MY CASE FOR THE UNORTHADOX

[Andnoa]

Lightsaber Specification

I have decided to craft a crossguard lightsaber in the hopes of reaping the benefits of such a design. This choice is unorthodox as most if not all Sith Apprentices start out with a basic saber, no modifications or special features and gradually build up to a more advanced weapon where I seek to begin with a higher quality device. Attached below is a blueprint design of the weapon that I choose to build.

Fig 1: The Activated Saber
The Reasoning for my Choice
As best as I can tell, there is no crossguard saber specialist within the powerbase and although this is a somewhat new design I see much promise in it for myself. The weapon takes one great advantage that lightsabers have lacked over the metal swords that they replace and grants it back to them. This is a protection to the hand that is given by the quillon blades themselves. In my design they both serve to guard the hand but also allow for an offensive option, potentially catching and trapping the foe’s weapon while the main blade is free to land a killing blow. This is no gimmick as well as there is no one clear counterplay to the technique, rather it is a legitimate option to defeat the foe. From my design it would appear there is such an option: Miss the quillons and sever them at the base and potentially cut the fingers off the foe as well. This however misses out on one of the primary characteristics of the lightsaber which is the magnetic field that brings great attraction between blades. This is the primary reason that bladelocks occur and the forces and precision needed to bring the foes blade to the hilt while avoiding the forces of the nearest quillon and the main blade is large.
I plan to cannibalise the functioning parts from the broken lightsaber that you so generously provided to me and as such seek only few parts to create my saber and these are as follows:

• 3x Custom Crafted Bloodshine Lightsaber Crystal, one in "Alpha" design and two "beta" crystals
• 1x 0.3 meter length of 40mm round Durasteel 4145
• 3x Focusing lens
• 2x Diatium power cell
• 1x Bifurcating Cyclical-Ignition Pulse modifier.

There is a small level of symbolism and a large amount of practicality in my choice to cannibalise the blade. To take such a broken thing and to give it deadly purpose is what the Sith have done for me ever since I was discovered. To craft use from that which is of no use is a concept that I have also employed in my training (see my works “Training with Augmentation of the Body” and “Experimentation with Precision Telekinesis and Potential Training Regimens for Acolytes.” for proof of this) as well as in my life. The less pointlessly flowery reasoning for doing so is that though the saber as a whole is broken, many of the individual parts are whole and function to a high level. There would be as such little point in wasting them for the sake of the vanity of acquiring a wholly new saber.

Fig 2: Top Down View of De-activated Saber
In deciding this as the option for my weapon, I have looked over the possibilities of how this might affect me in each lightsaber form. When I spoke to you as an acolyte I spoke of my desire to learn each and every form and this remains the case. As such here are my thoughts on the matter:
Shii Cho: The large sweeping arcs of Shii Cho find no great benefit or weakness in such a weapon choice. The lack of precision guarding would make the crossguard effectively decorative without major alterations to the form.
Makashi: I feel that in my limited experience with the combatting of form two, Makashi specialists would find such a weapon useful to augment their riposte options. The precision guarding with the lower parts of the blade as well would allow for the above mentioned guard-with-quillons-strike-with-main-blade technique to flourish in this form. My blade will not feature a curved hilt so will not be perfectly adapted to this form, but if a Makashi specialist decided to, I could see this becoming a potent dedicated weapon. When fighting the form the crossguard allows me to protect my hand from the attacks of the foe and therefore focus upon defeating them.
Soresu: The form that I think will suffer most from such a weapon. When reading up on the subject I have found that a Soresu specialist will keep their blade as close to the body as possible, minimising movement and allowing for the enemy to tire themselves. Unfortunately this weapon does not benefit from being close to the body, not only as the two small blades are then a threat to the body of the wielder, but they are of little use them to guard against the foe. Nevertheless it is not all negative. An adaptation to the form may be possible with time or an altered grip to keep the quillons at ninety degrees from the body. When fighting the form the foe will have less option to attack in a form that is already limited in its offensive skill.
Ataru: Similarly to Shii Cho, an Ataru user’s long flowing wide attacks would not have any great benefits nor weaknesses from such a weapon and would prove mostly decorative. Nevertheless the hand protection from the guard might allow for more to be put into an attacking sequence without the risk of losing an arm. Against an Ataru user there is perhaps the least advantage. I suspect it would be mostly folly to try and parry such an attack on the guards but at the same time there is no overwhelming weakness in using such a weapon. It would perform on par with a Lightsaber.
Djem So: Similarly to Makashi, I think Djem So would benefit from the increased riposting and countering options. In addition, similarly to above I think the protection of the hand will allow the user to engage more into their foe, allowing for stronger attacks with fewer risks to the wielder. This could be used in a similar fashion to how I used my cybernetic arm guards during my acolyte-hood, though I would do well to make sure I do not come to rely on them as a crutch.
Shien: Unlike its sister form, Shien would have no great advantages to using the crossguard saber. I do foresee only one minor advantage which is the increased area to parry blaster fire with close to the hilt. One small point I have considered however, is that in the shien reverse grip the weapon takes on many characteristics of a shield with the quillons blocking over and underhanded attacks better than the main blade.
Niman: Niman would see again no great advantages or disadvantages with such a weapon in my view. The form has always been one that embraces alternative weapons from saberstaffs to Jar’Kai. As such it would be a neutral option.
Juyo: The Sith Style would see great advantage in my view. As with Ataru and Djem So, its root forms, the increased hand protection would allow for more violent offense and a Juyo user is defined by how offensive their attacks can be. The quillons provide an additional offensive option in bladelocks, making countering an additional way to kill a foe. Increases in violent potential plus defence (and this being an unorthodox weapon choice in general) makes this form maybe see the greatest advantages of such a weapon. If a weapon benefits the Sith Style most of all then by its nature it is a sith weapon.

Fig 3: Side on Emitter View of Deactivated Saber
There are a few disadvantages of my chosen weapon and I am not blind to them. Three blades (even when two of them are small) increases the power consumption of the weapon as well as the complexity of creating it. To counter this I propose to add a second power cell and to keep each synchronized for maximum efficiency. It will require three lightsaber crystals for my design, more than any weapon except a Dual-Phase Dual Saber and this will take a great deal of time. In addition two out of the three will need to be smaller and focused differently to the main crystal in a complicated procedure that will test my skill level. The Echani told me that he spent hours working on just one crystal and I confess this will take days of time and focus, but there is no point in doing something if you are not challenged by it. I could create the ordinary or I could push on further, deeper into my skill. Test my limits and advance beyond them.
In Conclusion
Ever since my time as an Imperial engineer, I have sought to better myself and my equipment. Since becoming partially mechanical I have maintained my body and allowed increased my skill further in this. I have the knowledge to create such a weapon. It offers me an advantage in combat without forcing me to change my style completely and work in the unknown. It has symbolic value as a sign of how far I have come and allows me to put my personal philosophies to use for the Glory of the Empire. The choice of an unorthodox weapon also marks me out as one with skill with a lightsaber above and beyond most Sith and this is proven that there is not a single acolyte of my generation that has been able to best me in saber combat. I can only advance further and I believe this is the correct choice with which to do it.