Razordown

Razordown, also known as 'zipperdown,' is a form of weapon employed by arcana-wielders as a means of converting traditional force or 'blast' magic into a storm of slashing projectiles.

Manufacturing process

Razordown in it's most basic form is simply volumes of heterogenous turnings, flakes, and sputtering created as a byproduct of metalworking processes. The production of clockwork devices (i.e. by the Winder's Guild) creates mounds of 'raw' razordown made of brass - strong enough to dissuate armored targets, but generally too weak to harm langostinites or clockwork automata. Rarer and more expensive are packs of razordown made from alchemically-hardened metals intentionally flaked into feather-like blades. These more potent forms of razordown are more common among professional militiaries as they have the capacity to destroy rigging, jam mechanisms, and penetrate light armor.

Significance

An arcanist can channel their force-based magic into a volume of razordown rather than directly into their intended target. This causes the razordown to shoot away from the arcanist in the direction of their target in a quickly-expanding cone, slashing and piercing the target with a cloud of shrapnel. Because the cloud disperses and loses energy quickly as a result of its relatively high air resistance, attacking in this manner with razordown are only effective in short, cone-shaped area spreading away from the arcanist; the heavier and more aerodynamic the debris, the further it will fly.
An arcanist might choose to use razordown instead of attacking directly with their magic because the target is resistant to magic (or force effects in particular) or because the arcanist wants to dissuade multiple opponents at once rather than seriously injuring them; razordown, unless military-grade (see Manufacturing Process), has little stopping power because of its low mass and tendency to disperse rather than flying straight away from the point of origin.

Item type

Weapon, Ranged

Rarity

Cheap razordown, being the flaked-off remnants of larger metal masses, is common wherever metalworking takes place.