Conduits

Due to the unique abilities of the Conduits, they are at the center of many stories involving the Eulian Empire and Black Horizon as a whole.

Technically, Conduits are part of the Eulian military, but they do not appear on any official records. Instead, they are listed under the Imperial Intelligence as a research program.

Conduits are special individuals in the galaxy, artificially created to possess the ability to manipulate and alter electromagnetic fields in technology to do extraordinary feats. The Conduits themselves often describe this ability as an extension of their own nervous system. Technology around them becomes something they can feel, study, and, if skilled enough, command.

Conduits are individuals who have a unique and almost magical connection to electromagnetic fields in technology. They uniquely possess an ability to alter, manipulate, and tap into technology, which has even led to the creation of Conduit technology unique to their abilities.

The strength of the individual Conduit determines the strength of their abilities, but so does their knowledge of the technology they interact with. A talented but poorly informed Conduit can still fail where a lesser Conduit with deep technical understanding might succeed.

Conduits can manipulate a great range of technologies: robots, ships, weapons, security systems, and almost anything that uses electromagnetic fields to operate.

The origin of the Conduits, and how their power works exactly, is shrouded in mystery. As of now, only the Eulian Empire has the proven ability to create Conduits.

All living Conduits today have either been artificially made or are the offspring of Conduits that were made artificially. In practical terms, the phenomenon has only been known for roughly 150 years.

Conduits are created through intense subjugation to gene manipulation, radiation exposure, and a rigid training structure — at least under Eulian control. Most do not survive the conversion to becoming a Conduit. Most of the Conduits in the galaxy today have been created under a secret wing of the Eulian Empire that has been developing methods for creating them, though the project itself began under the era of the Galactic Alliance.

Like the military, Conduits have ranks, but due to their highly specialized nature, they fall into three ranks: Conduit Agent, Conduit Commander, and Chief Conduit.

Ranks are not based on their expertise with Conduit power, but rather on their ability to lead, organize, and delegate. Most Conduits simply hold the rank of Conduit Agent.

Conduits can always feel the electromagnetic fields around them, much like humans can feel temperature. However, to properly connect and interact, they must understand the target. This is achieved through what is commonly called the Glance, which most often requires physical touch.

The Glance allows a Conduit to sense the inner workings of the target, mapping out its functions and hidden structure. After the touch, the Conduit can often interact with the target at a distance between 5 and 25 meters, depending on the situation, the complexity of the target, and the skill of the user.

Once the target has been glanced, the Conduit can make it do almost anything within the limits of size, complexity, and power availability. By that stage, the target's functionality is almost laid out in the Conduit's mind.

Conduits themselves describe the feeling of wielding this power as an extension of their nervous system. The weapons and equipment they use become a sort of phantom limb. Many of them also insist that using their hands and digits helps them reach outward and connect with what they are controlling, even if the motion is not technically required.

Through this connection, Conduits can control most aspects of their target: make a robot move, start or stop a system, force rifles to fire, open or bypass security locks, or interfere with ship systems in subtle and destructive ways.

Once a Conduit has obtained and mastered the workings of one target through glancing, they can often also interact with similar targets, provided the circuits and internal build-up are similar enough.

Because of this, engineers sometimes introduce deliberate variation into technology. A system can be wired in such a way that a Conduit believes it does one thing when in truth it does another. Such deception is one of the few reliable defensive principles against them.

Conduits themselves can also be of different species. However, the success rate of creating them varies greatly between the different races of the galaxy.

As the Conduit power appears to operate on a fundamental level of nature and physics, its upper limits are still unknown. There have been rare but confirmed instances of extremely powerful Conduits using their abilities on living beings.

A Conduit can potentially tap into organic beings and their nervous system, but the effort and strain are immense, as they must confront another living being already controlling that system. The strain a living target endures while a Conduit attempts to take control is painful. If successful, the target can be reduced to a living battery — or something worse.

Conduits can also use their powers to alter the functionality of the target directly, creating powerful surges, causing explosions, or pulling long arcs of lightning from electronic devices. Once a Conduit resolves to overload a target, the effect can become difficult to control as the system begins breaking down. Skilled Conduits can nevertheless predict the result with frightening accuracy.

Lightning pulled from devices carrying high voltage can itself become a powerful weapon in close and medium range combat.

Conduit Artifacts is a broad term used for technology specifically designed to work well with Conduits and their abilities. This can range from rifles, to power suits, to entire starships.

Special power suits and equipment can greatly enhance the capabilities of a Conduit, as they allow them to utilize and remorph technology as a true extension of their body. Outside of modern imperial engineering, mysterious technology from The Ancients and their million-year-old ships also appears to share a special bond with Conduits. Such devices often serve as an almost perfect fit, but only in the hands of a Conduit.

In general, Conduits are considered super-powered and far beyond the norm. However, non-electric and simple weaponry can still be effective against them. In a technologically advanced world, a Conduit that is cut off from technology can be caught off guard, especially if they have grown over-reliant on always having something nearby to manipulate.

Primitive and mechanical weaponry — swords, chemically fired firearms, and other low-tech tools — can therefore be surprisingly effective against Conduits, even if such weapons are rare in the modern era.

The best measure against a Conduit is, sometimes, another, more powerful Conduit.

The Conduit Super Soldier Program is researched and trained on the secret planet of Tastamir, and is led by Mos Moira, a Korgen scientist whose knowledge is unmatched in the empire.