The weapons of the Red Savages are simple yet very effective. The following are descriptions of the weapons the Warriors of Yellow Knives use, also included are some of the other weapons of Gor that may be seen. The Red Savages prefer their own weapons as far superior over anything the White Man (Waisicu) might dream up, yet they are included here as some might have been acquired in trade.
The small bow or shortbow can be fired and drawn rapidly. Used with great skill by the Red Savages
from kaiila back. It is often carved from a single, flexible piece of tem wood or ka-la-na wood,
though such peoples as the Wagon Peoples and the Red Savages can craft shortbows of layered wood and
horn, which gives such bows much greater strength and durability.
The small bow has many advantages.
High among these is the rapidity with which it may be fired.
A skilled warrior, in the Gorean gravity, can fire ten arrows into the
air, the last leaving the bow before the first has returned to the earth. No Gorean weapon can match
it in its rate of fire. At close range it can be devastating. Two further advantages of the small bow that
might be mentioned are its maneuverability and its capacity to be conceled, say beneath a robe. It can be
easily swept from one side of the kaiila to the other. In this type of combat, incidently, it is not
unusual for the warrior to shield himself behind the body of his racing kaiila and circling the enemy, rise up suddenly
to fire over the animals back or from beneath it's neck. A heel over the animals back
and a fist in it's silken neck hair, or an arm thrust through a leather throat hoop, provide the leverage needed
for these feats.
WAR ARROW:
HUNTING ARROW:
The hunting arrow has a long tapering point firmly fastened to the shaft thereby making it easier to
withdraw from its target.
The war arrow uses an arrowhead whose base is either angled backwards, forming barbs, or cut straight
across, the result in both cases, making the arrow difficult to withdraw from a wound.
The head is less firmly attached to the shaft making it more likely to break off and remain in the wound.
The hunting arrow, incidentally, has a long, tapering point, and this point is firmly fastened to the shaft. This makes it easier to withdraw the arrow from its target. The war arrow, on the other hand, uses an arrowhead whose base is either angled backwards, forming barbs, or cut straight across, the result in both cases being to make the arrow difficult to extract from the wound. The head of the war arrow too, is fastened less securely to the shaft than is that of the hunting arrow. The point thus, by intent, if the shaft is pulled out, is likely to linger in the wound.Sometimes it is possible to thrust the arrow through the body, break off the point and then withdraw the shaft backwards. At other times, if the point becomes dislodged in the body, it is common to seek it with a bone or greenwood probe, and then, when one has found it, attenpt to work it free with a knife. There are cases where men have survived this. Much depends, of course, on the location of the point.
The heads of certain war arrows and hunting arrows differ, too, at least in the case of certain warriors, in an interesting way, with respect to the orientation of the plane of the point to the plane of the nock. In these war arrows, the plane of the point is perpendicular to the plane of the nock. In level shooting, then, the plane of the point is roughly parallel to the ground. In these hunting arrows, on the other hand, the plane of the point is parallel to the plane of the nock. In level shooting, then, the plane of the point is roughly perpendicular to the ground. The reason for these different orientations is particularly telling at close ranges, before the arrow begins to turn in the air. The ribs of the kailiauk are vertical to the ground; the ribs of the human are horizontal to the ground.
Book 17: Savages of Gor, page 40 - 41
WAR LANCE: (common of Yellow Knives)
The war lance is a long slender spear, eight to ten feet long, designed to be used from the saddle of
a rider on kaillaback. These lances are not used couched, but rather carried in the right fist, easily,
and are flexible and light. Used primarily for thrusting. They are heavily carved and decorated,
cut from the poles of young tem trees, and so flexible that they may be bent
almost double before they break. A loose loop of kaillaiuk hide, wound twice about
the right fist, helps the user to retain the weapon in mounted combat. It is seldom, if ever, thrown.
I then handed him the lance from the grass. It was metal-bladed, with a long trade point, some nine inches in length. It was riveted in the haft at two places and reinforced with rawhide bindings. The nature of theses bindings and the three lateral red marks near the head of the shaft marked it as Kailla. The binding was traditional; the marks were an explicit convention, signifying the Kailla, the Cutthroat tribe. Other marks upon it, which might have signified an owner, had been scratched away, probably with the edge of an knife. No feathers were attached to the lance. Never as yet, it seemed, had it touched an enemy.
Book 17: Savages of Gor, page 333
HUNTING LANCE: (common of Yellow Knives)
TARN LANCE: (common of Yellow Knives)
The tarn lance is similar in most respects to the war lance, except that it is longer and more slender,
to facilitate easier use from tarnback.
SPEAR: (common of Yellow Knives)
The spear is similar in most respects to the common Gorean spear, though often it is found tipped with
carved bone or shaped stone, rather than metal. It is also highly carved and decorated, according to
tribal custom.
The staff usually 10 feet long, very sturdy, and rather light for quick attacks and parry's. Made from temwood, an excellent weapon in Sport Spar.
WAR CLUB: (common of Yellow Knives)
The war club is a carved, shaped club of wood or bone, often mounted with a stone or metal head of some
sort. This weapon is approximately two to three feet in length and may have nails or blades in it.
The other drew back a heavy club, the termination of which contained a heavy, wooden, ball-like knob. They were preparing, apparently, to dash out my brains.
Book 17: Savages of Gor, page 288
The knife blades and long nails are sometimes mounted into clubs. The blades, of course, may also be fitted into carved handles of wood and bone.
