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Post by Vincent Dolan on Dec 12, 2013 18:16:41 GMT
So, folks, long time no post; about a week shy of four months, to be precise. I have a few updates to post, though, oddly, only one of them is actually a recent design. The others I designed months ago and just never got around to posting for one reason or another. Well, without further ado, let's get to it. Until the image scaling issue gets resolved, to view the designs in full, right click on them and select "View Image".Overall Length: 22 1/2" Blade Length: 18" Blade Width: 1 7/8" @ base; 1 5/8" @ profile taper (6 3/8" from tip); 1/2" @ 1" from tip Grip Length: 3 1/2" Guard Width: 2 1/8" Pommel Length: N/A I call this blade the Breitsax because, frankly, that's what it is; breitsax, or "broad saxe", are a variation of saxe knife of Frankish origin characterized primarily by their spear point design, specifically a I/II where the tip is above the blade's centerline, blurring the lines between Frankish and Scandinavian origin. As for how this blade came to be, it was rather simple: I got a wild hare one day and thought "what would a saxe blade paired with a horse-head falcata's hilt look like?" The answer: pretty cool, if I do say so myself. The hilt was drawn from a Celt-Iberian falcata made by Finnish bladesmith JT PÄLIKKÖ, albeit vastly simplified; the blade, which is completely full tang, as well as the fuller, were drawn from a reproduction breitsax I found through Google. Overall Length: 37 3/8" Blade Length: 32" Blade Width: 2 1/4" @ base; 1 3/8" @ profile taper (6 3/8" from tip); 1/2" @ 1" from tip Grip Length: 3 3/4" Guard Width: 7" Pommel Length: 2 1/8" (1 3/4" wide) I call this sword Misery, because its predecessor gave me so much... *crickets* I kid, I kid. I actually call this sword Misery because it is meant to be a more realistic version of Zar'roc, the sword from the Inheritance Cycle; "Zar'roc" means misery in Paolini's Ancient Language. Very little about the sword was described in concrete detail, so its exact appearance has been up for interpretation. However, since Paolini clearly knows bugger all about designing functioning swords based on his insistence on having them in pretty colors and with great honking gemstones where their pommels should be, my best interpretation comes up looking straight out of a Saturday morning cartoon, so I thought, "why not take the rough description, discard all those SLO trappings and make a real sword out of it?" And that's what I did. The blade is a Type XII, like my other interpretations and the pommel is still more or less teardrop shaped, but I opted for a curved guard instead of a straight one, both of blued steel instead of gold, and with plain brown leather instead of silver wire. Overall Length: 41 1/4" Blade Length: 33" (30 7/8" from the rings) Blade Width: 1 1/2" @ base; 1" @ profile taper (1" from tip); 5/8" @ 1" from tip Grip Length: 5 7/8" Guard Width: 8" Pommel Length: 2" (1 5/8" wide) I designed this sword just yesterday and it is, possibly, the one that pestered me into finally posting the others. This, like seemingly so many of my other designs, was just a project born of curiosity. It also, oddly enough, wasn't meant to be a bastard sword from the onset; the hilt arrangement is inspired the Phoenix Metal Creations bastard sword owned by Nathan Robinson over at MyArmoury, only without the side rings and a slightly shorter grip and guard. I'd originally intended, once I'd finally decided to make a saber, to turn it into a one handed blade, but when I finally got the hilt done, it just looked right with the bastard grip, so a bastard saber it became. I left the grip black because I like the contrast between it and the silver fittings. The scabbard was a pain to get right and I'm not 100% satisfied with it, but I'm glad I went through the effort of doing it. It actually comes from an anime, though most people would never know it because it never actually appeared outside of concept sketches; said anime is Puella Magi Madoka Magica, specifically the character Miki Sayaka, known for wielding an odd hand-and-a-half "cutlass". I happened to stumble across the design sketch showing the scabbard and really liked it, particularly as it represented something a challenge, being far more elaborate than any scabbard I'd attempted with Inkscape before. All in all, I'm quite pleased with how it came out, even it it's not what I set out to design. I have near a dozen other swords waiting in the wings, designs from a story concept that's been rattling around in my head for some time now; whether or not I ever write the story, the swords are quite nice on their own merit, so I'll post them. Eventually. Until then, that's all folks. Ja mata.
