Deathwands are a class of anti-personnel energy weapons; they are unique in their ability to kill human combatants (including human species* such as the Ousters), while leaving other life and material in the line-of-fire unaffected. The Deathwand is one of many technologies developed by the TechnoCore and given to the Hegemony of Man.
When activated a Deathwand creates a beam of silent, invisible energy that propagates at the speed of light to an effective range of 50 meters; the width of the beam can also be adjusted: expanding into a conical volume (presumably at the expense of effective range). Human beings in any part of the beam die instantly, coinciding with the scabbling of the victim’s synapses and moments later by the cessation of neural activity. No form of practical personal shielding was effective at stopping the propagation of a deathwand’s energy beam.
Deathwands are described as compact. They feature a plastic grip and rough actuator plate that acts as the weapon’s safety. Being comparatively rare, possession of a deathwand was viewed as a symbol of authority, reserved for FORCE and key Hegemony personnel such as the CEO’s pretorian guard.
It was hypothesized by experts that being killed by a deathwand was a near-painless experience**. In the PAX era, automated deathwands were deployed for the purpose of “humane” execution.
Variations[]
During the fall of the Hegemony, the TechnoCore developed and attempted to deploy a "Deathwand Device", which functioned on the same principle but with a spherical energy propagation and a reported effective range of 3 light-years.
Large deathwands know as deathbeams are used on PAX warships, which had greater effective ranges.
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* It is not elaborated on in the Cantos if TechnoCore cybrids are vulnerable to the Deathwand, despite having human bodies.
** Those who are implanted with cruciforms and killed by a Deathwand could be resurrected normally. However, rumor suggested that contrary to a painless death, the experience was instead profoundly traumatic, so-much-so that those who were resurrected and questioned refused to speak about it.