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- "Hand weapons aren't needed, Cay. A gentle tug of the Force can short-circuit their internal mechanisms."
- ―Arca Jeth
Ionize, also known as mechu macture, was a Force power developed during the Old Sith Wars that allowed a Jedi to overload and damage electronic systems, such as droids. Master Arca Jeth discovered the technique during the Great Droid Revolution, which allowed the Jedi to deactivate the droid army of HK-01. During the Jedi Civil War, the ability would remain common amongst Jedi, as both Revan (who may have used this power on the Star Forge to deactivate the captive Jedi's cells and help them become one with the Force) and Meetra Surik were known to be capable of utilizing this power, along with their companions. Millennia later, it would be used by Luke Skywalker. When employed, a stream of ionic energy generated by the Force would be unleashed upon the targeted mechanism and bore some similarity in appearance to Force lightning. However, the stream of energy traveling from the user to the target (or targets, if skilled enough) was purple, in contrast to the blue-white appearance of Force lightning, a nod to its stream of ions.
Similarities to Force stun
While Ionize could affect and short-circuit droids and other electronic systems, it was utterly ineffective against organics. In this sense, it was the counterpart to Force Stun, which could incapacitate an organic being but not a droid, as they obviously lacked the biology of living beings.
Variations and Levels
Ionize was divided into three separate levels of power.
Stun droid caused only minimum damage to a droid's circuits and was focused more on stunning the machine for a short period of time, often no more than six seconds. It was somewhat easy to resist and was usually only effective against non-combat models, but nearly always caused small devices such as mines to explode.
Disable droid was much more effective in deactivating a droid or other machinery than Stun Droid and was capable of causing some amounts of damage to the wiring and circuitry of the machine. Moreover, the energy released from this power was also capable of "hopping" from one droid to another within a certain area of the originally targeted droid.
Destroy droid was the most effective of all three levels and was aimed at the total destruction of the droid or device (even the beings with incorporeal skills). The energy emitted from the user could effectively destroy many droids at once, especially if they were standing near the single droid target. While this power did not always ensure that a target would be immediately destroyed, resistance often still caused major disruptions to the inner circuitry of the machine.
Appearances
- Tales of the Jedi: Dark Lords of the Sith (audio)
- Tales of the Jedi: Dark Lords of the Sith 3: Descent to the Dark Side
- Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic
- Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic II: The Sith Lords
- Star Wars: The Old Republic
- Dark Empire audio drama (First appearance)
- Children of the Jedi
- Fate of the Jedi: Conviction
Sources
- The New Essential Guide to Weapons and Technology
- Knights of the Old Republic II: The Sith Lords: Prima Official Game Guide
- The New Essential Chronology
- The New Essential Guide to Droids (First identified as mechu macture)
- Knights of the Old Republic Campaign Guide (First identified as Ionize)