Firearm
Utility
It's uses are primarily for combat and hunting, although the increased accuracy allowed by spiraling has also led to an increase in uses of firearms for assassination attempts.
Manufacturing
Firearms of all types require particularly strong and reinforced metal barrels to withstand the repeated small explosions of Black Salt within the barrel. Some smiths have advanced of perfected the technique necessary to create sturdy firearms, but they still take a long time to manufacture, leaving them as expensive and in demand items, carefully protected by their owners. Mass production of ammunition, which can be utilized in Sling and similar weapons, has outstripped any large scale production of the weapons themselves.
Access & Availability
Felcryn the Valiant was so proud of his new innovation that he boasted openly of it in taverns throughout his home city of Wealyra. This proved to be quite an error on the part of the Technologist, as others quickly gravitated to the idea and, although Felcryn the Valiant got the deserved credit for inventing the technology, he lost out on a great deal of profit as others ran with the idea and quickly improved upon it.
Complexity
The basic concept of the firearm isn't too complex, igniting Black Salt to propel metal balls, or other physical objects, down a reinforced tube. Since the first Firelance were developed, however, their complexity has increased significantly with more advanced triggers being invented that increase safety and prevent accidental discharge; spiraling added to the interior of the barrel to spin the ammunition and increase range and accuracy; and most recently rare and pricey Firestar that use carefully guarded components to allow multiple shots without reloading.
Discovery
A gnome technologist named Felcryn the Valiant invented the first Firelance in 959, the Year of Black Salt, when some fragments of metal fell unnoticed into the barrel of a prototype for a device he was working on for lighting fires from a distance and he accidentally shot his assistant in the leg from across the room.
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