No one is certain who or wear the design for a resonance blade was first created but what is certain is that is impossible to go anywhere without seeing one. The reason for the widespread availability is due simply to the fact that anything with a sharp edge to it can effectively be used as a resonating blade. Everything from daggers to swords, axes, throwing knives and even a few other unique bladed weapons have come to receive the advantages of this technology.
The principle is quite simple in that a blade can vibrate at a high frequency to enable it to cut through flesh much better than a normal one would be able to. This type of weapon was around at least as far back as the AI wars and were possibly a derivative of captured machine weaponry. Even with the possibility of rather dark origin, it did not stop the development of the design. This would last for nearly a thousand years and would be known as Class I resonating weapons.
The problem with the initial design is that they only worked in cutting through soft flesh. Light armor was more than enough to negate any and all effects of the blades and this led to a slow decline over the years in their use. This changed in 1565 TSC when the development of an automatic system for changing frequency was developed. This, combined with blades utilizing new materials even harder than diamond meant that resonance blade could now self-adjust to any material and the birth of Class II resonance blades had arrived. Now, even heavy armor would be no match for the weapons and their lethality was once again supreme in close combat.
This continued until the advent of personal shielding devices which once again left the resonance blade at a disadvantage. While they were capable of piercing through the shields after a few seconds of continuous contact it left the user extremely vulnerable and the blade itself risked serious damage from being overloaded. A solution came with a second use of resonating technology where an electrical surge could be channeled through a weapon to counteract the shielding, though at a slight reduction in it the weapon's cutting effectiveness. This became known as Class III and is currently restricted to military and security use only, though some examples have been discovered in pirate hands.
Class I
Armor Penetration: very low
Shield Penetration: low
Damage per hit: very high
Class II
Armor Penetration: very high
Shield Penetration: low
Damage per hit: very high
Class III
Armor Penetration: high
Shield Penetration: high
Damage per hit: high
