The sword of the day is the stiletto.

The stiletto is an Italian renaissance-era dagger with a long, slender profile and a needle-like point. It is a development on the rondel dagger, and initially served a very similar purpose; a backup weapon to pierce through gaps in armor while in extremely close quarters combat. It was also developed from a second weapon, called a misericorde, used to deliver mercy kills to downed knights through their heavy armor. The narrow blade could penetrate through chain mail at the armpit to reach the heart, or even stab through the eye slits of a helmet to kill quickly via brain injury. Later, the stiletto was adopted as an assassin’s weapon, easily concealed and able to pierce through heavy leather and fabric clothing. The strikingly narrow blade is so iconic that it remains a name for many different kinds of long, narrow features, like extremely thin high heeled shoes.

The Milan Sword has a hot-peen construction that melds the blade and hilt together at the pommel and gives this sword a very strong and lasting hilt construction. The crossguard and pommel are crafted from steel with an antiqued finish and the grip is carved from Poplar and tightly bound in leather to complete the sword.

A spiked Dueling Gauntlet mounted with two blades,

Length: 32.9 in/83.5 cm

Width: 5.5 in/14 cm

Depth: 4.9 in/12.5 cm

Weight:3.9 lbs/1.75 kg

Italy, ca. 1540, housed at the Kunsthistorischesmuseum, Vienna.

Designs for a Dagger and Sheath, 1543

By Augustin Hirschvogel

US, European weapons hit in Odessa strikes: Russia

New Post has been published on https://www.timesofocean.com/us-european-weapons-hit-in-odessa-strikes-russia/

US, European weapons hit in Odessa strikes: Russia

Moscow (Times Of Ocean)- Russia said it destroyed weapons supplied to Ukraine by the US and Europe and a runway at a military airfield near Odessa on Sunday.

Russian Defense Ministry officials said high-precision missiles called Onyx were used to hit the airfield. Europe Odessa

According to the statement, two Ukrainian Su-24M bomber jets were shot down near Kharkov, while two S-300 air defense systems were destroyed near Zaporizhzhia and Artemovsk.

It added that two Ukrainian Tochka-U missiles and 12 unmanned aerial vehicles were also shot down in different areas.

The attack targeted seven military assets in Ukraine, including four areas of concentration for manpower and equipment, as well as three missile and artillery weapons and ammunition depots, the ministry said.

“In total, since the beginning of the special military operation, 145 aircraft, 112 helicopters, 672 unmanned aerial vehicles, 281 air defense systems, 2,703 tanks and other armored combat vehicles, 312 multiple rocket launchers, 1,203 field artillery and mortar guns, as well as 2,514 units of special military vehicles have been destroyed,” read the statement.

Since the war with Russia began on Feb. 24, at least 2,899 civilians have been killed and 3,235 injured in Ukraine, according to UN estimates. But the true toll could be substantially higher.

UNHCR’s data shows that more than 5.4 million people have fled to other countries, while 7.7 million people are internally displaced.

The Iron Hand by Raoul Hynckes

Story Idea: Part-Time God

Imagine a very unassuming guy (of any ethnicity or nationality) who goes to work, pays his taxes, complains about the price of gas, food, and rent (etc.), things any regular person would do. But he is in fact an ancient Eurasian thunder god who, when called upon, battles drought-bringing water-serpents in the clouds. His glowing ethereal form is that of a giant, bearded man with a horned helmet and ancient, golden attire. He wields either a stone mace or a forked thunder weapon that showers lightning bolts across the heavens.

This dual nature is not a case of a deity being cursed to forget their divine origins like the Hindu monkey god Hanuman. Nor is it a case of a god being punished to live as a mortal like Marvel's silver age Thor. Perhaps the protagonist's father, the king of the gods, is aloof and disconnected from the human world. Therefore, our hero takes it upon himself to live among Man in order to stay grounded and to better understand their day to day struggles in an ever-changing world.

It's important to note that he is NOT a superhero. This god does not use his power to deter crime. It is only used in battling water-serpents, which ensures the survival of mankind by routing droughts that would otherwise destroy all the world's crops. Basically, if he doesn't perform his holy duty, the world will starve. It's best to think of the narrative in terms of ancient religion and the importance of the harvest to agrarian societies.

The meat of the story would be the strange juxtaposition between his mortal and immortal lives. There would be a clean divide between both, with episodes focusing on the tedium of his daily human activities and the explosive action of his divine battles. But occasionally these lives would bleed into each other; for instance, an injury born from his heaven-shaking combat, could be explained away as some embarrassing accident, like rolling an ankle or tripping up the stairs. Or, a human friend or coworker might notice his sour deminer after a drama-filled argument about the merits of mankind with his father in heaven.

If anyone asks, yes, this is a self-insert. I was bored while waiting for a doctor's appointment. I was wondering what it would be like to have a concurrent second life free of aging and illness, one where I could soar through the clouds and test my divine strength by battling ancient foes.

