The Steadfast Sapphire is a Long-Range Revolving Blade (LRRB) system made and carried by a currently unknown wielder.
General[]
A single segment with the blade extended, and the muzzle-brake between its 2 resting places
The Sapphire is a large and powerful weapon, but it also severly limites the mobility of its user. As a result the fighting style with this weapon is focused around staying at a range and using only a few attacks to finish off any opponent.
The main part of the weapon consists of 4 identical segments that can stack on top of each other with a few moving parts each for minor variations. All three forms of the weapon are simply different arrangements of these specialized segments. The base of the weapon consists of 2 sets of firing mechanisms, one that can be clip or belt fed, and the other bolt action single loaded. The Second mechanism is designed to take longer rounds with more propellant, but is still the same caliber as the other mechanism.
On top of the weapon itself, the wielder must also typically carry around a special helmet with a scope attached to it, and a large backback with a belt ammo feed.
Sniper Form[]
All 4 segments of the weapon are arranged end to end with the blade tucked in and moved upwards. The Firing Mechanism is Bolt Action, and the rounds are loaded in one by one manually. While this may be slower than using a clip or other system, it allows the user to pick and choose their ammunition more carefully so that they may use special rounds as needed.
In this form the gun has an extremely long range, so to help with aiming the user wears a scope on his helm. The scope rests in a slot on the back of the gun and can be adjusted for different ranges. He's also able to use his aura to help locate targets, even when he can't directly see them.
The recoil in this form is normally mitigated by a muzzlebrake to help keep the gun stable after firing. However the muzzlebrake can be removed and the gun can be used to effectively 'pole-vault' to higher ground as needed, or otherwise retreat from a bad situation.
While this form can technically be used in melee, the length of the blade and weight distribution makes it unwieldy. This form is only used in melee when caught off-guard or otherwise a very long blade is absolutely needed or would provide a clear tactical advantage.
Special Ammunition[]
The sniper form typically just uses standard ammunition with no special effects, however there are several special rounds incorperating dust or otherwise more complex than the normal rounds and as such more than a few rounds of each type are rarely carried at any given time, if that. For some types there are weaker forms stored in clips for use in the Zweihander form.
Elemental Rounds - Basic rounds with dust payloads that focus around doing elemental (fire, ice, electric, etc.) damage to opponents when elemental damage would be more effective. Typically a single clip of each elemental type is also carried.
Tazer Rounds - Uses a yellow crystal to generate a quick, strong electric charge upon stricking a target, designed to incapacitate rather than kill or penetrate a target's armor.
Bolt Rounds - Explosive rounds that contain a charge in the payload designed to explode immediatly after penetrating the surface of the first thing it hits, allowing it to either explode within an opponent for massive damage, or damage oppponents around covor by doing something like shooting a window. This type of round also has the most recoil if shot into something immediately outside the barrel of the gun, and as such is sometimes jokingly referred to as a "GTFO" round. When used as a GTFO round, the explosive force combined with the natural recoil and the removal of the muzzle-brake can launch the user dozens of meters into the air from a single shot. Also comes in clips, but given the time it takes to craft these rounds, even the weaker versions, normally only 1 clip is carried at a time and used with caution.
Turbo Penetrator Rounds - The most expensive and difficult round to make, and thus the most rarely used. This round incorporates a stronger propellant than normal, increasing the velocity of the round greatly, and also a smaller profile payload made out of a much stronger metal than normal rounds. This round can be shot through most obstacles and armors without even slowing down, but if not shot into a critical area, may simply pass through the target without significant damage.
Minigun Form[]
The Segments all collapse into 4 seperate barrels 90 degrees apart from each other. The blades all move upwards and extend as far as they can. Muzzlebrakes are put over every barrel to reduce recoil. While transforming, the user connects the ammo belt from their backpack. 4 motors power the rotation of the barrels either in tandem to extend how long they can rotate, or together to increase the torque behind the rotation. The gun can be spun up without firing any ammo.
Primarily this form is for mid-ranged combat, but especially for when quantity is needed over quality. The ammo is normal and unaltered, but it spews out a lot of it at once. If fired continuously, it will run out of ammo from a fully loaded backpack in only about a minute.
An alternate method of attack with the minigun is to use the blades attached to the barrels while they're spinning to attack people in melee. This creates a drill-like flurry of blades, commonly compared to a blender, that can be very difficult to block without taking damage. However attacking this way can be very slow as the user is still holding it like a minigun, and it still weighs the same as well, with all the weight in a fairly condensed form.
Zweihander Form[]
2 segments stack on top of each other on opposite sides of the minigun and extend their blades, however in this mode the minigun does not spin and can fire the opposite sides either together or separetly. Clips are loaded in on either side to feed both barrels. This is the only form meant to be used in melee, however the guns can still be fired for some quick ranged attacks, or to make use of the recoil. The swings are still relatively slow, but very hard-hitting, and it's better in melee than either of the other modes.
This form has 2 modes. The Defensive mode has the blades collapsed in to make a more solid form to better block attacks. The Offensive form widens the blades slightly to give the muzzlebrakes room to rotate themselves so that they can redirect recoil to the sides, allowing the user to fire a gun to swing the sword faster. Firing both guns at once makes the swing even faster. This is good for catching opponents off-guard since the swings are normally slow and predictable, not to mention that the damage from one of those enhanced swings would be even greater than normal.
Backpack[]
The purpose of the backback is mostly just to store ammo for the minigun, but the backing is very solid, and can be used to block attacks from the rear. The backpack can be taken off, but is far too heavy when loaded to be used as a shield effectively without further reducing the mobility of the user When empty, it's possible to use it like a tower shield, but the rest of the weapon is typically too heavy to be used one-handed. Alternatively the Backpack can be layed down on its side on the ground to provide cover when using one of the gun forms. The backing also has a basic camo pattern to help serve this purpose. It's not great at being hidden up close, but from far away it can make it just a little harder to spot.
The Backpack is 0.6m wide and 1.5m tall.
Collapsed Form[]
Simply used for storage, this is the smallest that the Sapphire can get. Can be used as a very heavy mace, but there's rarely reason to do so.