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 Gorean Weapons - SpearsThis is my narrative and relevant references from the Books about Spears. 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 typical Gorean combat spear has a shaft of from six to over seven feet in length. The shaft ranges from an 1½ to 2 inches thick. This is topped by a socketed bronze blade measuring 14 to 20 inches, including the socket. The head is double-edged, beginning about 2 inches from the bottom of the socket and tapering to a point.[1]
The typical Gorean war spear, which is commonly a weighty, formidable weapon, requires considerable strength to use.[2] In fact, it's size and weight impairs its utility as a hunting tool.[3]
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.[4] If swung, it can cleave to the heart.[5]
Actually, the spear is most often used as a stabbing weapon. In fact, the intention may be to render the shield of the opponent useless.[6] Once thrown, obviously, it is no longer available to its owner.
One is trained to take the cast spear obliquely on the shield, that it may carom away. In such a case he who throws the spear has lost his weapon and the intended target remains unencumbered.[7] Indeed, the Gorean spear is such that many warriors scorn lesser missile weapons, such as the longbow or crossbow.[8]
Even though primarily an infantry weapon, it is also carried by tarnsmen.[9] The tarnsmem seldom use spear straps to better secure the weapon since, if the weapon became anchored in a shield or body, it might wrench him in the saddle, possibly breaking his back.[10]
Other spears mentioned are the short, long-bladed stabbing spears of Ukungu.[11] Small leather strips customarily sheath the blades of these spears.[12] The Panther Girls of the northern forests carry light spears,[13] sometimes even referred to as javelins.[14]
The rence growers of the Vosk Delta make use of a two or three pronged marsh spear.[15] However these spears of rence are no match for those of the mainland.[16]
Lighter than the war spear is the hunting spear.[17] At one point spears are described as having curved bronze heads.[18] The raised spear is a common signal of readiness before an engagement.[19]
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.[20]
I decided to include the impaling spear since in can certainly be argued that it is a weapon. Death by impalement is a common form of Gorean execution.[21]
The impliment can be a lance[22] or a spear, long and slim, sharpened and polished.[23] It might be narrow and greased[24] or have a dull point, designed for an unpleasantly lengthy penetration.[25] The spear itself may range from 30 feet in height[26] to some 50 feet high of polished silver.[27]
Death by impalement is not the swiftest way to die. It can take more than an Ahn to several days.[28] In some cases there may be hundreds of impaling spears adorned with writhing victims.[29]
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[30] and are carried in a saddle sheath when not being used.[31]
There is the slender lance of the Wagon Peoples.[32] Some of these have a rider hook under the point to dismount opponents.[33] The blade of the lance, being more narrow than the war spear, is designed to minimize it getting caught in either a shield or a body.[34] 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.[35]
A Tahari kaiila lance is long and slim, eight to nine[36] feet in length, terminating in an extremely narrow point of razored steel in the shape of the flahdah leaf, some eleven inches long,[37] which is bound in the shaft by four rivets.[38]
Red Savages use a kaiila lance for hunting kailiauk as well as in mounted warfare. It is called the kaiila lance because it is designed to be used from kaiilaback. There are two types of this lance. One is for hunting and the other for war. Hunting lances are commonly longer, heavier and thicker than war lances. They are often undecorated except for perhaps for a knot of feathers. The point of the hunting lance is usually longer and narrower than that of the war lance. The shafts are made of tem wood and are black, supple and strong. Staves for the lances are cut in the late winter, when the sap is down. They are then smoked and dried over a fire. This seasoning takes several weeks and kills any insects inside.[40]
After drying, the shafts are rubbed with grease and straightened over the heat of a fire.
