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Yeah so mostly been taking the weekend to sort through some chaos in my personal and financial life. Its been hellish but I did find an interesting rabbit hole in weird weapon development that I think would make sense in the Aethergun based paradigms deep down the Dragonscape timeline in the Thalmvaric age.
This is an airgun, that detonates a propellant (probably the alchemical "Flashpan") through the use of a spring powered air piston. When the trigger is pulled, the cocked air piston moves through a tube at a high speed, rapidly pressurizing air that then, due to all that rapid energy generation, gets really hot. An order of 2000 degrees fahrenheit hot.
This heat would be more than sufficient to ignite a variety of real world propellants, black powder, smokeless powder, nitroglycerine, etc. Which can then do the gun thing. With this whole platform offering a very simple to build and maintain, caseless ammunition firearm that involves cartridges that are easy enough to make!
And it actually existed in real life!.. The Daisy VL .22 was exactly that weapon, a spring piston fired caseless projectile .22 rifle. While that was a concept that never got expanded on for legal reasons, I can't see a reason that, provided the stress bearing parts could bear it, why the concept couldn't be used for larger calibres, shot, or other such thing. Could be a muzzleloader, a breech loader, it may be difficult to make a repeating weapon but since there are repeating springer air rifles, I wouldn't assume it impossible... But all that is fine.
If I go with the lore line where gun like technologies are common, I could see these sorts of weapons manifesting across a wide spread of cultures and planar with variations of design, calibre, etc.
This is an airgun, that detonates a propellant (probably the alchemical "Flashpan") through the use of a spring powered air piston. When the trigger is pulled, the cocked air piston moves through a tube at a high speed, rapidly pressurizing air that then, due to all that rapid energy generation, gets really hot. An order of 2000 degrees fahrenheit hot.
This heat would be more than sufficient to ignite a variety of real world propellants, black powder, smokeless powder, nitroglycerine, etc. Which can then do the gun thing. With this whole platform offering a very simple to build and maintain, caseless ammunition firearm that involves cartridges that are easy enough to make!
And it actually existed in real life!.. The Daisy VL .22 was exactly that weapon, a spring piston fired caseless projectile .22 rifle. While that was a concept that never got expanded on for legal reasons, I can't see a reason that, provided the stress bearing parts could bear it, why the concept couldn't be used for larger calibres, shot, or other such thing. Could be a muzzleloader, a breech loader, it may be difficult to make a repeating weapon but since there are repeating springer air rifles, I wouldn't assume it impossible... But all that is fine.
If I go with the lore line where gun like technologies are common, I could see these sorts of weapons manifesting across a wide spread of cultures and planar with variations of design, calibre, etc.
Category Artwork (Digital) / Doodle
Species Unspecified / Any
Size 1338 x 801px
File Size 352.7 kB
"When the trigger is pulled, the cocked air piston moves through a tube at a high speed, rapidly pressurizing air that then, due to all that rapid energy generation, gets really hot."
Wonder if you'd need to run that on black powder of if you could just use diesel fuel. Probably wouldn't get enough pressure to drive a bullet but would be an interesting experiment
Wonder if you'd need to run that on black powder of if you could just use diesel fuel. Probably wouldn't get enough pressure to drive a bullet but would be an interesting experiment
Well by this point you wouldn't be using any of those. The propellent may just be simply mana that is elementized by the force of the piston. But it could be a solid alchemical like a pressed flashpan that would certainly be easier to transport.
Generally manatechnologies are more well known and used than others. Including things such as diesel
I am sure it could work as a normal airgun, but also that may be inefficient since these are typically made with a "spiced" projectile in mind
Generally manatechnologies are more well known and used than others. Including things such as diesel
I am sure it could work as a normal airgun, but also that may be inefficient since these are typically made with a "spiced" projectile in mind
Reading the concept of this firing mechanism…. It may be possible to use this with flammable liquids? Petrol/gasoline comes to mind but I know there some flammable alcohol brews that may be possible.
As for the mechanism itself? I feel like they’d be a craft only a few could build and possibly take months to years to complete a single firearm.
Got kinda clockwork tinker kinda vibes, nice concept!!
Edit: Love the art you did to illustrate the gun but I had a thought, look up aircraft gun sights, that may be something a Drek could use easier to aim in that stance?
As for the mechanism itself? I feel like they’d be a craft only a few could build and possibly take months to years to complete a single firearm.
Got kinda clockwork tinker kinda vibes, nice concept!!
Edit: Love the art you did to illustrate the gun but I had a thought, look up aircraft gun sights, that may be something a Drek could use easier to aim in that stance?
Perhaps but there are better combustibles simply.
As for the mechanism, spring pistons are incredibly simple constructions. Piston, tube, bit of rubber or leather at the head, some sort of spring.
