>Sandy do I detect another Jack Vance Fan, cf the medallion wearers
>in the Planet of Adventure series?
I _am_ a Jack Vance fan, but there was as much of the Japanese "personality" swords and Javanese magic kris in the Serrapu Lake as there was the Medallion folk. I know of one Japanese swordmaker whose swords always seemed to end up in the hands of bandits. The maker would finish a sword, sell it to a daimyo (they were good swords), it would vanish, and a couple years later, a bandit would be using it. This happened again and again. There were also "bloodthirsty" swords, that were dangerous to draw. Compare Tyrfing, the evil Norse sword that went from hand to hand, killing someone every time it was drawn.
Ian G.
>You mentioned some studies done by a Peter Jones about the
>penetrating power of arrows vs armour.
q.v. Peter N. Jones' "Metallography and Relative Effectiveness of Arrowheads and Armor during the Middle Ages," in the journal _Materials Characterization_ 29 (Sept 1992), 111-17.
Now I must make a confession. I reported to someone that the bows used in this article were 140 lbs, but upon re-checking, I discovered that they were 70-lb bows, but used at a distance of 10m. Jones figured that the shorter distance made up for the somewhat weaker bow.
I have also discovered another amazing fact. A scholar researching Viking metallurgy found that out of 5 extant Viking arrowheads, only 1 was steel. Out of 31 extant spearheads, only 1-6 (I forget the exact number, but 'twas few) was steel. The others were soft iron, that would be unable to penetrate mail.
This is a consideration -- even given that Gloranthan bronze is not the same as Earthly bronze, it may be quite hard for a weapon of hardness X to penetrate armor of hardness X. Of course, as the scholar pointed out, even if the soft iron spearpoint couldn't penetrate your mail, you'd probably be sorry the attempt had been made.
Another concept. I have read of a battle in the 17th century (during the 30 years war). The Germans wore upper-body armor (breastplates, armplates, gauntlets, helmets), which was unusual, since armor was vanishing at the time, and the French, using rapiers, found the plates impossible to penetrate. They were losing the battle when they found that they could get through the German's armor by aiming at their armpits. This tactic was effective enough to win the battle for the French. Though, since the breastplates could not have been an active handicap for the Germans even after the weak point was discovered there was presumably some other factor favoring the French - -- maybe the French outnumbered them or something.
>I happen to like silk shirts a lot, but I wouldn't trust one to
>stand up to an arrow.
You don't wear raw silk, in _presumably) several layers, under your armor.
More crap about the longbow and its ineffectualness:
In all medieval literature, we don't have a single narrative source saying that a person was killed by an arrow piercing his armor, chain _or_ plate. This is important, especially when wounds to knights caused by many weapons are so clearly described, or even over-described (see Song of Roland), even those of archers --See Henry V's wound in the cheek by an arrow at the battle of Shrewsbury.
Longbows weren't used for long - they came into prominence around 1300, and by the Wars of the Roses (1450) were pretty much defunct.
Still, flocks of arrows would be irritating, and dangerous to one's horse. The French defeat at Crecy and Agincourt were doubtless precipitated by the presence of the longbow, though most of the casualties appear to have been caused by the French charge into massed infantry (in which the French were slaughtered). The British innovation of stationing knights on foot among their infantry effectively re-invented "officers" and kept the footmen steady.
Now on to something completely different:
THE RENUNCIATORS: this faith, preached by a wonder worker from Ambovombe, teaches that all use of magic ties one deeper to the mundane world, wasting our soul in useless trivia. Only by abstaining from magic can we grow closer to the Creator. The appeal of this way spread beyond Malkionism, and people of other creeds cleaved to it, even including many dragonewts.
Mokato's Edict of Renunciation gave great impetus to the movement, and ultimately provided it with a name. At one time, many people danced the Dance of Renunciation, but their throngs have now thinned. Since the Renunciators demonstrate some remarkable abilities, the heresy is kept alive.
Basically, the Renunciators gain an ever-increasing resistance to magic, depending on how long (and how purely) they have been practicing their faith. The elder Renunciators are to the point now that simply being in their presence tends to dampen other magic effects, and their touch cancels most spells.
This is a Third Age sect of the East Isles. It has dwindled since the Opening, but is still prominent enough that a lot of otherwise normal-seeming East Islanders feel that using magic is just a little bit sinful, or dirty.
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