Kalran: Tales of the four nations/UCAAF small arms and equipment

M-1 Garland
First created in the Fomorian empire, back before it was even an empire, to succeed the musket, the M-1 Garland, named for its designers Garfield Colt and Weyland Brown, is widely considered to be one of the best infantry weapons ever issued for it's time. Its innovative breechloading mechanic, allowing for an unprecedented high rates of reload, gave it an edge over their neighbors muzzeloading rifles. About its only disadvantage was that the paper cartridge it uses is known to leave behind some residual powder in the chamber that, if not cleaned daily, could result in the gun exploding back at the user, with maimed hands being a best case scenario. But the company states that backfire accidents only happens if it's user doesn't clean their gun. And in the eighth age has been relegated to a collectors item, though there are a few that has been modified to chamber modern rounds.

M-2 Garland
And after this success, and a few years, both Garfield and Weyland began to make a new rifle.

At first the new one, marked the M-2, had struggled. The plan they wanted was to make the rifle fire more than one round. But the trouble, that also plagued the M-1, was that the paper cartridges always leaving a small residue of powder, at best, which was now exacerbated by the residue now clumping inside the magazine, increasing the explosion and the chance of it happening to an unacceptable degree. And spent week trying to find a solution. Until they looked at the newly made full metal jackets, an idea struck. And thus came the M-2.

A successor to the M-1. The M-2, known as "the gun the forged an empire", was a lever-action rifle that drastically increased the weapons rate of fire, especially when compared to their neighbors new single shot rifles, and capable of holding 12 rounds and reloaded by simply pulling the lever. The rifle had got it's name due it it being the main rifle used by the Fomorian soldiers as they began to change from a community of towns into the infamous empire, and is still fondly remembered despite its dark past.

Of course in the eighth age the rifle has been discarded by the military, though it's still being manufactured as a cheap hunting rifle used by both countryside farmers and the people living at the edge of the frontier.

M-3 Garland
When the day came where the alliance was formed and the Fenrirs can finally settle down. The descendants of the Garland rifle, Joseph Colt and Maria Brown, began working on a new design, realizing how obsolete the M-2 was becoming.

Specifically designed to be "The gun of the alliance" throughout the UCA early years, the M-3 Garland is widely considered to be one of the best infantry weapons ever issued. Its innovative semi-automatic action and external magazine, which allowed for unprecedented high rates of fire while preserving its accuracy and reliability, gave it an edge over the M-2 slow rate of fire and integrated magazine. About its only disadvantage was that it used an 8-round clip, as compared to the 12 round magazine of the M-2, and the fact that reloading the gun makes a signature ping that can notify the enemies.

Many soldiers, generals and historians have gone on record as saying that the M-3 rifle was the single most important component of UCA success in the defense against the Reclaimers by holding the line until assault rifles could be manufactured. Though in service in the UCA when the second great war broke out, the M-1 would be used as a stop-gap measure to try and even the odds against Reclaimer SMG that so outmatched the M-2 rifles before until it could face replacement by the new M-4 garland. However, during the war itself, the M-3 was king, and a squad would do almost anything to have even one M-3 issued among their number rather than be stuck with the M-3.

Because line units got priority, reserve units being moved to replace units on the front lines would frequently be without. Due to these supply problems, soldiers rotating off the front lines would leave their M-3s in the foxholes, to ensure the next unit would be properly armed. It became tradition for the wielder to carve their name and clan into the stock of the M-3 so the next user would know who to thank; a gesture that was probably in great part responsible for the international goodwill that energized the post-war UCA. And in the eighth age it's been relegated to being used by the reservists.

M-4 Garland
The current service rifle of the UCA, used by the rifle brigade and guards alike, the M-4 is a gun of many firsts. It's the first service weapon with three firing modes, having single shot, three round burst, and fully automatic fire available. It is extremely popular for its versatility; thanks to the mounted rails soldiers can customize rifles with variety of attachments, ranging from additional sights to underbarrel weapons; one particular favorite among Reservists is the MY48 underslung grenade launcher.

It's also the first weapon to have synthetic plastic furniture, as a result of its manufacturer. Light, accurate, and modular, the weapon is extremely popular with almost everyone it is issued to, dubbed as "the gun of the UCA". However, it sees little use in UCAAF; a Vanguard in recoil-absorbing, weight transferring assault frame has little use for a weapon designed to be light and non-intrusive, and so usually the weapon is discarded in favor of the Cardin 8 or Bronson HMG, with the Sappers being the main wielder of the M-4.

