Splinter weapons are the favoured anti-infantry arms of the Drukhari, firing swarms of needle-thin crystalline shards coated in virulent poisons. Rather than relying on impact to kill, these weapons wound and then let their toxins do the grisly work, so that even a glancing hit can drop the toughest warrior as lethal poisons flood the bloodstream. The shards themselves are grown from a solid block of crystal and accelerated magnetically, giving splinter weapons an almost limitless supply of ammunition.
Because their killing power lies in venom rather than brute force, splinter weapons are murderously effective against living targets of every size, from common infantry to hulking monsters whose resilience means little once the poison takes hold. Against vehicles and mindless constructs, however, they are far less useful, for there is no living flesh for the toxins to corrupt.
The Drukhari field a full family of such arms, including splinter rifles, pistols, and the rapid-firing splinter cannon mounted on their swift raiding craft. Cruel and elegant in equal measure, these weapons suit a people who delight in the suffering of their prey, preferring to see enemies convulse and die by degrees. On a Drukhari raid, the soft hiss of splinter fire and the sight of victims collapsing en masse mark the passage of the galaxy's most sadistic killers.