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Lightsaber

2022-01-15T21:28:56Z

2600:1700:E88A:5410:C820:675:4B3A:4318:

{{Topquote|This is the weapon of a Jedi Knight. Not as random or as clumsy as a blaster; an elegant weapon for a more civilized age.|Obi Wan Kenobi, [[Star Wars|A New Hope]]}}
{{Topquote|Hokey religions and ancient weapons are no match for a good blaster at your side, kid.|Han Solo, who doesn't give a shit how "civilized" your weapon is}}

'''Lightsabers''' are one of the most iconic weapons in [[Star Wars]], if not in all of sci-fi, being energy swords used by the Jedi and the Sith. Your basic lightsaber is a cylinder about 20cm long which at the push of a button emits a "blade" of plasma about a meter long which can reflect blaster fire and cut through pretty much everything that's not another lightsaber blade with minimal resistance.
[[Image:Lukesaber1.jpeg|thumb|right|Luke holding his fathers saber, [[skub|Debatably]] The most famous of lightsabers.]]

== Basic fluff ==
The main components of your basic lightsaber are the outer shell, power cell, a focusing emitter, power switch, and a kyber crystal which powers and generates the blade. Everything is fairly common stuff except for the crystal, which is attuned to the Force. In Legends, kybers were both mined and could be made by Force users while in the new Disney canon they are exclusively of natural origin. Blade length can usually be adjusted. The Jedi order made less powerful lightsabers for use during training for fairly obvious reasons. Likewise they're also rigged to turn off if dropped.

Non Force-users can use Lightsabers, but generally can't make the best of them. Of course, the same can be said about any untrained individual learning to use a certain weapon, but the gatekeeping isn't just about training. It's also about understanding how to use it and control the balance in minute ways (some sources even claiming the plasma blade produces a gyroscopic effect) without having to always switch your grip over such a small area. An affinity to the Force also gives a lightsaber user a measure of subconscious precognition, which lets them to predict where a blow will come from and let them effectively parry blaster fire.

In legends early Lightsabers known as Protosabers were powered by a fanny pack sized power cell worn on the belt connected to them by a cable.

== Lightsaber Combat ==

=== Hilt Variants ===
*'''Protosaber:''' The prototypes that were made during the transition from Force powered katana to beam of plasma suspended by magnetics and powered by Force Imbued crystals. Power packs had to be carried on the belt and connected by cables before sufficient miniature technology was developed.
*'''Crossguard:''' A lightsaber with a bit of cortosis or other lightsaber resistant material as a crossguard. Despite how obvious this is and the era of cortosis being obtainable matches the era where lightsaber fights were reasonably common, they are barely mentioned.
**'''Lightsaber Crossguard''': aka the Kylo Ren. One regular lightsaber acts as the main blade, two small ones go out perpendicular to the main one to act as a crossguard and vents for excess energy. If one were to ask about energy consumption, these things would probably be the bottom of the list when it comes to energy efficiency. Not very useful as an actual crossguard but has shown some use as an additional cutting edge; the crossguard can be used to cut in the enemy if the two are clashing in melee. If Kylo Ren's saber is anything to go by, it's also terribly unbalanced and difficult to use due to having three exhausts. While many use it as an example of why Disney-era Star Wars sucks, it was in fact invented in Legends material.
*'''The Darksaber''': Truly unique among lightsabers, as only one of its kind was built- by a Mandalorian Jedi, no less. For one, the blade is, well, black, with a glowing white edge to it, with the additional effect that makes it seem like the blade is "electrified". Secondly, the blade shape is along the lines of a tradition single-edge sword- to be specific, a falchion or a seax. This is also reflected in the hilt design. The blade is also considered to be the Excalibur of Star Wars, as the one who wields it has the potential to unite the clans of Mandalorian Space and declare themselves Mand'alor (basically the king/queen of all Mandalorians)
*'''Lightsaber Shoto:''' A smaller lightsaber for use as an off-hand weapon for dual-wielding Jedi who did not have the balls to carry two regular sabers, or as a main weapon for small-sized wielders.
**'''Guard Shoto:''' Essentially a short lightsaber built into a tonfa hilt, allowing for unique techniques such as blocking or trapping.
**'''Dual Phase:''' A lightsaber that can swap between short and long length.
*'''Curved Lightsaber:''' A hilt design preferred by duelists, allowing for greater finesse. It was based on the hilt of an actual fencing sword since Christopher Lee knew how to fence and holding a hilt like that was most natural for him.
*'''Great Lightsaber:''' The exact opposite of a shoto. Much larger hilts and longer blades designed for larger individuals, or those who prefer a more brute force style.
*'''Saberstaff''': Two lightsabers stuck together. Best known for being used by Darth Maul, but was initially invented by the Old Sith Empire, long before the Rule of Two.
**'''Lightsaber Pike:''' A double bladed variant with a much longer hilt, giving more reach. They are sometimes depicted as being foldable for easy storage. Confusingly shares a name with the actual "blade on long stick" below.
**'''Interlocking Lightsabers:''' Two lightsabers that can be combined at the base to make a saberstaff.
*'''Lightsaber Pike:''' A long, saber-resistant shaft often with a shorter lightsaber blade at the end; creating a large, but cumbersome weapon with decent reach. An uncommon sight, used by the Knights of Zakuul often paired with a shield like a [[Hoplite]]. Also used by some of the Emperor's Shadow Guards. Confusingly shares a name with the "two blades on one long stick" above.
*'''Lightwhips:''' Lightsabers with longer, [[What|flexible]] beams, making defense against them more difficult. In fluff this flexibility is often traded against a weaker beam strength. The story for its initial appearance was blatantly inspired by stories of [[Wikipedia:Miyamoto Musashi|Miyamoto Musashi]] beating Shishido Baiken and his kusarigama, with Luke figuring out the solution to "enemy wraps up your sword" is "have a second sword".
*'''Inquisitorial Lightsaber:''' A double-bladed variant with a unique hilt design allowing it to spin on its axis introduced in the Disney-era show Rebels. [[What|Also allows its wielder to spin it and fly like a helicopter,]] because ''"I'm Mary Poppins y'all!"''
* '''Blaster Hilt:''' A perfect combination of [[choppy]] and [[shooty]]. This jury rigged thing was created by Ezra from Rebels and looks kind of like a mechanical riding saber's handle, but with a blaster barrel attached to the top of it so he can shoot dudes before chopping them up.

===Rifles===
Yeah. Two different models of "ranged lightsabers" actually existed at different points in time. Listed in order of publication until more are revealed. The real reason for their existence is because other franchises like [[Dune]], [[Warhammer 40k]], [[Star Trek]], [[Doctor Who]], Mobile Suit Gundam and even recent [[XCOM]]s had ranged physic weapons long before Star Wars did. None of these weapons have appeared in the movies or tv yet. Because a [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Han_shot_first certain hack] doesn't understand what the term "anti-hero" actually means.

*'''Lightsaber Rifle:''' This weapon was used by Jedi Master Jocasta Nu against Darth Vader. [[fail|It only had five shots before the saber loaded into the top of the rifle melted.]]

*'''Farkiller:''' If you thought the Jedi were morons before. The story behind this thing will multiply that opinion two fold or more. [[awesome|The Farkiller was a Sniper Rifle that used Lightsaber technology to kill targets kilometers away.]] The Jedi excommunicated both it's creator and primary user than they were killed when a war broke out, because reasons. [[Ork_Snipers| They were most likely assassinated by the Jedi themselves.]]

=== Lightsaber Styles ===
Fighting with a lightsaber is more than simply swinging your laser sword and hoping to hit the enemy while blocking his attacks. Lightsaber combat is considered a true martial art that developed different styles and forms over the ages as eras moved on and needs changed. There are a number of canonical ''(and non canonical)'' lightsaber combat styles with their own pros and cons.

