While writing Hansel VS. Felarya, I made a crack about invisibility potions requiring a permit in Negav. And that made me think...

...what weapons could one find in Felarya? I don't mean the artifacts. I meant, if you walk into a weapons store, what would you get? Because when reading the Felarya manga, I saw a Chidokai neko with a... gun. How do Chidokai nekos get their hands on guns? What do they make the bullets with? Where are they getting the metal? What's the propellant and what's the primer? Where do they practice their craft without drawing undue attention?

Blacksmithing makes a lot of noise and a lot of smoke, you can't do it in the middle of a rainforest and expect to go impune. Even with the vietnamese smoke tunnel trick, you would still be found sooner or later; predators aren't americans you can kill with a bullet the moment they find you. And let's not even get into shooting practice...

So I'm thinking... that Negav, with its nearby mountains crammed full of useful minerals (ascarlin, diamonds... iron couldn't be such a stretch) would be the source for most metalworking needs. However, guns and nitrocellulose require a kind of infrastructure that if Negav had, it wouldn't get away with, Isolon eye or not; there's no mention of the "toxic waste dumps" near the city, or the dead river downstream.

That makes me think someone has to be importing guns into Felarya, or at least bullets. Since random portals don't usually open under giant trucks full of weapons (else fairies' answer to opal mingos would be birdshot), we've got to assume that there are only three possible culprits for the reliable presence of guns and bullets in this world.

1- The Delurans
Bad choice. They're isolationist and don't want anything to do with anyone; what could they gain by giving guns to people? Also they shouldn't have that many guns, they're not colonists or warriors.

2- The Miratans
The moderate choice. Miratans want food, and got guns. The idea's pretty simple: sorta like the Africa situation. However, they keep a solid and discrete presence... very far away from the Chidokai forest, and foodstuffs aren't exactly easy to come by in Felarya. Also they've got better than guns when they have to fight the people with guns.

3- The Vishmitals
The good choice. They had an empire, and they want it back; I'm pretty sure that if they've got spaceships, they might have space factories as well, which would explain where they can make guns, and they would be happy to give guns to other people and level the advantage against some of their enemies.

So where do you think guns are coming from into Felarya?

Felarya crosses over to a ton of universes. The presence of guns isn't surprising: Consider for a moment that the Followers of Oth are considered to be "Technologically Advanced", and they consider Felarya important enough to have a sizable clergy presence. Unless they're just dumping off excess priests, odds are they have some sort of technological base / foundation in Felarya. And that's just one of the named factions from crossovers.

Furthermore, toxic waste dumps to produce firearms? Just what do you think happened during the American Revolution? Did the Redcoats avoid [x] city because they didn't want to get horribly mutated by flintlock drop-off? If Negav has itself bristling with cannons and all sorts of weapons, I'd say it's safe to assume they at least have the capability to supply ammunition for said weapons and replace them should they get damaged.

Lastly: Delicious Kevin started work on a Firearm Provider. Not sure if it's a botched idea or not.

Speaking about guns and hi-tech stuff in Felarya, I think I read somewhere that a group of humans (I think it was the Delurans, but correct me if I'm wrong) had mechs and stuff like that.

If this is true, what kind of "mechs" are they?

Very Interesting!

I imagine weapons aren't that rare in Felarya. People are constantly coming in from many different worlds, and I imagine Negav itself has open trade with different worlds through its portal mages. Foreign supplies wouldn't be that uncommon. Also, there is likely a fairly large weapon's salvage market. People bring in damaged weapons, are paid for them, and gunsmiths and such will repair them for re-sale. People would probably obtain their weapons from the larger settlements, if there is a market there, or also likely, salvage whatever they can find in the jungle for their own use. Predators don't really care about human posessions, so they likely just leave them.

As for the types, I imagine the usual assorment of pistols, rifles and shotguns aren't that uncommon. Mainly for hunting game for food, and to provide some protection from thieves, bandits, opportunists, etc. Nothing, in general, that would down a pred, but honestly, most people know that trying to wage an open battle on a predator is pretty much a suicide mission.

Now there would be SOME military grade weapons, but these would likely be extremely uncommon for the average person. They would be brought in by the military escorts of expeditions, or by people already living in Felarya. The Delurans, for example, have a sprawling underground base and likely have a good stockpile of weapons. They just try to avoid having to use them, since the jungle atmosphere is extremely damaging to the metal they forge their guns out of, and without constant maintenance, their guns rapidly become inoperable in the open jungle air. The Miritans are extremely advanced, and have powered-armor (mechs), and a heavily defended base on Frost Peak. They keep to themselves though.

As for types of military weapons, probably assault rifles for personal defense, and some heavier stuff as a predator deterrent. Grenade launchers, while likely not very lethal would certainly be startling and probably sting quite a bit to a pred, anti-material rifles firing armor-piercing rounds could be pretty lethal with good aim, portable rocket-launchers would likely be lethal with the proper types of rockets. Basically, the ideal weapons would be high-damage weapons with as much mobility as possible. anti-material rifles and portable rockets would likely be as big a type of weapon as anyone would bring in, and even they are extremely cumbersome.

I imagine the private militaries of the Negav nobles (the Isolon Fist, and such) probably keep a nice armory and horde any military grade weapons brought into Negav. I believe the members of the Isolon Fist in the manga had grenades and assault rifles.

I agree with rcs619, although I not entierly sure on how rare they would be. At least in Negav, which I believe to be a nexus for just about everyone in Felarya with a population of many times that of any Earth city. With firearms I'd see it as although there would be no offical suppliers of weapons to the city I imagine there would be at least a few low brow shops specialising in technology. Firearms probably would be scaenged or purchased off of arrivals to the city, repaired if needed and then sold on. Prices would be very high probably due to difficulty of getting the weapons/ammo and such. Like rcs said, small firearms up to assault rifles would be highly numerous due to the fact that anything bigger would be harder to scavenge or impractical in the forest. Personally I can't see anything larger than an anti-tank rifle or RPG like weapon.

If those guys get mechs i want a Blood Asp!....or at the very least a Nova Cat

Don't the people on the Felarya Express get Shotguns?

im definatly not calling shotgun on that train

The Felaryan Express is an Airship transit business, if I remember right.

what ever I don't care what it is..im still not riding shot gun (note sorry if that offends you...i didn't read up well and i really don't care about a HUMAN transport buisness...

what? you think a shot gun is gonna do any damage against a fairy that can teleport you into her stomach as long as you are in sight...or a naga...who probably wouldn't take any damage from you.