Veskarm

Veskarm is a catch-all term for weapons that operate primarily through the use of Veskaril. Because of how powerful they are, there are some places that either limit or outright ban civilian use and ownership of some or all types of veskarms.

Types

Veskalance

A Veskaril lance, often simply referred to as a veskalance, is one of the earliest forms of veskarm. It is a lance or spear that, when activated, propels its head forwards at a high velocity. The very tip of the shaft is hollow, with a piece of metal inside and vents cut around the tip. The entirety of the front half of the shaft must have a heat-resistant coating, which should be reapplied regularly. The head, which is inserted into the shaft, has a piece of Veskaril at the base and is generally made short enough that the metal in the shaft does not touch the head. The shaft has an enchantment that, when activated, quickly heats the metal, propelling the Veskaril, which pushes the head from the shaft. There are also some double-headed variants, which have a head at both ends.
A specialized type of veskalance, known as a spikelance, was created to be used against heavy armor. Spikelances are made with bodkin-style heads instead of the typical spearhead shape and are often able to pierce plate armor, even without hitting a weak point. The downside is that to generate the required force to achieve this, much more heat is required and the recoil is much stronger, meaning that they must be held near the bottom of the shaft and should be braced against something in order to be safely and effectively fired.
Veskalances are only rarely used today, as they are largely obsolete. Most people who do use these are bandits and peasant militias.

Veskangon

A veskangon is essentially a shorter veskalance, named for the angon, a type of javelin. These generally have less velocity than a typical veskalance, since the shorter length requires there to be less heat in order to keep the weapon safe to use. There are some higher-velocity versions that have a shield attached just behind the vents. The main disadvantage of these is that they are heavier and more unwieldy. Like veskalances, these have fallen out of military use, although they are occasionally used by bandits and poor civilians.
There is a variant of veskangon that has a wheel attached to it by a short limb just behind the tip, with the actual wheel sitting just in front of the tip. This wheel has multiple heads attached to it so that one can be fired, then the wheel can be pushed out, rotated, and pulled back in, inserting the next head to be fired. The capacity of these tends to range from two to five. They are at a significant disadvantage in melee combat, as the point where the wheel connects to the shaft is somewhat prone to breaking under stress. This issue, as well as the fact that vesguns had already supplanted veskangons on the battlefield when these were invented, caused this type of veskangon to never see any actual military use.

Veskabow

Veskabows are essentially Veskaril-powered crossbows. They look like crossbows with the limbs and string removed. They typically operate in a similar way to a veskalance; a piece of metal just behind the bolt channel that is rapidly heated, propelling the Veskaril on the bolt forward. Some newer models have a magazine above the bolt channel, allowing the veskabow to fire multiple times in quick succession. Like many other old veskarms, these are no longer used by any military forces and are generally considered to be obsolete, but they are still in circulation.

Vesgun

An evolution of the veskangon, vesguns are purely ranged weapons. They were initially conceived as a hybrid of veskabows and veskangons. Early models, like their predecessors, could only be fired once before requiring reloading, and typically fired bolts like those used for crossbows. Newer models, on the other hand, can be fired multiple times before reloading and typically use small steel bullets as ammunition. Initially, these had a revolving cylinder containing the ammunition which had to be manually revolved after every shot. Recent developments have resulted in cylinders that simply automatically revolve after every shot.
Because of the fact that the vents are closer to the hand than on other veskarms, there needs to be something to protect the user's hand. The most common solution to this is to have a shield, like those on some veskangons, attached to the vesgun between the vents and the trigger. These are typically made of wood and have the same heat-resistant coating as a veskangon.
Since their invention, vesguns have quickly begun to dominate the weapons industry, both in civilian and military contexts, rendering older veskarms such as veskabows and veskangons obsolete. However, it should be noted that these older veskarms are still in circulation, and are still effective weapons, especially with the decline in armor usage that vesguns have begun to cause.