Chapters: 53/? Fandom: Star Wars Legends: The Old Republic Rating: Explicit Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings Relationships: Vector Hyllus/Female Imperial Agent | Cipher Nine, Female Imperial Agent | Cipher Nine/Theron Shan, Vector Hyllus/Theron Shan, Theron Shan/Female Imperial Agent | Cipher Nine/Vector Hyllus, Felix Iresso/Jedi Consular | Barsen’thor Characters: Theron Shan, Vector Hyllus, Female Imperial Agent | Cipher Nine, Imperial Agent | Cipher Nine, Bounty Hunter (Star Wars), Lana Beniko, Male Smuggler (Star Wars), T7-O1, Female Jedi Consular | Barsen’thor, Qyzen Fess, Felix Iresso, Male Jedi Knight | Hero of Tython, The Outlander (Star Wars), Kaliyo Djannis, Koth Vortena, Senya Tirall Additional Tags: Canon-Typical Violence, Hurt/Comfort, Polyamory, Mutually Supportive Partnerships, Past Torture, Shameless Smut, Alcohol Abuse/Alcoholism, Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder – PTSD, Unhealthy Coping Mechanisms, Strong Language, Whump, Rape Recovery, Rape/Non-con Elements, Aftermath of Torture, Polyamory Negotiations Series: Part 3 of Fire Meet Detonite Summary:
The ongoing relationship between Republic SIS agent Theron Shan, Imperial Intelligence agent Miranza Gerrick and Joiner Vector Hyllus, set against the backdrop of Knights of the Fallen Empire/Knights of the Eternal Throne.
Games often overestimate how much a sword or an axe weighs, and the assumption that many people make is that this lump of steel in your hand is a great burden, although this assumption has been working is way out.
The simple fact of the matter is, medieval weapons are quite light.
The medieval Arming Sword, the single most common sword of the middle ages. One handed, ext to carry, you wouldn’t expect this one to be that heavy, and it isn’t. Arming Swords tend to weigh between 3 and 4 pounds / 1⅓ and 1.8kg, that’s it! This particular example weighs 3 lbs. 11 oz / 1.6kg.
The Longsword, a much longer weapon than the Arming Sword, as the name implies, and obviously much heavier. But it’s not.
Standard Longswords, especially later period ones designed more for thrusting (like the one pictured above,) can be shockingly light. They can weigh in the same range as arming swords, although they can weigh more as well.
Longswords tend to sit between 3 and 5 pounds /
1⅓ and 2.25kg, and this example is 3 lbs. 7oz. / 1.5kg meaning it weighs less than the Arming Sword pictured before!
The Rapier, a famously light and nimble weapon that is also clouded in a fog of incorrect assumptions. The rapier is a long weapon. This example measures 45 inches in the blade and isn’t even among the longest I’ve seen.
Including all that weight from the steel basket around your hand, and it starts to add up. Rapiers can however be quite light, so including the extremes of the spectrum you end up with a range of between 2.5 pounds and 5 pounds / 1.1 and
2.25kg. This particular example is on the lighter side, weighing 2 lbs. 13 oz / 1.3kg.
The Zweihander, the famous greatsword, surely this is a much heavier weapons! Well of course it’s heavier than the others, the entire thing is five and a half feet tall, however they are deceptively light.
Zweihander weigh, on average, 6 pounds / 2.7kg. That’s it, only 6 pounds. Some on the heavier side weigh about 7lbs / 3.1kg, but they rarely exceed that. This example weighs 6 lbs. 2 oz. / 2.8kg.
Moving away from swords, axes will surely be heavier, won’t they? Think again.
There is an important distinction between battle axes and wood cutting axes. Battle Axe heads tend to be thin, very thin, good for cutting flesh and bone, and easier to wield. Wood cutting heads are wider so as to be more robust, and split wood open more efficiently, and let’s not even talk about splitting mauls.
As such, one handed battle aces like this tend only to weigh between 1 and 4 pounds / 0.45 and 1.8kg. They can be very very light! The example is 1 lb. 7 oz. / 0.65kg.
Warhammer even tend to stick to that same range, between 1 and 4 pounds / 0.45 and 1.80. This example is 2 lbs. 8 oz / 1.15kg.
It’s only once you reach polearms that you begin getting heavier weights. The weights of a polearm is greatly changed by the length of it’s shaft, which can vary greatly, so these numbers will be somewhat more flexible.
Spears tend to be the lightest polearms, often weighing between 3 and 6 pounds / 1.⅓ and 2.7kg, with this example coming in at 4 lbs. even / 1.8kg.
