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Post by Vincent Dolan on Sept 18, 2012 12:21:06 GMT
Thanks, Mikko; Anduril was quite the headache to design. And I agree about Gryffindor's sword, but I put them in the grip mainly so that the grip didn't look completely empty. Anyways, I've got two semi-new designs today. Semi-new because the first is technically a redesign of my Sentinel that I posted about 2 weeks back; I say "technically" because this is the way the sword was meant to look originally, but, for whatever reason, I couldn't get it to cooperate with me, so I settled for the previous design. I like that design, but it's not what I've had pictured for the Sentinels. Well, without further ado, let's get to it. SwordOverall Length: 38 1/2" Blade Length: 30" Blade Width: 1 5/8" @ base; 1 5/16" @ profile taper (3 3/4" from tip) Grip Length: 5 3/4" Guard Width: 8" Pommel Length: 2 1/4" (1 1/2" wide) BauernwehrOverall Length: 15" Blade Length: 10 3/4" Blade Width: 1 1/8" @ base; 1" @ profile taper (2" from tip) Grip Length: 3 3/8" (3 15/16" including bolster) Despite having much that's the same, this is a vastly different sword, the least of which is the fact that it's now a true bastard saber. Now, even someone with meat hooks could hold this sword fairly comfortably. And if you think it looks vaguely like Strider's sword from the LotR films, good! That was the intent, since the Sentinels are basically rangers, as they have similar duties, albeit they are, on average, rather highly skilled with grimoire (the magic of this world). The guard & pommel in particular were inspired by Brandon Olszowy's recent Ellesar sword, albeit vastly simplified for the latter and more curved for the former. Of course, since they're fantasy based, they don't actually fit into the typology, but you could consider the guard a faceted Style 6 or curved Style 5 while the pommel could be considered a Type T3 with an elongated upper half. The color scheme, obviously, stayed the same, since those are the Sentinel's corps colors, as I detailed with the previous design. The bauernwehr stayed more or less the same, albeit the blade is a bit slimmer and I smoothed it out some, which I think makes it look significantly better. The scabbard, too, stayed pretty much the same, however, the fittings for it changed significantly. The chape was inspired by the one on DBK's Seaward scabbard, which I believe fits with the sword more than that, admittedly, fairly chunky one from before. The locket was, in keeping with the pseudo-Ranger theme, was inspired by the one on the LotR films scabbard. All in all, I think this version flows so much better than the one I settled for before and I could definitely see this hanging at the hip of all Sentinels. SwordOverall Length: 32" Blade Length: 26" Blade Width: 1 7/8" @ base; 1 9/16" @ profile taper (3 3/4" from tip) Grip Length: 3 11/16" Guard Width: 6 3/4" Pommel Length: 1 7/8" DaggerOverall Length: 11 3/8" Blade Length: 7" Blade Width: 1 3/8" @ base; 1 1/8" @ profile taper (2 5/8" from tip) Grip Length: 3 1/4" Guard Width: N/A Pommel Length: 1 /4" (1 3/8" wide) I bet you're wondering why this sword looks so similar in theme (curved blade, curved guard, grip ring, by-knife) to the previous one right about now, right? There's a very simple explanation for that: the owner of this sword is a former Sentinel. He's also a former Warder, which are a group of warriors similar in purpose to the Night's Watch from A Song of Ice and Fire, albeit without the Wall; because their life expectancy upon joining the Warders is so short, the funerary color the world over is white (as opposed to black as in most Western cultures) and a rather polite euphemism for suicide is "taking the white". If they're lucky, they live for about a year after taking the white. Anyways, enough about that and onto the sword. For convenience's sake, I'm referring to this sword as the Ruarc, after its owner, who created this sword out of nothingness thanks to a rather handy spell. As such, it's modeled after the weapon he was most familiar and comfortable with: the standard issue Sentinel saber. His, however, is shortened to cutlass lengths to be more maneuverable in tight quarters. And, as you may have noticed, it's almost entirely black; the reason is that Ruarc is a Blasphemer, someone who was expelled from the Brotherhood for using heretical magic that goes against the natural order of the world (the common theory on magic in this world is that, so long as it could be accomplished through natural means, it's good; if not, it's evil). Because of this, the leather is a dark, faded black while the furniture is blackened steel. The blade itself is a very smoky gray that reflects very little light. The dagger, which is modeled after the popular image of a kunai, is similar, though not quite as dark. So, despite all these efforts for a dark blade, why, then, is there a pale blue coin inset into the pommel (on both sides, no less)? That is a ciel, the highest denomination of this world's currency, equal to about 150$ (the lower denominations, lunes, sols, and lacs, are equivalent to about 30$, 10$, and 2$, respectively). The currency of this world, unlike others, doesn't have a strict monetary worth the way gold, silver, and