*'''Form I - Schii-Cho:''' When lightsabers were invented, the first style was based primarily on existing sword-fighting techniques. Schii-Cho was the ''basic'' lightsaber style learned by most beginners and is the gateway to lightsaber combat with most later styles building upon its principles. Few actually go on to master the style properly, which is unfortunate because Form I is a perfectly functional style in its own right - in other words, it's the "boring but practical" form. It is best suited for melee combat against multiple opponents, though it pales horribly against ranged weapons. Kit Fisto (the Green-Abe-Sapien-with-dreadlocks guy mostly seen in Episdoe III and Clone Wars) was said to have mastered and stuck to this form in the Visual Dictionnaries.
*'''Form II - Makashi:''' If Form I is "sword fighting," then Form II is "fencing." It uses a more precise and elegant method of attack and defense versus the sweeping movements of Form I, though still operating on traditional "sword form" techniques. Makashi is a style best suited for one-on-one combat, though as with Form I it offers no defense against ranged weapons. Its name is Japanese for "to defeat." Count Dooku's style.
*'''Form III - Soresu:''' Someone somewhere noted that the first two forms were useless against ranged weapons and moved to correct this, creating an all-new style that catered to defense and was the first style to truly teach how to block blaster bolts. In melee combat it placed emphasis on small, efficient movements, outlasting your opponent(s), and waiting for them to tire and/or make a mistake. Its inoffensive nature marked it as the ultimate expression of the Jedi philosophy but meant that inexperienced initiates were left without effective means of attack. Obi Wan took up this style after Qui-Gonn's death and is considered THE master of Soresu.
*'''Form IV - Ataru:''' Forms IV and V were developed concurrently, as lightsaber masters looked at Form III and decided it was far too passive a combat form, as simply waiting for your enemy to tire out isn't really an effective means of fighting. "Ataru" therefore was developed as an "aggressive" form that placed emphasis on overwhelming attack; teaching its practitioners to strike relentlessly and acrobatically from multiple angles, requiring high agility and endurance on the part of its users. The main problems with Ataru are that it is not suitable for long encounters, or for closed environments. Its name is Japanese for "to hit." Yoda uses Ataru exclusively, as does Anakin Skywalker in episode 2.
*'''Form V - Shien:''' As with Ataru, the developers of Shien looked at Form III and said that being passive was a poor form of offense. But rather than overwhelming an opponent with relentless attack as with Form IV, the Shien style maintained its emphasis on defense but taught how to redirect an opponent's strikes, moving around the battlefield and creating their own opportunities for counterattack. It is considered to be one of the better styles for combat against ranged opponents and multiple attackers, but is less suited as a dueling style.　Its name is Japanese for "support", which is fitting for a non-offensive style. Ahsoka Tano and Galen Marek use Shien while using their lightsabers in a reverse-grip.
**'''Djem So:''' The more physically demanding variant of Form V, the style is still grounded in the same principles of controlling your opponent and creating opportunities for counter attack, but is more suited for fighting against a single opponent as it instructs the user to physically dominate the fight by battering their way through the guard of the opponent, or opening the opponent's attacks into new opportunities to strike. As a true evolution of lightsaber-on-lightsaber combat; a Djem So practitioner ''with sufficient strength'' could overcome a skilled Makashi duelist. The specific failings of Djem So are that it is criticized for having a lack of mobility, and is less useful for physically weak practitioners. Anakin Skywalker, learning his lesson of not recklessly charging a master of the dueling form (that is, Dooku) after losing an arm, primarily uses Djem So during the Clone Wars and episode 3. As Darth Vader, he uses a mix of Djem So, Soresu, and Makashi
*'''Form VI - Niman:''' The "Moderate" form that combined elements from all of the previous forms into a single hybrid style, allowing its practitioners to learn the basics of lightsaber combat in all areas, eventually replacing Form I as the ''"standard"'' style by the time of the Clone Wars. Critics point out that this form is insufficiently demanding, provides no decisive edge in battle, and is ill-suited to both dueling and the open battlefield. However, Form VI does encourage its adherents to be highly flexible and to incorporate more Force techniques in combat, encouraging the user to strike and guard telekinetically and control the fight intuitively. This made ultimate mastery of the Niman style very difficult, so as with Form I, most initiates eventually gravitated towards a different style to suit their preferences. However, true masters of the art, like Exar Kun (who is pretty much unmatched in melee except by freakishly powerful beings like Vitiate and Luke) are incomparable in combat, having no weakness in form to exploit, closing the advantage gap by sheer skill.
**'''Jar'Kai:''' Technically the "Jar'Kai tactic" refers to fighting with two lightsabers at once, regardless of the chosen lightsaber form. However the ''"Jar'Kai Style"'' was a specific predecessor to the Niman style that existed before the actual invention of the lightsaber and was later incorporated into the Form VI curriculum. Therefore while Form VI is a style unto itself, those who wish to learn how to use two lightsabers often find that the principles of Niman lend themselves well to two-weapon combat, occasionally combined with a Shien style reverse grip.
*'''Form VII - Juyo:''' The "Ferocity" form, and is one of the most physically and emotionally demanding forms. It was designed specifically for lightsaber duels, being compared to the directness of Form V combined with the energy of Form IV, although the movements come across as chaotic and erratic, often appearing raw and unpolished, the goal was to be unpredictable and vicious, with a heavy emphasis on offense. Juyo was sometimes labelled a "Sith style," Form VII is particularly aggressive and opens the users mind up to the dark side of the force if they are not careful. Darth Maul and Emperor Palpatine used Juyo in the movies.
**'''Vaapad:''' The Mace Windu variant of Juyo that was only perfected much later. Vaapad was exactly the same lightsaber style as Juyo with a different mindset; Vaapad requires the practitioner to exert a certain measure of control by channeling the emotion back into the fight rather than letting it overcome the user. Though this was difficult and required a constant stream of Force use to achieve, therefore it was actively discouraged by the Jedi council as being too risky to attempt.

In the Legends Continuity, there are a number of other styles and techniques used in lightsaber combat:
*[[Meme|"I have the high ground"]] is an actual style... Or more appropriately a methodology called '''Sokan''' which teach the user how to use their environment to their advantage: bottling the enemy into small spaces to restrict movement, using open spaces to generate speed etc, and of course; gaining the advantage of higher terrain to limit your opponent's avenues of engagement while increasing your own.
*In a unique case of gamers getting shit done, even one fanon technique made its way into the continuity. '''Trakata''' is a technique which takes advantage of the fact you can turn a lightsaber on and off very quickly, allowing for rapidly re-positioning the blade through an opponent's guard. This was first named as a distinct technique in the [[Star Wars D20|Saga Edition RPG]], and since made its way into expanded universe materials.
*The Jedi Knight series of [[/v/|video games]] created the '''Fast''', '''Medium''', and '''Strong''' lightsaber styles for those trained in the New Republic Era, ostensibly as a gameplay mechanic, since three styles are easier to animate than seven or more. But this was later explained in EU materials as a necessity due to Luke's informal training and the scarcity of written materials following Order 66, meaning that New Jedi Order had to practically invent brand new styles based on the limited information available to them and unrelated melee combat techniques.
*The sideways Disney-canon guidebooks indicate that the Sith have access to all of the styles of the Jedi ''(aside from Vaapad)'' but have modified them to suit their purposes and have discarded elements as they feel necessary. Condensing the seven forms to only three: '''Strong:''' with its foundations in Djem So and physical domination, '''Fast:''' with a focus on footwork and precision, and finally '''Juyo:''' which remains unchained from the standard curriculum, lending credence to its status as the "Sith" style.

=== Lightsaber Colors ===
{{Topquote|So I said to George Lucas, 'You think maybe I can get a purple lightsaber?' He’s like, 'Lightsabers are green or lightsabers are red.' And I’m like, 'Yeah, but I want a purple one.'|Samuel L. Jackson}}
In the original films, the colors of Lightsaber blades hadn't any particular important role, other than Blue/Green = Good, Red = Bad. Green blades were added when Luke had a costume change for the third movie (Because the blue blade wouldn't have shown up well during the fight at the Sarlacc pit). Since then, other colors have been added through material outside the main movies (though the first new color to be added famously came about because Samuel L. Jackson wanted to stand out in the fighting pits on Geonosis in Attack of the Clones, so he got a purple blade).

* '''Blue:''' Blue Lightsabers are the most common color for padawans and initiates and is kind of the "aggressive" Jedi blade. Not to say that it's a violent color; it's more that the blue-wielding Jedi tend to be more martial and will more readily use their saber to defend their friends and allies. Most Jedi we know of has used a blue lightsaber, including Luke and Anakin Skywalker, Obi-wan Kenobi, Ahsoka Tano, Rey and so many more. The most notable blue lightsaber has got to be Anakin's Lightsaber which eventually found its way into the hands of Luke, until he lost it on Bespin, alongside about a handful of hand. It ''somehow'' ended up in the basement of Maz' castle where Rey took it over (infuriatingly, marketing now calls it "Rey's Lightsaber" - just take my life work why don't you. Some fans have gone to call it the "Skywalker Saber" in response).
* '''Green:''' The "wise" color, wielded by Jedi masters who take a distanced, scholarly approach to the Force and the galaxy at large. Green is almost always used by masters or thoughtful Jedi, in particular the ones that take a religious adherence to the Force and the Jedi way. Well-known wearers of green sabers are Luke after losing his father's lightsaber on Bespin, Qui-gon Jin and Yoda.
* '''Purple:''' Where the blue saber is martial, the purple saber is decidedly bloodthirsty. It's no coincidence that it's close to the Sith's red lightsabers in color, since the users of the ultra-rare purple sabers tend to be battle-loving warriors who dance on the edge of Dark Side methods. The only know bearer of a purple blade is <s>Samuel Motherfucking Jackson</s> Mace Windu, Jedi master and general during the prequel era, though Luke took up a purple shoto in the Legends continuity.
* '''Yellow:''' Used to be associated wtih Jedi Sentinels, those who tried to balance learning and combat, as well as the Jedi temple guardians. Rey shows up with a yellow lightsaber at the end of Ep. IX.
* '''Red:''' The color strongly associated with Sith. In the expanded universe continuity, this is because the lightsaber crystals that Sith use are synthetic, as they have no access to proper Kyber crystals and prefer to make ones infused with Dark Side energy. In-fact, before ''Attack of the Clones'' (and especially before the prequels entirely), it often treated Vader and later Maul's use of red as having no real meaning, leading to groups of darksiders like Jerec's band of Inquisitors (''Dark Forces II'') and the Sith corrupted Jensaarai (''I, Jedi'') using every color possible, while some prominent Jedi used red blades. In the Disney continuity, the Sith use the force to dominate the living Kyber crystals, causing the change to red in a process known as "bleeding".
* '''White:''' An unnatural Kyber crystal color like the red one, but created by cleansing a Red Kyber crystal from Dark Side influence. Little is known about what they are like since few Jedi even get to see a white blade. Ahsoka Tano eventually ditch her blue saber for two white ones.
* '''Black:''' Exclusive to the Darksaber, a lightsaber made by the first Mandolarian Jedi. Because it responds to the user's emotions and state of mind, it allows non-force users to wield the blade effectively against lightsaber-armed force users.