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Post by Vincent Dolan on Dec 22, 2013 0:54:16 GMT
I've decided to get started on posting the swords I mentioned in my last post, ladies and gents, so here's the first trio in that collection, but first a bit of background on them: I've always had a passing interest in Arthurian myth, the legend of Excalibur, and all that, but a while ago, that interest blossomed into an idea for an Arthurian themed story centered primarily around the Arthur/Guinevere/Lancelot affair, though the image in my head also encompassed the rise and fall of Camelot. That said, from everything I've come up with so far, it'd be an Arthur story in name only; particularly since I've envisioned Arthur as a woman, a play on the wording of "whosoever pulls the sword from the stone shall be king". Well, nobody said they had to be male, did they? This collection of swords I'll be posting are the weapons I designed for the characters that would appear in the story. Until the image scaling issue gets resolved, to view the designs in full, right click on them and select "View Image".Overall Length: 37 1/2" Blade Length: 31" Blade Width: 2 1/4" @ base; 1 3/8" @ profile taper (6 3/8" from tip); 1/2" @ 1" from tip Grip Length: 4" Guard Width: 7" Pommel Length: 2 3/16" (2" wide) To start off the collection, this is Caliburn; now, most tales accept Caliburn as simply being an older name for Excalibur. Specifically, Excalibur is the French form of Caliburnus, which is the Latinised form of Caledfwlch, the Welsh name for the sword of Arthur. Next, some stories present Excalibur and the Sword in the Stone as being separate entities, though others believe them to be one and the same. I've taken the former route and, rather than simply call it "the Sword in the Stone", which would get tiresome after awhile, I decided that Caliburn would actually be the name of the Sword in the Stone with the premise that the two were conflated into one at a later date (because people love a good story more than being bogged down by details). Now, I've pictured Caliburn as being a somewhat older sword and with some magical properties to keep it from rusting, despite being exposed to the elements for years. With that in mind, I decided to make it a Type XII, which Oakeshott recorded as having first appeared in 1170, yet not falling out of popular use until 1350, so even though you would likely still see them around in the early 14th century, it would be quite an old fashioned style sword. The aged bronze furniture consists of a Style 2 guard and a Type J pommel which features a slightly convex face, while the dark purple grip has four evenly spaced risers to provide a secure grip even when wearing gauntlets; overall, the hilt was visually inspired by the Albion Squire. The scabbard is a basic thing of leather over wood with plain steel fittings, since Caliburn itself wouldn't have a scabbard, being lodged in stone for a hundred-odd years. Overall Length: 42 3/8" Blade Length: 33" Blade Width: 2" @ base; 1 3/8" @ profile taper (6 3/4" from tip); 1/2" @ 1" from tip Grip Length: 6 3/4" Guard Width: 8" Pommel Length: 2 3/6" (2" wide) This is Excalibur, sword of King Arthur Pendragon... Or rather, Arturia Fendraeg as I've named my version. In the legends, Excalibur is, sometimes, one and the same as the Sword in the Stone, but far more often is an enchanted sword gifted to Arthur by the Lady of the Lake, with a scabbard equally enchanted so that its bearer will never be wounded in battle, the theft of which is what leads to Arthur's death at the Battle of Camlann. Due to this, I wanted it to look like a sword made for a king, but also a warrior, so it would be an elegant weapon, yet lacking in needless ornamentation; hence why the leather is dyed a royal blue, a color commonly associated with royalty and King Arthur in particular. I pictured my version of Excalibur as being a much more recent weapon than Caliburn and, indeed, more recent than most other swords in the story, so I chose a Type XVIa blade for it, a form that Oakeshott records as first having appeared in 1330 and then falling from popularity a mere half-century later in 1380; I even had the thought that I could work that into my story, as well, as though people stopped using it because of