A Bolt In Blue
Arcstria are projectile weapons, developed by Fjorlosian mythrifice sometime circa 1350 A.C.R., with Drostollorian aid. The weapons are designed to move a piece of
Mythral crystal forward via a mythral rail, using the properties of mythral attraction between intert and infused mythral crystals. This phenomenon can be utilized to bring items to speeds thought impossible by traditional kinetic mechanisms.
"Something like this isn't right to be wielded by the untrained or the dishonorable. This is the key to a new age that, upon opening its gates, shall close its doors behind us such that we may never return again. - Olonok Kohlakkar
A recent development, the weapons remain extremely rare and supremely difficult to create without the proper tools and knowledge. Even with those things, fewer than five individuals have crafted the weapons. Their ammunition, however, is far more simple to fabricate, and thus, if one can manage to find themselves in the possession of an arcstria, they may very well arm themselves thereafter.
Mythral Rails And Projectile Acceleration
A key component of the operation of arcstria as weapons is the mythral projectile rail system. This works on a principle of mythral known as mythral attraction, or
Sar attraction.
Mythral crystals may exist in two states dependent on sar saturation, sar being the latent energy or magic that rests within
The Veil. One of these sates is an
inert state, where no sar inhabits the crystal. Also known as the "pulling" state, this form of the crystal yearns to be embodied by sar. The other state is an
infused state wherein the crystal has some degree of sar saturation. This saturation has a limit before the crystal shatters, vaporizing as the crystal itself turns entirely to sar, released back into the Veil.
Mythral crystals wish to be at an equalibrium of sar where possible, and if an infused crystal is exposed to an inert one, they will pull to one another in a way similar to that of magnets. Dissimilar to magnets, however, is the radius and strength with which they pull. Infused crystals will pull more toward uninfused ones, and so as a crystal is pulled to another, transfusing sar between them, they lose their attractive strength rapidly. Though mythral can only hold so much sar, if there is no immediate place to go, sar will linger around a newly infused crystal for a brief moment before dispersing.
A mythral rail works with this principal. Two parallel rails of uninfused mythral are affixed to the front of a weapon. The rail is actually composed of numerous small "teeth" of mythral, sized larger at the handle or aft end of the weapon than the fore. These rails will take a piece of infused crystal, and pull between them equally foreward. As the crystal releases energy into the aft of the rail, the still-uninfused crystals at the fore will pull it with more strength than the partially infused crystals at the aft of the rail. In a brief instant, this can bring an infused crystal to speeds capable of punching through steel.
Projectile Construction And Firing Mechanism
The most common projectile used for arcstria is known as a drill or tribolt. Also called bolts or darts, these projectiles are made up of three primary components.
The first is an infused mythral crystal completely covered in a shatterable barrier that doesn't let mythral weld through it, such as glass or thin clay.
The second is an inert crystal that is undersized compared to the infused crystal before it. This crystal is exposed on the back of the third component. The make and quality of this crystal is of the most importance to the projectile's speed. Well crafted crystals with sharp edges and more perfect symmetry can transfer sar more quickly and will thereby be made into faster projectiles by the rail.
The third is the foreward projectile, or actual drill of the entire projectile. They are generally shaped in a spiral so that they may travel greater distance in the air, and penetrate its target deeper, as there is no profiling rail to send the projectile through.
A trigger at the front of the weapon pressed through a spring-loaded halting mechanism, and once enough pressure is applied, the hammer strikes the infused crystal, pressing it into the inert crystal and overloading it with sar. The projectile is then pressed far enough forward that it slips through the barrier preventing it from being pulled by the mythral rail. The doorway into the rail closes behind it, and the trigger's retraction pulls the circular magazine, or cylinder, back, which releases the next drill into its loaded position.
Often due to the need to spin the weapon to defuse the mythral rail, the trigger mechanism's retraction and reloading of the magazine can be done in the same spinning motion.
Firing, And Defusing The Rail
The over-charged mythral crystals typically don't fully lose their sar upon firing unless a calculated size is used in the drill, in accordance with how much will be taken over a given flight through a rail. This is generally unnecessary when making the ammunition as they need more than what the inert crystal in the drill can use, but having too much is not an issue. This results in most shots leaving the rail still burning off their sar in flight as the rest is absorbed into the rails over a long period. After being attracted to the crystals, however, the sar in the drill's mythral crystal will form a stream to the inert crystals on the rail. This results in a mythral-blue tracer back to the weapon from the drill's path.
The problem with arcstria is the defusing of their newly infused rails so that the next projectile can travel at its maximum speed. The solution, however, is rather simple. Mythral and sar, while attracted to rigid geometry and parallel shapes, are repelled by smooth ones. Spheres and circles are known as geometric repellents, and simply spinning the arcstria once or twice can defuse the crystals back to their inert state.
