Mechanik’s Union

The Engines East workshops recently benefited from the acquisition of Simon Blaine, a elderly gunsmith previously in the employ of the Clockwerk Arms gunworks. Blain had worked on plans for clockwerk arms revolving rifles, and had come up with a number of novel ways of achieving a more compact multiple shot device before Burke Radliffe’s revolving barrel design became better known in the Cygnaran long-gunner and trencher firearms. One of these mechanisms was the flat wheel shaped turret rifle. The ammunition was loaded into a flat horizontal wheel with four cylinders bored into it equidistant along its circumference. By pulling back on a small spring loaded lever along the side of the weapon, the wheel would rotate and lock into place, presenting the next satchel for the firing pin. Unfortunately, excessive fouling of the central exchange point lead to misfiring and jams and so the designs were passed over.

This weapon utilizes Blaine’s now patented revolving turret design, but has overcome the fouling problem by removing blasting powder from the equation altogether. The weapon now uses pressurized air from a backpack mounted tank, sacrificing range for reliability. Instead the open wheel system, it now has a central seal valve which the wheel turns around, but locks off all but the desired firing cylinder. Most remarkable however is its ammunition.

Instead of a solid slug the turret gun fires stabilized rivet rounds, a weaponized version of those used by the Vladovar Plategun used on ironclad ships on the Merrdius. Designed to house a small packed charge of blasting powder, the impact of the squared steel head of the rivet on a solid surface causes a small pin to fire backward into the charge piercing its separating membrane. The rivet then self-peens into whatever it has struck, often with gruesome results when used on a living target. Indeed it was the stopping power of this ammunition that Engines East wanted to harness, but firing the rivets with blasting powder was deemed to risky. For if the rivet where to self-peened inside the barrel it would ruin whatever weapon it was fired from. The long cylinder chamber of the revolving turret wheel proved ideal for the task, providing a smooth launch with a compressed gas system and providing passable accuracy.

The turret wheel is far larger than its previous applications, holding no less that 4 rivet rounds at a time (cylinders across the radius). But it is extremely weighty, so much so that it has to be hauled about two handed and the boiler housed on a large backpack harness connected by a gutta-percha pressure tube. The main trigger grip is a heavy duty steel pistol grip with a small wire stock, and the lever is mounted offset to the left on the top of the wheel, acting as the second vertical grip.  It is a swift action to squeeze & ratchet the lever grip 90 degrees and back to its locked firing position. This rotates the turret wheel into a new firing position and then seals the valve airtight as the lever grip locks back into place. Loading a single rivet round into the wheel before rotating it into position takes a standard action but requires no skill check. There are always four cylinder slots open to the air on either side of the wheel facing diagonally forward toward the barrel. The rest slide behind the semicircular metal guard which houses the rear of the wheel turret.

For the purposes of riveting objects together, treat rivets fired from the Turret Gun as rivets from a Vladovar Plategun (No Quarter #8).

Exotic Weapon Turret Gun:-

• Damage: 1d10
• Range: 30ft
• Critical: x4
• Ammo: 4 explosive rivet rounds (4gp per rivet)
• Reload: 1 standard action
• Pressure: The compression chamber must be fed by a working boiler or steam plant, it takes 1 full round to store enough pressure for 1 shot. The chamber can hold 2 rounds worth of pressure (2 shots). Shots taken with half the necessary pressure, reduce range and damage done by half.
• Weight: 60lb. [encumbering: two handed use only]
• Cost: 560gp
• Special: Pinning [If the target of a explosive rivet round is standing within 5ft of a solid object or wall along the line of fire, they must make a reflex save DC14 or become pinned. -4 Dexterity, -2 to Attack rolls, cannot move. Removing the offending rivet takes a Strength check (DC20) and does an additional 1d6 damage to the target . A successful Heal check (DC 15 + damage) removes the rivet without further damage.]
• Available Upgrades –  Embellishment [10-200gp], Two-stage compressor (2 shots worth of pressure per round) [575gp], Cut-off Valve Tanks (can store only 1 rounds worth of pressure, can continue to charge pressure while firing) [1500gp].