how associated it had become with Arturia. Anyways, the guard is a Style 6 and modeled on the one from Brendan Olszowy's In Nomine Domini, which I feel is an example of a quintessential knightly sword; the pommel is a standard Type J. The locket and chape on the scabbard are modeled on what is found on Windlass' discontinued Knightly Sword, primarily because I find them to be slightly ostentatious, but at the same time, I think they are a good way of adding ornamentation to a sword without making it seem gaudy. Overall Length: 44" Blade Length: 35" Blade Width: 1 7/8" @ base; 1 1/8" @ profile taper (5 11/16" from tip); 3/8" @ 1" from tip Grip Length: 6 1/2" Guard Width: 8" Pommel Length: 2" (2" wide) This is Clarent, an Arthurian sword with an interesting history; in the legends, Clarent is listed as being a sword of peace meant for knighting and ceremonies in battle, but was stolen by Mordred and used to kill Arthur at Camlann. This was a sword that I intentionally designed to be ostentatious, going against my natural inclinations; as a result, the hilt and scabbard fittings are made of gold and consciously meant to invoke a kingly aura. The red grip and black scabbard were deliberately chosen as counterpoints to the royal blue found on Excalibur. Now, in my mind, Clarent is meant to be the most recent sword of the stories, not forged until Arturia had been king for a few years and had more knights coming to the Round Table, wherein a ceremonial sword would be necessary; however, keeping in mind that it would eventually be stolen by Mordred and used to kill her, I wanted a sword that would look unimposing, but still be capable of killing a fully armored knight. And so, I chose the Type XVII, a type that Oakeshott recorded as having first appeared in 1335 and not disappearing until almost a full century later in 1425. It's characterized by a slim blade with a hexagonal cross-section and a narrow tip; the majority of the blade was occasionally left unsharpened, allowing the sword to act more as an impact weapon against plate armor where the ability to cut was virtually unneeded. Despite its heavily thrust oriented nature, modern reproductions (the Landgraf and Sempach by Albion) of the type still cut way out of proportion to what you would imagine such a slender blade with a thick cross-section should be capable of. The guard, while being fairly simple in shape, is somewhat fancy in design; it's a Style 10 inspired by another SBG member's design (a combination of LemuelTheLemur and Kriegmalion's work). The pommel, a Type I with a concave face, along with the grip, were heavily drawn from Albion's new XVIIIc sword, the Alexandria, which I find myself quizzically drawn to more than their Principe despite the fact that I prefer fishtail pommels. Lastly, the scabbard's chape and locket were inspired by those on Weta Workshop's Anduril scabbard from the LotR films, though lacking the finial of the chape and the side rings of the locket. I felt they were suitably regal looking for a ceremonial sword. That's all for now, folks; until next time, ja mata.
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Post by LemuelTheLemur on Dec 22, 2013 12:58:13 GMT
These are some rocking designs but its such a pain clicking away from the page to view the images! Maybe post them upright next time, and scale it down a little? I doubt you'll lose much detail doing so. Btw Excalibur and Clarent are gorgeous! I personally prefer royal red instead regal blue (sorry for the correction, warhammer painter here :S) For Zarroc, in Paolini's defence, I don't know any fantasy writer who doesn't insist on having their characters wield fantastically ugly SLOs
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Post by Vincent Dolan on Dec 22, 2013 15:03:52 GMT
I actually design them horizontally so that, during the design process, I can hold my hand over the hilt and get a rough idea of what it might look like in hand; also, my laptop's monitor is quite a bit wider than it is tall, so designing them horizontally makes it so much easier to view. As for scaling them, since SBG's DB2.0 format seems to have a max pixel width of about 720, if I were to make them small enough to fit, most of them would be roughly 240p or less in height; the quality drop would be massive.
