Stellar Gem
The Stellar Gem is a weapon created by an alien species allied with the Kheldians in their war against the Nictus. This is a historical document put together back when I created the character Stellar Protector.
History
Early in the wars between the Kheldian and Nictus, the Kheldians felt that an edge was needed. The Nictus had been working to perfect devices that could drain Kheldians of their own stores of energy, making personal conflict dangerous. One Kheldian-whose name was lost to history-suggested the prospect of empowering an allied alien species for help.
The species approached (whose name is not recorded, either-but this is because they did not use sound for communication, and thus speech was unnecessary) utilized technology so advanced that it might as well have been called magic. Collaborating with the great minds of the Kheldians, they were able to create a device that channeled cosmic energies harnessed from the stars themselves; with proper amplification, the device could rival-and in some cases, exceed-the raw power available to the Kheldians themselves.
Several important and influential Kheldians argued against use of the device, believing that it could be misused far too easily. In the end, they were a minority view-the majority agreed to include safeguards to ensure that the device could not threaten innocent lives. A further precaution would ensure that the device would, if the user perished, seek out another worthy user for as long as its power reserve held out.
The device was created, tested, and then duplicated, until ten thousand had been manufactured. That was the most the two races believed they could find who were worthy of the trust. The appearance of the devices resembled a crudely cut gemstone, and as a result, they became known as “Stellar Gems”.
At first, the Gems-and their Bearers-did exactly what the Kheldians had hoped. They turned the tide against the Nictus, and at several points seemed to be on the verge of winning the war. Unfortunately, while the powers available to the Gem Bearers were significant, they did not imbue immortality; and some of the Gems ended up in the hands of the enemy.
The Nictus later known as Ar’Kadell was the one who managed to figure out how to “taint” the gems, turning their cosmic power into a similar form of energy as the Nictus themselves. Armed with this knowledge, the Nictus began to capture Gem Bearers-who were now commonly being referred to as “Stellar Protectors”-and divest them of their Gems. While exact numbers were hard to determine, thanks to the information warfare waged by the tainted Gem Bearers, estimates indicated that anywhere from 3,000 to 4,500 gems had been tainted.
This was not a situation the Stellar Protectors were willing to accept for long. Massing in force, they made an attack on a strategic deep-space outpost, forcing the Nictus to deploy their new allies. The full, unleashed power of ten thousand Gems-tainted or untainted-proved too much for the very nature of the void to withstand. A rift measuring roughly 10 astronomical units was created-and in the process of its creation, every Gem Bearer present was slain. The Gems were scattered throughout space/time by the rift, and were presumed lost forever. The Kheldians would come to call this event “the Great Cataclysm”, and swore to never again attempt to create devices such as the Gems (in part, thanks to the Kheldians who had originally opposed the creation of the Gems; showing that even advanced alien races are not above saying “I told you so”).
In recent times, however, it has become apparent that the Gems were not destroyed, as evidenced by the three that have arrived on the planet Earth-a world newly at the center of the Nictus/Kheldian conflict.
Appearance
A Stellar Gem appears as a clear, semi-transparent gem of varying size. Its facets are cut irregularly, to discourage jewel thieves. The size depends on the amount of reserve power the Gem has; at full strength, it is roughly the size of an apple, but as it uses its power to seek a new Bearer, it can dwindle down to the size of a thumbnail, at which point the Gem will go dormant. When a Bearer has been selected, it will usually appear as a clear, semi-transparent band around one of the Bearer’s extremities.
The material of the Gem defies casual identification. Analysis via electron microscope shows a densely packed atomic structure, correlating to no known element on the periodic table. In terms of hardness, it is less penetrable than diamond; no known force, technological or arcane, can even scratch the Gem’s surface, nor can such force be used to remove the Gem from its Bearer.
A tainted Gem is similar in structure and appearance, save for the fact that it appears as a Gem of obsidian appearance, with perfectly cut facets.
Abilities
Power Supply
The Stellar Gems, as described above, harness energy derived from the stars. Given the number of stars in the Local Group, up to and including the Sun, one can easily presume that it would require something on the scale of a galactic disaster to cause a hiccup in the available raw power for a Gem. The one active Stellar Gem on Earth has indicated that in order for a hosted Gem to run out of available power, every star in the universe would likely have to cease to exist.
Doctor Ozaki of Solachroma Industries, during an examination of a Stellar Gem, accurately theorized that the Gem was “throttling down” its available power. The Crafters designed the Gem to limit the use of its power on an inhabited world; limits would gradually lift as a Stellar Protector left the world, the solar system, and even the galaxy. In the void of deep space, the Gem is capable of channeling to its Bearer enough power to shatter an Earth-sized planet-and defending its Bearer from similar levels of power.
