Progress Update 21 (October 21st 2023)

Heyo and salutations, everyone ^w^

This progress update, if you can even call it that, is going to be a bit different than the rest, since in the past month, I haven't exactly been working on the script and narrative content of Chapter 14 very much, even though I said I would.  

As Tatocat continues her LP of EL9FG, a youtuber whose channel I strongly recommend checking out using this link, (www.youtube.com/@tatocat3926), I've decided to further develop the game's dojo mode, which is the endless battle simulator that you can enter anytime you, as the player, are in the Lucid Cell's Headquarters, by entering the Armory, and selecting Dojo Mode, as shown (poorly) in the screenshots below:

At the moment, the dojo only has one battle, and that seems a little bare-bones to me, so I've started work on adding more. The same goes for the game's weapon sandbox, so I've decided that before I work on fleshing out the Dojo's battles through more extensive tutorials and potentially mission battle replay, I'm going to add some more weapons to the game that can be used and upgraded later on in the campaign, or at any time at their maximum tier if you use them in Dojo mode. 

The following is a list of what I plan to do before I resume work on the actual script of Chapter 14:

-Create/install sound files for the 9 new weapons I plan to introduce to the game (done)

-Set all equipment screen variables for the 9 new weapons (8/9 done)

-Write descriptions for 9 new weapons (8/9 done)

-Configure the equipment screen to show relevant data on the new weapons

-Add status screen/subscreen data and gameplay 'responsives' (repeatedly run variable recalculation/update nodes) for the four specialization classes and an ability data chart for the abilities associated with the Nerve Hunter tree, as well as a more detailed 'attunement' classification system, with some new abilities being added in the process

-Make Yama a playable squad member with his own abilities, variables, responsives, stats, and a more detailed character screen

-Create a second and third dojo mission tutorial, and a fourth squad sandbox mission, all of which will feature the new, working weapons with reticle ATL animations and sounds, (as well as some new neat and exotic magic-type abilities)

-Make missions replayable (once or endlessly with increasing difficulty) in the Dojo

-Finally resume work on the actual script of Chapter 14

Posted way below are the  descriptions of the eight (out of nine) weapons I currently have descriptions for, if you're curious, as well as an image macro I created in the style of an r/foreverbox post. It depicts a character that I have yet to introduce in EL9FG, though you may already know who she is from her hairstyle and outfit alone...

