Massive, thick, heavy, and far too rough part 3
And we're back with part 3! In this part, we'll be getting into one of the more unusual weapons in fiction, and definitely one of the strangest in Berserk as a series.
The Arm Cannon:
Guts lost his left forearm during a demonic feast known as "The Eclipse", when it was bitten and held fast, he chose to chisel it off with a broken knife. Because of this severe handicap, Rickert the blacksmith build him an arm made of Steel, and inside of it, he installed a single-shot cannon. This metal fist has saved guts on more than one occasion, and serves as a shield, a devastating blunt force weapon, and a surprise ace in the hole when the cannon is deployed. It is a muzzle-loading design, and must be reloaded with each shot, but most of the time, one shot is all it takes.
Realism of the design: The arm cannon consists of 2 parts we need to consider. The first is the metal prosthetic itself. As far as that goes, the design is actually very good. The fingers are controlled by small switches under a plate in the palm, the palm itself contains a magnet to allow Guts to hold metal objects more securely, like the handle of his sword. It's correctly proportioned, and even comes with a full tool kit for cleaning, maintenance, and the like. The fingers can also snap into a closed position if "snapped" onto an object, or if Guts applies pressure to them. All told, this would make an excellent false hand, and is similar to some historical models, albeit more advanced to fit the level of technology Ricket works with.
Now onto the cannon. The arm cannon appears to fire a large lead or iron ball, which guts can be seen loading on multiple occasions. The cannon appears to use something not unlike a paper cartridge, a small bag-like packet of powder that guts tears open and drops or pours into the barrel. As a design for a small cannon, this is actually fairly well thought out, and superior to "gonnes" (guns) seen during the Real-World Hundred Years War, which is similar in the level of technology to Berserk's fictional universe. This weapon is roughly equivalent to something you'd see from the time period of the American Civil War. A paper cartridge is superior to loose powder because the paper is greased with pig fat, making it water-proof, as long as you seat the projectile in the bore properly.
Realism of effect: The cannon is shown to be highly destructive, critically wounding demons that are capable of withstanding blows from a great sword with minor injuries, or shattering stone with a light punch. In many cases, the blast is enough to blow the target in half, sometimes completely vaporizing the upper torso. Lesser Demons, known as Apostle Spawn, are shown to be killed instantly by a straight shot, a tremendous feat, considering that even the weakest Apostle Spawn has rapid regeneration, high pain tolerance, and durability exceeding that of a fully armored knight! Now, cannons are very dangerous and destructive items, hence them being used to blast apart buildings and ships, as well as inflict tremendous damage on massed infantry.
The cannon has a bore around the size of a large man's fist, maybe a little smaller. This makes it roughly equal to a Swivel Gun, based on research into various naval battles and conflicts in which these were used, such a weapon is capable of inflicting very devastating damage at fairly long ranges. Which is to be expected, and is accurate to the damage the Arm-Cannon does. If it can shatter wooden timbers and kill sailors behind it at long range, it could kill monsters!
One thing worth noting is that the firing mechanism appears to be Percussion cap. This means Rickert invented Mercury Azide or Lead Azide and learned how to make it explode on impact. He likely supplied small caps, similar to a modern in-line muzzleloading rifle, and seems very similar to such a weapon.
Could you use it: This is a little tricky to rule on. As it stands, I THINK, yes, a very strong, fit person could use this. The recoil on this weapon would be monstrous, and it is shown to be sufficient to move Guts, who is a massive, heavily armored, and very muscular adult man. He has even incorporated this into attacks, firing the cannon in one direction and using the momentum to bring his sword around, striking attackers on two sides, or in a wide arc. So why do I think a human could ever use such a thing? Well.... we kind of do. Safari Guns made for hunting large animals like Cape Buffalo or Hippo are powerful enough that the recoil can actually BLIND you by detaching your retina, as well, hand-held cannons of similar, and greater size exist in history. They were often called "Hand-Gonnes", which is where the word handgun comes from. These weapons, while heavy and with massive recoil, were used in battle, they exist in museums, you can even buy modern recreations of them. Most are a little smaller than shown here, but as I stated above, seeing ones equal to the arm-cannon isn't all too unusual or hard. If you had it properly attached to your body, you were properly prepared, very big and strong, and knew your limitations, you COULD fire this thing. I wouldn't line up to do it, but you could.
Can we build it: Well..... given we have the tech for the prosthetic, and actually even BETTER technology than that, with high-strength polymers and titanium alloys, and we've taken firearms technology even further. If you wanted more manageable recoil, you could even chamber it in a modern center fire pistol round. You could have multiple rounds that could be fired, it could take a standard capacity magazine, there's no limit to what a person could do with this concept in the modern day. And if you were so inclined, you could make a prosthetic steel arm into a big ass 2.0 caliber percussion cannon. Now, I wouldn't ADVISE doing this, the ATF might get pissed, and it could also explode if made poorly. But you can science it into existence, if you're good enough and have the materials to do it.
In other words, if you become a struggler.
Next time, we'll wrap up Guts' arsenal with a look at his most famous weapon: Something that cannot be called a sword. It's massive, heavy, and far too rough.