I'm pretty sure I should take offense at that. I'm a fantasy writer and not a few of my swords are designed for my novels. That said, if Paolini didn't insist on great honking gems in the pommels, the swords in Inheritance (based on the only two he described in detail, Zar'roc and Brisignr) would actually be serviceable weapons, at least the way I picture them.
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Post by Deleted on Dec 24, 2013 12:33:57 GMT
But Sir! George R.R. Martin and all the glorious old ones of course: Fritz Leiber, Karl Edward Wagner, Robert E. Howard...
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Aaron
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Post by Aaron on Dec 26, 2013 3:47:58 GMT
Not too difficult to rotate it once finished, then rotate it back once you've finished uploading it.
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Post by Vincent Dolan on Dec 26, 2013 7:51:24 GMT
It'd actually be easier to just rotate them in Photobucket after uploading them. We'd still run into the size problems, though; my designs are so long (they average about 4500 pixels long) that it'd probably take about five minutes to scroll through one page.
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Post by Vincent Dolan on Jan 1, 2014 23:20:25 GMT
Being the new year and all, I figured I'd post a few more designs from my Arthur collection; particularly since I don't have much else to do today. Until the image scaling issue gets resolved, to view the designs in full, right click on them and select "View Image".Overall Length: 38" Blade Length: 31" Blade Width: 2 1/4" @ base; 1 1/4" @ profile taper (8 13/16" from tip); 3/8" @ 1" from tip Grip Length: 4" Guard Width: 7" Pommel Length: 2 1/2" (1 3/4" wide) In many sources, the sword of Lancelot isn't named or even really described, save for a single battle wherein he borrows a sword from Arthur; a few, however, call his sword Arondight. Because Lancelot is such an integral character to the Arthurian legend and, indeed, to the story in my head, I felt he deserved a named sword, even if the weapon itself was rather plain. And so, I decided to call it Arondight after those few sources. I began designing Arondight without a clear picture in my head of what I wanted, beyond that I felt a Type XVI blade was appropriate. Oakeshott records the XVI as first appearing in 1300 and disappearing a half century later in 1350, meaning it was actually in use longer than its larger brother, the XVIa. It features a Style 6 cross and a Type T pommel, meaning there's virtually nothing unusual about this sword from a historical perspective. The specific proportions of the blade were actually inspired by the Angus Trim Maker's Mark XVI in the collection of our very own Mike Harris. Overall Length: 37 3/4" Blade Length: 30" Blade Width: 2 1/4" @ base; 1 3/8" @ profile taper (2" from tip); 1 1/8" @ 1" from tip Grip Length: 5 1/4" Guard Width: 7 3/4" Pommel Length: 2 1/8" (2" wide) Sir Ector is a somewhat less well known character from Arthurian myth, but is a knight of the round table, as well as Arthur's foster father; he's most notable as being the first to swear fealty to Arthur following the latter's removal of the sword from the stone. Despite such a small part in the overall legends, I feel he could use greater characterization, having had such a hand in shaping Arthur's early years. I pictured him as being somewhat stern, but also a caring man, a country lord who is frugal, yet magnanimous to take in an orphan no questions asked. Being as Ector is the foster father of Arturia, as well as having the characteristics I pictured above, I believe a somewhat older style of sword that was more utilitarian than anything would be the most fitting, so I chose a Type XIII; Oakeshott records it as first appearing in 1240 and disappearing over a century later in 1350, meaning that it would be seen as slightly old fashioned, but still in popular use, so to speak, so it wouldn't set him apart too much. The pommel is a Type I while the guard is a Style 6, so again, as with Arondight, there is