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Nightingale Armory BC1 Phase Pistol: The BC1 Phase Pistol is an compact, frequency-adjustable, pulse laser sidearm developed for and issued to trusted members of the Birdsong Collective’s Inner Collective, such as its Electrocutioners or field researchers, for both personal defense and covert operations. The inscription on every BC1 Phase Pistol's receiver suggests manufacture by a 'Nightingale Armory', believed to be the pre-eminent supplier of proprietary energy weapons to the Birdsong Collective based on what little information regarding them is available. While the specifications and manufacturing process of the BC1 are publicly available on the Birdsong Network in 52 different languages, the ten-terajoule 35x7mm hydrogen-antihydrogen power cells required for the Phase Pistol can only be obtained from certain agents authorized to act on behalf of the Inner Collective, and how those agents are able to produce or obtain the constituent antimatter in any form has yet to be determined, though the SSD suspects the involvement of Nightingale Armory, whoever or whatever they may be comprised of. As of 2041, the Special Services Division has gained access to fewer than ten operable BC1 units with a working antimatter power cell, all of which have been heavily damaged and obtained by dead drop through unofficial channels and third parties, given the danger inherent to attempting to confiscate one directly from the Birdsong Collective. Rather ironically, many of these units were purchased using the Birdsong Network itself, as their decentralized encryption protocols make it virtually impossible to track down thieves and unauthorized brokers. According to the findings of SSD scientists who performed tests on the BC1 in a controlled environment, the weapon’s frequency modulating capabilities allow it to aid its user in a variety of tasks other than simply inflicting harm or causing destruction, such as laser-cutting, welding, cauterizing wounds, or performing acts of arson with minimal forensic evidence. Based on their analysis of the weapon, the nanolaser diode array in the Phase Pistol’s barrel can be configured to emit electromagnetic radiation in a vast range of frequencies from ELF radio with a minimum rated frequency of 0.1 Hz to high-energy gamma rays with a maximum rated frequency of 300 EHz, fired in pulsed increments of 10 gigajoules each, with its duration varying based on the currently selected output frequency and sustained-fire power limit of 10 gigawatts. A constant-wattage fire mode can be selected for non-combat applications, but the 10 gigawatt power limit remains in place and the resulting beam may be less efficient overall if the operator has difficulty tracking their target. In order for the energy discharge to be effectively absorbed by its target, the BC1 Phase Pistol uses an ultraviolet laser interferometric spectrometer to analyze its trajectory, velocity, density, and composition, automatically adjusting the output frequency and power of the laser pulse for optimal efficiency. Frequency and power can both be manually configured through the weapon’s user interface, but this is not recommended. With certain safety measures of the BC1 removed, SSD scientists were able to overload the nanodiode array and produce frequencies of 715 EHz before the power cell’s heatsink burst, melting down and flooding the barrel with supercritical tungsten coolant that destroyed the weapon and compromised the power cell’s remaining fuel, causing an antihydrogen explosion that vaporized the robotic arm firing it. Fortunately, the scientists assigned to researching it were adequately protected and suffered no permanent damage, which is more than can be said of most people unfortunate enough to be caught in the wake of the 10-gigajoule laser pulse emitted by the Phase Pistol. As a powerful Class 12 laser, the Phase Pistol’s beam can cause temporary and permanent eye damage, particularly of the retina, if viewed from any angle without an adequate powered light filter between it and the observer’s eyes, even if they are closed. At worst, this leads to blindness, necessitating ocular reconstruction surgery in a stem cell printer if the victim’s sight is to be restored. If the frequency of the emitted radiation exceeds that of visible light, these effects will be accompanied by DNA damage and radiation poisoning in addition to severe retinal burns. As a Directed Ionizing Radiation Energy (DIRE) Weapon, the Phase Pistol is banned internationally by the Geneva Protocols and considered a Schedule 1 weapon under the United Nations International Nuclear Peace Council’s Universal Declaration Against the Use of Cruel and Unusual Weapons, passed in 2029 and is observed as constitutional-level law in over 150 countries. All three Trifect Corporations also observe this declaration as corporate law, with Kazehaya Combine in particular showing an extreme level of fear and revulsion toward ionizing radiation or any weapon that utilizes it to inflict harm. This goes so far that speaking of ionizing radiation in explicit terms when clear communication is not needed is considered taboo. Because of this, many Blackstar Security personnel refer to ionizing radiation as nagai-shi, an indirect term that translates literally to “long death” in Old Nijakawan. Anyone who has had a friend or loved one not receive treatment in time after being exposed to it will no doubt agree that this term is quite accurate, and that anyone willing to weaponize it is worthy of contempt. The effectiveness of such an approach, however, speaks for itself. 

