Firearms

Firearms are an outgrowth of explosive technology intended for personal use tools to fend off threats at range. They fire small metal projectiles that can cause severe, concentrated damage: closer in effect to a focused magical ray than to a full-scale explosive. Firearms are generally less destructive than bombs but far more practical for protection, hunting, and combat for those who lack strong spellcasting abilities.  

Access/Availablity

Firearms’ acceptance varies widely between realms:   Some polities outright ban their manufacture and ownership, viewing guns as a crude affront to tradition and a dangerous substitute for disciplined magic.   Others impose strict regulations: licenses, registration, guild oversight, or limits on who may possess certain calibers or types.   In more permissive places like parts of Saint Oxenford, firearms are treated like common tools available to anyone who can afford them, akin to buying a sword or a simple wand.   Cultural attitudes strongly influence how firearms are integrated: in conservative magic centered kingdoms they are rare and stigmatized; in frontier or militarized regions they spread quickly as practical implements.  

Discovery/Inventor

The first rudimentary guns evolved from early gunpowder devices such as fireworks and cannons. The origins of the very first handheld weapon remain shrouded in palace secrecy and obscured by lost records. Known only as the Empress’s Scepter, it was said to have been wielded by Saint Oxenford’s first king. Many assume it was a magical artifact rather than a true firearm, but the full story was buried under court intrigue and the careful custodianship of the royal family.   Centuries later, Saint Oxenford produced the first true musket. Its inventor was Thomas Dubai, an explosives expert who spent most of his life working the kingdom’s mines, blasting open rock and carving tunnels. One season, disheartened after another failed hunting trip mocked by his friends for being able to blast open a mountain but not strike down a deer Thomas wandered into the woods with his powder charges. As he set off small blasts, he noticed fragments of shrapnel tearing into tree trunks, biting deep into the bark.   The sight sparked an idea. Remembering the old tales of the Empress’s Scepter, Thomas resolved to create a tool that could launch a single projectile with precision, like a cannon in miniature. The greatest challenges were twofold: shaping a barrel strong enough to withstand the blast, and finding the right measure of powder to fire a bullet without shattering the weapon in the user’s hands.   Through long trial and error, Thomas refined his design a smooth, straight barrel paired with a simple ignition system. At last, he succeeded. The year he unveiled his musket was also the year he returned from the forest with a prize buck, silencing his friends’ jests and proving the weapon’s worth. From that day on, the musket of Saint Oxenford spread, marking the dawn of firearm technology in the known kingdoms.