Neutron Blaster

A Neutron Blaster is a unique and potent weapon utilised only by the Vespid, representing a technology unique to that alien species. A hybrid of Vespid and T'au technology, the bulk of a Neutron Blaster is of T'au manufacture as the Vespid have not yet attained the technical facility to fabricate it themselves.

Mounted at the barrel of the weapon is a highly energetic and unstable crystal harvested from the lowest levels of the largest stalactite islands of the Vespid homeworld in the deepest reaches of Vespid's cloud seas.

At such depths, the atmospheric pressures create all manner of exotic, bizarre and unique crystal formations, and it is only the larger female Vespid, those who form the leader class of the species, who have the constitution to descend to such depths and harvest the purest crystals.

The T'au Earth Caste have provided the Vespid Stingwings with the technology to mount these weapons upon advanced and highly efficient neutron containment and projection systems, making them amongst the most deadly weapons of their type -- capable of emitting short-ranged but deadly streams of neutron radiation that are able to pass straight through all but the sturdiest of ray-shielded enemy armour to reduce biological matter or delicate machine circuitry to cinders.

Neutron Blasters are only usable by the Vespid, for the constant, ultrasonic tone emitted by the vibrations of their wing casings perfectly modulate the energies contained within the crystals, and continued exposure to the crystal’s neutron radiation will prove ultimately lethal to any other species.

Sources[]

Codex: Tau Empire (6th Edition), pp. 54, 66
Codex: Tau Empire (4th Edition), pp. 16, 29, 39
Deathwatch: Mark of Xenos (RPG), pp. 26-27
White Dwarf 316 (AUS), “Index Xenos - The Vespid”