nothing historically unusual about this sword, though historical accuracy in what amounts to a fantasy novel doesn't mean much. Overall Length: 44 5/8" Blade Length: 36" Blade Width: 2 1/4" @ base; 1 1/4" @ profile taper (3" from tip); 3/4" @ 1" from tip Grip Length: 7" Guard Width: 7" Pommel Length: 1 5/16" (2 5/8" wide) And now the grandaddy of them all, after a fashion: the sword of Uther Pendragon; or rather, Uther Fendraeg as the name appears in my head. In all versions of the legend, Uther is the father of Arthur by way of the Lady Igraine. According to the earlier legends, Igraine was the wife of Gorlois, one of Uther's enemies, whom he tricked into sleeping with him with the help of Merlin, making Arthur a bastard. In later legends, Arthur's conception happens after Gorlois' death, upon which Uther marries Igraine, legitimizing Arthur, though both versions agree that the act of conception happened the same night that Uther's men dispatched Gorlois. Other than this one fact, Uther is a fairly ambiguous character in the Arthurian legend, though he is oft described as a strong king and a defender of the people. Due to his status as a king and the biological father of Arturia, I pictured him carrying a large warsword of an old style that was richly decorated, though nowhere near as gaudy as was popular with later Renaissance period swords. As such, I chose a Type XIIa profile for his blade, a style that Oakeshott records as first appearing in 1250 and not falling out of favor until 1400, giving it the second longest (recorded) period of time, usage wise (the one handed variant, the Type XII, holds the longest at 180 years, from 1170-1350). The pommel is a Type A and the guard is a Style 1, both of which could have been found on the XIIa, though I can't think of any example of the former being found on a longsword. That's all for now, folks; ja mata.
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Post by Vincent Dolan on Jan 22, 2014 0:39:47 GMT
So folks, been a couple weeks since my last update, seeing as I kept forgetting to post these. Anyways! As there are only four swords left in my Arthurian collection, I'll be posting them all rather than stringing this out any longer so I don't forget to post something. Now, without further ado, here they are: Overall Length: 33 1/8" Blade Length: 28" Blade Width: 2 7/8" @ base; 1 3/4" @ profile taper (8" from tip); 1/2" @ 1" from tip Grip Length: 3 3/4" Guard Width: 7" Pommel Length: 1 3/4" (2 5/8" wide) In the Arthurian legends, Sir Bedevere is best remembered as the Knight of the Round Table who returns Excalibur to the Lady of the Lake following Arthur's death in the Battle of Camlann, but in the Welsh tradition of the story, he is known as Bedwyr Bedrydant (Bedwyr of the Perfect Sinews) and is described as an exceptionally handsome, one-handed knight who uses dark magic to subdue his enemies with great skill and aggression; he was feared because of this and his hanging was called for again and again, but Arthur refused as he held him in high regards. If I were to ever write this story, my Bedevere would be a mixture of the two traditions. For the sword of Bedevere, I chose a Type XIV, which was popular from about 1275 to 1340, a period of 65 years; my primary purpose in choosing it, however, was to pay homage to the character's disability: anything requiring two hands, be it a sword or style of fencing, would be out of the question, so a relatively short and broad sword that is slightly better at cutting than thrusting seemed perfect for him. The guard is a Style 7, though the pommel is an extremely a-historical Type C variant; I chose it, as well as the color scheme, for its somewhat menacing appearance compared to the near universal wheel pommel found on so many other swords as another homage to the character's reputation. SWORDOverall Length: 38" Blade Length: 32" Blade Width: 2" @ base; 1 1/2" @ profile taper (3 1/2" from tip); 1" @ 1" from tip Grip Length: 4" Guard Width: 7" Pommel Length: 1 5/8" (2 3/4" wide) KNIFEOverall Length: 9" Blade Length: 5" Blade Width: 1 5/16" @ base; 3/4" @ 