== Issues with Lightsabers ==
{{Topquote|Arc trooper: Are you Jedi as good with blasters as you are with lightsabers?" "Obi-Wan: Better. We only use lightsabers to make fights more equitable.|The Cestus Deception, a [[Star Wars]] novel}}
Specifically, weightless blades. Because light weighs pretty much as low a mass as you can get not counting your dick (oh snap!), the center of balance of the blade is likely somewhere near the end of the handle (going by that's where the battery is, and that they likely weigh more than the blade projector). The problem with this is that you are essentially wielding a lever which will, upon being hit, flop all over the place because your hands function as a hinge. This might be less the case when used in two hands but when used in one your sword will go all over the place when it is struck. There ''is'' some in-story stuff to justify this, mostly based around how the arc-waves that form the blade do have a kind of mass that balances it correctly, but this is mostly hand-waving the issues.

Another point is the double lightsaber. Based on a variety of unbladed [[pole-arm]]s like the Gun or the Bo, it has a double-sized handle with the laser parts coming out from both ends. The problem with this style is that it gives the wielder only a limited surface to work with without burning or chopping their hands off. Maybe this can be discredited as training in the Force and all that jazz (plus Ray Park, the actor and stunt performer for Darth Maul, is REALLY good at what he does, in fact it was his input that resulted in the double lightsaber's handle being the length it is, since the original concept had a much shorter one), but this would still involve swinging a large dangerous rave stick very close to your body, and a good number of these styles involve holding the weapon near the end to gain great striking power at the tip of the weapon like with a [[pole-arm]]. With a lightsaber this is not possible, though not needed since it can just cut through anything by touching a target and letting the plasma do all the work.

And the lightwhip and all other kinds of outlandish lightsabers can go right fuck themselves. And don't use the Force argument; if someone focuses on holding a plasma whip properly they will get shot because, super powerful or not, you still have to think. The "lightcrossguard" on the lightsaber of Kylo Ren certainly looked silly, but for one, they gave him an edge in close combat letting him use them to burn his opponent in a bind, and secondly, expanded material say they are vents required because his lightsaber is unstable. You'd think that his boss might fix that problem for him, but that would be using logic.

One of the biggest issues with lightsabers is shown in the side material of Star Wars itself. They block most energy blots well enough. Assassins who specialize in killing Jedi use slug throwers to bypass their ability to block blaster bolts. So when the users tries to deflect bullets, a Jedi instead has to deal with very hot goo coming at them at hypersonic speeds. This also doesn't cover that some energy weapons have large bore sizes. As attempting to block them would just cause an explosion that sets it's victim alight with plasma.

== Countering Lightsabers ==
A lot is made about the lightsabers ability to cut through most known materials given enough time and exposure. They aren't god-tier weapons though, and there are several materials that are capable of not only resisting lightsabers, but blocking or redirecting them outright.

*'''Cortosis:''' the material often first thought of when people want to counter lightsabers. Cortosis in its refined form will immediately shut down a lightsaber that comes into contact with it. Whether this shorts out a lightsaber briefly or for a few minutes varies from source to source, but the property is imminently desirable nonetheless. The main problem is that mining and refining cortosis causes [[Cancer]] like some space asbestos, so it is hazardous to work with and most sources have been depleted in the era where Jedi and enemy force users were more common so it's quite rare by the era of the films. Not only that, but pure cortosis is considered to be quite brittle and unsuitable for a lot of applications. Less-refined variants will not shut down a lightsaber, but they are impervious to lightsaber damage, making it still useful for blades and armor.
*'''Phrik:''' a material useful for its ability to disperse any form of energy, not just lightsaber blades, and was known to be highly durable ''and'' light. Phrik weapons are most notably used by the droid Magnaguards of the Clone Wars with their electrically arcing staff weapons.
*'''Beskar Iron:''' Used by the Mandalorians, most notably in their armor but also in their blades and starship hulls. Beskar iron is considered practically indestructible, not merely to lightsabers but practically everything. The main problems with Beskar is that the ore is only found on the planet Mandalore and its moon Concordia, and the techniques of working with it are secrets of Mando smiths, making it virtually impossible to find anywhere else. To add in the difficulty of obtaining it, Mandos have a MASSIVE FUCKING HATRED of non-Mandos (especially Jedi due to bad blood in Legends and canon) having anything made of Beskar, as they consider it part of their culture. So they refuse to make any for foreigners, and see others having any on them as a huge insult.
*'''BFG:''' When all else fails, the old Imperial Guard proverb of just blow it to hell works fine. Spamming enough shots, or even just firing one big shot, will usually be enough to either overwhelm the opponent or cause an explosion when contacting the Jedi so powerful it'll kill them outright.
*'''Flamethrowers:''' KILL IT WITH FIRE! On a more serious note, flamethrowers are great, because no matter what manner of Matt Ward level bullshit you pull out of your butt, no amount of logic bending is going to allow a lightsaber to block a flame. The only problem is making sure the Jedi stay in place, but meh. Just lure them into a corridor and burn them in the confines.
** Of course, flamethrowers are a kinda crap weapon in Star Wars against anyone halfway expecting them because breath masks are quite common and a hard counter to the carbon monoxide problem. Jedi also have the potential to throw the jellied fuel back with the force.
*'''Slugthrowers''' Yes, even traditional projectile firearms can counter a lightsaber-wielding Jedi or Sith. You see, blaster bolts are actually a fair bit slower than a chemically powered FMJ round, with the tradeoff being that the power packs can hold a lot more ammunition. This means that while a Jedi can generally see and either block or deflect a bolt with his saber, the same can't be said for bullets, especially those coming from an automatic action-style of gun. And even if the Jedi did manage to get a saber in front of one, what ends up happening is that essentially they've turned the speeding bullet into a molten shotgun spread still traveling at the same speed.
*'''Sonic Blaster''' Similar to the above, a lightsaber can't stop sonic blasts. They were the preferred option when fighting Jedi was a common occurrence, as they were about as powerful as a slugthrower but with the capacity of a normal blaster. They also work better underwater—but are completely ineffective in space.

== Influences on the rest of /tg/ culture ==
The lightsaber is, as previously said, a very iconic weapon that has had considerable influence on weapons throughout sci-fi and fantasy. Though we cannot compile all of them, here are a few likely ones.

* [[Power Weapon#Power Sword|Power Sword]]: Games Workshop could't stand to miss out on the opportunity to add their own version of a lightsaber, which they very much did with a power sword. It's similar, in that it has a dispersion field that turns on around the blade, but differs in that it only can reliably penetrate certain armors or materials, unlike the lightsaber. On the same point, Lightsabers appear to be rather limited, whereas power weapons can be attached to more and differing vehicles, like titans or warships.
* [[Force Weapon#Force Sword|Force Sword]]: A weapon very much like a Lightsaber, but also distinct. It is a weapon that is enhanced if the user is psychic, but can still function as a sword or beatstick (albeit a very bad one) in a pinch. Force weapons in DoW are pulled back to the User when dropped, which is very reminiscient of Jedi and Lightsabers in general
* [[Melta#Fusion Blades|Fusion Blade]]: GW couldn't resist the opportunity to rip Star Wars off though. Enter the Fusion Blades, which are the [[T'au|weeb]] melta swords. They spurt out energy that has the power to take out tanks. To be fair, the Jedi never had Crisis suits or made their lightsabers the size of a man, but still. We all know what they are.
* [[Eragon]]: A dumb fantasy rip off of both Star Wars and Lord Of The Rings, the main character is allowed to carry a Blue flame sword. It's dumb and it should feel dumb.
* Control Freak from Teen Titans: Not the cancer one, but the good one. The man is literally a walking fa/tg/guy, and wields a quad bladed lightsaber as a weapon. Also dresses like a jedi.
* Kiba: An obscure anime that basically is a Grimdark version of Pokémon where the monster trainers also fight each other with energy swords instead of standing around giving their monster orders.
* Sun Blade: A magic item from Dungeons and Dragons that is a sword hilt that generates a blade of energy that does radiant damage.
* Beam melee weapons: From the long running franchise Mobile Suit Gundam. In-universe, the first Mobile Suit (the name used in the series for the giant robots) armed with a beam melee weapon is the titular Gundam RX-78. It carried two beam sabers in its backpack, which also served to recharge them when not in use. It could also be armed with a beam javelin (a long rod that emitted a larger, spiked beam and was suited for throwing). In-universe this was a game-changer: other MS were armed with heat weapons (i.e. melee weapons with super-heated edges for better cutting through armour) which could be pretty bulky with an exposed power source. Beam weapons were lightweight, compact when inactive and they could cut through just about any type of armour around. Mass-producing beam weapons (and mobile suits to wield them) was one of the major turning points of the war in the original series but the vast majority of the time the original anime shows them used pretty much exclusively for destroying battleships, with only a single beam duel that's cut in the movie version. Later series got really crazy, with beam scimitars, beam daggers, beam whips, beam fans...yeah, shit goes crazy over at [[/m/]].

