Arcbalest

The Arcbalest is the staple firearm used by the Scaenchai and sometimes military marksmen/seekers. A relatively new technology, an arcbalest replaces cartridges with shells of ahniarakk, a powerful energy source used to fuel most modern machinery. As ahniarakk is only found in the North Hills as a liquid, it was very rare if not impossible for any force outside of Erwood to weaponise it. This meant the Yrdain Empire had the upper hand in firearm technology, slowly introducing the arcbalest towards the Third Emergence.

The weapon would not replace the common Basilisk Rifle, however, as it was far more expensive to manufacture and had a higher risk factor during usage. An ordnance scaentec described them "...as lethal to the user as they are to the enemy." Hence why these advanced rifles were entrusted with well-trained riflemen. While ahniarakk was useful ammunition due to its abundance and effectiveness against a target, when condensed into the often-brittle shells that housed it, its explosive properties became far more volatile. Several men and women were killed just by accidentally dropping the weapon/shells, causing violent and searing hot bursts of energy that vaporised flesh. Many of the early designs were destroyed just in firing.

Due to this unreliable nature, arcbalests were equipped when dealing with larger, more heavily armoured targets or wild animals like wolfogres. The energy would burst from the shell inside the weapon, travelling down the long barrel at impeccable speed and soar in a narrow stream towards its target with great accuracy. A revealing flash of light would emit from the rifle after the projectile met its victim, leaving absolutely no reaction time. The sound was described as 'unholy' and 'blood-curdling', compared to a loud but short scrape of fingernails across a chalkboard, followed by a high pitch scream of a child. Users required ear defenders, as the sound could cause severe damage to their hearing even after one shot. Upon impact, providing the shot wasn't already fatal, everything within an inch-inch and a half of the impact zone would be disintegrated as the ahniarakk sunk into the wound, boiling and dissolving flesh, muscle, bone and organ alike. Depending on the range, a successful arcbalest shot would leave a much larger exit wound.

This effect was at first criticised as it technically cauterised the wound instantaneously, but it later showed that being exposed to pure ahniarakk, especially inside an open wound, would lead to sickness and death if not treated quickly. Edermun Dantjek, one of few survivors of an arcbalest-inflicted wound, said "It was as if someone had super-heated a saw blade, dug it into my shoulder and started twisting it as fast as they could, only to continue doing so for days without relenting."

Priming the weapon to fire required both patience and strength; 7 shells could be carefully loaded into the top cavity (later designs would allow users to carry backpacks containing ahniarakk chambers that actively fed the rifle) after which they would be lowered one by one with a nock handle, then pulled back into the firing chamber with the same handle in a horizontal motion (similar to bolt action). When cocked back, a striker would run across the brittle shell and begin heating it up, enticing the contents to expand (this meant the user had to commit to either firing or venting the heat quickly). When the trigger is pulled, a hammer collides with the shell and accelerates the expansion, breaking off the back of the shell as the energy within blasts out and self-propels from the barrel. Due to the reaction's high speed, and ahniarakk being considered 'liquid light', the resulting projectile rarely missed its mark of 100% accuracy; the user's skill also determined this. The energy emitted backwards would immediately be vented from the upper exhaust tubes and away from the user (also to prevent residual energy heating the unspent shells still in it).