other precious metals do; instead, they represent the actual effort put into making them. Each has some form of power, be it raw energy, a basic spell, a mid-level spell, or an extremely high-level spell (the ciels). Ciels, unlike the other three, can only be produced by a very few because of their difficulty, as well as the actual power of the spell inside it. Therefore, by having two of them inserted into the pommel of his sword, Ruarc has potentially game changing powers at his fingertips for only the life energy it would cost to cast it, which is a pretty huge advantage, lemme tell you. But, that's neither here nor there, so I apologize for going on and on. Each coin in this currency, unlike most, are exactly the same size, weight, and thickness; each is slightly translucent in the center, and has a hole in the exact center, which is surrounded by the five petal lily of the Brotherhood. The reason each is the same size and features that hole, is so they can be threaded on sticks for convenient carry, but also so they can be snapped into special devices meant to utilize their energies. Granted, said devices are quite rare and expensive, but the currency was created by the Brotherhood, who also manufactures those devices, so it makes sense for their currency and power source to be suited to their needs. Anyways, enough yapping about the fictional details of this sword and onto the few factual ones. The guard is a curved Style 11 with rounded finials (I took it off my Oakeshott XVI) while the pommel is a modified Type J1; rather than a flat depression, it has a short peg to hold the coins in place without affixing them permanently (though it's really mox nix since all that's required to use the spell in them is to break them). The blade is the same as the one on my brand new Sentinel design above, itself a modified version of the blade from the previous Sentinel, which I took off my Iustitia design. Speaking of, this sword could be considered a descendent of Iustitia, since I was originally going to take the easy route and give it to Ruarc rather than going through the entire process of designing an entirely new sword for him, which I decided against, since the red of Iustitia didn't fit with Ruarc's clothing (primarily black with a bit of blue and white thrown in).
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Post by Vincent Dolan on Sept 20, 2012 17:51:25 GMT
Got a couple new designs from my novels today; technically, there are three, but only two are important. You'll see why in a bit. Overall Length: 41" Blade Length: 32" Blade Width: 1 3/4" @ base; 1 3/8" @ profile taper (3 3/4" from tip) Grip Length: 6 3/8" Guard Width: 3 1/4" Pommel Length: 2" (1 3/4" wide) For all intents and purposes, I'm calling this sword the Vanguard, because that's the working title of the novel it comes from, so it's subject to change. Anyways, I wanted something that was of a rather different style than my previous bastard sabers, those from my novels, that is; Ithin started out as a cross between a katana and a jian, but has evolved over time so that it has something resembling a shobu-zukuri blade profile, but with a little more distal taper than what is typically found on katana. The Sentinel in the previous post is a fantasy medieval-esque blade. This sword originally started out as a vaguely Renaissance-styled Swiss saber with forward curving quillions. Well, I struggled over this sword for a good 5-6 hours or so, not counting a half-hour for lunch, but no matter what I did, I just wasn't feeling the quillions; and that's saying nothing of the headaches deciding on a pommel gave me. What I ended up with is this pseudo-Euro-tana, an interesting hybrid of the lines of a katana with the stylings of a Euro. Surprisingly, I'm actually quite pleased with how it came out, especially since I envisioned this as being a sort of fantasy proto-cutlass of sorts. Before I go into the rough story of the sword itself, lemme get the physical details out of the way for those who don't care to read my ramblings about my books. The blade is, unsurprisingly, the same as that of my previous two designs; if it ain't broke, don't fix it, right? It serves my purposes quite well. The furniture is made of bronze with a brushed finish, the pommel of which is from my interpretation of the Swords of Tansen from the Silerian trilogy that I did ages ago and that I've only used on one other sword (which I never bothered uploading). The grip is covered in cord marked brown leather with a diamond-pattern black leather overwrap secured by bronze pins, which I think enhances the hybrid-ness of the Euro/katana stylings. The scabbard is a simple leather over wood affair with a bronze chape that vaguely resembles certain kojiri that can be found on various katana on the net; unlike nearly every other sword I designed for my books, this is the one sword that I didn't design a suspension system for. The reason for this is that, given the time period equivalent that the book is set in (roughly equal to the mid-1890s, though there's some anachronistic period clash involved that's equal to about mid-1650 or so; long story), it made more sense for it to be worn in a baldric. That's it for the technical details of the sword; the rest is the little