Directorate Officer
OUT OF CHARACTER INFORMATION
- Intent: To provide an incendiary grenade in Lucerne Personal Defense's product line-up
- Image Source: here
- Canon Link: N/A
- Permissions: N/A
- Primary Source: LPD-39 Coldblast CryoBan Grenade
- Manufacturer: Lucerne Personal Defense
- Affiliation: Directorate, Silver Jedi Concord, Closed-Market
- Model: LPD-48 Fire Rain Incendiary Grenade
- Modularity: No
- Production: Mass-Produced
- Material: Durasteel shell, Detonite priming charge, Magnesium vials containing Plasticene Thermite Gel, Instant Adhesive bottom, typical grenade components
- Classification: Incendiary grenade
- Size: Average
- Weight: Average
- Explosive Type: Detonite igniting charge; plasticene thermite gel primary payload
- Delivery Method: Thrown / Fired
- Effective Range: Average
- Area Of Effect: Personal
- Stopping Power: High
- Variable Timer: Rotating the red ring around the top of the grenade sets a mechanical timer,with the lowest settable time being 5 seconds, and the highest being 15 minutes. This allows the grenade to be used for immediate tactical use or be set as part of a tactical maneuver. The grenade can have a timer set but NOT activated by keeping the grenade's safety pin in place. Once the pin is removed (by hand, tripwire, etc), the timer countdown starts.
- Chain Reaction: The Fire Rain has two separate payloads: a detonite priming core and thermite plasticene contained in magnesium vials around the detonite core. The detonite serves two purposes - it spreads the contained vials around the area, and it ignites the magnesium vials themselves. The magnesium in terms temporary contains the plasticene thermite gel while in flight before it burns away to ignite the gel itself. The gel then can stick to targets and attempt to burn them, as it reaches almost 5000 degrees celsius.
- Dual Fire Mode: The Fire Rain has two detonation settings: focused charge and spherical. Sliding the button on top of the grenade sets the mode. In a focused charge, the blast is set out in a cone aimed towards the base of the grenade. This is often used for precise work and trying to crack through materials in depth, such as those found in armor or to cause severe, deep burns in organics. The spherical firing mode creates a small cloud of flaming plasticene thermite gel in a general area, typically used to clear out areas of foliage or attack multiple enemies.
- Adhesive Bottom: The bottom cap of the LPD-48 can be screwed off to reveal a pad covered in instant adhesive, which allows the grenade to be solidly attached to a variety of objects. This often used for the focused charge mode.
- High Power: Plasticene Thermite gel burns at roughly 5000 degrees Celsius, meaning that it is likely to ignite most flammable things, cause severe burns on organics, and can burn through many armor materials.
- Small Blast Radius: The vials can only travel so far because the detonite ignition core is relatively small, meaning that it typically only sprays this thermite gel in the radius of several meters.
Like the LPD-39 Coldblast CryoBan Grenade, the Fire Rain was a hasty redesign aimed to quickly get an effective weapons into friendly hands to face an element of the Bryn'adul, the Aeravalin. In a bid to quickly get cryo weapons out on the field to face the Bryn'adul after a call for such weapons had been placed, Lucerne Personal Defense adapted the components of its standard grenade, the LPD-24 Fireblast, and turned the design into an incendiary grenade. The most obvious change was miniaturizing the original detonite core and surrounding it with vials containing plasticene thermite gel. The ignition of the primary detonite core then can both expel the vials and ignite the plasticene thermite gel, which itself is the primary way this grenade damages individuals. Unlike some incendiary grenades, this thermite gel can stick to a target and continue to burn the target until it is removed, burns out, or otherwise deprived oxygen.
These two detonation modes variety is brought to full fruition by using a variable mechanical timer. Turning the red twist and plunge dial on the top easily allows users to adjust the detonation time from a mere five seconds to fifteen minutes. The shorter time fuses are most often used in traditional general area of effect role, where targets need to be immediately attacked or rooms cleared, whereas the longer time fuse is most often used in carefully planned, coordinated attacks, such as extensively booby-trapping an area before an enemy advance. This versatility is further augmented by incorporating a sticky base of instant adhesive on the bottom of the grenade that can be activated by unscrewing the grenade's base plate. While often used for these sabotage missions and demolition work, some creative users have also found situations where it is beneficial for up and personal work, such as sticking it to an armored figure with the focused charge mode. Combined with a short timer, this focuses the plasticene thermite gel to be forced unidirectionally into the target itself, potentially causing deep and lethal full degree burns.
While a quick solution to a rising threat, the LPD-48 has some conceptual flaws due to its hastily adapted origin. Lucerne Personal Defense is exploring solutions intended to make a more effective grenade with a heavier and more powerful payload. Until then, the Fire Rain seems likely to soldier on in the arsenals of those facing the Bryn'adul menace.
