Deathstrike

An expensive yet devastating weapon, Deathstrikes have seen far more use in the modern age than the time of the Imperium. An umbrella term that encompasses a number of sub patterns of long-range missiles, the defining feature of a Deathstrike is its extreme range and strategic scale warhead. Trust pattern Deathstrikes are capable of hitting any point on a planet from any other point in less than an hour, though they may have to exit the atmosphere to strike targets at the edge of their range, exposing them to interception by hostile void assets. Propelled and powered by a plasma engine, Deathstrikes are some of the fastest objects built by mortal hands. In most situations, they will instead hug the ground at relatively low altitude, complicating detection. Interception is possible, though difficult due to the missiles' extreme speed and ability to take evasive action. Most patterns incorporate some degree of ECM, since while obscuring the presence of a hypersonic missile powered by a plasma plume would be inordinately expensive, creating doubts as to its exact heading is a relatively simple matter. The ECM, short engagement window and evasiveness combine to make intercepting a Deathstrike difficult, though not impossible. As such, in the presence of an enemy air defense network, Trust doctrine is to fire Deathstrikes in large volleys, saturating and overcoming enemy defenses. Deathstrikes are in theory, pinpoint accurate, though the need for evasive action can drastically reduce accuracy. Even so, in most cases the strategic scale of the warhead will still destroy its target.

Most Trust military organizations of significant size maintain Deathstrike stockpiles, usually using them to destroy key enemy assets or turn the tide of vital battles.

### Plasma warhead

The most common warhead used by Deathstrikes since before the fall of Terra, the plasma warhead detonates into a massive blast of superheated plasma. Unlike lesser plasma weapons, the scale of the blast results in a shockwave that can threaten lightly armored targets hundreds of meters from the point of impact. For hardier targets, such as Baneblades or Titans, the effective blast radius is only a few dozen meters, with a direct hit able to severely damage even the mightiest of the machines. This warhead can also be used against major fortifications, with breaches of significant size being blasted into Hive walls with only a few dozen hits.

### Life-Eater Fungus warhead

A weaponization of one of the more terrifying forms of fungus upon Avernus, the Life-Eater warhead simply contains spores of the Life-Eater Fungus, and scatters them over a wide area. The resulting fungal bloom will liquefy any organic matter within half a kilometer into a hypergolic slurry. The unfortunate victims will then ignite, resulting in a massive firestorm. However, the Life-Eater Fungus is not quite as dangerous as the life-eater virus derived from it, as such it can not easily breach sealed suites, and the blast is seldom strong enough to threaten heavy armor. However, using this warhead will irrevocably introduce the fungal menace into the ecosystem of the world it is employed upon, resulting in periodic explosive fungal outbreaks. As such, use of this warhead is mostly limited to Avernus itself, or lifeless worlds where the fungus will hopefully not find purchase.

### Impactor warhead

The Impactor is not a conventional warhead, instead being a large single use railgun, and focuses on a very different task. Where other Deathstrike warheads focus on mass destruction, Impactors are focused. Instead of being a huge explosive missile, Impactor Missiles activate in mid-air, accelerating a spike at extreme speeds to eliminate a singular target, similar in concept to the Heavy Accelerator or Super-Exitus. They are highly effective against large armored targets (such as Necron Monoliths) and are difficult to shoot down, but are otherwise ineffective against hordes or any target smaller than at least a Titan.

### Gravitonic Warhead

Developed by Callamus against Ophelia based on Ordinatus Grábakr, this variant of Deathstrike relies on manipulation of the planet's gravity to effectively create 'gravity waves', sending a sharp short-lived pulse of gravity over a massive area, followed by a rebound effect. The nature of the pulse prevents it from affecting individual objects that weigh more than a few pounds, but it is fully effective against gas. The result is the creation of a massive shockwave similar to the Ordinatus that inspired it. While the shockwave covers a massive area, it is not intense enough to threaten most hardened targets, with anyone in even Basic Power Armor effectively immune to this weapon, at most being knocked around. Naturally, Ophelian legions that lacked elites proved utterly vulnerable to this weapon, Moreso than even their inventor anticipated.

### Dark Matter Warhead

An extremely expensive warhead developed by the Tau, Dark Matter Deathstrikes deploy a massive charge of the titular substance. The resulting blast will erase anything without some form of exotic protection for approximately a hundred meters. Due to a quirk of the technology, Dark Matter blasts of this size seem to magnify momentum for a few microseconds after their detonation, this having been weaponized to vastly increase the strength of the resulting shockwave. As air rushes in to fill the near perfect vacuum of the Dark Matter blast, it is accelerated by an order of magnitude. The resulting implosion generates a shockwave capable of devastating light targets a great distance from the initial zone of destruction. While devastatingly effective, their extreme price sharply limits their use, even by the Imperial Trust.

### Vortex warhead

The most destructive an expensive Deathstrike warhead in existence, Vortex warheads strike at the veil between worlds, tearing open a vast unstable Warp rift. Anything struck by a Vortex warhead will be dragged screaming into the Warp. the size and shape of the Warp rift varies greatly, but most often has a single central tear and a network of crack-like protrusions spearing off from the main body. These cracks tend to be directed rather than random, spearing towards the highest concentrations of energy, such as power cores or dense masses of souls. in general, it can be assumed anything within a hundred meters of the center will be heavily damaged, but this is a minimum rather than a maximum. Aside from the tear itself, the vast amount of Warp energy dumped into the region can produce unpredictable effects a kilometer or more away from the blast zone. Spontaneous combustion, power packs going bad, shells detonating, gravity briefly reversing, and other stranger things are common. These effects will fade in time, but can often wreak havoc upon forces fortunate enough not to be affected by the initial detonation.