Cortosis/Legends

"Your melee weapon is made using a cortosis weave. It's strong enough to stand up against anything, even a lightsaber."

- Trask Ulgo

Cortosis ore was a very rare, brittle, fibrous material whose conductive properties caused lightsabers to temporarily short out upon contact. This effect made cortosis a useful material for anti-lightsaber melee weapons, though with repeated strikes, a lightsaber could still cut through it. Due to its conductive properties however, it had the ability to short circuit lightsabers, although the wielder could solve this problem by turning the blade back on after a couple of seconds.

Overview
This substance was used extensively in shadowtrooper armor, as well as the cortosis battle droids during the Clone Wars, and the Force-using group known as the Jensaarai. The cortosis used for this armor was smuggled out from Bespin's Cloud City. The walls of the Imperial Palace were also lined with cortosis ore. It was also used to stengthen starfighter and capital ship hulls, and was woven into body armor.



Cortosis was expensive to mine because it was so rare and it absolutely had to be refined. Pure, unrefined cortosis ore was for unexplained reasons energized, killing anyone who touched it with his/her bare skin, even Hutts, who had energy resistant enzymes in their sweat. Miners had to have filter equipment, or else the cortosis particles would accumulate in their systems, causing hair loss, sickness, and eventually death. The substance was heat and energy resistant, meaning energy tools (such as plasma torches) were virtually useless. The brute force of hydraulic jacks were used to mine it, though it quickly wore the head of the jack to uselessness and its dust would clog the pistons.

The most valuable type of Cortosis was the purified one. It is known as Cortosis-Shield, used by Roan Fel's Imperial Knights on their gauntlets. It can short out a lightsaber for a short period of time.

During the New Sith Wars, the Outer Rim Oreworks Company mined cortosis on Apatros. This is where future Dark Lord of the Sith Darth Bane was born and drilled cortosis for several years before fleeing to the Sith Army.

During the Clone Wars, the Jedi Council discovered that the Confederacy of Independent Systems was mining cortosis on Bal'demnic, and dispatched a task force led by Halagad Ventor and Sha Koon to sabotage the operation.

Large deposits of cortosis were also known to be on Duro.

Roan Fel and all of his Imperial Knights had pure cortosis gauntlets.

Quinlan Vos wore a cortosis gauntlet on his left arm during the Clone Wars

Behind the scenes


Some sources claim that cortosis is just resistant to lightsaber strikes, and doesn't cause any effect on the weapon itself. The position of the Star Wars RPG is that both are correct (see "External links" below). However, it is said that this is because it is a mix, and this has been proven to be said in RPGs such as Knights of the Old Republic.

In Star Wars EU, there are two types of cortosis&mdash;cortosis ore and cortosis alloy. Cortosis ore deactivates the lightsaber, and cortosis alloy simply blocks the blade, making cortosis something of a marvel of metallurgy, as nothing known about how the ore accounts for the relationship between the actions of circuit-interruption or energy-blade blocking. It should be noted, however, that cortosis is very brittle, and breaks easily. This is why it is mixed with other metals, to form cortosis alloy. However, the alloy loses the shut-down capability of the ore. Even when mixed, however, cortosis still makes the alloy weaker. At one point in Darth Bane: Path of Destruction it says that cortosis is incredibly hard, and even resistant to lightsabers.

The length of time cortosis is effective seems to vary. In Vision of the Future, when Luke Skywalker first encounters it, it deactivates his lightsaber, but he is able to reignite the blade immediately. In other depictions, however, including Purge and the Legacy comic series, it renders lightsabers useless for several minutes. This may be explained by the cortosis alloy/ore difference and the amount of ore present in the alloy used.

Appearances

 * Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic
 * Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic II: The Sith Lords
 * Darth Bane: Path of Destruction
 * Darth Bane: Rule of Two
 * Qui-Gon and Obi-Wan: The Aurorient Express
 * Jedi Council: Acts of War
 * Star Wars: Obi-Wan
 * Star Wars Republic: Rite of Passage
 * Star Wars: The New Droid Army
 * Rather Darkness Visible
 * Star Wars Republic: Show of Force
 * Star Wars Republic: Trackdown
 * Star Wars Republic: The Siege of Saleucami
 * Star Wars: Purge
 * I, Jedi
 * Star Wars: Jedi Knight II: Jedi Outcast
 * Specter of the Past
 * Vision of the Future
 * Tempest
 * Fury
 * Star Wars Legacy 13: Ready to Die