The Kinetic fORce Diffuser, or KORD, System, is an energy transference system that prevents the extreme acceleration and deceleration of the MASC Drive from causing any potentially fatal results to crew and pilots. Because of the terrible strain placed on the body by early MASC-equipped craft, many of the vessels in the early ages of interplanetary flight in the Astral Commonwealth had to be self-controlled sleeper ships. Thanks to the innovations put forth by the Diffuser, all MASC craft currently in use can be controlled manually, and several avenues for new designs were opened.
It works by absorbing the forces that would normally be transferred to center of the ship and distributes them through the hull, causing little or no G-forces or shock to be felt inside a KORD-equipped craft. This also grants protection from kinetic weapons 1). However, the energy has to go somewhere, and is directly channeled into a kind of recoil. When a KORD craft is struck with very strong kinetic force, it is flung in the direction of the effect, in a distance proportional to the power of the impact.
Another weakness in this system is, that while it may be very effective at preventing those same kinetic impacts from being fatal, it does next to nothing to prevent the penetrative qualities of a weapon. Thus, a ship should not rely exclusively on its KORD for protection.
Name: K.O.R.D System (Kinetic fORce Diffuser) Type: Shielding System Government: Iromakuanhe Astral Commonwealth Designer: Sarmin Bzarae Manufacturer: Solan Starworks
Even once MASC technology became widely distributed, there was still the issue of the intense recoil caused by the drive, that turned some of the original test crews to a very fine paste upon exiting the compression corridor. Many hopefuls, with plans to make the drive viable and profit from it, set out to uncover some method of rectifying the problem. It would be one and a half centuries before a feasible, or even functional system was devised. The physicist, Sarmin Bzarae, created the system purely by accident, while trying to devise a way to create a shield that could easily deflect particles moving at even relativistic speeds, for navigation purposes. The KORD was the exact opposite of his goal, but was nonetheless his most successful invention.