An exert from the Department of Psychological Warfare’s Cost/Benefit Analysis

The Death Throes Bullet has proven extremely effective when issued to the sniper division of the armed forces.  Data taken from enemy soldiers left behind after the retreat revealed a 60% increase of madness than from normal combat exposure.  Results for the incidence of Post Traumatic Stress Syndrome among the observed soldiers are preliminary, but point to another significant increase.  It should also be noted that the capture of Havence, during which the bullet was employed, was the armed forces personal record for the capture of any rebel base.  Further testing is suggested to determine whether a less consistent or more consistent voltage is more effective in provoking the mental conditions listed below.  Finally, it should be noted with the current schematics, the weapon is extremely cheap, and so can be widely employed without difficulty.

History
The Death Throes Bullet is an ingenious use of a projectile when such weapons are quickly becoming obsolete in the face of energy discharge armaments.  It was discovered by accident when a government agent attempted to “tag” a target with a tracer fired from a rifle, and the tracer mistakenly penetrated the target’s skull.  As the people around the target watched in horror, the tracer shorted out, flooding the dead man’s brain with electrical impulses, causing his body to flail in an extremely grotesque manner.  The matter was not contained as it usually would have been, and psychiatric reports revealing that the incident had inflicted severe mental trauma on the witnesses.

Someone from the Department of Psychological Warfare must have been watching that night, because immediately after the winess’s interviews were broadcast, the their homes were bugged and their every move watched.  It only took a few weeks for a wide variety of mental illnesses to manifest themselves in the subjects, and work on the Death Throes Bullet began.

Full Item Description
The weapon today looks identical to an ordinary bullet, most traditionally given to snipers.  Inside the bullet, however, is a device that will trigger a rapid series of electronic pulses to travel through the body a few minutes after impact.  These pulses have been carefully measured to approximate human nerve impulses, and so the body spasms violently in an almost lifelike manner.  The delay was created in order to maximize the terror inspired by this weapon, and the possibility of activating the vocal cords is also being examined.

The generals of the armed forces have strongly objected to the use of this weapon, but cannot deny its effectiveness in destroying enemy morale.  Right now, the projectile is in the field-testing phase, but has performed so well that it is very likely to become standard issue among the armed forces’ snipers.

Encountering the Bullet
As the Death Throes Bullet is at this point, strictly Government Issue, the PC’s will only encounter it when working for or against the government.  If the PC’s are working for some rebel group, they will likely be treated to the bone-chilling spectacle of watching an ally being tossed around like a toy, and if they are working for the government, they could be expected to employ the bullet against an opposing faction to teach that group a lesson. 

If the PC’s are aware of the properties of the Bullet, it raises some interesting moral questions.  Should the PC’s use a weapon that is strictly intended to drive enemy soldiers insane?  What if the bullet doesn’t kill the target and then activates?

User Submitted Ideas (0)