Petrinan Trenchbreaker

 

The hellmortar rose its cast iron towards the rising sun. A train in the distance transporting thousands was set in its crosshairs. Cruel smiles adorned demonic features, as Cain’s brood awaited the slaughter.   As the infernal weapon counted down the velocity, seconds before the fuse would be lit for fire - a single man rose from the desert dunes. In one hand, he held a terrible nine-barreled pistol. Surely too unwieldy to be effective. In the other, a spiked grenade rose to his exposed mouth. The mask shattered in half, with his stitched back jaw etching gold teeth into the pin. Tearing it out as his palm slammed down the button in its handle.   The demons could not see the Trenchbreakers eyes, but they felt the aura of a fate that had been sealed and accepted. Certainty turned into dread as the cannoneer's head evaporated into red mists. Then the air was shattered by the sound of cracking bones as a charging bastard took a spike through the skull.   What followed was an utter madness beyond the comprehension of hell itself - as a dead man walking hacked at random and spun on his heels. Breaking necks and blowing out brains with point blank shots.   At the break of noon, only one explosion was heard. The cannon obliterated - and none left alive.

 

Promotion and Training

  Trenchbreakers are picked from a pool of ordinary legionaries. Testing the experienced veterans with various trials such as running for long distances in their heavy gear, lifting themselves up on ledges and shooting effectively on the move.   Usually, it is the shortest among the legionaries that get promoted into trenchbreakers, due to being harder to hit and faster on short sprints.     A type of extreme trench club - featuring a spiked stickbomb which the Trenchbreakers use both in melee combat, but can also be thrown like a grenade if the pin is pulled out. This weapon also sports a button by handle, which when pressed down ensures that the weapon does not explode until thrown.   A finely decorated shotgun made out of oiled mahogany wood and dark steel. It carries shorter barrels than most shotguns and features five pipes that are riveted together on a revolving barrel. Allowing for rapid lever-action firing and relatively swift reloads by breaking open the chambers and slotting the bullets into them.   The weapon also has a steel plate fastened to the butt of the stock. Giving it a force multiplier if an enemy gets too close to a Trenchbreaker where it is faster to give them a rifle slam than swap to the trench-club.   A weapon that took the joke about shooting an elephant in a corridor far too seriously. Nine long barrels, absurd amounts of frontal weight and absolutely no accuracy at all. The Noonshot Pepperbox revolver is a terrifying weapon in confined spaces. Carrying enough stopping power to make that titanic beast bleed and kneel with rapid explosive shots.   It is not a weapon meant to ever be reloaded in combat, as it was made to end the fight before the ninth round hits the last target.