MG 5mm LMG
Built to be more infantry portable. The MG5 is an LMG chambering 5.56 mm rounds intended for soldiers not wearing an assault frame, combining the firepower of a machine gun with the accuracy of a rifle. Developed a short time after the founding of the UCA, after having the UCAAF complaining the need for a weapons that fills a similar role to the Bronson but lighter, the MG5 has proven itself to be a reliable and durable weapon, capable of working where less reliable weapons often jam. In addition, it is noted for its ease of use, as well for being easy to clean and maintain. With the light weight of the weapon and the relatively low recoil, when compared to weapons of similar caliber, meant that only a single soldier is required to operate it, and furthermore it could be fired on the move, though it takes a veteran to do so without hitting anything but the target.

However one key distinguishing figure ensured its popularity was the fact that the rifle could use a wide variety of feeds, ranging from belt feeds to rifle magazines. This meant that in the event an M-4B operator ran out of ammunition, they could simply grab a 30 round magazine from any of his squad mates and keep on firing. A quick change barrel and handle allowed a jammed or overheated barrel to be quickly and easily swapped out for a fresh one, allowing the operator to resume firing as soon as possible. And the eighth age becomes the main weapon of the Sentinels.

Bronson .50 cal Heavy Machine Gun
Perhaps the most iconic machine gun of all time, the Bronson is an ancient machine, dating back to Tuatha empire in the great war. The old relic can put 450 dollar-sized bullet holes into a target 2 miles downrange a minute without overheating. Two variants have been developed for use on aircraft, which boast higher firing rates of 700 RPM and 1,200 RPM, respectively, although with the much higher firing rates comes the problem of overheating. The M2 almost never jams, a testament to its extreme reliability. Designed to be able to be belt-fed from either side, with spent cartridges ejected straight down, the sheer versatility of the M2 has resulted it being deployed everywhere, from Sumpter to Striker modules.

To this day, no other machine gun in the world has been able to match the Bronson's unprecedented reliability, destructive ability, versatility, accuracy, and ease of production, with it still being used five ages later being a testament to its design. The only weakness of the Bronson, if it could be considered a weakness, is its weight when fully loaded and primed. However, UCA infantry around the globe have said that they would rather carry a Bronson for twenty miles and three days to a battle in the remotest of jungles, than fight in a single engagement without it. And by the modern age the weapon is now wielded like an assault rifle by soldiers in an assault frame, where the gun is light as a feather and its recoil become but a light tap to the soldiers in these suits, particularly in the hand of the Vanguards.

Bronson M2
The newest HMG made by the UCA and specifically built to be either mounted on a vehicle or wielded by a soldier in an assault frame. The M2 is more of a retrofit of the M1. Changing the barrel to a six barrel gatling gun equipped with a sophisticated computerized sight and a 400 rounds magazine, the M-2 could spit out 2,000 rounds a minute on maximum setting and, with some minor modifications, a soldier in assault frame to carry with ease.

The infantry variant switches the six barrel to a lighter and more manageable tri-barrel configuration and have its fire rate reduce to a more manageable 1,400 RPM and a computerised sight that links up to the soldiers helmet meaning they don't even need to look down the sights to fire accurately. With most Vanguards also requesting it to have an underslung 20mm grenade launcher, which they load with HAMR rounds so that they can discard their RPG.

But the M-2 is incredibly complex, requiring the Vanguard or vehicle crew has to spend about half an hour to clean it if they don't want it to jam, means that only veterans are allowed use of it. Not to mention its weight makes it impractical to wield without an assault frame, but that part was mostly intentional to discourage enemies from taking it.

While still a long way from widespread service, the M-2 infantry variant has been issued to a number of Vanguards. Thus far, it has proven effective, with feedback has been incredibly positive. Not only in improving firepower but also also lightening the Vanguards load due to not needing the RPG and using the significantly lighter HAMR rounds in place of rockets, with only a few complains on its complexity, especially when it comes to cleaning the barrels.

