I don't think it's too complicated to understand. It's close enough to a ballista, which I suspect most people have at least a passing familiarity with (as you mentioned).
I'd go further and just call it a ballista, then maybe have weapons development slide into irrelevance with whatever Not-Pokemon they have planned get intertwined with human society. It'd be interesting to see people become dependent on these other species so much so all their technology revolves around them.
I could see it going either way. When I imagine a ballista, I imagine it on wheels, whereas it sounds like OP is imagining the bearer as the platform. It seems reasonable to have two different names so as to make that distinction obvious.
Oh when I read it I just pictured a ballista, yeah that seems like a logical Pre-crossbow step.
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