Nightingale Armory BC2 Autograser: Based on the SSD’s knowledge of the text inscribed on the fewunits of the model it has recovered The Nightingale Armory BC2 Automatic Type-Gamma Ionizing Radiation Amplifier / Stimulated Emission Rifle, known simply as the BC2 Autograser, is a large, automatic, pulse-laser light machine gun that, instead of conventional munitions, fires bursts of electromagnetic radiation tuned permanently to emit type-gamma ionizing radiation, often simply referred to as gamma radiation, or light with a frequency in excess of 30 exahertz, which is already more than enough to ionize almost any atoms it comes into contact with. More specifically, the BC2 fires gamma-rays with a frequency of 975 exahertz, a frequency that surpasses the highest energy beam the BC1 Phase Pistol can produce by a disturbingly wide margin. Like the BC1, the BC2 is issued to trusted members of the Birdsong Collective’s Inner Collective, but intelligence obtained by the Special Services Division indicates that has only ever been used by Birdsong Electrocutioners in all-out assaults, frontline encounters, and sieges where the BC1’s firepower would be inadequate. The BC2’s technical specifications are also posted publicly to the Birdsong Network, but the heavy 60-terajoule 75x28mm hydrogen-antihydrogen power cells it requires to fire are reportedly even more difficult to obtain than the already scarce 35*7mm cells required by the BC1. Again, the SSD can only speculate on where  the Birdsong Collective obtains the copious amounts of antihydrogen required to manufacture even one of these 75mm power cells, though tests on the fewfunctioning units of the BC2 that have been obtained have revealed that the BC2, while useless as a welding torch, cauter, or flashlight, comparatively poor as a cutting beam and inefficient in most engagements due to over-penetration when compared to the BC1, is enough to detonate live unarmored human targets by flash-vaporization in a single direct hit, leading to instant death, and to lethally irradiated heavily armored targets in seconds without any sort of effective powered defense such as an ion diffraction matrix. Like the BC1 Phase Pistol when it is configured to fire beams of fire beams of ionizing radiation, there is no safe angle from which to be exposed to the runaway effects of a BC2 beam without protection and, while instant blindness is rare when exposed to its Gamma-frequency Class 13 laser projectiles, anyone within 40 meters of the beam at any point will almost certainly absorb a 10-sievert dose of radiation if unprotected, enough to kill within weeks if untreated, with anyone within 400 meters, if unprotected, absorbing the recommended five-year maximum dose that is considered safe for radiation workers, both estimates assuming that the gamma radiation travels through a medium no denser or more diffractive than a standard atmosphere. For reference, this is the radiation absorbed from a single beam pulse, ten of which the BC2 can fire per second without overheating. While this level of potential collateral damage is low when compared to weapons such as the BC3 Neutron Rifle, it is enough to serve as further evidence to both civilians and military in opposition to the BSC that their use of ionizing radiation weapons makes them an irredeemably evil organization. As a Directed Ionizing Radiation Energy (DIRE) Weapon, the Autograser, like the Phase Pistol is banned internationally by the Geneva Protocols and considered a Schedule 1 weapon under the United Nations International Nuclear Peace Council’s Universal Declaration Against the Use of Cruel and Unusual Weapons, passed in 2029 and is observed as constitutional-level law in over 150 countries. All three Trifect Corporations also observe this declaration as corporate law, with Kazehaya Combine in particular showing an extreme level of fear and revulsion toward ionizing radiation or any weapon that utilizes it to inflict harm. This goes so far that speaking of ionizing radiation in explicit terms when clear communication is not needed is considered taboo. Because of this, many Blackstar Security personnel refer to ionizing radiation as nagai-shi, an indirect term that translates literally to “long death” in Old Nijakawan. Anyone who has had a friend or loved one not receive treatment in time after being exposed to it will no doubt agree that this term is quite accurate, and that anyone willing to weaponize it is worthy of contempt. The effectiveness of such an approach, however, speaks for itself. After more than one drink, it has been said that many Blackstar Security officers have been recorded as joking that the one silver lining of being killed with such a zankoku-buki, or ‘cruel weapon’, that fires solely gamma particles rather than the much more massive delta particles is that your mangled corpse will not be radioactive itself, and thus can still be viewed by your friends and family without turning them into corpses as well. At this juncture, it is unknown if anyone actually finds this joke funny or if it is simply a method of coping with the inevitable trauma of being at war in the BSC. 