It's more like a heap of raw steel.
The Arm Cannon:
Guts lost his left forearm during a demonic feast known as "The Eclipse", when it was bitten and held fast, he chose to chisel it off with a broken knife. Because of this severe handicap, Rickert the blacksmith build him an arm made of Steel, and inside of it, he installed a single-shot cannon. This metal fist has saved guts on more than one occasion, and serves as a shield, a devastating blunt force weapon, and a surprise ace in the hole when the cannon is deployed. It is a muzzle-loading design, and must be reloaded with each shot, but most of the time, one shot is all it takes.
Realism of the design: The arm cannon consists of 2 parts we need to consider. The first is the metal prosthetic itself. As far as that goes, the design is actually very good. The fingers are controlled by small switches under a plate in the palm, the palm itself contains a magnet to allow Guts to hold metal objects more securely, like the handle of his sword. It's correctly proportioned, and even comes with a full tool kit for cleaning, maintenance, and the like. The fingers can also snap into a closed position if "snapped" onto an object, or if Guts applies pressure to them. All told, this would make an excellent false hand, and is similar to some historical models, albeit more advanced to fit the level of technology Ricket works with.
Now onto the cannon. The arm cannon appears to fire a large lead or iron ball, which guts can be seen loading on multiple occasions. The cannon appears to use something not unlike a paper cartridge, a small bag-like packet of powder that guts tears open and drops or pours into the barrel. As a design for a small cannon, this is actually fairly well thought out, and superior to "gonnes" (guns) seen during the Real-World Hundred Years War, which is similar in the level of technology to Berserk's fictional universe. This weapon is roughly equivalent to something you'd see from the time period of the American Civil War. A paper cartridge is superior to loose powder because the paper is greased with pig fat, making it water-proof, as long as you seat the projectile in the bore properly.
Realism of effect: The cannon is shown to be highly destructive, critically wounding demons that are capable of withstanding blows from a great sword with minor injuries, or shattering stone with a light punch. In many cases, the blast is enough to blow the target in half, sometimes completely vaporizing the upper torso. Lesser Demons, known as Apostle Spawn, are shown to be killed instantly by a straight shot, a tremendous feat, considering that even the weakest Apostle Spawn has rapid regeneration, high pain tolerance, and durability exceeding that of a fully armored knight! Now, cannons are very dangerous and destructive items, hence them being used to blast apart buildings and ships, as well as inflict tremendous damage on massed infantry.
The cannon has a bore around the size of a large man's fist, maybe a little smaller. This makes it roughly equal to a Swivel Gun, based on research into various naval battles and conflicts in which these were used, such a weapon is capable of inflicting very devastating damage at fairly long ranges. Which is to be expected, and is accurate to the damage the Arm-Cannon does. If it can shatter wooden timbers and kill sailors behind it at long range, it could kill monsters!
One thing worth noting is that the firing mechanism appears to be Percussion cap. This means Rickert invented Mercury Azide or Lead Azide and learned how to make it explode on impact. He likely supplied small caps, similar to a modern in-line muzzleloading rifle, and seems very similar to such a weapon.
Could you use it: This is a little tricky to rule on. As it stands, I THINK, yes, a very strong, fit person could use this. The recoil on this weapon would be monstrous, and it is shown to be sufficient to move Guts, who is a massive, heavily armored, and very muscular adult man. He has even incorporated this into attacks, firing the cannon in one direction and using the momentum to bring his sword around, striking attackers on two sides, or in a wide arc. So why do I think a human could ever use such a thing? Well.... we kind of do. Safari Guns made for hunting large animals like Cape Buffalo or Hippo are powerful enough that the recoil can actually BLIND you by detaching your retina, as well, hand-held cannons of similar, and greater size exist in history. They were often called "Hand-Gonnes", which is where the word handgun comes from. These weapons, while heavy and with massive recoil, were used in battle, they exist in museums, you can even buy modern recreations of them. Most are a little smaller than shown here, but as I stated above, seeing ones equal to the arm-cannon isn't all too unusual or hard. If you had it properly attached to your body, you were properly prepared, very big and strong, and knew your limitations, you COULD fire this thing. I wouldn't line up to do it, but you could.
Can we build it: Well..... given we have the tech for the prosthetic, and actually even BETTER technology than that, with high-strength polymers and titanium alloys, and we've taken firearms technology even further. If you wanted more manageable recoil, you could even chamber it in a modern center fire pistol round. You could have multiple rounds that could be fired, it could take a standard capacity magazine, there's no limit to what a person could do with this concept in the modern day. And if you were so inclined, you could make a prosthetic steel arm into a big ass 2.0 caliber percussion cannon. Now, I wouldn't ADVISE doing this, the ATF might get pissed, and it could also explode if made poorly. But you can science it into existence, if you're good enough and have the materials to do it.
In other words, if you become a struggler.
Next time, we'll wrap up Guts' arsenal with a look at his most famous weapon: Something that cannot be called a sword. It's massive, heavy, and far too rough.
It's more like a heap of raw steel.
You would really think the rcoil would rip your shoulder right off.
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