[[Category: Star Wars]][[Category: Weapons]]

Awesome

2022-01-15T21:21:13Z

2600:1700:E88A:5410:C820:675:4B3A:4318: /* What is Awesome */

[[Image:Awesome.png|300px|thumb|right|Standard awesome image. If you don't know what it means, gb2/gaia/.]]
{{awesome}}
An image with a long, murky history with [[4chan]] and Something Awful. Popular with probably every board, including /tg/. In its primordial roots, it was created on a now-defunct [[Pokemon]] fansite (Pokemopolis) of all places, where it was known as the :cheesy: smiley. The creator also posted in on Something Awful, where the Goons made it into what it is now.

If someone replies to your post with this image attached, he is essentially saying something along the lines of "fuck you" or "you're a fucking retard". This person is probably correct, since the purpose of /tg/ is /to generate/ [[RAGE]].

Often blends with [[METAL]], which is similarly employed in irony against shit that's just too ''much''.

== What is Awesome ==
awe·some
/ˈôsəm/

'' adjective ''

causing or inducing awe; inspiring an overwhelming feeling of reverence, admiration, or fear:
an awesome sight.

exhibiting or marked by awe; showing reverence, admiration, or fear.

'' Slang ''

very impressive.

Things that ARE awesome include:
*[[Vecna]] is the primary example of awesome in [[D&D]], since he's the [[Batman]] [[wizard]] who broke the game so hard in 2nd edition, that he caused the edition change to 3rd. He avoids [[Mary Sue]]dom primarily by being awesome, and by ultimately losing, though he had a partial success since he ultimately went from demigod to lesser god.
* Some (not all) [[Old School Roleplaying|Old School]] modules in D&D - the ones which established the tropes. ''[[Scourge of the Slavelords|In the Dungeons of the Slavelords]]'', ''[[Tomb of Horrors]]'', and (as late as 1996) ''[[Gates of Firestorm Peak]]''. ''[[Rappan Athuk]]'' for that First Edition Feel.
** A subset are old modules which are still playable, brought some interesting ideas, and are regarded with nostalgia; but are dated, to modern audiences. That would be a majority of 1e: ''e.g.'', ''[[Lost Caverns of Tsojcanth]]'' and ''[[White Plume Mountain]]''.
* ''[[Warhammer 40,000]]'': a universe guided solely by Rule of Cool and [[GRIMDARK]], with the Imperium being the essence of [[Humanity Fuck Yeah]]. In eternal war against Extradimensional Cosmic Horrors straight out of [[H.P. Lovecraft]]'s worst nightmares.
** In the lore itself, the biggest examples of awesome are the [[Adeptus Astartes]], all of the [[Imperial Guard]], [[Sanguinius]], [[Dante]], [[Kharn|Kharn the Betrayer]], the [[Lamenters]], [[Commissar Yarrick|Commissar Yarrick]], Scout Trooper MkVenner, [[Colonel-Commissar Ibram Gaunt]], and [[Sly Marbo]]!
*In [[WFB|fantasy]], the second biggest example of awesome is FUCKING NORSCA. BECAUSE VIKINGS.
*If you play ''older editions'' of 40K, draw this face on your blast templates for lulz.
*In [[battletech]] there is a mech named the Awesome, it is indeed pretty awesome.
*But by far the most amazing and awesome of all is the king of all kings, [[Settra the Imperishable]] the most arrogant biggest egotistical lovable skeleton in all of warhammer.
*A close second to the king above is a slightly more...robotic version. And another. [[Silent King|Szarekh]] and his hyper-pimp throne, complete with rape-beam-carrying walls of doom orbiting it, is the guy who led his people against their C'tan overlords. It is because of this lad that there are [[Cheese|C'tan shards]] on the tabletop. The other guy is [[Imotekh]]- this guy has a hyper pimp staff and is incredibly smart, to the point where logical attacks on his forces just [[|FAIL|don't fucking work.]]
*[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q8LNTCLQs0M/ BRIAN BLESSED!!!!]- [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KGZbU7tFr44/"GOTREK'S (Gordon) ALIVE!!!!"]
*You. You're awesome. Unless you're [[That Guy]].
* [[Old Man Henderson]]
* The glorious return of [[Makari]], the luckiest Git to ever live.
* [[Imperial Guard]]
** [[Armageddon Steel Legion]]
* [[JRR Tolkien]] telling the [[Nazis]] off during World War II for perverting northern European culture, and calling out their racist Aryan ideology for the crock it was.

==External Links==
*[https://encyclopediadramatica.rs/Awesome ED's awesome article, featuring XBAWKS HEUG gallery of Awesome mutations]

==Gallery==
<gallery>
Image:Awesomecat.jpg|Awesome is back, IN CAT FORM!
Image:Red_spy.jpg|SPY SAPPIN MAH AWESOME
File:40k v starwars.jpg|AWESOME
File:Awesome guardsmen.jpg
File:Awesome Chaos.jpg | <s>Even Chaos can be a little awesome.</s> {{BLAM|HERESY!}}
File:Awesome Beholder.png
</gallery>

[[Category:Meme]]

Awesome

2022-01-15T21:20:57Z

2600:1700:E88A:5410:C820:675:4B3A:4318: /* What is Awesome */

[[Image:Awesome.png|300px|thumb|right|Standard awesome image. If you don't know what it means, gb2/gaia/.]]
{{awesome}}
An image with a long, murky history with [[4chan]] and Something Awful. Popular with probably every board, including /tg/. In its primordial roots, it was created on a now-defunct [[Pokemon]] fansite (Pokemopolis) of all places, where it was known as the :cheesy: smiley. The creator also posted in on Something Awful, where the Goons made it into what it is now.

If someone replies to your post with this image attached, he is essentially saying something along the lines of "fuck you" or "you're a fucking retard". This person is probably correct, since the purpose of /tg/ is /to generate/ [[RAGE]].

Often blends with [[METAL]], which is similarly employed in irony against shit that's just too ''much''.

== What is Awesome ==
awe·some
/ˈôsəm/

'' adjective ''

causing or inducing awe; inspiring an overwhelming feeling of reverence, admiration, or fear:
an awesome sight.

exhibiting or marked by awe; showing reverence, admiration, or fear.

'' Slang ''