Nightingale Armory BC3 Neutron Rifle:  Nightingale Armory’s BC3 Neutron Rifle, or simply the weapon labeled as such, is alleged on many darknet forums on the Birdsong Network to be an extremely powerful directed ionizing radiation/energy (DIRE) sniper rifle developed for and issued to only the most trusted Electrocutioners, elite assassins of the Birdsong Collective’s Inner Collective specialized in bringing a swift end to the BSC’s enemies through the use of bleeding-edge armor systems, energy weapons, and, most importantly, what are claimed to be ‘special methods’ of manipulating electrical current.  It should come as no surprise, then, that the Neutron Rifle is among these weapons, being arguably the rarest and most lethal of the BSC’s energy weapon models, even by the lofty standards already set by the likes of the Phase Pistol and Autograser, both formidable in their own rights due to the concentrated gamma-ray bursts that they produce. Given  the unique and somewhat concerning lack of darknet documentation related to the BC3 on the Birdsong Network, (likely because nobody within the ranks of the Inner Collective has been foolhardy enough to leak its specifications yet)  the SSD’s knowledge regarding this weapon model is based solely on darknet hearsay and  the single working prototype obtained by the Special Services Division, the origins of which are allegedly a mystery to even Way Forward’s Chairman of the Board, Kosuke Saito. Careful reverse-engineering of this sole prototype has revealed a mechanism of action similar to Nightingale Armory’s other BC-series energy weapon models, but with a specialized external antimatter reaction chamber that, unlike the BC2 Autograse,r which uses the same caliber of power cell more conventionally, draws from its currently loaded 60-terajoule 75x28mm antimatter power cell through a bifurcated, magnetically isolated nanocryptor siphon, facilitating the hydrogen-antihydrogen reaction outside of it in a drastically less contained process designed to produce almost solely delta radiation, or ionizing free neutrons. This external annihilation reaction process, under the influence of the heavier cyclo-linear EM diffractors utilized by the BC3 on its barrel, is capable of producing a phased neutron beam which, in ideal circumstances, only reacts with its target. While some runaway gamma radiation is produced by the rifle in the external fuel reaction process and must be converted to heat in the outer chassis of the BC3, later vented or stored in inboard heat sinks, the neutronic delta radiation it fires is far more dangerous. Due to its extremely high particle mass when compared to the likes of beta or gamma radiation, the neutron beam fired by the BC3 is enough to burn through and overpenetrate virtually any non-powered material, human flesh included, leaving a glowing, white-hot tunnel behind around its beam path. Human trials conducted by the Special Services Division have revealed that a majority of those hit with a neutron beam such as this die instantly without the protection of powered armor, as the flash-vaporization of a corridor of their flesh usually results in thermal blast injuries, where their body explodes from the inside, leading to permanent cavitation and/or dismemberment, which may allow them to bleed to death without incident if their allies are not foolish enough to attempt to cauterize their wounds. The SSD’s human trials have also produced the unfortunate, yet useful discovery that anyone able to survive the immediate results of the beam, through the use of powered armor or just a cruel twist of fate, not only have much of their body irradiated, but become radioactive themselves, thanks to the neutronic delta radiation’s particle density, which, unlike photonic gamma radiation, is sufficient to destabilize any atomic nuclei it comes into contact with, leading to the radioactive decay of said nuclei which amplifies the already-devastating effects of the initial radiation blast. Thankfully, SSD reports indicate that all of the people the BC3 was tested on, with the exception of those killed instantly, were able to survive their injuries and be fully rehabilitated and conserved for future trials due to copious doses of nucleogenerine, administered alongside painkillers to stabilize the affected cells before their blood vessels dissolved, a situation where artificial micro-corridors would have had to be drilled through the radioactive genetic sludge that untreated radiation poisoning, from any particle from alpha through delta, eventually converts healthy human tissue into. Within the ranks of Blackstar Security, who have reportedly had the immense misfortune of being on the receiving end of this weapon as well as that of a notoriously egregious nucleogenerine shortage, it is easy to see why it and other weapons weaponizing ionizing neutron radiation are deemed the cruelest and most hateful of weapons, even by the horrific standards already set by the rest of the Birdsong Collective’s arsenal.

M7 Stormfire: First designed and manufactured by Punakha Foundries in the latter months of 2038 with the assistance of ex-Lemniscate engineers, The M7 Stormfire is an intermediate-to-heavy weight submachine gun, built to fire an experimental mixture of compounds known as Thermal Shock Gel. This gel, often abbreviated to TSG, consists of two major components, one to flash-freeze the the material the round it is contained in hits, and the other to rapidly increase its temperature, causing said material to shatter. The flash-freezing agent present in TSG consists of largely ionized liquid nitrogen, technically a plasma, mixed into a gel, which is accelerated rapidly in a circle prior to release. This process, referred to as radial cryogenic induction, when applied to an ionized substance approaching absolute zero, actually reduces the apparent temperature of the affected substance to below absolute zero, causing it to draw heat out of the target faster than it would have had at absolute zero with no angular momentum. The temperature-increasing agent is more straightforward, utilizing micrometer-scale beads of potassium-based thermite which rupture and begin an extreme exothermic reaction when impacted with sufficient force, though do so after a short delay, causing the two-stage ‘thermal shock’ the gel is known for. Because of this unique mechanism of dealing damage, the East Asian Liberation Front was quick to covertly acquire hundreds of thousands of Stormfire SMGs, immediately granting them an advantage against powered armor systems that specialized in insulating the enemy from kinetic energy, such as Lemniscate nanocomposite armor, the Titanium and graphene-plated fluid-layered polymer armor used by Kazehaya Combine, and even the repeated triple layer armor used by the Way Forward Corporation. While countermeasures to the effects of Thermal Shock Gel are now widely available, the M7 Stormfire remains a mainstay weapon in both the East Asian Liberation Front’s arsenal and that of the combined defense forces of the Himalayan Free States. So popular was the M7 Stormfire, in fact, that Punakha Foundries retrofitted their existing firearm designs to incorporate Thermal Shock Gel, or otherwise be equally compatible with TSG and conventional ballistic rounds, though the latter is typically a second choice. Somewhat concerning, however, are the rumors circulating that allege a Bose-Einstein condensate, when undergoing radial cryogenic induction, could theoretically cause a sustained endothermic chain reaction in certain materials. If such an effect is actually possible, it could lead to the catastrophic failure of a number of present-day powered armor systems.   

