Overview
A magnegun is an anti-personnel weapon designed exclusively for use in space. It relies on electromagnetic propulsion to expel a small piece of metal at great velocity towards a given target, and may function in total vacuum. The word is a portmanteau of magnetic gun.
Magneguns were first engineered in the Main Asteroid Belt of Sol System, derived from EM impact wrenches used to mine ore from asteroids. The original adaptation is attributed to Asteroidal Industries, Inc., which recognized that the same electromagnetic principle driving an industrial wrench head could be redirected to propel a dense metal fragment at lethal velocity — with no combustion, no pressure differential, and no atmospheric requirement. In the vacuum of the Belt, conventional firearms were impractical. The magnegun filled that gap.
Technical Classification
| Type | Electromagnetic anti-personnel sidearm |
| Propulsion | Electromagnetic coil acceleration; no combustion; vacuum-capable |
| Projectile | Small dense metal fragment; high-velocity kinetic impact |
| Power Source | External portable battery pack (early models); integrated cell (later models) |
| Fire Rate | Low; battery recharge required between shots; weapon of precision, not sustained fire |
| Operating Environment | Space, vacuum, zero-gravity; not designed for atmospheric use |
| Inventor | Asteroidal Industries, Inc. |
| Invention Chronology | SY 52 (2066 AD) · Main Asteroid Belt |
| Manufacturing Hub | Mars |
Design & Evolution
Early prototypes were notoriously unwieldy. The power cell was housed in a separate pack clipped to the user's belt — often tethered to the weapon via a reinforced cable to prevent separation in zero gravity. These models required a steady hand and considerable experience in recoil management: even the modest kick of an electromagnetic discharge, applied to a body in microgravity with no surface resistance, could produce significant rotational torque on the shooter. Firing without proper anchoring technique could send a spacer tumbling.
The need to recharge between shots was never fully eliminated, but it shaped the weapon's tactical identity early. The magnegun was never a suppression weapon. It was a marksman's tool — a sidearm for the kind of close-quarters platform engagement where a single well-placed shot resolved a situation before it escalated. Experienced Belt security contractors reportedly carried their magnegun charged for one shot and treated the recharge cycle as a tactical reset rather than a limitation.
Over time the design was miniaturized, the external battery pack integrated into the grip assembly, and the weapon refined for use by both military personnel and private security contractors operating throughout the Belt and beyond. By the Solar War era, integration into military vacuum equipment was standard — the Mark II vacsuit produced by the Army of Eastern Kamijing was capable of powering magnetic weapons directly through the suit itself, removing the battery constraint entirely in combat configurations.
| Generation | Power | Form Factor | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Early Prototype | External belt pack | Bulky; tethered cable | Direct conversion of industrial EM wrench; limited field use |
| Refined Standard | Integrated grip cell | Miniaturized; holster-capable | Civilian and contractor issue across Main Belt |
| Military Integration | Suit-powered (Mark II) | Suit-native; no separate cell | Solar War era; Army of Eastern Kamijing combat vacsuits |
The magnegun has the clearest documented lineage of any weapon in the Belt era — an industrial tool converted, iterated, and eventually absorbed into military doctrine across the full span of the Solar period. Asteroidal Industries, Inc. receives attribution in the record, which is more than most Belt-born technologies manage. The company adapted rather than invented, but the adaptation was the invention.
I note the archive carries no record of named variants or model designations. Given the weapon's longevity and the breadth of its use — civilian contractors, Consortium security, Eastern Kamijing military — model differentiation almost certainly existed in practice. What names those variants carried, if any, is not currently on record.