in-world history of the sword. If you're bored of reading this stuff (and I can't say as I'd blame you), skip on down to the next blade. Anyways, this is the sword of Lord Van de la Garde, the protagonist. It belonged to his father and his father before him, passed down to him in the crib when he was carried away from his burning homeland across the sea (which happens to be in the East, where Vega, the protagonist of my first novel, is from). For much of the story, it hangs on a wall, surrounded by a small round shield meant to be strapped to the arm rather than held (so you can still use the sword in both hands with ease if you want), a pair of high quality revolvers, and a similarly built lever action rifle. It's only taken down a few times for maintenance and once for Van to re-familiarize himself with it, as his protectors would have insisted. Now, if there's reliable firearms in the story, what purpose does an old family sword have? Well, like I said, it hangs on the wall for that very reason until situations arise where the sword is more effective and that's all I'll say. Overall Length: 26 7/8" Blade Length: 21 3/8" (Clip: 5 3/8") Blade Width: 1 5/8" @ base; 1 3/16" @ profile taper (3 11/16" from tip) Grip Length: 3 1/2" Guard Width: 2 1/2" Pommel Length: 1 3/8" (2 1/4" wide) This isn't so much a sword as it is a langseax of sorts, but it's considered a sword in the setting; this piece belongs to the Order of the Broken Blade, a community of women comparable to the mythical Amazons from Dragon Fall, where an average sized sword has a blade of about 24", so it's quite within the setting's classification of "sword". This blade was derived and redesigned from the Migration Era Bowie that Mikko designed with me in mind back in April of last year. It sports darkened iron furniture; the bands holding the pommel and the discs in the guards are made of amarantia, a rather tough fictional mineral I created. Its only real purpose is decorative (it's found in plentiful quantities in the area the Order makes its home, so they sell it either in large quantities uncut or sell the jewelry they make from it), but it's tougher than wood, which was often found on Migration era swords, so it's not that far out an idea. The leather of the grip and scabbard is purple, primarily because I haven't used purple in quite some time, but also because of the history of the Order, which I'll detail later. Unlike most Viking style swords that have a bridge, which results in the blade hanging straight up and down, this one, made of rosewood and held in place by black leather bands, is positioned at a 45° angle. I meant it to be worn at the small of the back and angled to the right (less chance of it getting in the way when using a bow, their primary weapon), however, due to a small oversight, this one is actually configured so that it would hang towards the left, which works just as well, really; plus, if you chose, you could wear it at your left hip like a regular sword. Other than that, there's not much to really tell about this blade beyond the in-story stuff, which I'll give a rough overview of now. About 157 years ago, a small village was attacked by a dragon; quite a few people died until one man, driven to desperation to protect his family and attacked it with little more than his sword. To everyone's surprise, he actually succeeded in cutting most of the way through one of it's wings (and this breed relies on its wings, as it has no limbs; in other words, it's a serpent with wings for a visual), but when he went for the death blow, it snapped its head around, biting him in half, his blade shattering on its skull (the hardest part of a dragon). His wife, who had been watching the whole thing, immediately took up the remains of his sword and, as it opened its maw to feast on him, she rammed the shattered blade through the roof of its mouth and into its brain, but not before it mauled her arm. The Order's colors crest is a sable field rimmed by red with the effigy of a broken sword in purple to symbolize the blood, the night, and the purple dragon & the broken blade that founded them. Overall Length: 33 1/16" Blade Length: 27 9/16" Blade Width: 1 3/4" @ base; 1 11/16" @ profile taper Grip Length: 3 1/2" Guard Width: 2 1/2" Pommel Length: 1 3/8" (2 1/4" wide) The eponymous broken sword that helped start the Order of the Broken Blade. The hilt is blued steel with garnet inserts, and a brown leather over wood grip; the blade has been broken into six fragments, though the majority of the blade is still in one piece and fairly usable. Since this sword has little impact on the story except as a memorial, I chose the colors of the hilt more or less at random. I was originally planning on making this broken blade a two-handed viking sword with an early Petersen Type X hilt, a red leather grip, and a pattern-welded Geibig Type 2 blade that had the last 5-6" lopped off at about a 70° angle resulting in a blade that was about 23-24" long; subsequent examples of the sword would be forged like this on purpose in homage. Well, I decided that that was pretty stupid, so I went the direction I did. That said, I may do the original design again, but with a complete blade, because it looked rather nice without the tip chopped off.
