Lightsaber (Divergent Universe)

"This is the weapon of a Jedi Knight. Not as clumsy or random as a blaster; an elegant weapon for a more civilized age."

- Obi-Wan Kenobi

Designed as much for elegance in combat as for ceremony, the lightsaber, also referred to as the "laser sword" by those who were unfamiliar with it, was a distinctive weapon, the very image of which was inextricably bound with the mythos of the Jedi Order. The lightsaber also became synonymous with the Jedi Order's values to uphold peace and justice throughout the Galaxy. This perception endured, despite the many conflicts with lightsaber-wielding dark Jedi and Sith.

The weapon consisted of a blade of pure plasma emitted from the hilt and suspended in a containment field. The field contained the immense heat of the plasma, protecting the wielder, and allowed the blade to keep its shape. The hilt was almost always self-fabricated by the wielder to match his or her specific needs, preferences and style. The hilt was also often built similarly to his or her master's lightsaber as a mark of respect. Due to the weightlessness of plasma, lightsabers required a great deal of dexterity and self-discipline to wield, and it was extremely difficult—and dangerous—for the untrained to attempt using. However, in the hands of an expert, the lightsaber was a weapon to be greatly respected and feared.

Origin
With the formation of the Jedi Order on Tython after the Force Wars in 25,783 BBE, ceremonial weapons became an integral part of the order. Force-forged swords, glaives, quarterstaffs, and other melee weapons became signature weapons of their order.

Coinciding with the beginning of the First Great Schism in 24,500 BBE, the Jedi Order's experiments with plasma-based technology yielded success when they developed a method to generate focused beams of plasma that arced circumferentially back to their source, creating the first portable high-energy blades. These preliminary lightsabers were highly unstable and inefficiently guzzled power from a belt-mounted power supply; they could only be used for a brief duration before overheating. As a consequence of these flaws, the first lightsabers were little more than ceremonial objects, seldom worn, and much less utilized.

Early refinements
The extreme lack of stability that plagued the weapons' early designs were gradually corrected through the years, and the cumbersome and rarely used siege-weapons gave way to elegant and much more commonly used lightsabers. However, while these archaic lightsabers were far more stable than their ungainly predecessors, they still suffered from energy consumption issues, requiring the belt-worn power pack of previous generations. The power-cable tended to restrict the wielders movements in battle and prevented the usage of Force-powered and long-range telekinetic saber combat. However, despite the shortcomings, the highly stable blades granted them a superior advantage in hand-to-hand combat against heavily-armored foes, and saw a great deal of use in the later years of the Hundred-Year Darkness.

Later developments and usage
It was not until before the Great Hyperspace War that the earliest modern lightsaber was designed. By 5,800 BBE, the restricting power cable and external power pack of old designs were replaced with internal power components. An internal superconductor was introduced which transferred the returning looped energy from the negative-charged flux aperture back into an internal power cell. With this modification, the power cell would only expend power when the energy loop was broken, solving the age-old power supply problem.

Adoption by the Sith
During the Great Sith War, many Jedi converts who flocked to Exar Kun's Sith Brotherhood continued using their Jedi lightsabers, disregarding the tradition of wielding alchemically-forged swords followed by the Sith of the original Sith Empire. However, other innovations entered their ranks, with Kun modifying his lightsaber into a double-bladed saberstaff, the first of its kind. While Exar Kun's insurrection ultimately failed, he did introduce the saberstaff to the Jedi, and it began to see relatively widespread use during the period leading up to the Jedi Civil War.