Post by Silvexus on Apr 11, 2014 6:31:16 GMT
How Things Do and Don’t Work: A Series
Weapons
(This is a WIP because I want to show that I'm working but it's not done yet also I need critique on how helpful this is. ;~
(Someone should make me nice formatting because I’m lazy. /cough)
Assuming this goes well, I might write a complementary guide to help those confused by anatomical references in this one. (I will try to keep it simple, though. Explainations would go in the other thread.) Due to the content of Promethean, a lot of these human-to-human fighting tips won’t do much unless you’re an enforcer of some type.
Okay, so the first thing you want to do when it comes to weapons is learn what those weapons are actually used for. For instance, katana don’t do what you think they’d do and archery is mad hard. But we’ll get to that.
Obviously everyone loooves swords. Ninety-eight percent of people who RP in pseudo-medieval stuff? Swordmasters. Nobody’s heard of a mace apparently. Which is sad, because maces hurt like a bit—Moving on!
Let’s start with swords, since most people are going to run with those. “But Vex,” you say, “I know how swords work! I did a lot of fancy research and everything!” Good for you. Why are you reading this, again? Oh, maces. Maces are great.
Main causes of death from sword fights are exsanguination, air embolism, asphyxia, pneumothorax (not Paarthurnax), and – wait for it – infection. In layman’s terms, excessive bleeding, air in the circulatory system, suffocation, and air in the chest cavity respectively for all those fancy words.
The goal for fatally injuring your opponent can be achieved in a multitude of ways. You’re writers, you’ll figure out the creative stuff. But here it is in its most basic, blandest form possible. Which, let’s be fair, can sometimes be just as surprising.
To get it out of the way, if you just want to incapacitate someone, aim for cutting across the muscle grain. If you (or your character) haven’t brushed up on your anatomy, though, you could just as easily kill someone with this attempt. Because oh god blood. Blood everywhere. The forearm is a good spot to disarm your humanoid opponents safely, however.
For those of you who have brushed up on your anatomy, you know to aim for arteries for fatal blows. Veins, while a bitch if you get yours cut, won’t really do much unless they’re particular veins. Said particular veins will actually start sucking in air, creating an air embolism.
Another thing that causes air embolisms is severing the jugular vein in the neck. A couple of gasps for air will send anyone to the floor. Assuming the Behemoths haven’t adapted to that. And we pray your human opponents haven’t either. Please alert someone for the latter. And maybe the former.
The carotid artery in the neck is another place to go, as it stops blood flow to the brain. The target can remain conscious up to thirty seconds however, perhaps shorter for larger targets. The neck in general is nice, as it leads to asphyxiation and exsanguination, although normally the latter will happen before the former.
Now that we’ve covered a little bit, but not all, about wounds, let’s go to actual weapons. Since wounds is another topic I can go on for days about. BUT THAT’S WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW IN CASE I END UP BEING LAZY.
Let’s start with, for some reason, everyone’s favourite sword, the katana.
First off, let’s start with fun facts! The katana originated from another sword entirely, the tachi. Both are one-edged blades, meaning you can only slash with one end. This can end badly if you try to slash with the other. The differences in aesthetics rely specifically on the position of the blade when worn. A tachi is worn in a belt, edge down, with the mei (signature) on the nakago (tang) facing outward. The katana is worn clutched in a sash called an obi, with the edge facing up. The mei must also face outwards, but when samurai first starting wearing tachi “katana”-style, it would face the wrong way. They literally made a whole new sword because the mei on the nakago was wrong. Japanese honour and whatnot.
Inbetween the tachi and the katana was the uchigatana. This sword was shorter and much more convenient in battles such as buildings due to such size. The uchigatana was the first to start the trend of daishō, or wearing two nihonto, by wearing one short and one long uchigatana. It was not unheard of to wear a tachi and a tantō together, however. The daishō was a badge of honour for the samurai class, which shows in the daishō of the katana and the wakizashi. Now, the wakizashi is fun. Fun being that the wakizashi was a last resort, used only habitually for decapitation or seppuku. The katana was usually left at the door when visiting someone, with the wakizashi staying at one’s side.
Most nihonto have some sort of hamon, or temper line. This is not only stylish, but a byproduct of the method of forging with allows them to be relatively flexible. If it does not have a hamon, it is not nihonto, not a real nihonto, anyway.
Now, for the less fun parts. Katana are useless against most forms of armour. Unless your opponent is some hapless chap in leathers, you aren’t going to make much of a dent in ‘em. Behemoths, assuming they have any form of natural plate armour, are out of the question. They will bounce and break and shudder. The sword, that is. Which is unfortunate, because that’s what you want your enemies to be doing.
“But!” you cry. “What was the point of telling us all this bullshit for if you’re just going to say they’re useless?”
