OK, last go before I stick it in the wiki.
====== Weapons of Fenspace ======
Whilst Fenspace is a land of wonders begging for exploration, the need to defend oneself is sadly also a part of it. Much like the historic ages of discovery back on Earth, danger from the wildlife means that arming yourself is a regular thing. Even more unfortunately, the wildlife is our fellow man.\
===== Personal Weapons =====
//"Shit! That's live ammo!" \
\
Skuld looked at Noah in surprise. "What did you think someone would attack us with?" \
\
"Something like this," answered Katz as he tossed a grenade into the air. The grenade went off with a phrase of melody and the Japanese lyric "," and suddenly there was a cloud of large metallic-gold fluff balls between the two groups. \
\
The gunmen weren't fazed. \
\
"Nice pompom round," Noah commented from below the hail of lead, "but that's better against beams than bullets." \
\
- from chapter 3 of **Legend of Galactic Girls**//\
\
Before Operation Great Justice, Fenspace was a kinder, gentler place to live. Many "weapons of mass amusement" were developed by the Professor and other scientific types, and were happily adopted by Fenspace's less-than-serious majority. These weapons could be divided into three broad classes: non-lethal melee weapons, grenades, and firearm projectiles. \
Melee weapons could be found in all of the styles endorsed by the SCA. \
Grenades provide cover by creating clouds of otherwise-ordinary items. Known examples include the pompom grenade (described above, not to be confused with a pom-pom gun round) and the pantsu grenades (popular when one needs to distract members of the Happosai Brigade). Katz Schr”dinger has been known to use these grenades even in real combat. \
Firearm projectiles tended to use Snurf-tech - they would hinder a target's movement by encasing him in a quick-setting foam-rubber-like substance. The substance is a solid when in the firearm, only becoming liquid for timespans measured on the Plank scale after being fired, when making contact with a solid or semi-solid substance. Human skin is sufficiently solid for the projectile to undergo the temporary transformation. Obviously, larger calibre rounds were more effective as restraints. (Nobody's sure why the Professor used the name "Snurf-tech" for this effect. It isn't as if he cared about trademarks any other time...)\
==== Hand weapons====
In the sometimes fragile environments of space habitats and vehicles, hand-to-hand combat is normally the safest proposition. In most cases people have knives on their person, mainly because they're useful for many things other than stabbing people. Throwing weapons, swords, and clubs of various designs also proliferate, as do any number of Ninja weapons due to Hidden Asteroid's presence in the system, but the following are some of the more unique Fen weapons:\
\
**Denn'bok** - The Minbari Fighting Pike used by The Rangers. This is a quarterstaff like weapon that compacts to a cylinder the size of an average hand. Anyone who carries one of these is assumed to be a skilled fighter, as the weapon is not as balanced as a simple staff and requires a lot of control to use effectively. Very few have been given to non-Rangers.\
**Shockrods** - A simple device that was intended to be a safe riot control weapon, as they were designed to stun the recipient of the blow. Unfortunately they are so effective slavers use them regularly, giving then a brutal reputation.\
**Mono-blades** - 'Wavetech blades that have a monomolecular edge. These are only produced by a few people, and only for specific highly skilled customers.\
==== Projectile Weapons ====
Like hand weapons, most anything to be found in the 'Danelaw made it up the well. However, while there are no specific Fen made weapons, the use of specialist ammunition makes them more effective.\
\
**Gun Ammo** - This has stabilised at mostly 9mm and .45 calibre ammunition, although .40 calibre ammunition is also around. However to be effective against waved body armour they have a far more powerful cartridge, necessitating modification of the guns that fire them to handle the recoil (along with the modification of some to WORK in vacuum). Certain types are 'banned' (read restricted as it's still possible to get them) on all stations and craft due to the damage they can do. These include the deadly hyper-penetrator rounds just hitting the space lanes.\
**Chemical Pellets** - A rare but effective weapon (mainly because the resources used to create them are more useful elsewhere most of the time), and used in everything from arrowheads to paintballs to airsoft pellets.\
==== Directed Energy Weapons ====
Of this class of weapon, only one type of handheld device exists. Commonly known as **Stunners** but officially called a neural disruptor, the stunner is a projective charge device. Using a combination of microwaves and sound waves to carry a charge to its target which induces a quick shock to a person's central nervous system. They are let down by the fact they can easily be defeated by grounding the charge.\
===== Combat Weapons ======
The Whistler Custom Shop is considered the best gun shop in Fenspace, mainly because of its proprietor. The shop only accepts jobs on appointment, and Whistler himself only works on the weapons of specific customers. This is because Whistler is the Chief Weapons-smith of Justice League International, and spends much of his time in the Supers Q Branch as the third in command. Whistler is generally regarded as the best Gunsmith in Fenspace, and his apprentices and employees some of the best in the business. Having a Whistler Custom Shop gun is a mark of respect, but a Whistler Special is something that could give a person BNF status.
