Trigger/Border Triggers

This covers Border's Triggers specifically. For other Triggers see Trigger.

Border's Triggers are manufactured with the aim of being used by a large number of agents. For this reason, their Trion consumption, and therefore their power output, are lower than those of Aftokrator Triggers. Exceptions to this rule are the special, more powerful Triggers possessed by the A-rank agents of Tamakoma Branch. Border's Trigger technology is generally considered crude by the standards of an advanced country like Aftokrator. However, soldiers from both Aftokrator and its vassal nation Galopoula have expressed admiration for their versatility, which is due to the great number and variety of Triggers in existence and the possibility of equipping and combining several of them. The engineers of Border are constantly working to improve their Triggers and create new ones, and indeed, the speed of Border's technological progress is extolled as outstanding. One of the objectives of expeditions a.k.a Away Missions to the Neighborhood is to secure Neighbor Trigger technology, which is chiefly done through negotiations and bargaining, but should the away agents be attacked in war zones, they will retaliate and take possessions of the Triggers of the enemy. Border is currently in possession of three Black Triggers.

Certain Triggers become available to a Border agent only when they has achieved a specific rank. C-rank groups together the trainees, who are not considered official agents. They are allowed to carry only one Trigger out of the ten available to them, which goes by the name of Training Trigger (トリガー). Since they are meant for training, these Triggers may not as powerful as a regular ones, however this is unclear. B-Rank and A-rank agents can equip up to eight Triggers. lastly, S-rank agents are Black Trigger users, but are also allowed to carry their previous Trigger Holder. However, to be classified as S-rank the user must have their Black Trigger as their main trigger which is why Yūma Kuga and Yūichi Jin don't classify as S-rank as they only use it for emergencies or on an as-needed basis.

Triggers in Border are classified according to their functions, and define the role of an agent in their team or on the battlefield. The main three categories are Attacker, Gunner and Sniper. They encompass the vast majority of Triggers capable of causing damage on their own. Triggers from other categories become available after reaching B-rank. Examples are Optional Triggers, Defense Triggers and Trap Triggers. Border personnel in general are given an uncategorized Trigger for self-defense (トリガー) with very low trion consumption whose sole function is to create a trion body, in the event of an encounter with Neighbors or Trion Soldiers. It does not come with any sort of additional equipment.

Mechanics
In Border, the actual Trigger is installed in a chip located inside a device called Trigger Holder (トリガー ホルダー), which contains eight slots that can allocate one chip, and thus one Trigger, each. Reiji Kizaki's Trigger Holder is custom-made and can allocate up to 14 chips.

Each Trigger occupies one slot in one of two columns, the Main and the Sub, each composed of four slots (seven in Reiji's case). Main Triggers (トリガー) are automatically set to the user's dominant hand, whichever hand that is. Sub Triggers (トリガー) are automatically set to the user's non-dominant hand. Typically, the user can only activate two Triggers at a time, one from the Main and one from the Sub, with few exceptions.

Each Trigger consumes a certain amount of the user's trion, even just by being equipped. As a result, each person can equip a different amount of Triggers, depending on their trion capacity. Trion capacity also influences the overall power of a Trigger, although the user's skill is a major factor in determining how effective it will actually be. Once a person runs out of trion, they will be unable to produce their Triggers and thus be defenseless. It is however possible for an agent in a trion body to pass their own trion to someone else through physical contact by establishing a "Temporary Trigger link" (トリガー) with a specific Trigger. The Trigger remains under the control of the owner, but is augmented with the trion of the donor. However, using this feature multiple times can lead to said Trigger malfunctioning. With the Temporary Trigger link it is also possible to temporarily use another agent's trigger that is already manifested as if it were their own, without physical contact with the user or their consent.

Border Triggers that shoot bullets have built-in safety measures to handle strays. If someone in their flesh and blood body is hit, instead of being wounded, they will be knocked unconscious from the pain and the impact. A further safety measure makes it so that if a Trigger is deactivated in an unsafe environment, the flesh and blood body will be summoned in a location away from immediate harm.

