A "flay trap" was the nickname given to an antipersonnel mine of Amarr design. Instead of using explosive power to inflict damage this weapon used a magnetic coil to accelerate four monofilament wires. Each wire had a single ceramic or lead counterweight on one end; the other was tethered to a base culinder that could spin freely in a frictionless hub. Once detonated- usually remotely using hidden motion dectectors- the cylinder was accelerated to several hundred revolutions per second. At maximum speed, the outer shell was lowered, releasing the steel counterweights in a tight spin whoose diameter expanded up to ten meters as the monofilament unraveled. At the fully extended position, the shell "bounced" back toward the starting closed position angling the weights upward as they spun, repeating until the spin energy dissipated.

The microfilaments, also known as monomolecular wire, consisted of tightly bonded metal-composite molecules, making it an especially sharp cutting edge. They passed through flesh, bone, and light metals effortlessly.

Anything within the hemispherical killzone of the cylinder was literally flayed to bits. The only sound it made - besides falling chunks of flesh - was of the lead couterweights zipping through the air at the speed of sound.