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EDIT CUZ PEOPLE KEEP COMMENTING ON THIS EVEN THOUGH ITS 3 YEARS OLD AND NO LONGER RELEVANT TO ME: i think this post is really dumb and i made it at a time when i was a dumb kid and didnt know what i wanted to do with my funny little fantasy setting. The whole thing is just me whinning about not knowing what to do and pissing myself and honestly the whole thing is very cringe. I HAVE LONG SINCE OVERCOME THIS PROBLEM, GUNS ARE IN MY FUNNY SETTING AND THATS THAT. PLEASE ACTUALLY LOOK AT MY NEW RECENT ART CUS ITS WAY BETTER THAN THIS AND I AM WAY MORE CONFIDENT IN MYSELF OK THANKS ERRRM UM UM BYE : )

So, if you've been following my stuff, you may know that I semi-recently added guns to my 16th/17th century based renaissance fantasy lore. Ever since I first began getting into swords and stuff, I have acquired an appreciation for stories and settings that are based in realism and are intelligently thought out, and when I began developing my own lore I've always tried to apply this mentality through proper consideration of cause and effect, and basic practicality when it comes to more immediate things, like weapons and armour. While I like doing this, it has caused a lot of problems for me, where I often run into dead ends when designing stuff in my lore, as I think too in depth about certain details, and cannot make decisive conclusions about how I want certain aspects of my lore to be.
While my lore used to be more medieval inspired, it has always leaned more towards the renaissance period, in both stuff like warfare and general life. As such, I've always wanted my lore to have things like cannons and explosives, but not guns, similar to settings like dark souls and berserk. Since I began creating it, there's always been a nagging question in my head, that is, if they have such black powder technology, why don't they also have guns? I realise black powder was around way before proper reliable guns were invented. The thing is though, the people in my lore aren't exactly dumb. Due to the existence of magic, they have a much batter understanding of the world than people in medieval times actually had. Fields such as medicine and illness are a lot more advanced than they actually were (although not on par with today's standards of course); people aren't just dying from random infections and illnesses. But if they're this advanced in some aspects, how have they also not figured out how to create guns, if they already have sophisticated cannons and explosives. This was one of the main reasons in my head for pro-guns, beside the fact that early guns are just fucken cool. However, I have always been reluctant to do this since guns can ruin a fantasy setting in some cases. Guns themselves are indicative of change by their very nature, a world with guns is an advancing world, and this could very well destroy the feel of my world. In the real world when guns began appearing, although there was a period where guns and traditional medieval warfare sort of coexisted, they ultimately marked the end of plate armour and polearms, bows, maces etc.

When I did add guns, I put in multiple measures to justify why people would still wear plate armour and use other weapons. Of course the first is that they would be early-style, single shot, flintlock or doglock, more advanced than matchlock, but not quite percussion cap level. Another one was that, using convoluted dwarfish magic, there's a type of plate armour in my lore that is made to be specifically resistant against highly concentrated pin-point force, such as that of a bullet. So you could have armour that was as thin and light as medieval plate, but that could resist bullets like later renaissance plate, only being lighter and cheaper to produce. Unfortunately this came with its own problems, such as it still rendering mail and bows and crossbows completely useless. Another idea I had was that pyromancers would be capable of completely ruining gunpowder stores, thus making armies less inclined to use them, but the idea wasn't really concrete enough to satisfy me. Ultimately, no matter how hard I tried, I couldn't shake the feeling that guns in my lore kind of tarnished the original theme of whimsical fantasy based in a authentic and realistic medieval/renaissance world that I originally had when first envisioning my lore a long time ago.
And then I remembered something I had realised a long while ago. That is, guns kinda suck all the magic out of everything. Whats the point of these magical sorcerers who can weave cool spells and shite when you can just fucking shoot them in the head? Whats the point of polearms, maces and greatswords when you can just stick a bayonet on a rifle and hey-presto you have a firearm and spear all in one. Whats the point of all these different weapons when a rifle is your best bet at getting through magic-infused plate armour. Whats the point of cool formations of pike and shot with musketeers and pike men, when you can just equip everyone with bayonets. Whats the point of cool scenes where characters are surrounded by guards or something and have to fight their way out when the guards are equipped with rifles and can just fucking shoot them. And so on and so forth -

For all the cool things about guns, they just tend to make things less fantastical and whimsical. In a lot of cases, they can lower the stakes of a story in many ways, such as making cool monsters super easy to kill. Got an unholy goat abomination attacking you? just blow its fucking head off! But then in other ways it can raise the stakes in ways that I don't really want. What would be the point of Laura carrying around her large longsword and practising expert sword skills, when a trained marksman can just kill her from a few meters away. Its not like she'd be travelling around in full bullet-proof plate armour all the time. The absolute last thing I want is for my lore to turn into 18th century and Napoleonic stuff, as that period in history is where my interest, at least in the military aspect, just completely and utterly drops. Except for pirates of course, because pirates are awesome.

