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 Gorean Weapons - BolaThis is my narrative and relevant references from the Books about Bolas. I make no pronouncements on these matters, but report them as I find them. Arrive at your own conclusions. I wish you well, Fogaban
The bola is a triple-weighted throwing weapon of the Tuchuks, the Wagon Peoples.
Probably developed for hunting game for food,[1] and girls for sport or capture,[2] it is also used as a weapon of war.
It consists of three long straps of leather, each about five feet in length, each terminating in a leather sack which contains, sewn inside, a heavy, round, metal weight. The approximate ten-foot sweep[3] is almost impossible to evade.
As soon as resistance is met after striking the victim, the weighted balls whip around, tangling and tightening the straps and throws the victim to the ground.[4]
Thrown at different levels, sometimes legs are broken. Thrown higher it can lock a man's arms to his sides. If thrown to the throat it can strangle him[5] or if thrown to the head, the whipping weights can crush a skull.[6]
The bola is so important to the Wagon Peoples that the Kassars have incorporated it into their standard and brand.[7]
It should also be mentioned, there is a bladed bola.[8]
[1] It was probably developed for hunting the tumit Nomads of Gor Book 4 Page 24 "Perhaps," said Kamchak, "but I shall be glad to be rid of it, and besides it is nearly the best time for hunting tumits with the bola." Nomads of Gor Book 4 Page 327 "I think," said Kamchak "I will have a new bola made for the hunting." Nomads of Gor Book 4 Page 329 [2] a girl from the city itself, though the latter are sometimes, for the sport of the young men, allowed, as it is said, to run for the city. They are then hunted from the back of the kaiila with bola and thongs. Nomads of Gor Book 4 Page 58 In the south, the Wagon Peoples sometimes use the bola in such captures, the cords and weights whipping about the girls legs and ankles, pinning them together, hurling her to the ground, where, in an instant, before she can free herself, the captor, leaping from the saddle, is upon her. Magicians of Gor Book 25 Page 299 Bolas are not unknown, too. Indeed, in the southern hemisphere, I understand that they are extremely common. I think I would fear to be taken by such a thing, it whipping about my legs, pinning them together. Witness of Gor Book 26 Page 237 In the far south, a bola is used to entangle the legs of a running girl, and then she is bound, and returned to a starting point. Smugglers of Gor Book 32 Page 156 [3] Indeed she did, but in an instant I saw the leather flash of the bola, with its vicious, beautiful almost ten-foot sweep, streak toward the girl's ankles, and I saw her fall. Nomads of Gor Book 4 Page 71 [4] she cried out the bola struck her in an instant binding her legs and throwing her to the turf. Nomads of Gor, Page 73 Her hands were out, trying instinctively to maintain her balance; the bola weights were still snapping about her ankles in tiny, angry circles; Nomads of Gor Book 4 Page 77 [5] Already the Tuchuk bola was whirling, a blur of leather and lead. Again the tarn cut through and two of the tarnsmen were screaming, trying to shield themselves from the weighted straps, flying about them; the weights in the Tuchuk bola can crush a skull, the leather can strangle. Assassin of Gor Book 5 Page 374 [6] I saw him draw one of the quivas from a saddle sheath, loosen the long, triple-weighted bola from his side. Slowly, singing in a gutteral chant, a Tuchuk warrior song, he began to swing the bola. It consists of three long straps of leather, each about five feet long, each terminating in a leather sack which contains, sewn inside, a heavy, round, metal weight. It was probably developed for hunting the tumit, a huge, flightless carnivorous bird of the plains, but the Wagon Peoples use it also, and well, as a weapon of war. Thrown low the long straps, with their approximate ten-foot sweep, almost impossible to evade, strike the victim and the weighted balls, as soon as resistance is met, whip about the victim, tangling and tightening the straps. Sometimes legs are broken. It is often difficult to release the straps, so snarled do they become. Thrown high the Gorean bola can lock a man's arms to his sides; thrown to the throat it can strangle him; thrown to the head, a difficult cast, the whipping weights can crush a skull. Nomads of Gor Book 4 Pages 24 - 25 [7] The standard of the Kassars is that of a scarlet, three-weighted bola, which hangs from a lance; the symbolic representation of a bola, three circles joined at the center by lines, is used to mark their bosk and slaves; Nomads of Gor Book 4 Page 106 [8] "Ah, yes, weapons," Kamchak was saying, "what shall it be the kaiila lance, a whip and bladed bola, perhaps the quiva?" Nomads of Gor Book 4 Page 123 |       
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