A further safeguard-this one to prevent the unworthy from misusing the Gem-dramatically limited the amount of power available when the Gem’s Bearer died. The power available was theoretically enough to propel the Gem towards the nearest center of the Kheldian Military; this theory failed dramatically after the Cataclysm.
The cosmic power is similar in nature to that of the Kheldians, and devices that act upon detection of such energies will detect an active Stellar Gem (including other Stellar Gems-see below).
Computational Power
A Stellar Gem’s computational power dwarfs anything on the planet Earth. Information storage contains data on multiple star systems and inhabited worlds, languages, histories, hard sciences, and other technical information.
Most of the computational power goes into the regulation and control of the aforementioned power supply. In order to deal with the levels of power involved, the Gem is constantly evaluating over 10600 calculations per second-a rate which would likely cause most modern computers to curl up and die. Scientists on Earth are at a loss to explain how this speed is possible without arcane spells or time travel physics.
Information storage is shared between the Gem’s physical structure and the memory of the Bearer-in humans, the brain. The Gem records everything that the Bearer is aware of, and can play it back for the Bearer perfectly; visual feed is shown to the bearer via optical apparatus (in humans, through the optic nerves), audio through auditory apparatus (in humans, via cochlear nerves). However, an oversight in the design of the Gems prevents this information from being available to anyone EXCEPT the Bearer, or other Gem Bearers in the communications network (see below). This does have the side effect of preventing any external devices from accessing the Gem’s command and control systems, for better or for worse (although the existence of tainted Gems indicates that there exists some method of subverting the C&C systems of a Gem).
This lack of available interface prevents a Gem from accessing other computer systems directly, although it can break into a wireless computer network with some ease. As most secure networks do not use wireless technology, it is impossible for the Gem to break into a secure network.
Communications
Stellar Gems are designed to be a closed network. Every Gem is in a communications link with every other Gem (the tainted Gems being a notable exception, which may have their own communications network). A Gem is “initialized” in the presence of another Gem, whereupon it gains communications access to all other Gems in that network.
This network connection ceases if a Gem is forced into a dormant state; upon becoming active once more, it must be reinitialized to gain access to the network.
Communications are sent by some form of FTL transmission, ignoring realities like Einsteinian physics.
The Gems automatically translate any language of a previous Gem Bearer in the network; this occurs seamlessly, so that the Bearer hears something spoken in his own language. Words spoken by the Bearer to another are repeated by the Gem in an appropriate language. If the language is completely new, it can translate with full proficiency in approximately 300 seconds of conversation-although some languages are far enough from the available knowledge base that it may take significantly longer (eg. Nemenian). It is important to note that cultural terms will still not translate unless they are very similar to a known language’s culture. So, for example, “Where am I?” or “Is this the complete catalogue for your multi-tier battle station accessories?” is translated perfectly, but “What are you getting for Christmas?” will produce an incomplete translation.
The one Stellar Gem active on Earth has been used as a communications device for Paragon City’s “hero” network, and in specific for the Hyperion Force network; while the Gem cannot interface directly with the Mycroft system, it can transmit and receive on the same frequencies. While the Gem can theoretically break any encryption codes in a communications network, the reality is that it would require excess computational power to do so, which in turn could destabilize a Stellar Gem’s power supply-with catastrophic consequences. The Mycroft computer system is programmed to recognize transmissions from the Gem, and cannot be fooled into accepting another communication attempting to disguise itself as the Gem-including from other Stellar Gems.
Transportation
The Stellar Gem grants its bearer various mode of flight capability. At the most basic, in a populated urban area, the Gem will usually limit the speed of flight to roughly fifty miles per hour-not a breakneck speed, but sufficient to travel city environments safely. To aid the Bearer in such travel, the Gem will convert a portion of the Bearer’s mass into energy-if the Bearer is psychologically suited for that (see below).
In an upper atmosphere, the Gem can propel the Bearer at a substantially faster rate, at hypersonic velocities-without converting mass to energy. Mass/energy conversion allows the bearer to effectively circumnavigate the globe in under thirty seconds.
If the Bearer wishes to enter interstellar space, the Gem can easily achieve escape velocity, and upon exiting an atmosphere, it can propel the Bearer at ten percent of the speed of light; in other words the Bearer could travel from the Earth to the Sun in two hours. Mass/energy conversion allows the bearer to double that speed.
In order to cross greater distances in a shorter time, the Gem can create “warp portals”. This ability has not been tested by Earth’s Stellar Protector at this time; it is theorized that the warp portals can allow the bearer to cross approximately one hundred megaparsecs in an instant (over three hundred million light-years). It is rare to travel such great distances, however, as the Gem observes that most inhabited worlds can be reached in a fraction of such distances.
