The Dark Voice

Vonduun Skerr Kyrric

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At the very heart of the Yuuzhan Vong personal defenses is not the ability of the warrior, but the passive ability of a creature; the Vonduun Crab. The crab is the juvenile amphistaff’s only natural enemy, thus, originally bred to assist the shaper caste in managing the amphistaff population. In the wild, the curved shell of the vonduun crab can withstand an amphistaff’s attack, making it a splendid choice for engineering into personal armor; commonly known as Vonduun Crab Armor.

The vonduun crabs are grown in nutrient-rich bogs. As the crab matures, shapers direct its growth to ensure a specific body shape, forcing its structure into chest plates, gauntlets, greaves (shin armor), boots, and other components of an armored suit. Often, during this engineered breeding, a crab’s shell will sprout sharp appendages, resulting in long spikes or razors to adorn varying sections of the armor, which are often used as weapons themselves. Each crab is bred for a specific warrior, to fit them to the minutest detail, requiring fitting and refitting of the crab and warrior until the armor is ready for battle. As with most of their bio-engineered arsenal, the vonduun crab armor has a symbiotic relationship with its wearer, but is not necessarily sentient, acting more on instinct or command. During battle, the armor will subtly shift to protect its wearer, often without the slightest suggestion. Due to this union however, should an individual other than the intended wearer attempt to adorn themselves in the armor, they will have a perilous threat to face. The vonduun crab will make repeated, instinctive attempts to kill the wearer and are usually successful. The armor will also bond with the varying facets of Vong biotechnology, allowing communications devices, life support, and even concealed weapons to be joined with it.



Capabilities
From its placement, wrapped around the Yuuzhan Vong warrior, the vonduun crab armor is extremely formidable. By nature, it is quite resilient to conventional melee weapons, its impact resistant properties seeming to tip the scales of density. In addition, the crab armor possesses an innate crystalline structure, which catapults its effectiveness far beyond resilience only to conventional melee weapons. While not impervious to them, the vonduun crab armor will resist blasterfire and projectile, hand-held weapons. This resistance comes by way of the shattering of projectiles, rendering almost no effect other than impact, to dissipation of energy from blasters. The most impressive trait is the armor’s ability to deflect the weapon of the Jedi; the famed, lightsabre. Even the most prudent duelists and warriors will often see their ancient weapons glancing from the surface of the vonduun armor with nary a scratch.

As an accoutrement of the vonduun crab armor, many high-ranking members of each caste and, on occasion, ambassadors of the Yuuzhan Vong, will be outfitted with a cloak made of a substance called Glistaweb. Its likeness resembles that of a shimmering cloth due to a charge-neutralizing field generated along it. While it possesses no ability to protect from physical attacks, it is imbued with energy-dampening capabilities that make it almost as effective against blaster bolts as vonduun crab armor.

Weaknesses
Despite its formidable nature, the vonduun crab armor is not without its disadvantages. The vonduun crab itself, being privy to the laws of nature merely by its existence, is allergic to the pollen of the intelligent, crystalline Bafforr trees found on the planet Ithor. Exposure to the pollen will see a violent surge in the size of the crab; swelling, as it were, from within. This causes immediate physiological distress to the crab that results in death, without question. Suffice it to say, the effect on its wearer is no different where death is concerned. With the virtually instantaneous growth in the size of the crab’s stature, the ‘perfect fit’ of the Vong warrior is immediately negated, causing death to the warrior by suffocation.

The crab is also vulnerable to the incendiary reaction of a controlled substance of the Yuuzhan Vong called Sparkbee Honey, a drink that is popular among them. The beverage is extremely flammable and its enzyme-activated combustion is especially harmful to the crystalline structure of the vonduun crab.

Beyond reactionary weaknesses of the crab’s genetics exists its structural integrity. While it possesses a shell that is the cornerstone of its employment as armor, its underbelly is soft and pliable, a stark contrast to its exoskeleton. This soft underbelly allows access to a portion of the creature called the field-nerve cables, the veritable ‘spine’ of the creature that is a conduit for neural activity. Most often found within the mid-section or torso of a Vong warrior’s armor set, this ‘cluster’ possesses none of the resilience of the rest of its composition and is easily severed if the chance arises to do so.