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Post by Vincent Dolan on Sept 26, 2012 2:40:58 GMT
Today, I've got three new designs that just kinda popped into my head, though one was combined with a design I've been meaning to do for awhile, but never really got to work until now. And a special treat for those of you tired of reading huge walls of text (info of which is subject to change as I refine my worlds), none of them are related to my novels. Well, without further ado, let's get down to it. Overall Length: 32 1/2" Blade Length: 27" Blade Width: 3" @ base; 1 7/8" @ profile taper (8" from tip) Grip Length: 3 3/4" Guard Width: 7" Pommel Length: 1 1/4" (2 5/8" wide) Who knew a Type XIV could look good with a brazil nut pommel? I certainly didn't when I started this sword. It was just an idea that I wanted to test out that happened to turn out pretty nice. I didn't really give much thought to it beyond that, so I'll just detail the technical aspects of it. The pommel is a Type A, the guard a particularly curved Style 6, and the leather is a rather nice light brown/tan color. The chape is rather interesting; I modeled it after a viking chape I found on Google and later learned is a style called Novogrod. I call this sword the Rider, because it looks like a nice little sword to carry riding with you around town. Overall Length: 45 3/8" Blade Length: 36" Blade Width: 1 7/8" @ base; 1 3/8" @ profile taper (5" from tip) Grip Length: 7 1/4" Guard Width: 8" Pommel Length: 1 7/8" This is the design that was combined with the one I've been meaning to do; specifically, I've been wanting to do a longsword with a Type Q pommel for awhile. However, it just never really turned out, possibly because I didn't choose the right blade style. Speaking of, the blade is a Dolan Type XIb, which is essentially a regular XI in a hand-and-a-half configuration, something I think would make the style more manageable on foot. I also think the slender blade and acute tip match the pommel very well. The guard is a fantasy/fancy Style 4, which is a vast improvement over the plain Style 1 I had planned for this sword (it started out as being a two-handed Gaddhjalt, but I scrapped that idea and I'm glad I did), as I think it adds a certain character to the design. The leather is a vibrant red paired with a black 3-point suspension system; the chape is, again, modeled after a Viking style chape I found through Google (albeit vastly simplified), with the locket echoing the style. I dubbed this blade Rune, an old Gaelic name meaning "red-haired", after its red coloring. Overall Length: 43" Blade Length: 33" Blade Width: 3 1/4" @ base; 1 7/8" @ profile taper (9" from tip) Grip Length: 7 3/8" Guard Width: 8" Pommel Length: 2 1/4" (1 3/4" wide) I call this the Forest Guard, primarily due to the coloration of the sword, seeing as the actual sword is significantly bigger than something we'd expect someone like Robin Hood & His Merry Men to wield amidst the branches of Sherwood. Oddly enough, this sword was partially inspired by an anime sword: the unnamed sword of Jeanne d'Arc the 30th from the light novel/anime/manga series Hidan no Aria, specifically as it appeared in the anime before being broken. Being an anime sword, of course, it was pretty unrealistic, since it had two cutouts at the base of the blade that left maybe 1/8" of steel on the outside, had a chunky crossguard, and a small, roughly triangular shaped pommel. Well, long story short, I was watching the series to kill time so I wouldn't finish the series I was actually watching before the last episode premiered Sunday night, saw the sword in episode 8, and thought "if you got rid of all that fantasy nonsense and put a proper pommel & cross on there, it might actually be a good looking sword". This sword is the result of that train of thought. Despite the crossguard being a little too short, proportionally, and perhaps a touch too thin for such a large blade, I think it came out well. The guard is a Style 6, modeled after the one found on the Albion Prince, the pommel a teardrop shape that I've used a few times before (on my Nightblood interpretation and my Scout XIV shortsword), and the blade a Dolan Type XIVa. The fittings are brushed bronze while the leather is a nice hunter green; the chape is a vague leaf shape in keeping with the theme.
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Post by Anders on Oct 17, 2012 20:56:23 GMT
Keep in mind, though, that the sword was made by the goblins, so it would basically have been designed to be used by people roughly the size of Warwick Davis.
Personally, I kinda like the "fraternity sword" style movie design - it makes no sense with the time period it's supposed to hail from, sure, but no historical references in HP really does. On the other hand, it does fit the academical setting pretty well.
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Aaron
Member
Senior Forumite
Posts: 2,369
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Post by Aaron on Nov 20, 2012 14:54:55 GMT
For what it's worth, Rowling packed a ton of historical references into the Harry Potter series. Liberties were taken (I mean, hell, they're books about a magic school), but it is extremely obvious she compiled a massive amount of research for the books. A clear example is her use of plant names which seem farcical to us in the context of modern science, but are very nice references to historical regional names for the herbs. Her references to historical cultural beliefs (what we would now consider myths) are also extremely impressive.
For "children's books," they really are rather highbrow.
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Post by William Swiger on Nov 20, 2012 16:03:44 GMT
I like that brazil nut sword!
