Handcannon

A handcannon is a miniaturized Cannon, designed to be carried and used by a single person. Only six were ever created, the first batch of prototypes, created by the inventor Julian MacCanann. Five of these have been destroyed, all having misfired and exploded after several sucessful firings. With the first of these misfires claiming its inventor's life and setting his labratory ablaze, most of the details of their construction have been lost, making the one surviving handcannon a unique museum piece, currently on display in the Steward's Hall in Caelester.

Design

The handcannon is about 70cm long, consisting of 50cm of steel tube and ending in a padded wooden stock intended to be braced against the user's hip or shoulder. The barrel has an 8cm bore, and is designed to fire either a single large iron ball shaped to match the diameter of the barrel or a more complex cylindrical cannister containing several dozen smaller spheres that will break up and spray a wide area with a hail of deadly projectiles. In successful test firings, most people firing it have been knocked over by the incredible recoil, but the effect it's had on target dummies suggests anyone hit by it would not be getting back up again when faced with either of these types of shot.
The firing mechanism, inspired by a lamplighter's sparker, consists of a piece of flint in a springloaded position, a roughened piece of steel for the flint to strike against, and a small pan with a hole leading down to the interior of the gun. With flashpowder and projectile loaded into the barrel and a small amount of flashpowder in the pan, the shooter can pull a small metal trigger that releases the internal spring. This causes the pice of flint to swing forward, scrape against the metal, and ignite the flashpowder in the pan. At this point, the handcannon either fires its shot with incredible force, or simply explodes with equally incredible force. Some have suggested a similar mechanism be built into larger cannon, as it seems to be a very reliable mechanism, but most actual gun crews find it easier (and safer) to just use a long match to fire their cannon from a safe distance.