Triter Zone
The Littlest Space Pirate
- IP-001 "Manpha Mutator" -
[ Image Source ]
Intent - Simple personal weapon intended to arm and establish the reputation of the fledgling Empire of the Line.
Dev. Thread - N/A.
Manufacturer - Empire of the Line-affiliated outlaw techs.
Affiliation - Empire of the Line.
Modularity - No.
Production - Limited.
Material - Bondite casing.
Classification - Heavy pulse-wave blaster.
Size - Handheld.
Length - 27 cm.
Weight - 2.5 kilograms.
Ammunition Type - Power pack.
Ammunition Capacity - 50 shots/power pack.
Effective Range - 30 meters optimum, 50 meters maximum.
Rate of Fire - Semi-automatic.
Special Features - N/A.
Strengths -
- Simple to mass produce.
- Deadly at close range.
- No stun option.
- Relatively short maximum range.
"Get this. You know those weird blasters the spaceport pirate gang's been waving around? I know someone who got shot by one and survived, poor guy; that thing does some karked up stuff to a being..."
_Empire of the Line informer.
The IP-001 "Manpha Mutator" is a heavy pistol-type weapon designed by and for the forces of the Empire of the Line, a fledgling group of semi-reformed pirates, gangsters and others with ambitions of carving out a territory in the style of the ancient Tionese pirate kings. Starting with few resources, they nevertheless wished to establish themselves; thus, their leader, Triter Zone, who had a fair amount of mechanical talent honed during his days with the old Ossein Pirates, set out to design a unique and memorable weapon for his forces to use.
The design of the IP-001 started with the name; as the faction had started on the planet Manpha, the name "Manpha Mutator" was quickly decided on as an appropriately intimidating moniker. The designation was leaked through well-placed rumors, which exaggerated the actual properties of the weapon; the intention was that, in most situations, the IP-001's reputation would cause opponents to surrender at the sight of it, rather than fighting.
Triter later contrived the workings of the pistol, intending to make a weapon which was at once powerful and relatively simple to produce. He based the design off the concept of an ancient pulse-wave blaster, an obsolete design, but simpler and in theory less expensive than a modern blaster. While this was intended at least initially to make the most of faction resources, it was also considered that the weapon might later be a cheap way to supply partisan forces during war.
The IP-001 differed from its archaic inspiration in that it used more modern and robust components, making it into the equivalent of a heavy blaster pistol, with a button-style trigger, "broom handle" grip and boxy, protruding power pack housing reminiscent of the DL-44, and a segmented cylindrical casing; all external components were made out of low-cost bondite stampings and castings.
Like its ancestors, the IP-001 fired coherent energy packets which created a spacial distortion around them, giving them the disruptor-like ability to scramble the atomic makeup of whatever they hit. This made the weapon exceptionally deadly, though only at close range; also like its predecessors, the weapon's shots lost power and cohesion with distance, reducing their maximum effective range to only about 50 meters.
The IP-001s bolts are jagged and bright green, and are accompanied by a distinctive, high-pitched report.
Production of the IP-001 was mainly contracted out to trustworthy outlaw tech groups, keeping costs down and spreading out manufacturing. As pulse-wave weaponry was still illegal on many worlds, this measure also helped to keep production out of sight of authorities, at least until the Empire could start writing its own laws.
