ok SO. I have done more research. not much more this time though jjust a fun little thing about arthur's gun.
so we all know that arthur uses his x-caliber gun, right, an excaliber reference? listed as a clarent* 10-caliber railgun, a gun more powerful than what anyone else uses. what I didn't know was what a railgun actually was; I assumed it was some specific gun type I hadn't heard of, but generally a used and standard gun, just more advanced than the revolvers the other characters presumably use (I'm guessing based on the gun chamber design on the hnoc album cover. I don't know anything about guns ok I just looked up the railgun). ANYWAY. railguns are actually still in development! the concept is that a standard rifle struggles to hit a muzzle velocity 2 km/s, whereas a railgun uses electromagnets to accelerate the projectile to over 3 km/s. The idea is that the projectile does not need to contain explosives, relying instead on sheer speed, and also does not need explosive propellants, so the guns and ammunition are far less dangerous to transport. the higher speed also increases its range.
however of course to operate the electromagnets, a high power supply is required. another issue is that at present, the high temperatures caused by these speeds would quickly wear away any material the 'rails' were made of, needing to be replaced after just a few shots. but of course this can be explained away by They Built A Fucking Space Station With The Ability To Hook Your Mind Into The Controls Obviously They Can Handle Advanced Materials Science and suchlike. just an interesting aside.
*another interesting thing to note is that clarent is the name of a sword from Morte Arthure intended for peaceful use, like knighting ceremonies, stolen by Mordred and used to kill Arthur
**cool because. it's a cool piece of technology and a cool concept but I hope they take forever to figure it out becausue I endorse cool tech but I do not endorse war and violence and murder and killing. I can appreciate the coolness of the design while recognising that murder is bad
