Arms and Armor
by Galyden

In the last issue, two of Elanthia's most popular combat implements, the broadsword and the wall shield, were examined. Reader response to the column was considerable and the time taken to send in questions and comments is appreciated. As part of a quest to examine the history and function of the most noteworthy fighting tools available to us as adventurers, the falchion and the tower shield will be looked at in this issue.

The Falchion

The falchion, pictured at left, is not only Elanthia's most popular one-handed edged weapon, but also a result of thousands of years of development of a particular style of sword blade and fighting technique. Some prefer the falchion because it hits harder against most types of armor in Elanthia, some because it has one of the highest advantages in hitting most Elanthian armor types, and others still because it's a weapon with a very long and interesting history in worlds outside ours.

The falchion was used during the Middle Ages by swordsmen, mostly men at arms, throughout Europe, but most notably in England, France, and Italy. The falchion was not a thrusting weapon like the estoc or longsword, though some did have sharp points should the need arise, but rather a hacking or slashing weapon employed in a style very similar to a modern machete. The falchion had a broad, single-edged blade, was very thick along the spine of the weapon (the part of the blade opposite the edge), and sharpened on the convex side of the blade itself. Some falchions were crafted to be heavier toward the tip of the blade. This placed the weapon's center of gravity much farther from the hilt than the average sword, and the resulting increase in momentum during a swing greatly enhanced the weapon's force of impact. The falchion was useful against unarmored targets, but was much more effective against armored targets than a regular straight-bladed sword because it could both cut and crush to some extent. This explains its advantages over the longsword against chain and plate mail clad opponents in Elanthia.

To fully appreciate the falchion as a weapon with a long history of development, it is necessary to look back more than 2,000 years to the ancient Egyptians. Their khopsh, know as the khopesh to some Elanthians pictured at right, was the first sword designed to hack and slash. The khopesh could be sharpened on the convex side, concave side, or both sides of the blade.

The ancient Greeks took the khopesh concept from the bronze age into the iron age and used the design as the basis for their kopis, pictured at left. Preferring to sharpen the kopis on the concave edge of the blade, the Greeks developed the weapon into more of a hacking weapon, almost like an axe. Probably as a result of Alexander the Great extending his empire into present-day India, a very close cousin of the kopis, the khukri, pictured at right, is still seen in the hands of Gurkha men at arms in Nepal.

The European falchion is a direct descendant in form and in function of both the khopesh and the kopis. With the decreasing size of sword blades, initiated by the advent of firearms, during the 16th Century, the falchion developed into what we now know as the saber. The Elanthian falchion's standing among one-handed edged weapons is commensurate with the place the falchion held among European swords. The Elanthian falchion is versatile, well-suited for attacking virtually any type of armored foe, and has very few readily apparent weaknesses. For a long time, the falchion was the most sought-after edged weapon in Elanthia. As a slashing weapon, it never risks punctures, which some creatures are immune to. Its advantage against various armor types is consistently higher than other weapons in its class, and beat everything except the handaxe against heavily armored opponents. In terms of damage infliction, the falchion led its peers and was rivaled only by the handaxe. In fact, the falchion was such a universally superior weapon in Elanthia that GM Mikos announced during his forum last year that he planned to tune the weapon down a bit. I'll let you in on a secret: he hasn't. The establishment of longswords and estocs as weapon classes give the falchion stiff competition in terms of advantage against armor and damage infliction versus certain classes of armor, but as a weapon itself, the falchion remains unchanged, untweaked, and as viable a hand weapon as it ever has been.

The Tower Shield

Historically, the tower shield (pictured at left) is difficult to find by that name alone. The tower shield, as a name, is really just a more descriptive term than a proper name like buckler, heater, or pavis. All references to tower shields describe a very tall shield, greater in length than breadth, which covers the body from shoulder to knee when carried with the arm bent at a ninety degree angle (for the geometrically challenged warriors out there, that's the position your arm is in when you're holding a mug of ale). The tower shield probably got its name from the fact that it was tall and shaped like a tower (the Roman scutum or Briton's shield are two good examples of tower shields that also have proper names). A tower shield was obviously a large shield, but not nearly as wide, tall, or clumsy as a pavis or wall shield. Many variations of the tower shield, like the one pictured here, have an arc-shaped top to protect the wielder's head without obscuring his field of view during melee combat. The Elanthian tower shield is even more popular and sought after than the wall shield of a year ago. I suspect this is because the most widely available tower shields right now, the laje-banded and the black models, were sold six and seven times enchanted, respectively.

