Kalran: Tales of the four nations/Pulse Weaponry

Like many nations in Alcradia when they faced the Tuatha Empire gunpowder weaponry. The Rokhari began brainstorming ways to counter it, and reverse engineering what firearms they could salvage, especially since they lack the knowledge on how to make gunpowder.

One of the successful tech made to compete with the guns is the Plasma Propelled Pulse Weapons project. The idea behind it was a simple one that the scientist of it, had been thinking of since university.

A conventional firearm detonates an explosive charge behind a projectile in an enclosed barrel. The rapidly expanding gasses produced by the explosion accelerate the projectile down the barrel at frightening velocity. What the doctor had realized, is that any rapidly expanding gasses could be used, providing they expanded rapidly enough. The first Plasma Propelled Kinetic weapon used a high voltage discharge in a small spark gap behind the projectile, provided by a set of spark generating runes. The arc instantly ionized the air behind the projectile, forming a rapidly expanding plasma that accelerated the projectile down the barrel.

There were some minor problems with the first prototypes. The velocity of the projectiles wasn't yet comparable with conventional firearms. However, the prototype was still workable, and the Khans were impressed with the prospects for the weapon. Plasma propelled Projectiles had a number of significant advantages if they could be made to work. Because the rounds didn't need an explosive propellant, they were smaller and lighter, allowing soldiers to carry more of them. There was also a further advantage of the weapon design. As no spent casings needed to be ejected from the breach, fresh rounds could be chambered quicker than in conventional firearms, allowing the gun to fire very rapid bursts of projectiles, although the gun would need to stop firing every so often, in order to cool.

With the promising initial results, research funding continued, and a more workable version was developed. The problem with low muzzle velocity was solved via a two-stage process. A thin layer of a polymer was applied to the base of each round, and the current was now passed through the projectile, to the breach of the weapon. The voltage was so great, that the polymer would break down, and ionize, forming the plasma. Due to the higher volume of material being vaporized, the plasma was significantly more expansive, allowing the projectile to travel faster. As an unusual side effect of materials in the polymer, rounds fired by the new version of the gun tended to have a glowing blue tracer effect. This system had a further advantage. Because the current passed through the projectile, the projectile was quickly super-heated before it left the barrel. This was a particularly useful trait, as most types of body armor used by various military organizations are held together with materials and runes that melt easily. Causing additional burns to their target upon impact.