Cardin-8 semi-automatic shotgun
The massive Cardin-8, standing for 8 gauge, shotgun is a potent symbol of the power of the UCA. At first glance, the weapon looks impossibly unwieldy; a four foot long shotgun with a large bore and an oversized mechanism. To a UCAAF soldier in assault frame, however, the weapon is just right; they can barely feel its monstrous kick against their padded shoulder or notice its considerable weight thanks to the weight distributing properties of their assault frame. The Cardin-8 was designed for urban combat and breaking down doors, but the huge weapon proved so useful that it was soon being used in any situation.

Loaded with 10 8-gauge buckshot, it can clear a hallway in a single pull of the trigger or bisect an opponent in a single roaring blast. Loaded with slugs, it will punch holes through body armor or tear apart unarmored vehicles. There are even sabot slugs which are effective over longer distances.

They are mainly wielded by Able battalions Cavalry troopers, who prefer its stopping power despite its range, since their armor allows them to tank any oncoming damage while they close in.

Cardin-8B gatling shotgun with underslung grenade launcher
Apart from its short range, it could be argued that the only other disadvantage of the Cardin-8 shotgun was its slow rate of fire. The Cardin-8B was developed to fix this flaw. The Cardin-8B simply replaced the semi-automatic action of the Cardin-8 with a recoil operated reloading mechanism, enabling the Cardin-8B to fire on full-auto, allowing the Vanguards to maintain a staggering rate of fire, to the point that the single barrel had to be changed to a rotary tri barrel to reduce overheating.

In addition to the rate of fire the magazine size of the Cardin-8B was also upgraded to a 32 rounds drum magazine to cope with the sheer rate at which the Vanguard burnt through their ammunition, which are the newly made HEAB (High Explosive Air Burst) rounds capable of reaching aircrafts at low flying altitude thanks to magnetic enchantments, that reduces flesh and light materials into bits, and a bullpup grenade launcher on top, with a magazine of 12 rounds, which are popularly loaded with HAMR (high-explosive anti-tank micro-rocket) rounds to punch through tank armor. And its theocratically possible for the soldier to fire both weapons at the same time but its highly discourage, due to the action causing the barrels to rapidly heat up and increasing barrel degradation, with a mechanism that makes it so that only one trigger can be pulled at a time.

However, the Cardin-8B has yet to become standard issue in the UCAAF, given to only veterans, due to the sheer expense of the weapons and several production issues. For instance, the gas operated feed mechanism has to be made out of solid, heavily enchanted, titanium to withstand the sheer recoil of the massive shotgun shells and repeated fire, and the complexity of the gas operated pistons and rotary barrels meant that they had to be hand crafted, a costly and time consuming process. And the weight of it, unloaded, is too heavy for anyone not wearing powered armor or an assault frame to wield it. But that was intentional to discourage enemies from looting it.

Anti-Tank Weapons
Longhorn anti-material rifle

During the first great war, started by the ambitious Tuatha empire, the world saw an invention that revolutionized warfare forever. The Tank. These metallic beasts first rolled over the trenches in the first great war. With cannons mounted on each side, the tank had enough firepower to take out any position their enemies held while shrugging anything short of howitzer fire. And in response the enemies made their own. And in return the Fenrirs began devising an infantry weapon to take out their foes tanks.

The Longhorn rifle wasn't an Anti-tank weapon at first, it was actually advertised as a rifle to hunt down large game. But as the Fenrirs began designing an AT weapon they needed a stopgap, and found out the Longhorn large caliber had enough power to punch through the tank armor and quickly mass produced.

The Longhorn was a single-shot, breech loaded, rifle, holding a single .450 round, upgraded with a solid bullet to punch through tank armor. But was also notoriously having a heavy weight and tremendous recoil, as in firing the rifle without proper bracing usually leads to a broken or dislocated shoulder.

In modern times a few Longhorns are sold to others, mainly as a poor mans anti-tank weapon, but a few, modified to hold four more rounds, fire semi-automatically, and lengthened barrel with a few even given a railgun barrel, are still by the UCAAF as an anti-material rifle, mainly due to its power and simplicity, with the standard UCAAF assault frame negates the rifles main problems.