1" from tip Grip Length: 3 3/8" Guard Width: N/A Pommel Length: N/A Sir Gawain is King Arthur's nephew, by way of his sister Morgause and King Lot, and is described as a great many things in the sagas. He is formidable, courteous, compassionate, and fiercely loyal to king and family. He is a friend to his junior knights, defender of the poor, and "the Maiden's Knight", a defender of women, as well. He is also described as having an exemplary knowledge of herbs that make him a superb healer. It is primarily this last aspect that fueled my interpretation of the character. I pictured him as being something of a wanderer, going from place to place, helping the sick and poor and I felt that a sword with a relatively gentle appearance, as well as a useful by-knife, fit that image. To this end, I chose a Type Xa for his blade, a style that dates back to the vikings, enjoying usage until about 1200. The pommel is a Type M, also hearkening back to the lobed pommels found on viking swords, though the guard is a curved Style 1, giving it a somewhat more modern feel. The by-knife, by comparison, is based on something I found through Google that I really liked the shape of; it reminded me of the roach belly trade knives found in the American frontier of the 17th-18th centuries. Overall Length: 38" Blade Length: 32" Blade Width: 2 1/4" @ base; 1" @ profile taper (9 1/2" from tip); 1/4" @ 1" from tip Grip Length: 3 3/4" Guard Width: 7 1/2" Pommel Length: 2" diameter Galahad is an interesting character in the Arthurian legends; the illegitimate son of Lancelot and Elaine of Corbenic, who took on the appearance of Queen Guinevere, yet despite this, he is renowned for his purity and gallantry. He is also the only knight to survive the Siege Perilous (an unused seat kept vacant for the one who will accomplish the Grail Quest and is fatal to all others), as well as pulling a sword from a stone, much like Arthur himself did to become king. When he passes these tests with ease, he is instantly declared to be the greatest knight ever and promptly made a member of the Round Table. Now, between you and me, that sounds suspiciously like what we call a "Mary Sue" these days, so the Galahad I envisioned for my story is quite a bit different. Anyways, the sword of Galahad, I think, reflects his characterization in the original legends. I felt a Type XV, popular from 1290 to 1415, was rather fitting, as the thrust is oft portrayed as more elegant than the slash, perhaps thanks to the help of swashbuckling films wherein the rapier is king. Despite that, it is still quite useful as a cutting weapon. The pommel is a G1, a strongly convex disc pommel with floral designs, reflecting the character's purity; it came about in the second quarter of the 15th century and seems to be solely Italian, but I think a few liberties can be taken for a fantasy story, no? The guard is borrowed from the Albion Prince and doesn't conform to any single style, but it could be considered a variant of the Style 8 if you cocked your head to the side and squinted just right. Overall Length: 34 1/4" Blade Length: 28" Blade Width: 1 3/4" @ base; 1 1/2" @ profile taper (7 1/4" from tip); 3/8" @ 1" from tip Grip Length: 4" Guard Width: 6 1/4" Pommel Length: 2" diameter Lastly, King Lot. In the legends, Lot is a very important character to the story, yet is, at the same time, quite minor; he is often portrayed as the father of both Gawain and Mordred, meaning his overall impact to the legend is an extreme one, yet his personal impact is negligible, rarely receiving a mention compared to his sons. As such, I decided that his sword should stand apart from the rest, an indication of his status as something of an outsider. To that end, I went with a falchion which is a mix of styles. The hilt is, quite obviously, based on that of the falchion in the painting St. Michael and the Dragon by Antonio del Pollaiuolo, which I've had a soft spot for for quite some time, while the blade is based on a scaled up version of the one found on the old Windlass Steelcrafts Archer's Falchion. That's it, ladies and gents; ja mata.