GR-12 Minuteman: Manufactured and distributed by American weapons giant Garrett Munitions,The GR-12 Minuteman is a high-powered, reliable assault rifle and Garrett’s best-selling small arms model to date, ubiquitous in areas of the United States controlled by the Provisional Military Government of America, a semi-legitimate wartime administration formed the by the executive order of President Bethany Aurora Williams to combat the country’s various existential threats, including separatist movements, religious terrorism, and an ongoing drug war with the Gran Cartel of Mexico. While its present-day ubiquity can be most attributed to President Williams and a ruling of the Joint Chiefs to adopt it as standard issue for a majority of active-duty military personnel, the GR-12 has existed since 2036, the year in which Kazehaya Combine completed its acquisition of Garrett Munitions as a wholly owned subsidiary. Prior to this acquisition, Garrett and its then-best selling small arms model, the GR-15, had been embroiled in a severe level of controversy. The GR-15H, the automatic military variant of the GR-15, was used widely in the Third Desert War and was used hundreds of times to kill unarmed civilians, usually by accident, as one of the stray 7.62x51mm rounds it fired was typically enough to penetrate light cover and kill an unarmored target, causing severe bleeding even when missing vital organs. The GR-15L, the semi-automatic civilian variant of the GR-15, while chambered in the smaller and less powerful 5.56x45mm caliber, was used in multiple mass shootings in the country with death tolls in the hundreds and became infamous when gun control activists began calling for its illegalization. Preston Garrett, the then and current CEO of Garrett Munitions, despite advocating for teaching gun safety, self defense, and firearms literacy to students in schools and generously compensating the families of those wounded or killed by a Garrett product, presided over the largest share value loss in the company’s history, the likes of which had not been seen since hackers obtained and leaked Garrett’s manufacturing specifications for their now less than proprietary metallic nitroglycerin propellant in 2016. When Satomi Kazehaya spoke to Garrett and offered to acquire his family’s company for a generous 120 billion USD, he accepted almost instantly, beginning a merger of surprisingly generous terms where Garrett Munitions gave up only a small fraction of its profits in exchange for K-Com’s financial support and reliable access to the latter’s rapid plasma expansion technology for use as an alternative propellant in the former’s firearms cartridges. The GR-12 and its civilian variant, the GR-12L, were created shortly after as almost identically copied upgrades to the GR-15, though the GR-12 was to be constructed from graphene-metal composite instead of steel and featured secondary pressure control systems in order to safely fire both plasma-expansion and MNG-propelled rounds without the risk of a barrel rupture. In addition, the GR-12 and GR-12L featured an added gel-padded stock for recoil management, as well as a motorized emergency hydraulic cycler should the gas operation mechanism of the GR-12 fail. Since 2039, when the PMGA was established and the Standard Issue Act was passed by the President and Joint Chiefs, every loyal, able-bodied, and mentally stable American citizen above the age of eighteen in PMGA-controlled territory, military, militia, and civilian alike, has been issued a personal GR12 or GR12-L by the government and been trusted to use, maintain, and carry it at all times for personal and community defense, with its proper operation required by law to be taught in every American school to all students six years of age or above. While this has not eliminated gun violence in the country, it has made acts of terror, insurrection, and invasion much more difficult to perpetrate, to such an extent that anyone capable of carrying out a mass murder out of spite in the United States of America would not live long enough to reflect on their actions. Unfortunately, the rate of gun suicides in PMGA-controlled America has increased by a factor of twenty since the Standard Issue Act was passed, which may have been a concern to the President and her Joint Chiefs, were it not such a morbidly efficient solution to the nation’s declining health and rising unemployment.  