Mk5 fragmentation grenade
Colloquially known as the pineapple, due to its shape, the mk5 is a grenade is filled with deadly ball bearings that shot out at supersonic speeds after detonation, tearing apart any meaty objects within 15 m of the blast. It was commonly used by Riflemen and infantry alike since the third age to clear trenches, pillboxes and even entire bunkers. A single Mk5 in the right place is usually more than enough to empty a machine gun nest, and a barrage of them can stop even the most determined of Navaheim charges. With it's design having a rather sparse update due to its simplicity. But the recent upgrade to the grenade however, was the replacement of the old timed fuse mechanism. Instead, pulling the pin powered up a radio receiver inside the grenade. The pin of the grenade contained a button, which when pressed, detonated the grenade. This removed the need for the highly risky action of "cooking a grenade", which could very well blow up the soldier's own squad, and prevented any casualties from grenades thrown back by enemy troops. Safety measures were also included that prevented accidental detonation, including a hardwired 3 second powerup sequence for the receiver and the button is in a small hole and can only be pressed by inserting the pin into the hole.

As a result of implementing the new upgrade, friendly fire incidents as a result of misdirected grenades and redirected grenades have fallen to zero, however, complaints about the complicated detonation process and difficulty in inserting the pin have been raised.

C82 "Thumper" Grenade Launcher
Grenade launchers were a relatively new concept to the UCA, with their first grenade launchers only coming into service after the formation of the UCA. However, they have since caught on, and have become pretty commonplace among the UCA. The c82, called the thumper due to the noise it makes when firing, Grenade Launcher was the first grenade launcher made by the UCA. Using breechloading system, holding a single grenade, the thumper can fire a variety of grenades, but due to its old design the only grenades now used are the C8 "gaia" grenade, which is actually a specially made glass that disperses a healing spell upon detonation, and the O8 "thunder" grenades, which lets out a loud shriek that stuns enemies. And in the eighth age has been relegated to the UCA Combat medics, as a support weapon.

Assault frame
Upon the UCA being formed, and where the Fenrirs don't need to keep one eye open when they sleep, the Fenrirs, now having time to focus on research, began finding ways to increase the soldiers protection.

And after months of research had realized that the Templars powered armor, while strong, was simply too expensive to be fielded to a whole army and lacks the combat of normal infantry. And so made a commission to find a way to give an average riflemen an armor about as strong as the templars but still cheap enough to mass produce.

But improving on the old armor system, a full plate armor with a doublet, became an issue. Creating armor without having it weigh too much, even with enchantments lightening the weight, or without making it expensive was a seemingly impossible task.

Fortunately a breakthrough was soon made. As engineers created a specialized, lightly and solar powered, with the suit able to be powered for up to a month on full battery, weight bearing frame that would go under the armor components of a suit of body armor, keeping the suit rigid and transferring the weight of the armor straight to the ground through the legs, or if necessary the arms or even the top or bottom of the torso, thanks to a gyroscopic mechanism. This allows the soldier to stand, sit, or lie down without ever noticing the weight of his rigid armor suit or the equipment hanging off of it. The hardened joints even have piston-assisted mechanisms that allow the soldier to run or jump with only a marginal impact to their mobility and enhances the user strength, those the last part is only noticeable for the Skarnops and Harpies.

With this sorted, the UCA soldier can wear a full plate armor suit, carry a shotgun the size of a HMG, and even keep an RPG on hand, all while barely noticing it. Of course, this is not to say the soldier are completely unaffected; the sheer mass of carrying such equipment still slows them up somewhat. However, it does mean the soldier can wear a suit of full plate for days that most people couldn't hope to use for more than a few hours at a time (in theory: not even a Vanguard can sleep in full armor even if they want to).

The assault frame does have a few more features to recommend it. The standard helmet contains either a built-in sight adaption system, built to counter sudden darkness or sudden light due to the Fenrirs and Skarnops natural night vision, or a nightvision system for the Harpies and Ogres, and can be easily sealed against gas attack; this seal will also harden the soldier against overpressure from nearby explosives. Finally, the suit has a weather adaption runes to keep the user in comfortable temperature, rather it be a scorching desert or frozen tundra.

Recently engineers had also found a way to grant more power these suits with little reduction to combat endurance, further enhancing the user strength and allowing them to carry more armor and equipment, with a small, energy efficient, generator. But recent production meant that only veteran Vanguards are allowed to use/field test it.

Plugsuit
Despite the assault frame fitting the criteria it had one major flaw, discovered in a field test, in that its users actually get fatigued in it. And after some research found the reason.

In order for the frame to properly work it must have direct contact to the user, due to the enchantments in it requiring the users nervous system, and that the old uniform had, with it's thickness, severely dampened the connection, leading to the user now having to lug half of the frames weight, instead of none, alongside the armor and pack they are to carry. And had scrambled for a solution until the best was found.