==== Projectile Weapons ====
Military weapons are expensive, especially in Fenspace. Never the less, the type of weapons to be found are usually military surplus or black market. However the type of combat encountered by the military forces of the Factions is mostly close quarters, which makes the assault rifles normally used unwieldy. Carbine or bullpup weapon designs have gradually filtered into service, several of which are modified versions of existing weapons. It wasn't until Mid 2013 that the first Fen designed combat weapons were put into production (including the SWI-18 MPAW, based on development done by the Whistler Custom Shop), based on experience from these modified weapons.\
==== Explosives ====
The use of explosives in Fenspace is typically a military matter. Given the nature of hulls in Fenspace, an explosive charge is generally necessary to penetrate them. Grenades are a mix of concussion, gas, and HEAP with some special Chemical grenades rounding them off. They are either the standard hand-held, 40mm shells, or the rare aerodynamic versions.\
===== Ship Weapons =====
There are a wide variety of weapons mounted on ships and they break down in the following way.
==== Projectile Weapons ====
Generally these are coilguns in the 20mm - 100mm range. **Coilguns** have proven themselves as a good general purpose weapon, and have been around a while.\
Lately the **Railgun** has been perfected. This is a weapon good for armour piercing and has a superior rapid firing ability as well as a faster muzzle velocity on 100 times the speed of sound. The most effective calibre currently is the 20mm round.\
Currently in prototyping is the **Rail Cannon**, a weapon using a 155mm round weighing 5Kg with a projected muzzle velocity of 1 PSL (Percent of the Speed of Light).\
==== Directed Energy Weapons ====
By far the most common of these is the **Laser**. Useful for many things, it wasn't long before their use as weapons became viable.\
**Electromagnetic Pulse Guns** have proven a difficult proposition, leading mainly to various Maser devices. As a side effect, most vessels have been shielded against this due to its obvious practicality.\
**Particle Beams** are still only a theoretical weapon, requiring power and/or hardtech equipment that Fenspace can't access at the moment.\
==== Missiles, Bombs, and Mines ====
As it stands, most **missiles** are vacuum adapted versions of those found in the 'Danelaw. Only Stellvia has access to pure space designs, and these use specialist warheads (specifically Kaboomite, but rumours of other high level warheads exist).\
The most lethal devices are **Kinetic Kill Vehicles**. These are basically Speed Drives aimed at a target. Their sophistication ranges from re-tasked general purpose drones (as used by The Jason) to the latest custom built systems coming out from the Fen weapons nuts. Compared to other systems, they're rarely used due to them being overkill for craft less than the largest SS class vessels and their size (the smallest are go-cart sized). This is because anything less can not be armoured enough to resist Point Defence systems, or mount a powerful enough drive to allow 'side-slip' dodging.\
(There have been numerous attempts at melding RC toys and explosives as a small KKV missile system. While swarm tactics have some value, the numbers needed are impractical to be carried generally by anything less than an SV class vessel.)\
**Bombs** and **Mines** and fairly simple, although Mines in particular have limited range and usefulness. Bombs are rarely used, as they're only good against (relatively) static targets.\
Writers note: Handling Real World guns in space is a bit of a tricky thing. The main problem is not the lack of oxygen, as all cased rounds contain an oxidiser in their cartridge for more efficient combustion. You can fire a gun underwater after all.\
\
No, the main problem is the lack of atmosphere.\
\
Real World guns are designed to work in an environment where there is an atmosphere. That's were we live after all. This causes a few things:\
* The lack of pressure translates to not enough recoil to re-cock the weapon.
* There is no heat dissipation due to atmospheric gasses.
* There is no stable temperature for the gun, and as such metal fatigue will occur, as well as chipping as the metal becomes brittle in the cold.
