Tyrith Royal Guard - ranged weapons

Drew out some ideas I had for Aurelie's guard, specifically the weapons they use. I wanted to expand upon the technology used in Aurelie's universe, in that it's a purposely anachronistic setting where late medieval-like plate armor and weaponry and mid to late 19th century firearms and uniforms existed together, a sort of hybrid fantasy where stuff from medieval fantasy is mixed in with steampunk stuff of the 19th century. So here are some of the ranged weapons that the Tyrith army/ guard uses.

Brief History lesson time!

The kingdom of Tyrith is a particularly interesting case of a cultural melting pot, this is especially evident in the mixed use of medieval weapons and firearms. The army and guards make use of pretty anachronistic weapons themselves such as using a crossbow alongside the rifle. However this mixing of vastly time-separated technology only came about recently due to the kingdom's alliance with the Dwarven guild, a continent spanning underground kingdom that is decades if not a hundred years ahead of everyone in technology, over 57 years ago. The dwarves were master craftsman and inventors, rumored to have developed working animunculus machinery and powerful firearms when everyone else was using the bow. They would often invite other cultures to marvel at their technology. However, as inviting as they presented themselves they were incredibly protective of their secrets in that they did not collaborate with others for fear of their technology being misused. This was one of the primary reasons why the guild were the only power to wield practical firearms.  

The Tyrith inventors, however, wanted to develop a firearm for their own armies once they got a look at the guild's impressive armaments 30 years before Aurelie was born. Their first attempts were not successful until about 20 years later they produced their first 'practical' rifle, the Galesse rifle. However the rifle, as finely built as it was, was still lacking compared to it's dwarven counterparts, and thus was only used in a limited role.

Even 43 years after the treaty they still had the Galesse rifle and would not receive better firearms until one diplomatic mission involving Aurelie.

A diplomatic convoy involving a dwarven ambassador was sent to sign a peace treaty with the elvish kingdom in the forests. Since the convoy escorting the ambassador crossed Tyrith territory the Kingdom sent a detachment of a hundred royal guardsmen, including Aurelie, to safeguard the convoy as they had an alliance and to smooth out tensions should they arise. This was one of the first missions Aurelie would take in her career. The peace signing between the two already tense factions was of incredible importance as a war between the two races would drag the kingdom of Tyrith in-between. Aurelie's outing did not go as smoothly at first as the dwarven ambassador and his colleagues, as well some of Aurelie's men, did not respect her as she was a woman. The amount of stress due to how important succeeding in this mission also did not help the newly appointed Captain. However, Aurelie stuck through it and managed to ward off several ambushes from bandits to dissenters from elvish and dwarvens alike.
However her first real taste of battle would come soon.

After reaching the elven forest city, the peace treaty began in the capital hall with Aurelie and her guards on watch along with their dwarven and elvish counterparts. However a trap was sprung when suddenly the dwarven and elvish ambassadors were attacked by a small rebel elf army, and surprisingly their own guards, who turned out to be political dissenters allied with the rebels who were against the treaty signing. Aurelie and her men sprang into action and escorted the ambassadors and the innocent elvish civilians away from the attackers, taking heavy losses in the initial assault. To cover the ambassadors retreat, Aurelie sent ten of her best guards to escort the ambassadors while she and sixty men took up defensive positions in the hall to hold out against the rebels until help can arrive. The following battle was brutal for the Tyrith guard. Although Aurelie led her men with great valor, killing waves of rebels despite using obsolete rifles and no support, her men were still greatly outnumbered and suffered a loss so great that they were cut down to just a handful of men left. After an hour of battle, the rebel turncoats were ousted by the elvish royal army.

Afterwards, once the dwarven and elvish ambassadors saw the sacrifices that the Tyrith guard made, They came together and signed the peace treaty, as well as forming a new tripartisan alliance between Tyrith, the Dwarven guild and the Elvish kingdom. The dwarven ambassador in particular was so impressed by the guards actions that he vowed to have the dwarven forgemasters work together with Tyrith inventors to craft better weapons for Aurelie and her guards so that such losses can never happen again.

Because of the newfound boost in relationship between Tyrith and the Guild, the royal army began to get much better rifles such as the Fenrir rifle and it's variants. 

Brief history lesson over!


So that's a bit of context and reasoning for why weapons such as the crossbow and 19th century rifle existing together. ^_^ Now to get to the actual weapons.

1) The Galesse rifle is based on the 17th century muzzle loading muskets. The rifle's breech is based on the ferguson rifle's breech placed horizontally and held in place by a circle lock, and the firing mechanism based on a mix of the flintlock via shock crystals and the percussion cap system. unlike most muzzle loaders, the bullet and powder is loaded similar to blackpowder revolvers in that the breech swung out like a revolver's cylinder after unlocking and screwing out the chamber. The rifleman would fill the breech chamber with the powder and bullet, then screw and lock the breech into battery. The rifle was very accurate since it's barrel was rifled and had a sealed breech, however it was very slow to reload and it's accuracy at range was very short. This weapon was taken out of service when the Fenrir rifle came about, but it is kept in reserve due it's unique ability to fire anything as long as there were gunpowder.

2)The Fenrir is heavily based on the Springfield model 1873 'trapdoor' rifle with an octagonal barrel, but with the stock and grip inspired by the M1903A4 Springfield. Aurelie actually had a big hand in developing this weapon due to her experience in using the Galasse. In fact, the Fenrir is notably more austere compared to it's predecessor at the urging of Aurelie as she wanted a focus on practicality above all else. She also recognized that the armor of her time would eventually stop large slow-moving bullets, so she requested a downsized cartridge in comparison to the usually huge bullets the dwarves make so that it could pierce armor and be usable by just about anyone. Aurelie's decisions irked some of the dwarven craftsmen, as they tended to make their weapons as artistic as possible and have unbelievably powerful force, but complied nonetheless out of respect. The resulting rifle was a vast improvement upon the Galasse, with triple the rate of fire and range, as well as relatively easier recoil and a bullet that can down a minotaur in one well-placed hit.

3) The carbine variant of the fenrir was based on the Spencer carbine but with a more built up handguard and a slightly less powerful cartridge. This variant is used by fast cavalry and the guards for urban combat when extremely lethal force is necessary. 

4) The pistol variant using the same mechanism as the Fenrir was developed for officers as a compromise so that the craftsmen can be more extravagant in return for crafting the 'plain' Fenrir.  

5) The crossbow has been in service for centuries in the Tyrith army along with the longbow and other medieval weapons. Although lacking the range or reload speed of it's rifle counterparts, it still sees heavy use by the Royal guard since it was cheaper to maintain and use. It was also relatively quiet, so that it would not disturb or shock the more skittish citizen and cause panic and was light enough for urban combat. As such it was usually the first weapon brought to bear if lethal force is required.

That's about it, hope you learned something and like it!