Weapons

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The world of Kushiel features weapons common to High Medieval and Renaissance Western Europe, as well as a few archaic implements and weapons more common to other parts of the (real) world. Please, be sure not to confuse "medieval" with fantasy - there is no "Longsword +3", or "Great Fire Sword Of Dragon Tongue" to be found here.

Contents 1 Short blades 1.1 Knives 1.2 Daggers 1.3 Miscellaneous 2 Long Blades 2.1 One-handed weapons 2.2 Two-Handed Weapons 3 Axes 4 Concussive Weapons 5 Polearms 6 Bows 7 Other Missile Weapons

Short blades

Knives

• A knife is a weapon consisting of a short blade mounted on some sort of handle, either (in cruder devices) by some sort of twine, or by virtue of friction or pins which hold steady a short tang. Knives are found in various forms in all cultures, sometimes used for practical purposes, ceremony, or combat. Knives can be single or double-edged, or have no edge at all (intended solely for piercing). Some are straight-bladed, while others are deeply curved. Most curve away from the cutting edge, a few curve towards it. Double-edged knives built with hilts and intended solely for use as weapons are more properly termed daggers.

• The seax or scramsax is a single-edged knife of Skaldic origin, used by commoners as an all-purpose tool. It can only be carried by freemen or freedmen, and is worn in a horizontal sheath in front of the belt to indicate the wearer's status. Slaves and serfs cannot wear the seax. In difficult times, when purpose-built weapons or the materials to build them are scarce, the seax is used as an implement of war.

Daggers

• Dirks are long, broad-bladed daggers originating from the northern tribal regions of Alba. Like the seax, the dirk is an important cultural symbol to its wearer, and is worn ostentatiously on the belt.

• A manicure dagger is a small, decorative weapon worn by upper-class members of various western nations. Rarely very sharp, the daggers are usually quite ornate, often used for nail-cleaning and other hygienic purposes. They can make fair weapons in an emergency, as a stab only a few centimeters into the flesh can prove fatal if the blow is well-aimed, and is usually quite painful in any case.

• The term mercy dagger refers to a type of weapon unique to d'Angelines. Rarely purpose-built, mercy daggers are drafted from general weapon stores and blessed by priests. They are used to speed the deaths of worthy foes or comrades. They are rarely decorated in any way.

• Stilettos are specially-built daggers geared towards stealthy assault. The blades are thin and tapering, built with a triangular cross-section and lacking a sharp cutting edge. The blades rarely exceed 20 centimeters in length.

Miscellaneous

• Katars are a bizarre form of knife. They generally consist of short blades, often double-edged, attached to an unconventional handle that causes the blade to point in the same direction as the knuckles. Katars often have multiple blades that can be manipulated by the wearer through mechanical triggers in the handle. They do not make particularly stealthy weapons, due to the noise of their moving parts and their large size; likewise the awkwardness of their design often inhibits their general utility. They are, however, often used by highwaymen and other marauders as a weapon of terror. Katars found in Terre D'Ange appear to be of Caerdiccan origin, however similar, more practical weapons, are found in Bodhistan, which may be the origin of their conception.

• Kriss are either very long knives or very short swords. They are constructed in a far away country east of Bodhistan and south of Hanzu territory, and only arrive in Terre d'Ange through trade. They are are noted for their strange, wavy blades and high-quality metal.

• Shivs are weapons of opportunity constructed by amateurs. Like "mercy dagger", the term is derived by the weapon's purpose rather than its form. Handles often take the form of broken paintbrushes, sticks, long animal bones, blocks of wax and other similarly-shaped, convenient objects. Blades may consist of old knife edges, stiff wire, or even ceramic or obsidian shards, and are often bound with animal glue or twine. They are associated with criminal activity.

Long Blades

One-handed weapons

• Arming swords are the single-handed form of the longsword. Their broad blades and considerable weight made them excellent hacking swords, as well as being fair concussive weapons against armored targets. The best arming swords come from Aragonia. Tizona, Laurent du LacNoir's personal weapon, was an Aragonian-built arming sword.

• The cutlass is the naval counterpart to the sabre, although it is likely more closely related to the thick-bladed falchion than the thin, elegant sabre. Cutlasses are one-handed weapons, usually having a basket-shaped hilt and a curved knuckle guard. The blades are thick and single-edged, sometimes straight but often curving slightly. Its size made it useful in the close quarters of a ship, while the weight afforded by its thick blade made it an effective weapon even in the hands of poorly-trained sailors or marines. Its heft also means that it could also be used to hack through rope and canvas, either to cripple an enemy vessel or perform crude maintenance on one's own craft.

