Weapons

Here is where you will find information about various weapons in the 15th Realm of secrets.

## Berini Weapons

### **Axes**

##### **Penetration Axe**

The axe was one of the most common and important weapons in the Berini weapons arsenal. It was at first made of bronze but when steel and iron technology started showing up in the Berinus Basin at 128 B.B, they started making them out of iron and steel. The Bronze versions were discarded from the Berini empire's military during Mario I's rule. He vastly preffered steel and iron over bronze and he used this advantageto expand his empire to include the surrounding Berini tribes who still liked using bronze and didn't force their fighting men to use steel or iron like he did.

##### **Axepick**

The axepick is the standard weapon that all Berini soldiers had since Mario I's reign. It is essentially a warpick and used as one with the axe part saved for more utilitarian purposes. Among the uses of the axepick: penetrating armor (spike), blunt force trauma (flat), chopping through shields (axe), chopping through portcullises when storming fortresses (axe), etc.

### **Daggers**

##### **Early design**

This early dagger design is simple but effective for stabbing. It's triangular blade is useful for penetrating padded armor and it's blade's rhomboid cross-section helps prevent the bronze blade from bending. This basic design proved it's worth for hundreds of years and even started to become produced with an iron or mild steel blade when it was replaced with a newer and better design.

#####  **Early Imperial design**

This dagger design replaced the old early design and was never made of bronze. It proved itself superior to the early design by being made exclusively out of iron or steel, the presence of a small crossguard and a pommel as well as narrower more penetrative point point which proved itself against maille armor which started gaining popularity in the region.

### **Spears**

##### **Tanged spear**

This early spear design was used before by the Berini before they figured out how to mount socketed spearheads on their spearshafts. Eventually, this design was replaced with one that had a socket which meant that the spearshaft was less likely to split down the middle in battle and be rendered useless. Nonetheless, it proved it's worth for hundreds of years by being able to pierce the hides of animals and the clothes and skins of people alike.

### **Swords**

##### **Early short sword**

This sword design has a bronze blade that is riveted to the hilt and has a quarter-length tang to provide additional stability. This sword has more reach and more cutting power than the dagger, but it isn't as unwieldy as the axe and doesn't have the stopping power of an axe. The leaf shaped blade allows thrusting as well as chopping and slicing. This blade's cross-section is flatter that of the dagger but it has a central ridge to give it rigidity. After a while the model was upgraded to being made of a single cast piece of bronze.

The sword arrived on the battlefield relatively late because of a few reasons:

The first - Unlike the dagger which is easily derived from the knife, the axe which is used as a tool or the spear which is used for hunting, the sword is a long knife specifically geared towards killing people.

The second - Making a long blade out of bronze isn't particularly easy at first because bronze is relatively soft and has a tendency to bend. You need to have a lot of familiarity with bronze to be able to achieve this feat (like using workhardening techniques).

The third - People already had a variety of weapons; the bow and sling for long range, the spear as a far reaching melee weapon and the axe, dagger and mace for short range melee weapons. People didn't feel the need to use swords for a while.

##### **Early long sword (not to be confused with longsword)**

The short sword was in use for a few centuries until Berini bronzeworking developed and they learned how to make longer bronze blades. This allowed the making of longer swords which essentially made them mid-reach melee weapons that made short work of unarmored opponents. This sword couldn't have a rivetted blade and as a result it was made with a tang that went through the hilt or as a single cast piece. As iron and steel working made an appearance, the iron/mild steel blades had to have a tang that went through the hilt and they could be made even longer.However, they still weren't very easy to produce and swords stayed as uncommon battlefield weapons while the more traditional weapons continued on in full vigour. The leaf shaped blade and the central ridge stayed as distinct design features because they were proven to work and craftsmen weren't very keen on experimenting with this odd metal called iron yet. Though this sword was geared towards cleaving through unarmored or lightly armored opponents, because of it's weight distribution you could still daze an armored opponent and use the time to pull out a dagger and thrust it in the gaps of the armor.

##### **1st century sword**

This is a simplified sword design developed during the 1st century A.B which was used for a few centuries. This sword was built on a mass scale when iron-working was very common for that long and has retained a few features found on bronze swords despite them not being very necessary. but before I get to that, I'm going to note to you how the sword design was modified to be made more cheaply so that also knife makers could make it. Instead of the tang going through the handle, the tang is wide and flat and has attached wooden handle scales fixed with bronze or brass pins. Now, back to the bronze age features:

1) There is a large central ridge in the center just like with bronze swords. this made these swords known for their blade stiffness.

2) The blade is leaf shaped to give it extra heft but still allowing it to be a good thruster as well as a chopper. These swords are known to be able to sever limbs with ease and break bones if they don't manage to cut. This latter feature helped keep up the sword's popularity in an age when soldiers often wore maille armor.

### **Siege Weapons**

##### **Wall-Eater**

This is a siege engine that has a massive pick that is raised and then allowed to come crashing down to eat away at walls and fortifications.

Further reading: https://www.worldanvil.com/w/15th-realm-of-secrets-mr-cookiepasta/a/wall-eater-siege-engine-article

## Saniri weapons

### **Spears**

##### **The common spear**

The Saniri used their war spears as hunting spears as well because wood isn't very plentiful in high altitudes and getting a good spearshaft isn't easy (though you could trade some furs for a spearshaft if you had access to a trade route which most Saniri tribes didn't). This spearhead is long and relatively flat in cross-section which makes it a half decent cutting weapon as well a thrusting weapon. The prongs on the sides prevent the spear from running things through so that it would be easier to retrieve and the spearhead is large enough that it can be used as a sword if the shaft breaks.

## Palii Weapons

##### **Khopisi**

The Khopisi is a chopping sword that essentially works like a combination of a falcata and dacian falx from the real world. It's a one handed sword with incredible chopping power that is a mediocre thruster. It was used by the Palii for over a millennia because of it's simple but effective design. It was usually made of iron or steel.

## Notable Weapons

##### **Eldanfan's sword**

This is a beautiful sword that Eldanfan the outcast captured in the Tri-River region before he entered the employment of Do-Yu It's a design that is very popular in the region and this particular one is simply gorgeous. It's a longsword with an engraved blade as well as a crossguard inlaid with gold, copper and blackened iron with two decorative lapis lazuli inserts. The pommel is threaded onto the tang (for ending opponents rightly) and has inlaid copper and gold. The engraved area is a bit sunken into the blade and has a narrow fuller extending from it halfway down the length of the entire blade.