Initharian Defining Tech: Age of War Revision
Proposal: Refocyte RifleThe refocyte weaponry of Inithar remained relevant in warfare long after it’s equivalents in other nations fell out of service. When other nations developed crossbows and pikes, the longbow and spear’s explosive force still allowed Initharian forces to defeat a force that outnumbered them by a wide margin. When crude gunpowder weaponry came into play, the same happened; a line of musketmen was just a wide target for the longbowmen, while the gunmen were lucky if they hit the terrain near an Initharian soldier. But as weapons tech developed, it became practical for the enemy to use wider and more dispersed formations, far more difficult to disrupt with a single well aimed arrow or stab.
The Folly was one of the worst events in Initharian history. But it carried some beneficial effects. With the loosening of the once strict rules for craftsmen and engineers, the replacements for the old Refocyte Craftsmen were far more willing to innovate and learn from the innovations of others - after all, anything they can do, we can do better. Thus as the drums of war beat loud, the engineers looked at the weapons of their enemies, scoffed, and decided to show them how it’s done - after all, a gun is just a tube with which you fire metal at high speed at someone else, how hard can it be?
The firing mechanism of the rifle is simple. Every bullet has two main components; the bullet itself (a thin rear layer of a metal like iron, a thin layer of rubber, and then the rest is refocyte charged before entering the engagement), and a small cap of charged refocyte behind it. When the trigger is pulled, a mechanism rapidly forces the cap forward into the bullet, discharging the kinetic energy into the iron base to shove the bullet down the rifled barrel at high speed. Then, the rifleman ejects the cap to let another bullet into the chamber, and it repeats. While individual bullets are able to store less energy than an arrow due to small size, there are two factors that make up for it - speed of firing (no need for a long draw time and the shot moves faster than an arrow), and ease of training. The rubber layer in the bullets is a result of a recent discovery; in the aftermath of the folly, it was discovered that kinetic energy that travels through rubber treats refocyte as if it were a normal object, rather than refocyte. Thus, the layer of rubber prevents the refocyte bullet from prematurely detonating.
The rifle itself is primarily made of wood, with the mechanisms made of metal; spent caps are ejected from the top of the weapon (and can be recovered for later recharge). The gun has an average sized clip (with a rubber inlay so as to avoid premature discharge of the bullets). Compared to the firearms of other nations, the Refocyte Rifle has a notably shorter barrel, on account of using refocyte propellant rather than gas.
Difficulty: Very HardResult: (6+5)-2=9,
Above AverageIt was unfortunate that more oversight wasn't provided to the engineers who first produced Refocyte firearms. Being created during the Opening of the Castes meant that the more skilled refocyte-smiths were either recently deceased or focusing on cultural reform to allow their trade a chance at survival. While gunpowder was standard during the early era of firearms, the refocyte-working trade eventually caught up with everyone else and began producing modern weapons. The road was difficult, and would have been an impossible feat before the discovery of Refocyte impurity. While refining purer forms of refocyte proved to be time consuming and expensive, the results granted refocyte-smiths a wide spectrum of refocyte to work with to get the proper amount of force storage in the proper sizes of parts, mechanisms, and devices. The discovery of rubber's ability to neutralize the effects of impact on refocyte also changed the game wildly. Inithar's relatively medieval armory, though effective, had been rapidly losing it's dominance and these two advancements directly resulted in the unique firearms we see from Inithar.
Refocyte rifles had shorter barrels of their gunpowder counterparts by about half, but made up for it in general bulk thanks to the need for rubber lining anywhere refocyte may touch that wasn't meant to set it off. A refocyte-tipped hammer slammed into the refocyte primer in the end of the refocyte bullet that then impacted said bullet to propel it forward at subsonic speeds, with each refocyte component purified to the proper levels to trigger at the proper times. While range and penetration suffered, the guns were much quieter than their powder-propulsion counterparts. They were a tad more difficult to produce, so making them in bulk, especially with the industrial issues of Inithar at the time, could cause reliability issues.
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The Air War
Refocyte firearms proved useful when defending the tropical islands of the Initharian Archipelago. While The Great Powers were slow to get a foothold on Initharian territory, it became an eventuality. Bodies were thrown into the sea to "put an end to the Initharian Menace", but even if the Powers took an island it was never truly safe. It was difficult to zero in on where shots were coming from in the middle of a gunfight, and Inithar took advantage of this with smaller, highly mobile units. These jungle warriors were not enough to hold off the invading forces however, especially as another front they
couldn't contest opened up: the skies.
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You are currently charged with
designing an aircraft during an era dominated by biplanes. Keep that in mind when trying to estimate difficulty. Note that you may choose to design something other than an aircraft if you deem it more important, but it will impact the path of your nation in a way that will adjust requirements for your final design as well as dramatically influence the narrative.
It is now the Design Phase.Voyaging Canoe: A single-outrigger canoe with a sail. Constructed of stone-carved wood and 8-10m long. Stable, sturdy, seaworthy, and reliable. This stands out not just in Inithar history, but in the history of the world.
Refocyte Longbow: A bow as tall as a man with great range known for it's pairing with Refocyte Arrows. The arrows use Refocyte heads capable of transferring the stored energy within through the tip and into the target to devastating effect.
--Refocyte Firearms: Stout firearms with less penetration and range than gunpowder firearms but significantly quieter.
Refocyte Spear: A spear with a Refocyte tip capable of causing debilitating blasts on top of the normal ability of a spear to stab.
Coilboat: A small, agile naval craft powered by the Coilengine. While unremarkable on it's own, the Coilengine revolutionized Initharian industry.
Tales of Color: A highly complex system of identification and communication relying solely on colors and patterns. It is nearly impenetrable for outsiders even by today's standards.
Inithar's Folly: A tragic historical event wherein a large number of Initharian Refocyte-smiths of high standing were killled in a dam collapse.
Unique Resource - Refocyte: A metal that in it's base state stores energy applied through impact until a threshold is reached, where it will deliver the entirety of the stored force at the point of impact. An uncharged piece resembles silver and will become a dark green as it charges. Twisting and compressing rods into coils leaves them slowly unfurling with force relative to their gauge and the tightness of the coil. Purification to varying levels manipulates the capacity of the metal. Rubber negates the charge/discharge effects of impact.