Nonstandard Weaponry (Dark Eldar)
From Lexicanum
The Dark Eldar employ a variety of weapon systems that are as unique as they are deadly. The primary source of these devices would be the Haemonculi sect, as they are constantly devising new and terrible methods with which to cause excruciating pain to their victims.
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Haemonculus Weaponry
The three most common weapons found to be used by Haemonculi in the field are the Destructor, the Scissorhand, and the Stinger. These exotic weapons are hand-crafted by the Haemonculi that use them, and as such serve to show a being's prowess with the art of pain.
Destructor
The Destructor is a very deadly, and popular, weapon used by Haemonculi. it resembles a long tube, with a cavity to slip one's hand into up to the elbow. The ammunition for the weapon is carried in a small container the Haemonculus wears, fed through a series of tubes. The Destructor sprays a wide stream of an incredibly corrosive organo-acidic compound when fired. This toxin can eat through any known armor, burn flesh, and once inside the target's system can cause, "blood vessel explosion or implosion; pharyngeal contraction; extensive haemolysis; skeletal disintegration; sclerotic corrosion; intercostal spasms; hyper-reacted thermoreceptors and chemoreceptors; Eustachian damage; retinal scarring; cardiac and respiratory atrophy and aqueous humor deprivation."1-p35
This device's effectiveness in combat has been confirmed time and again, with reports of a single Haemonculus able to decimate an entire squad of Space Marines with a single well-aimed volley, every man among them dying from sheer pain, or worse, leaving them alive but immobilized. Blind, hideously burned, hemorrhaging blood from every orifice, wracked in unimaginable amounts of agony, helpless and in the twisted hands of the Haemonculi.
Scissorhand
A Scissorhand is an incredibly dangerous close combat weapon. It's a glove with long monomolecular blades attached to the fingertips like claws. The glove has a series of vein-like tubes that run along each finger, slowly reapplying an incredibly virulent poison to the blades. Victims who receive even the slightest of scratches by these blades become wracked with pain so incredible that it frequently causes the target to pass out or even die.
Stinger
The Stinger makes up the final of the three primary weapons used by Haemonculi in combat. This weapon resembles a smaller, more rounded Splinter Pistol, although the similarities end there. The Stinger, instead, fires small hypodermic needles at the target, the cavity of which contain an incredibly exotic bacteria. This bacteria, once introduced to the target's bloodstream, multiplies quickly, and shortly afterwards causes the victim to literally explode, sending fragments of bone and armor flying in all directions. In the event that the victim's comrades are close enough or unlucky enough to have one of these fragments lodged in their bodies, the bacteria will travel from the lodged debris into the comrade's bloodstream, multiplying and ultimately causing them to explode.
Talos Weaponry
The Haemonculus of Commorragh have developed a series of weapons exclusively for use by their creation, the Talos. These are the Talos Sting and Talos Claws.
Talos Sting
The Talos Sting is a cannon mounted on the hull of a Talos, an automated torture device spawned from the twisted minds of the Haemonculi. The Sting shoots incredibly powerful bio-acid, similar to that found in a Destructor, but instead of launching it in a spray, it shoots it out in short, rapid bursts, doing its best to hit specific targets rather than cover an entire area. This means that unlike a Destructor, if a target is hit the same general amount of bio-acid is applied. So while a severely unlucky target won't be hit with copious amounts of the fluid, no severely lucky targets will feel a stray glance of the bio-acid that can be more or less shrugged off.
Talos Claws
Talos Claws comprise a variety of devices used by the Talos in order to restrain victims, as well as torture and kill them in order to extract the soul energy its powered by. They're named as such because most Talos are frequently seen with a pair of large scorpion-like claws, although these only make up two of the various instruments a Talos may have available to it.
Wraithbone Munitions
The Dark Eldar occasionally retrieve Wraithbone from raiding their Eldar cousins, and use the soul energies housed in them to create a handful of very effective munitions.
Soul-Seeker Ammunition
With the proper treatment of Wraithbone, Dark Eldar are able to create these alternatives to the standard-issue Splinter Crystal rounds for their basic weapons. These Soul-Seeker Rounds are crystals impregnated with tortured Wraithbone. When broken down by the gun to form projectiles, the souls trapped in the crystal, driven mad during the treatment process, seek to enact revenge on the first living thing it can find, and imparts so much force in this endeavor that it can change the trajectory of the round, even so much as to be able to curve around trees and bushes.
Terrorfex
The Terrorfex is a wrist-mounted grenade launcher. The standard grenades used in conjunction with this device are Wraithbone grenades. Archon Kruellagh of the Kabal of the Flayed Skull uses special Damnation Grenades in her Terrorfex, but there are also Xenospasm Grenades, although these are incredibly difficult to make, and therefore quite rare to find in battle.
- In Dawn of War: Soulstorm, Terrorfex are thrown by Dark Eldar Warriors, and cause horrible hallucinations in their targets, instantly breaking any nearby unit's morale.
Wraithbone Grenades
The Wraithbone Grenades launched by the Terrorfex go through a similar treatment process as the Soul-Seeker Ammunition, though where the Soul-Seeker rounds are treated to try and cause a maddening rage in the soul energy within, the Wraithbone grenades are treated so as to create an overwhelming sense of fear and despair. The grenades explode in the air above the target, releasing the soul energy in a haze that envelopes the target. The energies cause the same feelings to swell in the target, paralyzing them with fear or sadness.
Xenospasm Grenades
These special grenades are made of specially carved obsidian, with fragments of Wraithbone impregnated into the rock. The soul energy in this Wraithbone is tortured in much the same way as the Soul-Seeker Wraithbone, and once the Obsidian explodes in the air, the souls housed inside aim the obsidian fragments directly at the target, flensing them with every fragment, rather than the small fraction of shards that would result from a conventional Frag Grenade.
Other Weapons
There are other devices more broadly employed by the Dark Eldar, but function in quite a unique manner.
Shredder
The Shredder is a weapon used primarily by Wyches and Warriors, although Incubi are also occasionally seen leaving behind their Punishers in favor of a Shredder. This small, lightweight gun has a chamber within which is kept a metallic monomolecular polymer. When the gun is fired at it's target, a pair of magnetic web generators housed at the front of the gun quickly weave a net of sharp, barbed wire which is then launched at the victims at high speed, digging into their flesh more and more with each movement.
Sources
| Melee Weapons | Agoniser • Close Combat Weapon • Poisoned Blades • Power Weapon • Punisher • Wych Weapons • Scissorhand • Talos Claw |
|---|---|
| Ranged Weapons | Blaster • Dark Lance • Destructor • Disintegrator • Hellglave • Shredder • Splinter Cannon • Splinter Pistol • Splinter Rifle • Stinger • Terrorfex • Talos Sting |
| Wargear | Animus Vitae • Archangel of Pain • Combat Drugs • Crucible of Malediction • Goblet of Spite • Gruesome Talismans • Hell Mask • Mask of the Damned • Nightmare Doll • Shadow Field • Soul Seeker Ammunition • Tormentor Helm • Trophy Rack • Vexanthrope • Webway Portal • Xenospasm |
| Vehicle Upgrades | Horrorfex • Night Shield • Scaling Nets • Screaming Jets • Scythes • Slave Snares • Torture Amp • Trophy Racks |
