The bola 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 is as follows: It is thrown low, so that it wraps around the legs of the victim.With its ten-foot sweep, and the swiftness of the throw, it is 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 tight. 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 include the throwing of the bola so that it binds the victim's arms to his sides; the throwing of the bola at the throat, so that it crushes the windpipe and/or strangles the victim, and the most difficult of the casts: the throwing of the bola so that it wraps around the victim's head, the metal weights crushing the skull.
The lances of the Wagon People are black and are made of the wood of young tem trees. They are so supple that they can be bent almost double without breaking. A mounted warrior holds the lance lightly in his right fist, where it is secured by a loop of bosk-hide wrapped twice around the hand. It is used like a saber in hand-to-hand combat, and can be handled very deftly. It is very rarely thrown. It is used for short thrusts, not for long charges at full tilt, and is never couched against the saddle. When not in use, it is carried on the warrior's back.
The quiva is another weapon peculiar to 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 the carrying of 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 slitting, thrusting and piercing. Although primarily a saddle knife, the quiva is also carried by most of the Freewomen of Gor.
The Wagon People are skilled with a small, powerful bow made of bosk-horn, and reinforced with strips of leather from that animal. They carry as well narrow lacquered rectangular quivers in which some forty arrows are kept at the ready. Trained in the use of this weapon from earliest childhood, they can hit their target as easily from a running kaiila gallop as when standing still.
Miscellaneous Items
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, as well as 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. Neither is the saber. It must be remembered that the prime consideration for warriors of the Wagon Peoples is the efficacy of a given weapon in mounted combat. Another peculiarity of the Wagon People is their preference for weapons that can be used at long range; hence, lances, bows, throwing-knives and bolas. The sword and saber are short-range weapons, and reckoned to be unsuitable for the wide expanses of the open plains.
Some quotes on Weapons
"He
was very erect in the saddle. His lance remained on his
back, but he carried in his right hand the small,
powerful horn bow of the Wagon Peoples and attached to
his saddle was a lacquered, narrow, rectangular quiver
containing as many as forty arrows. On the saddle there
also hung, on one side, a coiled rope of braided boskhide
and, on the other, a long, three-weighted bola of the
sort used in hunting tumits and men; in the saddle
itself, on the right side, indicating the rider must be
right-handed, were the seven sheaths for the most
legendary quivas, the balanced saddleknives of the
prairie. It was said a youth of the Wagon Peoples was
taught the bow, the quiva and the lance before their
parents would consent to give him a name, for names are
precious among the Wagon Peoples, as among Goreans in
general, and they are not to be wasted on someone who is
likely to die, one who cannot well handle the weapons of
the hunt and war. Until the youth has mastered the bow,
the quiva and the lance he is simply known as the first,
or the second, and so on, son of such and such a
father."
From Nomads of Gor, pg
11
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