Customization
A-rank agents have the perk of asking Engineers to customize their Triggers. In general, modified Triggers work the same as the standard model, but have added functions. Examples are: The customization privileges of A-rank agents extend to requesting the creation of whole new Triggers. At least some of these Triggers become accessible to B and even C-rank agents, as was the case for Scorpion. There are however Triggers, like Sōgetsu, which are at the very least not available to trainees. What rules govern the accessibility of Triggers developed by A-rank agents is currently unknown.
 * Ai Kitora's Scorpion. The default shape of her version has two blades instead of one and can be made to rotate around the grip much like a pinwheel.
 * Ai Kitora's Spider. It is fired through her custom-made gun, which is also equipped with a reel-in function. Although Spider is an Optional Trigger, in her case it is classified as a Gunner Trigger.
 * Yōsuke Yoneya's spear-shaped Kogetsu. Since the handle of Kogetsu requires less trion than the blade to be constructed, he requested one of the chief engineers to create a variation of that Trigger with a longer handle and shorter blade in order to allow agents with low trion capacity to have a long reach. Subsequent modifications made it possible to shorten the handle to fight in narrow spaces. It is possible it is only these latter modifications that make it count as a customized Trigger.
 * Shūji Miwa's Lead Bullet. It assigns a burden of 100kg per shot, and can be equipped in the same set of slots as the handgun, making it possible to use other Triggers while firing. Its downside is that Miwa must conjure a separate magazine which he must then slide into his firearm. The magazine is very heavy in terms of trion consumption, and the number of bullets that can be fired before reloading limited.
 * Nozomi Kako's Hound. The nature of its modification is unknown. It does not manifest as a cube, but as a sphere from which smaller spheres are then emitted.
 * Yukimaru Ichijō's Thruster. Its perks are unknown. He has two of them.

B-rank agents are allowed to perform minor tweaks on their Triggers with the help of engineers. Some of them are cosmetic, others alter the functions of a Trigger slightly. Temporary cosmetic modifications can play a significant role in a fight: an example is Azuma Squad changing the color of their Bagworms to white in order to camouflage themselves in the snow setting they had selected. Permanent alterations can be used by B-rank agents and above to make a Trigger more suited to their fighting style without modifying its basic functions, which might be why they are not considered customizations. Examples of such tweaks are:
 * the Scorpion model wielded by Kazama Squad. Unlike the normal Scorpion, its default shape is double-edged, with a hollowed out, slightly longer blade. The modification allows it to stretch and contract more quickly, thus making it even more attack-oriented than the regular Scorpion.
 * Reiji Kizaki's Raygust. Its handle is shorter and more streamlined than that of the normal model, possibly in order to complement his unorthodox fighting style.
 * Yūko Kumagai's Kogetsu. Due to her often utilizing it to defend, she has requested that a } be added in order to protect her hands.

Furthermore, users of Gunner Triggers tend to have different models of one same type of firearm. For example, the assault rifles of Arashiyama Squad are different from the one employed by Tatsuya Kuruma, although neither model is counted as a customization.

Standard Equipment Triggers
After activating a Trigger, the user will receive a trion body. B-rank agents and above are also endowed with additional Standard Equipment Triggers (トリガー) and accessories. Although they consume trion as a result of being equipped, and some also during use, they do not take up a Trigger slot.

Attacker Triggers
Attacker Triggers (トリガー) are modeled after edged weapons. They require close quarters combat and are extraordinarily impressive in terms of balance between trion consumption and offensive power. That is because only a small percentage of trion is required to manifest them, making it possible to devote the rest to sheer power. In fact, Attacker Triggers are the most suitable type of Trigger for users with a low amount of trion. There are primarily, but not exclusively, three types of Attacker Triggers in Border.

Gunner Triggers
The Triggers used by Gunners and Shooters revolve around the use of bullets. Compared to Attacker Triggers, they have a lower firepower and a greater consumption of trion, but boast superior range. There are four types of normal bullets, which can combine to turn into composite bullets. Bullets are composed of three main parts: a "body" that determines their power, a "cover" that protects it from wind resistance and extends its range, and a "propellant" that sends it forward. Trion is divided among these three components, determining the power, range and speed of the bullets. Their tripartition explains their inferiority in terms of damage to Attacker Triggers. Overall, Gunner Triggers (トリガー) are the ones that are affected the most by the amount of trion the user has. Regardless of the position of the user, all bullets are classified as Gunner Triggers, despite the Shooter position having been created first.

Gunners and Shooters fight at mid-range, most commonly as support due to their relatively low firepower. They use their Triggers tactically to control the position of the target. Each position has its own characteristics, but the fundamental difference between the two is that Gunners channel their bullets through specific firearms, whereas Shooters create trion cubes from their hands which they can successively split in smaller polygons or fire directly.