very impressive

Things that ARE awesome include:
*[[Vecna]] is the primary example of awesome in [[D&D]], since he's the [[Batman]] [[wizard]] who broke the game so hard in 2nd edition, that he caused the edition change to 3rd. He avoids [[Mary Sue]]dom primarily by being awesome, and by ultimately losing, though he had a partial success since he ultimately went from demigod to lesser god.
* Some (not all) [[Old School Roleplaying|Old School]] modules in D&D - the ones which established the tropes. ''[[Scourge of the Slavelords|In the Dungeons of the Slavelords]]'', ''[[Tomb of Horrors]]'', and (as late as 1996) ''[[Gates of Firestorm Peak]]''. ''[[Rappan Athuk]]'' for that First Edition Feel.
** A subset are old modules which are still playable, brought some interesting ideas, and are regarded with nostalgia; but are dated, to modern audiences. That would be a majority of 1e: ''e.g.'', ''[[Lost Caverns of Tsojcanth]]'' and ''[[White Plume Mountain]]''.
* ''[[Warhammer 40,000]]'': a universe guided solely by Rule of Cool and [[GRIMDARK]], with the Imperium being the essence of [[Humanity Fuck Yeah]]. In eternal war against Extradimensional Cosmic Horrors straight out of [[H.P. Lovecraft]]'s worst nightmares.
** In the lore itself, the biggest examples of awesome are the [[Adeptus Astartes]], all of the [[Imperial Guard]], [[Sanguinius]], [[Dante]], [[Kharn|Kharn the Betrayer]], the [[Lamenters]], [[Commissar Yarrick|Commissar Yarrick]], Scout Trooper MkVenner, [[Colonel-Commissar Ibram Gaunt]], and [[Sly Marbo]]!
*In [[WFB|fantasy]], the second biggest example of awesome is FUCKING NORSCA. BECAUSE VIKINGS.
*If you play ''older editions'' of 40K, draw this face on your blast templates for lulz.
*In [[battletech]] there is a mech named the Awesome, it is indeed pretty awesome.
*But by far the most amazing and awesome of all is the king of all kings, [[Settra the Imperishable]] the most arrogant biggest egotistical lovable skeleton in all of warhammer.
*A close second to the king above is a slightly more...robotic version. And another. [[Silent King|Szarekh]] and his hyper-pimp throne, complete with rape-beam-carrying walls of doom orbiting it, is the guy who led his people against their C'tan overlords. It is because of this lad that there are [[Cheese|C'tan shards]] on the tabletop. The other guy is [[Imotekh]]- this guy has a hyper pimp staff and is incredibly smart, to the point where logical attacks on his forces just [[|FAIL|don't fucking work.]]
*[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q8LNTCLQs0M/ BRIAN BLESSED!!!!]- [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KGZbU7tFr44/"GOTREK'S (Gordon) ALIVE!!!!"]
*You. You're awesome. Unless you're [[That Guy]].
* [[Old Man Henderson]]
* The glorious return of [[Makari]], the luckiest Git to ever live.
* [[Imperial Guard]]
** [[Armageddon Steel Legion]]
* [[JRR Tolkien]] telling the [[Nazis]] off during World War II for perverting northern European culture, and calling out their racist Aryan ideology for the crock it was.

==External Links==
*[https://encyclopediadramatica.rs/Awesome ED's awesome article, featuring XBAWKS HEUG gallery of Awesome mutations]

==Gallery==
<gallery>
Image:Awesomecat.jpg|Awesome is back, IN CAT FORM!
Image:Red_spy.jpg|SPY SAPPIN MAH AWESOME
File:40k v starwars.jpg|AWESOME
File:Awesome guardsmen.jpg
File:Awesome Chaos.jpg | <s>Even Chaos can be a little awesome.</s> {{BLAM|HERESY!}}
File:Awesome Beholder.png
</gallery>

[[Category:Meme]]

Awesome

2022-01-15T21:20:26Z

2600:1700:E88A:5410:C820:675:4B3A:4318: /* What is Awesome */

[[Image:Awesome.png|300px|thumb|right|Standard awesome image. If you don't know what it means, gb2/gaia/.]]
{{awesome}}
An image with a long, murky history with [[4chan]] and Something Awful. Popular with probably every board, including /tg/. In its primordial roots, it was created on a now-defunct [[Pokemon]] fansite (Pokemopolis) of all places, where it was known as the :cheesy: smiley. The creator also posted in on Something Awful, where the Goons made it into what it is now.

If someone replies to your post with this image attached, he is essentially saying something along the lines of "fuck you" or "you're a fucking retard". This person is probably correct, since the purpose of /tg/ is /to generate/ [[RAGE]].

Often blends with [[METAL]], which is similarly employed in irony against shit that's just too ''much''.

== What is Awesome ==
awe·some
/ˈôsəm/

'' adjective ''

causing or inducing awe; inspiring an overwhelming feeling of reverence, admiration, or fear:
an awesome sight.

exhibiting or marked by awe; showing reverence, admiration, or fear.

'' Slang ''

very impressive:
That new white convertible is totally awesome.

Things that ARE awesome include:
*[[Vecna]] is the primary example of awesome in [[D&D]], since he's the [[Batman]] [[wizard]] who broke the game so hard in 2nd edition, that he caused the edition change to 3rd. He avoids [[Mary Sue]]dom primarily by being awesome, and by ultimately losing, though he had a partial success since he ultimately went from demigod to lesser god.
* Some (not all) [[Old School Roleplaying|Old School]] modules in D&D - the ones which established the tropes. ''[[Scourge of the Slavelords|In the Dungeons of the Slavelords]]'', ''[[Tomb of Horrors]]'', and (as late as 1996) ''[[Gates of Firestorm Peak]]''. ''[[Rappan Athuk]]'' for that First Edition Feel.
** A subset are old modules which are still playable, brought some interesting ideas, and are regarded with nostalgia; but are dated, to modern audiences. That would be a majority of 1e: ''e.g.'', ''[[Lost Caverns of Tsojcanth]]'' and ''[[White Plume Mountain]]''.
* ''[[Warhammer 40,000]]'': a universe guided solely by Rule of Cool and [[GRIMDARK]], with the Imperium being the essence of [[Humanity Fuck Yeah]]. In eternal war against Extradimensional Cosmic Horrors straight out of [[H.P. Lovecraft]]'s worst nightmares.
** In the lore itself, the biggest examples of awesome are the [[Adeptus Astartes]], all of the [[Imperial Guard]], [[Sanguinius]], [[Dante]], [[Kharn|Kharn the Betrayer]], the [[Lamenters]], [[Commissar Yarrick|Commissar Yarrick]], Scout Trooper MkVenner, [[Colonel-Commissar Ibram Gaunt]], and [[Sly Marbo]]!
*In [[WFB|fantasy]], the second biggest example of awesome is FUCKING NORSCA. BECAUSE VIKINGS.
*If you play ''older editions'' of 40K, draw this face on your blast templates for lulz.
*In [[battletech]] there is a mech named the Awesome, it is indeed pretty awesome.
*But by far the most amazing and awesome of all is the king of all kings, [[Settra the Imperishable]] the most arrogant biggest egotistical lovable skeleton in all of warhammer.
*A close second to the king above is a slightly more...robotic version. And another. [[Silent King|Szarekh]] and his hyper-pimp throne, complete with rape-beam-carrying walls of doom orbiting it, is the guy who led his people against their C'tan overlords. It is because of this lad that there are [[Cheese|C'tan shards]] on the tabletop. The other guy is [[Imotekh]]- this guy has a hyper pimp staff and is incredibly smart, to the point where logical attacks on his forces just [[|FAIL|don't fucking work.]]
*[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q8LNTCLQs0M/ BRIAN BLESSED!!!!]- [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KGZbU7tFr44/"GOTREK'S (Gordon) ALIVE!!!!"]
*You. You're awesome. Unless you're [[That Guy]].
* [[Old Man Henderson]]
* The glorious return of [[Makari]], the luckiest Git to ever live.
* [[Imperial Guard]]
** [[Armageddon Steel Legion]]
* [[JRR Tolkien]] telling the [[Nazis]] off during World War II for perverting northern European culture, and calling out their racist Aryan ideology for the crock it was.

==External Links==
*[https://encyclopediadramatica.rs/Awesome ED's awesome article, featuring XBAWKS HEUG gallery of Awesome mutations]

==Gallery==
<gallery>
Image:Awesomecat.jpg|Awesome is back, IN CAT FORM!
Image:Red_spy.jpg|SPY SAPPIN MAH AWESOME
File:40k v starwars.jpg|AWESOME
File:Awesome guardsmen.jpg
File:Awesome Chaos.jpg | <s>Even Chaos can be a little awesome.</s> {{BLAM|HERESY!}}
File:Awesome Beholder.png
</gallery>

[[Category:Meme]]

Ollanius Pius

2022-01-15T21:12:12Z

2600:1700:E88A:5410:C820:675:4B3A:4318:

{{Oldschool}}
[[Image:1225596941657.jpg|300px|thumb|right|Even when all you have is a [[Lasgun|Flashlight...]], with the will to resist, there is hope.]]
{{Topquote|Where I fall, ten more shall take my place! And one hundred each of them! So strike me down! I am the harbinger!|Ollanius Pius, an Imperial Guardsman (The First Guardsman), to Arch-Traitor Horus "supercharged motherfucking avatar of Chaos" Lupercal. Yes, you read that correctly.}}

{{Topquote|A hero is someone who steps up when everyone else backs down.|Anonymous}}

{{Topquote|When the [[Chaos|mob]] and the [[Horus|press]] and the [[Grimdark|whole world]] tell you to move, your job is to plant yourself like a tree beside the river of [[Noblebright|truth]], and tell the whole world -- [[Awesome|"No, YOU move.”]]| [[Supers|Captain America]]}}

'''Ollanius Pius''' embodies what it means to be a soldier of the [[Imperial Guard]] in this [[Grimdark|grimdark]] universe. He is THE most hardcore Guardsman ever and also the legendary saint of the Imperial Guard, because as legend goes, in the hopes of protecting the [[God-Emperor of Mankind|Emperor of Mankind]], Ollanius Pius put himself directly in front of [[Horus Lupercal|a walking demigod of battle]]. The fact that he did so without fainting, shitting himself in terror, or mewling like a wounded grox suggests that his testicles must have been forged from Mars-grade adamantium (or more likely, he had power balls. His testicles were of such might that they ignored armor saves in close combat and could themselves be used as weapons). Ollanius Pius is so manly that he makes [[Vance Motherfucking Stubbs]], [[Commissar Yarrick]], [[Gregor Eisenhorn]], [[Ciaphas Cain]], [[Kharn]], [[Colonel "Iron Hand" Straken]], [[Logan Grimnar]], [[Merrick]], [[Gunnery Sergeant "Stonetooth" Harker|Harker]], [[Creed]] and [[Sly Marbo]] piss themselves in terror. Well, maybe not [[Sly Marbo]] but he still respects the shit out of him.