To date, these two shields are the highest magically enchanted defensive items offered on the open market by merchants. Market speculators snatched up the first black tower shields sold in just minutes. The laje-banded shields had a longer shelf-life, but it still was measurable in mere hours. The secondary market price for the two different shields (2 million silvers being the going rate on black tower shields now) proves that the speculators were wise and dwarfs the now-paltry sum of 500k wall shields fetched just last year. The increased enchantment of tower shields notwithstanding, the shields do have significant mundane advantages over their closest competition, the wall shield. These tower shields are a few pounds lighter and less inhibiting during combat than the vultite wall shields, which makes them useful to Voln martial artists and adventurers who face foes with maneuver-based attacks frequently. Only when breakage returns to the lands will we see the true worth of the tower shields. Personally, I would like to know more about the strength and durability of the metal laje as well as the material composition of the black tower shield.

Turn to this section of the Times next issue, when at brigandine armor and the weapon most requested by the Times' readers will be looked at. If you'd like to suggest a weapon for review, voice your opinion to me in a scroll. Just address it to my name below. Until then, keep your guard up and aim for the face.

By Lord Morzathis KnightHorse

I'm back again with a new item to tell tales about. I've been a resident of Wehnimer's Landing for quite some time now and have come across many unique items. Some are so unique that they inspired me to write about them. If you think you have an item worth writing about, send me mail via the runner. You can send all scrolls to Morzathis@aol.com. Just give me a brief description and I'll get back to you as soon as possible.

Now I shall introduce you to another great item. This item is yet another one of Lord Jesh's treasures. During our regular conversation one day, I decided to ask Lord Jesh if he had anything interesting he could show me. He told me of a mysterious box he had purchased several years ago at an auction during the Hot Summer Nights. The auctioneer explained that it would be the most powerful magic item being sold, but no one seemed interested. To generate some interest, the auctioneer gave a demonstration. He opened up the box, fiddled with some cards in it, waved the box, and then tapped it. Glittering dust formed in front of everyone's eyes, and suddenly, a roar of laughter came from the crowd. Before Lord Jesh could say anything, a drink appeared in his hands. He didn't think a box which created mass drinks was too impressive, but he still dished out 1.2 million silvers for it. That was a lot of silver back then.

He said that things got interesting when he opened the box and looked in it. He said that there were 40 different cards inside. He told me that every card had a different spell on it, and some of the magic was unavailable to any profession. Some of the magic could be found only in the those cards. I was so amazed at this point that I wasn't sure if I should believe him or not. However, he pulled out a small silver box covered with mystical dahcres from his woven veniom mesh sack. He opened it, pulled out a card and showed it to me.

This is what I saw:

             .----------. 
             |*        +| 
             |   ` | '  | 
             | ~ . | .~ | 
             |     |    | 
             |     |    | 
             |    -+-   | 
             |     Z    | 
             |~        o| 
             `----------' 

He said that there were 40 cards like that, with different pictures and names on all of them. Lord Jesh said he fooled around with the box by turning cards, closing the box, waving it, and then tapping it. He soon figured out that the box held 60 mana, and each timed he used a card, its inking would change from silver to black. Silver inking meant that he could use the card and black inking meant that he couldn't use it. The mana would recharge slowly over the course of the day. He later had a bard sing to the box and found out that it only held 58 mana. He learned that one of the cards was draining mana, but in time, it would stop.

Lord Jesh then decided to give me a personal demonstration of the box. He turned a card, closed the box, waved the box at me, and tapped the box. The box emitted some smoke and then a plume of dark green gas escaped from the box and filled the air. It swirled boisterously and coalesced into this wispy image:

                  \ | /   
                  -  O -   
                  -  O -   
                  / | \   

Glittering silver motes appeared within the image and suddenly green smoke replaced it. The image shimmered brightly for a few moments, then collapsed, leaving a small pile of glittering dust on the ground. Then, before I knew it, my form blurred! It was the blur spell!

He than told me that what he just did wasn't even close to the box’s most powerful effects, and that he usually saves the best ones for special occasions. I was really amazed because I thought that what I had just seen was impressive. He then read off all the cards that were in the box and what they did.