With a small knife, they are trimmed and shaped. Finally, rubbing them with sandstone brings the lance shaft to a smooth finish.[41]
The head of the lance is made of metal, bone or stone. It is secured with sinew or rawhide, or metal rivets. The sinew or rawhide soaked in hot water before being bound on the lance. This releases a natural glue. And water itself produces a natural shrinking and contraction as it dries. The head of the lance is therefore attached extremely solid and secure.[42] On the other hand, the hunting lance is smoothly pointed, to allow for an easy retrieval from the animal.[43]
Finally, grips and loops are added. And some lances are decorated,[44] even with feathers.[45]
In use, one commonly thrusts one's wrist through the wrist loop, grasping the lance with the right hand, and anchors the lance beneath the right arm. This maximizes balance, control and impact. With the weight of a hurtling kaiila behind the thrust such a lance can be thrust through the body of a kailiauk.[46]
Slightly different in construction is the Red Savage's tarn lance. It is still feathered but longer and more slender.[47]
One other type of lance mentioned is a smaller, thicker stabbing lance used by certain groups of pedestrian nomads.[48]
Another use for the lance is to hold the command pennon.[49]
While not described in detail, the javelin is used by infantrymen[50] and for hunting, being lighter than the war spear.[51] There is reference to fire javelins being used to set fires over the walls of a besieged city. Javelins are mentioned much more often in ship-to-ship warfare. In this case, javelins are usually tarred and set afire and launched in sets from springals.[52] The saddles of the cavalry tharlarion or war tharlarion have boots in them to hold ten javelins, five on a side.[53]
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.[54]
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.[55]
The trident is used primarily as a weapon in arena combat and in conjunction with a net.[56] It is also used by fishermen[57] and as their traditional weapon.[58] And a long-handled trident is used to repel siege ladders by thrusting them and the men back from the wall.[59]
Pikes, while not described in detail, are used by Counsel Guardsmen[60] and the infantry, which, with staggered lines and the butts of pikes anchored in the earth, can usually turn an attack of light cavalry[61] breaking an enemy's ranks or when necessary, to keep him at bay.[62] 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.[63]
The glaive is the common weapon of the Ashigaru.[64] The glaive is a long, stout pole used for either thrusting or slashing. Socketed into the business end is a curved blade some two-and-a-half feet in length.[65] It combines the features of the stabbing spear and ax. It can take a man's head off but it is used more to stab and slash. The glaive lacks the lightness and fleetness of the javelin and the weighty penetration of the typical Gorean war spear.[66] Normally the glaive is held in both hands, the left hand before the right. The left hand guides the blade, the right hand, and body, supplying the driving force behind the thrust.[67]
[1] The spear, a Gorean war spear, its head tapered of bronze, some eighteen inches long, its shaft more than an inch and a half in thickness, more than six feet in length, sped from my grasp. Hunters of Gor Book 8 Page 279 It had a long, heavy shaft, some two inches in width, some seven feet in length; the head of the weapon, including its socket and penetrating rivets, was some twenty inches in length; the killing edges of the blade began about two inches from the bottom of the socket, which reinforced the blade, tapering with the blade, double-edged, to within eight inches of its point; the blade was bronze; it was broad at the bottom, tapering to its point Slave Girl of Gor Book 11 Page 22 The average Gorean spear is some seven feet in length, with a socketed bronze blade some fourteen to eighteen inches in length. Swordsmen of Gor Book 29 Page 284 Javelins, whether intended for sport or war, are quite different from the typical Gorean war spear, which is commonly a weighty, formidable weapon, requiring considerable strength for its apt employment. It is usually thickly hafted, seven feet or more in length, and lengthily and broadly bladed, usually with bronze. Smugglers of Gor Book 32 Page 263 [2] Javelins, whether intended for sport or war, are quite different from the typical Gorean war spear, which is commonly a weighty, formidable weapon, requiring considerable strength for its apt employment. It is usually thickly hafted, seven feet or more in length, and lengthily and broadly bladed, usually with bronze. Smugglers of Gor Book 32 Page 263 [3] "A spear would be better," he said, "if the larl were in flat country, in open country, and anticipated, but the size and weight of the spear impairs its utility as a hunting tool. Smugglers of Gor Book 32 Page 263 [4] It is a terrible weapon and, abetted by the somewhat lighter gravity of Gor, when