Trion Cubes
Shooters create a floating cube whose size and trion content depend on their trion reserves, and whose three basic parameters can be manipulated on the fly. This cube can be fired whole for a concentrated blast or split into smaller, identical polygons for a more varied offense. The power of the original cube is distributed equally among the fragments, whose number appears to determine their shape: the vast majority of agents splits their cube in eight, 27 or 64 parts, resulting in more cube-shaped bullets, but pyramids and are also possible, however it is an advanced technique for people who want to control the number and power of the bullets in detail. can control the position of each fragment at will before opening fire, increasing the spread of the volley and striking from different angles at the same time. They can further diversify their attacks by delaying some of their shots so that fragments of one same cube are fired at different intervals.

Cube fragments can remain in existence and retain their hovering abilities even if the user switches Triggers before firing them. Shooters can thus scatter bullets in specific locations, switch to another Trigger, and then switch back to the Gunner Trigger to fire the bullets they previously planted. However, they must remain within a certain distance from the planted bullets to retain the ability to control them.

Firearms
Gunners have access to an arsenal of firearms, also known as Gun Triggers (トリガー), made out of trion. Although they are classified as Triggers, only the bullets they are used in conjunction with occupy Trigger slots. At least two out of the five known types of firearm (specifically handguns and assault rifles) can be loaded with any two Gunner Triggers. When compared to the fighting style of a Shooter, these weapons are easier to operate and more accurate over longer distances, since each shot is the same as the one that preceded it. They also have an auxiliary function that increases range by an additional 20%. In addition to the three parameters of the bullets used by Shooters (power, range and muzzle velocity), firearms have three more main parameters that set them apart from one another: rate of fire, weight, and number of bullets, which determines how many rounds can be fried before a reload is necessary, as well as how much trion is allocated to each bullet. Unlike Shooters, Gunners cannot modify any of these parameters on the fly. For all these reasons, Gunners are considered more balanced but less versatile than Shooters.

Handguns and assault rifles are the most common types of firearms, but shotguns, grenade launchers and miniguns are also known to exist. Some of these weapons possess special features, such as shotguns's ability to fire multiple slugs at the same time and to adjust their spread, and possibly grenade launchers granting their discharge a parabolic trajectory. Each type of firearm presents different characteristics, but even weapons of one same type can be set with different parameters which do not count as customizations: for example, Takuma Yuba's handguns have lower range than average and can fire fewer bullets before needing to be reloaded, in return for which the power and speed of the bullets is increased; Sumiharu Inukai's firearm, which is classified as an assault rifle despite being modeled after the PDW (Personal Defense Weapon) submachine gun, is more compact and seemingly wieldier than other assault rifles; Hiro Kitazoe's assault rifle is also worthy of note, as it appears bulkier than the other models, but as a trade-off it might boast a higher rate of fire compared to other assault rifles. The fact that Jun Arashiyama's assault rifle fires small Asteroid rounds with a high rate of fire but only a single, large chunk of Meteor suggests that even different types of bullets fired with the same weapon can have different parameters. It is currently unknown to what extent the appearance and type of a firearm is a direct reflection of its parameters, as well as how much freedom the user has in modifying their parameters. Similarly, the exact mechanics of reloading have yet to be revealed.

Firearms can be made to appear immediately before use and then dispelled, although trion is expended to conjure a new one. If the user so elects, however, they can be manifested as soon as the trion body is formed and remain in existence indefinitely, even if other Triggers are in use. All-Rounders who choose the latter option can use their turned off firearms in feints at close range. Although the exact durability of a firearm is unknown, each of Yuba's bullets packs enough power to destroy one.

Composite Bullets
Any two Gunner Triggers can be combined to obtain highly destructive Composite Bullets, whose properties depend on those of their components. Shooters can create them on the fly by merging two trion cubes. The process requires a certain amount of time and focus, so few Shooters actually use them, but the more skilled ones can pull it off even in the heat of combat. Masterful Shooters can form a composite bullet in a mere two seconds, whereas inexperienced ones will require up to one minute. The only way for Gunners to use composite bullets is to program their weapon to shoot them; however, that weapon will only be able to shoot the set composite bullet, additionally it is unknown if it takes up one slot or two. Currently, there are no known Gunners using composite bullets as ammunition. Composite bullets were invented by Kōhei Izumi which means they couldn't of been existed three years prior to Chika's and Yūma's enlistment.