I like katana. I just know they’re basically useless. And so should you. Because knowing is half the battle! A katana is useless against anything like, or stronger than, European knight armour. But who knows. Maybe you’re civilian police and only face off against ne’er-do-wells. The katana is very, very good at cutting naked flesh.
Let’s move onto some double-edged swords. Most people are more acquainted with the gladius, which is a second declension Latin noun that means – wait for it – sword. The Romans weren’t too terribly creative, even with one of their favourite pastimes. (Heck, their other favourite pastime didn’t even have words attached to the, uhm, ‘menus’ in their ‘restaurants’.) Gladiī come in four main types, but the two more important of these are the Mainz gladius and the Pompeii gladius, the Pompeii being the more popular.
Gladiī have two purposes, like most swords: cutting and stabbing. Being double-edged and fashioned with a tapered tip, it exceled at both. Blade strength was managed by wielding together strips, leaving a channel down the center from the process. Alternatively, pieces made of a single piece of high-carbon steel with a rhomboidal cross-section are also extensive. Romans liked to have their names engraved, or punched, on the blade. The hilt, or capulus, was often rather ornate, and sometimes had ridges for the fingers.
The gladius is used primarily for stabbing and thrusting, as deep wounds were easy to make, and in the abdominal area proved to be fatal. Their slashing power should not be underestimated, however, as there are reports of soldiers horrified to see their dismembered comrades on the battlefield. The original strategy was to, in fact, stab at stomach height, but take any opportunity to slash at knees that were exposed by the shield wall.
This blade will hurt like hell, even under armour. They are heavy, and their whole force is designed to center at the tip, meaning it’ll go in nice and smooth.
The gladius was eventually replaced by the spatha, which comes from a rather bland Greek word (spáthi) meaning “broad blade of a sword”. Originally, the spatha was just a heavy infantry weapon, with lighter infantry still bearing gladiī, but eventually the spatha made its way to the front line. Two models were made for their functions: infantry had a long tip, while cavalry had a rounded one. This was to prevent the cavalry from, y’know, stabbing their own feet.
Little is known about how spatha were manufactured. It is known that it was easy to reforged broken spathae into new weapons. It is suggested that spathae were simply longswords, with shorter bladed weapons known as semispatha. These also include swords that were somewhere between gladiī and spathae, which were often manufactured in the switch.
Now, this should cover most swords. It won’t cover all the little details, but it’s important to do research! This should tell anyone at least that.
Continuing, we have a very special, and oft over-looked, friend: blunt weapons!
TBA
Weapons
(This is a WIP because I want to show that I'm working but it's not done yet also I need critique on how helpful this is. ;~
(Someone should make me nice formatting because I’m lazy. /cough)
Assuming this goes well, I might write a complementary guide to help those confused by anatomical references in this one. (I will try to keep it simple, though. Explainations would go in the other thread.) Due to the content of Promethean, a lot of these human-to-human fighting tips won’t do much unless you’re an enforcer of some type.
Okay, so the first thing you want to do when it comes to weapons is learn what those weapons are actually used for. For instance, katana don’t do what you think they’d do and archery is mad hard. But we’ll get to that.
Obviously everyone loooves swords. Ninety-eight percent of people who RP in pseudo-medieval stuff? Swordmasters. Nobody’s heard of a mace apparently. Which is sad, because maces hurt like a bit—Moving on!
Let’s start with swords, since most people are going to run with those. “But Vex,” you say, “I know how swords work! I did a lot of fancy research and everything!” Good for you. Why are you reading this, again? Oh, maces. Maces are great.
Main causes of death from sword fights are exsanguination, air embolism, asphyxia, pneumothorax (not Paarthurnax), and – wait for it – infection. In layman’s terms, excessive bleeding, air in the circulatory system, suffocation, and air in the chest cavity respectively for all those fancy words.
The goal for fatally injuring your opponent can be achieved in a multitude of ways. You’re writers, you’ll figure out the creative stuff. But here it is in its most basic, blandest form possible. Which, let’s be fair, can sometimes be just as surprising.
To get it out of the way, if you just want to incapacitate someone, aim for cutting across the muscle grain. If you (or your character) haven’t brushed up on your anatomy, though, you could just as easily kill someone with this attempt. Because oh god blood. Blood everywhere. The forearm is a good spot to disarm your humanoid opponents safely, however.
For those of you who have brushed up on your anatomy, you know to aim for arteries for fatal blows. Veins, while a bitch if you get yours cut, won’t really do much unless they’re particular veins. Said particular veins will actually start sucking in air, creating an air embolism.
Another thing that causes air embolisms is severing the jugular vein in the neck. A couple of gasps for air will send anyone to the floor. Assuming the Behemoths haven’t adapted to that. And we pray your human opponents haven’t either. Please alert someone for the latter. And maybe the former.
