(Modified) Tachyon Burst Shotgun
Power 6d6 (see below), Accuracy +0, Range 500, Shots
6
There's no real reason for this item to have such a
bad reputation. After all, is it not
from Revelations and Design?
Well, true, it's not precisely from R&D:
the prototype originated in Tartarus.
So did the creator - but both he and it are now comfortably snug in the
Bosom of Heaven, so that's all right.
'To forgive, Divine' and all that, correct?
Yes, yes, except when you're a Malakite and/or a
Servitor of Divine Fire, right, of course, silly of me. Might I continue?
Thank you. At any
rate, the (Modified) Tachyon Burst Shotgun is really an elegant piece of
hardware. Using principles not yet
discovered by humanity, it fires - well, obviously it fires bursts of
tachyons, hence the name. The reason
why this is of interest is because tachyons, due to their interesting physical
nature, tend to distort space-time when flung around in this way. Considering that most people are firmly
fixed in space-time to start with, this is usually nice to know but utterly
irrelevant.
However, a being that is in celestial form on the
corporeal plane is not firmly fixed in space-time, and believe you me,
somebody in celestial form that gets hit with a (modified) tachyon burst is
emphatically going to notice. Each
blast does 6d6 Soul Hit equivalents; I say 'equivalents' because the damage
done will not count towards losing a Force.
It will stun the target if he takes more than 1/2 his normal Soul
Hits equivalents in a single blast, and it will knock a target out for
(CD of successful Ranged Weapon attack) hours if he loses all of his Soul Hit
equivalents - but it's otherwise harmless.
The target will recover lost Soul Hit equivalents at the rate of
1/minute. A successful attack will also
knock the target pinfeathers-over-primaries (CD of the successful attack roll,
in yards), but that's really just a special effect.
So what are the problems? Good Heavens, why should there be problems?
OK, granted that they're still trying to adapt a
proper power source for the (M)TBS.
That's a stark necessity, of course: the prototype used Vaputech plasma
batteries, and I hope that I don't have to remind any of you about just how
dangerous, leaky, carcinogenic, fattening, temperamental and downright
malicious those things can be.
Until the Archangel of Lightning (in his nigh-infinite wisdom) decides
that humanity is ready for safe, clean fusion kits, his loyal Servitors are
going to have to soldier on with house current (takes an hour to fully recharge
the batteries, and in the meantime the boys down at the power plant are
probably going to want to know why six square blocks are suddenly browning out)
and the Generator Attunement (each charge costs 2 Essence). You can get extra magazines for the
(M)TBS, but only at the cost of a lot of not-quite-routine question-and-answer
sessions.
As for reliability... (M)TBSs are reliable,
given proper care and maintenance. None
of the sort of shoddy manufacture that Vaputech is infamous for, either: we're
talking careful machining and calibration of parts here. So, the early problems of scattershot (4d6
hit-equivalents, but to everyone within a 60 degree arc of the target),
feedbackfire (3d6 hit-equivalents to the target and the shooter, even if
the latter is in corporeal form) and meltdown (10d6 hit-equivalents to
everybody within 20 yards with Symphonic Awareness, even if in corporeal
form/human - but with no knock-back) are things of the past, and hardly worth
even mentioning. Provided, again, that
proper maintenance is done.
Now, the issue of what happens to someone who has
had a (M)TBS explode in his hand needs to be cleared up, once and for all. There is no evidence - absolutely none at
all - that the explosion of the latest version of the (M)TBS can induce a case
of Oscillation. Indeed, there is no
evidence that the condition furtively known as Oscillation can even exist, or
even what its effects might be (Celestial Discord that does not interfere with
Essence gathering; the victim is subject to random changes from corporeal to
celestial form [will not cost Essence]; activates whenever the poor bugger
rolls a CD under the level of the Discord three times in a row; -3 per level to
reaction rolls, mostly because of the Disturbance that is normally
generated). It is true that several
individuals have suddenly acquired the Phazed Out Discord after encountering an
exploding (M)TBS, but there are too few examples to justify making any sort of
conclusion. Really, the blessed things
are safe; there's no reason why celestials should feel the need to hit the
floor whenever one is pulled out.
Unless, of course, it happens to be a Vaputech unmodified Tachyon
Burst Shotgun (the creator hadn't managed to snag all of his notes before
fleeing).
Those things are just plain freaking scary.