Arms and Armour: Blunt

The preferred weapon of those with Mikin Blood running through their veins, the blunt weapon is one of the simplest, if effective, weapons forged in the world of Chiaroscuro. While most of these weapons of war lack the means to pierce the skin, one often finds that their ability to shatter bone or injure an opponent even through plate armor more than makes up for it. These are common weapons among guards and wayfarers both.

Citizen Blunt Weapons
The lesser members of this family of weapons, these weapons tend to be less devastating than their noble kin. Despite this, many are very widely used, even among the nobility, because of how light and easy to use they are. These are the single-handed weapons.

Warhammer
The warhammer is not quite so useful in craftsmanship as its lesser brother (indeed, one is more likely to damage their project than complete it with this tool) but is still the second most commonly used of all the blunt weapons. It takes its basic design from a normal hammer, but is heftier, with a spike on its opposite end. This spike gives it the nickname "the horseman's pick" for its use by mounted cavalry in grappling with foes.

It is, in comparison to other weapons, relatively inexpensive to make, and a Freelander guard, or a Freelander traveling on his own, might be able to easily carry it tucked through a belt loop, easy to pull out when threatened by bandits or vagabonds while traveling Fastheld's roads. While it must give up the title of the most popular blunt instrument to the next item on the list, it is rather unlikely it will go out of use.


 * In-Game Description
 * A Warhammer, consisting of a solid metal hammerhead atop a twenty-inch haft. The hammerhead itself is of fiendishly simple design and is, indeed, a hammer. One end is blunt and somewhat blockish in shape, inscribed in a hexagon ready to bash through plate armor. On the opposite side is a spike for use against less heavily armored opponents, or for grappling an opponent.

Staff
This, the lowly staff, is considered in Fastheld to be the most popular of all blunt weapons, though many hardly look upon it as a weapon in and of itself. Though named similarly to the quarterstaff, a mainstay weapon amongst those who prefer Polearms, it is, in truth, more related to a cudgel in its use, as a weapon. Even then, those who carry a staff might not be versed at all in its use. More often it is used as a walking stick, carried by wayfarers in the wilds or on Fastheld's roads. One might also find a staff, albeit a more decorated version, in the hands of a noble or person of rank, marked with heraldry on its head to display station.

The staff is not commonly used by guardsmen, and though it is possible, neither is it commonly used from horseback. Those who do use it tend to be Freelanders traveling on their own, to afford themselves, and their families, greater protection against the dangers within Fastheld's walls.


 * In-Game Description:
 * A Staff, consisting of four feet of sturdy hardwood. It is an item of different uses. A decorative metal top allows the owner to display alignment, while a cap on the bottom prevents wear when the staff is used as a walking stick. A studded leather wrap is around the center of the staff, nearer the top, as a place to hold when using the staff as a blunt weapon. Not quite long enough to use as a polearm, the weight balances out along its length, allowing it to be swung in battle, and used as a cudgel.

Flanged Mace
While the flanged mace's design might seem more ornamental than that of some other weapons, it is in truth a design that has proven itself to be deadly time and time again in the conflicts throughout Fastheld's history. The weapon is designed to pierce armor, rather than just injure through it, the curved flanges through which it gains its name being the reason for this. Indirectly, these flanges are also the reason that despite its legality, most citizens of the kingdom would not buy a flanged mace. The craftsmanship necessary to properly shape the weapon, and make the flanges effective, drives its price up to levels most do not wish to pay.

As a consequence of its cost, most examples of these are found among members of official House Guards or the Royal Guards. Those who once served under House Mikin's banner often carry these themselves, and a higher concentration may today be found in House Valoria's.


 * In-Game Description
 * A Flanged Mace, consisting of a stout, leather-wrapped, hardwood shaft roughly three feet long ending in a mace's head. The Flanged Mace might seem at first too ornamental to do much damage to a foe. It is, however, a weapon designed for use against heavily armored opponents, and worthy of its place in a soldier's armory. At the tip of the mace's length is the crown; a somewhat ornamental-looking cap which holds the head of the mace to the shaft, often sporting a stylized representation of the bearer's House or guard unit's mascot. The head of the mace, below this, gives the weapon its name; about eight inches of thick, curved, very solid metal flanges, wrapped around the shaft in whatever design might please the maker or wielder, often ending in curved spikes. These flanges lend a piercing component to the blunt impact of the mace's blows, allowing the weapon to dent, crush, or pierce even heavy armor - or, failing that, shatter the bones of the body beneath said armor with the sheer force of impact.