The Spear
This deliverable is attached to a re-accruing character that plays a crucial role in the main story of ZARYA-3.
A Tool to Protect One Life No Matter The Cost
After a successful assassination attempt on the Imperial heir, when both him, Mother Queen and three bodyguards were overwhelmed by a rioting crowd, a need for a new and efficient close-protection weapon became apparent.
Standard assault weapons were too lethal against raging civilian crowds and lacked penetrating power against heavily armored adversaries. High caliber weapons on the other side were obviously too bulky to carry or had strictly limited ammunition capacity to be effective against multiple targets at the same time.
The solution to this problem was designed by one of the prominent operatives of the Imperial Bodyguard Division and its working prototype was soon built by the artisans of the Imperial Arms Factory #1.
Designated as The Spear, this elegant firearm is specifically made to combat each of the possible threats in a unique way:
The bulk of this weapon consists of a relatively simple rifle that fires old-fashioned standard tungsten-core armor-piercing sniper rounds. The “old” cased ammunition was chosen to add reliability and save the space on heat-dispersing systems. Alone this devastating semi-automatic rifle can penetrate even the carapace of small armored vehicles, let alone personal protection of any kind.
Below the integrally suppressed boar is a small pulse laser that can produce nine hundred exposures per minute and permanently blind a large crowd of people in one swing… Or burn their skin/set their clothes on fire if its power is set to maximum.
The compact design of this weapon makes it very easy to wield in close quarters, or even use in melee as an actual “spear” thanks to an integrated flat bayonet. For precision fire though, the full-length butt stock of Spear can be rapidly ejected from its handle. Together with multiple magnification levels of the integrated electronic sight, such advanced ergonomics turn the Spear into a designated marksman rifle on a whim.
Regarding the sights it is also important to note that because of multi-range purpose of this weapon, its sights can be adjusted accordingly – mirrors in their ocular allow a 85 degrees field of view which makes it possible to perform precision shooting with the Spear from extremely difficult angles.
As of now all Imperial Bodyguards are armed with individually crafted variants of the Spear unless their specific mission requires a different weapon.
Primitively Elegant and Highly Advanced at the Same Time
Initial design of the Spear was photo-bashed out of modern gun parts in the shape of a mix between an ancient flintlock pistol or a Tunisian Bedouin musket. This is also hot the hollowed-out curved handle of FN P90 became its handle and stock, while the body and pipes became a pretty original mess.
Since the beginning the Spear was meant to be not a simplistic rank-and-file rifle, but a sophisticated status statement. So, elegance of the shape, no matter how complex it would end up was of the highest priority.
Especially now when the Spear is rendered as a hologram, its shape can be reminiscent of the AO3 sniper rifle from Star Citizen, but I invested a bit of extra effort to avoid unintentional plagiarism.
Lastly, some parts of the Spear have always been related to the famous American AR-15. The older version had its charging handle (that felt like two pointy torns on its sides and was removed) and the new version has its whole firing mechanism inspired by the tight inner workings of AR-15 which makes it feel even more no-nonsense then before.
The First Darling That Got Killed
Currently this weapon is under a rework, but the overall shape of it can be considered final!
After being fully-complete and supplied with materials for rendering, the Spear has been fully scrapped and re-modeled from scratch. Reason – the early model was only the second gun I ever made and suffered from few problems, like having too much geometry or being unreasonably wide.
The second version was designed fully around the realistically functional rifle-part and feels much more aesthetically coherent compared to its older sister. Since its design philosophy is based on super-tight mechanics of real life AR-15, the new model does not either have any “fluff” from it’s predecessor – all of its volume is used with purpose. Unfortunately, the new version lacks the former elegance in some places, but this shortcoming will be fixed as the weapon is being further worked on.
The first design of the Spear was heavily based on the body of FN P90 and a fully-original double-barreled front. Early on the barrel of “traditional” rifle was placed beneath the laser, but later this positioning was reversed.
Since the rifle is meant to be used against targets that require precision, it felt much more ergonomic to place it closest to the sights. Furthermore, placement above the handle provided more real estate to house the firing mechanism.
Pulse laser on the other hand by being a fully-fictional small appliance with only bulk that comes from the power battery was a perfect fit for the space between the main barrel and the magazine.
To shorten this rifle and adapt it for one-handed use, the stock was made foldable and surprisingly, its full length perfectly fits in the support beam of the handle.