The ensemble of knightly arms. ⚔️⚜️

A FINE EUROPEAN BRONZE SWORD 10TH CENTURY B.C.

The long blade gently broadening below the tip, with medial ridge stepped towards the base and flanked by chased lines, multiple dots beside the lower serrated edges, the hilt with arched guard riveted to the blade and a concave disc pommel enclosing knob terminal, the hilt with traces of elaborate chased linear decoration including multiple wave motif, herringbone, dots and concentric lines. 24¼ in. (61.7 cm.) high.

The sword of the day is the lantern shield.

The lantern shield was an especially odd and rare Renaissance-era European weapon. In its most basic form, it is simply a shield combined with a lantern, used for fighting at night time. At some point, though, some enterprising young armorer decided that, well, we’re already incorporating a lantern into the design. What else can we add to it? So, several surviving examples are fitted with an integrated gauntlet, as well as a frankly irresponsible number of blades and spikes, giving a wielder a wide variety of offensive options. That said, the difficulty of their construction and rather niche use means that not many examples survive to the modern day.

Ronin Katana – Hand and a Half Bastard Sword #15

This late Medieval bastard sword from Ronin Katana has a tempered and sharp blade forged from 1075 high carbon steel with hollow ground blade geometry. The stiff blade will cut and thrust with authority and decisiveness. The guard and pommel are crafted from stainless steel and the grip is wood which is tightly bound in leather. The blade is mounted into the hilt with a peen over the pommel for a tough and lasting construction. The sword is paired with a wood-core scabbard which is overlaid in faux leather and fitted with stainless steel chape and locket. A simple sword belt and frog of faux leather is included.

Please Note: The sword scabbard with its buckles is arranged for wearing on the right hip for a left hand draw.

A shielded Dueling Gauntlet with a folding blade,

Length: 37.8 in/96 cm

Width:10.6 in/27 cm

Depth:9.3 in/23.5 cm

Weight:4.6 lbs/2.1 kg

Italy, before 1596, housed at the Kunsthistorischesmuseum, Vienna.

coming to any FE game with weapon experience out of engage or fe4 feels like going to the dark ages for me now

You know, another thing that always bugged me about VLD is the shape Keith’s Bayard takes.

People always calls it a sword, but honestly it’s more similar to a katar, a type of Indian push dagger. Which is the same overall design as Pidge’s Bayard.

It’s weird that Pidge and Keith both use the same weapon as the base for the form their Bayards take, but Pidge’s has a lot more utility with both its grappling hook and taser functions.

YEAHHH I've noticed how keith's bayard is a katar (ancient weaponry autism go brrrr) and I actually think that works really, really, really well for him. (I'm drawing from Autism Research that I did several years ago so I may be misremembering in which case I'm sorry </3) but iirc, a katar has a lot of power in the forward thrust (because the blade is lined up with the user's arm, so he can put his whole weight into a thrust) but they can also be used for swinging/slashing which is generally what keith's fighting style tends to lean toward. additionally, because traditional katar don't really have a lot of blocking protection on the hilt (unlike a zweihander, for example, which has a pretty useful crossguard) for someone to use a katar they have to be pretty quick and light on their feet to compensate for not having as many defensible qualities. which sounds a lot like keith's fighting style to me. katar are pretty versatile and rely on the intensity and power of their design/technique to punch through an opponent's armor and take them down as efficiently as possible, which just fits keith soooooooo well imo

and for pidge, I also really like her bayard because it reflects her personality and fighting style incredibly well, too. it's probably one of the most versatile weapons used in the entire show with its grappling hook, and the taser adds another range of uses (there's the obvious shocking, but I also remember seeing her use it to cut through hulls and things like that) and for a green paladin who thinks outside the box, a weapon that can be used in so many ways works so well. to address the similarities between pidge's and keith's, I actually think it might just be because of the shape of the bayards themselves. the only other two bayards we see take gun forms, so pidge and keith are the only ones with melee weapons which makes it hard to really tell if that handle shape is the norm for bayards or if it's just their unique personalities. but regardless, the H-shaped handle (the main characteristic in katar) is what all the bayards have in their dormant forms, so it might just be a matter of functionality that the handles for keith and pidge's weapons are also H-shaped

Guardroom Interior with Armour and a Standard Behind

by Jan Baptist Tijssens the Younger

I NEED YOUR HELP…deciding on what weapons to have in the game. I don’t want to have a lot of options here because I would rather go more in-depth with the weapon you do choose and go with unique battle scenes than generic ones. I also want the MC to have a unique weapon, meaning not one the party already has. I cant decide because everything is super cool to me

What won’t be an option: Greatsword (Adelaide uses it), Sword and Shield (Mars), Crossbow (Faith), Brass knuckles (Sid), Karambit (???), Throwing Knives (Yoon), Claws (already an option), Dagger (you get one by default), Gun (no guns), rubber chicken (would be too powerful)

Pls reply to this with other options if you have them! Going to pick the most popular options out of the poll and comments!