Vyka

One of many types of lyka, the vyka is especially unusual. A few brands exist, though some swear these should be hand-made. Hand-made blades are often altered from different lykas, though a select few instead built them entirely from scratch. As a result, it is not their outside which connects these many vykas, but the internal mechanics that sets them apart.
In addition to the regular components all lykas have (a hard-light generator, an emitter, and either a battery or power pack), vykas have a fourth component: a Vita channeling component. This element, typically a crystal or at least crystalline, is built into the emitter, affecting the hard-light blade but not damaged by it. When used by a Vita-Touched, they can channel their magic directly through the blade, creating incredible feats impossible for anyone else to achieve. Enchanted lykas may be able to achieve similar effects, but never quite to the degree as a vyka, provided it is wielded by someone proficient enough with it.
Due to the nature of Vita channeling components, a vyka will gradually grow 'suited' to a specific wielder, molding itself to their Vita core and theirs alone. Wielding someone else's vyka can feel uncomfortable, cause uncharacteristic clumsiness, or make it harder or even impossible to channel Vita through it. In the most extreme cases, this may even make it impossible to wield the blade, causing direct refusal to touch it due to mental rejection, or because it causes such clumsiness that wielding it would lead to self-injury.

by DarkNymfa

Mechanics & Inner Workings

Vykas mostly have the same sort of mechanics as lykas. They have the same construction, with a hard-light generator, an emitter, and a battery or power pack. The only addition they make it the Vita channeling component, built into the emitter. They naturally have an on/off switch and safety lock, but almost all vykas match the more complex lykas and also have switches to control the blade's power and length.

Manufacturing process

Often hand-made, pieced together by its future wielder.

History

Much like the Vita-Touched who use them, vykas have gone through a long and tumultuous past. Invented during the Second Age, not long after the creation and proliferation of lykas, these variant knives were designed to combine an excellent tool and weapon with the new and incredible power of Vita-Touched. During said Age, however, the Vita-Touched were relatively rare, and thus, so were their weapons. Over time, the use of vykas became central into their primary organization, which raised the number of vykas slightly, but also opened them up for further diversion, as these Vita-Touched also found it very important to design their vykas to suit the wielder.
During the Third Age, when Vita-Touched were widely despised and hated, their vykas similarly disappeared from the galaxy as a whole. Those who hid took their weapons with them, and the weapons of as many of their lost comrades as they could. The remainder, vykas of Vita-Touched slain unfairly, were often tainted by these violent deaths and could not safely be touched, even by non Vita-Touched. Quite a few of these vykas even exploded when touched by a perpetrator, the battery or power pack overloading suddenly and inexplicably.
When Vita-Touched returned to visibility during the Fourth Age, so did their vykas, a tradition carried on quietly during the Third Age by the few remaining survivors. They had become a symbol of the Vita-Touched, a weapon only they could use, which kept them safe, which kept them alive, during the long and bloody Third Age. As the Vita-Touched became more and more common, so did their vykas, commercialized to suit their ever-growing numbers, and because many modern Vita-Touched cultures no longer put such an emphasis on building a weapon unique to you.

Significance

Depends on the Era. During the Second Age, vykas were custom-made for every Vita-Touched, suited to them not just through bonding of the Vita channeling, but also in appearance.
In the Third Age, their significance grew further, as they could only be wielded by the remaining (and hiding) Vita-Touched. Even if not used, vykas were no longer made, and thus finding one was proof that it had been taken by a Vita-Touched, as no one else could have taken a vyka away from its former wielder once they had died.
 In the Fourth Age, they have become more common, but their wielding still signifies a Vita-Touched, plentiful and mundane as they have become.

by DarkNymfa

Handles for lykas and vykas bear no visible difference. This one shows how the on/off switch for the blade and the safety switch are typically oriented differently, and often placed in different locations on the handle.

Etymology/Naming

Named for their use by Vita-Touched, vykas combine the word "Vita" with "lyka", the knives they are based on.

Item type

Weapon, Melee

Subtype / Model

Lyka

Used by

• Tawkals

Related Technologies

• Lyka

Related Condition

Vita-Touched

Rarity

Depends on Era: Rare (Second Age), Very rare (Third Age), Somewhat uncommon (Fourth Age)

Raw materials & Components

Mostly the same as for regular lykas: metal, with specific mechanical components, and often a softer wrapping or case for the handle. In addition, they use a Vita channeling component, which has to be sturdy and durable for use in the blade. Often these are crystals, or crystalline in nature, but some Vita-Touched use a different material when they build their own vykas.

Tools

Standard engineering tools.

by DarkNymfa

Illustrated guide to lykas and vykas.