Mechu-deru

A dark side technique, mechu-deru allowed the user to manipulate mechanical systems through the power of the Force. By means of a specially-designed cybernetic brain implant, it was possible for a Force-sensitive individual to develop a mastery of mechu-deru at an accelerated rate.

The application of mechu-deru allowed the user to instinctively comprehend the inner workings of machinery and circuitry. Through mechu-deru, technology could be upgraded to suit a purpose beyond its original intended role, even allowing mechanical devices—including droids—to detect Force-attuned beings. Users were bestowed the ability to convert robotic machines into extensions of their will, overwhelming their internal circuitry. Attempting to posses the body of a cyborg would drastically transform the victim's cybernetics, enlarging them into a mass of tendril-like appendages. Such a practice, however, had the potential to backfire, causing the victim's mechanical prostheses to turn against the user. Mechu-deru was used to combine both the inanimate and the living, allowing the creation of part machine, part organic hybrids known as technobeasts. Using mechu-deru, it was possible to imbue the technobeasts with the dark side of the Force, binding them to the will of their creator. The technique allowed the applicator to rebuild and replace parts of their body with cybernetics.

Thousands of years before the Great Sith War, followers of the dark side-worshipping Sith Order discovered a way to manipulate mechanical structures through the power of the Force. This technique—known as mechu-deru—was practised by only a small number of Sith magicians at the time, causing its secrets to fade into obscurity. Nonetheless, the Sith practitioners of mechu-deru used the ability to create hybrids of metal and flesh known as technobeasts.

In 1250 BBY during a subset of the New Sith Wars called the Sictis Wars, a Dark Lord of the Sith known as Belia Darzu researched mechu-deru alongside the dark side art of Sith alchemy. In doing so, Lord Darzu created a technovirus capable of transforming living organisms into technobeasts. To produce these Sithspawn creatures, Darzu devised and employed an alternative form of mechu-deru called mechu-deru vitae. Using the power of mechu-deru, Darzu imbued the creatures with the dark side, binding an army of them to her will. During her reign, the Dark Lord recorded her knowledge of mechu-deru inside a Sith holocron. The creation of Darzu's technobeasts ended when she was assassinated by the Mecrosa Order, after which her secrets were thought to have been lost.

In the era succeeding the New Sith Wars, the discipline of mechu-deru was practised by a Sith Lord known as Darth Maul. In particular, Maul used the technique to modify a protocol droid designated C-3PX, transforming it into an assassination droid.

Centuries after the New Sith Wars, a number of Sith scrolls containing the knowledge of Belia Darzu entered the possession of Cronal, a dark side practitioner who served the Galactic Empire. Intending to use the scrolls for his own purposes, Cronal practised mechu-deru during his tenure as the Emperor's Hand, a personal agent of the Galactic Emperor Palpatine. Using his knowledge, Cronal upgraded the thaissen crystals that were installed into the Force detecting devices used by Imperial Jedi hunters. This allowed the devices to determine the Force-sensitivity and alignment of a specific target.

Following Cronal's failed Imperial campaign on the planet Mindor, the Dark Side Adept used mechu-deru to replace most of his body with cybernetics, leaving his head and neck as the only remaining organic parts. Around this time, Cronal spent years experimenting with both mechu-deru and Sith alchemy on the planet Trailia, blending them to form his own method of creation dubbed the Stygian Art. In doing so, Cronal transformed the native inhabitants into technobeasts, eventually traveling away with his creations to the world of Coruscant.

At a later date, Cronal resided on the industrial planet of Andooweel, having fully embraced mechu-deru under the new identity of "Perek". While basing his activities in an abandoned droid depot, Cronal was pursued by the Jedi Knight known as Luke Skywalker. During Skywalker's brief servitude under the reborn Emperor Palpatine, the Jedi Knight's cybernetic hand became polluted with the power of mechu-deru. The alchemical alterations made to Skywalker's robotic limb ultimately lured him into a confrontation with Cronal. In an attempt to possess the Jedi Knight, Cronal infected the circuitry of Skywalker's hand with technobeast nanodroids. This attempt backfired, however, when the cybernetic hand turned against Cronal and strangled him to death.

The power of mechu-deru was also wielded by Irek Ismaren, the son of another Imperial agent and dark side practitioner known as Roganda Ismaren. In the aftermath of Roganda's thwarted scheme against the New Republic, she—like Cronal—would somehow acquire a number of Sith scrolls comprising the knowledge of the deceased Dark Lord Belia Darzu. Around this time, Irek developed an accelerated mastery of mechu-deru by means of a cybernetic brain transplant, the subelectronic converter. Left to their own devices, the Ismarens had the potential to create and unleash a horde of part machine, part organic mutants upon the galaxy.

Compared to the Sith, members of the Jedi Order were less willing to blend technology and the Force. Not wishing the tread the same path as the Sith, the Jedi diverted their attention away from mechu-deru and the study of droids. Despite this, certain members of the Order would still practice the technique of mechu-deru, specifically Jedi Sentinels operating as tech experts. Such specialists were a rarity among the ranks of the Jedi Order, known for their ability to strip down and reassemble various types of technology. Additionally, details regarding mechu-deru were mentioned in The Jedi Path, a guidebook intended for Initiates of the Jedi Order. In the time of the extra-galactic Yuuzhan Vong invasion, the Jedi Knight Tam Azur-Jamin made references to mechu-deru in an essay entitled Droids, Technology and the Force. The document explored the views held by the Jedi regarding mechu-deru, as well as the concept of a relationship between mechanical constructs and the Force.

Mechu-deru was introduced as an unidentified Force ability in Tales of the Jedi Companion, a roleplaying supplement published by West End Games in 1996. This reference was later retconned by Abel G. Peña, an author who identified mechu-deru in an adventure seed—The Lost Art—featured in the 2001 article entitled The Emperor's Pawns. The name of mechu-deru was taken from The Essential Guide to Episode I, a cancelled addition to the Essential Guide series to be written by Daniel Wallace. Additional backstory for mechu-deru was detailed by Wallace in The New Essential Guide to Droids, a reference book published in 2006. While mechu-deru was named a dark side technique in The Complete Star Wars Encyclopedia, its use by the Jedi Order was later confirmed in another reference book called The Jedi Path. Mechu-deru was depicted unnamed in "Collapsing New Empires," a comic featured in the nineteenth issue of the Star Wars Tales series. This appearance was retconned in the final part of The Imperial Warlords: Despoilers of an Empire, a StarWars.com blog series that concluded in 2014.

• Tales of the Jedi Companion
• "The Emperor's Pawns" — Star Wars Gamer 5
• The New Essential Guide to Characters
• Droids, Technology and the Force: A Clash of Phenomena on Hyperspace
• Vader: The Ultimate Guide
• Evil Never Dies: The Sith Dynasties on Hyperspace
• The New Essential Guide to Droids
• The Complete Star Wars Encyclopedia, Vol. I, p. 172
• The Jedi Path: A Manual for Students of the Force