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Post by aussie-rabbit on Nov 27, 2012 5:14:38 GMT
I'd love to see your thoughts on Dar's sword from the Beastmaster in a manageable length with an Eagle's head pommel
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Post by Vincent Dolan on Jan 9, 2013 7:55:05 GMT
So, long time no update. I have two swords today, both related to my novel, though neither is actually very important to the story (the first may become so depending on whether or not I decide to write the prequel that's bouncing about my skull); they're mainly just something I felt like doing. And neither really came out quite the way I'd hoped, but they're still pretty decent, I think. So, without further ado, here they are. Overall Length: 40" Blade Length: 30" Blade Width: 2 3/8" @ base; 1 1/4" @ profile taper (1 5/8" from tip) Grip Length: 7 1/2" Guard Width: 9" Pommel Length: 2 3/16" (2" diameter without the peen block) This is the Lunarion, named for its owner, Lunarion, the second High King of the Lucarian Covenant; he is father of Dalun and grandfather of Lunæon, whose sword, Mé'aré, actually appears in my book. Lunarion was born Khleni Mascen'iin Sorin in the 244th year of the 7th Eclipse (256 years before the birth of my protagonist, Vega) and fought alongside his mother, Tesni, in what would become known as the Lucarian War for Independence when the fighting broke out 17 years later in the 11th year of the 8th Eclipse (the Eastern hemisphere of my world is plagued by near apocalyptic events every 250 years, thus their calender reflects that). After the war, his mother and her new husband were crowned High King and Queen of the new, united Lucarian nation, making him the Crown Prince, which led to the commissioning of this sword, a thing that, while still very functional, was designed to let the whole world know at a glance that he was someone powerful and important. It became his unofficial badge of office when he took the throne in the 130th year of the 8th Eclipse after his parents were assassinated, and he kept it at his side until his own death 67 years later at the age of 203*, leaving his 25 year old son to assume the crown (this occurred 53 years before my protagonist, Vega, was even born). Now, about the sword itself. The blade is a Type XIII, the exact shape modeled after the ATrim 1326 (right down to the triple fullers), while the guard is a heavily stylized Style 6 and the pommel is a fairly simple ring pommel. The furniture is blackened steel; the pommel has several lines of inlaid gold and the guard has gold beryl set into each of the langets, both to symbolize a sunrise. The grip and scabbard are both covered in a dark red leather, completing the Lucarian color scheme. Overall Length: 45 3/4" Blade Length: 36" Blade Width: 1 7/8" @ base; 1 3/8" @ profile taper (5" from tip) Grip Length: 7 3/16" Guard Width: 8" Pommel Length: 2 1/8" (1 3/4" wide) This is the Dalun, named for its owner, Dalun, third High King of the Lucarian Covenant; Dalun was born Lucari Sorin'iin Emyr, though, as with all Lucarian High Kings, it's considered rude to even think of him by that name once he's assumed the throne. This is the sword his father had forged for him on his 13th birthday (185-8) and it served him well in the Soriyan Conflicts of 202 to 209-8 that led to the creation of the Freelands. As High King, he was expected to wear his sword at all times and, as such, it has been present for a number of important events: the birth of sons, Tielo and Kegato (the former of whom was Mé'aré's original owner who died, the latter of whom is now known as Lunæon), the 9th Eclipse (during which Vega was born), as well as his own death in 017-9. After his death, it was hung in the Hall of Kings beside the swords of his father and grandmother. Now for the sword itself. The blade is a Dolan Type XIb, which I chose as opposed to an XIIa, because I prefer the lines of the XIb to those of the XIIa, even if it is a created type, but what better for a fantasy book than a fantasy type? :lol: The furniture is browned steel; the guard is a fantasy Style 8 (recognizable from what I suppose could be called my Middle Earth swords, that is, the Numenorean, Dunedain, and Anduril) while the pommel is a faceted teardrop shape and features a piece of gold beryl with a simple pear cut inset into it; there's also a small sphere of gold beryl at the base of the chape, but those and the gold ring on the grip are the only ornamentation, showing that Dalun is somewhat more reserved than his father.
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Post by Vincent Dolan on Jan 23, 2013 1:51:54 GMT
See those swords right above this post? The ones I said might be relevant to one of my worlds? Well, I got to brainstorming and decided to design some that would actually be important to the story, so, without further ado, here they are. Overall Length: 35 3/4" Blade Length: 30" Blade Width: 2" @ base; 1 11/16" @ profile taper (2 1/2" from tip) Grip Length: 3 3/4" Guard Width: 7" Pommel Length: 1 1/2" (2 1/2" wide) This is the redesigned sword of Tesni, the original of which can be viewed here. As you can see (assuming you clicked the link), the original was a few inches shorter, with a shorter straight cross and a squatter pommel, as well as very darkly blued furniture which, combined with the tan grip, didn't really work for the design. It was also single edged with a triangular cross-section and, for lack of a better term, a spine mounted fuller. Altogether, it created a sword that would likely be functional and serve its purpose, but wasn't particularly aesthetically pleasing. The redesign, on the other hand, keeps the tan grip and brazil nut pommel, as well as the general shape of the blade, but there are a number of things that have been changed. First up, the blade is now double edged with a diamond cross-section and a broader