So I’m writing a Star Wars fic and obviously people aren’t using bullets, so combat injuries are going to be different. One of my characters gets shot in the shoulder. He doesn’t bleed out because the wound is cauterized and there’s nothing physically lodged in his body. How would this affect him?
It would depend on the exact area where the wound is located and how realistic you really want to be about it all. There isn't a lot of "empty" space in the shoulder area, so unless it's a graze it's generally safe to assume that the arm is painfully disabled, either through some muscle or another being damaged, or the bone itself being hit. On top of that the axillary artery could potentially be hit, and having that get cauterized would not only put the arm out of commission fast, it could also become a real hazard for gangrene. With the wound being located on the upper torso, it's pretty safe to also assume that anything beyond light breathing is likely going to painful. But in general there's a lot of interconnected muscles around there so it wouldn't take much movement to jostle the wound again. As for long-term effects, the cauterization would be more likely to permanently damage muscle and nerves, resulting in permanent reduction in usability. This could actually be a good way to justify robotic prosthetic in your own cannon, as it's easier to amputate limb with a cauterized artery and provide a mechanical replacement, because cloning flesh/organs is a much more costly prospect.
How soon after the injury does your character get medical attention? How good is the medical attention - like are we talking Boy Scout first aid level or are we talking a professional surgeon level? And if I remember correctly, the star wars universe had some type of liquid that injured people floated in and it helped them heal.....a beta tank? If the injury was treated correctly in the first place and then the guy got further medical intervention, maybe no ill effects after treatment? Scott
Considering temps and kinetic energy, along with how thick the beam is and whether it is a laser or plasma. It could realistically range from a dime sized burn hole, to having their arm blown completely off from all the liquids in the area instantly turning to a gas. So if a Clone Trooper shot him with one of their rifles, the arm and probably a good chunk of the side of their upper chest would be blown out as well, which means say goodbye to a lung along with the arm.
Leia got shot in the shoulder and was fine in Return of the Jedi. In Star Wars, things hurt or don't hurt, work or don't work pretty much at random.
Never at random. Everything works however is dramatically necessary. Aside from that, there's no logical consistency.
A bacta tank, yeah— my character gets shot, then the characters escape through the sewers and find a ship, which takes probably an hour or two, then travel to a liberated planet in the Outer Rim, which takes maybe three to five hours. In the meantime, the captain of the ship might have a bacta patch in his on-board first aid kit, which would definitely buy time at the least.
I assume it also depends on the power pack for the blaster weapon. I would expect a blaster that's fully charged would do more damage than one which is running on low power. Seems like you could write whatever and explain the effects (or lack of effects) in a lot of ways. Whether the shooter has good aim, if the blaster is fully charged, if the injured soldier receives immediate medical attention, if a Jedi (or a folk) healer is around. How much practice with a weapon does a rebel have? The storm troopers I understand because they train and train but the oppressed people who join the rebellion because they're oppressed? How much training do they get with weapons? Like someone wrote above, things in the Star Wars universe sort of work at random depending on how the film director or writer want it to happen. That said, I wish there was more realism in Star Wars. When's the last time someone had to change the power pack on a weapon in any of the movies? Bah, what am I saying? When's the last time an action hero (think Bruce Willis and Die Hard) had to reload his weapon, not to mention how every one of his shots hits a baddie but the baddies with submachine guns always miss him? Just write an awesome story and people will read it. Happy writing! Scott
@ Cave Troll - LOL!!!! Why doesn't that ever happen in the movies.....be pretty funny if the Sith or Jedi could just turn off the blasters when people are shooting at them....works well for Jedi who don't want to kill...
Maybe check out at how burns affect people. Like, what would happen to a person severely burned? I dunno.
