Cultures > Chiss

Technology

(1/1)

Phatty:
Construction and Automation:

A major problem with understanding Chiss technology is distinguishing specifically Chiss elements from its wider context. For instance, the celebrated Nssis-class Clawcraft was a hybrid of Imperial and Chiss technology, and may have also involved the input of other species.

Some Chiss structures were starkly angular, perhaps inspired by the icy geometries of Csilla's glacial landscape. We can note the double-pyramid shape of the Brask Oto space station in the Redoubt, and the angular, faceted hull-design of the ships of the Fifth Ruling Family, such as Chaf Exalted and Chaf Envoy. However, the distinctive design of these ships was highly symbolic, designed to identify them as Chaf Family consular ships and even to identify the specific status and lineage of the Family members they carried. Combat warships of the Expansionary Fleet had far more curved and fluid hull-lines.

A few specific elements of Chiss technology were observed by outsiders. The Chiss, like many peoples in the Unknown Regions, did not use droids, and many Chiss ships were slaved to a network of hyperspace beacons rather than equipped with independent navicomputers; but it is important not to mistake departure from Galactic standards for backwardness. In spite of the lack of droids, many Chiss ships were highly automated—a cruiser more than two hundred meters long had an operational crew of less than thirty—and prior to the Clone Wars, their frontier pickets, which operated beyond the beacon network, had precise hyperdrives and navicomps capable of making lightspeed microjumps as tactical maneuvers during combat.

The Chiss typically did not see any use in droids as they found them to be slow and vulnerable in combat engagements. Soontir Fel during his time among their Chiss attempted to influence their ways by explaining that expendability was a useful asset in battles with droids giving a crucial element in such engagements. To show the Chiss the advantage in droids, he and a group of engineers began working on a prototype droid fighter.

Weapons and Defenses:

Similarly, it is easier to say that Chiss weapons technology was different from that of the Republic than to compare it qualitatively. For example in place of ion cannon, Chiss warships used missiles that deployed charged Conner net-like weapons called Shock nets that could reach up to a kilometer wide, which could disable and trap light freighters, entire formations of starfighters, or even incoming missile salvos.

Perhaps the most distinctive known aspect of Chiss technology was their distinctive type of energy-weapon, the charric. This fired a lancing blue beam, sometimes described as a maser, which delivered thermal energy comparable to conventional blaster weapons coupled with a much greater kinetic punch, but lacked a stun-setting. Low-power shots instead administered disabling burns. The most common form of charric was a hand-held carbine, but pistols are also known, and larger versions of the weapon were carried by some starfighters, and included among the heavy weapons batteries of capital ships and bases.

In the years before the Clone Wars, it would appear that Chiss beam weapons were limited to charric energy, but by 19 ABY, the Household Phalanx base at the Hand of Thrawn mounted both turbolasers and heavy maser emitters, while both Chiss-style weapons mounts and standard Sienar Fleet Systems blasters were observed on various TIE variants flown by Phalanx pilots. By the time of the Swarm War, the CEDF had certainly adopted standard blaster technology alongside maser weaponry: Chiss Star Destroyers mounted turbolasers alongside megamasers, while their heaviest tactical artillery pieces, known as MetaCannon, were capable of being configured to fire charric beams, blaster bolts, or physical artillery shells.

In later decades, some Chiss devices, perhaps devised by scientists with access to Imperial technology, were highly advanced. Examples included chameleon-cloaked armor that enabled infantry to blend into the terrain, and long-range tracers that activated only in hyperspace, enabling its users to track targets across Galactic distances without transmissions being picked up by standard security scans.

The Chiss also made use of more sinister uses of technology and had no ethical objections to their deployment in wars. This was seen in the development of the Parasite bomb bio-weapon and their use of deadly Radiation bombs. They also worked in conjunction with the Galactic Alliance on their Alpha Red bio-weapon.

Navigation

[0] Message Index