central fuller. Originally, I was tinkering with making it a completely different sword with a Type X blade and, in fact, I had it all complete and ready to move onto the scabbard before I realized it was a little too much like the Albion Reeve, of which I'm rather taken; you can still see influences in the shape of the pommel and the color of the grip (reminiscent of Albion's light brown, which is featured in the Reeve pictures on Kult of Athena). Speaking of, the pommel is still a Type A, albeit more rounded, the guard is a curved Style 1, specifically the 1.3 from T&TA that I've used on a couple other swords. Now, I put information on its owner in the post with the original, however, some of that has changed in the year since I designed it. Khleni Shirin'iin Tesni is the foremost swordfighter of the age; since the Thirteen Clans under the Ellfarian Empire are second class citizens, used for manual labor, servitude, and other demeaning jobs, which includes gladiatorial combat, where it's killed or be killed while soft Ellfarians engage in swordsmanship as a hobby if at all, that's saying something. At the age of 34 by the time of the Eclipse (meaning she was born in the year 216-7), she's considered just past her prime, but still enjoys a fair amount of fame and quite a bit of wealth, which she uses to dote upon her son, Sorin. Fast forward to the War for Independence in 011-8; Tesni is an ardent supporter of the cause, desiring a future for her son that doesn't involve demeaning labor just to scrape by or risking death for a decent life. She used this sword during her gladiatorial career, throughout the war, and kept it near at hand until her assassination in 130-8; it is now hung in the Hall of Kings. Overall Length: 44" Blade Length: 34" Blade Width: 2" @ base 1 9/16" @ profile taper (3 5/8" from tip) Grip Length: 7 3/4" Guard Width: 4 3/8" Pommel Length: 1 5/8" (3 3/8" wide) This is the longsword of Khleni Mascen'iin Sorin, son of Tesni, prior to becoming Crown Prince of the Luceran Covenant in 017-8 (two years after the end of the war). This was his late father's sword, passed down to him on his 13th birthday by his mother; the leather was originally a bright red, but has been darkened by the sweat of years of handling. He carried this, along with its little brother, into battle when he fought alongside his mother and though he had a new sword made for him when he became Crown Prince, he afforded these two a special place beneath it in the Hall of Kings, as dictated in his will to honor his father (just as his son being part of the Lucer clan rather than the Khlen was to honor his stepfather, the first High King). Now about the sword itself. This piece came about when I wanted Sorin to have a Westernized daisho of sorts; this is the longsword of that idea. I was originally planning on giving it a straight cross and a brazil nut pommel, but, after seeing how it flowed together (it didn't), I decided to try something else and, on a whim, I chose what I have now: a Petersen Type Z hilt configuration in a nice polished bronze. The scabbard is plain black leather over wood with a simple bronze chape and a dark grey suspension system. All over, I think it coalesced into quite the handsome sword. Overall Length: 24 11/16" Blade Length: 19" Blade Width: 1 3/4" @ base; 1 5/16" @ profile taper (1 5/8" from tip) Grip Length: 3 1/2" Guard Width: 3 1/8" Pommel Length: 1 9/16" (3 1/8" wide) What can I say about this blade that wasn't covered in my description of the longsword? For all intents and purposes, this is just a shorter version of that piece; I designed it that way, after all. The only thing of note is that I shrunk the guard and pommel some to fit the shorter blade better. The blade itself was the biggest pain in the ass of the whole lot, since, to get the shape as similar as possible, I just took the blade from the longsword and moved the nodes until I had the length I wanted. Unfortunately, doing so gave it a curvature at quite a steep angle, meaning I had to play around a bit to get it back to looking right; I think that took almost as long as the rest of the sword itself. That said, I'm quite fond of how this pair came out. Funnily enough, out of all the swords I've designed, this is only the second matched pair (the first being Wyrmfell and Drake) and I like both equally.
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Post by Elheru Aran on Jan 23, 2013 17:15:34 GMT
I am highly intrigued by that Viking style long saber. Would you object if one of these days I knocked out a version of that blade in wood? Something about it is speaking to me...
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Post by Vincent Dolan on Jan 23, 2013 18:39:51 GMT
Not at all, Jeff. Go right ahead! I can't wait to see how it comes out and I'm curious to hear how it handles.
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Post by Elheru Aran on Jan 23, 2013 19:04:14 GMT
OK... It might be a while, mind you I have some other projects to knock out first. Any tips on dimensions? I'm guessing 34", 33" blade by around 2.5" at the base, ~8" grip?
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Post by Vincent Dolan on Jan 23, 2013 19:34:01 GMT
It's got a 34" blade that's 2" at the base; I've got the grip at 7 3/4", but 8" would probably work. Here's the full list of dimensions, since there's a couple walls of text for them to hide in:
Overall Length: 44" Blade Length: 34" Blade Width: 2" @ base 1 9/16" @ profile taper (3 5/8" from tip) Grip Length: 7 3/4" Guard Width: 4 3/8" Pommel Length: 1 5/8" (3 3/8" wide)
Oh, and while I didn't actually list it there, the fuller's 1" wide at the base offset from the spine by 1/16" and it tapers to 11/16" about 1 1/2" from where the fuller terminates 3" from the tip. That's all I can think of for the dimensions, but if you need anything else once you get around to it, just shoot me a pm.
