Erdarian Blaster

The Erdarian Blaster is an organic plasma pistol developed and used by the Erdarian species and civilization. It uses organic produced ammunition and an organic battery, though it functions in a similar way to other plasma weapons by other civilizations across the galaxy. The weapon has a high rate of fire, and is an excellent weapon to use by Erdarians against other Erdarians. Its effectiveness on other species is questionable.

The weapon's magazine is a small, squishy, violet sphere with a variable ammunition capacity. The Battery is able to fire several hundred shots before needing to be replaced. Higher capacity magazines and batteries are not available unless you can make it to an Erdarian homeworld, and they hate all outsiders.

Operation

This weapon is first loaded in the center of the weapon by means of pressing a violet sphere into the weapon. This sphere can hold 6-11 rounds and it is random how many are held. A battery is loaded just under this sphere. Care must be taken as Erdarian batteries aren't a solid design like nearly every other civilization in the galaxy, so can sometimes be...gooey and caustic.

The weapon is immediately ready to fire when both are loaded. The weapon readies itself when the violet sphere deposits a smaller spherical crystal into a chamber where surrounding magnets rapidly heat it. The crystal starts to get very unstable, giving off gasses and turning to plasma, greatly pressurizing the chamber.

When the trigger is squeezed, the chamber opens into the barrel, where the crystal ammunition is forced out at very high muzzle velocities and down range as great speeds. The next round is almost immediately ready to fire after the first leaves the barrel.

Disadvantages

Compared to many advanced weapons in the galaxy, the Erdarian Blaster has a low ammunition capacity, which negates its excellent fire-rate compared to most other plasma weapons in the galaxy.

Another major disadvantage is that it is difficult to tell how much ammunition is in a magazine or how much is left after firing, due to the nature of how they are produced. The inability to judge remaining ammunition has resulted in the deaths of far too many Erdarians on the battlefield.

The ammunition is able to completely ignore EM shields of any strength but has trouble with physical armor. The projectile does explode the moment it makes contact with an object, but past 75 meters when the round loses most of its energy, the explosion isn't powerful enough to do anything. The ammunition just isn't lethal to anything past 75 meters with a major exception.

The chemical composition of the ammunition is extremely poisonous to Erdarians. Skin contact is often able to kill them within minutes. For other species in the galaxy, this might not be the case. Mercury can kill a human or regalti in large enouch quantities, but they would need over a dozen rounds shot into them before the lethal dose is high enough. At this point, they would die from the bullet's damage rather than the toxic effect.

The Erdarians are a very reclusive, introverted species, but when they do come into conflict with other species in the galaxy, they don't use these weapons because they are mostly useless, and instead rely on much older chemical explosives.

Info

Type:
Place of Origin:
Year Designed:
Time in Production:
Number Made:
Manufacturer:

Organic Plasma
Nekor, New Erdariev
297 A.E.
57 years
750 million
Erdariev Arms Research

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Service History:


Conflicts:

Erdarian Republic Military (298 A.E.)

None Notable, some Mercenary conflicts

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Length:
Barrel Length:
Width:
Height:
Weight (unloaded):

210 mm
76 mm
56 mm
151mm
1005 g

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Cartridge:
Action:
Muzzle Velocity:
Energy Output:
Effective Range:
Fire Rate:
Magazine Size(s):

5mm x 5mm Crystal
Railgun
2800 m/s
756 J per shot
75 m
1200 rpm
6-11

About the ammunition

The 5x5 Crystal ammunition is an invention by the Erdarians. It actually comes from the excrement of an arachnid on one of their colony worlds. This meter-long, spider-like creature creates sacs filled with dried balls of its feces, which are hyper compact crystals of calcium, mercury, and several other elements. This is done to confuse predators into taking this sac instead of the egg sac, and also blowing their face off the moment they bite into the sac.

The Erdarians continuously bred these spiders for hundreds of years, and now have a different breed of spider for each caliber of ammunition they use for their weapons.

The result is a concentrated crystal with an unstable chemical composition. It will explode violently in the atmosphere and when it comes into contact with another object at high speeds. This ammunition isn't used for its stopping power though...

extras

"....It's uhm. This weapon is interesting because it converts...well, how do I describe it?"

- Ryan

"....It's a shit gun."

- Sarah

"Okay, yeah, it's a poop gun. It shoots concentrated crystals that explode violently in the atmosphere, but still poop. The Erdarians use it to poison others of their species, not so much its stopping power. Therefore, this weapon is no threat to humans except at the closest of ranges."

- Ryan

Vitor's Weapon Vault

Abold Vitor is a Vusinor lieutenant aboard the Starship Void Chaser that collects weapons. He owns an Erdarian Blaster that he picked up several decades ago, during a mission aboard the Void Chaser. The ship was called to assist an Erdarian trading vessel sending out a distress signal. After repairing and resupplying the Erdarian ship, Abold was able to barter for one of their blasters. It is a curious piece of alien technology he likes to show off along with the rest of his collection.

The Erdarian homeworlds are in the Pleiades Sector, and they only send out trading vessels to the Cairn Sector every few decades. This makes acquiring ammunition extremely difficult. Abold only has enough magazines to fire 60-110 shots, and it could be twenty years before he has the opportunity to barter for more.