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Post by Vincent Dolan on Mar 28, 2014 3:43:11 GMT
So, long time no post. I've got two new designs today that I hope you'll find interesting; one of which I'm considering using for one of my characters. Overall Length: 37 5/16" Blade Length: 30" Blade Width: 2 1/4" @ base; 2 3/4" @ profile taper/cusp (7 3/4" from tip); 9/16" @ 1" from tip Grip Length: 4 3/4" Guard Width: 6 3/4" Pommel Length: 2 3/16" including peen block (2" wide) When it comes to one handed swords, so far I've found that I greatly prefer only a single edge which, when combined with my preference for European styled swords, means falchions. I decided I wanted to design a falchion that appealed to my aesthetics and that's how this sword came into being. The blade is heavily inspired by a Peter Johnsson blade, which you can see here; it's really quite a nice blade and I love the subtle curve to it. Anyways, while designing this sword, I thought about making it a true bastard sword, optimized for single-handed use, but just long enough to be wielded in two hands, so I lengthened the grip; it's about an inch longer than most of the single hander grips I design and, when combined with the pommel, provides approximately 7" of total grippable space. The guard is a Style 11, though it wasn't actually my first choice for this sword, nor was the Type J pommel (the same one from my Caliburn, minus the antiquing). I originally thought to combine the guard from my Merovingian XIVa and the fishtail pommel from Mé'aré. The pommel was an almost immediate flop as it didn't look right with a straight taper grip, while the guard didn't look too bad, but I felt it looked to small for such a beefy blade. And lastly, the false edge, which is 15" in length, should prove more than enough for the variety of false edge strikes prevalent throughout WMA. As for the name of this blade, well, I couldn't think of anything fancy or appropriate, so I decided to simply call it the Falx, the Latin base for falchion. Overall Length: 54 5/8" Blade Length: 42" Blade Width: 2" @ base; 1 9/16" @ profile taper (3 5/8" from tip); 3/4" @ 1" from tip Grip Length: 10" Guard Width: 5 1/8" Pommel Length: 2" (1 3/4" wide) Here's an interesting sword with an odd story: in my fist novel, I have a character who, when introduced to the protagonist, is part of a crime family (for lack of a better term) and I've almost always pictured him using an exceptionally large sword. For the longest time, I've pictured him carrying a nodachi rested on his shoulders, but I got to thinking today and realized how out of place that would be; all the swords in this world are either European or European-themed fantasy blades, so a glaringly Japanese sword would stand out quite a bit. I started pondering how to give him the best of both worlds and this sword is the result of that. Unfortunately, one part of it didn't come out quite as well as I'd hoped, but, well, there's not much I could do about that with my skill. The blade is the same one used on my Sorin - Dai sword, the two-handed pseudo-Viking saber I designed some time ago for another character, albeit with an extra 8" in blade length; I also lengthened the grip by 3 1/4" to give it a bit more leverage (it's of a size with Albion's Tyrolean). The pommel is a modified version of the one found on my Vanguard sword, which I felt appropriate, as they're both intended to be Euro/katana hybrids, albeit of a different scale. The guard, which is honestly the focal point of the design, is also the part that didn't come out as well as I'd hoped, sadly. I don't think it looks bad, but unless you look extremely closely, it just looks like a squat, bulky crosspiece. The idea was to expand upon the side-ring only guard found on my Vanguard sword by adding an additional pair of rings, essentially making it the European answer to the lobed sukashi tsuba. Due to the length of the blade, I opted to forgo a traditional scabbard and went with a back scabbard modified from one I found through Google Images. Unlike most so-called back scabbards, which are ridiculously impractical, this design only requires you to draw the sword 8" before it is free of the scabbard. Additionally, there are posts near the hilt to lock in the guard (a feature of the original back scabbard this one was based on), keeping it from moving or bouncing out of the scabbard; in this instance, the posts slip through the fore-n-aft rings (for lack of a better term, since "side" rings refer to the rings along the flat of the blade), further locking it in place. Lastly, to avoid some generic name like "great saber", which was the first idea to pop into my head while trying to name it, I decided to name it in Japanese as a nod to its roots as a nodachi. As such, I call this sword Seitau, which translates, quite loosely I might add, to "Western Katana". In Japanese, the kanji for 'west' is 西 and is normally read nishi when on its own, but when part of another word, can be read as either sei (as in seireki or Western calendar) or sai (as in Kansai, the Western region of Japan where Kyoto and Osaka are located); following this is the kanji for 'sword', which is 刀 and is normally read as katana (yes, that one), but there exists a reading based on the Chinese pronunciation that is transliterated as "tau", which I decided to use because it's different (and the other option, to, would make it seito, a homophone for "student"). I've got a couple other designs in mind, though I haven't gotten around to actually rendering them yet, so until I do, that's all for now, folks; ja mata.
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