Radiite

[AutoFox]

RADIITE​

AFFILIATION
Free use.

MANUFACTURER
Naturally occurring, or synthesized by various manufacturers.

TYPE
Radioactive element. POWER SUPPLY
It is one.

SENSORS
N/A.

SIZE
Usually refined into 3 centimeter long slugs.

COMPOSITION
Radiite.

DESCRIPTION​

Radiite is an intensely radioactive element with an extraordinarily long half-life, found in naturally occurring deposits scattered on planets across the Galaxy. Relatively uncommon, it was once considered a strategic resource for its use as a fuel, however it has since been rendered obsolete as an energy source by the march of technology.

Radiite was the preferred power supply for ancient raygun weapons, which channeled raw radiation as destructive beams. It was also used as a fuel element in ancient fission reactors, and was highly prized in this capacity; radiite had the strange ability to self-regulate, able to create the requisite chain reaction, but never an uncontrollable one. This made it comparatively safe for use in civil power-plants, though this also meant it could not be used to create reliable fission explosives. Radiite was also used as a fuel for ancient fission cycle engines, such as those used by starships of the pre-Republic period.

Radiite was powerful and versatile, but not as cheap or plentiful as fissionables such as uranium or thorium. The element could only be found on worlds which had formed under certain conditions, and mining it was costly in both men and materials. In the presence of large Radiite deposits, only specially hardened droids would continue to function for any length of time, and all but the hardiest organic workers would succumb to massive radiation poisoning within days unless shielded to an unfeasible degree. It is said, in fact, that the first ray shielding systems were developed to protect crews and equipment working in radiite mines. In many pre-Republic mines, expendable slave labor or condemned criminals were often used to extract and refine the ore.

Improperly contained radiite could cause deterioration of its surroundings, making most metals brittle and slowly cooking organic substances. Individual slugs of radiite were typically sealed inside lead-ceramic casings to prevent this. On ancient battlefields, the burned-out cartridges of raygun weapons - their shielding badly deteriorated - are still a potential radiation hazard if improperly handled.

Like rayguns and many related technologies, radiite was quickly phased out when new, less dangerous fuel elements became viable for use in power-plants and firearms. Blaster weapons especially, which fired charged particle bolts derived from gas, removed the need for warriors to carry potentially dangerous radioactive ammunition for their weapons, and dramatically lowered the cost of portable directed energy weapons, ending the domination of backpack-sized beam-tubes and increasingly useless slugthrowers among the rank and file of most armies. The age of elite "Raygunners" as the deciding force of an engagement were over. More, fusion and antimatter power had risen to take their place supplying energy to the Galaxy, and were both much more cost-effective and reliable, if not necessarily safer to operate.

In the present day, radiite is still used for a handful of mainly industrial applications, and can be synthesized rather than mined. Its days as a reigning power source are long over, as is its use in weaponry. Even so, caches of radiite cartridges for rayguns - or even just ceramic-sealed fuel slugs - are a regular feature of pre-Republic archaeological sites. In the ancient Galaxy it was considered a valuable material, and decorative displays of it in specially treated and sealed ceraglass containers are also common to find in treasure hordes of that era, as are radiite pendants and other jewelry encased in the same material.

Radiite is crystalline in appearance, translucent, and glows with an amber light.

LEGALITY​

Dubious. Radiite is legal to possess for the purpose of using it in a number of industrial processes, and certain ancient artifacts - such as radiite jewelry - are regulated as antiquities. However, as live raygun weapons are typically banned in civilized systems, so too are loaded radiite ammunition cartridges.

INTENT​

To create a standard power supply for raygun technology, and to further explain the use and proliferation of fission power in the ancient Galaxy. Inspired by the use of "radium" as a power source in classic science fiction of the 1920s and '30s.

ADVANCED TECH​

Yes. Radiite is not common, and not always legal. Obtaining any quantity of it would not be trivial.

 

[Loco]

@AutoFox, I'm concerned about the potential use of this as a slow acting poison or sabotage device of some sort, given its properties. Any way we could tone down that effect? Otherwise we may have to bump this to advanced.

 

[AutoFox]

@Loco

You raise some good points... however, I think I'd like to preserve the effects as they are. I've bumped it up to Advanced.

 

[Loco]

In that case, approved!