cast with considerable force, can pierce a shield at close quarters or bury its head a foot deep in solid wood. Outlaw of Gor Book 2 Page 21 The thrust spear, of course, impelled by the force of a strong man, may penetrate a four-layered shield or a human body, but then the spear is lost until its retraction. Mariners of Gor Book 30 Pages 352 - 353 [5] a true spear whose blade might cleave easily, even through inches of hide, hair, and flesh to a heart. Kur of Gor Book 28 Page 202 [6] So deep a thrust, like the deep thrust of a blade, is foolish, unless intended to, say, encumber a shield, rendering it useless, preparatory to a blade attack. Mariners of Gor Book 30 Pages 352 - 353 [7] It is true the spear can be cast and with effect, but it is most often used as a stabbing weapon. Once a spear is cast, obviously, it is no longer available to its owner, and this is the case even if it strikes its intended target, one of perhaps dozens of advancing, threatening targets. Sometimes the spear, thrust or cast, is used to penetrate a shield, rendering it unwieldy, and a handicap to its bearer. This is particularly to one's advantage if one is faced with a given foe, as in single combat. The attack is then most often pressed with the blade, most commonly amongst Gorean warriors, a short sword, typically the gladius. One is trained to take the cast spear obliquely on the shield, that it may carom away. In such a case he who throws the spear has lost his weapon and the intended target remains unencumbered. Kur of Gor Book 28 Page 376 [8] Indeed, the Gorean spear is such that many warriors scorn lesser missile weapons, such as the longbow or crossbow, both of which are not uncommonly found on Gor. Outlaw of Gor Book 2 Page 21 [9] The tarnsman commonly carries, strapped to the saddle, a Gorean spear, a fearsome weapon, but primarily a missile weapon, and one more adopted to infantry. Assassin of Gor Book 5 Page 366 [10] Seldom, even, did he have a spear strap, to better secure the weapon. His thinking here was that such a strap might wrench him in the saddle, possibly breaking his back, if the weapon became anchored in a shield or body. Swordsmen of Gor Book 29 Pages 322 - 323 [11] short, long-bladed stabbing spears Explorers of Gor Book 13 Page 145 [12] Small leather strips customarily sheath the blades of the spears of Ukungu Explorers of Gor Book 13 Page 451 [13] "Build up the fire," said the leader of the girls, a tall, blondish girl. How startling she seemed. She carried a light spear. She was dressed in skins." Captive of Gor Book 7 Page 118 They carried light spears. Smugglers of Gor Book 32 Page 273 The point of her small, short, light spear was jabbed into my back. Smugglers of Gor Book 32 Page 275 [14] Hiza had her small spear, or javelin. Smugglers of Gor Book 32 Page 292 [15] two- or three-pronged marsh spear Raiders of Gor Book 6 Page 12 [16] marsh spears were no match for the steel swords and the war spears of Gor. Raiders of Gor Book 6 Page 52 [17] He was bearded, wore a dagger and sword, and carried a spear, a hunting spear. Smugglers of Gor Book 32 Pages 322 - 323 He bore two light hunting spears, Smugglers of Gor Book 32 Page 410 [18] The spears were large, with curved bronze heads. Captive of Gor Book 7 Page 49 [19] Two raised their spears, a common signal of readiness before an engagement. Smugglers of Gor Book 32 Page 330 [20] This time it brought forth a mighty spear, some twelve feet in length, with a long, tapering bronze head. . . . The shaft of the spear was some three inches in diameter. The bronze head might have weighed some twenty pounds. Savages of Gor Book 17 Page 24 [21] A common form of Gorean execution is impalement. Swordsmen of Gor Book 29 Page 343 [22] Two others removed the tharlarion lance from its crevice and brought it forward. It would be forced into my body, and I would then be lifted, with it, into place. Tarnsman of Gor Book 1 Page 157 [23] On that creneled, raised platform, already in its mount, I could see the long, slim, polished impaling spear. Renegades of Gor Book 23 Page 264 "The mounting for the impaling spear has already been prepared," he said. "The spear itself has been sharpened and polished." Kajira of Gor Book 19 Page 394 [24] In the case of one of her importance, the impaling spear might be narrow, greased, and thirty feet in height, and, mounted on the wall, her slow descent, she writhing, trying her best to prevent it, unable to do so, might be visible for pasangs. Mariners of Gor Book 30 Page 412 [25] Another fellow had just appeared in the opening in the crenelation and I pushed out at him with the long impaling spear. Its point is a dull one, designed for an unpleasantly lengthy penetration. Renegades of Gor Book 23 Page 289 [26] In the case of one of her importance, the impaling spear might be narrow, greased, and thirty feet in height, and, mounted on the wall, her slow descent, she writhing, trying her best to prevent it, unable to do so, might be visible for pasangs. Mariners of Gor Book 30 Page 412 [27] I noted