| abstract | - Ersatz shards are artificially created Khaydarin crystals. After losing Aiur, the Protoss were left with few resources to rebuild their empire. To compensate for the lack of traditional and sacred crystal mines, they turned to the Dark Templar for advice on how they developed technology on their world. Through these teachings, the Protoss psionically forged the shards to replenish their military and civilian forces (Star Wars: Synth-crystal). This has been met with varying results as there are some factions with motives other than survival. Some groups still hold to tradition and outright refuse to use the shards in anything. Other more lenient groups prefer to use the Ersatz shards in low level machines rather that using them in personal weaponry. In more extreme cases, rogue tribes twist the forging processes by combining it with forbidden techniques. These techniques included using blood, their own or other psionic beings, to make the shards as or more powerful than natural crystals (DC Comics: Red Lantern Corps). Terrans have also been developing their own artificial Khaydarin crystals. By recovering pieces from battle sites, scientists and engineers fabricated weaker variants for different projects. Most have been used to enhance existing weapons and energy production technology such as lasers and fusion generators. Some have even entered the civilian sector via black market channels.
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