Sword as weapon for the first quest ahistorical

Story & Setting
#61

the availability of a sword depends on what country you are talking about . generally the bigger the sword the more power it showed hence the story of William Wallace being huge and menacing came from the fact that he was said to have used a two handed sword . (never stopped us from mounting his head on a spike and putting it on tower bridge :smile:)

anyway back to the availability of swords . it all depends on the type of sword most soldiers would have a sword of some kind however the higher your rank (the richer you’re ) the better your sword , this was the case for the English anyway from the start of the hundred year war the English crown did something that was uncommon , the English were preparing to invade france however lacked men willing to go because of the fear of french knights and leaving their farms , so the crown basically said that any man who pledges to go will be provided with a weapon and a wage , be it a sword or a longbow or whatever else , generally the swords were low quality however from then on pretty much every Englishmen had access to a sword/longbow . (the game being set around this time ) this was slowly introduced in other nations as before most armies while given a uniform as such but were not provided armour or a weapon this you had to supply , so its perfectly logical with the timing of the game that the character would be given a low quality weapon .

#62

here is a nice woodcut/drawing.

*Three Peasants in Conversation by Albrecht Durer, 1497. Three Peasants in Conversation by Albrecht Durer

Notice the sword and the stirrups?

Another one from Albrecht also dated to 1497

woodcut of peasant working tree planting

Dancing peasants and peasants behind a hedge: Hans Sebald Beham (1500–1550)

Granted most woodcuts are from 100 years after this game takes place they do seem to disprove that they were really expensive.

2 Likes
#63

Once metallurgy in Europe advanced to the point that good-quality homogenous steel was much more readily available, the cost of a serviceable sword did indeed drop.

It was mainly the Migration Era and Early Middle Ages where forging a sword was a particularly expensive. You didn’t have enough homogenous steel in sufficient quantities, so most of what was available was mainly used for the edge. The rest had to be pattern-welded from iron stock of various carbon contents to get a blade that was flexible enough it wouldn’t snap, but strong enough it wouldn’t bend (a major problem with early iron swords was they had a tendency to bend, which ruins the sword. You want the sword to flex, but spring back into shape again). That was an incredibly labor-intensive and complex process. And THAT’S what really drove the price of a sword up.

#64

I live in Bulgaria. My theory was about High Medieval times in general. For sure there are regional differences among most of European countries, but still, my words are correct.
As far as gun ownership in Czech Republic is concerned, I didn’t knew that they let you have guns easily. I’m huge fan of guns and support gun ownership and self defense with a firearm. In my country the procedure to obtain a license is very difficult and yet, you are still not allowed to use your legally owned gun for a self defense, not even in your own home
 Sh*tty politics


#65

That is wrong understanding. There are no “THEY”. You live in a democratic society. If you want to change something, get active and try to influence the public discourse. We, the people, elect our officials and they, more or less, follow the public opinion when enacting laws. That is the essence of Republic and Democracy.

For details, see

#66

There is “THEY” and THEY don’t want US (common people) to have guns! Call it a world conspiration if you wish, but most countries does not permit their people to possess firearms. This is influenced by above-governmental circle of people who have their selfish repressive reasons for these limitations and it has nothing to do with people’s own “security”, “safeness” or such “politically correct” b*llshit. So, I will call them THEY by which I mean most of the corrupt politics working for exact same lobbies around the world. Unfortunately, my country does not make a difference from most other countries in gun politics. You should enjoy your Czech laws as long as you can (as long as THEY force your country to change)!
I wish you luck on changing anything anywhere! Except if somehow you are part of those above-governmental lobbies, but in that case I would feel very sorry for your morality - I’m sure you are not that type of person.

Words got A LOT offtopic and there isn’t any reason to continue here! I don’t wish to further discuss my beliefs with random forumists because I find the experience very unpleasing. Feel free to pass by my comment if you do not agree.
Nonetheless, thank you for providing me with your insight on things plus information about your laws! I will think about it.

#67

@Jlyga_u_onacHa

Try not to turn this thread into a political one.

One more thing, I live in a country with one of the lowest gun ownership rates in the world and I am probably correct when I saw that 99% of the population (the democratic majority) wants to keep it this way.

#69

Do you live in Poland?

#70

No, gun ownership is a little higher than Poland.

#71

if you’re from the UK which i assume you’re .
i bring good news , in the UK you’re allowed to use whatever force is required to protect your property and family including deadly force with a firearm providing you have it legally of course as long as they pose a real threat . HOWEVER unlike america you cannot then shoot him as he runs away down the street as he poses no threat to you even if he does have your gaming PC under his arm .
but you can gove chase and restrain him using appropriate force

#72

for some reason most British think they cannot defend themselves with deadly force if required . as long as you can prove your actions were appropriate to the situation the law will back you

#73

Good luck with 1) obtaining firearm legally in UK and 2) claiming its use was justified.

#74

there are very few situations where deadly force is appropriate. it tends to lead to far more trouble than it solves

2 Likes
#75

its alot easier than you think actually guns are not totally illegal to have in the UK like most people from america believe, however unlike the USA you cannot own one just because you can , however if you own a farm or any business that may require ones use you can apply for a firearm license there are 170,000 firearms licences and 620,000
shotgun licences on issue in the UK now if youre one of those people and someone breaks into your home with say a knife in their hand youre legally allowed to shoot that person until he is no longer a threat so that doesnt mean shoot him until he is dead but rather shoot him until he hits the floor . while there is no single law that states you can kill someone for breaking into your home the law states you may use appropriate force to protect yourself and property , its down to you what you deem appropriate.

a few years back two men broke into a farmer house in Yorkshire and he opened fire with a shotgun at them both neither died however they were badly hurt , the farmer was arrested and a long court case came of it and it very much became a national debate with the majority of people backing the farmer up saying that he was only protecting his home and the court eventually decided that he had used appropriate force to defend himself . after this there wasnt any change of law as such but instead the government "clarified " to the population that we are within our right to defend our self and home with whatever mean possible against any threat and that as long as we could justify it the law would back us up , and no one else would have to be put through such a long and enduring criminal case for defending themselves .

#76

well yes that is a point that was made during the national debate on weather we are allowed to kill if someone comes at us with a knife out of fear that we would go like the USA where you can be killed legally for standing on someone’s lawn . but if you have access to a gun and youre home alone with a man coming up the stairs with a knife im sure i can speak for most people when i say id be shooting him

1 Like
#77

That is far cry from issue of “swords being ahistorical”. I only used the example to show that the differences on access to weapons are huge today and they were probably more so 600 years ago, so drawing conclusions from access to swords in other parts of Europe has no sense. OK, enough said, lets get back to the swords, shall we?

1 Like
#78

i like swords they are shiny

1 Like
#79

I think the discussion has pretty much ended with the conclusion that swords as a first weapon are indeed historical.

7 Likes
#80

indeed, i believe so.

#81

come on, man. the last post was several months ago, and you added nothing.

1 Like
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