Radiation Grenade

About the Radiation Grenade

A cruel and quiet cousin to the fragmentation grenade, the radiation grenade forgoes shrapnel and fire for an invisible pulse of hard radiation that scours everything in its radius. There is little spectacle to it, just a muffled crack and a swelling wave of energy that overwhelms living tissue and degrades unshielded systems. Its makers designed it to clear entrenched troops from cover that would shrug off a conventional blast, and to deny an area long after the throw. Because its effects linger and spread, it carries an ugly reputation even among hardened soldiers, and many outfits forbid its use outright. Those who deploy it tend to be the sort untroubled by the aftermath: warlords clearing bunkers, assassins ensuring no witnesses, purge units doing purge work. It is a weapon that keeps killing after the fight is over, which is precisely why it exists.