Naturally, like a bunch of [[Squats|awesome]] [[Zoats|shit]] and virtually every piece of lore that has ever existed in Warhammer 40,000, [[Games Workshop]] retconned this story in several ways. Firstly his introduction is a bit of a retcon, since Ollanius wasn't in the original battle (read the Slaves to Darkness book) where the Emperor teleported to Horus' bunker (not flagship) and fought him there. Then when he was introduced, he was said to have originally sacrificed himself during Horus' assault on the Imperial Palace, placing himself between the Emperor and Horus (which would mean in that version Horus broke through), which makes sense, so they had to change it. The next story the Emperor fought Horus in Horus' command bunker again, teleporting in with [[Imperial Fists]] and Custodes, and while having a bunker on the ground makes it entirely possible that Pius was there (especially since the traitor legions were busy at the palace walls) it's fairly unlikely. Then they changed it again, this time having Emps board Horus' flagship, the Vengeful Spirit, along with a company of Imperial Fist terminators and Custodes, no Pius this time due to the fact that a Guardsmen would probably die the second they arrive there. At no point from here on out is Ollanius ever mentioned to have boarded the [[Vengeful Spirit]], though the idea of a heroic sacrifice was kept, GW replaced Pius with a [[Space Marine|Spehss Mahreen]] [[Terminator]], which wasn't that bad but then they retconned out the Terminator with an [[Adeptus Custodes]], which is SIX KINDS OF LAME.

[[Fantasy Flight Games]] brought him back though (sort of, leaving his existence in current canon questionable at best), which is a great justice and if you trust them, he really is just the most badass Guardsman ever, though exactly what he did isn't too clear besides die for the Emperor. But, NOW, thanks to [[Dan Abnett]], if GW ever returns Ollanius to his place at the Emperor's side, that's no big deal. He'll just be over 10,000 years old. Still a normal human, but just one that regenerates and has lived a long time. So...following the trend, there is a risk that he will be added back in the universe as the one who made the chip in Horus's armor and not [[Sanguinius]], and thus completely ruin the original story.

Other than the fact that he was man enough to stand up to Daddy's former favourite with nothing more than a flashlight and toilet paper armour, not much else is known about him, which probably means that he did even more heroic and manly shit during the Siege of Terra.

The entire point of the character is to demonstrate that true courage and inner strength can be found even among the weakest. Games Workshop, in their infinite wisdom, completely missed this point and proceeded to replace the brave and ordinary little soldier with a progressively bigger and stronger superhero with every reveal/retcon (although, see below for a different take on his [[Perpetual|perepetuality]] and it's implications in his final act of heroism.) This, in a way, makes Horus' fall to Chaos seem less and less despicable; the original story of a superhuman so remorselessly killing an ordinary human could be seen in a similar light as a grown man killing a child. It is probably a near certainty that the next retcon will trade up the Custode for one of the missing Primarchs (such as the glorious and magnificent Ollanius [[Galactic Partridges|Partridge]]) or a fucking omnipresent [[Imperial Knight]]. Further updates will likely add the Terminator, the Custode, the second missing Primarch and an Imperial [[Titan (Warhammer 40,000)|Titan]] for good measure, all at the same time.

However, in the Visions Of Heresy Novel, the humble Imperial Guardsman is back with his heroic act of sacrifice, though it is not stated whether his name was Ollanius Pius. Probably because there was no need to, since everyone already knew his name in the fandom.

He also has a relic in the latest 6th Edition Astra Militarum/Imperial Guard codex, with the fluff saying he martyred himself against Horus and is the epitome of Imperial Sainthood, as does a similar relic in the 8th Edition Astra Militarum Codex. The [[Dark Heresy]] ''Blood of Martyrs'' splat mentions him there, saying the story of Pius is apocryphal (bringing up that other organizations have their own version of the tale) but still frequently told and he is widely venerated among Guardsmen as an exemplar of what a faithful Guardsman should be. So the Imperial Guard apparently canonically believes the original version of the tale, whether or not that's what actually happened. And at this point, nobody knows what actually happened and never will because GeeDubs refuses to enforce any kind of consistency in its own fluff (see below).

==New Fluff==
[[Image:Ollanius Pius.jpeg|thumb|right|Oll Pius returns, "better" than ever. Note the cross around his neck.]]
Also known as "Why the Black Library should not be allowed to write or sell anything".

In Dan Abnett's Horus Heresy novel "Know No Fear" Ollanius Pius' lore has changed dramatically. In the book he is named "Ollanius Perrson" (or "Oll" to his friends) and is part of a small group of immortal humans spread throughout the galaxy called [[Perpetual]]s. John Grammaticus (who is alive and well) claimed that out of the entire Ultramarine empire (which at the time consisted of a staggering 500 planets) there are only three Perpetuals (the total amount in the Imperium is unknown, but almost certainly not much higher). Pius estimates his date of birth at some point around 15,000 BC (by contrast, the Emperor claims he was born in roughly 8,000 BC- which would make Pius no less than '''7,000 years older than the Emperor'''. It would also make him ''older than agriculture''), and is the same "breed" as Grammaticus and possibly the Emperor. At first this sounds like GW is missing the point again, but besides his ''extreme'' age and the whole immortality thing he seems to just be a normal human with normal human strength (coupled with the fact that, by all indications, he hasn't died once so far). Which, when compared to the psychic gestalt übermensch that is the Emperor, is kind of important; Ollanius is more representative of every strength (and weakness) of Mankind than the Emperor EVER was. In a follow-up in "Mortis," John Grammaticus learns from watching a vision of Ollanius Pius' memories while both were in a psychic illusion that he was actually the first Warmaster and fought for the Emperor while tackling some cult building the Tower of Babel to harness the power of Enuncia (basically "Space Thu'um"). While the cult was destroyed, he fell out with the Emperor over whether they should destroy the tower or preserve it despite the dangers. In the end, he stabbed the Emperor regretfully and then left after making the tower collapse.

===The Eternal Infantryman===
In the days of ancient [[Terra]] he was one of the Argonauts who adventured with Jason on the Argo to get the Golden Fleece and later he learned how to fight with a bayonet whilst fighting for the French in the trenches at Verdun during World War I. (Note that "Ole Persson" is the obvious pun, but in idiomatic French, "Olivier Personne" means "Oliver Nobody," which has interesting implications in and of itself.) Interestingly, Ollanius seems to be a sort of "eternal soldier" (he is also confirmed as having fought in the armies of [[Awesome|Napoleon]] and [[Heresy|Saddam Hussein]]), but always is depicted as being a part of the "[[Imperial Guard|poor bloody Infantry]]", in direct opposition to ''another'' perpetual, [[The Emperor|big E]] himself, who is spoken of as having taken on the roles of various august and well known historical personages, or at least being close to positions of power throughout history. There is also an implication that Ollanius always or at least usually fought on the losing side, which is also an interesting extension to this parallel. This makes him a sort of representative of the eternal ordinary everyman; unlike almost every other perpetual, he ''doesn't'' have superpowers (except the neat trick of not dying), and lives ordinary lives, again and again (as the Emperor says to him in the exchange quoted above.) This is more in line with the original spirit of the "legend of Ollanius Pius," and is a counter-argument to the more common view that he is becoming an OP [[Mary Sue]] instead of a representative of ordinary human strength and courage, the ultimate manifestation of which is seen in his actions aboard the ''Vengeful Spirit''.

We sometimes see glimpses of his soldiering past. In ''Unmarked'', another [[Dan Abnett|Abnett]] work (a short story in the anthology ''Mark of Calth''), he travels through time to various battles he fought in while evading the daemon prince [[M'kar]]. In ''Angel Exterminatus'', where an [[Iron Warriors]] Trident [[Warsmith]] Kroeger has a flashback (sort of, the memories were the memories of other people) and relives the near-death of "Carl", a German soldier at the hands of one "Olivier Perrson." Carl thought Ol was very rude because he interrupted Carl's dinner. Yes, poor Carl's dinner. Oll happened upon Carl eating . . . Carl's own commander. Oh yeah, Carl was a closet cannibal. Still, Carl thought it was a bit of an overreaction by an overly Pius asshole to stab Carl in the gut. Carl was only saved from a certain death when the crush of the battle forces Oll out of the trench.

