The World Of Twilight

World Building => The World => Topic started by: GregX999 on April 29, 2011, 06:14:46 pm



Title: What exactly is a Derak?
Post by: GregX999 on April 29, 2011, 06:14:46 pm
What does it shoot? Projectiles? Gas? Acid? Electricity? Day old mushroom soup? (Did I miss an explanation of it somewhere?)


Title: Re: What exactly is a Derak?
Post by: TheGremlin on April 29, 2011, 08:34:28 pm
Cue schematics.

(from someone else.)


Title: Re: What exactly is a Derak?
Post by: Megatron0 on April 29, 2011, 10:00:24 pm
Hmm well they use a blast template so i guess its not a single bullet or anything like that. I imagine it to be like Shrapnel or something akin to a shotgun since you roll with 5CS
Though I may be completely wrong :D


Title: Re: What exactly is a Derak?
Post by: Major_Gilbear on April 29, 2011, 11:05:24 pm
I assumed it was like a blunderbuss...


Title: Re: What exactly is a Derak?
Post by: Jubal on April 30, 2011, 11:33:57 am
I'm fairly sure it's essentially a blunderbuss, though the explosive bit probably isn't gunpowder.


Title: Re: What exactly is a Derak?
Post by: Brandlin on April 30, 2011, 06:50:42 pm
My understanding is that is a black powder weapon.

Personally I'd load mine with chain... But then I'm mean...


Title: Re: What exactly is a Derak?
Post by: Carcharoth on May 01, 2011, 09:02:06 am
Essentially a blunderbus. I'm wary of fleshing out the technology too much as I know somebody (probably brandlin) will point out the flaw in the engineering!
Basically think of it as a muzzle loaded, with some sort of explosive, wadding and a bunch of shrapnel. Possibly all packaged together for neat easy loading.


Title: Re: What exactly is a Derak?
Post by: Brandlin on May 01, 2011, 10:47:13 am
What did I do now?????

;)


Title: Re: What exactly is a Derak?
Post by: GregX999 on May 01, 2011, 01:06:38 pm
Ah-ha, the answer is revealed. I has to smile at the face that no body really knew exactly.  :)

So, are we going to eventually see any type of artillery based on the same tech? It could even make good scenario fodder being drawn by one or more beasts of burden of some sort. Or even taken apart and carried on a beast's back.

It's your game world - just make up some not-too-detailed form of engineering to explain it (if it's not actually just black-powder).  ;D


Title: Re: What exactly is a Derak?
Post by: Jubal on May 01, 2011, 01:49:24 pm
As for artillery, the Fubarnii are pretty short-sighted and so rarely tend to build long range weapons - and more to the point, they've never had to fight a "war" per se. Their knights are there to fight the Devanu, who are nasty but don't actually form full-scale armies or deliver sieges or build cities, and the Delgon conflict is only just beginning to generate real frictions on the Empire's north border. So since the Fubarnii haven't had to fight a standing army in a big way (and for that matter nor have the Delgon, though their forces are far better designed for that sort of warfare) ideas such as siege artillery have never really been in the picture...

Yet.  :)


Title: Re: What exactly is a Derak?
Post by: Brandlin on May 01, 2011, 01:59:45 pm
brings a whole new meaning to "beyond visual range" weaponry


Title: Re: What exactly is a Derak?
Post by: Klute on May 01, 2011, 02:15:42 pm
I see no reason why a particularly brave engineer wouldnt have the itch to make a "bigger" derak    ;)

Actually I have it on good authority that a certain engineer has started doing just that. Hes not quite sure what it will fire and what beasts of burdon will transport it, but they are minor details.      :-X


Title: Re: What exactly is a Derak?
Post by: GregX999 on May 01, 2011, 02:36:45 pm
I see no reason why a particularly brave engineer wouldnt have the itch to make a "bigger" derak    ;)

Exactly!! Just because they've never had need of one (so far), doesn't mean someone won't try to make one.  ;D

I did read about the Fubarnii's not-so-great vision. But just imagine it as a giant blunderbuss. It could use a huge conical template when fired (like 12"-18" long, 4"-8" wide.)

Or perhaps something on the scale of a swivel mounted gun - just slightly larger than a normal derak - and mounted on the howdah of a Belan. Maybe using a template 8" long and 3" wide.

Just ideas...  :)


Title: Re: What exactly is a Derak?
Post by: Jubal on May 01, 2011, 02:49:38 pm
Yeah, but the Fubarnii have invented the internal combustion engine and it's rusting in an engineer's loft somewhere. The question with the little guys is rarely "have they done X", more "at what point will the notice the applications of X". I can't imagine it won't happen, though. Particularly since it sounds like Klute knows things we mere mortals don't...  :)


Title: Re: What exactly is a Derak?
Post by: Megatron0 on May 01, 2011, 06:04:47 pm
I see no reason why a particularly brave engineer wouldnt have the itch to make a "bigger" derak    ;)

Actually I have it on good authority that a certain engineer has started doing just that. Hes not quite sure what it will fire and what beasts of burdon will transport it, but they are minor details.      :-X

I will take 12


Title: Re: What exactly is a Derak?
Post by: Klute on May 01, 2011, 06:53:48 pm
I see natural progression with weaponry as being without doubt. The only thing we need to hold back on is the timeline and have they actually put a certain item into mainstream use yet.
While sculpting the slingers I just couldnt imagine they wouldnt progress onto something larger at some point.......something trebuchet like. Its the natural progression of the weapon. We do know seige warfare WILL happen. Its just at what point. Something as large as a trebuchet would be going too far for the game at present but something like a cannon sized derak is certainly an option to think about. There is also materials to think about. Metals are expensive which means a larger derak would most certainly be limited to a single model in a group/force.
And dont forget the bigger a weapon is there more of your own head it can blow off when things dont go quite to plan.....  ;)


Title: Re: What exactly is a Derak?
Post by: Jubal on May 01, 2011, 07:13:26 pm
Exactly. It's important to remember that Fubarnii culture beyond that of a slave race has really only existed for a couple hundred years or something like that; if we scooted the timeline another 200 forward I'd be surprised if Anyaral wasn't much more politically split up and wars were much more common.

