The C-47 Thaumatech Rifle
"Since I was issued with this rifle, it's saved my life on more then one occasion. It's the best weapon that I've ever been issued with." John Volkov, a private in the army of the De Madden Company.
Full Item Description
The C-47 thaumatech rifle is a foot and a half long, with a wooden stock and handle, a bayonet on the end that can be detached, and an awesome reputation.
History
For centuries since its founding by one of the kings of antiquity, the mighty De Madden Company had monopolised the vital supply of amethyst on the world of Acqua. Without at least a small chunk of amethyst, which turned into clear quartz once used up fully in a spell, even the simplest charms and the most common spells were impossible to cast. Starting with its own deposits on the Isle of Banhoesea, the Company formed an army and a navy with ships capable of withstanding almost any storm. Then they invaded the other islands, taking over their amethyst to feed their ever-growing state.
The more amethyst they took, the richer they became and the better their armed forces got, until they believed themselves invincible. Which is when they came up against Big Red and other krakens that had learned how to get the humans on nearby islands to provide them with amethyst stockpiles of their own. In the forthcoming war between the Company and the Kraken States, Company scientists came up with the C-47 thaumatech rifle.
Magic/Cursed Properties
The weapon itself has been shortened from earlier versions to a mere foot and a half long. It has a scope for long range shooting mounted on it, along with a compass and a mini version of an Aetherometer to warn of possible malfunctions in advance, before the weapon blows up. With only six parts in the weapon itself (handle, trigger, breach, magazine, barrel, bayonet on the end) a soldier or marine can be taught how to use it properly within as little as a week, and it can survive an amount of fouling that would jam most guns much earlier.
It is loaded through the breach with a *bullet* of amethyst and when the trigger is pulled, it touches a glyph that automatically casts a Create Lightning spell. The lightning bolt can be fired thirty times, or the trigger held down for thirty seconds to produce a continuous bolt of lightning. Its awesome power is strong enough to seriously hurt even Krakens, and when it hits water it electrifies the top few inches of water close to it.
After a few minutes of shooting it requires water to be poured over the barrel to cool it, after having first touched the ground to ground any remaining magical energy. If the guns owner does not cool it quickly enough, it may get too hot to hold,even setting it's wooden stock and handle on fire in extreme cases, whilst if it is not grounded first it can give a nasty shock to its owner. It is not a good weapon to use in a hot desert.
Medical personnel have a version of this that fires a healing spell, and high ranking officers have a version that, as well as the amethyst, has different kinds of bullets that casts a different spell depending on which secondary bullet (which could be jet, coral, gold or silver) is in the gun. In practise it is not unknown for an officer to *fire* the wrong spell in the heat of battle, whilst the normal version of the C-47 only fires lightning bolts so does not have this problem.
Steampunk!
Any sort of steampunk at all from thaumatech to simple old-fashioned steamtech.
Wind up your imaginations and start the kettle boiling!
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? Responses (5)
An interesting application of thaumatechnology, the mechanics seem sound enough and the only part that stuck out to me was the placement of a bayonette on what is a rather small weapon. Most bayonettes would be mounted on long barreled rifles for reach and leverage.
There is a reference for things along these lines. The spectacularly bad idea of the gunblade - a fighting knife bonded to a pistol - really did exist; perhaps in Acqua the notion is a better idea than our own unwieldy, awkward, and poorly-balanced gunblades were.
Longer barrels are effective for longer-range shots, though.
The guns, they be everywhere! I like the switch from traditional projectiles to a raw lightning attack.
This is pretty cool. I would definatly have the different rounds color-coded or numbered. A good example of an idea like this is the anime Outlaw Star which featers a rare gun known as a 'caster' which can create different attack spells based on the shell's number, and they are quite expensive and rare since it's a space anime and there isn't much magic around anymore.
Not bad Cheka, though if you are going to call it a rifle, make it longer. This is more of a submachinegun-size.