\
Depending on your character and/or what you feel is best for your story, a simple Handwavium treatment of the weapon's component parts (individually done, to get round the Slapstick Effect) could be all you need. This is particularly appropriate with semi-automatic weapons.\
On the other hand you might have to modify the gun to have a water cooling system. Or even make it its own spacesuit. For automatic weapons like assault rifles this might be a good image.\
Lubrication could be handled by Real World ultra-low temp lubricants, or by a simple coating of Black Handwavium.\
\
Another thing to consider is recoil. If your character is not anchored to or braced against something, the act of firing a gun could spin them round and send them flying.\
\
The last thing that a writer might want to keep in mind is the mess made by all those bullet cartridges flying everywhere. Not only are they a hazard to navigation (the Space Shuttle has had cracked windows due to paint flecks for instance), but metal is recyclable. If you don't use a brass catcher, someone else will probably sweep them up and make use of them. In general the Fen aren't rich enough to afford the loss of money from not recycling.\
====== Weapons of Fenspace ======
Whilst Fenspace is a land of wonders begging for exploration, the need to defend oneself is sadly also a part of it. Much like the historic ages of discovery back on Earth, danger from the wildlife means that arming yourself is a regular thing. Even more unfortunately, the wildlife is our fellow man.\
===== Personal Weapons =====
//"Shit! That's live ammo!" \
\
Skuld looked at Noah in surprise. "What did you think someone would attack us with?" \
\
"Something like this," answered Katz as he tossed a grenade into the air. The grenade went off with a phrase of melody and the Japanese lyric "," and suddenly there was a cloud of large metallic-gold fluff balls between the two groups. \
\
The gunmen weren't fazed. \
\
"Nice pompom round," Noah commented from below the hail of lead, "but that's better against beams than bullets." \
\
- from chapter 3 of **Legend of Galactic Girls**//\
\
Before Operation Great Justice, Fenspace was a kinder, gentler place to live. Many "weapons of mass amusement" were developed by the Professor and other scientific types, and were happily adopted by Fenspace's less-than-serious majority. These weapons could be divided into three broad classes: non-lethal melee weapons, grenades, and firearm projectiles. \
Melee weapons could be found in all of the styles endorsed by the SCA. \
Grenades provide cover by creating clouds of otherwise-ordinary items. Known examples include the pompom grenade (described above, not to be confused with a pom-pom gun round) and the pantsu grenades (popular when one needs to distract members of the Happosai Brigade). Katz Schr”dinger has been known to use these grenades even in real combat. \
Firearm projectiles tended to use Snurf-tech - they would hinder a target's movement by encasing him in a quick-setting foam-rubber-like substance. The substance is a solid when in the firearm, only becoming liquid for timespans measured on the Plank scale after being fired, when making contact with a solid or semi-solid substance. Human skin is sufficiently solid for the projectile to undergo the temporary transformation. Obviously, larger calibre rounds were more effective as restraints. (Nobody's sure why the Professor used the name "Snurf-tech" for this effect. It isn't as if he cared about trademarks any other time...)\
==== Hand weapons====
In the sometimes fragile environments of space habitats and vehicles, hand-to-hand combat is normally the safest proposition. In most cases people have knives on their person, mainly because they're useful for many things other than stabbing people. Throwing weapons, swords, and clubs of various designs also proliferate, as do any number of Ninja weapons due to Hidden Asteroid's presence in the system, but the following are some of the more unique Fen weapons:\
\
**Denn'bok** - The Minbari Fighting Pike used by The Rangers. This is a quarterstaff like weapon that compacts to a cylinder the size of an average hand. Anyone who carries one of these is assumed to be a skilled fighter, as the weapon is not as balanced as a simple staff and requires a lot of control to use effectively. Very few have been given to non-Rangers.\
**Shockrods** - A simple device that was intended to be a safe riot control weapon, as they were designed to stun the recipient of the blow. Unfortunately they are so effective slavers use them regularly, giving then a brutal reputation.\
**Mono-blades** - 'Wavetech blades that have a monomolecular edge. These are only produced by a few people, and only for specific highly skilled customers.\
==== Projectile Weapons ====
Like hand weapons, most anything to be found in the 'Danelaw made it up the well. However, while there are no specific Fen made weapons, the use of specialist ammunition makes them more effective.\
\
**Gun Ammo** - This has stabilised at mostly 9mm and .45 calibre ammunition, although .40 calibre ammunition is also around. However to be effective against waved body armour they have a far more powerful cartridge, necessitating modification of the guns that fire them to handle the recoil (along with the modification of some to WORK in vacuum). Certain types are 'banned' (read restricted as it's still possible to get them) on all stations and craft due to the damage they can do. These include the deadly hyper-penetrator rounds just hitting the space lanes.\
**Chemical Pellets** - A rare but effective weapon (mainly because the resources used to create them are more useful elsewhere most of the time), and used in everything from arrowheads to paintballs to airsoft pellets.\
==== Directed Energy Weapons ====
Of this class of weapon, only one type of handheld device exists. Commonly known as **Stunners** but officially called a neural disruptor, the stunner is a projective charge device. Using a combination of microwaves and sound waves to carry a charge to its target which induces a quick shock to a person's central nervous system. They are let down by the fact they can easily be defeated by grounding the charge.\
===== Combat Weapons ======
The Whistler Custom Shop is considered the best gun shop in Fenspace, mainly because of its proprietor. The shop only accepts jobs on appointment, and Whistler himself only works on the weapons of specific customers. This is because Whistler is the Chief Weapons-smith of Justice League International, and spends much of his time in the Supers Q Branch as the third in command. Whistler is generally regarded as the best Gunsmith in Fenspace, and his apprentices and employees some of the best in the business. Having a Whistler Custom Shop gun is a mark of respect, but a Whistler Special is something that could give a person BNF status.
