The shak'nel was a unique weapon primarily used by the Supreme System Lord Ra during his reign; it was rarely seen throughout any of the other Goa'uld Empires. It was a golden laser weapon which resembled a nozzle which had a golden crescent curving underneath which was used as the handgrip. Unlike the similarly sized zat'nik'tel, the shak'nel could not fire stunning shots and was only able to fire green bolts, similar to those of the staff weapon, which were only able to cause damage. Ra demanded that his First Prime and any other court Jaffa would carry a shak'nel in addition to their usual staff weapons as they could be used in close combat without the clumsiness of the larger weapon. (RPG: "Living Gods: Stargate System Lords")