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Z-95 Headhunter

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"The material is called cortosis. It's very rare— I've heard stories about it, but never seen any. It's rumored to have unusually high energy absorption and transmission coefficients, to the point where many energy weapon blasts will be dissipated along the fibers without damaging the fibers themselves."
Mitth'raw'nuruodo[2]

Cortosis was a metal that could be found on the planets Dinzo and Mokivj.

Description[]

"It's also soft and frangible, useless for building into armor or other protective materials."
―Mitth'raw'nuruodo[2]
Cortosis mine-TWC

A cortosis mine located on the planet Dinzo.

Cortosis was a metal that had a very high energy absorption rate and transmission coefficients, which allowed even the energy of a blaster bolt to be dissipated upon contact. One of the strongest minerals in the galaxy, cortosis could even withstand the blow of a lightsaber and briefly short out its blade. It could also redirect the heat of explosions, as discovered when General Anakin Skywalker attempted to collapse the entrance of a cortosis mine, and the resulting explosion breached through Mokivj's crust. Despite these advantages, cortosis was very fragile until refined, making it normally useless as armor, and had difficulties with prolonged energy attacks, such as those of lightning guns, which would overload the material.[2]

History[]

"My skin graft is a cortosis mesh–a holdover from the days when I advised manufacturers in the field late in the Clone Wars. I can assure you, young lady–every bolt you fire against me will carry directly into your friend."
―Count Denetrius Vidian reveals his skin graft is cortosis mesh[4]
Aphra25-nullbladebreaks

The Null Blade was created from cortosis alloy and thus could short out lightsabers, but the blade was never reinforced and thus was susceptible to being cut by lightsabers before the shorting out took effect.

During the Era of the Sith, the Ascendant created the Null Blade with a cortosis alloy as part of their battle with the Sith Order. The Null Blade could briefly short out lightsabers. However, the blade was not reinforced and thus could still be cut by a lightsaber. The blade was never completed before the Ascendant were slaughtered by the Sith.[5]

During the Clone Wars, the Grysks, who used cortosis for energy management, told Count Dooku of an effective way to use cortosis against the Galactic Republic. By specially weaving cortosis fibers within a protective matrix, it was possible to create armor that was both durable and immune to blaster fire. The cortosis armor also redirected the energy of a lightsaber back into itself, causing the lightsaber to temporarily shut down upon contact. Duke Solha was placed in charge of creating a series of B2-series super battle droids equipped with the armor and, under the supervision of Darth Sidious, clone armor that could be used for Order 66. This was discovered by Padmé Amidala, Anakin Skywalker, and the Chiss Mitth'raw'nuruodo, who proceeded to destroy the clone armor and sabotage the battle droids so they would overheat minutes after activating. However, desperate to ensure the CIS could not use its mines, Skywalker rigged them to explode with Mokivj's lava flows. Instead, the cortosis in the ground redirected the heat across the world, devastating it.[2]

Also during the Clone Wars, the cyborg business analyst Count Denetrius Vidian had a cortosis mesh skin graft installed on his body. Years later, when Vidian was attacked by the Jedi-in-hiding Kanan Jarrus and the Twi'lek pilot Hera Syndulla, the Count was able to utilize the graft to conduct energy from a blaster bolt fired by Syndulla into Jarrus, who Vidian was holding at the time.[4]

HE5-SparkvsVader

The cortosis Null Blade is used against Darth Vader's lightsaber

The Tagge Corporation used cortosis to produce the Tagge protoblade, a plasma blade weapon intended to replicate a lightsaber,[6] in 3 ABY.[7] The protoblade took the form of a gauntlet from which a blade extended and was energized with plasma. The gauntlet had a cortosis core to protect the weapon's wielder, but the core could also cause the blade to lose power and cease to function as a plasma weapon. Nevertheless, the unpowered Tagge protoblade remained lethal as an edged melee weapon.[6]

Trapped within her memories and the memories of Miril by the Ascendant's Spark Eternal artificial intelligence, which was unleashed back into the galaxy during the Imperial Era, Doctor Chelli Lona Aphra was shown the Null Blade by Miril in her memories. When she used a curved-hilt lightsaber to strike the blade, she discovered it could neutralize a lightsaber, though only temporarily, because of the cortosis.[5] Later, the Spark Eternal used the Null Blade against Darth Vader in the Battle at the Amaxine Station and succeeded in shorting out his lightsaber. Vader, however, responded with a Force push that removed the Spark from Aphra's body.[8]

Behind the scenes[]

Cortosis first appeared in the new Star Wars canon in A New Dawn, a novel by John Jackson Miller that was published in 2014.[4] In the Star Wars Legends continuity, it first appeared in the novel I, Jedi by Michael A. Stackpole, published in 1998.[9]

Appearances[]

Sources[]

Notes and references[]

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