We don't get it either but a vision given to Ollanius by Grammaticus indicates that he'll be restored to his original status as the person who sacrifices his life to save the Emperor from Horus, so at least he's back. Of course, whether he actually dies when this happens given the Perpetuals' ability to resurrect themselves upon death is anyone's guess. The confrontation with Horus might be "true death" for him, though, as in ''Unmarked'', he gets the distinct feeling that the [[Horus Heresy|current galactic clusterfuck]] is going to be the end for him. This might even make sense, given that he was killed by not only a primarch, but Horus supercharged by the energies of all four of the Ruinous Powers during an apocalyptic confrontation which outright killed another Primarch and put the most powerful being ever to emerge out of humanity in a near-death state. Get hit by what did ''that'', you're probably not going to get up, and immortality won't help you if your soul is snuffed out by one of the most powerful material manifestations of Chaos ever.

If he did regenerate, he'd probably wake up on the Vengeful Spirit unless his body was moved-Perpetuals don't teleport when they die, they just heal and wake up. This might wind up being a far, far worse end than having his soul shredded (see over on the page for [[Perpetual]] where we say that they've drawn the short straw? Here's an example of why...) Needless to say, being trapped in the bowels of a chaos-infested warship would not be good for him (assuming he can even get off the bridge before [[Abaddon|Abby]] or one of his guards [[Blam|shoots him]].)

Also in ''Unmarked'', Ollanius briefly hooks up with John Grammaticus, another perpetual (although far more of a dick, and, unlike Oll, apparently turned into a perpetual by the Cabal rather than being born one) .. you know, the guy who is actually with the Cabal, going along with their "Alpharius gambit" to destroy humanity but wipe out Chaos, but who is at some point persuaded by [[Eldrad|Eldrad Uthan]] to turn rogue ''against'' the Cabal, since in a rare moment of non-dickery, Eldrad decided that wiping out humanity might ''not be'' the best idea, giving John the final push after long having some scruples about aiding in the genocide of his own race for, among others, arrogant space elves and a sentient floating ball of gas.

Vulkan's permanent death does put a dent on Perpetuals being unkillable, Artellus Numelon had to sacrificed himself to bring Vulkan back from that death.

In the Fury of Magnus, the titular Primarch himself uses his Chaos Sorcery/Psyker Powers to PERMANENTLY kill '''REDACTED''' which doesn't give Olly a chance in hell he would survive the duel.

===Religion===
Befitting his epithet, he is, indeed, a pious man. He is, in fact, a believing "Catheric," which is apparently a bastardization of "Catholic." Exceedingly rare in the rabidly atheistic Imperium, although not unique in the Heresy Era: another badass <s>guardsman</s> Imperial Army Geno 5-2 Chiliad hetman, Hurtado Bronzi in ''Legion'', also by [[Dan Abnett]], identifies himself as "Catheric by devotion.") He even wears a cross around his neck which conceivably could get him into trouble. ''Practicing'' the major aspects his faith (five of the seven sacraments require a priest) would be difficult, as what happened to the Pope and Church hierarchy we don't know (although it's probably pretty grimdark.) According to real-world Catholic belief, there is a Biblical guarantee for an "unbroken chain" of Popes and Papal authority (Matthew xvi, 18), so there would be theoretically a Pope somewhere, or on the way. The church in Graham McNeal's ''[[The Last Church]]'' wasn't Catholic, although it's sort of implied that it is a bastardized form of high-Church Christianity at least in aesthetic which drifted in it's beliefs over 30 millenia ... which isn't that surprising from the perspective of the sociology of religion. If it was really, however, the literal last church on Terra, and the real-world Catholic view is true, somewhere in some corner of the Imperium there is a man who is the Pope and the Church still exists (picking up sticks and moving probably would have been wise anyway.) Several sci-fi writers have speculated about this sort of thing: ''A Canticle for Leibowitz'' by Walter Miller, considered a classic, has the Catholic church surviving several end-of-the-world [[techno-barbarian]] type scenarios, preserving civilization, and enduring over many millenia, eventually spreading beyond [[Terra|Earth]].

Despite the Emperor hating religion, Ollanius was still doing the right thing by the tenants of his by-then-ancient faith explicitly says that soldiers should obey orders and people should respect their governments and leaders in general (cf. Romans xiv, 3ff., referring to the ''Emperor'' of the time ... ''ça change beaucoup de chose, non '' ?), ''except'' of course if it involved breaking the precepts of his religion (this was a real dilemma for Roman soldiers up until the 4th century or so, because they had to [[Imperial Cult|worship the emperor]]) ... but this was not such a problem for Ollie, he was a faithful Imperial citizen and, while the Imperium forbade religiosity, it did not (at the time of the Horus Heresy, which is when we last hear of him) require him to [[heresy|worship other Gods]] or such, even though such beliefs were proscribed by the Imperium (which again, resembles certain periods in Church history.)

Despite the prohibition on religion, he seemed to live his faith reasonably openly and at best be regarded as a bit of an eccentric for it: again, not all that different from certain eras of the Roman history in the 2nd and 3rd centuries-it depended on who was on the [[Golden Throne|imperial throne]] just how vigorously Christians were persecuted: sometimes it was an [[Exterminatus|all-day buffet for lions]] and sometimes Christianity was looked at as at best a strange affectation certain people indulged in (perhaps not entirely unlike we look at new religious movements today.) In fact, Ancient Rome, very unlike the 30K Imperium, would've had no problem with Christians at all if they didn't [[heresy|refuse to]] [[Lorgar|worship the Emperor]]. You know, what [[Monarchia]] got glassed for. In the 40K Imperium, the Ecclesiarchy would've probably been pretty cool with Christianity if the [[Emperor]] was ultimately seen as God (which would make Sanguinius Jesus? Except for the resurrection part.) Which Christianity would ''not'' be cool with. So Ollanius being "Catheric" would be a problem for him either way. And probably at several other points in his life (maybe in the Iraqi army, for example. And one assumes at several points over the next 30,000 years or so.)

There is another fan theory that it refers to the "Cathars," a [[extra heresy|heretical]] religious sect that the IRL [[Inquisition]] IRL [[Exterminatus|exterminatused]] in the 13th century. This is a clever play on words, but probably reads too much into it, but doesn't make any historical sense and doesn't really line up with the vague hints at "Cathericism" we get in the books.

===Saturnine, the Redo: Ollanius Piers===
A new character introduced in one of the newest Horus Heresy Books and the in-universe source of the legends about an Ollanius Pius, Ollanius Piers was an Imperial Army soldier who fought in the siege of Terra. He is the grandson of Ollanius Pius, but goes by Olly. He's a follower of the Imperial Cult, and likes to tell exaggerated stories about himself.

While under attack against forces of the World Eaters, Piers as well as a few other soldiers and a historian, Hari, went out of their way to raise up a banner of the Emperor before they were attacked by a World Eater Marine. Ollanius managed to stand against the Marine long enough that a member of the Sisters of Silence who's powers made her invisible could kill the marine. Afterwards, Piers encouraged the historian to replace the marine with Horus, and the Banner with the Emperor. Hari said that nobody would believe this story, and rejected most of the other changes Olly requested.

Olly later died during the fall of the Eternity Wall, recreating part of the original Ollanius Pius story, as he faces down Angron. Olly reflects the traditional balls-of-steel approach by challenging fucking ''Angron'' to a fight, defending the banner of the Emperor, and firing into the daemon primach until he's presumably rendered into a thin paste moments afterwards.

==Writefaggotry==
WARNING: The following entry is so manly that reading it out loud may cause you to suddenly grow a beard. Girls, do not read this out loud. A fa/tg/uy's explanation of the original Ollanius:

''LOOK AT THIS FUCKING GUARDSMAN.''

''He's spent months fighting a grueling war in which his enemies are demigods allied with daemons, and now he's found himself in the closest thing to Hell he's ever known. He probably wasn't even supposed to get teleported up to the arch-traitor's battle barge in the first place, and just ended up in the wrong place at the worst possible time.

''Somehow he's survived horrors beyond comprehension to make his way to the very bridge of Horus' flagship. He saw a veritable angel call upon Horus to answer for his crimes, and he saw that angel die as messily as any guardsman. His Emperor - who he fervently believes is a god incarnate, even if he's not supposed to - lies mortally wounded, and Horus, perhaps, has taken a moment to gloat before he strikes the killing blow.''

'' And yet there he is, standing, all alone, between the Warmaster of everything humanity have ever fought against and the greatest beings amongs all humanity, if even not godhood. ''

''His armor is slightly more effective than tissue paper, his weapon slightly more powerful than a flashlight. A single electrified claw from Horus' weapon is bigger than his entire body. He stands before a being infused by the dark gods with incalculable power, that can and will obliterate his soul with no more effort than it would take him to swat a gnat. Nothing he can do could possibly make a difference.''

''He could run. He could turn his weapon on himself. He could give in to the insidious whispers that echo from the ship's corridors into his mind.''

''Ollanius Pius does the duty his Emperor requires of him. He dies standing and holds the '''FUCKING''' line.''

