OVERVIEW: A marble weapon is a device used to propel marble bombs across varying distances. A marble bomb is a small, spherical explosive device used as the primary weapon among armies of the world. Marble bombs range in size from one to five centimeters and are used in a variety of applications. Some of the more unusual uses included police response units using them in crowd control or engineers using them in underwater demolitions.
Marble bombs have changed significantly in the 500 years since they were first created. Today, the standard marble bomb used in a marble cannon (the most common marble weapon) is two millimeters in diameter and filled with an explosive, semi-volatile mixture of high explosives and a form of nitroglycerin. The outer protective shell used to contain the mixture and ensure accurate firing is a mixture of synthetic plastics and natural binding agents (exact mixtures and compounds are held in strict secrecy by military research organizations. For many centuries the marble bomb was incredibly dangerous to handle and the success of a bomb exploding when wanted yet remaining safe to handle was the goal of nations across the globe. The rate of accidental detonations with the marble bombs used by the Atlan military is down to 1 in 100,000.) This casing is designed to protect the bombs from accidental detonation in transport, while at the same time ensuring an even, complete release upon impact with a target.
Today, militaries across the globe use marble bombs as their primary weapons. Atla is home to the most advanced marble weapon in the world, the PMC-147. It is not a reinvention of the marble cannon, but an extremely effective evolution.
A standard marble cannon works in the following way: Gloves, guns or tubes used by the warrior launch the marble bombs at high velocities by way of compressed air controlled by the Magi using them (many non-magi marble cannons are in operation today, however they are significantly less effective and reliable). These barrels are connected to an ammunition storage device (which varies with type of marble weapon from the sleek, lightweight backpack of the PMC-147 to crates of marble bombs for stationary turrets) by way of a flexible, protective tube. After a weapon is fired there is an area of negative pressure that forms in the tubing and barrels, much like drinking from a straw. Marble bombs rush up through the tubing to fill this low-pressure area. The bombs are sucked out of the ammunition container at a high enough velocity to propel them up to 300 meters. This process continues until the Magi stops firing or the ammunition is exhausted. Now relatively safe to use, accidents are uncommon. Nevertheless, this leap in safety has only come in the past decade or so. Before Infantry Weapons Systems began developing their personal marble cannons, the marble bomb was as deadly for the user as it was the enemy.
HISTORY: At first, marble bombs were little more than a dangerous footnote in the history of fireworks. The very first bombs were made as jokes or gags.
It all began in the year 252PM in the town of Haskins. As the end of the fall walnut harvest approached, two agricultural workers soon became bored with the slowing pace of their jobs. One of the men brought a bag of walnuts home from work one evening to munch on while pursued other activities. His after work hobby was creating fireworks, used for festivals and parties in Haskins. That evening, as he continued working on a firework show for the coming harvest festival, he got a peculiar idea after looking at the bag of nuts. He filled one-half of an empty walnut shell with the firework gunpowder and then secured the other half to the hollowed husk with a thick resin. After drilling a tiny hole in the top of the nut, the man stuck a long fuse inside. Once outside with the new creation the man lit the fuse and threw the nut into the air. Much to his amazement, the nut exploded into a bright fireball.
Armed with a satchel of nut-bombs, the firework master returned to work the following day. During lunch, the man produced from his satchel not a sandwich or fruit, but a dozen nuts with tiny fuses sticking out of them. Before his friend could ask what was going on, the firework specialist was hurling the bombs at their feet. The first one exploded near his friend’s foot. Having reduced the amount of powder the explosions the bombs flashed harmlessly, only startling the creator’s friend.
Well amused and completely captivated by the new toy, both of the men decided to collaborate on creating a marketable product. Though it was nearly 250 years prior to the signing of Atla’s constitution and transcontinental travel was still difficult, fireworks were wildly popular across the nation and sold in almost every major city. Spending time creating the new toy would no doubt prove a profitable venture.