The plugsuit, by it's nickname, is either a sleeveless unitard, with a pair of elbow length gloves, for men, or a long sleeved and gloved leotard, with a pair of thigh-highs and garter, for women, made of skintight but breathable materials, with the soles also specially hardened to be similar to a shoe. Made to be form-fitting and skin tight along with runes in designated position to enhance the bodies bioelectricity to pass the signal to the frame to give peak synchronisation between the user assault frame, and by extension power armor, and nervous system, but to make it the best they also recommend that those wearing the plugsuit to go commando must to the embarrassment of many. And it proved a success.

Emboldened by this the engineers began to improve the suit, weaving in kevlar and a forcefield generator so that the suit acts as light/emergency combat armor capable of shrugging off pistol caliber rounds, a health monitoring system, with a display mounted on the spinal area for ease of gauging wearers health in that pumps adrenaline, painkillers, and other medications/combat drugs/stimulants in battle, and temperature regulating runes to keep the user temperature stable even when in a winter or desert environment. With a side effect of the suit being comfortable enough that many UCAAF soldier began to wear the plugsuits when off duty, or even in civilian life, with maybe a jacket or some other choice of clothing, so that they can quickly wear their assault frame in the event of an attack.

The only complaint about it is that some of the soldiers are embarrassed to wear it due to it feeling like they're wearing underwear, especially since they must also go commando.

Advanced full plate armor
Despite their success in making the assault frame work properly it had came at the cost of having to discard the original full plate under armor, a doublet and boots, and while their plugsuit had a degree of protection test had shown that while the suit can take a lot of punishment, its wearer can't, with particularly harsh impacts crushing the test dummy bodies and killing them, even if the suit itself was undamaged. But the solution was simple. Through some modifications the engineers had layered the plate armor in composites, similar to their tanks, in four layers.

The first layer consist of an inch of steel, the second layer consist of plates of ceramics, the third is made of shock dispersing metal foam, and the final layer is a soft gel padding covered in cloth. When the armor takes a hit, the steel an ceramic blunts a good chunk of the force while the foam and gel contracts and expands, redirecting impact force away from the wearer. While this drastically increased the armors weight it was considered a good tradeoff, especially since it was meant to be worn with an assault frame that removes almost all of the weight, as survivability drastically increased, and increased the likelihood of survival if the wearer takes fatal damage. With the standard Vangaurd now wearing it as standard, while lighter infantry like the Combat medics or Riflemen only wear the helmet and chestplate.

Uniforms
Generally speaking, the UCA employ three basic uniforms with a great many variants; the field uniform, the dress uniform, and the officer-only day uniform.

Field Uniform
Worn by officers within a war zone, and enlisted personnel at all times while on duty, the field uniform consists of a reversible black/white sleeveless shirt, light blue kilt, and light blue trenchcoat worn over a plugsuit, with the coat non-dominant arm sleeve being dyed silver for commanding officers. While Harpies wear ones without sleeves. The clothes are also quick to tear off, so that in the event of a sudden attack the soldier can quickly remove their outerwear and get into their powered armor.

The undershirt is silkscreened with a the UCA eagle, the soldier's name on the left hand side, and a small rank indicator under the collar

Dress uniform
Worn on parades or off duty. The dress uniform consists of a blue buttoned trenchcoat with grey inside, kilt, and a blue branch-specific tam o' shanter, white gloves, a white dress shirt, a pair of thigh-highs with garters for women and a pair of socks for men, and black boots, though both genders can optionally choose to wear trousers under their kilt while females can choose to wear black wedge heel shoes instead.

The coat contains two breast pockets, two lower pockets, a right-side internal flat pocket for documentation, and a drawstring loop on the right hand side where gloves can be easily stowed. The left side breast pocket is augmented with three "emergency loops" that can be used to externally stow small items such as shotgun shells, rifle rounds, code cylinders or medication, while the right hand pocket has an internal loop for a pen or pencil. A pair of reinforced epaulettes are designed to be used as handles should it be necessary to drag a wounded soldier out of danger. The kilt have pockets with zippers and two cargo pockets, the right hand side pockets internally segmented into two. Left handed soldiers are issued uniforms with reversed pockets. With commanders having the sleeve on their non-dominant arm dyed silver, or even painted silver in cases where the arm is a prosthetic.