Full Item Description

Outwardly, the cogwheel rifle looks roughly the same as the Locastrian Breech-Loader, with the chief difference that there is nowhere to load a charge of gunpowder, merely the top-break action to allow the aerodynamic projectile to be loaded. The stock of the weapon is filled with intricate clockwork, springs and cogs all interlocked in a dense mesh; on one side of the stock is a plug, which covers a hole where a winding lever may be inserted.

In operation, the rifle is nearly silent, with only a soft thump of air to indicate that anything has happened; the projectile, nearly silent, averages a range of 300 meters. Decent armor can slow or even completely block the projectile, making it somewhat less favored by standard infantry.

History

The cogwheel rifle is a simple evolution of the crossbow, built to take advantage of advances in the understanding of pneumatic pressure; silent and invisible compared to a black powder weapon, it has gained favor among scouts and assassins as the rise of gunpowder had made armor an obsolete affectation.

Magic/Cursed Properties

None; the rifle operates by using the clockwork mechanisms in the stock to compress air into a canister built at the base of the barrel; the number of shots available is limited, with most unmodified rifles averaging 25 shots; the relative silence and accuracy of the highly aerodynamic projectile is often a highly valued trait among those who own the gun, permitting them to fire and fade away without the telltale flash of a gunpowder discharge.

Unfortunately, the intricate clockwork innards are also the weapon's weak point; a slipped gear or broken spring in the weapon often requires a trained gearsmith to repair properly. Most often this is the result of overcranking the rifle when filling the air canister.

Properly compressing the canister takes roughly two minutes of steady cranking; if need be, a lesser charge can be used, although below thirty seconds of winding there is generally insufficient pressure to make more than one or two relatively weak shots.

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Steampunk!

Any sort of steampunk at all from thaumatech to simple old-fashioned steamtech.

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