Lenghua-Shenyang Defense L35 Guandao:  The L35 Guandao is an experimental two-stage electromagnetic mass-accelerating scout rifle designed and distributed by Lenghua-Shenyang Defense, one of the many  divisions of the intersectional Chinese megacorporation Lenghua-Shenyang, or Lenghua in its shortened form, a name that translates roughly to “cold flower” in Manchurian Chinese. Since the New Manchurian Commonwealth and its capital member state, the New Manchurian Republic, was established in the Manchurian capital of  Shenyang  in 2039 by an insurgent coup against the People’s Republic of China following its collapse at the mercy of the Novel Hemorrhagic Rhinovirus, (aided by the the financial aid of the various smaller corporations that would eventually merge to form it), Lenghua-Shenyang has held a monopoly on virtually all sectors of the NMR’s economy, aided by radically experimental pro-trust laws that lower taxes and provide subsidies to corporations as a reward for them acquiring their smaller competitors. While proponents of the free market, such as Lenghua’s former Tibet Division, which broke off from their parent company in short order to merge with Punakha Foundries, would argue that such a government-supported monopoly would stifle innovation, proponents of Lenghua-Shenyang’s lack of competitors would claim that, instead of encouraging rivalry, sabotage, espionage, and division, it gives the corporation more great minds to work together in harmony against the encroaching People’s Unification Army.  Whether or not this is the case, it cannot be denied that the L35 Guandao is a unique, powerful, and exceedingly deadly weapon in the correct hands. Viewed separately from its ammunition, a passing observer would see little more than a conventional mass driver rifle powered by a miniature fission reactor embedded in its stock, using induction coils to generate a magnetic field that would then propel a metal slug down the weapon’s barrel and toward a target. Upon closer examination, they would see the cutting-edge feature that makes the L35 unique: Its ability to fire a bullet that then fires another, much faster bullet from inside the first bullet. When the L35 fires, its induction coils not only propel a primary mass driver projectile, but charge the single-use solid state ion battery inside the primary projectile. Upon reaching a sufficient velocity, or upon hitting the target, based on what setting the projectile control system is configured to, the coils inside the projectile activate, launching a smaller, secondary projectile, forged from a proprietary graphene-metal powered nanomachine composite and launched through magnetic induction. This secondary, threaded projectile, weighing around 0.25 grams, rotating like a drill bit and traveling at around 4 percent of the speed of light, is almost always enough to weaken the kinetic resistance of any armor system it does not outright tear through. Such is the L35’s ability to penetrate its targets, in fact, that there are tales of NMRDF snipers who were able to tear through two, or even three power-armored PUA soldiers with a single shot. Even if these tales are more tall than true, it would likely only take a few shots for someone out of the know to see why the L35 is so widely used by the NMRDF and Lenghua PMCs to defend the New Manchurian Commonwealth. The one drawback of the L35 is the cost of its ammunition, which can carry a hefty price when legally exported from the NMC. Even with the regulations on NMC exports to different nations being much less prohibitive than the outright immutable bans on importing anything aside from much-needed  raw materials and foreign investment capital, The L35 is rare to see anywhere other than NMC-controlled China, thanks to the hefty tariffs a foreign buyer must pay to obtain one legitimately, as well as their tendency to mysteriously self-destruct if obtained illegitimately.  Having one imported to Isamu or anywhere else in Japan, however, may as well be considered an impossibility, given the history that exists between China and Japan, which even the NMC and Isamu Meritocracy are not immune to remembering. Any Isamuese citizen, let alone one working for the Way Forward Corporation, would likely need to perform an act of great service to the Chinese people in exchange for being able to purchase, even simply wield, an L35 Guandao of their own.  

