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Post by Horsie on Apr 5, 2015 0:31:48 GMT
I don't think axes are very good at penetrating though, they're best against unarmoured targets, thrusting weapons are ideal for armour.
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Post by Canuovea on Apr 5, 2015 0:50:25 GMT
Axes are not actually particularly good for that. War axe blades are thin things and, like swords, quite likely to glance off if you hit at a bad angle. Your best bet for getting through that kind of armour would be to stab upwards, getting under the scales (either the leather, metal, or natural).
I could be wrong. But I thought that was the case.
Perhaps, instead of axes, they'd use a weapon that is spiked? Like the back end of a warhammer... If you make it heavy enough, it should be able to focus enough force on a point to force its way through the armour at the back or front. So it would be like an axe, but instead of a cutting head, it would be a large pointed spike with a weight at the back? You'd swing it in a bit of an arc to increase the impact and piercing power.
My original vision was a small number of very competent, well outfitted, well trained, military units backed up by mostly pike and spear and shield militia with shoddy equipment.
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Post by Harkovast on Apr 5, 2015 0:55:51 GMT
Don't people use maces against armoured enemies? That's a thing, isn't it?
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Post by Canuovea on Apr 5, 2015 1:01:12 GMT
Against plate. I'm not sure how maces would fair against scale, to be honest. Even if they were effective, they would be quite slow and probably overkill. I was just now thinking about something like this: An ice climber's type pick. Something like that would probably be able to go through their armour, definitely better than an axe.
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Post by StyxD on Apr 5, 2015 17:41:42 GMT
But, for example, are boys forbidden from owning lamps? They have to find a wife, or else it's darkness for the rest of their lives? Ditto for girls and gems, but gems seem at lest somewhat secondary for day-to-day survival.
But why does it automatically mean "yes men"? Do their culture highly values this "merging of gems" as some sort of social ritual? If so, then why stick to monogamy? More men together mean more gems together, and apparently they don't see those marriages as "establishing a household" anyway, as you've said.
On the other hand, I get how women with no need for a lamp - while regular women would have to learn to and make them through work - could be seen as somewhat "transcendent", and hence being relegated to more academic roles.
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Post by Canuovea on Apr 5, 2015 19:20:50 GMT
Good questions.
The thing with the lamps is that they allow you to go into the caves outside the village where you live. Most city streets and squares are lit by larger lamps/lanterns that were a collaborative project between groups of the village's women. So children can be out of the house, but can't explore beyond the village/city limits (marked by the edge of the lights).
A Gooraf who doesn't get married would be considered strange at best and undermining their culture at worst. Though at a certain age, they may be able to rent lamps or test new ones for the women.
As for why the nobles have gone all "yes men"... it isn't entirely logical, but it has become tradition. It probably started off with an actual gay couple getting powerful because they merged their gems and evolved from there.
But why not more? Polygamy hasn't occurred to them for the most part. Society wouldn't accept it on one hand, and on the other... polygamy is dangerous from a relationship perspective. Most societies that practiced it had it involve lots of one subordinate group in society with one of the more privileged group. Women were generally treated as cattle back in the day when it was more common. But nobles are equal.
Can polygamy work just fine and ethically? Sure, perhaps, I don't know. But in this case not so much as it adds more decision makers to the equation. Does that make sense? Or am I just rambling?
There is also something else. Why do they live underground?
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Post by StyxD on Apr 5, 2015 19:41:57 GMT
Or start making their own. Lamp suffrage, who would have thought?
I suppose it's reasonable.
Thing is, why make it sexual at all? Though I suppose their society is rather asinine when it comes to marriage, so they might push it this way. Thing is, if majority of the nobles were not gay, they might resist such tradition being established. And they are the ruling body.
Canouvea, dwarves never need justification. They're that awesome.
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Post by Horsie on Apr 5, 2015 19:51:04 GMT
Their ancient legends tell of the sun's wrath. Something like this;
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Post by Canuovea on Apr 5, 2015 19:53:40 GMT
Lamp suffrage would be much like actual suffrage in the real world. It would be a social movement that would challenge the established norms... But technically, both men and women could make lamps and deal with gems. So it is possible.
The marriage... it might not have to be sexual, it depends on the nobles involved. But it would be somewhat expected by others.
Well, there are ruins above ground. Whose ruins? What relation to the Gooraf do those ruins have, if any? Lots of questions.
Edit: Renard, remember, the sun is a dick. Totally possible.
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Post by StyxD on Apr 5, 2015 19:56:14 GMT
Also, because the sun is garish and they're only into tasteful light sources. Or because it's all a misandrist conspiracy, because without lamps women have no value at all! (I've been reading too much Mammoth lately, pardon me)
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Post by Horsie on Apr 5, 2015 19:57:29 GMT
It ate the other stars, and when the people still refused to acknowledge it's greatness (or perhaps shunned it for eating the other stars) it burned them, ideally with lasers from it's eyes.
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Post by Canuovea on Apr 5, 2015 19:58:47 GMT
Misandrist conspiracy... well, the women are the keepers of knowledge. The Male nobles are, after all, just playing with their magic. Arguably, the women are the ones really running things.
Edit: Yeah, Renard. And that is also why the stars hide during the day when the sun is out. And eclipses are battles between sun and moon.
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Post by Harkovast on Apr 6, 2015 0:36:03 GMT
Okay I've been thinking and I know whats missing with these guys.
I don't get what they are about, what the fundamental important things are to them.
Like the way Shulway value their secret rituals and traditions, and Darsai value their chivalry and Tsung-Dao want an ordered life, junlocks crave freedom.
What is most important to these guys? What defines them and their world view? What do they want most from life?
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Post by Canuovea on Apr 6, 2015 1:24:28 GMT
The nobility crave the pursuit of magic, skill, and power. The bright women crave truth and knowledge. The people prosperity and light.
Most though, as a unifying factor, all love beauty and beautification. Not just beauty in light and gems, but also in the growing of things. Their caves are decorated by plants and trees sustained and shaped by gardeners using nature magic. The lanterns made by the women are individual representations of skill and craft. As are the gems, cut and shaped to be more than just conduits for magic but also pleasing to the eye.
It is just that some find beauty and artistry in different things.
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Post by zaealix on Apr 6, 2015 1:24:28 GMT
Can't be gems because those are both: In short supply and hard to learn. As in: Not everyone will have the actual ability to learn it... Money? Become a Noble. Which requires shining which is probably a thing you're born with... *snickers* Maybe they want to blow up the sun and the various cities/governmental differences represent different approaches to it?
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