Firearms

In a human society beset by dragons and giants and other monsters, effective weapons are a major branch of technological development. Humans had only just discovered a reliable method for creating firepowder when the DragonFall occurred. During the DragonWar, dwarven artisans took the lead in developing firearms and their use against dragons and other foes. At the beginning of the DragonWar, primitive firearms were large, cumbersome and usually required more than one individual to handle, load and fire. By the time of the Sundering, firearms had developed in fairly standardized individual pistols and long arms and group-maintained artillery. Following the Sundering, very little innovation has been spent on further development of firearms. Instead, the besieged condition of human cities favors reliable, well-understood weapons of war. In the millennium of the Grand Caravan, the only major change in firearm technology has been an increasing standardization of design across all city-states, and the use of pre-measured paper charges to increase reliability and decrease. At the current time, individual firearms come in three primary forms; pistols for close quarters combat, muskets for longer ranged, or volley fire, and shot-guns for devastating fire at relatively short ranges. All of these are single fire, muzzle-loaded weapons. All of them use a spring loaded hammer to strike an embedded firecrystal in the breech of the weapon. This firecrystal generates a a directional electric charge that ignites the firepowder. Firecrystals are, without a doubt, the most cost-prohibitive part of constructing new firearms. Firepowder generates a relatively high pressure and only a small amount of smoke. The barrels of firearms are smoothbore and are aimed using open, iron sights.