Anti-Riot Tangle Gun 7

Description

Frequently called the tangle pistol, the Anti-Riot Tangle Gun 7 functioned as a crowd-control defense weapon. It discharged a naorstrachem pellet combined with a shrinking agent. When exposed to air, this pellet would detonate, expanding into a webbed net that measured several meters across. The net would automatically contract upon touching a warm surface, such as a living being. It would then wrap around the target, tightening and almost instantly trapping them. However, a known issue with tangle guns like the Tangle Gun 7 was that the webbing often tightened too much, which would cause the target to suffocate, and sometimes be killed, due to the intense pressure exerted by the webbing.

The tangle gun could hold fifteen pellets and had a short range of three to ten meters, a medium range spanning eleven to nineteen meters, and a long range of twenty to twenty-five meters. Similar in size to a blaster carbine and notably lightweight, the tangle gun featured light polycarbonate furniture and a short barrel with a wide opening. The tangle gun also included a polymer material, non-ferrous metal, and Codoan Copper. The reload cartridge for the tangle gun was positioned at the top rear, directly above the handle. Typically priced between 300 and 500 credits, the weapon was considered a specialized item, not readily available everywhere and even deemed illegal on most planets.

History

Merr-Sonn Munitions, Inc. was the manufacturer of the tangle gun, which was originally intended for usage by the Galactic Empire. However, the weapon's schematics also became accessible to independent weaponsmiths and munitions traders. The Anti-Riot Tangle Gun 7 was created to fulfill the Empire's requirement for a less lethal crowd-control option than a blaster, and it was frequently used in situations where non-lethal force was preferred. The Empire ultimately discontinued its use when Imperial policy shifted towards more aggressive tactics.

During the Galactic Civil War, General Airen Cracken featured the tangle gun in Cracken's Rebel Field Guide, a document he prepared for the Rebel Alliance. The guide detailed various Imperial munitions. The section dedicated to the tangle gun included an illustration of the weapon and a depiction of a Duros ensnared in its webbing. The tangle gun was also mentioned in the fiftieth-anniversary issue of Galladinium's Galactic Datalog of Fantastic Technology, a publication that offered high-end merchandise to affluent customers during the war. The datalog listed the tangle gun for 300 credits.

In the year 0 ABY, during the missions of the privateer starship Far Orbit within the Ringali Shell region of the Core Worlds, the tangle gun was obtainable through the region's black market. Initially priced at 300 credits, it surged to 6,000 credits after the Empire became aware of the Far Orbit's activities. Following a defeat against Imperial forces, the privateer vessel withdrew from the Ringali Shell. Upon its subsequent return, the black-market value of the tangle gun had escalated to 9,000 credits.

At some time during the Galactic Civil War, an Anti-Riot Tangle Gun 7 was hidden within a concealed compartment inside a chair at the Farrimmer Cafe, an eatery located on the Mynock 7 Space Station. The Filvian proprietor, H'nib Statermast, was unaware of the compartment and the pistol. They were discovered by a group searching the restaurant for bombs suspected of being placed throughout the space station. Statermast was indifferent as to whether the individuals kept the pistol and any other items they found during their search.

Behind the scenes

The Anti-Riot Tangle Gun 7 was first introduced in Cracken's Rebel Field Guide, a 1991 sourcebook penned by Christopher Kubasik for Star Wars: The Roleplaying Game, published by West End Games. The weapon's initial appearance was in "The Farrimmer Cafe," a series of roleplaying game adventures released in the 1996 Star Wars Adventure Journal 11, authored by Jean Rabe and J. Allan Fawcett. In one of these adventures, player characters could discover the tangle gun if they agreed to search the Farrimmer Cafe on behalf of H'nib Statermast and then successfully made a "Heroic" difficulty roll while inspecting the establishment's tables. The weapon was then featured in Star Wars Galaxies: An Empire Divided, the 2003 LucasArts–Sony Online Entertainment MMORPG, before its closure in 2011. Within the game, the weapon was simply referred to as a "tangle pistol," and it could be crafted by weaponsmiths and later by munitions traders using various components and resources, including Codoan Copper, non-ferrous metal, and polymer.

Different Star Wars Galaxies reference guides provide inconsistent statistics for the tangle gun. Star Wars Galaxies: An Empire Divided: Prima's Official Strategy Guide (2003), Star Wars Galaxies: Jump to Lightspeed: Prima Official Game Guide (2004), and Star Wars Galaxies: An Empire Divided Quick Reference Guide (2004) describe the tangle gun as a stun weapon with a maximum range of forty-eight meters. However, Star Wars Galaxies: The Total Experience: Prima Official Game Guide and Star Wars Galaxies: The Complete Guide: Prima Official Game Guide (2005) classify it as a kinetic weapon with a range of thirty-five meters, reflecting the gameplay overhaul implemented in 2005. Given the conflicting statistics, this article utilizes the twenty-five-meter range as stated in Cracken's Rebel Field Guide. Adding to the inconsistencies, the Fantasy Flight Games Star Wars: Edge of the Empire sourcebook Far Horizons, released in 2014, refers to the tangle gun as a rifle.