The Painbow

The painbow is one of the mechamagic items crafted by the Zistorite sect of the God Learners. It looks like a crossbow, except that it does not have a bow string, and its stock is much thicker. The stock contains the magic missiles that are fired by the painbow upon pulling the trigger.

This mechamagical weapon is mostly made of metal, as is the Zistorites' wont. Some models, however, especially in Umathela, make use of hard Pamaltelan wood. The bow is usually plain, but some models, like the one pictured above, may have very ornate bows, which can even be used as hand-to-hand weapons, should the mechamagical mechanism jam, or should the charger be emptied.

Until the demise of the Middle Sea Empire, only the Zistorites and their closest allies used painbows. After the independence of the Umathelan cities and the general loss of power and importance of the God Learner sects, some mechamagical weapons, amongst which the painbow, started to be found outside Gord Learner-related circles, mostly in the possession of wealthy collectors, of Malkioni mercenaries, or of plunderers of God Learner ruins.

The weapon itself is manufactured with a certain amount of charges. Different 'series' of weapons get different starting amounts of charges, so it is difficult to give a general amount. It's usually in the two-figure range. The charges are magical in nature, basically magic missiles that inflict pain rather than physical damage upon hitting the target — hence the name of the weapon. The GM is free to work out the exact effects for his or her system of choice.