Herrera EMR: The EMR, or Electromagnetic Marksman Rifle, is an experimental, semi-automatic high caliber designated marksman rifle developed and first manufactured by American weapons developer Herrera Ironworks in late 2040, around a year after the formation of the Provisional Military Government of America.  The EMR, a relatively new weapon, even by the standards of the Special Services Division, utilizes coilgun-based mass-acceleration technology in the same manner as many high-end Lemniscate Security  firearms, but is unique in its ability to fire unique piezoelectric capacitor rounds that convert their momentum into an electric current on impact. To more effectively charge its primary induction coil in its barrel which contains capacitors of its own, the EMR utilizes a secondary, rotating barrel made of a high-powered magnetizing neodymium alloy. When the battery in its stock is switched on, an electrical current reaches the secondary, rotating barrel, which sits suspended between the rifle’s chassis and primary barrel by millions of microscale ball bearings, acting like a near-fluid substance that drastically reduces the friction between the two components. When the trigger is pulled, the EMR signals the capacitors in its primary barrel’s induction coil to form a series circuit that propels the chambered round forward at considerable velocity, reaching peak effectiveness at around one second of charging, though the secondary neodymium alloy barrel continues to spin and charge the first until it is manually deactivated, regardless of if a round is chambered. This allows a relatively rapid rate of fire if the EMR’s operator wishes to go that route, but results in a considerable level of battery drain if it is not turned off when not in use. Though a novel, costly,  and relatively rare model, much is known about the EMR among those powerful or influential enough to have acquired one, as its owner’s manual is more extensive than those of  a vast majority of firearms, a manual that humorously warns of a firing sound that resembles a spring-operated door stop connected to a malfunctioning power amp more than it does an actual rifle, and is as loud as both combined. Information on its creator, however, is extremely scarce, with the corporation known as Herrera Ironworks having no publicly documented leadership, employees, headquarters, or production facilities. This is believed to be the result of a PMGA cover-up due to the claims of an anonymous whistleblower from the United States Internal Security Agency (ISA or IntSec) that their organization ‘appropriated’ a high-powered coilgun prototype from Lemniscate Security and contracted Herrera to reverse-engineer it and create a weapon distinct enough that it would bear no evidence of being based on stolen technology. Not wanting to be liable for defamation but still understandably angry by these allegations, one Lemniscate Security now-ex executive publicly condemned Herrera on live television, stating that even if they hadn’t stolen from Lemniscate, their product was the mass driver equivalent of three thumb tacks fastened to a wet plywood plank. As one would expect, this whistleblower and executive were likely both removed from their positions with varying levels of violence, though no violence as overt and imposing as the ball-lightning EMP blast that a fully charged EMR shot casts against its target. 

Kazehaya Combine X105-H Dokunami: Named after the poison wave that, in Nijakawan Shinto mythology, the goddess Izanami cast across the world to burn away sorcerers and cleanse it of cruel magics, Kazehaya Combine’s X105-H Dokunami shotgun is perhaps the most terrifying weapon in their arsenal. Unlike K-Com’s other shotguns, the Dokunami fires several nodules of a green, viscous, hyper-corrosive colloid with every pull of the trigger, effortlessly adhering to and and eating through any material it touches. This gelatinous, exceedingly lethal substance, known as Colloidal Hydrochlorotrifluorohelionic Acid,  CHCFHA, or simply “green slime”, was created by Blackstar Intelligence’s Research and Development Corps with the assistance of several chemical engineers provided by the Special Services Division, who were, on paper, assigned to help the Blackstar RDC design more powerful ionized materials that could better insulate important Blackstar officers from the disastrous effects of Birdsong radiation weapons, also assisted them in using the some of the Division’s molecular solvents to safely dissolve helium hydride and chlorine trifluoride into an aqueous preparation at extremely low temperatures, under extreme pressure, where it can astoundingly be stored without destroying everything around it. The 12-Bore Acid-Mechanite RPE Shells that the Dokunami uses also offer an additional layer of containment in the forms of millions of cages built from micromachines that maintain the conditions that CHCFHA requires in order to be stored safely. When fired out of the Dokunami, however, the micromechanical cages spread out into large clusters, and then smaller ones, distributing relatively evenly against a target before rapidly destabilizing.  The released CHCFHA gel, with a rating of over 80 on the Hammett Acidity Function, quickly tears through its aqueous molecular solvent medium at standard atmospheric pressure or below, and manifests in its pure form nanoseconds after making contact with, and sticking to, a target. The resulting superacidic decomposition reaction lasts several seconds, chemically decimating any unpowered material it comes into contact with in an explosive, 

exothermic event that deprives any surviving matter of a considerable amount of its resistance to thermal damage. Predictably, distribution of the X105-H Dokunami is heavily restricted by Blackstar Intelligence, and is usually only issued to unusually proficient Sentinels or high-ranking officers trained in its operation. While the Special Services Division's motives for allowing Blackstar to develop such a weapon are better left unknown, it is evident based on covertly obtained recordings that the latter takes great delight in using it against unsuspecting targets aligned with Birdsong Collective and the sounds of screaming and sizzling that they no doubt emit when their flesh and armor are both decimated by the strongest superacid in existence…a comparatively benevolent way to be neutralized when compared to the ionizing radiation weapons favored by the BSC. 

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

That's pretty much it for now, but as always, thanks again for supporting EL9FG, and I hope to have more to post about here soon (＾∇＾)

-spartancupcake