Sniper Triggers
Sniper Triggers (トリガー) have the longest range and very high power. Unlike Gunner Triggers, Sniper Triggers are the weapons themselves, not just the bullets. A large amount of trion is used up in one shot, so they are not suitable for rapid fire. They are used almost exclusively for surprise attacks. The distance at which Snipers fight makes it next to impossible for an opponent to counterattack. However, this also means they are vulnerable at close range and require cover. Since they can eliminate the target in a single shot, Sniper Triggers are said to be capable of turning the tides of battle. Each of the three types of Sniper Triggers focuses on one of the three bullet parameters (range, speed and power). Capable Snipers change them depending on the conditions and the target. Trion is expended whenever a rifle is created.

Trap Triggers
Trap Triggers (トラップ トリガー) are used to create favorable conditions for the allies of the user and unfavorable ones for the enemy by positioning hidden devices on the map and setting them off remotely.

Defense Triggers
Defense Triggers (トリガー) erect barriers to protect the user and/or their allies. They are considered one of the most indispensable Triggers for agents regardless of their position.

Optional Triggers
Optional Triggers (オプション トリガー) lack any offensive or defensive capabilities, but they add to the user's flexibility in combat. Their effects are extremely varied, encompassing stealth, movement, support and obstruction. Certain Optional Triggers can be used only in conjunction with a specific position or a single type of Triggers, granting them additional properties.

Exclusive Optional Triggers
Although the general rule is that no more than two Triggers – one in the Main and one in the Sub – can be in use at any given time, Exclusive Optional Triggers (オプション トリガー) can be activated only when a specific Trigger from their same column is active. All known Triggers of this type are used in conjunction with Attacker Triggers (with the exception of Miwa's Custom Lead Bullet).

All-Purpose Optional Triggers
All-Purpose Optional Triggers (オプション トリガー) are similar to Exclusive Optional Triggers in that they cannot be used on their own, manifesting their effects only through another Trigger. However, unlike Exclusive Optional Triggers, they must be equipped in the opposite set of slots as the Triggers the user wants to combine them with, preventing any other Trigger from the same column from being activated while they are in use. All known triggers of this type can be used in conjunction with Gunner Triggers, and at least one of them can also be used by Snipers.

Tamakoma Optional Triggers
The members of Tamakoma First have each their own exclusive Optional Trigger called Tamakoma Branch Exclusive Triggers (トリガー), developed from Triggers Takumi Rindō brought back from the Neighborhood. They are completely focused on power output, disregarding flexibility and trion performance altogether. These Triggers are prototypes that do not abide by HQ regulations. As a consequence, they cannot be used in rank wars.

Unknown Optional Triggers
Optional Triggers whose functions have yet to be revealed.

Trivia

 * The names of Border's Triggers can be roughly grouped in five categories: meteorology, animals, foreign language words, kanji and astronomy.
 * In addition, Gunner Triggers are very often named after existing missiles, rockets or firearms.
 * Although this has never been openly stated to be a rule, the Trigger Sets of nearly all known Border agents include two Shields equipped in their Trigger Holder. Kyōsuke Karasuma and Osamu Mikumo, who have only one, are however in possession of another defense-oriented Triggers.
 * Another possibly compulsory Trigger is Bagworm, as the only four agents to lack it are the three Trappers and Asumi Amakura, whose Bagworm Tag occupies the entirety of their Sub.
 * All three known Tamakoma Triggers have been activated with the command "On" at least once, which, among Border's normal Triggers, is unique to this class.
 * Despite the vast majority of Border fighters being male, most Triggers with only one user are part of the Trigger Set of a female agent, with a ratio of 4 used by males (Full Arms, Geist, Kogetsu: Spear and the minigun) to 6 used by females (Connector, Enhanced Radar, Idaten, Makō, Sōgetsu and Timer).
 * Thus far, all trion cubes summoned by Shooters have been divided according to the principles of and have produced exclusively  bullets.
 * All of Border's prototype Triggers are Optional Triggers.
 * The author listed Vorvoros, Viper, Lead Bullet and Escudo as the Triggers he would like to try out, although he stated he would enjoy doing stunts in a trion body even more.