I guess an interesting question is whether the Fubarnii will get more likely to adopt their own technology as wars scale up. The Delgon have been excellent thus far in taking Derak or Gushrak and turning them to mainstream military applications, whereas the Fubarnii haven't seen the need so much. However, the Fubarnii have a lot more beasts of burden and could potentially organise supply lines and resources much better than the Delgon, so for larger military applications if it becomes necessary it'd be logical to start seeing more tech'd up Fubarnii on the field at some stage.


Title: Re: What exactly is a Derak?
Post by: Megatron0 on May 01, 2011, 08:16:18 pm
Mounting the Weapons on beasts of burden is a great idea and considering how well the animal sculpts are going I would be shocked it there wasn't something to capitalise on how awesome they are in a warfare style.
Keep 'em coming guys!


Title: Re: What exactly is a Derak?
Post by: GregX999 on May 01, 2011, 08:49:46 pm
Certainly there's potential there for siege-sized weapons. But even smaller (yet still too large for one fubarnii to carry) weapons would do great for helping protect caravans or settlements from devanu raids or the like. I could see a howdah-mounted "swivel gun" as a perfect escort guard. :)

Actually, I can see a lot of potential for howdahs on a belan - gun mounts, transport for rich merchants or important officials, and later on, siege-tower-howdahs (siege-howdahs!)

I noticed that some fubarii have "binocular-goggles" - do they work well? Are they common? Certainly they "could" be used to introduce slightly longer ranger weapons - just to give a bit more tactical options.

I would certainly envisage any of these things we're talking about (artillery, longer range weapons, etc.) as very rare, very expensive (point-wise) and prone to various mishaps (explosions, belan stampeding, etc.)



Title: Re: What exactly is a Derak?
Post by: Brandlin on May 01, 2011, 09:24:30 pm
Remember, deraks are rare. They are not common items... Brand new scary tech!


Title: Re: What exactly is a Derak?
Post by: Brandlin on May 01, 2011, 09:26:10 pm
Also why would the fubarnii have artillery and seige weapons? They only fight devanu.

No fortresses means no sieges means no artillery.


Title: Re: What exactly is a Derak?
Post by: Megatron0 on May 01, 2011, 10:13:53 pm
Also why would the fubarnii have artillery and seige weapons? They only fight devanu.

No fortresses means no sieges means no artillery.


Actually if the Faburnii are having increased contact with the delgon there could be a chance mad engineers have come up with ways to destroy their mountain defenses. Also The Devanu also have some towers reaming IIRC They could hold up there forcing locals to find ways of flushing them out.
Sadly I dont think the faburnii would ever do long range weapons as I read somewhere their eyesight is extremely poor? So even with super goggles it must just get them on par with humans?


Title: Re: What exactly is a Derak?
Post by: Carcharoth on May 01, 2011, 10:33:40 pm
It's not entirely true that fubarnii don't have wars. They have actually had plenty, with various wars between clans through the history of the empire. The threat of the Devanu has generally limited those wars from getting out of hand, but the fubarnii aren't all one big happy family. The empire is relatively stable, as most clans rely heavily on the knights for protection from the Devanu.

The knights themselves are forbidden from being involved in any conflicts between fubarnii, which stems back to shortly after the fall of Emperor Agelor. Agelor abused his position and his actions almost led to the fragmentation of the empire. He was deposed rather brutally by the eldest of his wives, who went on to rule, undoing much of the damage that had been caused. In the process the new Emperor instigated the Oath that all new knights take that they will never shed fubarnii blood.

The Delgon have been testing garderaks already... ('gar' means numerous, or in some cases large)

Beast mounted weapons would be cool, but it is vital that they fit and don't seem too out of place. I'm sure Mark and I can manage that...


Title: Re: What exactly is a Derak?
Post by: Beastlord on May 01, 2011, 11:30:37 pm

The knights themselves are forbidden from being involved in any conflicts between fubarnii, which stems back to shortly after the fall of Emperor Agelor. Agelor abused his position and his actions almost led to the fragmentation of the empire. He was deposed rather brutally by the eldest of his wives, who went on to rule, undoing much of the damage that had been caused. In the process the new Emperor instigated the Oath that all new knights take that they will never shed fubarnii blood.


Does this also apply to Relan knights? Are they of the same organisation or something else entirely? Is there any info on them yet?
Sorry bout all the questions! A pack beast mounted giant derak would be interesting...


Title: Re: What exactly is a Derak?
Post by: Lost Egg on May 02, 2011, 08:57:45 am
Perhaps Belan mounted Deraks were designed to destroy a Devanu next in one fell swoop. The short range of the weapon means it needs to be mounted to be effective, hence the Belan. The main advantage of this weapon in destroying nests is that one blast and the job is done otherwise you need a large number of militia or knights smashing up eggs; I suppose it depends upon the number of eggs in a nest though.

I assume that the Belog and not the Delgon have seen the military applications of Deraks and such technology. If this is the case then it suggests that where ever they have come from has been a big war, perhaps they are the only survivors.

HN