Stone-Render Cannons

Summary

Stone-Render Cannons are the most advanced cannons to have ever been built in Tor'Saarn, designed to tear apart stone walled cities or to easily sink capital ships. They were constructed by the Tiorath Hierarchy as part of a plan to conquer the coastal cities of Felsaed. Only 15 of these weapons were ever constructed, all of which were lost during The Sundering of Tiorath.

Description

These cannons had five barrels, each of which was six times the mass of the standard cannons used by the Tiorath navy at the time (or heavier on long-barrelled artillery variants), and rapid-fire variants were connected to a large rotating mechanism. The Barrels were longer than that of other cannons of the time.

utility

Stone-Render Cannons had a variety of uses depending on how they were mounted, but were typically used as heavy artillery or blockade breakers. They could be fired in two ways depending on the variant, either by cluster fire or rapid shot. Cluster fire was available on all variants, and utilized a simple heating chamber to heat the barrels in unison. However a handful of these weapons could be fired one barrel at a time in rapid succession, making use of a direct method of heating a single barrel while a rotating mechanism moved clockwise whenever the last barrel was fired.
The weapons fired explosive cannonballs, designed to explode on impact with heavy objects such as thick wood or stone. The explosives made use of a new highly reactive alchemical mix and a small striking pin that would force a small amount of black powder into a striking plate at high speed. Once struck the powder would ignite and blast through the central chamber, igniting the volatile materials within the core of the cannonball.

History

These weapons were made during the first age, and mounted on the six ships that made up the three new classes being introduced into the Tiorathan navy. The largest of these ships, the Silver Wings of Renic, was the first to begin construction and took two centuries to complete. During the Construction of the Silver Wings three variants of the cannon were made, all three of which were mounted on the ship. However as construction neared completion in the last decade or so a handful of advancements in ship design lead the military to commission an upgraded compliment for the ship, as the vehicles original compliment was now severely outdated.
The compliment was made up of two new classes, both designed to function either as centerpieces in specialized fleets or to serve as compliments to the new Citadel class Ship of the line (The Silver Wings of Renic serving as the lone example of this class). These newer classes were the Splinter Class Ship Hunter (of which two were made, each mounted with two Stone-Render Cannons) and the Ironstorm class Artillery platform (of which three were made and given one Stone-Render Cannon).
Renic even began work on creating the infrastructures to mount both the Artillery variants and a new long-ranged, six barrelled, auto-loaded variant (that ultimately never saw production) along the city's walls. However production on these weapons was stopped after the Sundering, and the design is now lost to time. With the sinking of the Grand fleet all known instances of this weapon were lost, and after the decimation of the shipyards at the Henruut twin cities the design was believed destroyed, or lost at the very least.
However their have long been rumors amongst Tor'Saarn's intelligence communities that one or more of the smaller vessels mounted with these guns was recovered at some time in the late second age, and that work to reverse-engineer the guns has commenced. Although their is little evidence to suggest this, it has quickly become a concern in Sethir and Felsaed due to the risk posed by a new Tiorath empire with weapons that posed a threat to the The Titan minds.

Item type

Weapon, Ranged