The carotid artery in the neck is another place to go, as it stops blood flow to the brain. The target can remain conscious up to thirty seconds however, perhaps shorter for larger targets. The neck in general is nice, as it leads to asphyxiation and exsanguination, although normally the latter will happen before the former.
Now that we’ve covered a little bit, but not all, about wounds, let’s go to actual weapons. Since wounds is another topic I can go on for days about. BUT THAT’S WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW IN CASE I END UP BEING LAZY.
Let’s start with, for some reason, everyone’s favourite sword, the katana.
First off, let’s start with fun facts! The katana originated from another sword entirely, the tachi. Both are one-edged blades, meaning you can only slash with one end. This can end badly if you try to slash with the other. The differences in aesthetics rely specifically on the position of the blade when worn. A tachi is worn in a belt, edge down, with the mei (signature) on the nakago (tang) facing outward. The katana is worn clutched in a sash called an obi, with the edge facing up. The mei must also face outwards, but when samurai first starting wearing tachi “katana”-style, it would face the wrong way. They literally made a whole new sword because the mei on the nakago was wrong. Japanese honour and whatnot.
Inbetween the tachi and the katana was the uchigatana. This sword was shorter and much more convenient in battles such as buildings due to such size. The uchigatana was the first to start the trend of daishō, or wearing two nihonto, by wearing one short and one long uchigatana. It was not unheard of to wear a tachi and a tantō together, however. The daishō was a badge of honour for the samurai class, which shows in the daishō of the katana and the wakizashi. Now, the wakizashi is fun. Fun being that the wakizashi was a last resort, used only habitually for decapitation or seppuku. The katana was usually left at the door when visiting someone, with the wakizashi staying at one’s side.
Most nihonto have some sort of hamon, or temper line. This is not only stylish, but a byproduct of the method of forging with allows them to be relatively flexible. If it does not have a hamon, it is not nihonto, not a real nihonto, anyway.
Now, for the less fun parts. Katana are useless against most forms of armour. Unless your opponent is some hapless chap in leathers, you aren’t going to make much of a dent in ‘em. Behemoths, assuming they have any form of natural plate armour, are out of the question. They will bounce and break and shudder. The sword, that is. Which is unfortunate, because that’s what you want your enemies to be doing.
“But!” you cry. “What was the point of telling us all this bullshit for if you’re just going to say they’re useless?”
I like katana. I just know they’re basically useless. And so should you. Because knowing is half the battle! A katana is useless against anything like, or stronger than, European knight armour. But who knows. Maybe you’re civilian police and only face off against ne’er-do-wells. The katana is very, very good at cutting naked flesh.
Let’s move onto some double-edged swords. Most people are more acquainted with the gladius, which is a second declension Latin noun that means – wait for it – sword. The Romans weren’t too terribly creative, even with one of their favourite pastimes. (Heck, their other favourite pastime didn’t even have words attached to the, uhm, ‘menus’ in their ‘restaurants’.) Gladiī come in four main types, but the two more important of these are the Mainz gladius and the Pompeii gladius, the Pompeii being the more popular.
Gladiī have two purposes, like most swords: cutting and stabbing. Being double-edged and fashioned with a tapered tip, it exceled at both. Blade strength was managed by wielding together strips, leaving a channel down the center from the process. Alternatively, pieces made of a single piece of high-carbon steel with a rhomboidal cross-section are also extensive. Romans liked to have their names engraved, or punched, on the blade. The hilt, or capulus, was often rather ornate, and sometimes had ridges for the fingers.
The gladius is used primarily for stabbing and thrusting, as deep wounds were easy to make, and in the abdominal area proved to be fatal. Their slashing power should not be underestimated, however, as there are reports of soldiers horrified to see their dismembered comrades on the battlefield. The original strategy was to, in fact, stab at stomach height, but take any opportunity to slash at knees that were exposed by the shield wall.
This blade will hurt like hell, even under armour. They are heavy, and their whole force is designed to center at the tip, meaning it’ll go in nice and smooth.
The gladius was eventually replaced by the spatha, which comes from a rather bland Greek word (spáthi) meaning “broad blade of a sword”. Originally, the spatha was just a heavy infantry weapon, with lighter infantry still bearing gladiī, but eventually the spatha made its way to the front line. Two models were made for their functions: infantry had a long tip, while cavalry had a rounded one. This was to prevent the cavalry from, y’know, stabbing their own feet.
Little is known about how spatha were manufactured. It is known that it was easy to reforged broken spathae into new weapons. It is suggested that spathae were simply longswords, with shorter bladed weapons known as semispatha. These also include swords that were somewhere between gladiī and spathae, which were often manufactured in the switch.
Now, this should cover most swords. It won’t cover all the little details, but it’s important to do research! This should tell anyone at least that.
Continuing, we have a very special, and oft over-looked, friend: blunt weapons!
TBA
