The Weapons

With the need for man-portable heavy weaponry made abundantly clear during the disastrous Mitchell-Macavoy Affair of 1809 (reference case #DW-00129-09), Darkwatch technicians were tasked to create a mortar weapon that could be hand held. A team of twenty researchers began their task by modifying a Naval signal cannon. Eighteen months and nine prototypes later, the Mortar Hand Cannon #10 was successfully tested on a rock formation in the deserts of New Mexico.

The heavy bronze firing cylinder was eventually replaced by a lighter-weight metal alloy, which caused considerably less sparking when the weapon was fired, and a jagged metal mallet was attached to the butt of the barrel to compensate for its limited application at close range. In 1831, the Mortar Hand Cannon was officially renamed the Rail Rocket.