Gear & Rigs
Three hardware systems power the Essa subclasses. Gauntlet and Full Rigs are Engineered Vestiges — salvageable, upgradeable, licensed. The AetherBlade is something else entirely.
Rigs
Engineered Vestiges — manufactured hardware that processes vial energy into force output. Rigs have Tiers (1–5), Burn Buffers, Modification Slots, and Calibration Locks. They can be salvaged, upgraded at a licensed Forge, and confiscated by Imperial authorities.
A calibrated Essa-processing harness fitted to the weapon arm and woven into the armor's kinetic framework. The Gauntlet processes vial energy into force output through trained cha…
An integrated Essa-processing exosuit. Unlike the Gauntlet which channels through the weapon arm only, the Full Rig runs channeling nodes across the entire frame — chest, back, leg…
Bonded Weapons
Bonded Vestiges — not manufactured, forged. Essa-infused steel created in a single irreversible act of pre-Collapse metallurgy. Cannot be salvaged, cannot be copied, cannot be Severed.
No-Rig Practitioners
Three subclasses carry no hardware at all. The Ironhand generates Essa from the act of removing threats — Momentum, not vials. The Rawcaster channels raw Essa through their body with no buffer, no Burn protection, and a Hard DC on every save. The Still runs on Void — a passive accumulation that requires no activation. No Scan can find them. No Suppression Grid reads them.
These practitioners appear on no Forge vendor's licensing list. The Empire classifies them under Unregistered Natural Channeling — the same category as the AetherBlade. The response policy is the same.