with repulsion that on the roof of the Cylinder of Justice there shimmered a public impaling spear of polished silver, some fifty feet high, gleaming, looking like a needle in the distance. Tarnsman of Gor Book 1 Page 194 [28] "Death by impalement," I said, "is doubtless a most miserable death, and not the swiftest. Indeed, it can take more than an Ahn to descend the spear. And sometimes, suitably braced, increment by transitory increment, the victim given food and water, the execution can take several days, during which time the victim is exposed to the jeers and abuse of the public." Mariners of Gor Book 30 Pages 88 - 89 [29] Hundreds of impaling spears were adorned with writhing victims. Smugglers of Gor Book 32 Page 38 [30] the longer, heavier tharlarion lances designed for use from tharlarionback, and often used with a lance post Savages of Gor Book 17 Page 42 [31] fastening his lance in its saddle sheath and slipping from the back of the tharlarion. Tarnsman of Gor Book 1 Page 117 [32] Over his shoulder he, too, carried one of the slender lances. Nomads of Gor Book 4 Page 14 [33] His lance had a rider hook under the point, with which he might dismount opponents. Nomads of Gor Book 4 Page 14 [34] the narrowness of its blade, in the Tuchuk fashion, unlike the broader blade of the common war spear, was designed to minimize the danger of its anchoring in either a shield or body. Swordsmen of Gor Book 29 Page 323 [35] 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 the battering-ram effect of the heavy lances of Europe's High Middle Ages. Needless to say, 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. Nomads of Gor Book 4 Page 15 [36] Beside him lay the long lance, some nine feet in length. Tribesmen of Gor Book 10 Page 255 [37] the long, slim lance, eight feet Gorean in length, marked with red and yellow swirling stripes, terminating in an extremely narrow point, razored, steel, some eleven inches in length, and lanceolate, as the leaf of the flahdah tree. Tribesmen of Gor Book 10 Page 234 [38] He examined the long blade of the lance, running his finger along the edge of the blade. The blade was bound in the shaft by four rivets. Tribesmen of Gor Book 10 Page 258 [39] The kaiila lance takes, on the whole, two forms, the hunting lance and the war lance. Hunting lances are commonly longer, heavier and thicker than war lances. Too, they are often undecorated, save perhaps for a knot of the feathers . . . The point of the hunting lance is usually longer and narrower than that of the war lance . . . The head, of metal, or of bone or stone, with sinew or rawhide, and also sometimes with metal trade rivets. Savages of Gor Book 17 Page 43 [40] The shafts of the kaiila lances are black, supple and strong; they are made of tem wood, a wood much favored on Gor for this type of purpose. Staves for the lances are cut in the late winter, when the sap is down. Such wood, in the long process of smoking and drying over the lodge fire, which consumes several weeks, seasoning the wood and killing any insects which might remain in it, seldom splits or cracks. Similarly, old-growth wood, or second-growth wood, which is tougher, is preferred over the fresher, less dense first-growth, or new-growth, wood. Blood Brothers of Gor Book 18 Page 43 We used the supple temwood lance Rebels of Gor Book 33 Page 5 [41] After drying, the shafts are rubbed with grease and straightened over the heat of a fire. Detailed trimming and shaping is accomplished with a small knife. A rubbing with sandstone supplies a smooth finish. Blood Brothers of Gor Book 18 Page 43 [42] The head, of metal, or of bone or stone, with sinew or rawhide, and also sometimes with metal trade rivets, is then mounted on the lance. . . . The sinew and rawhide, before being bound on the lance, are soaked with hot water. The heated water releases a natural glue in these substances, and the water itself, of course, produces a natural shrinking and contraction in drying. The mounting, thus, is extremely solid and secure. Blood Brothers of Gor Book 18 Page 43 [43] The lances, which are smoothly pointed, to allow for an easy retrieval, were removed from the animal. Conspirators of Gor Book 31 Page 405 [44] Lastly, grips, and loops, and decorations, if desired, are added. Savages of Gor Book 17 Page 43 [45] They carried feathered lances Blood Brothers of Gor Book 18 Page 25 [46] These lances are used in a great variety of ways, but the most common method is to thrust one's wrist through the wrist loop, grasp the lance with the right hand, and anchor it beneath the right arm. This maximizes balance, control and impact. With the weight of a hurtling kaiila behind the thrust such a lance can be thrust through the body of a kailiauk. Savages of Gor Book 17 Page 43 [47] The tarn lance, it might be mentioned, as is used by the red savages who have mastered the tarn, is, in size and shape, very similar to the kaiila lance. It differs primarily in being longer and more slender. Savages of Gor Book 17 Page 43 The rider, clad only in a