Welcome to the world of Arius in the mid-16th Century PE (Post Exile). 241 years have passed since the Eclipse Event. The world has finally begun to change and in 1590, Stratusfall technology leaked out into the open world. Attempts by Stratusfall were made to shut down production of Dragon Weaponry but it was too late. Every nation that had the technology to produce it did and not long after wars all over the old Aquarius Continent were in bloodier battles than could ever be expected. Conflicts grew and trenches would be dug creating stalemates on borders before the losing nation was consumed into that victor’s own policies. In 1635 with the rise of conflict on the Aquarius continent and the potential fear of getting dragged into it, The Kingdom of Blackreaver began to look for defensive solutions to the ever-increasing style of trench warfare. While Dragon Claws and use of large squads on the frontline was a great deterrent, a solution for a smaller team was needed that could create large collapses in enemy attacks. Over the next 4 years the Kingdom of Blackreaver poured it’s time into the development of a new weapon and in 1639 the Mk. I variant was ready for a field test. The first version of the weapon suffered from two problems: one was that it overheated way to quickly, the other is that it was too heavy for a normal Warrior to carry into combat. They went back to the drawing board which would take another 2 years to complete and the Mk II was born in 1641 with lighter mechanisms for reduced weight as well as a reduction in size. The overheating was also fixed with a water cooling jacket fitted onto the weapon. The Mk II was reduced to 47 in. (1193.8mm) from 56 in. (1422.4), dropping almost a whole foot off the weapon. Originally weighing in at just over 154 lbs. (70 kg.), the Mk. II version of the weapon weighs in at just 112 lbs. (51 kg.) The weapon fired at 550 round/min with an effective range of 1,800 m (1968 yards) and max range being 3,500 m (3827 yards). The Dragon utilizes a box feed system that the weapon must be manned by 4 people: 1 is the shooter, 1 is the ammo supplier if use of the ammo belt was needed to prevent jams, the last 2 are for setting up the weapon quickly and being spotters once it was established. All these tasks were taught to each Warrior regardless of what role they would play in the field. The weapon itself would not see action until 1645 when Blackreaver was pulled into war against Cydonia after the invasion of Allicov in which Blackreaver mobilized its’ units across the Salted Desert and the Allicov Mountains. Trenches were dug and nests were built, setting up for Cydonia to try and take the mountainous region. The Bear Clan of the Warrior Guild was given the task of managing these large weapons while their Wolf Clan counterparts were more trained in Dragon Claws. Blackreaver for years had been perfecting its own Semi-Automatic Dragon (Gun): The BR-Dragon Mk. III. The weapon has a holster (Magazine) capacity of twenty barings (Bullets). The weapon can fire at a range of over 700m accurately with 100 rounds per minute. In 1630 Blackreaver began to consider a redesign of the Model 1612 Dragon Claw. While it was a functional and reliable weapon, other Kingdoms and Nations were beginning to adopt newer stronger weaponry that would soon out match even Blackreaver’s weapons. The first change was removing the tubular system seen in previous models and to add a magazine system feed which now allowed for 10 barrings to be loaded compared to the previous 6. The next change was increasing the barrel length from 35 inches (889mm) to 44 inches (1117.6 mm). The final change was a change in ammunition type, changing from SF .350 ammunition to their own designed BR .29 ammunition whilst keeping the stomping power of the .350. The weapon fires at a speed of about 25 aimed shots per minute. Its effective range is 450 yards (411m) to 600 yards (548m), while its maximum range is 2500 yards (2286m). Ammunition would need to be reloaded manually one by one. The Model 1630 would go into full service in 1632 across the board in Shark, Bear, and Wolf Clan. Changes to the weapons and their designs would be modified depending on what was needed at the time. Wolf Clan would make improvements to the range and magazine size for them to utilize more rounds due to their guerilla style of combat. Bear Clan would experiment with armor piercing barrings and magic embedded barrings to take on enemy Crawlers for killing drivers and disorienting enemy lines. Shark Clan would make modifications to the weapon’s barrel and receiver to allow for the weapon to be easily transported underwater, while underwater combat would prove unneeded they’d design ammunition dedicated solely to it. When war with Cydonia broke out in 1645 the Model 1630 would prove to become a valuable weapon in combat. Its stomping power made it effective in trench warfare and its simplistic design made it easy to be maintained. Wolf Clan’s strategy of guerilla warfare allowed for them to quickly carry the Dragon-Claws in and out of combat as quickly as possible. Bear Clan’s heavy hitting and defensive strategy of style would prove effective as decimating enemy crawlers would prove effective in combat and allow a push of the lines. Shark Clan would dedicate themselves to assaulting naval vessels. After the Stratusfall Blueprint Leak of 1590 Stratusfall had spent nearly 7 years trying to remove any of their known weapons throughout the world. In 1597 with all hope of ending the chaos on the Aquarius Continent now lost, they went to the Blackreaver, their only remaining allies to try and arm them for the wars that may end up on their front door soon. Blackreaver agreed and for the next decade Stratusfall would aid in building up an arsenal of weaponry for Blackreaver’s Warrior Guild as well as training them. The batch of weapons that were created for Blackreaver came down to the SF Dragon-Claw 1600, the SF Hand-Dragon 1601, and the SF Hand-Dragon 1603. The SF1603 would go on to become to the most used Hand-Dragon in Blackreaver’s arsenal as its reliably was unmatched by any other designs. It fires at a total of 25-30 rounds per minute and has an effective range of about 50 yards (45.72m). It has an 8-round cylinder, uses SF .355 ammunition and fires at a total of 740 ft/s (219.4 m/s). In 1612 Warrior’s began equipping their hunting knives under the barrel of the weapon to allow for close quarters combat. This style would eventually catch on and in 1620 Blackreaver began reproducing the SF1603 with a detachable bayonet that would become the signature design point of the weapon in future years. When war broke out in 1645, the trench combat would become a great combination to the bloodshed that the 1603 would see. Bayonets would be utilized to their fullest extent with the combination of barrings being shot into the flesh after being hooked with the bayonet. Overtime it would earn the nickname of The Ogre because of the devastating wounds it’d leave on soldiers that came into conflict with a Blackreaver Warrior wielding the weapon.