==== Projectile Weapons ====
Military weapons are expensive, especially in Fenspace. Never the less, the type of weapons to be found are usually military surplus or black market. However the type of combat encountered by the military forces of the Factions is mostly close quarters, which makes the assault rifles normally used unwieldy. Carbine or bullpup weapon designs have gradually filtered into service, several of which are modified versions of existing weapons. It wasn't until Mid 2013 that the first Fen designed combat weapons were put into production (including the SWI-18 MPAW, based on development done by the Whistler Custom Shop), based on experience from these modified weapons.\
==== Explosives ====
The use of explosives in Fenspace is typically a military matter. Given the nature of hulls in Fenspace, an explosive charge is generally necessary to penetrate them. Grenades are a mix of concussion, gas, and HEAP with some special Chemical grenades rounding them off. They are either the standard hand-held, 40mm shells, or the rare aerodynamic versions.\
===== Ship Weapons =====
There are a wide variety of weapons mounted on ships and they break down in the following way.
==== Projectile Weapons ====
Generally these are coilguns in the 20mm - 100mm range. **Coilguns** have proven themselves as a good general purpose weapon, and have been around a while.\
Lately the **Railgun** has been perfected. This is a weapon good for armour piercing and has a superior rapid firing ability as well as a faster muzzle velocity on 100 times the speed of sound. The most effective calibre currently is the 20mm round.\
Currently in prototyping is the **Rail Cannon**, a weapon using a 155mm round weighing 5Kg with a projected muzzle velocity of 1 PSL (Percent of the Speed of Light).\
==== Directed Energy Weapons ====
By far the most common of these is the **Laser**. Useful for many things, it wasn't long before their use as weapons became viable.\
**Electromagnetic Pulse Guns** have proven a difficult proposition, leading mainly to various Maser devices. As a side effect, most vessels have been shielded against this due to its obvious practicality.\
**Particle Beams** are still only a theoretical weapon, requiring power and/or hardtech equipment that Fenspace can't access at the moment.\
==== Missiles, Bombs, and Mines ====
As it stands, most **missiles** are vacuum adapted versions of those found in the 'Danelaw. Only Stellvia has access to pure space designs, and these use specialist warheads (specifically Kaboomite, but rumours of other high level warheads exist).\
The most lethal devices are **Kinetic Kill Vehicles**. These are basically Speed Drives aimed at a target. Their sophistication ranges from re-tasked general purpose drones (as used by The Jason) to the latest custom built systems coming out from the Fen weapons nuts. Compared to other systems, they're rarely used due to them being overkill for craft less than the largest SS class vessels and their size (the smallest are go-cart sized). This is because anything less can not be armoured enough to resist Point Defence systems, or mount a powerful enough drive to allow 'side-slip' dodging.\
(There have been numerous attempts at melding RC toys and explosives as a small KKV missile system. While swarm tactics have some value, the numbers needed are impractical to be carried generally by anything less than an SV class vessel.)\
**Bombs** and **Mines** and fairly simple, although Mines in particular have limited range and usefulness. Bombs are rarely used, as they're only good against (relatively) static targets.\
Writers note: Handling Real World guns in space is a bit of a tricky thing. The main problem is not the lack of oxygen, as all cased rounds contain an oxidiser in their cartridge for more efficient combustion. You can fire a gun underwater after all.\
\
No, the main problem is the lack of atmosphere.\
\
Real World guns are designed to work in an environment where there is an atmosphere. That's were we live after all. This causes a few things:\
* The lack of pressure translates to not enough recoil to re-cock the weapon.
* There is no heat dissipation due to atmospheric gasses.
* There is no stable temperature for the gun, and as such metal fatigue will occur, as well as chipping as the metal becomes brittle in the cold.
\
Depending on your character and/or what you feel is best for your story, a simple Handwavium treatment of the weapon's component parts (individually done, to get round the Slapstick Effect) could be all you need. This is particularly appropriate with semi-automatic weapons.\
On the other hand you might have to modify the gun to have a water cooling system. Or even make it its own spacesuit. For automatic weapons like assault rifles this might be a good image.\
Lubrication could be handled by Real World ultra-low temp lubricants, or by a simple coating of Black Handwavium.\
\
Another thing to consider is recoil. If your character is not anchored to or braced against something, the act of firing a gun could spin them round and send them flying.\
\
The last thing that a writer might want to keep in mind is the mess made by all those bullet cartridges flying everywhere. Not only are they a hazard to navigation (the Space Shuttle has had cracked windows due to paint flecks for instance), but metal is recyclable. If you don't use a brass catcher, someone else will probably sweep them up and make use of them. In general the Fen aren't rich enough to afford the loss of money from not recycling.\