Electrscalaritic Radiated Caliber [ERC]

The Electrscalaritic Radiated Caliber is an incredibly popular and widely used bullet designed with enough material to sustain an unstable scalp reaction and the projectile's rear. The bullet itself is incredibly small, being both the size and shape of a single pea divided in half. Despite the projectile's size, the scalps initial ignition reaction prompts enough velocity to sustain .40 calibers worth of damage into the bullet, and its secondary radiative process makes it nearly one hundred percent [100%] lethal when it penetrates a living organisms skin, while misfires remain completely harmless.

History

The ERC was invented nearly a century ago in 1387 by Dr. Windy L March. It was designed during the nuclear wars as a way to, hopefully, stop nations from dropping anymore warheads. The ERC wasn't completed however, until the war's end. Over the course of the next century, firearms were being redesigned to fire ERCs rather than bullets, and the invention of Sandara Paine's "Bullet proof Leather" furthered the transition. The invention of [ESR] Ion Shield did spark the reimplementation of classic firearms, and ERCs dropped in popularity, however, they still continued to be the most popular and widely used firearm.

Design and Use

The ERC proved incredibly easy and cheap to mass produce, had an adjustable lethality rate, due to its small size and the *Utility Cartridge at the tip, and was both small and lightweight, causing it to quickly rise as the world's most widely used ammunition.

Color

Despite the ERC's petite size, projectiles in motion tend to be highly visible. This due to the ES Reaction powering the bullet. The stronger packages in the Utility Cartridge tend to take up larger percentages of the shell, increasing the size and weight. An increased weight naturally will call for a stronger reaction. Because of this, ERC's tend to turn three colors based on its package size: blue, green, and red. A smaller ES reaction releases a faint light blue glow, which is visible as the ERC heads toward its target. A larger reaction releases a green hue, and the largest ones are red. Its generally understood that larger packages are more dangerous, so most assume that "blue" bullets are survivable, "green" are dangerous, and "red" are lethal.

*Utility Cartridge

The ERC itself is both the size and weight of half a pea, so individuals hit with the bullet tend to not even notice until it is too late. At the bullet's tip is a Utility Cartridge. In the original design, the cartridge provided a back-up ES reaction that went off after the internal fuse completely burnt out, allowing the bullet to fly twice as far, or hit twice as hard. If the bullet made contact with the victim before the second reaction, not only will the bullet fire again, dealing damage equivalent to being shot at point blank range, but the radiated residue from the reaction will ensure 100% lethality. Modern renditions of the ERC have a wide array of options for the Utility Cartridge, ranging from taser bolts [an electrical cartridge capable of releasing an EMP up to 45,000 volts, although the number averages around 1,200. This is typically used as a stun weapon.] to poison ducts [capable of killing or permanently damaging the victim], to simple impact explosions. The SRA even loads the package with Stradanium in Daemon and Nyx operations. Some illegal versions are loaded with highly contagious genetically modified microbes, designed to spread the virus across to the other side in war. The versions available to the public are generally nonlethal, although some are still capable of dealing massive permanent damage.