Artillery

A list of the various Artillery and Siege Weapons that appear in the story.

General Information

Most nations do not use siege weapons, preferring to employ [Mages] casting siege spells like [Siege Fireball], instead of having to carry the heavy weaponry and necessary ammunitions. The process of building siege engines is considered to only be known widely to Drakes and Minotaurs, with some exceptions. Nations that do not build siege weapons may still purchase them to employ in their armies.

List of Siege Engines

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Ballista

Ballista and Ballistae are widely used by Minotaurs on their warships, which they are able to reload by hand with their strength. They craft them out of the deshwood trees found on their island, and a [Master of Artillery] oversees their creation. The wood is carefully cultivated, and inundated with the alchemical liquid meant to keep the timber flexible, after which they are enchanted. There is so much strain on the weapon that an unenchanted weapon would have shattered. Their Wallbreaker-class Ballista are bigger than the Field-class and are used for sieges and warships. They have an effective range of two thousand feet for direct fire, a maximum range of eight thousand and artillery capabilities at nineteen thousand, but they are also harder to aim.

Aside from standard metal bolts, they load these ballistas with masterpiece bolts of hollowed whalebone, inscribed with runes bought from Deríthal-Vel and packed with an explosive mixture made by an [Alchemist] of at least Level 30. The shafts are inscribed with spells of guidance and flights, with lightweight sigils. The entire expendable ammunition could be classified as a minor artifact in its own right, which is why even the House of Minos seldom use it in large quantities.

They are also used on the walls of Pallass, the City of Inventions, though these are smaller than the Minotaurs' Wallbreaker-class. These have been shown operated by specialized [Archers] and [Engineers], and firing bolts over long distances, propelled by physics, magic, and Skills with the force to pierce through a Wyvern and kill another behind it. Larger Drake cities may also have one or two Ballistas protecting it, with the approval of Manus, which has the largest manufacturing capabilities for ballista bolts out of the Walled Cities and supplies the ammunition.

The Flooded Waters Tribe also made Ballistae after Kevin imparted some mechanical and engineering knowledge. Notably, they made a massive Ballista out of wyvern bone and sinew thtat's twice as big as a Minotaur Wallbreaker-class ballista dubbed the Wyvernkiller. It requires an entire team of Hobs to reload, and fires wyvernbone bolts with enough power to kill a lesser Wyvern in one shot.

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Bloodbeast Slayer

Bloodbeast Slayers are siege weapons employed by Noelictus. They resemble ballistae, but launch giant wooden stakes. Their name and ammunition imply that they were used to kill monsters and other powerful creatures turned into Vampires in ages past.

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Catapult

Catapults have been seen on the walls of Pallass, the City of Inventions. They've been employed by Drake armies such as Hectval's, and are weaker than Riverfarm's Trebuchets. Their projectiles may be enchanted, such as to shatter into a hundred burning fragments.

Minotaurs employ them, mounting them as ship weapons they can reload by hand, and are able to lob alchemical weapons with them. Ailendamus also uses enchanted catapults, lacking the means to make trebuchets.

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Chesstower

Siege weapons and mobile fortifications employed by the Forgotten Wing Company. Chesstowers are short and wide towers made of stone, wood and other light materials made lighter with magic, and are enchanted against fire, catapults and arrows. They have superior crenelations, murder holes, enchantments to set themselves ablaze along with anyone trying to climb them, and anti-siege engine spells. Their most notable feature is that they're light enough to be lifted and redeployed, making them mobile fortifications. There are currently twenty-seven made, some of which have been commissioned to look like rooks, bishops, and other chess pieces.

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Giant Slingshot

A lightweight naval weapon used by Pheislant instead of artillery spells or larger siege weapons. It can launch a Bag of Holding containing much larger ammunition than it sould normally be able to launch, or an alchemical payload.

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Greatbow of Ailendamus

Greatbows are a type of crossbow-ballista built and employed by Ailendamus. They are sleek and resemble bow-ballistas with two pairs of limbs connected in an X shape, like two bows joined at the center. They're made of metal and are big enough to require a team to crank them back to fire their Lance-Arrows. Lance-Arrows are giant metal arrows that could kill a low-level [Knight] in a single hit, and may also be enchanted.

The Greatbows were created as a more economical way to create a fighting force, with a proper industry, than the time taken to train a [Mage] to do the same amount of damage would.

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Hwacha

Hwachas are artillery created by Drath, though they may sell them to other nations. They are able to fire hundreds of enchanted arrows.

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Mage Thrower

Artillery that make use of both siege construction and great magic, notably employed by Fissival, though not exclusively. Mage Throwers, also called Magic Throwers, are shaped after catapults, ballistae, and other siege weapons but are designed to throw magic. Some don’t obey the laws of physics, and others behave like Drake siege weaponry but hurl magical firepower. Some are so strange as to be completely odd, like a wide, serrated turret that simply casts an enlarged [Razorwind Disc] and cuts anything in half for two hundred feet.

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Thunderbow

Thunderbows are crossbow-ballista created by the Flooded Waters Tribe. They are large siege weapons made from Wyvern hide, sinew and bones. They are fitted with glass magnifiers and mounted on tripods to absorb the shock. They also created a model a third of its size dubbed Roarwings.

Thunderbows have been seen mounted on the tribe's Frost Wyverns.

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Trebuchet

Trebuchets have been made and employed by the Unseen Empire, thanks to Earther knowledge. While normally they would take around 10 minutes to fire, with Skills they can be ready to fire in as little time as 40 seconds. The forces of Tyrion Veltras later used them in its siege of Liscor, and saved those that remained afterwards as the Humans of northern Izril do not have the expertise to create any themselves. These were the first true siege weapons acquired by the north in over a thousand years.

The Flooded Waters Tribe also once copied the design and cobbled their own from scavenged materials just from observing them. They later made more, which they used when assaulting Tenbault.

Drakes create massive versions, such as the ones stationed on the walls of Pallass, as Pallassian [Engineers] are stated to be among the few in Innworld with the technical prowess to make them. They are twice as large as normal wood and steel could support, and can hit an army from miles away. They also load them with enchanted munitions.

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Related Classes

• [Artillerist]
• [Artillery Crew]
• [Artillery Expert]
• [Artillery Master]
• [Catapult Mistress]
• [Crew Operator]
• [Engineer]
• [Greatbow Archer]
• [Greatbow Sniper]
• [Loader]
• [Master of Artillery]
• [Munitions Expert]
• [Siegemaster]
• [Slingshot Specialist]

Related Skills

• [Ballista: Covering Fire]
• [Synced Aim: Ballista]