Erstwhile Muse

Aug 22, 2007

A Smattering of Rayguns

The other day I finally finished the inking job on the Orbtronic device shown below as well it's label box, so I figured why not dig out one of my other sketch books and scan in the small handful of raygun designs I had lying around. Now while these are nowhere near as detailed or splendiferous as the fabulous models offered by Dr.Grordbort (courtesy of those splendid Weta Workshop chaps), I'm still generally happy with the designs as they stand. So here for your enjoyment dear reader is a selection of fantastical armaments as envisioned by your humble author…

Ether Pistol MKI

This is more the classic type of raygun emitting a generic beam of death and destruction, and having more of an Art Deco/Buck Rogers styling to it. The barrel vanes were intended to be made from UV reactive plexiglas, which can easily be had in a luminescent violet shade which would go well with the intended brass coloration of the rest of the pistol. The tricky part that I haven't quite figured out yet is how to set up a simple led circuit inside the barrel itself (with a control circuit residing in the body itself) that can be cycled through in sequence, starting from the back set of vanes to the barrel opening, preferably in an increasingly rapid variation with matching electronic hum of increasing pitch (think the power up sequence of the Dispersion Pistol from Unreal).

Tesla Revolver MKI

This was my first successful attempt at creating a design for a realistic Tesla coil based weapon. Several games have had Tesla guns over the years (the first I recall and my favorite being the Tesla Cannon from Blood), but they always had designs that had next to nothing to do with reality. Yeah, they're just games, so I can cut them some slack, but I still wanted to see something more plausible and Steampunkish—hence my joy at the wonderful design previously mentioned in The Five Fists of Science. The sketch here is pretty simple, but it contains the basic elements that I wanted: a primary/secondary coil arrangement (although they are improperly labeled in this sketch), room for the power supply part of the apparatus, and a recognizable gun shape.

Atlantean Lightning Pistol

Every good Steampulp (my just coined neologism for Steampunk themed Pulp fiction) story needs an Atlantean device in it somewhere, why not some weaponry? As opposed to the Tesla Revolver, this design is pure fantasy and flash—she's all looks baby. And why bother trying to rationally explain the weird magitek of a lost civilization? That's not to say there aren't some minor nods to reality. The amber crystal is reminiscent of basic science experiments in creating static electricity while the strange copper wire freewheel surely must hold some sort of energy storage function…

Orbtronic Handheld Force Projector

From the Orbtronics catalouge:

The ultimate in Non-Lethal Weaponry! Orbtronics patented new Quantum Strangeness Entangler Device (QSED) in a convenient handheld format allows for a variety of uses of the cosmic energies contained within! Handy variable focus ring allows for quick and easy selection of beam width, spread, strength and lifetime!

Please do not attempt to open the containment sphere. No user serviceable parts inside. Orbtronics Inc. is not responsible for possible temporal/spatial anomalies resulting from user induced containment breach.

The Orbtronic was originally just a quick sketch, an experiment in forms mostly. As it came together I began to envision what sort of raygun such a bulbous device would be. I decided it would be a sort of telekinetic/force field projection device, inspired quite a bit by some of the Force Field powers from City of Heroes. The nebulously described force thus projected can be used to encase troublesome individuals in an impermeable sphere of energy (Detention Field), or shield vulnerable devices or persons from the ravages of the environment in a similar manner (PFF, Shields). A quick, high energy pulse of force energy can be used as a defensive weapon to knock out possible enemies (Force Bolt, Repulsion Bomb). Additionally, a carefully calibrated force beam can be used to retrieve distant objects across medium range distances (sort of a cross between telekinesis and Tenser's Floating Disk).

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1 Comments:
 Blogger MAD said...

I neglected to mention how awesome I thought these "rayguns" are.

So now I am no longer neglecting to mention it.

Awesome! :)

Jan 2, 2008, 5:11:00 PM

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