Imperial Multipurpose Assault Rifle
This deliverable is one of the most prominent Imperial weapons in ZARYA-3. Thereby its completion is crucial for most upcoming stories.
The New Hope of the Imperial Military
Imperial Multipurpose Assault Rifle is the weapon of choice across the whole Imperial Military. Conception of IMAR was prompted by the dire need to simplify the Imperial logistics of the Great War.
One of the large milestones in this uneasy endeavor was replacing all diverse small arms used by different military branches and a dozen of local militias by one standardized firearm that can be used across all battlefields and combat encounters.
Of all prototypes that were assessed by the Special Commission under the Twelfth Emperor’s direct supervision, IMAR became the instant favorite. Almost like it was tailored to conform to the Emperor’s taste and cold logic, it was combining both the aspirational technological elegance of the Imperial aesthetics with constructional simplicity and relative cheapness to produce.
To the Special Commission IMAR was presented as the ultimate solution for every combat encounter:
- An integrated suppressor made it comfortable to handle in enclosed environments.
- Rifle’s body was much lighter and shorter compared with its competitors.
- An easily detachable magazine with space for 60 bullets was perfect for prolonged engagements.
- Integrated multipurpose digital scope could provide every soldier with low-light capabilities, high grade magnification and a rangefinder.
Basically, IMAR was designed to be a semi-stealthy precision rifle with ammunition capacity of a light machine gun, and affordable multipurpose optics.
The Twelfth Emperor was impressed by this miracle of the Imperial engineering, and by the Imperial Decree IMAR was approved for mass-production.
First exemplars were adapted by the elite battalions of the Imperial Navy and did not see much action outside of few boarding operations against enemy vessels. Regardless, positive reports about rifle’s performance convinced the Imperial Command to proceed with Emperor’s orders and rapidly adopt IMAR across all Imperial forces.
Prolonged use in conflicts across the whole Empire have unraveled few glaring issues with IMAR:
- The rifle was very prone to malfunction when used in sandy or muddy environments. The integrated suppressor was causing frequent misfires if not properly maintained, and cleaning of it was impossible without special tools.
- It took only 109 shots of sustained fire to cause permanent heat damage to the internal parts of the rifle and create micro-fractures of its barrel.
- The electronic optical sights, while being extremely versatile were also very sensitive to mechanical damage and hard to use for inexperienced soldiers.
Because of all above mentioned problems, the Imperial Command has rapidly ordered a replacement rifle that would retain all benefits of IMAR like the ammunition capacity and the powerful aiming technology, but be more reliable and fully recoilless.
Currently multiple of next generation alternatives to IMAR are being tested by different branches of Imperial Special Forces before before their wider adoption. Regardless of what new rifle will win these trials, millions of already manufactured IMAR’s are going nowhere and will continue their service for decades to come.
A Space Age AK That Does Not Look Like AK
The core silhouette of the Imperial Multipurpose Assault Rifle was highly influenced by the long and pointy HK CAWS. Unlike its real life prototype, this weapon needed to fill enough ammunition to mow down a whole room full of people in one trigger pull.
Because of that I chose to supply this design with an elegant, but spacious magazine that is a near full copy of the magazine from FN P90. This has fully solved my “ammunition problem”, but has created a new one – standard gas operated design was not compatible with such magazine.
Fortunately, my experience with FN MAG hinted on the prefect solution where the gas piston rod does not only operate below the barrel, but also forms a gap that allows ejection of casings “through” it. So, theoretically IMAR could be built and remain functional in real life.
The shape of the sights was obviously inspired by Steyr AUG. First they were placed in the middle of the rifle, but later were moved forward to nest on top of a magazine well and not to obstruct shooter’s face too much. Strong emotional performances while aiming this weapon were always a part of the plan that needed to be considered.
The overall shape language of this weapon was meant to convey its nature of an overly ambitious technical endeavor that had to tick too many boxes and be cheap to manufacture. This is how super-elegant and high-tech sights are neighboring with crude pressed metal plates of the butt stock. The top of the frontal grip is actually very similar to one of AKM. It is a small hidden reminder about what this rifle is supposed to be – a Space-Age AK in service of a declining Empire.
The First One That Felt Perfect
Currently this weapon is completed and ready to use in any creative contexts. Some rework of materials and minor alterations to the shape are considered.
Because IMAR was only the third weapon that I ever produced, many things were not straightforward yet and required some longer time to work on.
The first version of IMAR had the gas regulator above the barrel similarly to AKM its front was inspired by. Unfortunately, such gas operating system turned out to be unnecessarily complex and the gas regulator was moved below the barrel instead. This way it perfectly aligns with the piston rod.
The frontal sling connector that could no longer be placed under the barrel has migrated to the right side of the front grip instead.
Together with addition of some more details and overall polish these changes made IMAR officially complete and ready to be featured on pages of a comic and in promotional materials.
