Gorean Weapons
Shields
Combat Shield
A shield is the basic means of defense for a warrior. Normally it is large and round, behind which a warrior could even crouch down.
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They are built with seven concentric,
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overlapping layers of hardened leather riveted together with iron
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and bound with hoops of brass. They are also fitted with a double sling for carrying on the left arm in combat.
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It is slung over the left shoulder when transported.
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Goreans, being very proud of their home location, paint their shields boldly and have infixed in them a device for identifying the bearer’s city.
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If the shield has no insignia one could easily be taken for an outlaw.
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While, obviously, the shield is light enough to be used in combat carried on one arm, it is also nearly too heavy for a female to lift.
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Yet even for the warrior to lift such a device for Ehn at a time, and receive blow after blow upon it, bearing up under them, in time makes the arm desperately tired and sore.
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There are differences to the norm in both construction and shape. Turian shields are also large enough to crouch
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behind but are oval in shape.
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Those of the Vosk delta, use rence in making their shields.
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Other shields are made of wood
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or even wicker.
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A Kur’s shield is huge, wide, round and made of iron, some four feet in diameter.
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The askaris shields of the Ukungu area are made of leather
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but are long, oval
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narrow, and tufted.
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The Red Savages have a great affinity for their shields and believe that if they are unworthy, or do not speak the truth, their shield will not protect them. It will move aside or will not turn the arrows and lances of enemies.
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They make their shields with the aid of spells and to them the shield is holy and precious.
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even to the point where they speak to their shields, telling them what will be expected.
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Incidentally, Red Savages keep their shields in a case or cover when not fighting.
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There are then other uses for the shield. When expressing emotion, instead of slapping the left shoulder, a warrior smites his shield with his spear or sword.
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Shields are used as signal devices on ships.
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Shields are also symbolic during a truce or surrender. This is signified by laying the shield at the feet of another for a truce or cutting the straps and laying it down when surrendering.
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And shields are sometimes used in swearing an oath.
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Buckler
Bucklers are also used for defense, but are smaller than shields. For instance there are used with daggers or axes in arena combat,
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or from the backs of animals.
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In the Tahari, the primary defense is a small round buckler.
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Swords
Short Sword
As the shield is the basic defensive armament, the short stabbing sword is the basic offensive weapon most communally used. It is double edged and approximately 20 to 22 inches in length.
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The steel is wine-tempered
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and honed so sharp that it will cut a piece of silk dropped upon it.
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The blades, being of steel, are kept oiled to prevent rust.
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Gorean men usually sharpen their own swords, trusting the edge to no one but themselves.
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Some swords have richly jeweled hilts and engraved blades while others are plain and unfigured.
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The hilts of at least some swords are wrapped with leather bindings.
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The swords of tarnsmen have wrist straps attached to prevent loss in flight.
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It might also be noted that some hilts conceal hidden compartments.
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Swords are carried in leather
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scabbards attached to belts. Most of these scabbards are not moisture proof, as this would entail either too close a fit for the blade or an impeding flap. In usual fashion it is slung over the left shoulder. In this way the scabbard, the blade once drawn, may be discarded, with its strap, which accouterments, otherwise, might constitute an encumbrance in combat. Then too, minimizing slippage, the belt is sometimes worn over the right shoulder and across the body.
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Of course these belts can also be buckled around the waist.
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Swords too weigh heavily in ceremony. A warrior’s sword is pledged to his city.
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Swords are used in connections with oaths.
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There is also such a thing as sword loyalty which is a bond sworn to a leader.
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And, in ritual disgrace, one’s sword is broken.
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Saber
The saber is almost unknown on Gor.
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Among the warriors of Gor generally, it is regarded as being too long and clumsy a weapon for close, sharp combat or effective from the back of a tarn or tharlarion.
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However, these long swords are not completely unknown as those of Torvaldsland prefer a longer sword than those of the south.
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Too, there is mentioned the Alar sword, a long, heavy, double-edged weapon, referred to as a spatha among their wagons,
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even though they also make use of a short stabbing sword known as the sacramasax.
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Scimitar
The wickedly curved
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and razor-sharp
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scimitars are known primarily in the Tahari. This blade, as the short sword, is also kept so sharp as to part silk dropped upon it.
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One description mentions it as being a great, long, curved sword.
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And in another place as being a longer weapon, a two-handed scimitar. The two-handed scimitarus being useful for reaching other riders on tharlarion.
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Spears
Combat Spear
The typical Gorean spear has a shaft of from six to over seven feet in length and from an inch and a half to two inches thick. The head of the weapon, including its socket and penetrating rivets, can be upwards of eighteen to twenty inches in length. The killing edges of the blade begin about two inches from the bottom of the socket, which reinforce the blade, tapering with the blade, double-edged, to within eight inches of its point. The blades are bronze, broad at the bottom and tapering to a point.
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It is a terrible weapon and, when cast with considerable force, can pierce a shield at close quarters or bury its head a foot deep in solid wood.
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Indeed, the Gorean spear is such that many warriors scorn lesser missile weapons, such as the longbow or crossbow.
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Even though primarily an infantry weapon, it is also carried by tarnsmen.
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At one point spears are described as large, with curved bronze heads.
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There are also mentioned the short, long-bladed stabbing spears of Ukungu.
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Small leather strips customarily sheath the blades of these spears.
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The Panther Girls of the northern forests carry light spears.
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The rence growers of the Vosk Delta make use of a two-or three pronged marsh spear.
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However these spears of rence are no match for those of the mainland.