breechclout, his body bright in purple and yellow paint, thrust towards us with the long tarn lance. Blood Brothers of Gor Book 18 Page 210 Another tarnsman, low on the back of the mount, it swooping toward us, only a few feet from the ground, lowered his lance. I seized Hci and dragged him down. I saw the feathered lance, like a long blur, sweep over us. Blood Brothers of Gor Book 18 Page 210 [48] the smaller, thicker stabbing lances used by certain groups of pedestrian nomads. Savages of Gor Book 17 Page 42 [49] "Ho!" I called to Ichiro, not yards from me, to whose supple, tem-wood lance was affixed the commander's pennon, and about whose shoulder hung the war horn of command. Rebels of Gor Book 33 Page 86 His lance with the pennon of command was mounted upright outside the headquarters tent, that it might serve to identify the tent and be easily at hand should it be required. Rebels of Gor Book 33 Page 99 [50] Sometimes a passing army desires merely to amplify its forces, or replace losses, particularly among the lighter arms, such as bowmen, slingers and javelin men. Mercenaries of Gor Book 21 Page 31 It had been a good cast, from twenty yards, the javelin into the heavy post set in the courtyard. Mariners of Gor Book 30 Page 402 [51] I hefted the javelin, it was light supple, and smoothly, but wickedly, bladed. It was no more than five feet in length, at best. The head was fixed to the shaft not detachable as is often the case with the military javelin, which is likely to be socketed in such a way that after a strike the missile cannot be drawn free whole, to be immediately reused, perhaps by an enemy. The head, of course, can be resocketed later. The hunting javelin, on the other hand, can be withdrawn easily from the target, whole, and used repeatedly. There is little danger that the typical target of a hunting javelin will return it to its owner. Javelins, whether intended for sport or war, are quite different from the typical Gorean war spear, which is commonly a weighty, formidable weapon, requiring considerable strength for its apt employment. It is usually thickly hafted, seven feet or more in length, and lengthily and broadly bladed, usually with bronze. Smugglers of Gor Book 32 Page 263 Similarly, it is lighter and, if necessary, can be carried at a run, for Ahn at a time. Try pursuing tabuk with a spear. The javelin is less tiring to bear than a spear, and more convenient, in several ways. Smugglers of Gor Book 32 Page 264 [52] tarred javelins would be shaken out near the springals and light catapults Raiders of Gor Book 6 Page 197 Thus the fourteen hundred round ships might, hopefully, be able to envelop their formation, surround it, and attack on the flanks, with their not inconsiderable barrage of flaming javelins, heated stones, burning pitch and showers of crossbow bolts. Raiders of Gor Book 6 Page 262 "Light the pitch!" called Callimachus. "Set the catapults! Unbind the javelins! Bowmen to your stations!" Guardsman of Gor Book 16 Page 7 "Light the pitch!" called Callimachus. "Be ready with the catapults! Bowmen to your stations!" In a moment I smelled the smell of burning pitch. It contrasted strongly with the vast, organic smell of the river. Guardsman of Gor Book 16 Page 9 A set of javelins, five of them, from a springal, struck from their guides by a forward-springing plank Guardsmen of Gor Book 16 Page 49 Fires have occurred in the city, from saboteurs, from fire javelins, from flame baskets catapulted over the walls. Renegades of Gor Book 23 Page 37 [53] "Consider the saddles," said Desmond, "there are five boots to a side, as for javelins." "So?" said Astrinax. "Perhaps then," said Desmond, "cavalry tharlarion, war tharlarion." Conspirators of Gor Book 31 Page 375 [54] I grasped the long harpoon. It was some eight feet in length, some two and a half inches in diameter. Its major shaft was of wood, but it had a foreshaft of bone. In this foreshaft was 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, was passed a rawhide line, which lay coiled in the bottom of the boat. As the hole is drilled the line, when it snaps taut, will turn the head of the harpoon in the wound, anchoring it. Beasts of Gor Book 12 Page 258 [55] I set the light harpoon into the notch on the throwing board and, even mittened, an instant before the beast turned toward me, grunted, snapping the throwing board forward and downward, speeding the shaft toward the enraged animal. Beasts of Gor Book 12 Page 285 [56] The crowd is fond of seeing various types of weapons used against others, and styles of fighting. . . . the net and trident. Assassin of Gor Book 5 Page 189 "A trident," said a man. "Yes," I said. "The three-pronged fish spear." "That is not a weapon," said a man. "It may be used as such, obviously," I said. "And in the arena, it is," said a fellow. He referred to one of the armaments well known in the arena, that of the "fisherman," he who fights with net and trident. There are a number of such armaments, usually bearing traces of their origin. "Surely here, in the delta, there