From: Brent Krupp (fletcher@u.washington.edu)
Date: Thu 16 Jun 1994 - 05:31:17 EEST
Joerg posted...
> From: joe@sartar.toppoint.de (Joerg Baumgartner)
> Subject: Curved blades
>
> > I see expensive swords being used by cavalry and officers but
> > not by rank and file close order infantry.
>
> I agree largely that the superior scimitar will be the tool of the
> officer, and the cavalry sabre was a well established weapon, too. But I
> see nothing to prevent the regular Lunar soldier, be he Peltast or
> Hoplite, from bearing a shorter curved blade in his belt. A weapon not
> unlike the scramaseax of the Germanic peasants, the cheaper version of a
> sword, or just a long slashing knife. For a quick reference I checked
> the Palladium book of weapons etc. Almost a third of all the daggers
> and swords shown, mainly from Islamic or south Asian origin, are suitably
> curved to pass as sickle. The Kukri of RQ3 is the perfect short sword for
> Lunar infantry, IMO.
In worrying about whether all Lunar soldiers have a curved sword, or any sword, or what size the sword is, I think people are forgetting something about Glorantha/RQ: swords (scimitars, too) are WAY cheaper than they ever were in Earth's history. Gloranthan weapons are made out of bronze, and I've never seen anything suggesting that this bronze needs to be repeatedly dipped in ash and hammered in half, and flattened, etc. the way a bar of iron needs to be to turn it into steel. Earth swords are very time-consuming to make with ancient technology, and thys they were expensive, and were an officer's and/or nobles weapon. But in Glorantha swords would only be slightly more expensive than any other bronze weapon due to having a bit more bronze in them than an axe or mace has (for instance). In fact, the RQ price tables that show sowrds being similar in cost, can actually be believed here.
So, maybe every Lunar soldier DOES have a proper scimitar -- maybe they only get issued a kukri or something, but maybe it's something that the average soldier invests in so as to be more like the YT officers that inevitably have proper scimitars. This would be possible because a real scimitar would not be much money.
Brent Krupp (fletcher@u.washington.edu)
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