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Post by Vincent Dolan on Jan 27, 2013 3:43:07 GMT
So, earlier this week I did the swords of Tesni and Sorin and figured it'd probably be awhile before I did anything else. Nope! Those creative juices decided that, since I woke them out of hibernation, they were going to punch me in the face and make me do something. Since then, I've done 6 swords; don't worry, though, I'm only going to post the first three now, otherwise the other three (which I'll post here in a few days, depending on how well the ones I'm tinkering with at the moment go) will overshadow them by quite a bit. Overall Length: 27 7/8" Blade Length: 21" Blade Width: 1 7/8" @ base; 1 5/8" @ profile taper (2 1/2" from tip) Grip Length: 3 1/2" Guard Width: 3 1/4" Pommel Length: 1 9/16" (2 3/8" wide) Way back in, oh, October 2011, I did a group of langsaxes that began with a single blade: a langsaxe in silver & green with a Petersen Type AE hilt and a gold grip ring. Together, they were (perhaps not so) creatively called the Hogwarts Langsaxes, since the colors ended up being reminiscent of the Hogwarts House colors from Harry Potter. They weren't exactly my first renders in Inkscape, but they're pretty close to it, done something like 2 weeks after I started using Inkscape. Aside from the fact that the blades were much too long for a proper langsaxe of the style, there's nothing truly wrong with the designs, even now; they just lack a lot of polish. Well, I had the urge to do a langsaxe and just happened across the old design, so I figured, what the hell? And here's what came of that whim The general design elements are the same as the original, just majorly updated. The hilt is still a Petersen Type AE, but in blackened steel, rather than plain; this goes for the steel spacer beneath the grip ring, which I think makes the ring pop all the more. The hilt, incidentally, is from my Stigandr design adapted to the size of the blade, the spacer & ring combo from my Cynwrig. The chape is actually from the original langsaxe design, modified a good deal to work in my 1/16th scale as opposed to the 1/10th I was using at the time. Finally, the locket was designed from scratch to emulate the styling of the chape. Overall Length: 40 3/8" Blade Length: 31" Blade Width: 2 1/4" @ base; 1 1/2" @ profile taper (2 3/8" from tip) Grip Length: 7 1/2" Guard Width: 4" Pommel Length: 1 5/16" (2 3/8" wide) This is the sword I meant to do months ago, but kept forgetting about. This is the sword I had originally meant to serve as the Broken Blade, minus the pattern welding. There's really not much for me to say about this piece, seeing as it's no longer pertinent to my novels. The blade is a Geibig Type 2 and the hilt a Petersen Type X (Earlier) made of plain iron while the scabbard and grip are red leather over wood. Overall Length: 45" Blade Length: 36" Blade Width: 2 1/4" @ base; 1 1/2" @ profile taper (4" from tip) Grip Length: 7 13/16" Guard Width: 6" Pommel Length: 1 3/4" (3" wide) Here's an interesting little sword that, despite its hand-and-a-half nature, some of you should recognize. I call it the Oslo, as it's partially modeled after a Type XII that resides in the Oslo Museum, though in all honesty, I modeled the furniture more greatly after XII.7 that was once on loan to the Tower Armouries; the same sword, I believe, that the Hanwei Cawood is based upon. That said, I felt that "Oslo" sounded better as a name for a sword than Tower Armouries. There's not much more to say.
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Post by GhostWriterJ94 on Jan 31, 2013 2:03:02 GMT
Hello, I'm a brand new member but I've been looking at your designs for a while and really like them, I've borrowed details from some for my own writings ( with proper credit given of course ) That being said i have a small request, i looked at both your versions of Naegling and liked both, but i was wondering, if it isn't too much trouble, could you do a copy of the first version but in green? Thank You! - GhostWriterJ94
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Post by Vincent Dolan on Jan 31, 2013 2:32:19 GMT
Hey, Ghost; when it comes to using details, I don't mind, so long as they're not from designs related to my novels, for obvious reasons, but other than that, feel free. To me, it means that someone likes the vast number of swords I've designed and tinkered with over the years.
Now, when you say first version, which are you referring to? Because, technically, I have done four versions: the original XIX, the fantasy XVIIIe, an updated XVIIIe with cord markings, and then an XVIIId with a pear shaped pommel.