Not really clockwork, they are the simplest style of airgun to make really! Its why theyre the cheapest around.
Ill read into those
As for the mechanism, spring pistons are incredibly simple constructions. Piston, tube, bit of rubber or leather at the head, some sort of spring.
Not really clockwork, they are the simplest style of airgun to make really! Its why theyre the cheapest around.
Ill read into those
The first guns used clockworks or leaf springs for the firing mechanisms, a coil spring may be hard to make with Drek technology is what I getting at sorry ^.=.^;
Matchlocks are rather doable for them as that basically a cannon with a lever that lowers burning match cord into an ignition pan.
Matchlocks are rather doable for them as that basically a cannon with a lever that lowers burning match cord into an ignition pan.
Reading through your comics I was thinking of something similar if a little bit more manatech. Take bamboo and smooth out the interior. Harden or reinforce that bamboo via alchemical or mechanical methods. Use wind mana glass for the propellant and dope it with something to slow down the expansion, and a piece of fire mana flint to detonate the propellant. A rock, lead ball, or a dart could be launched quickly. This is something I could see the reborn drakir come up with very early on just trying to come up with a weapon vaguely familiar to guns.
To that end, why the lack of blowguns?
To that end, why the lack of blowguns?
It's an ineresting idea! Though I imagine with metal being far more straightforward to the task most would prefer that. Moreover just because something can be done doesn't mean that folks are going to know to do that (shucks gunpowder is a great example of that)
As for blowguns its generally a lot to do with the fact that drekir snouts are far away from their hands, seperated by a long neck that would necesitate a long tube or joining part to get the snout to the actual blowgun.
This creates a lot of dead space that drastically reduces the efficiency of such a device, making it highly impractical or requring a skilled wind mage to use one effectively, which for general hunting weaponry shouldn't be a prereq to use one.
The other option is to design one that could be supported by the mouth that would make a horridly clumsy weapon.
Believe me I wish I could justify blowguns! There are drawings of drekir with them, just not here as it just doesn't make ergonomic or anatomical sense with them.
Especially in the face of alchemical rubber than can very well be used to make weapons that accomplish similar goals to blowguns in regards to their power and the projectiles they launch.
As for blowguns its generally a lot to do with the fact that drekir snouts are far away from their hands, seperated by a long neck that would necesitate a long tube or joining part to get the snout to the actual blowgun.
This creates a lot of dead space that drastically reduces the efficiency of such a device, making it highly impractical or requring a skilled wind mage to use one effectively, which for general hunting weaponry shouldn't be a prereq to use one.
The other option is to design one that could be supported by the mouth that would make a horridly clumsy weapon.
Believe me I wish I could justify blowguns! There are drawings of drekir with them, just not here as it just doesn't make ergonomic or anatomical sense with them.
Especially in the face of alchemical rubber than can very well be used to make weapons that accomplish similar goals to blowguns in regards to their power and the projectiles they launch.
Fair point about the blowguns. I've spent a bit of time thinking about how a non-human bodyplan would work with primitive tool use and in my preferred case (human-sized western dragon) I tend to think about a lot of ranged weapons requiring active mechanical force being used with the user on their back. More powerful hind legs to draw and hold, forlimbs to release for the shot. I imagine a similar mechanic could work for blowguns.
In terms of an alchemical firearm, I chose bamboo because its more readily available than metal and already has a nice hole right down the center. Just burnish the interior for a nice smooth bore and have a mechanism to reinforce it. For a person whose used to the concept of guns, it doesn't take too much to think "that explodes, can it shoot a bullet?" and then experimentation. You either lose a finger or get a gun.
I've also thought about how modern folk in a primitive setting could 'bootstrap' technology. If I ended up in your setting and survived the first winter, I'd legit try to work out paper, vellum, or papyrus and start being a trader. Alongside physical goods, I'd start collecting whatever existing knowledge people have (how do you make soap? gunpowder? charcoal? Human hamster wheel for heavy lifting?) and spread that information across settlements.
In terms of an alchemical firearm, I chose bamboo because its more readily available than metal and already has a nice hole right down the center. Just burnish the interior for a nice smooth bore and have a mechanism to reinforce it. For a person whose used to the concept of guns, it doesn't take too much to think "that explodes, can it shoot a bullet?" and then experimentation. You either lose a finger or get a gun.
I've also thought about how modern folk in a primitive setting could 'bootstrap' technology. If I ended up in your setting and survived the first winter, I'd legit try to work out paper, vellum, or papyrus and start being a trader. Alongside physical goods, I'd start collecting whatever existing knowledge people have (how do you make soap? gunpowder? charcoal? Human hamster wheel for heavy lifting?) and spread that information across settlements.
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