Weapons and Armour on Zalanthas

[The7DeadlyVenomz]

I would like to see heavy armor sap MP, while normal clothings do nothing to it, and desert gear give you MP. Beyond that, I have nothing against anything in Armageddon. It is a fantasy world, thus, suspend your disbelief and deal with the fact that swords are just fucking cool. I would, however, like to see some more unusual names for things, however. This would add to the mistique.

[halfhuman]

I've seen slings before in arm. I didn't buy it though.  Too bad, they're soo bad ass.

Anyways, I wanna see one of these bad baby's in a shop somewhere:

(I tried multiple times to make the fecker smaller but it failed. Just look at a klingon klak-djar on google or something. That's basically what it looked like.)

Only of course it'd be chitin, or obsidian or something.

[Teleri]

Personally, I would like to see more "Zalanthan" weapons used instead of European arms made out of obsidian or bone.  Most Asian weapons don't set the proper theme, in my opinion.  Katars, tiger claws, staves, clubs/maces, and spears are all from that region that truly belong, I believe.  The problem with making weapons that feel more Zalanthan is that there's really no way we can concieve of them completely, as equivalents aren't really existant in our world.

Although many people have a great connection and facination with them, swords could be done away with to add to the unique theme of the game.  Eliminating the weapons, however, is problematic.  Perhaps the means to produce such blades would be lost in some sort of catastrophy befalling the Salarri and other arms makers.  Without knowing exactly how to strike obsidian/bone to produce a sword blade (which is hard in the first place, I would imagine, without the whole thing shattering), few are produced.  Swords made of obsidian and bone become rare, and are thus confiscated from all who are not of noble birth or serving nobles/cities.  Only wooden swords are left, and these, of course, don't hold an edge very well, despite the unique hardness of Zalanthan lumber.  The new swords become knives, which are far easier to make as they do not require so much raw material and through making one you do not run such a high risk of the whole shard shattering.  Just a thought.

More scimitars would definitely boost the desert atmosphere of the game.  To me, nothing says harsh desert life like a scimitar, especially one made out of a mandible or edged with glass/obsidian shards.  Speaking of which, Aztec or Mayan weapons should be some great guidelines for Zalanthan weapons, as they use roughly the same materials.  Weapons of Zalanthas should not be as streamlined as they seem to be, in my opinion, save for those owned by nobility or merchant houses.  Instead, they should more accurately reflect the harsh reality of the desert through their curves, wicked edges, and the crude manner of their creation.  

From what I have seen, there is no problem with the armor styles in the game, except for the fact that many people don't follow the guidelines of their region.  The style of Tuluk's guards has a very unique feel to it that I like, but I'm not sure about the Militia in the south.  What irks me is when I come across some random dude in the desert decked out in full shell/chitin, who tries to pass as a hunter of small desert animals.  As I read on a site about Armageddon (I think it had "White Wolf" in it somewhere), that's a pretty ridiculous get-up for hunting.  One really only needs some light leather or sandcloth to go against most usually-hunted creatures, unless one is going against some huge predator...which they very well may be.  But then, you're probably wanting to go with a lot of other people dressed similarly...and with a lot bigger weapons.

I would like to see more slings, and an increased usage of these weapons in certain areas of the world, especially in the south.  Bows are better, it is true, but slings are overall more affordable and probably more reliable.  Arrows are expensive as hell and hard to make, but stones are all over the place.  Bows (realistically) take hours or days to make, but slings take a couple hours at most...for a really good one.  But, I'm not a bowyer or hunter IRL, so what the hell do I know.  For that matter, neither are many of us here, no matter how much we posture, so what the hell do most of us know.

[halfhuman]

I disagree.  I mean, sure stone swords would be hard to make, but look at Michaelangelo?  I don't think there was much of a risk of him cracking the David while he carved it.  You'd just need to find the right stones really. I nice large stone that wasn't cracked and was very "straight grained" to throw a lumber term into there, if it even applies.  Bone swords seem like a much better idea though, assuming theres a ready supply of bones large enough to build a sword out of.  Chitin, you'd think would not be flat enough to make a blade out of, unless it was a mandible (which is one big fecking mandible)

Anyways, I've read a couple different threads about hunter getup.  It IS unrealistic to wear all that plate and heavy armor while hunting most things, but there is also the contingency that you'll be spotted by something else (like a silt horror or something)  I agree that you wouldn't wear full plate, but I think studded type armor wouldn't be overly unrealistic, depending on the area you're hunting in.  Heavy plate would only be somewhat realistic if you were gonna head off to the salt flats to hunt a mek.

I read one guy that said his ranger wore a loincloth and sandles or something.  That's not very good desert wear either.  I was in Boy Scouts, and they said that on a hike you'd want long sleeves and long pants to avoid sunburn, and getting cut on underbrush (though I doubt you'd have to worry about that last one in Zalanthas)  My ranger wore a cloak, long pants, long shirt, gloves, a wide brimmed hat, and a face wrap to keep from getting sunburned.  I think that that's a very realistic get up for someone frequently wandering the desert. It may be hotter than a loincloth, but it protects your ninies from whipping sand and sunburn.

Ranger weapons? I think an axe would be a good choice, because you'd want something heavy to crush through protective chitin.

[Xamminy]

Just because this is set in a desert-like environment similar to the mid-east does not mean that we couldn't have weapons like other times and places in human history.  I have little problem with that.

The armor, the most notable one being the obsidian breastplate, though.  Damn, I mean, it's gotta take one tough bastard to survive wearing that in the desert for more than ten minutes.

[Teleri]

Perhaps there should be less of the "right type of stone" available, then.  After all, there can't be an infinite supply of sword-worthy obsidian, and that which is currently in supply would be dwindling due to greed of merchants and consumption of broken weapons.  Also, obsidian is, as I would imagine, a lot harder to accurately shape than the stone that The David is made out of.  Now if The David was made out of glass or obsidian, that would be a whole hell of a lot more impressive.  Were Michaelangelo to have the option, though, I don't think he'd make his sculpture out of obsidian.  Not only because of supply problems, but because it's hard to shape the volcanic glass.

Mandible weapons would be possible.  After all, there are some pretty freakin big bugs out there with ultra-strength carapaces.

[the not signed in half]

I should know that there are plenty of big bugs too. I get eaten by most of them.  

if you carve carefully and slowly enough, I don't think you'd be at too much of a risk of breaking it.  I've made knives before IRL and instead of powergrinding them sharp, we filed them down by hand with an instrument that looks like a glorified nail filer.