Spellbore

Comparing a spellbore to a common firearm is the first, and commonly last, mistake of someone with far too much faith in their armor. While similar in appearance, the spellbore takes all the potential of a firearm to new heights, whilst simultaneously doing away with much of its shortcomings. Consisting primarily of an exterior almost identical to that of an average gun, it instead contains a powerful arcane focus and magewright inscribings along its interior. It is a rare and expensive weapon, and highly responsible for much of the Arborvale Concord's more recent military conquests.

Initially lauded as a world-changing discovery, firearms proved to do little to change the landscape of war. They were costly to produce, often inaccurate, and could be countered by spells and enchantments almost as easily as a sword or arrow. Firearms rapidly fell into place as a specific tool used only by specific groups of soldiers, or a toy held by nobles looking to flaunt their wealth. Outside of its exponentially higher cost, the spellbore proved to be an incredibly powerful weapon, the fully realized version of what the Concord had hoped for in firearms.

Channeling magic threw an internal focus into inscribings along the interior of the barrel, a spellbore allowed its user to precisely weaponize magic on an adept level. A soldier could now truly return fire in kind to an enemy mage, their weapon belching flame, lightning, and ice. Without the worry of crude compounds and projectiles, spellbores proved to have near flawless precision. Despite their cost, the Concord quickly commissioned a number of them, forming a new military branch specializing in their usage. Commonly dubbed "Spellbreakers," they are an elite detachment specializing in the countering of magic users and armaments, as well as acquistion of key targets. Numbering only roughly around a hundred, they are nonetheless feared as an example of the Concord's might.

With this new weapon at their disposal, the Arborvale Concord now had an answer as to how to break past through the longstanding stalemates it had held for so long. Those few along their borders who had resisted them were quickly overpowered, or were pushed deeper into their own territory. Satiated for the moment, the Concord took this development as a sign to redouble their efforts in the West, confident in the success of its newest form of destruction.

Inventor(s)

Thestral Gralt

Access & Availability

Cost and relative effectiveness makes standard firearms already rather rare, usually only utilized by certain military detachments. Ten times as costly as the average gun, spellbores are carried almost exclusively by certain elite units, more martial mages, and the odd nobleman. An exception to this rule is the fairly young order of St. Elisteen, an order of Paladins known to carry Spellbores with specialized shields.

Complexity

Spellbores require a combination of rare metals and arcane materials, coupled with a high skill in enchanting and spell-inscribing. This limits their creation to not only certain individuals with the necessary abilities, but also specific locations in the world, capable of readily obtaining these things in one place. The process is lengthy, taking anywhere from one month to several for creation, largely dependent on the potency and range of spells contained in it. Once finished, however, all it takes is proper training and some practice for the most mundane of users to utilize it as effectively as any mage.

Discovery

The Spellbore was officially invented through the efforts of Archmagewright Thestral Gralt, of the Concordian College of Scribes and Magewrights, in the year 318 A.A. According to official records, its discovery was a beneficial side-effect of research into the inscribing of