Rockwell's Pistol

Full Item Description
The Mk.9 Sunbeam was by far and large an easily overlooked laser pistol when it was still in production. it is just over a foot long and considered a heavy weight at 2 kg. The construction of the weapon is basic, a long focusing chamber inside a static shielded and impact resistant casing with a trigger and a battery pack and capacity in the handle and rear of the weapon. Damage is average, compared with other hand-held beam weapons, range is also average. The battery pack is durable and can sustain heavy firing before being depleted, and the lasre emitter is well stabilized and insulated.

History
Johnathan Rockwell was one of the best known colonial explorers and marines turned pirate during the post colonial, pre-fringe era. During those days, it was common for entire worlds, some only seeded decades before, to rebel against the Terran Hegemony. Rockwell lead one such world in rebellion. His rebellion is significant in that it is one of the few that defeated the Hegemon forces that sought to subdue the rebellious colony. Most other colonies were either outright destroyed or returned bloody and cowed to the Hegemon's aegis.

The Mk.9 remained in production at Besrodia II for close to a century, before the facility that produced it was shut down and retooled to produce an infantry plasma rifle. The Mk.10, or Mk.X that replaced the Mk.9 had already been in production for close to twenty years by that point. After almost 100 years of production, the number of Mk.9 pistols in existance was estimated to be in the hundreds of millions, scattered across a large swath of the galaxy.

Rockwell was a dashing leader, often fighing in the vanguard with his rebel marines. Nominally an officer, Rockwell never carried more than his marine issue pulse carbine, and his side arm, a Mk.9 pistol. Rockwell would eventually be caught by Hegemon forces while working to organize a rebellion in the Quan-Sinko system. In the pitched battle that followed, Rockwell supposedly fired his pistol until the barrel glowed cherry red with heat, and the batteries were emptied unknown numbers of time. Rockwell and the Quan-Sinko rebels were killed to the last, taking nearly eight times their number of Hegemon Guardsmen and Tech-Marines with them. Rockwell's pistol was among the gear looted by the survivors.

Magic/Cursed Properties
Rockwell's pistol is a well cared for, but very heavily used weapon. After familiarizing with the pistol, a shooter can get 50% longer range out of the weapon and close to 30% more shots out of a standard battery pack. The weapon, aside from these long time modifications, has not outstanding capabilities. Despite this lack of fantastic ability, Rockwell's pistol has been a highly valued weapon. Most of the weapon's owners have been various weapon collectors and pistol enthusiasts, but a fair number have also been radicals and rebels who think that having something as symbolic as Rockwell's pistol will bolster their cause.

As such, there are more than a few fraudulent pistols in circulation that claim to be Rockwell's. Most are either the wrong make and model, or have been overworked with gold and iridium tooling and artistic embellishments, rather than looking like hard worked tools of war.