Book 17: Savages of Gor, page 145
CANHPI (tomahawk): (common of Yellow Knives)
This weapon consists of a shaped wooden handle up to two feet in
length, capped with a narrow hatchet-type blade comprised either of
sharpened metal, shaped stone or obsidian glass. Often carved with
ceremonial inscriptions. Can be used as a hand weapon, often in conjunction with a shield of
dried rawhide over a wood frame, or thrown as a missle weapon. It is gives a particularly vicious
attack.
At the left side of Hci's face, at the chin, there was an irregular, jagged scar, some two inches in length. ...... It had been given to him by a Yellow Knife in mounted combat, the result of a stroke by a long-handled, stone-bladed tomahawk, or canhpi.
Book 18: Blood Brothers of Gor, page 9
TRADE AX: (common of Yellow Knives)
An axe used more for work around the camp rather than a weapon. It has a long handle and a single blade.
A long-handled, single-bladed ax was pressed into her hands. It was a trade ax. Its back was blunted, for the driving of pegs, stakes and wedges.
Book 18: Blood Brothers of Gor, page 35
TURF KNIFE:
The turf knife is a wooden-bladed, saw-edged, paddle-like tool, used to cut and saw sod. When
the handle is held in the right hand and the blade is supported with the left, it may be used as a shovel.
She placed the turf knife in the pit, through the hole which we had left as its entrance. The turf knife is a wooden-bladed, saw-edged, paddlelike tool. It is used to cut and saw sod, and, when the handle is held in the right hand and the blade is supported with the left, it may be used, also, rather like a shovel, to move dirt.
Book 18: Blood Brothers of Gor, page 311
SLEEN KNIFE:
This is a broad bladed, flat, double edged utility knife
equipped with a simple stubby crossguard and unadorned pommel. Much favored
by hunters and woodsmen, it is equally suited for use as a camping and
skinning knife, prying tool, and as a weapon in single combat.
TARN KNIFE:
This is a short bladed, single edged utility knife
typically used by tarnsmen and generally included among their
saddle equipment. Some versions of such knives are designed so that the
blade folds into the handle for safety when not in use. Often equipped with
a lanyard so that it may be lashed to the tarnsman's saddle or belt, to
prevent its loss while in flight.
QUIVA:
The quiva is a narrow double-edged blade of between 9 and 12 inches in length mounted on a shaped
handle of wood, bone, or horn. It is honed to razor sharpness, and its blade tapers to a needle point.
Designed for use primarily as a throwing knife, the quiva is also perfectly functional as a hand weapon
and general utility knife. It is mostly used by the nomadic Wagon Peoples of the
southern hemisphere, who will carry matched sets of seven in special sheaths attached to their kailla
saddles.
I was most fond, perhaps, of the balanced saddle knife the quiva; it is almost a foot in length, double-edged; it tapers to a daggerlike point. I acquired, I think, skill in its use. At forty feet I could strike a thrown tospit; at hundred feet I could strike a layered boskhide disk,about four inches in width, fastened to a lance stuck in the turf.
Book 4: Nomads of Gor, page 67
GOREAN SHORT SWORDS:
The Gorean short sword is the basic weapon of all warriors of Gor. Approximatly twenty to twenty-two
inches in length from hilt tip to blade tip, the blade is doubled-edged, and leaf shaped ... narrower
at the hilt base and then widening to a width of three or four inches and then descending
to a curved and pointed tip. The grip is generally either of polished wood or leather covered wood,
with an oval cross-guard. The Gorean short sword is hand forged of hight carbon steel.
The leaf shaped blade is ideal for thrusting ... Perfect for close combat, its point giving it
excellent armor penetrating properties. It is generally carried, in a sheath slung over the
left shoulder by means of a leather harness, but may also be worn at the hip.
Shields are made from the hide of the kailiauk, from the thick hide of the back of the neck. It is a
belief of the Red Savages that if they are unworthy, or do not speak the truth, that their shield will
not protect them. The shields are small, round shields inscribed with medicine signs.
"One's shield might betray one," said Cuwignaka.
I regarded Cuwignaka.
"Yes," said Cuwignaka. "It is a well known fact. One's shield may choose not to defend one, if one is a liar."
"Shields do not behave like that outside of the Barrens," I told Cuwignaka, smiling.
"You are skeptical, I see," said Cuwignaka. "Well, be assured, my friend, I am speaking of the shields of the peoples of the Barrens and within the Barrens. These are not your ordinary shields. These are made with the aid of spells. The medicines of war are important in their construction and designs. They are not merely equipment, not merely contraptions of metal or leather. They are holy. They are precious. They are friends and allies. Surely you have seen them suspended from tripods behind the lodges, being sunned?"
"Yes," I admitted.
"That is to soak up power from the sun."
Book 18: Blood Brothers of Gor, page 175-176
It consists of three long straps of leather, each about five feet long, each terminating in a leather sack which contains, sewn inside, a heavy round metal weight. Developed for hunting fleet-footed and flighted game it is also used as a weapon of war. Thrown low the long straps, with their approximate ten-foot sweep, strike the victim and the weighted balls, as soon as resistance is met, whip about the victim's legs, tangling and tightening the straps. Thrown high it can pin a man's arms to his sides; thrown at the throat it can strangle him; thrown at the head the whipping weights can crush his skull. Once a victim is entangled with the bola, typically another weapon, usually a quiva, is then utilized to dispatch the victim if he or she still lives. There is also a bladed bola used more to kill than to capture. Also employed as a game where inahans are ordered to run while the Masters attempt to ensnare them with the bola.
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