  
Card Name:                        What it does: 
==========                        =============
Happiness     -----------------   Mass Drinks 
Wellness      -----------------   Heal II 
Cooperation   -----------------   Warding Sphere II 
Communion     -----------------   ESP (AMUNET)
Lucre         -----------------   Floating Disk 
Gathering     -----------------   Manna Bread 
Bloom         -----------------   All Limb Scar & Damage 
Virility      -----------------   Herb Production 
Wave          -----------------   Minor Water 
Mobility      -----------------   Mobility 
Spiritlight   -----------------   Light 
Disbarring    -----------------   Unlock 
Mystic Shield -----------------   Spirit Defense 
Ward          -----------------   Spirit Protection II 
Sylvan Beast  -----------------   Familar: A Silver Wolf 
The Keep      -----------------   Sanctuary 
Mana Sword    -----------------   Eblade 
Mana Staff    -----------------   Creates A Wand 
The Bishop    -----------------   Holy Blade 
The Mage      -----------------   Wizard Shield 
The Seer      -----------------   Fortune Telling 
Introspection -----------------   Mana Generation 
Might         -----------------   Strength 
Transference  -----------------   Transference 
The Matross   -----------------   Frenzy 
Invisibility  -----------------   Invisibility 
The Wyvern    -----------------   Summon Wyvern/Call Wind 
Flight        -----------------   Fear 
Glacier       -----------------   Bind 
Silence       -----------------   Silence 
The Portal    -----------------   Word Of Return 
Not           -----------------   Mana Disrupt 
Oubliette     -----------------   Safe Void 
Skullduggery  -----------------   Silent Moves 
The Traitor   -----------------   Bronze Square 
The Gremlin   -----------------   Summons A Gremlin 
Fang          -----------------   Summons A Werewolf 
Leviathon     -----------------   Sucks Mana From Box 
Warp          -----------------   Blur 
Chaos         -----------------   Disintegration 

40 cards in all. I still couldn't believe it, even after seeing his demonstration. He said people had offered up to 20 million for it. With the amount of silvers going around these days, he could sell it for double what he's been offered. Even with that said, don't go bothering him about selling the box. If people try to buy everything I write about, then no one will want to share the items they have. Then I'd have nothing to write about and nothing for you people to read. Enjoy the rest of the paper and remember to send me any items you think are beyond unique. Many thanks!

"The Dice of Fate"

Lord Silvean Rashere

I was speaking to Lord Sagan one evening about matters concerning my sorcery when our discussion led him to give me my first glimpse of the famed "Dice of Fate". Sagan handled his powerful dice with a gleam in his eye and requested that I meet him in town for a demonstration of their powers. I was quick to agree so that I could have a chance to learn more about the legendary "death dice", and we soon met up in front of the Wehnimer's bank. After a short wait Sagan, a bardess he collected, and I were grouped within the common room of House Brigatta to learn the story that the dice have to tell.

The bardess held the dice carefully in her hands and used her lore singing abilities to link her mind with the magic of the dice. A story unfolded quickly at the urging of her powers...

The Legend of the Dice

Many years ago the dice of fate were used by the gods themselves for their own purposes. However, it came to pass that they lost their control of the relics and they fell from the moons Liabo and Lornon (Legendary home of the gods). It is possible that the gods merely lost control, that the dice chose their own destiny, or even that the powers of the Unlife actually stole the dice from the gods. As the dice fell to Elanthia the considerable forces of the Unlife worked swiftly to try and harness the magic of the dice for their own uses, but this was not to be and they lost control of the dice. The dice (being what they are) randomly fell upon the soil of Elanith and that is where they were discovered by Lord Maruko.

Lord Maruko felt that he was not the man to own the dice and he passed them on to Lord Oghier. Lord Oghier, superstitious sort that he is, felt rather uncomfortable with the dice in his hands---especially after his first roll of the bones ended up being touched by BAD luck. Eventually, Oghier passed the dice on to Lord Sagan who has treasured them ever since.

The Powers of the Dice

The dice of fate are not to be used without extreme caution. The fates are never to be toyed with. For each roll of the dice a spell of great power will be immediately cast upon the man with the courage to gamble with the artifacts. You may come out of a dice game with these relics as a big winner or as a very sore loser. Sagan and I had a short round of dice upon the roof of Hearthstone manor after the bardess had finished her tale. After several rolls we had both ended up with floating disks, missing magical barriers around us, and casts of Heroism. However, after a certain unlucky roll we were forced to call the game on account of weather. The manor is under repairs for the meteor shower brought upon it by the dice's power.

The "Dice of Fate" are currently in the possession of Lord Sagan.