Gold Piercing Bullets

A theoretical technology that despite centuries of research has never been realized. While the ability for such a technology to exist is forever in question, it is believed to have a grand effect on warfare and Elemental society, revolutionizing it. The research towards this lofty goal is forever in a cycle of being in and out of fashion, with 'in' periods resulting in millions of Jewels being poured into its potential development. All the world's militaries are constantly pushing for it to be developed, and for their side to figure out how to make it real. Always hopeful that they be the one to create the weapon that would change the future of Erina.

Attempted Designs

The biggest hurdle to overcome to create bullets that could themselves pierce Elementals is the natural Gold barrier around all of them. This is formed from the Gold magic that is integrated into the very fibre of all Elementals. In addition to defining the reality within their bodies that allows Elementals to exist in the first place, so too does it create a shield from any small projectiles from actually making contact, as well as preventing the skin from being broken by non-Gold weapons. While it was initially believed that creating bullets out of Gold would be enough, these too are sent ricochetting. Hence, why the majority of weapons in Erina are either blades or explosive munitions.

One idea that held much faith in its potential was the theory of weaponizing Ward Delirium to alter the Gold so that it allows bullets to cause harm. Essentially redefining the space the Gold occupies in an Elemental's body. This is exactly what happens in those transformed by Ward Delirium, allowing these 'Lost' Elementals to be fatally shot by human weapons in other universes. The major issue with the theory is that Ward Delirium only affects children, as adult Elementals are immune to the effects of the Wards of other universes. This did not stop several cases of extremely unethical studies into it, mostly by Toraian scientists. None of which were very successful, as the second issue with the theory is that Wards are produced by natural forces within Universes, and replicating such a force has not yet become feasible. Critics would also add that it would be difficult to produce such a forced within a small device such as a bullet, and would require a massive amount of technology to go into each bullet. This would likely necessitate that they be collected to be reused, largely defeating the point of using bullets over Gold arrows.

The closest anyone has gotten has been the idea to combine a bullet and an explosive device. While not a true version of a 'Gold Piercing Bullet', it has had the most success. In combining the easy to pack sized ammo with the ability of charged magical explosives and Shrapnel etched with Gold, these exploding bullets mimic enough of the effects. Minus the fact that they must be significantly larger than traditional 'bullets', so that the shrapnel is not repelled like bullet s traditionally are. Powerful against the magical armour of Elementals, and requiring far less skill to use than a bow with explosive arrows. Their use has recently been perfected with the extremely recent invention of 'Black Steel', a lightweight metal with a proportion of Gold to regular metal that allows a fairly cheap manufacturing cost of firearms invented by Zora Hearthworthen, and produced exclusively by Hearthworthen Manufacturing. Now these explosive 'bullets' are becoming common sights on battlefields. Though the majority would argue they are more of small grenades, rather than bullets.

Societal Effects

The inability for bullets to pierce Elementals has effected how warfare has been fought from the start. Whether the dominance of the Elementals during the Mourning War, to the reliance on swords, pole arms, and bows regardless of how other technology has speed forward to produce artillery, explosives, and missiles to entire city blocks. It is generally believed that true Gold Piercing Bullets would lead to an extreme shift back towards modern human style warfare.

However, these beliefs are not without those that disagree with the notion. Scholars, military scientists, and even doctors argue that even with bullets, Elemental healing would quickly mitigate any harm such small pieces of metal would cause. For one, Fire Elementals heal at a rate that allows them to survive what would be completely lethal blows to a human from swords and arrows to the skull. All Elementals heal completely and at a magical rate, healing back entire lost limbs in time measured by minutes, not hours. Brain damage, while potentially lethal depending on the cause and extent, heals with memories and function intact. Even small explosives have the risk to leave a soldier on the battlefield alive, with it being common knowledge that Fire Elementals especially are to be decapitated even after artillery strikes. Lest the damage not be enough. Despite the hype, it is likely that these factors would reduce the actual effectiveness of the technology, as Elementals simply are not Humans, even if they could be shot. The transformed Elementals effected by Ward Delirium only punctuate this point, since even they heal enough to potentially survive situations that would certainly kill a human. Unless bullets could be changed to produce extreme amounts of damage before they exit the body, this will continue to be an issue.

And at that point, maybe you should just create a weapon that shoots Gold saw blades instead of trying to get bullets to work.