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EVH-02 Blaster Rifle
AFFILIATION
Black market/ Alderaan
MANUFACTURER
Alderaan Defence force/
Miscellaneous black-market
counterfeiters
SIZE
0.75m
WEIGHT
8kg
COMPOSITION
Wood/DurasteelWEAPON TYPE
Blaster Rifle
DAMAGE TYPE
Heavy/Medium/Light
AMMUNITION CAPACITY
6
FIRE SELECTOR
Pump Action
MAX RANGE
5/25/50m
DESCRIPTION
The EVH-02 "Jedi-Killer" Cluster Blaster Rifle was originally designed at the peak of ferocity in the saber war amidst concerns that the violence would spread into the deep core. The Alderaan Defence force commissioned one of the best gunsmiths on the planet to create a rifle for killing force-users. While there were already many theoretical options for this, explosives, razor nets, etc there were no real options that could easily be used and mass produced for civilians. The weapon's initial focus was to create a blaster round that could not be deflected and the most functional design to this effect was based around the cluster barrel. The weapon consisted of 8 small barrels surrounding a larger central one. It fired a ring of sub sized plasma bolts too small to cause conventional blaster damage alone with a light plasma bolt at the core to stabilise the smaller rounds.
This bolt pattern was thought to be undeflectable. If a saber wielder tried, the shot was supposed to scatter causing damage regardless of if they blocked it or not. However this didn'y happen. When deflected the sub bolts simply dispersed leaving the core light plasma bolt to be deflected as any other light plasma bolt would be. Despite this failing of design intent it was discovered that at very short ranges the Cluster blaster packed more of a punch than conventional blaster rifles. While the rest of the project was abandoned due to a lack of useful prototypes the EVH-02 was salvaged for a production run.
The final weapon was heavy but kicked like a disgruntled Wampa. As the shot travelled further, however, the sub bolts dissipated rapidly until only the light bolt remained dropping the power fairly quickly. To prevent the blaster from overheating a manual pump was required to be cocked back and forth in between shots. The inefficiency of the sub bolts left significant tibanna residue inside the outer barrels. The pump forced the residue out of the vents along the barrel and coated the insides with a thin layer of vaporising coolant. Without the pump mechanism the weapon would be likely to malfunction or explode. Due to the story of it's development a promotional agent working in the arms industry dubbed the weapon the "Jedi-killer" and while the name was inaccurate it stuck and caused the first production run to sell out almost immediately.
After the initial production run of the weapon and significant testing from external agencies the weapon was reclassified as too dangerous for civilian ownership due to the massive damage it could cause up close and a recall was issued, the intent to reissue the weapons to military and police institutions. However a significant number of this original run never came back and made it out into the galaxy. It was believed at the time due to the hype caused by their coverage and the fact that agencies were now trying to take them back that they were mythical and rare implements of destruction and they earned a bizarre legendary status, especially among collectors.
With limited numbers in the market and a blanket ban for civilian use many black market operations sprang up to counterfeit or attempt to copy the weapon design. The copies are easier to find but still rare due to the relatively niche functionality of the weapon and the skill needed to build it without the original design. Counterfeits are normally easy to tell from originals. Apart from often poorer performance and occasionally catastrophic misfires, counterfeiters tend to replace the wooden components, common in Alderaanian designs, with polyplastics or metals. They also frequently include a shoulder stock of some kind to help handle the weapon's massive recoil, a feature never implemented into the original design.
LEGALITY
Illegal for civilian ownership, a limited amount of the weapons were cleared for police and similar government affiliated agency. Operatives in groups that are cleared to own the weapon must undergo a brief qualification course, the passing of which grants the operator a special license to use the weapon. Since the weapons are also very situational groups that are cleared to own them rarely need more than one or two in their armoury.
INTENT
I wanted to make a shotgun style blaster weapon that was more removed from the approach to shotguns that I saw last time line, massive spread, multiple projectiles hitting multiple locations. In doing so I tried to retain the feel of what people want from a shotgun, hits hard at limited range. But without the kind of headaches associated with multi-shot weapons interacting with the armour system. I was also trying to design a weapon that fulfilled a police-style heavy backup weapon role, the kind of thing they break out against a heavily armed and armoured crew of bank robbers or similar.
ADVANCED TECH
YES, only a couple of hundred of the original production run of the weapon made it out into the galaxy before it was re-classified and recalled. The weapons are highly prized as "Jedi Killers", even though they aren't provably any better than ordinary blasters. Both despite and because of this they are incredibly hard to find especially as there are many copy cat and counterfeit versions of the weapon on the black market as well.
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