• Falchions are fairly crude, heavy swords, featuring straight, single-edged blades, making them somewhat like a cleaver intended for battle. They are easy to construct and do not require high quality ores to be effective. Kingdoms and lesser governments produce them en masse for their soldiers. The blades often disintegrate after a single heavy battle. They can be found all over the West.

• Gladii (singular gladius), are archaic weapons originating from Caerdicca Unitas. Once one of the most important tools of the Tiberian army, Gladii have been relegated to the status of trophy or ceremonial piece. Descended from Hellenic blades, Gladii were originally made of bronze and then iron. Their blades are broadly leaf-shaped, and were primarily intended as thrusting weapons, but could also easily hack off a limb in close quarters. They typically also had a textured grip of hardwood, brass or ivory and a very bulbous pommel.

• The rapier is a long, single-handed sword worn by the nobility of the West. Primarily designed for stabbing or slashing at an unarmored target, rapier blades are typically thin, however, there is considerable variation in form between countries, provinces and individual swordsmiths. Blades vary in length, width, form or thickness, which all determine the balance between the stabbing and slashing abilities of the weapon. The most purpose-built rapiers have very thin, long blades with a rhomboid cross-section, designed almost solely for stabbing. These rapiers are very rare, as most smiths lack the skill or the quality of iron to produce them, and even the best blades lack the strength or quickness of Late Renaissance smallswords. D'Angeline rapiers tend to be quite thin, with basket-type hilts, bulbous pommels and finger guards. Caerdiccan rapiers have slightly thicker blades and longer handles, as well as enlarged quillons and rings which are used in gripping the dull portion of the blade (the ricasso). The Caerdiccan fencer often uses a leather strap (the martingale) to aid in holding the weapon. Aragonian rapiers have thicker blades than their eastern counterparts, and are equally geared towards stabbing and slashing. Skaldic rapiers, while rare, are just as advanced as their neighboring cousins, with unique hilts and baskets not found in the west. Samedi, the display sword of King Bastien de Morhban, was a rapier.

• Sabres, particularly popular in Caerdicca Unitas, are weapons with long, thin, and usually curved blades. Originating far away in Hanzu, centuries of trade and warfare by the Hazaran carried the weapon westwards, and now native forms of the sword can be found all across the known world. The sabre is invariably single-edged and wielded with one hand. Caerdiccan sabres usually have a thin finger guard forged into the hilt. Outside of Caerdicca Unitas they make popular court swords, especially amongst members of the noble cavalry. On horseback, curved sabres produce crippling and painful wounds, but straight sabres produce more lethal injuries. Westward Wind, the mighty curved blade of the Great Khan, was a Hanzu-built sabre.

Two-Handed Weapons

• Longswords are weapons with long, thin (but relatively robust) blades. They are generally intended to be wielded with two hands, but a form of longsword, known as a bastard sword, features a shortened blade and grip, and can be wielded with one hand or in a "hand-and-a-half" fashion. Some have broad blades which can transmit a considerable amount of energy into an armored opponent. Many have longer, tapering blades, suited for stabbing at the weak links of an adversary's armor. They typically have a pronounced cruciform cross-guard and bulbous pommel. Like most large bladed weapons, longswords are quite rare, as it requires considerable skill and high-quality iron ore to produce them. In Terre d'Ange they are most often associated with the Cassiline Brotherhood. Armored swordsmen (wearing metal gloves or guantlets) often hold the dulled ricasso (or forte) and the relatively dull foible with both hands, temporarily turning the sword into a vicious hammer, deadly against armored and unarmored opponents alike. This tactic is known as Mordhau or Mordstreich. The great blade of Duc Marius d'Aiglemort was a longsword.

• The great blades known as Zweihander to d'Angelines and Bidenhänder or Bihänder to their builders, are longswords constructed by the Skaldic peoples. They are characterized by their great length and Parierhaken ("parrying-hooks"), metal flanges which protrude from the Fehlscharfe, or ricasso/forte. The Parieirhaken allow the wielder to grip the blade along the ricasso without fear of opposing weapons sliding down the blade. In this way, the Zweihander serves as something between a sword and a halberd. Owned only by the highest-ranking Skaldic kings, Zweihanders are perhaps the rarest of the longswords, as the resources and infrastructure required to build them even in small amounts does not exist in Skaldia. Many examples of Zweihander are in fact ceremonial blades, too heavy for practical use in combat. The great longsword of Armand du LacNoir was a Zweihander.

Axes

There exist many forms of axes, the two-handed forms of which can be found in the section Polearms.

• Franciscas are unique throwing axes built by the westernmost Skaldic tribes. They have a distinct arched head with a relatively wide cutting edge mounted on a straight shaft. Slightly heavier forms are popular with sailors of all nationalities.

