Dirziet Model-6

At the close of the Rod Mohla campaign in 1652, the Treaty States saw their forces pushed back from the eastern front all the way past the River Raixmus, losing territory which had been ground away at for over an entire year. At the Treaty Conclave that year, the leaders of the Treaty effort came to a unanimous conclusion as to the reason for their alliance's slow trend of defeat. From the beginning of the war, the Compact armies had been better-prepared (a condition which now could not be remedied; the Compact nations had simply started on a war footing whereas the Treaty States could not), better-trained, better-provisioned, and better-equipped. Though the Treaty war effort's sloppy start had been riddled down to a leaner machine with time, the Compact States were still technically on better ground, with more advanced weaponry and more powerful artillery, as well as a larger availability of airships.

Until the time of the Rearmament Orders of 1653 (the outcome of the 1652 Conclave) the notoriously temperamental and easily-damaged Hrchul 7-12 had been the standard issue rifle of the Treaty Alliance Combined Armory, and the official rifle of the militaries of Corheen, Srath, and Ar Paitun. It was a bolt-action rifle of antiquated design, known for jamming of the casing mechanisms, and had not been revised since it's inception in 1607 (it first saw wide usage during the Dathchar-Corheem War in 1610). In contrast, the Compact of Powers used the well-engineered Lahhrogh Axaal-20, which had few of the jamming problems of the 7-12, and in addition it's production was held to a higher standard by the Compact Military Directorate.
The Conclave reviewed the Hrchul in comparison to the Lahhrogh and made the obvious decision that it had to be replaced, for the good of the Treaty.

The responsibility for creating a new firearm for the soldiers of the Treaty fell to a young genius of the renegade Battle Scientists (who were in that year taking refuge in Misrtath and being funded by the Corhee military), one Hraun Dirziet. Though many of the Battle Scientists eventually contributed to the design (especially Recheth Ran Chausar), the majority of the design can be layed attributed to Dirziet, who was a brilliant, if volatile, mechanical philosopher. The design process was reputedly fraught with tension, but in early summer of 1653, Dirziet presented the Model-1 blueprints to the Conclave; in the winter, the final revisions were complete. The Combined Armory began production of the Dirziet Model-6, a magazine-fed bolt-action rifle which corrected and improved upon the Hrchul 7-12.

The Dirziet couldn't have come at a better time. It saw it's premiere during Operation Sprangahn, the Corhee army's 'suicide push' through the Heghobair Mountains into Ohhae. The Corhee had a major advantage against their Ohhaed and Tyakkorj enemies due to the Dirziet and other equipment reforms of the Rearmament Orders; so much of an advantage, in fact, that the Corhee hero Mercy Tohmal Aheexh layed the final Operation Sprangahn victory at Sfaehhog on the trusty rifle, and appended the Corhee national motto to 'Ten-thousand years! The Immortal State, and the Dirziet rifle!'

As the Dirziet was distributed out to the various armies of the Treaty nations, it rapidly became the favored rifle of Treaty soldiers. Among some tribes on the boundaries of the war, it was so strongly associated with the Treaty that the Dirziet, with it's prominent blade and striped stock, became a symbol of the Treaty itself (much in the same way that the masked helmet became shorthand for the Compact).

As the war has continued, the Dirziet has become, by the estimates of some neutral analysts, the most common and widely-used weapon in the world. A sturdy design, easy to clean and repair, simple to take apart and reassemble, and accurate, the Dirziet is the reckoned to be the most popular firearm ever produced.

The Design
The Dirziet Model-6 is a magazine-fed bolt-action rifle. It has a sturdy body and a slightly shortened barrel in comparison to other firearms in it's class. It is outfitted with an extra-long blade, more of a short-sword than a bayonet, in the traditional Corhee manner. The ease with which the rifle is disassembled and reassembled also makes it easy to customize; customized Dirziets are extremely common, so common, in fact, that it is sometimes difficult to find a 'standard' Model-6. The stock of a Driziet rifle has, since it's inception, been made with three orange stripes; for a brief period, Treaty factories did not mark the rifles with these stripes, but the uproar it raised saw to it that the distinctive markings were applied once more.
The Dirziet can functionally utilize a wide variety of rounds, another boost to it's versatility.
Srathic pleromaticists, in conjunction with the Treaty High Command, have recently produced a new model of Dirziet, the Dirziet Model-6 Special, made for use by pleromatic technicians in the field. It is outfitted with special chambers and mechanisms for use in pleromatic functions, and has been remarked upon for it's 'efficient flow of essence'.