Futuristic Whips

Battlehymn Republic · Post by **Battlehymn Republic** » 2005-10-30 01:32am

Are modified versions of whips a common staple in sci-fi? Somehow I've gotten that impression from only two, very obscure sources:

1. In the Cyberstorm 2 strategy guide I once checked out from the library. The strategy guide was surprisingly comprehensive; instead of simply listing the stats that were relevant to the game, it also added in superfluous story details that I thrive upon; in this case, they said that the whip was an energy weapon, like a lightsaber, I suppose, except not as cutting.

By the way Cyberstorm 2 was an early, early precursor to the Tribes series, the turn-based strategy game before Starsiege.

2. In the Sid Meier's Alpha Centauri novella, it mentions that the mutiners aboard the Unity used a "psych whip" on Sheng-ji Yang after he awoke from the cryotube. When it hit, it sent him incredible pain in his receptors. I'm assuming the idea came from The Jesus Incident, same as "psych chaplains" in SMAC.

These are the only two incidents I can think of. Can anyone else think of anything?

Also, ignoring the sci-fi, could whips be improved some way to become better weapons in the future outside of bondage? I'm thinking about electrifying them or something to that effect.

nickolay1 · Post by **nickolay1** » 2005-10-30 01:36am

Electrification would be impractical. I'll take a gun over a whip any day.

Battlehymn Republic · Post by **Battlehymn Republic** » 2005-10-30 01:41am

I'm just trying to keep this from falling into the Other Sci-fi forum.

nickolay1 · Post by **nickolay1** » 2005-10-30 01:00am

The power requirements for an electrified whip to do any damage equivalent to a conventional weapon would be immense. The portable power sources (i.e. batteries) would have to be large as well.

Pablo Sanchez · Post by **Pablo Sanchez** » 2005-10-30 01:06am

nickolay1 wrote:The power requirements for an electrified whip to do any damage equivalent to a conventional weapon would be immense. The portable power sources (i.e. batteries) would have to be large as well.

Not to mention the fact that a whip is a damn melee weapon and hence it is automatically obsolete unless you fudge your story in some way (like with Jedi or Dune-verse shield pap). The use of a whip in torture is also stupid, there are much better and more efficient ways to break someone.

wilfulton · Post by **wilfulton** » 2005-10-30 01:28am

When I was a kid I used to be a collector of Dino Riders. The Rulons (bad guys), I believe used some kind of energy whip to drive the dinosaurs into their machinations. Looking back it sorta does seem quite silly.

Your futuristic whip might be made of leather or some synthetic fiber, probably the former, and I do seriously doubt it will be electrified unless as a novelty item for some collector with more money than he has brains. At that point, I doubt it will ever do much except sit on the wall looking pretty (although the more astute could make the point that it could use electromagnets to hold itself onto the wall*).

As far as the whip's practicality. It works for driving cattle (although a stick will also work and neither need be electrified).

*Why bother? What else would you use an electric whip for and what about all that money burning a hole in your pocket? And you know you want one because the advertisement says you just gotta have it.

CaptainChewbacca · Post by **CaptainChewbacca** » 2005-10-30 01:36am

I seem to recall when Ferengi were introduced in TNG they had some crazy-ass stun whips, which were promptly forgotten until they showed up in ENT.

Lord of the Abyss · Post by **Lord of the Abyss** » 2005-10-30 03:42am

CaptainChewbacca wrote:I seem to recall when Ferengi were introduced in TNG they had some crazy-ass stun whips, which were promptly forgotten until they showed up in ENT.

I remember that too. Other scifi whips I remember :

Cohe wands from the Paratwa books work like lightsaber-whips IIRC.

In Enemy Hands ( Honorverse ) mentions a torture instrument called a "neural whip", but it's never seen :

What he wanted to do was storm into her cell with a neural whip and see how she liked direct stimulation of her pain centers for an hour or two.

The Marvel supervillain Blacklash had a high-tech whip ( yeah it's a comic book, but he's a technological villain ).

Mal_Reynolds · Post by **Mal_Reynolds** » 2005-10-30 07:54am

Might try one made of a synthetic fiber with industrial diamonds embedded in it, such as what's used to sharpen knives.

The Grim Squeaker · Post by **The Grim Squeaker** » 2005-10-30 08:44am

Thew type 2 whip is originally from Isaac Asimov's Foundation and "Eternity's end".
In both it's a whip like weapon (It may have been a type of short range gun, I yhink) that can cause pain ranging from disabling ("Once you were hit with a neural whip, you never ever forgot the pain no matter how long and eventful your life was") to burning out the synapses in a arm- rendering it useless.

salm · Post by **salm** » 2005-10-30 09:38am

Didn´t the drill sargent in Starship Troopers use an energy whip after Rico shot accidently shot his team mate? Or was that a conventional whip?

Darth Yoshi · Post by **Darth Yoshi** » 2005-10-30 10:35am

I think it was a conventional whip.

General Soontir Fel · Post by **General Soontir Fel** » 2005-10-30 11:48am

Lightwhips (presumbably based on lightsaber technology) appear in at least two places of SW EU: used by a bounty hunter (whose name I can't remember) in the Jedi Apprentice series, and by Lady Lumiya in the post-ROTJ Marvel Comics series.

Ace Pace · Post by **Ace Pace** » 2005-10-30 11:57am

Also normal electric whips are used in Tales of the New Republic(I think that was the name).

Spoonist · Post by **Spoonist** » 2005-10-30 12:03pm

I have played a number of RPGs where nanowhips where used alongside with nanoblades.
The nanowhip would be a string of atoms held together with an electric field. The thought being that the thing is so thin that it will slice through almost anything.

Zor · Post by **Zor** » 2005-10-30 12:12pm

Darth Yoshi wrote:I think it was a conventional whip.

It was, just a run of a mil leather whip.

As for other Sci-Fi Whips, Andromeda had the Monomolecular Lash, though this was hardly a soldier's first choice in weapons and Dylan thought that it was downright insane to carry one as it could damage the inside of a ship.

Zor

Molyneux · Post by **Molyneux** » 2005-10-30 04:24pm

DEATH wrote:Thew type 2 whip is originally from Isaac Asimov's Foundation and "Eternity's end".
In both it's a whip like weapon (It may have been a type of short range gun, I yhink) that can cause pain ranging from disabling ("Once you were hit with a neural whip, you never ever forgot the pain no matter how long and eventful your life was") to burning out the synapses in a arm- rendering it useless.

Neuronic whip. The name didn't refer to an actual physical lash, though - it was a point-and-click type affair, kind of like a phaser. I don't remember if he ever mentioned exactly what principle it works on, though.

Vendetta · Post by **Vendetta** » 2005-10-30 07:55pm

G'kar is tortured with some kind of future-whip in season 4 of B5. It's apparently some kind of nerve induction device, probably just shaped as a whip because the Centauri are traditionalists. It's set for an increasing level of pain with each stroke, with death at 40.