In an ideal world, I would have cannons and other heavy black powder artillery and bombs, but not guns, meaning the average foot soldier would still fight with crossbows and good ol' steel. Only problem is I've never had a real way of justifying why the world would be like this, and I am really not a fan of just saying 'ah-duuuh its fantasy it doesn't need to make sense'.

One solution to this conundrum of mine is something I heard from, and may shamelessly steal from (sorry), a friend who is a similar world-builder. That is, in my setting, gunpowder only really produces enough force to be effective when its in high concentrations/large quantity. This means that, it can be used for cannons and large bombs, but can't really be used for smaller handheld weapons like pistols and muskets, as the force it produces isn't really adequate enough for it be justifiable using over simpler to make bows and crossbows. As to why gunpowder would actually act this way...I don't know. In a real sense, it would mean changing the fundamental laws of physics and how elements react and store energy, which I sure as hell am not going to do. I dunno, maybe some eldritch magical space god somewhere is messing with humans and making black powder less reactive than it should be for the lolz.

Something else I've been thinking of is actually expanding my lore to encompass multiple periods in time, rather than just treat the past as past and not even think of the future beyond the time of my main character's setting. This way, I could have my characters exist in my dream fantasy renaissance world, but then expand the lore out to encompass the time of their descendants in the future, and maybe even further. Perhaps in the future they actually do eventually discover or invent gunpowder that is properly volatile and enables the production and advancement of handheld firearms. Even with this, I like to believe that, due to the existence of pin-point resistant armour, they would still wear armour even in the presence of more advanced and maybe even automatic firearms. They may even apply this reinforcing magic technique to modern synthetic materials. The the thing is magic in my lore is not static, and is meant to be able to advance along with technology, like they're one and the same, rather than magic outright opposing technology (although some cultures see it this way).

Its kinda funny actually, I'm desperately and feverishly trying to stomp out technological development in my setting, even though it ironically goes against the very philosophy and moral of my lore. That being that, although we may be small and insignificant in the face of the cosmos and elditch entities, we should ultimately push it aside and keep living, making the most of our lives. The world around us is vast and scary, and is continually changing, holding many secrets that we have yet to discover, be they horrifying or incredible, but humanity should ultimately continue to cruise along and make the most of our existence. For the fact we exist at all is cause to rejoice.

Any thoughts on this whole absolutely childish and dumb ordeal of mine would be appreciated. Also I hope you like the art hee hee

Description
EDIT CUZ PEOPLE KEEP COMMENTING ON THIS EVEN THOUGH ITS 3 YEARS OLD AND NO LONGER RELEVANT TO ME: i think this post is really dumb and i made it at a time when i was a dumb kid and didnt know what i wanted to do with my funny little fantasy setting. The whole thing is just me whinning about not knowing what to do and pissing myself and honestly the whole thing is very cringe. I HAVE LONG SINCE OVERCOME THIS PROBLEM, GUNS ARE IN MY FUNNY SETTING AND THATS THAT. PLEASE ACTUALLY LOOK AT MY NEW RECENT ART CUS ITS WAY BETTER THAN THIS AND I AM WAY MORE CONFIDENT IN MYSELF OK THANKS ERRRM UM UM BYE : )

So, if you've been following my stuff, you may know that I semi-recently added guns to my 16th/17th century based renaissance fantasy lore. Ever since I first began getting into swords and stuff, I have acquired an appreciation for stories and settings that are based in realism and are intelligently thought out, and when I began developing my own lore I've always tried to apply this mentality through proper consideration of cause and effect, and basic practicality when it comes to more immediate things, like weapons and armour. While I like doing this, it has caused a lot of problems for me, where I often run into dead ends when designing stuff in my lore, as I think too in depth about certain details, and cannot make decisive conclusions about how I want certain aspects of my lore to be.
While my lore used to be more medieval inspired, it has always leaned more towards the renaissance period, in both stuff like warfare and general life. As such, I've always wanted my lore to have things like cannons and explosives, but not guns, similar to settings like dark souls and berserk. Since I began creating it, there's always been a nagging question in my head, that is, if they have such black powder technology, why don't they also have guns? I realise black powder was around way before proper reliable guns were invented. The thing is though, the people in my lore aren't exactly dumb. Due to the existence of magic, they have a much batter understanding of the world than people in medieval times actually had. Fields such as medicine and illness are a lot more advanced than they actually were (although not on par with today's standards of course); people aren't just dying from random infections and illnesses. But if they're this advanced in some aspects, how have they also not figured out how to create guns, if they already have sophisticated cannons and explosives. This was one of the main reasons in my head for pro-guns, beside the fact that early guns are just fucken cool. However, I have always been reluctant to do this since guns can ruin a fantasy setting in some cases. Guns themselves are indicative of change by their very nature, a world with guns is an advancing world, and this could very well destroy the feel of my world. In the real world when guns began appearing, although there was a period where guns and traditional medieval warfare sort of coexisted, they ultimately marked the end of plate armour and polearms, bows, maces etc.