===A short poem about Ollanius Pius===
[[File:The Last Stand 1.png|400px|thumb|right|HE BOUGHT THE EMPEROR TIME... TIME TO SAVE US ALL.]]
The first time I hold my blood in my hands,
 The first time I see a man with nothing.
 Would be the first time I see my own lands,
 Covered in heresy, death, and rotting.

 My son stands over him corrupt and pale,
 A guard Ollanius Pius stands free.
 My fallen Horus lifts the deadly flail,
 In one instant, the strength of man I see.

 This mere man done what I was unable.
 A tear flows from my eye and it is clear,
 The tyrant's cold reign I must disable.
 Briefly I know what it means to feel fear.

 I leave the future to the strength of man,
 For they alone do far more than I can.

===Another poem regarding Ollanius===
Somewhere in the universe a coin flip lands on its side.

Somewhere in the universe a drop of water saves a life.

Somewhere in the universe a pebble stops a landslide.

Maybe it is because someone believed hard enough.

Maybe it is because everything is secretly fair.

Maybe it is because the universe is a vast place.

Yesterday, I was very cold.

Yesterday, I was very hungry.

Yesterday, I wanted to run away.

Today, I am going to believe hard enough.

Today, a pebble will stop a landslide.

[[Awesome|Today, I am not going anywhere.]]

==Gallery==
<gallery>
Kriegsmeisterbunker.jpg|The first version of Horus and the Emperor's duel. Notice the location, making Pius' sacrifice possible, if implausible.
The legend of Ollanius Pius.jpg|The legend.
MUH OLLANIUS PIUS.png|The retcon.
Ollanius existed and was a Perpetual.png|Fantasy Flight Games' take on it.
</gallery>

{{IG-Characters}}

[[Category:Awesome]]

Mandalorian

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[[File:Mandosymbol.png|thumb|The most well know symbol of the Mandalorians, [[fail|And no one knows where it comes from.]]]]
''If you are looking for the TV show about one of these guys [[Star Wars:The Mandalorian|click here]].''

'''Mandalorians''' are a culture (or group of cultures) in the Star Wars universe centered around the planet Mandalore. The Mandalorians have incorporated numerous species into their ranks and there is a lot of variation among them, but they are famed for being a (mostly) warlike culture and for their highly distinctive armor, which is made of one of the few materials in the known universe that can resist [[lightsaber]]s.

== History ==
Talking about the history of Mandalorians is tricky because in addition to the Legends/Canon split, which is already contentious, you have the issue that a lot of the Legends lore about Mandalorians was invented by [[Karen Traviss]], who is kind of the [[Matthew Ward]] of [[Star Wars]] (and [[Halo]]) novels - she absolutely loves the Mandalorians, since they push her "hard(ish) sci-fi badass military faction, yay!" love button, but she also loathes the Jedi and by extension all Force users, which often results in her turning the Mandalorians into the Star Wars equivalent of the [[Ultramarines]].

The basic idea, boiling it down short, is that the Mandalorians are a warrior culture who arose in the far-flung past of the known galaxy. Whilst originally they were a distinct species, they were also an "assimilationist" type of empire-builder, striving to actively integrate conquered races into their culture by basically wiping out their old beliefs and making them follow the Mandalorian way. It technically paid off, because even though the Mandalorian species is long-extinct, the Mandalorian culture has remained in existence for thousands of years. Due to their warlike natures and ambitions of conquest, they have frequently fought against the Jedi, and in fact they usually allied themselves with the Sith in just about every one of the major Jedi/Sith wars - this is why they invented ''beskar'', a mineral that can actually negate lightsaber energies, and made armor out of it.

Shortly before the time of the Clone Wars, there was an active civil war amongst the Mandalorians over whether or not their traditions of conquest and warmongering were worth keeping, considering it had consistently resulted in them getting the shit kicked out of them by the rest of the galaxy. This resulted in the pacifists temporarily taking over and booting the traditionalists off the homeworld, causing them to largely scatter across the galaxy as mercs and bounty hunters. Then the Clone Wars happened and a traditionalist terrorist group, the Death Watch, discredited the pacifists, assassinated their leader, and took over the planet again... which just led to more or less another civil war, resulting in Mandalore staying out of everybody's way during Palpatine's reign over the newly fledged Galactic Empire, save for the aforementioned legions of Mandalorian mercs and bounty hunters still roaming the galaxy and continuing fighting for money and kicks as if nothing had changed.

== Mandos of note ==
* Jango Fett - Mandalorian bounty hunter who served as the genetic template for the Clone Troopers used by the Galactic Republic.
* Boba Fett - A clone of Jango that wasn't hyper-aged to serve as a disposable soldier, but instead given to Jango as a surrogate son as payment for his part in the Clone Troopers. Outlived his father and became a bounty hunter himself.
* Duchess Satine Kryze - Leader of Mandalore during the time of the Clone Wars, a representative of the pacifist movement that temporarily took control of the Mandalorians.
* Pre Vizsla - Leader of Death Watch, a Mandalorian terrorist group focused on forcibly overthrowing the pacifist government of their people.

{{Stub}}
[[Category:Star Wars]]

Bounty Hunter

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{{NeedsImages}}

Historically, a [[Bounty Hunter]] is someone who captures or kills a particular person for money (the "bounty"). The practice is distinguished from that of an [[Assassin]] by the target being an outlaw and a preference for taking their target alive.
[[File:KalJerichoArt.jpg|thumb|Kal Jericho of [[Necromunda]].]]

== Pathfinder ==

Bounty Hunter is a [[Slayer]] archetype that trades medium armor and heavy shields for some exotic non-lethal weapons. Certain talents are traded for abilities that make them good at dirty tricks, grappling and non-lethal damage. It's actually one of the better options for focusing on Dirty Trick, which itself tends to be the best combat maneuver option due to lack of things immune to it and the potency of ailments it can cause.

===Pathfinder 2nd===
{{dnd-stub}}
An archetype that any class can take to track a target. Grants the ability to track any query like a [[ranger]], and gain bonuses and proficiency to non-lethally catch your pray. Feats are: Additional bonuses when using Hunt Prey action(more if you already had it), party gains bonuses for helping you look, gain proficiency with bola, sap, and whip (no-penalty to non-lethal), Quarry can't shake you off if they move in combat, and can grapple if Quarry critically fails a sword attack.
{{Pathfinder-2nd-Edition-Archetypes}}

== Star Wars ==

Next to soldier, and smuggler, Bounty Hunter is easily among the most recognized character profession in [[Star Wars]] due to the cool looking bounty hunters (who ultimately don't actually do anything aside from Boba Fett, who dies to a blind man) in ''Empire Strikes Back'' being addressed by title and being implied to be more adept than the best the Empire had to offer instantly led to them being cool. A combination of people missing the fact that the Empire ''is the government'', meaning a bounty on a recognized outlaw like Han Solo is a legitimate law enforcement practice, and that Boba Fett's turns around and double dips by selling Han in Carbonite to a recognized criminal overlord has resulted in Star Wars "bounty hunters" being more mercenary special forces units to anyone who is willing to pay than the freelance criminal hunters.

Bobapose.jpeg [[File:Bobapose.jpeg|thumb| "I'm a simple man making his way through the galaxy. Like my father before me."
―Boba Fett]]

In game terms, the title "bounty hunter" tends to suit most groups of player characters that aren't actively fighting for or against a particular government and instead act like high fantasy [[Adventurers]] '''IN SPACE'''.

In ''[[Star Wars RPG|Star Wars d6]]'', there's over half a dozen templates with "bounty hunter" in the name and more that assume the profession without having the name in their title. Some bounty hunters were recurring foes in the various published modules.

In ''[[Star Wars D20]]'', Bounty Hunter is a core [[Prestige Class]]. It has a scaling favored enemy against ''a single person'' chosen at the start of the session and full sneak attack progression on a full BAB chassis with all medium saves and good skills. It's fine only because of the strength of full sneak attack on such a good chassis than actually being well designed.

In ''Saga Edition'', Bounty Hunter is again a core [[Prestige Class]]. Here it's notable for the ability to take the Hunter's Mark talent from the Bounty Hunter talent tree. This talent is absurdly good, decreasing the condition track of any target that is hit after the aim action is taken while stacking with itself, is a critical part of the "Condition Track Killer" build that stands as one of Saga's more broken builds.

In [[Star Wars Roleplaying Game|the Fantasy Flight Games system]], "Bounty Hunter" is one of the profession options for ''Edge of the Empire''.

== Metroid ==

Like ''Star Wars'', "Bounty Hunter" in ''[[Samus|Metroid]]'' pretty much just means "Elite Space Mercenary". Supposedly, Nintendo of Japan was so oblivious as to what the term ''actually meant'' they were horrified when Retro Studios planned to include a system of optional objectives around taking out specific criminal targets.

[[Category: Pathfinder]]

[[Category: Pathfinder Classes]]

[[Category: Star Wars]]

[[Category: Video Games]]