088: Sharktooth

ENTRY 088: Sharktooth

In habitats or areas with strict restrictions on personal weapons, transhumans are forced to get creative. A growing favorite among biomorphs is the sharktooth, a personal and effective short-range melee weapon that is easy to conceal and even easier to smuggle through an airlock. In its dormant form, the sharktooth is indistinguishable from a standard dental implant, grown to replace one of the user’s adult teeth. Once past customs the sharktooth is removed, the user cracks the outer shell to activate it, and places it in a small container with a mineral-rich solution. Within an hour, the tailored organisms in the sharktooth will incorporate the mineral into a sharp, bone-like spur between eight and ten centimeters long. Removing the sharktooth leaves a dental cap which regrows into a normal human tooth within the next hour and a half, provided the user does not eat or drink anything.

Sharkteeth are popular among criminals, autonomists, and politicians, particularly in high-surveillance stations where more complicated weapons would be easy to detect and trace. A considerable amount of DIY lore is available on the ‘Mesh concerning growing and shaping the sharktooth for greater effect, with many preferring to force it into an L-shape so that it can be used as a punching dagger, with the sharp tip protruding between the fingers. A larger and more effective weapon can be had from a variant that arose on Europa, the serrated sharktooth. The serrated sharktooth appears almost identical in dormant form, though it is often discolored, and takes three to four hours to grow, but becomes a much larger weapon, up to twenty centimeters and can be chipped into a wider blade that is better at slashing and cutting through armor.

Most Europan habitats are more permissive of sharkteeth, which are often worn on a cord around the neck or wrist and considered an emergency tool for both biomorphs and synthmorphs, as the salt-rich waters of Europa make an effective feeder solution. Aside from use as a weapon, Europans fashion sharkteeth into simple hand tools by shaping it as it grows and carving the end product. However, given the material these items tend to be brittle and fracture easily when used against hard metal, stone, or plastics, and so are mainly considered emergency tools. That being said, sharktooth carving remains a popular craft in many Europan habitats.

Mechanics

Blade	Armor Penetration (AP)	Damage Value (DV)	Average DV	Cost
Sharktooth	0	2d10 + (SOM ÷ 10)	7 + (SOM ÷ 10)	Low
Serrated Sharktooth	-1	2d10 + 1 + (SOM ÷ 10)	8 + (SOM ÷ 10)	Moderate

Sharkteeth are wielded with the Blades skill. In many habitats where weapons are restricted, so are sharkteeth. In the underwater habitats of Europa, sharkteeth are unrestricted, abundant, and ubiquitous; reduce the cost to Trivial for sharkteeth and Low for serrated sharkteeth when buying them in Europan habitats.