This weapon has changed little from its "Gattling gun" ancestry some two thousand years earlier. The principle remains the same: multiple barrels spin at high speeds and spit out explosive flechettes at an extremely high rate. The flechettes are propelled via a primitive binary chemical system that nevertheless is supremely efficient. Armor strength augmentation and inertial compensators make recoil a negligible issue.

At close range, the chaingun can chew up all but the most heavily shielded targets in short order. Even an enemy encased in well-shielded Myrmidon armor will fall. The explosive flechettes are similar to bullets but are more aerodynamic and consist of a sharp stahlplast tip set on a two centimeter long shaft of hardened polyvulkanar resin that explodes on impact. The explosion drives the stahlplast tip forward to add to the flechette's penetration value. A typical flechette hitting an unprotected human in the torso will punch a coin-sized hole through the body while blowing open a hole the size of a dinner plate at the entry point. The rapid onset of multiple small explosions wears down even the toughest armor's shields surprisingly quickly.

The ammunition clips for the chaingun consist of packets of flechettes. Each clip feeds into the stock of the chaingun behind the grip, and is completely encased within the stock. Each "round" represents approximately five explosive flechettes and two armor-piercing flechettes. The armor-piercing variety use duracore stahlplast tips with secondary propellant for higher penetration velocity. The flechettes of each round tend to hit in a tight cluster with minimal spread against targets within twenty meters of the gunner. Outside of twenty meters, the flechettes spread rapidly and their effectiveness plummets accordingly.

The chaingun is a devastating weapon at what passes for close range in tribal combats. It has many nicknames. The Starwolf refer to it as "Ripfire," "Deathsong," or "Eagle-plucker" (along with other, less-savory names along the same lines). The Blood Eagle call it "Shrew" or "Bloodblaster," and the Children of Phoenix are fond of the name "Havoc." The Diamond Sword call it "Mother of Fury" when they care to use a nickname. Some scholars I've spoken to have some disturbing theories about a possible link to the Blood Eagle sirdar who uses the warnom "Fury." (Perhaps I'll relate these in a future report; they're such absurd speculations that I would be embarrassed to include them in this document.) And the independent tribes also add their nicknames. The Sons of Thunder, for example, seem quite attached to the term "Rolling Thunder" for this weapon. With all these various and sundry nicknames, it's a wonder anyone here really communicates at all. I personally think it absurd to say something like, "I have to reload my Rolling Thunder." Sounds like the kind of euphemism I'd expect to hear from a saar-marine on leave in the skinpits of New Caanan.

Table of Contents | Spinfusor