World Devastator
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In the fictional Star Wars Expanded Universe, World Devastators were gigantic machines with strong tractor beams attached to them, employed by Emperor Palpatine's clones in which his spirit inhabited.
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[edit] Function
They would land on the surface of a planet, and the tractor beams would literally tear the planet beneath them apart, and then consume it, thus making them "planet killers".
The deconstruction of the planet and its resources would then be used for both fuel for the Devastator and for manufacturing starships, starfighters, and droids over a period of a few months. Eventually the planet would become a debris field. These machines' shields were so strong that not even concentrated turbolaser fire could penetrate them, and most times any conflict with another enemy ship would result in the consumption of that ship by the World Devastator. They first saw action in the Battle of Mon Calamari where they were used by the reborn Emperor Palpatine against Mon Calamari, the temporary capital of the New Republic after the Imperial Remnant recaptured Coruscant. There, they devoured many of the Mon Calamari floating cities and recycled them to make countless assault vehicles, including TIE/D fighters and wavewalkers.
These massive foundries churned out new vehicles and war machines, sent into battle straight from the assembly line. The internal factories could create anything from a starfighter or speeder to a medium-sized cruiser, given enough resources. World Devastators also carried squadrons of TIE/D fighters which could be controlled by the Central Droid Brain. Each World Devastator was controlled by a central droid brain - the sentient crew-members were on board to oversee production and handle navigation or weapons systems. The droid brain was responsible for creating the new weapons of war, and was programmed with a massive store of ship types and parameters, able to create a wide variety of vessels for any combat situation. In addition, the factories could also focus on upgrading the World Devastator itself; a portion of the raw materials created in the furnace was set aside for advancements to the main body. With these unique customizations, no two 'mature' World Devastators were truly alike. Though it often took several months to fully consume a planet, the results were terrifying.
It seemed that the only feasible way of destroying a mature World Devastator was to have another Devastator consume it.
[edit] History
After the Battle of Yavin, the Emperor ordered a second Death Star built. While it was being constructed, Umak Leth, desiring to outdo his predecessor Bevel Lemelisk as Chief Engineer to the Emperor, was struck by inspiration while on the capital world Coruscant: Coruscant had long been patrolled by gigantic droids which demolished old, damaged, unsafe, or simply out-of-fashion buildings, fed the raw concrete, masonry, transparisteel etc. into enormous molecular furnaces, which produced ingots and vats of the raw and now refined ingredients for other sections of the droid to construct new buildings in the old ones' place with. Leth realized that the droids were rather inefficient, and that if they were improved, they could be the basis of a new industrial tool which with the modern technologies of tractor beams, vastly scaled up Artificial Intelligences, and improved molecular furnaces, could build essentially anything on its own- or (as he came to realize with the Emperor's promptings) it could be a weapon of war that could literally eat a planet, constructing more of its fellows, and turning all the spare resources immediately into other weapons of war! He proposed this to the Emperor, who once he heard the further refinement into instruments of warfare, was so pleased he authorized the project immediately. The Emperor's death at Endor meant that a hitch occurred in the project, but Leth always had funding, and so eventually the project was completed with the construction of Silencer-1 in orbit around the abandoned planet Thomork. Construction, once the fundamental task of programming the enormous computer cores containing the AI that essentially was the Devastator was easy: World Devastators literally built themselves- no two were exactly alike; indeed, of all droids in the Star Wars universe, the ones which came closest to being alive, in the sense of being able to change themselves and grow indefinitely, were World Devastators. In principle a World Devastator could easily reproduce, but in practice Leth was overly hasty, and did not finish working out the final kinks and loading all necessary plans- World Devastators (at least the first recension) did not possess the plans for the necessary computer cores, and many vital functions like optimizing production schedules, maintaining the furnace temperatures and a good deal of construction work were done by humans and slaves.
[edit] First use
The ocean world of Mon Calamari had once been slated for destruction by the first Death Star. With the destruction of that battle station—and its successor—it seemed as if Mon Calamari was free of the Empire's grip. But when the reborn Palpatine launched his attack, Mon Calamari became the first target of his World Devastators. Led by the massive Silencer-7, the Devastator squad descended on Mon Calamari, smashing the floating cities and shipyards, feeding their factories in anticipation of a New Republic counter-strike. Admiral Ackbar sent a New Republic fleet to deal with the devastating attack on his home-world, including the captured Imperial-class Star Destroyer Emancipator and a squadron of X-wings. Yet nothing the New Republic threw at the Devastators could stop their inexorable march.
The World Devastators launched automated droid TIE fighters against the Republic star-fighters, and one Devastator headed into orbit to face the Emancipator head-on. The Devastator devoured the Star Destroyer in its boiling furnace, forcing the crew to evacuate or become the metal monster's next meal. Luckily, the Rebels had another force in reserve, and sent V-wing and E-wing squadrons to the surface to engage the Devastators. Suddenly, the assault weapons stopped dead in the water. While the Alliance believed the Imperial commander was too inept to even claim victory with the Devastators, this sudden turn of events was entirely to plan. Luke Skywalker had infiltrated the upper echelons of Imperial command by supposedly allying himself with Palpatine. From his position as Supreme Commander of Imperial Forces, Skywalker was able to shut down the Devastators. Unfortunately, their internal factories continued churning out wavewalkers and TIE/D fighters, forcing the New Republic to implement a new plan while they fought the Imperial vehicles.
Luke Skywalker smuggled a wealth of Imperial data into Rebel hands, via the astromech droid R2-D2. The droid was able to decipher the Master Control Signal, and create a new code that would instruct the Devastators' droid brains to attack the other Devastators. The new signal worked wonders; the Devastators turned on each other, leaving nothing but dead hulks in the water world's oceans. The Galaxy was free of the threat of the World Devastators once and for all. Yet, in Empire II, a Devastator was seen as part of the Rebel fleet. (Considering the raw power and ability of a World Devastator, it was probably prudent to keep one or more around as a mobile factory.)
[edit] References
- Star Wars: Rogue Squadron
- Dark Empire, trade paperback, 1993. Tom Veitch, ISBN 1-56971-073-2
- The Essential Guide to Vehicles and Vessels (Star Wars), 1st printing, 1996. Bill Smith, ISBN 0-590-02361-6
- The Dark Empire sourcebook, Wizards of the Coast, 1st edition, 1993. Horne, Michael, ISBN 0-87431-194-2
- Star Wars: Rogue Squadron for Nintendo 64; Final level "Battle of Mon Calamari"
- The New Essential Guide to Weapons and Technology
| Superweapons of the Star Wars Universe | |
|---|---|
| Space Stations | |
| Star Forge | Centerpoint Station | Death Star | |
| Extraorbital Weapons | |
| Galaxy Gun | Eye of Palpatine | Sun Crusher | |
| Suborbital Weapons | |
| Mass shadow generator | Dark Reaper | World Devastator | |
| See also | |
| List of Star Wars ship-mounted weapons | List of Star Wars ranged weapons | List of Star Wars heavy weapons | List of Star Wars melee weapons | List of Star Wars heavy weapons |
