Summary
A class of pre-Imperial thermal-ray weapons of Martian Mechanicum origin, devastating against flesh and armour but difficult to replicate, surviving into the 41st Millennium only in fragmentary use.
Lore
Volkite is the arcane term by which the Tech-Priests of the Adeptus Mechanicus name a class of thermal-ray weaponry whose pattern predates the Imperium itself. Its origin lies on Mars — Forge Primus, crafted in the high noon of the Martian Mechanicum’s mastery, when — in the words of the priesthood’s own chroniclers — the Tech-Priests of Mars crafted all manner of mechanical marvels for the Imperium’s expeditionary fleets.
In the wars of the Great Crusade and the early Heresy, volkite was already an old weapon. It was the heritage of an earlier age, kept in service by the most senior cohorts and the most ancient Legions, and the priests of Mars guarded its patterns jealously.
Technology
Volkite weapons are, in plainest description, heat rays. Volkite weapons are heat rays. They fire beams of energy that set unprotected targets — like squishy humans — on fire.
The destructive principle is deflagration: a subsonic combustion in which a beam of thermal energy propagates through a target material by thermodynamic heat transfer, the burning material igniting the next cold layer in turn. Against organic matter the effect is annihilatory — flesh is exploded into ash and jetting fire. Against the energetic barriers of war engines, the same principle bites: volkite ray-fire superheat[s] the protective energy barriers and pop[s] them out of existence, making the weapon a known counter to void shields.
Variants and Bearers
Volkite weapons exist in a graduated family across the scales of war, from sidearm to siege engine. Among the patterns recorded in Imperial service are the Volkite Serpenta (pistol), Volkite Charger (carbine-class), Volkite Caliver, Volkite Culverin (heavy infantry pattern), Volkite Falconet Battery, Volkite Caronade, Volkite Veuglaire and Volkite Eradicator (Titan-scale).
In the 41st Millennium the Volkite Blaster is among the few volkite patterns still borne by the Imperium’s forces, and it is borne above all by the Magi of the Cult: the Magos Dominus is canonically armed with one. Larger patterns survive in the arsenals of the Legio Titanica and the Mechanicus’ relic forges.
Decline and Survival
Volkite is doctrine made of loss. The Mechanicum stated it plainly: the nearest equivalent we have at the moment is volkite, which is much older weaponry that’s in use primarily by the Martians prior to the Great Crusade. It was in use elsewhere before, but has fallen out of favour by the time of the Great Crusade, replaced by tech that’s easier to replicate and maintain.
The utilitarian Terran bolter displaced volkite across the Legions because bolters could be forged at scale; volkite could not. Each loss of a Forge World during the Horus Heresy bled the supply further. By M41 the surviving patterns are relics — issued to the few, recovered from the vaults of Mars — Forge Primus and her daughters, and counted among the prizes of the The Quest for Knowledge.