Over the winter the men spent their time refining the initial design. Changes included replacing the nut casing with a smaller, spherical casing that resembled a playing marble popular at the time. Inside the marble was a set amount of explosives (discovered after much trial and error and several patches of missing hair later).
The following spring at the International Trade Fair, the pair demoed their new invention. Billed as a “Firework toy for the whole family” the men saw their invention as a gag item and not something that would change the face of warfare forever. Regardless of their lack of foresight, the “Marble Bombs” as they called them, were a huge success.
Within five years of the Marble Bomb’s creation the two men had formed their own company to manufacture and sell the bombs. Five years after that the proto-Atlan military stationed in the highlands of Arodil, bought the company from the men and the rights to the bombs.
Once the military purchased the rights to the Marble Bombs the fate of the ‘toy’ changed. Instead of the colorful concoction of gunpowder, the engineers filled the bombs with a volatile and more explosive mixture of high explosives. The once protective and rigid outer case (almost as hard as a marble, partially giving the toy its name) was replaced with something more pliable and fragile. Finally, the single most deadly change to the bomb, which secured its place in the military’s arsenal, was the removal of the fuse. By making the mixture inside the marble more explosive and volatile, and then removing the fuse, this allowed the user to hurl the marbles at a target where they would then explode on contact. Though it was a necessary step in turning the bombs into weapons, the rate of injuries or death per bomb was a staggering 1 in 100 during the first decade of use. That meant that for every 100 bombs used, there was not just a misfire or failed explosion but a verified injury or death.
Marble Bombs became the weapon of choice across the civilized world. The design for the bomb was easy to steal and spread rapidly after the first few engagements where they were used. Though the combination of explosive materials and casings varied tremendously, the design remained fairly constant.
Accidental deaths and injuries became commonplace. By now the bombs were destructive enough individually to remove a hand or foot (or in more gruesome examples, explode the head of anyone naive enough to hold hone in their mouth for any period of time). Still packed in the marble sized casing, such a small yet destructive force was almost impossible to transport. Ships carrying thousands of the bombs were sunk when one bomb would accidently detonate during a strong storm, thereby detonating the other bombs. Often time’s high temperatures would cause weapons storage facilities to explode, nearly leveling the bases or cities in which they were kept. Soldiers in battle would often trip and fall, crushing their satchel of bombs and detonating the entire supply at once. Indeed the weapons were unkind to anyone who made a mistake while using or transporting them.
Because the marble bombs were so dangerous and unpredictable, swords, bows and arrows, shields and other hand weapons continued to dominate the battlefield. The process of phasing out the hand-to-hand weapons took centuries. Refinements were slow in coming and hard to spread. Even when Atla became a unified nation, the Grand Provincial Councilor saw that the marble weapons could be used only as additions to the military’s arsenal, not as the foundation of it.
By 100EM the Marble Bombs had become more stable which meant they were used in more ways. Naval warships shot half-meter bombs during engagements and huge turrets were installed as defensive weapons in forts. In addition, the Atlan infantry used the standard marble sized bomb in firearm devices. By this time, the accidental injury/death rate had dropped to approximately 1 in 20,000 bombs. This number is somewhat misleading though. While the stability of the bomb improved radically, the number of bombs being used in any given engagement had increased even more. This meant that there were in fact, more accidents per given battle or time period, despite the bombs themselves being safer. It is estimated that nearly 15,000 Atlans were accidently injured or killed between 50 and 150EM when using the marble bombs. Considering mainland Atla was only attacked a handful of times during this period it proves how dangerous the weapons really were.
TODAY: Infantry Weapons Systems is pioneering advances and changes to the marble bomb faster than any other group. Though they are an independent company, the Grand Provincial Councilor has contracted them to work exclusively for the Atlan military. This contract will last for another ten years at which time the terms can be re-negotiated. Working with IWS has been a major factor in Atla’s military dominance over the past decade
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