The Aeon Rifle is the signature weapon of the "Gun-Mages" of the Arcane-Ballistics Division. Originally a ceremonial piece for the Chronologists Guild, the design was stripped down and militarized by the Celestial Accord for their battle-casters. It is less of a gun and more of a directional wand with a trigger. The receiver houses a "Resonance Chamber"—a magnetic cradle that suspends a rift-crystal or spell-chip in a vacuum.
When a wielder channels mana—whether through a spoken incantation or a psychic pulse—the rifle's internal prism shifts. A mage throwing a fireball finds their rifle spitting streams of superheated plasma; a necromancer channeling the void sees the barrel weep black entropy. It is a weapon that changes with the user's soul, making it highly prized by flexible casters who need their sidearm to be as adaptable as their grimoire.
The Aeon Rifle is a versatile Advanced Ranged Weapon (Group: Laser) that synergizes directly with spellcasting and magical items. Unlike standard firearms, it features the Aeon and Caster traits, allowing it to integrate aeon stones for passive buffs and channel spell energy to alter its damage type.
Aeon Rifle
This sleek laser rifle includes a slot for aeon stones to enhance and focus the intensity of its beams.
Commercial Aeon Rifle Weapon 0
Source Player Core pg. 266
Price 30c; Damage 1d10 Fire;
Bulk 1; Hands 2; Upgrades -; Tracking: -
Magazine 10 charges; Category Martial
Group Laser
Non-Combat Applications
The Floating Hands-Free: By slotting a Tourmaline Sphere (Aeon Stone) into the rifle, a mechanic or medic can keep their hands free for work while the stone’s effects (like sustenance or shielding) remain active without the risk of the stone being snatched from the air.
Battery Siphon: In survival situations, the Aeon trait allows a user to slot a high-level spell gem not for casting, but to harvest its magical potential into temporary battery charges to power the gun or other compatible tech devices.
Elemental Tools: A user can cast a minor cantrip like Ray of Frost to temporarily turn the rifle into a cryo-beam, useful for freezing locks, extinguishing fires, or creating ice bridges, utilizing the Caster trait for utility rather than combat.
Societal Impact
The Magitech Economy: The demand for spell gems has spiked in sectors where Aeon Rifles are common. "Gem-Jockeys" are mercenaries who carry bandoliers of single-use spells specifically to reload their rifles with different damage types.
Guild Regulation: The Chronologists Guild views the modification of these rifles with suspicion. While the base model is legal, "hot-modding" the Resonance Chamber to accept unstable Rift-Shards is a crime that carries a sentence of temporal imprisonment.
Visual Flair: You can tell a veteran Aeon user by the color of their muzzle flash. In the neon-lit undercity, gangs identify rival enforcers by whether their guns glow with the green of acid or the purple of the void.
Adventure Hooks
The Shattered Gem: A client’s Aeon Rifle has jammed with a legendary spell gem inside. The gem is leaking wild magic, causing the gun to randomly fire different elemental blasts. The party must extract it without detonating the gem or the city block.
The Prism Thief: A thief is stealing aeon stones specifically to slot them into a Paragon-tier Aeon Rifle, stacking buffs to become an unstoppable one-man army.
The Silent Caster: An assassin uses an Aeon Rifle with the Silent Spell feat and Invisibility, changing the weapon to deal Sonic damage that shatters glass and eardrums without a visible projectile, leaving investigators baffled.
The Aeon Rifle bridges the gap between the archaic art of spellcasting and the brutal efficiency of modern warfare. It is a testament to Starfall's core truth: magic and technology are not enemies; they are just two different ways to reload.
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