User:Junta Chan/sandbox

"Maggot of metal, rust, and rot. Sith life draws breath, old life does not."

- Sith incantation of mechu-deru vitae, a technique used to create technobeasts

Technobeasts, also known as Metanecrons, were part machine, part organic Sithspawn hybrids.

Characteristics
Technobeasts, sometimes referred to as Metanecrons, were characterized by an infection from the nanogene spore, a technovirus capable of transmuting living tissue into metallic parts. Consisting of microscopic nanogene droids, the technovirus instinctively moved towards the brain of the victim, lobotomizing their frontal lobe and rendering them incapable of higher thought. By this point, the subject's transformation into a Sithspawn hybrid was irreversible, though it was possible—through the power of the Force—to halt the process before the lobotomy took place. Long-term exposure to the nanogene spore caused severe degradation of the victim's mind, limiting their motor functions and reducing the creatures to clumsy, shambling automata.

Once fully transformed, most remnants of living tissue on the creatures would have rotted away, leaving only small strands of skin and sinew supported mostly by metallic scraps, rods and wires. The transformation also led to the deterioration of the victim's vocal cords, rendering the technobeasts incapable of speech. Due to the innately experimental nature of the nanogene spore, the manner in which the subjects were transformed had varying results, making all technobeasts unique. Some of the creatures possessed zigzags of scarred tissue, caused by the virus building upon its own metallic chunks. In other cases, victims ended up with multiple heads or crab-like pincers.

Designed primarily for destruction, many technobeasts had their arms replaced with skewers or saws, while others were known to have jagged blades extending from their elbows. Larger technobeast variants—specifically those created from rancors and banthas—were forged into war machines, exhibiting spiked armor plating to replace their hides, as well as having blaster cannons fused to their shoulders. Infested with the nanogene spore, some of the creatures were capable of dispersing clouds of the technovirus, allowing them to infect and potentially transform other living beings.

History
"She was a student of Sith alchemy; it was said she learned the secrets of mechu-deru, the ability to transform the flesh of living beings into metal and machinery. She used this power to create an army of technobeasts: organic-droid hybrids bound to her will."

- Hetton, regarding the creator of the technobeasts, Belia Darzu

Thousands of years before the Great Sith War, a small number of Sith magicians discovered mechu-deru, a Force technique granting them the ability to manipulate mechanical structures, allowing the creation of part-machine, part-organic hybrids. In a later period called the New Sith Wars, a Sith Lord by the name of Belia Darzu researched mechu-deru alongside the dark side art of Sith alchemy. Using her knowledge of both, Lord Darzu devised the offshoot technique known as mechu-deru vitae, using it to create metallic-organic hybrids by means of a nanogene virus. Bound to Darzu's will, these Sithspawn cyborgs were created and housed inside a secret fortress on Tython, a planet located in the Deep Core of the galaxy. Within this stronghold, living beings of several different species—both humanoid and alien—from across the galaxy had been transformed into technobeasts themselves.

Under Lord Darzu, the technobeasts were subsequently unleashed upon the Galactic Republic and the Jedi Order, becoming recognized as the signature horror of a two-decade conflict known as the Sictis Wars. In this time, one Jedi Knight prevented the nanogene spore from fully transforming him into a Sithspawn mutant, preserving his identity and becoming known as the "technobeast Jedi". By the end of the Sictis Wars in 1230 BBY, the production of new technobeasts came to a halt after Darzu was assassinated, sabotaging her army. Despite this, the creatures were brought back by the Sith Lords who succeeded Darzu, though in smaller numbers than before. The use of technobeasts continued until the Sith were finally defeated at the end of the Draggulch Period in 1000 BBY.

Over two centuries after the fall of Lord Darzu, some of her technobeasts remained active inside her strongold on Tython. Lacking any purpose or direction from their deceased mistress, these technobeasts merely wandered aimlessly throughout the halls of the fortress. Prior to her death, Darzu had constructed a holocron containing her knowledge of the techniques she used to create the Sithspawn. Radiating with dark side energy inside the fortress,

Behind the scenes
The technobeasts were first mentioned—albeit unnamed—in Tales of the Jedi Companion, a roleplaying supplement published by West End Games in 1996.

Appearances

 * Darth Bane: Rule of Two
 * Darth Plagueis