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 Posted: Thu Sep 10, 2009 9:12 pm
Greetings everyone. I have been noticing that people seem to be using technology that seems to be to far advanced for a guild of this setting, and as such I have asked for permission to do some research on this subject to better educate everyone on what tech is good for here and what tech is bad. Remember, this guild is only supposed to be a medieval tech guild. This thread will hopefully contain the following points: Firearms (What they looked like, performance, and loading of firearms) Universal Parts (When this came about and what it means for the world) Bullets and their evolution Pistols and their evolution PLEASE DO NOT POST IN THIS THREAD!If you have a question or a point, please PM me with your question or concerns. Thank you for your understanding. All Information gathered here was found on Wikipedia. Woven Red Welcome to information about weapons and technology.
This is a Modern Medival Roleplay
The level of technology stems from the medieval range, such as limited access to doctors, no electrical systems, automobiles, or plumbing on average. Factories do not exist, so mass production isn't available. You'll still need to see a cobbler for a pair of shoes, a seamstress for a new dress, a tanner for a leather pouch, a bowmaker and fletcher for your hunting gear, and a blacksmith for your armor, and metal tools. Luckily the merchant quarter is crawling with such artisan businesses. There's craftspeople of greater skill here and there across the world as well.
Plumbing is a recently implemented perk to the Capital City, but currently other nation cities (except water) are limited to wells and simple pumps.
Weapons and Armaments are generally constructed of steel, wood, or mythic materials of metallic or fibrous nature. This means that while an elf may appear wearing leafweave or mythril armor, a plastic riot shield would be unheard of. Magical enhancements can be placed upon weapons.
Technology General technology runs up to just before the renaissance period. Some technology of renaissance to industrial age (such as printing presses, explosives, firearms, and steam engines) is accessible but only to technologists and inventors who actively devote themselves to the pursuit.
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Posted: Thu Sep 10, 2009 9:14 pm
The Medieval age (or Dark age) ranges from about 400 AD to about 1517 AD, or from the 5th century to the 15th century. Historians are not exactly sure when this era began or end, and are still up for stipulation, but these dates should be good enough for us to use as a guild for what kind of tech these people had.
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Posted: Thu Sep 10, 2009 10:19 pm
Well I guess now that we have established when the dark era was, we can now get down to business as to finding out how far developed their firearms where. We all might be surprised as to what we find out, but isn't that the fun of history?
Well I guess that we should start with the precursor to the rifle, the cannon. The first recorded use of a cannon in Europe was in 1324 at the seige of Metz and was rare then, however 25 years later cannons became more common, but still clumsy and dangerous for both the enemy and the crew operating it. Heck, gunpowder wasn't even recorded until around 1280, and at this point it was nothing more then a child's toy. Cannons where heavy and cumbersome to move and aim.
The major changing point for gunpowder was when the Europeans 'corned' it in the late 14th century. They added a liquid into the powder to cut down the dust, which would often times explode in transport or storage, and then they would shape the paste it created into little granules or pellets for better storage and performance. 'Gunpowder not corned results in much unburnt powder blown away from the ignition flame and combustion chamber due to localized miniature gas expansions within the powder.' From Wiki Article Gunpowder Also, without the powder being corned, the powder would often times separate into its separate components, making it less effective then it is after being corned, which guarantees a more uniform make-up. As a side note, pharmaceutical companies us this same method for their product to guarantee that the mixture is universal for each tablet, making the pills that we see today.
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Posted: Thu Sep 10, 2009 10:42 pm
Well considering that last post STILL didn't get to the first period when firearms actually showed up, but where all so important to understanding when gunpowder was first introduced into the dark ages, I ended up having to make another one! This time I PROMISE to mention your lovely little boom boom sticks.
Prior to the 15th century, gunpowder was used on a limited basis, but its use became the universal in the Early Modern Age, its apex occurring during the Napoleonic Wars from 1792 to 1815.
European gunpowder weapons were unpredictable, unwieldy and difficult to deploy. As a result, they were mainly used for attacking castles and other defences.
The useful but still unwieldy weapon was refined and reduced in size through many rapid developments culminating in the smoothbore musket around 1600
-Early Modern Warfare (Wiki)
It is sad but true everyone. The rifle was not actually refined to a Smoothbore matchlock rifle until the 1600s, that would be almost a hundred years after the dark ages. Any gun that would exist in that era would be nothing more then a long smooth barrel that had a match at the end of the barrel and had to be packed down between uses. I DO note that it was refined, in the 1600s, but it did exist in the 1440s by the Ottoman.
The famous Janissary corps of the Ottoman army were using matchlock muskets as early as the 1440s.[4] The matchlock appeared in Europe some time in the mid-1400s. The first dated illustration of a matchlock mechanism dates to 1475, and by the 1500s they were universally used.
Matchlock from Wiki
The Ottoman are the only culture that took on the musket as a main weapon, despite its flaws. However everywhere else it was rare and looked down upon by the church as being unchivalrous of a weapon.
(As a side note, they also banned the use of crossbows when they first came out, but the soldiers refused to give them up.)
The matchlock was around in the Dark ages, but read on to realize what that meant in the form of performance, reloading and other fun info.
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Posted: Mon Sep 14, 2009 8:18 pm
 (Asked by Nathien... as I have the scanner.)
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Posted: Mon Sep 14, 2009 8:25 pm
The above picture is an example of a 14th century handgun/handcannon. Please note that there is no trigger mechanism or really anything more sophisticated then a long think metal tube. The gunpowder would have to be poured in, then patted down with a long metal rod, a round lead ball would then be placed after it all. They would then light a 'fuse', that was really nothing more then a small hole in the back packed with gunpowder, with a torch or a bit of kindling. Big, heavy, and clumsy, not to mention inaccurate.
In the Middle Ages the term "firearm" was used in English to denote the arm in which the match was held that was used to light the touch hole on the hand cannon. The term was a variation on the contemporary terms of bow arm and drawing arm still used in archery. Due to the effects of firing the ordnance (barrel) at the time, the gunner had to be located somewhat behind the weapon, steadying brace with the other hand, hence the name "hand gun" became synonymous with the "fire arm".
From Firearm From Wikipedia.
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Posted: Mon Sep 14, 2009 9:31 pm
To further understand the firearm and how it performed, we must also look into the bullet and it's condition in this time era.
As firearms became more technologically advanced, from 1500 to 1800, bullets changed very little. They remained simple round (spherical) lead balls, called rounds, differing only in their diameter
The development of the hand culverin (Cannon) and matchlock arquebus brought about the use of cast lead balls as projectiles. "Bullet" is derived from the French word boulette which roughly means little ball. The original musket bullet was a spherical lead ball smaller than the bore, wrapped in a loosely-fitted paper patch which served to hold the bullet in the barrel firmly upon the powder. (Bullets that were not firmly upon the powder upon firing risked causing the barrel to explode, with the condition known as a short start.)
The next important change in the history of the rifle bullet occurred in 1883, when Major Rubin, director of the Swiss Laboratory at Thun, invented the copper jacketed bullet—an elongated bullet with a lead core in a copper coating.
From the artical 'Bullet' from Wiki
This would mean that the jacketed bullet was not invented until close to 400 years after the dark ages, and 200 years after the Renaissance (14th-17th century).
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