• Bearded axes are a type of battle-axe wherein the cutting edge extends towards the handle far beyond that of the rest of the axe head. The long cutting edge and heft of the axe head make the bearded axe a damaging weapon and also, theoretically, allow the user to disarm or forcefully parry sword blades with the "hook" of the axe head. Bearded axes are built by the Skaldi but are less common than the cruder, lighter wood axes most Skaldic armies bring to battle.

• The falcata is an ancient weapon built by the tribes which ruled pre-kingdom Aragonia, who derived the weapons from the Hellenic people and ultimately the Menekhetan who built the ancestors to the falcata. Though it appears to be a sword, the balance and technique of the falcata make it much more like an axe. Though crude, an overhand chop from a falcata can easily slice through bronze armor and most thin, lower-quality iron armors.

Concussive Weapons

There are many different types of concussive weapons, the two-handed forms of which can be found in the section Polearms.

• Cudgels comprise the simplest of the blunt weapons, and need be nothing more than a hefty piece of wood the length of a forearm. Primitive cultures often use them as effective weapons of war, though they cannot compete with the performance of purpose-built clubs or maces when tackling armored opponents. Gendarmeries, palace guards and other police organizations often use them as a more "humane" alternative to swords when used against their own people.

• A flail consists of a wooden or metal handle onto which is attached a chain. The chain, likewise, is connected either to a shorter rod or a metal ball, often spiked. Flails, like maces, are somewhat expensive to construct, but require more training in camp and more room in the field to operate, and are not as generally useful as maces. However, flails are somewhat popular amongst the Skaldi, as the swinging flail head can fly around shields and strike hiding opponents.

• A mace is a purpose-built weapon featuring a bronze or iron head atop a straight wooden or metal shaft. The mace head may be a smooth ball or have several spikes or flanges protruding from its center to amplify its effectiveness. They are somewhat expensive to construct, but require less training for general use than a sword or flail. They are particularly effective against armored opponents.

• War hammers are purpose-built implements for combat, featuring a small hammer-head and, often, a pick, mounted on a wooden shaft of varying length. They are carried by both horsemen and infantry. Though they are relatively inexpensive to manufacture, their greatest utility is found against heavily-armored knights and soldiers, which are quite rare in the areas surrounding Terre d'Ange. War hammers, likewise, are not common, either.

Polearms

Polearms encompass not only purpose-built weapons, such as halberds and pikes, but also weapons of opportunity for peasant or tribal peoples, like farming implements. Because of this, they are perhaps the most common weapons in the West.

• The Bec de Corbin is an especially long form of the war hammer used by infantry against cavalry. Like the shorter war hammer, the Bec de Corbin and related weapons are only especially effective against heavily armored opponents. This, and the expense taken to manufacture them, makes them rare weapons in Terre d'Ange and the rest of the West.

• Halberds are infantry weapons characterized as long shafts mounting a small axe-head and a thrusting spike. Sometimes there is also a pick opposite the axe's cutting edge. The shape and size of the metal parts varies depending on the purpose of the halberd: longer spikes and wide axe-heads are used against opposing infantry, while longer picks are used against cavalry. Despite their versatility and effectiveness, halberds are quite rare on battlefields in the West; the resources to manufacture and the skill to use them en masse does not exist, and spears offer a much more practical alternative to the widespread tribes, duchies and kingdoms that characterize the West.

• A lance is a spear adapted for use by cavalry. They generally take two forms: lighter spears around 3 meters in length use to harass infantry and other cavalry, and heavier, slightly longer lances designed for massed cavalry charges by knights. The heavier form of lance often has a hand guard for the wielder.

• Spears are the weapon of choice for mass infantry armies of both developed and tribal nations. They are particularly popular in militant but decentralized societies like the Skaldi and the Hazaran subject nations. They are shaft weapons, generally longer than 1.5 metres and less than 2.5 metres, with a stabbing iron (or sometimes bronze or stone) head at the end. Longer and better-manufactured spears have a counterweight at the opposite end of the shaft. They are extremely cheap to manufacture and require little training compared to swords, maces and pikes. Against well-trained sword-bearing infantry, however, spear armies are out-fought, and out-reached when confronting pike-bearing armies. Well trained lance-based cavalry also deal with spear armies fairly well, and bow-wielding horsemen are deadly to the relatively immobile and (usually) poorly-trained spearmen.