no arena fighters," said a man. The body was pulled up, onto the raft. "But it is by means of such weapons," I said, "that fishermen often fight. Indeed, it is from that practice, improved and refined, and made more deadly, that arena fighters have taken their example." Vagabonds of Gor Book 24 Page 91 [57] "My name is Clitus," he said. "I am a fisherman. I can guide ships by the stars. I know the net and trident." Raiders of Gor Book 6 Page 85 "You are not dealing with Cosians," I said. "You are dealing with rencers." "People of scaling knives, of throwing sticks, and fish spears!" laughed a fellow. Vagabonds of Gor Book 24 Page 128 [58] "But it is by means of such weapons," I said, "that fishermen often fight." Raiders of Gor Book 6 Page 85 "He had purchased the net in the morning, with a trident, the traditional weapons of the fisherman of the western shore and the western islands." Raiders of Gor Book 6 Page 112 [59] Near the steps to the raised platform I passed two men with long-handled tridents. These are used to thrust men and ladders back from the wall. Renegades of Gor Book 23 Page 267 I wished that I had had one of the tridents or one of the sharpened, steel crescents fixed on a metal pole, useful in such work. The fellow who had had the shield now climbed toward me. This time, however, the ladder leaning out from the wall, I managed to get the point of the spear free from under a rung and on one of the uprights itself. I could now push back. Renegades of Gor Book 23 Page 290 [60] Four members of the Council Guard, beneath the two great braziers set at the entrance, leaped to attention, the butts of their pikes striking on the tiles. Raiders of Gor Book 6 Page 255 [61] Gorean infantry, with staggered lines and fixed pikes, their butts anchored in the earth, could usually turn an attack of light cavalry. Savages of Gor Book 17 Page 286 [62] Rather, too, as the pike and halberd, it may be used both to break an enemy's ranks and, when necessary, to keep him at bay. Rebels of Gor Book 33 Page 283 [63] Pikes for repelling boarders, it might be noted, are often greased near the blade end. This makes it harder for boarders to grasp them, wrenching them away, forcing gaps in the pike wall, and so on. Renegades of Gor Book 23 Page 265 He struck a defender's pike away from himself. Then he cut at the pirates to his left and right. Guardsmen of Gor Book 16 Page 41 I heard weapons being spilled on the deck, brought from below, and men seized up blades, spears, axes, and pikes. Mariners of Gor Book 30 Page 255 [64] None carried glaives, the common weapon of the Ashigaru. Rebels of Gor Book 33 Page 383 [65] Behind Lord Nishida, at the back of the platform, stood six of the "strange men," each armed with a glaive, the blade of which, socketed in its stout pole, was some two-and-a-half feet in length, and curved. It was presumably an infantry weapon. It could be used for either thrusting or slashing. It would not be thrown. Swordsmen of Gor Book 29 Page 193 "Behold," said one of the Pani, indicating with the shaft of his long glaive the figure brought recently to the road. "This man is dead." Swordsmen of Gor Book 29 Page 484 "Hundreds of Pani stirred, looked to the platform, uneasy. Glaives, the long-shafted, curved-bladed naginata, were grasped." Swordsmen of Gor Book 29 Page 506 "And the objects of war," said another, "timbers, hurling stones, cordage, jars of pitch, finned darts, spears, glaives, javelins, varieties of blades, masses of shields, bucklers, wrappings in which are bound a thousand arrows." Smugglers of Gor Book 32 Pages 203 - 204 [66] I had discarded the glaive for it was large, and impossible to carry in a concealed manner. I supposed it would have been speculated that it might have been retained. If so, its presence might have been noted, provoking an investigation. The glaive combines the features of the stabbing spear and ax. It can take a man's head off, but, in the thick of battle, shoulder to shoulder with one's fellows, one would seldom have the opportunity to employ it with such an end in view. It is used more to stab and slash. It may be thrown but in battle this is seldom done. Certainly it lacks the lightness and fleetness of the javelin and the weighty penetration of the typical Gorean war spear, familiar on the continent. It can function, rather as the heavy staff, though bladed, both defensively and offensively. Rather, too, as the pike and halberd, it may be used both to break an enemy's ranks and, when necessary, to keep him at bay. If the Pani had access to the lofty kaiila I would not doubt that the glaive would be designed additionally, like the halberd, with its hook, to dismount a rider, putting him at the mercy of the dagger. Rebels of Gor Book 33 Pages 283 - 284 [67] Normally the glaive is held in both hands, the left hand before the right. The left hand guides the blade, the right hand, and body, supplying the driving force behind the thrust. Rebels of Gor Book 33 Page 586 |       
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