When I did add guns, I put in multiple measures to justify why people would still wear plate armour and use other weapons. Of course the first is that they would be early-style, single shot, flintlock or doglock, more advanced than matchlock, but not quite percussion cap level. Another one was that, using convoluted dwarfish magic, there's a type of plate armour in my lore that is made to be specifically resistant against highly concentrated pin-point force, such as that of a bullet. So you could have armour that was as thin and light as medieval plate, but that could resist bullets like later renaissance plate, only being lighter and cheaper to produce. Unfortunately this came with its own problems, such as it still rendering mail and bows and crossbows completely useless. Another idea I had was that pyromancers would be capable of completely ruining gunpowder stores, thus making armies less inclined to use them, but the idea wasn't really concrete enough to satisfy me. Ultimately, no matter how hard I tried, I couldn't shake the feeling that guns in my lore kind of tarnished the original theme of whimsical fantasy based in a authentic and realistic medieval/renaissance world that I originally had when first envisioning my lore a long time ago.
And then I remembered something I had realised a long while ago. That is, guns kinda suck all the magic out of everything. Whats the point of these magical sorcerers who can weave cool spells and shite when you can just fucking shoot them in the head? Whats the point of polearms, maces and greatswords when you can just stick a bayonet on a rifle and hey-presto you have a firearm and spear all in one. Whats the point of all these different weapons when a rifle is your best bet at getting through magic-infused plate armour. Whats the point of cool formations of pike and shot with musketeers and pike men, when you can just equip everyone with bayonets. Whats the point of cool scenes where characters are surrounded by guards or something and have to fight their way out when the guards are equipped with rifles and can just fucking shoot them. And so on and so forth -

For all the cool things about guns, they just tend to make things less fantastical and whimsical. In a lot of cases, they can lower the stakes of a story in many ways, such as making cool monsters super easy to kill. Got an unholy goat abomination attacking you? just blow its fucking head off! But then in other ways it can raise the stakes in ways that I don't really want. What would be the point of Laura carrying around her large longsword and practising expert sword skills, when a trained marksman can just kill her from a few meters away. Its not like she'd be travelling around in full bullet-proof plate armour all the time. The absolute last thing I want is for my lore to turn into 18th century and Napoleonic stuff, as that period in history is where my interest, at least in the military aspect, just completely and utterly drops. Except for pirates of course, because pirates are awesome.

In an ideal world, I would have cannons and other heavy black powder artillery and bombs, but not guns, meaning the average foot soldier would still fight with crossbows and good ol' steel. Only problem is I've never had a real way of justifying why the world would be like this, and I am really not a fan of just saying 'ah-duuuh its fantasy it doesn't need to make sense'.

One solution to this conundrum of mine is something I heard from, and may shamelessly steal from (sorry), a friend who is a similar world-builder. That is, in my setting, gunpowder only really produces enough force to be effective when its in high concentrations/large quantity. This means that, it can be used for cannons and large bombs, but can't really be used for smaller handheld weapons like pistols and muskets, as the force it produces isn't really adequate enough for it be justifiable using over simpler to make bows and crossbows. As to why gunpowder would actually act this way...I don't know. In a real sense, it would mean changing the fundamental laws of physics and how elements react and store energy, which I sure as hell am not going to do. I dunno, maybe some eldritch magical space god somewhere is messing with humans and making black powder less reactive than it should be for the lolz.

Something else I've been thinking of is actually expanding my lore to encompass multiple periods in time, rather than just treat the past as past and not even think of the future beyond the time of my main character's setting. This way, I could have my characters exist in my dream fantasy renaissance world, but then expand the lore out to encompass the time of their descendants in the future, and maybe even further. Perhaps in the future they actually do eventually discover or invent gunpowder that is properly volatile and enables the production and advancement of handheld firearms. Even with this, I like to believe that, due to the existence of pin-point resistant armour, they would still wear armour even in the presence of more advanced and maybe even automatic firearms. They may even apply this reinforcing magic technique to modern synthetic materials. The the thing is magic in my lore is not static, and is meant to be able to advance along with technology, like they're one and the same, rather than magic outright opposing technology (although some cultures see it this way).

Its kinda funny actually, I'm desperately and feverishly trying to stomp out technological development in my setting, even though it ironically goes against the very philosophy and moral of my lore. That being that, although we may be small and insignificant in the face of the cosmos and elditch entities, we should ultimately push it aside and keep living, making the most of our lives. The world around us is vast and scary, and is continually changing, holding many secrets that we have yet to discover, be they horrifying or incredible, but humanity should ultimately continue to cruise along and make the most of our existence. For the fact we exist at all is cause to rejoice.

Any thoughts on this whole absolutely childish and dumb ordeal of mine would be appreciated. Also I hope you like the art hee hee