• Pikes are the more developed form of spears, created by smaller nations to counter the dominant cavalry forces of countries like Terre d'Ange and Aragonia. Pike are long wooden weapons around 5 meters in length and sometimes longer. They almost always feature a metal counterweight opposite the pointed end, and usually have metal reinforcements along the shaft near the spear point. Pike armies require more training than spear-based armies, as the sheer size of the weapon makes even the simplest of maneuver difficult for ill-disciplined forces. Pikes are also more labor intensive and expensive to manufacture than their smaller cousins. However, for richer governments, a well-trained pike-based force is almost unstoppable, as they simply plow over opposing armies. The close-in nature of pike formations, however, is also their downfall. When order is lost in the ranks, pikemen can easily be cut down by more agile foes. Pike armies without support on the flanks and surrounded by cavalry are defenseless.

Bows

• Composite or laminated bows are bows whose staves are constructed of multiple materials laminated together under tension. These materials can include hide, sinew, bone, horn and animal glue. In the East, composite bows are typically made of Mulberry, often laminated with bamboo. The Hazaran, who produced the best composite bows, made their weapons out of birch. Composite bows are expensive to manufacture, but produce performance equal to that of the best longbows in a much smaller weapon appropriate for mounted combat. Most composite bows constructed by the Hazaran and their subject nations are recurve bows. They are rare and valuable in the West.

• Flatbows are longbows made from a single large, rectangular stave. They produce much more force than a typical longbow, but require a skilled bowyer and much more high-quality wood to produce. Flatbows are rare implements because of this.

• Longbows are generally constructed specifically for use in war, though they also make excellent hunting implements, and are used by various cultures all over the world. They are constructed of a single piece of wood (in contrast to recurve bows, which often are long enough to be long bows but are excluded from this definition) and in the West are often made of yew, and sometimes of imported mulberry and other quality woods. They can be very accurate at close range and, unlike hunting bows, also retain their deadliness at far greater ranges. They are the bow of choice for infantry as they are usually more durable and always much cheaper to manufacture than composite and recurve bows (which provide the same performance, but in a much smaller, more efficient weapon). Some cultures use longbows for cavalry forces as well, but these feature asymmetrical staves: shorter on the bottom portion, to allow the archer to fire from either side of the horse.

• Recurve bows are bows constructed so that the tips of the bow curve away from the string when unstrung. Thus, recurve bows are defined by their form. The shape of the stave imparts greater force to a cast arrow than an equivalent, "plain" bow, allowing for greater impact at close range and greater distance at long range. Most recurve bow staves are also made of more than just wood, thus also qualifying them as composite bows. The great force that the recurve bow imparts with each cast, however, means that it doesn't last as long as equivalent, "normal" bows, and also creates a great deal of sound, making it less effective at stealthy attack. Recurve bows also cost more to manufacture than their simpler counterparts.

• Short bows are hunting implements sometimes drafted into war service. Not actually a type of bow so much as any bow not considered a "long bow", short bows take many forms and can be made of many different materials. Composite bows and laminated bows, while technically short bows, are often excluded from this definition.

Other Missile Weapons

• A crossbow consists of a wooden stock onto which is mounted a bow (here called a lath) of wood (and, rarely, metal) and a string which bring tension against an arrow or bolt, and which is held in place by a device actuated by a trigger. Crossbows are relatively small, expensive missile weapons. Well-constructed crossbows offer more power at close range than most bows, and the largest hand-held forms can pierce through weaker plate armors. They are, however, much more expensive than bows, and require a great deal more maintenance. The ballista, a crossbow-like device, is used as an artillery piece in the west. The Hanzu, who produce the best crossbows, also field large artillery device like the ballista, and use them as seige implements.

• Darts are missile weapons defined by having a sharp point on a short and sometimes flexible shaft. They typically have fletching like an arrow but are too short to use in a bow. Their points are often weighted with stone or metal, and even unweighted darts of bambooo can be deceptively deadly. Darts are generally weapons of opportunity used by disorganized military forces. Hand-held dart-throwers called atlatls can significantly increase the range and power of darts, but these are stone-aged devices used by only the most primitive of the northern Skaldic tribes.

• Javelins are spears designed for throwing. They are often shorter than close-combat spears and feature a weighted tip. Their weight, cost and relatively short range makes their use prohibitive for most militaries, but well-designed, well-cast javelins are very deadly along their entire useable range.

• Slings consist of two strings, often leather, between which is a soft "cup" for holding a stone or ceramic missile. An ancient rural tool often favored by shepherds to scare away wild animals, slings make deadly weapons in the hands of a skilled operator. The Tiberian Empire once employed large auxiliary units of slingers to accompany its legions. Slings are not widely used in contemporary militaries, though, as a slinger requires considerably more room around him than an archer, making it impossible to operate in close order. Also, a slinger must expose more of his body to fire his weapon than an archer or crossbowman, requiring more cover than either of the alternatives. Still, they make decent distance weapons in the hands of insurgent tribal populations.