomes, with the individuals dying after a few hours in the room.
Some larger ships also have their own food production facilities in small rooms near the generator. No one is quite sure how they work and they produce small quantities of awful tasting stuff, so these are only used as a last resort to keep a desperate crew alive for a few days until they can be resupplied.
Numerous modifications have been designed by the Technologists, including a Turbo-boost (Uncommon) which provides a short increase in speed as well as the Navigator (Uncommon) which allows the fitted ship to be manually piloted through Hyperspace and to follow the Hyperspace trails left by other ships. A number of gravity beam based devices were invented by Isambard Fyffe Omar, including a Repulsor Beam (Uncommon) which can be fitted to Fighters to prevent an enemy from remaining on their six and a Tractor Beam (Uncommon) which can significantly slow another ship, preventing its escape.
Survival Tents are found on almost all ships to provide shelter for people after a crash landing. They contain a number of useful technologies incorporating a pop-up mechanism, a heating and lighting system powered from any available cells and also a radio beacon. Standard versions of these tents (Common) use only Empire made materials, though advanced ones (Uncommon) utilise Legacy fabrics for added comfort.
Standard survival kits also include rations, lanterns, first-aid kits and a machete.
Aaron's Roads
First discovered by Technologist Aaron Vinka, the Aaron's Roads network allows for near instantaneous transmission of a small amount of people or cargo between connected planets. This Legacy technology is monitored by the ARC, an Imperial organisation who levy a hefty fee on any Nobles who wish to use it.
Planet-bound Transport
The majority of planet-bound transportation devices are Empire designed and made; electric and combustion motors power buses and cars, though the latter are restricted to the very wealthy due to high maintenance charges. Railways or trams are common since these tend to offer better energy consumption rates compared to buses and can travel much faster since the track can be engineered much more precisely than roads can be maintained. Small propeller planes have also been developed, though these are again prohibitively expensive. Large ocean ferries have, however, been developed to run on electric motors at reasonable prices, though they are extremely slow. Most long journeys are better made between spaceports using Legacy spaceships.
Small Legacy devices known as Gravplates have been developed into the propulsion method for a number of other useful transport devices. These plates generate a forward/upward thrust when an electric current is applied across them and were first found incorporated into cargo loading machines. Since then, they have been integrated into fast Gravcycles (Uncommon), which are used in both military and sporting contexts but remain the preserve of the wealthy, far more so than cars or planes. Gravcycles are much faster than conventional cars and buses, almost competing with high speed trains. Their unique propulsion also makes them resistant to rough terrain and enables them to traverse open water, though riding for extended periods is uncomfortable and makes the high speeds even more dangerous.
Larger Gravsleds (Rare) utilising these plates have also been developed and can transport a sizable volume of goods quickly, but their extreme expense and poor safety record means that even the Nobility find it hard to justify a purchase. Gravplates can be produced at small Crystal Autofactories.
A small cache of Legacy tech Wings (Unique) were found on the planet Karus; these are now in the possession of the Technologists and although a few pairs have been requisitioned by Nobles for "scouting purposes", they seem much better for recreation. The Wings come in a fold-up pack which straps onto a person's back and opens when they are in midair, flapping gently and mainly allowing the user to ride air currents during their slow decent. This unusual design had led the Technologists to write them all off as junk for many years and their function was only discovered by accident. There are a number of similarly "unknown" devices stored in Technologist vaults.
Security
Empire technology in the field of security is sufficiently advanced to incorporate trap doors, trip wires, pressure pads and search lights, whilst guards often receive coded instructions via radio. Mag-glo is also sometimes used to alert the occupants of a building to the presence of someone using Magboots to scale the outside.
It is also becoming common for important communications to be enciphered on special machines with a variety of alternating electrical connections. Each House has its own system (and may indeed have several). A personal system (Rare) is expensive, but possible to develop, and it is so far rare for any Noble to bother.
A Legacy Remote Scope (Rare) comes in two pieces. The receiver allows you to view events at the site of the transmitter. Only about a dozen are known to be within the Empire and as such they are highly valuable for spying. They have a limited range of a few thousand miles. This isn't a problem if the devices are on the same planet or in the same orbit, but doesn't allow you to transmit information between planets. It is rumoured that the Technologists possess a version which does not come with a transmitter, though how this works is unclear. A small number of Remote Listeners (Rare) have also been identified which transmit sound instead of video; these seem to function in a very similar way.
Communications
The Empire has worked primarily on radio technology for communications, though no encryption is yet technically possible. This isn't too much of a problem for the Nobility, as they have machines to encipher the text of their messages and their recipient will have a paired decipher machine. However, interference is a worry so radio transmitters, whilst easy enough to be mass produced, tend to be strictly regulated. On the other hand, many commoners can afford a radio receiver with which they can listen to a number of public broadcasts.
Cinema is a recently developed field which allows Houses to disseminate propaganda news and entertainment to the masses on a regular basis. The original devices were silent and black and white, but now many cinema halls have been upgraded to play back the new colour and sound movies. The Karpeer world of Ayvonia, capital of movies, is home to a great many studios that have pioneered the use of special effects, stunts and models to make a movie even more convincing.
Since only the Aaron's Roads provide Faster-Than-Light communication and their use is highly discouraged, these two technologies are relied upon, along with physical couriers delivering printed material, to transmit all messages around the Empire.
Advances in printing have recently been made, with the development of hot metal typesetting machines which greatly speed up the process of printing, allowing much higher volumes of printed material to become affordable to the common people. The relatively low literacy rate amongst the commoners (along with the ability of the Houses to make much higher quality propaganda news and entertainment with cinema) means that printed material is not ubiquitous, however.
The technology used for cinemas is also used for producing cameras and separate sound recorders. These devices are expensive to the common folk but they are used by some police units to help gather evidence as well as being easily accessible to the Nobility.