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And, for comparison, the Kur spear is around twelve feet in length with a shaft of some three inches in diameter. The bronze head alone might weigh twenty pounds.
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Lance
The tharlarion lances are the longest and heaviest of the lances, being designed for use from tharlarionback. They are often used with a lance post
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and are carried in a saddle sheath when not being used.
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There is the slender lance of the Wagon Peoples.
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Some of these have a rider hook under the point to dismount opponents.
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The lances of the Wagon Peoples are not couched. They are carried in the right fist, easily, and are flexible and light, used for thrusting, not a battering-ram effect. They can be almost as swift and delicate in their address as a saber. The lances are black, cut from the poles of young tem trees. They may be bent almost double, like finely tempered steel, before they break. A loose loop of boskhide, wound twice about the right fist, helps to retain the weapon in hand-to-hand combat. It is seldom thrown.
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A Tahari kaiila lance is long and slim, eight to nine
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feet in length, terminating in an extremely narrow point of razored steel, some eleven inches long
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which is bound in the shaft by four rivets.
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Red Savages have two types of lance, one for hunting and the other for war. Hunting lances are commonly longer, heavier and thicker than war lances. Too, they are often undecorated, save perhaps for a knot of feathers. The point of the hunting lance is usually longer and narrower than that of the war lance. They both have heads of metal, bone or stone which are attached with sinew or rawhide, and also sometimes with metal trade rivets. The Red Savages who have mastered the tarn use a lance which is longer and more slender than the other two.
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One other type of lance mentioned is a smaller, thicker stabbing lance used by certain groups of pedestrian nomads.
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Harpoon
The harpoon of the far north is some eight feet in length with a shaft some two and a half inches in diameter. Most of the shaft is wood, but it has a foreshaft of bone. In this foreshaft is set the head of the harpoon, of bone, drilled, with a point of sharpened slate. Through the drilled hole in the bone, some four inches below the slate point and some four inches above the base of the head, is passed a rawhide line. When in use, this line is laid coiled in the bottom of a boat. Due to the way the hole is drilled, when the line snaps taut it will turn the head of the harpoon in the wound, anchoring it.
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Interestingly, the harpoon is not throw by itself but instead a notched throwing board is used. Snapping the throwing board forward and downward, speeds the harpoon toward the intended target.
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Trident
The trident is used primarily as a weapon in arena combat and in conjunction with a net.
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Also used by fishermen as their traditional weapon.
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Pike
Pikes, while not described in detail, are used by Counsel Guardsmen
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and the infantry, which, with staggered lines and the butts of pikes anchored in the earth, can usually turn an attack of light cavalry.
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Sailors also use pikes for repelling boarders. These pikes are often greased near the blade end, making it harder for boarders to grasp them in order to wrench them away.
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Quiva
Actually in a class by itself, the quiva is the almost legendary, balanced saddle knife of the Wagon Peoples. They are normally kept in sets of seven. The quiva is so important that it is said a youth of the Wagon Peoples was taught the bow, the quiva and the lance before their parents would consent to give him a name
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It is about a foot in length, double edged, tapers to a daggerlike point
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and is balanced for throwing.
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The quiva need not be thrown hard due to its sharpness and weight doing the work.
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Therefore the quiva is regarded, on the whole, as more of a missile weapon than a hand knife.
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Knives
Sleen Knife
The sleen knife is worn in a belt sheath and carried primarily by the men
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and women
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of the northern forests, although once it is mentioned being used by a Peasant who, perhaps coincidently, also raised sleen.
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However no direct connection is mentioned as to why this knife is referred to as it is. At one point a sleen knife is described as being short and balanced.
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It is unclear if this means they vary in length or if all sleen knives are relatively short. The fact that it is balanced may mean it is double edged but this is not clearly defined. Other than this it is spoken of as having a hilt.
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Hook Knife
One of the small knives,
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the hook knife is a small, thick, curved blade knife of Ar, used sheathed in the sport of that name.
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When the razor-sharp
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blade is sheathed during sport, the edges of the sheath are coated with a bluish pigment to indicate scores.
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When carried it is buckled in a sheath, the strap passing over the hilt.
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Tarn Knife
Tarnsmen
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and Tarn Keepers, carry a small throwing dagger which is smaller than the quiva and tapered on just one side.
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Evidently one variation of this knife is well-balanced
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and has an inscribed hilt, its primary purpose being a killing knife.
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Turian Dagger
The Turian dagger is mentioned only twice, once as hanging from a man’s belt
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and described only once, as having an ornamented, twisted blade.
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Rence Knife
Used by those of the Vosk delta, this small, curved, two-inch knife is used to harvest the rence.
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Panga
The machete-like
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panga is used in the tropical rain forests. It is heavy, two feet long and has a curved blade.
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With its keen blade, one is able to part thick vines.
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By comparison, the Kur’s panga is so heavy that a grown man needs both hands to wield it.
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Butcher Knife
The butcher knife is usually ground down into a narrow, concave shape. Since it does not have the sturdiness for combat, it is instead generally used for the swift acquisition of bloody trophies.
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Utility Knife
A few different utility knives are described throughout the books. While not necessarily weapons, they are mention here for reference.
Those who dwell in the far north are fond of carvings. They use a fourteen inch, wooden handled knife with a three inch blade for this purpose.
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The ulo or woman’s knife, of the same region, while not well suited to carving due its semicircular blade, customarily fixed in a wooden handle, is better suited to cutting meat and slicing sinew.