WEAPONS OF THE TUCHUKSThe Wagon People have a warrior culture. Most weapons used by the Wagon People have been modified in some way to allow them to be optimally used while fighting on kaiila-back. Weapons unsuitable for mounted combat, such as the sword, are rarely used by the Wagon People. is a weapon peculiar to the Wagon People. It consists of three long straps of leather, each terminating in a leather sack which contains, sewn inside, a heavy, round, metal weight. It was probably developed for hunting the tumit, a huge, flightless carnivorous bird of the plains, but the Wagon Peoples use it also, and well, as a weapon of war. The technique for attacking with the bola calls for an extremely quick victim. It is thrown low, so that it wraps around the legs of the victim. The swiftness of the attack combined with the bola's ten-foot sweep makes it almost impossible to evade. The leather straps strike the victim and immediately tangle around the legs. The weight of the metal balls pulling the leather taut. The force is such that the victim's legs can actually be broken by the clinch of the straps. Thus bound, the victim is an easy mark for the Wagon warrior, who leaps from his mount and slits his throat with one sweep of the quiva. Variations to this basic technique may include throwing the bola so that it binds the victim's arms to his sides; throwing of the bola at the throat, causing it to crush the windpipe and/or strangles the victim. The most difficult feat using a bola is wrapping it around the victim's head. The metal weights would then crush the skull. The lance of the Wagon People are made from of the wood of young tem trees and generally black in color. The lance is supple and may bent almost double without breaking. A mounted warrior holds the lance lightly in his right fist. It is secured by a loop of bosk-hide wrapped twice around the hand. The lance can be handled very deftly and is rarely thrown. To effectively use a lance, you must practice short thrusts instead of long charges at full tilt. The lance is never couched against the saddle. When not in use, it is carried on the warrior's back. The quiva is another weapon common among the Wagon People. It is a balanced throwing knife, generally matched in sets of seven. The kaiila saddles of the Wagon People have seven sheaths for carrying these knives. The blades are double-edged and tapered, honed to a razor sharpness and mounted in handles of bosk horn or bone. The Wagon People do no metalworking of their own. Most of their blades are forged in the smithies of Ar. A quiva can be thrown with deadly accuracy, but it can also be used as a hand-held weapon for slicing, thrusting and piercing. Although primarily a saddle knife, the quiva is also carried by most of the Freewomen. The Horn BowThe Wagon People are highly skilled with the horn bow. This bow is small, powerful and made of bosk-horn then reinforced with strips of leather from the bosk. The lacquered quivers are narrow and rectangular in shape and hold some forty arrows kept at the ready. Trained in the use of this weapon from earliest childhood, the wagon people can hit their target as easily from a running kaiila gallop as when standing still.
The Wagon warrior also carries a rope of braided bosk-hide coiled on one side of his kaiila saddle and a small round shield of leather, lacquered in the color of one's tribe. A conical iron helm surrounded by a camail, or covering, of chainmail, usually of multi-colored links. Although some Wagon People have mastered the art of swordsmanship, through mercenary service in some of the great cities of Gor, the sword is not in general use on the Plains. The same holds true for the saber. It must be remembered that the prime consideration for warriors of the Wagon Peoples is the efficiency of a given weapon in mounted combat. Another trait of the Wagon People is their preference for weapons that can be used at long range. The sword and saber are short-range weapons, and reckoned to be unsuitable for the wide expanses of the open plains. |