Defensive Capabilities
The Stellar Gem uses a variety of means to protect its Bearer. The first and most obvious is the armor manifested by the Gem, which appears to be constructed of something part metal and part...something else. The truth, however, is that it is a further manifestation of the Gem's ability to manipulate mass/energy: the armor is actually composed of hardened, solidified cosmic energy. Because of this, the armor can be altered in subtle ways when the Bearer fights alongside other beings of power, adding durability or striking power as needed to complement the Bearer's allies.
This armor will protect the Bearer from assorted hazardous environments. It allows the Bearer to survive in space for an indefinite duration, and the energy it provides can even allow the Bearer to avoid the usual frailties of biology, such as the need for food and water. This function allows the Bearer to operate in gaseous, aquatic, high- and low-G environments, and more.
The second layer of protection is in the production of energy shields. These shields are capable of deflecting small arms fire with ease, and further layering of the shields can protect against other methods of harm. These shields are not perfect, however; sufficient force can overcome the shields.
The third layer of protection is in the ability to heal the Bearer of wounds. As long as there is a spark of consciousness in the mind of the Bearer, the Gem can heal any wound. It periodicially purges the Bearer of harmful biological effects, such as disease, viruses, or poisons. A side effect of this ability is the ability to heal others of similar genetic makeup. For example, this allows a Human Bearer to heal humanoid beings, although not to the same extent as the Bearer-the Gem can only heal physical trauma to such entities. This is largely because the Gem maps the Bearer's biology completely, and can restore the Bearer completely-but it has no such access to other's biology.
The final layer of protection is the ability to convert a portion of the Bearer's mass into energy. This is something that is draining to the biology of the Bearer, and cannot be maintained for long. The Bearer become much more difficult to harm-although a full conversion into energy is also possible, which allows the Bearer to transcend physical limitations at the cost of being unable to affect the physical world. This is equally strenuous as a partial conversion. It's uncertain how the Bearer can maintain a conscious mind while converted into energy, and it's theorized that the Gem's Crafters were able to effect their own transcendence by solving this problem.
Offensive Capabilities
The Gem's Bearer is outfitted with a number of options to go into battle with, and it depends upon how the Bearer chooses to fight. The Gem allows the projection of cosmic energy at range. This projection is primarily concussive in nature, capable of punching through several inches of solid steel in an initial projection at the height of the Bearer's power. This can be projected in almost any manner the Bearer chooses; a Human Bearer may project such power through the eyes, or via the hands.
This energy can be focused at closer range, allowing the Bearer to strike with physical force out of proportion to the Bearer's strength. This does not actually enhance the strength of the Bearer; the Bearer will not be able to lift more than normal. Only the striking power of the Bearer is greatly enhanced, allowing a skinny Human to hit like a heavyweight boxer.
A final offensive tool involves the creation of "photon seekers"; similar to a Kheldian's ability, these seekers can seek and destroy targets near the Bearer. They can also be enabled to simply seek a target and return to the Bearer; in being reabsorbed, the Bearer learns the location of the targets.
Bonding
The process of bonding to a potential Bearer occurs literally within microseconds.
Upon touch, the Gem immediately performs a scan of the “thought center” of the being touching it. For humans, it may be the brain; for certain robots, their CPU core. For other species, it may be quite different. First, the scan determines if the potential Bearer is sentient; if the potential Bearer is not a sentient being, organic or otherwise, the process ends immediately. Otherwise, the scan attempts to discern if the potential Bearer is mentally deficient, or pre-disposed towards non-socially acceptable behavior. If it determines that the potential Bearer is unworthy, nothing will happen; if it cannot discern anything because of mental blocks or similar reasons, nothing will happen. If the potential Bearer passes the test, then the Gem will enter the second phase of the bonding process.
Observers have indicated that the Gem “melts” from its gem-like form, and wraps itself into a band around the closest extremity. The band interfaces with the nervous system of the host (presuming a humanoid like physiology; details differ between species). At this point, the Gem is bonded to the Bearer; only death can remove the Gem. Even severing the extremity from the Bearer will not remove it unless the Bearer is killed; in fact, severing the extremity will usually do nothing but irritate the Bearer, who still has full control of the Gem even thus separated.
The bond allows the Bearer to utilize the power contained by the Gem, although for the safety of the Bearer, such manifestations occur slowly and over time, to allow the Bearer to become comfortable with using the power in a safe manner. The Gem will recognize the primary means of communication of the Bearer, and will only communicate with the Bearer. The Bearer has some control over the level of communication; for example a Bearer hoping to utilize stealth in a dangerous setting can effectively “turn off” any warnings it may give automatically.