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Post by Vincent Dolan on Jan 31, 2013 6:34:50 GMT
So, sometimes I hate the way my brain works. Before my Lunarion and Dalun swords earlier this month, I hadn't designed anything in about three and a half months. Now I've done 15 in the same month; someone just shoot me, please. Anyways, this design is probably the least of those for a number of reasons. It's just something I did on a whim, but just didn't feel like giving up even when it didn't really turn out quite the way I'd hoped. Overall Length: 51" Blade Length: 38" Blade Width: 2 3/4" @ base; 2 1/16" @ profile taper (3 5/8" from tip) Grip Length: 9 7/8" Guard Width: 4" Pommel Length: 2 1/4" (2 1/8" wide) So, this didn't come out quite as I'd hoped, to be honest, but I was determined to finish it. Anyways, this is a semi-realistic, viking-inspired Buster Sword from Final Fantasy VII. I say semi-realistic because, even though it lacks some of the more fantastical elements of the original (stupidly wide blade, holes for materia, no pommel), it's still a big damn sword. And no matter how I pretty it up, I'm not best pleased with how it turned out. Still, maybe someone will like it. But enough about my bellyaching; onto the sword itself. The blade is a very oversized Geibig Type 14, same as what's on my Stigandr design, albeit with more aggressive profile taper (almost a full 3/4"). The guard, which didn't come out the way I'd hoped, is modeled after the one from Fable Blade's Mjolnir, a shape I thought would work well in place of the thing on the original; the designs on the guard are taken from the Advent Children incarnation of the Buster Sword, where greater details can be seen. The pommel is just something I happened to see online and something I settled for. I actually quit working on this sword for a day or two because I simply could not get a pommel to work. The more I look at it, the more I'm put in mind of a catcher's mitt, but, well, at least it'd hopefully serve its purpose, right? Nothing could ever make a sword this size light, but hopefully, the long grip, heavy brass fittings, aggressive profile taper, and equally aggressive distal tapering could make it a somewhat agile one.
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Post by aussie-rabbit on Jan 31, 2013 8:40:01 GMT
This would be one for Rob, or maybe my nephew, he's 6'6" and still has a little growing to do, probably go 6lbs or more,
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Post by Vincent Dolan on Feb 5, 2013 13:13:35 GMT
You know, it's been so long since I've designed a polearm of any sorts that I'd almost forgotten how... But that's neither here nor there. What is here and now are a pair of swords from that batch I did last month and they're rather different from one another; one's a falchion, the other is a viking sword. Overall Length: 34 3/8" Blade Length: 28" Blade Width: 1 5/8" @ base; 2 1/4" @ swell (9 9/16" from tip); 1 5/8" @ profile taper (5 3/16" from tip) Grip Length: 3 5/8" Guard Width: 7" Pommel Length: 2 7/16" (1 3/4" wide) I call this sword the Lear, after King Lear who comments upon his falchion during the tragedy of the same name. This particular piece came about because I wanted to do a falchion that was somewhere between fancy and plain, as well as something to pair with a new(ish) pommel design. Since this isn't a sword related to my novels, there's really not much of a story to tell about it, so I'll just jump into what the sword is wearing. The guard is a Style 8 variant, the same one from the Albion Prince, while the blade shape is borrowed from the Albion Vassal; the blade shape was actually a last minute decision, now that I think about it. I was originally planning something significantly different, but then I realized that, except for the clipped point, I'd already done pretty much the exact same blade shape with my recent Sword of Tesni redesign, so I went looking for falchion shapes and came back to the Vassal, which worked quite well in my head. The pommel is a modification of one I found online and, for convenience sake, I'm calling it a W2 (the other teardrop design, the one featured on Nightblood and Dalun's sword, I've started referring to as a W1 for the same reason). The original pommel that served as the W2's basis had a simple depression in it similar to a J1, but when I saw it, I thought "I want to put a cutout in there with chamfered edges" and that's exactly what I did. It actually took quite a bit of finagling to get the inner chamfering to look right, but I think it came out rather nice in the end. Overall Length: 35 13/16" Blade Length: 30" Blade Width: 2 1/4" @ base; 1 3/8" @ profile taper (3" from tip) Grip Length: 3 3/4" Guard Width: 3" Pommel Length: 1 9/16" (2 1/2" wide) Funny story: this is the Type X blade I was originally planning on using for my Sword of Tesni redesign, but since it would have basically just been the Albion Reeve with a curved guard, I went the direction I did and I'm glad; the finished design fits the character better in my mind's eye. Anyways, if I render something for a specific design, but for whatever reason, it doesn't fit the sword, I don't just delete it. Instead, I save it in a separate file with the rest of the unused fittings and blades that didn't work with whatever design I was doing at the moment. I call this sword the Pearce after Michael "Tinker" Pearce because, for one, the man makes amazing swords, and for two, when I finished the base colors, I noticed that the general lines of the sword were reminiscent of the Hanwei/Tinker Pearce Viking. The hilt is a Petersen Type V in blackened steel with lacquered indigo diamonds the guard and roughly half the pommel. Outside of what I consider exceptional designs, I rarely go beyond the most basic of scabbards for swords unrelated to my novels; well, I considered this one exceptional enough to go beyond basic and, overall, I think it turned out quite nicely. I'm especially pleased with how the hilt came out. Well, folks, that's all for now; I've got a pair of really nice Type XIVs in the wings, then some designs for my novels (two of which are polearms).
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Post by GhostWriterJ94 on Feb 7, 2013 4:09:48 GMT
Awesome! and oh, i'd only noticed two, i'll have to look for those other ones, the one i'm referring to, is this one: I'm worried this was the one you said you didnt like... my apologies if it is Thanks A Million! - GhostWriterJ94
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