Poleaxes, tending to be on the shorter end of polearms, also tend to be lighter. Interestingly, the examples I’ve seen are quite consistent, and all weigh between 6 and 7 pounds / 2.7 and 3.175kg, though greater variation is possible. This example weighs 6 lbs. 9 oz / 3kg.
Halberds tend to be even heavier, though examples in museums tend to have hafts that are too short simply for storage and display purposes.
As such, the weights tend to be somewhat off, however we know from period sources and good modern reproductions that properly sized balberds tend to be about 8 pounds. This museum piece fits the “too light” mould, and weighs 5 lbs. 10 oz / 2.5kg.
For the purposes of giving you (the reader) a proper appreciation of what the pike is, I elected to not use a museum photo for this one, so you can see their full scale.
The pike is a massive weapon, and these piles being used by reenactors in this photo are quite short. On the shorter end, they measured over 10 feet / 3m in length, and on the lookout get end occasionally hit 30 feet / 9.1m !
These could be the heaviest melee weapons typically used in medieval/renaissance warfare, and even these only weigh between 5 and 13 pounds / 2.25 and 5.9kg.
With your heaviest weapons only weighing 13 pounds at their most extreme, this paints a good picture of how light these hand weapons tended to be. Something for RPG and video game developers to keep in mind in the future.
– mod Armet
Seriously, I’ve packed textbooks that weigh more than most swords I’ve carried.
Reblogging because my mom tried to tell me with a straight face that a typical arming sword “must weigh at least 20 pounds.” She was mad that Game of Thrones depicted people “just swinging them around.” When I told her that every HEMA site weighed them in at 2-5 pounds her response was “Well MODERN ones, yeah!” as if we’ve magically unlocked the secret of making metal exponentially lighter in the last 700 years.
I love getting replies, too! It makes me feel special that the author took a moment to thank me for what I’ve said or give me that little window into their process. 🙂
It’s funny this should pop up today because I was having this conversation with another author friend of mine only last night, and she always worries that people will think she’s trying to inflate her comment count by replying, but then she worries that she’s being rude by not replying.
My thoughts, as a fellow writer and poster of fanfic: I freaking LOVE getting comments. If a reader takes the time to tell me what they liked about my work (or even just to smash the keyboard in excitement), that means the world to me. It seems like the very least I can do would be to respond, even if all I can say is “Thank you” or a smiley-face emoticon. I think ignoring (or at least, not responding to) your comments is a good way to discourage people from commenting, so why on earth would I want to do that? I want you to comment. I live for your comments. You deserve a reply.
I remember years ago listening to a doctor speak on the radio and something stuck with me ever since. I’m paraphrasing but the gist was this:
When someone who has been sad, distant, not themselves for a while suddenly starts going out of there way to see people, often giving them gifts or possessions don’t assume they got ‘better’. This is the time to really ask them if they are okay; to reach out and not simply accept the answer of ‘fine’ or ‘great’ or ‘never better’. Because for some people the relief of having made the decision to end their life can make them happy, euphoric even.
He pointed out that often this change in the person is such a relief to their friends and family after having seeing someone they love suffer, they just don’t realise what has caused the change and frankly they don’t want to ‘rock the boat’ because they are just so happy to have the person they love ‘back’. But in reality, the person they love is saying goodbye.
During the interview, he told the story of a colleague (back when he had a factory job before he became a doctor) who had been depressed for a long time. One day he came in and was really happy, people kept commenting on how good it was that he wasn’t sad and grumpy anymore. He gave people some of his things, took people to lunch. Went home and killed himself.
He explained that when the police came to talk to people, they told him it was a common story they heard “but they were so much better.”
So be there for your friends and family. Tell them what they mean to you. Let them talk to you without fear of judgement. LISTEN. Suggest people get help if you think they need it.
Finally, let me add: The world will not be better off without you in it. You matter. You will be missed. Please don’t harm, hurt or kill yourself.
Looks like this essay was needed, so I went ahead and did it. Not sure I said everything I wanted to say, but I tried.
So, there’s this girl. She’s tragically orphaned and richer than anyone on the planet. Every guy she meets falls in love with her, but in between torrid romances she rejects them all because she dedicated to what is Pure and Good. She has genius level intellect, Olympic-athelete level athletic ability and incredible good looks. She is consumed by terrible angst, but this only makes guys want her more. She has no superhuman abilities, yet she is more competent than her superhuman friends and defeats superhumans with ease. She has unshakably loyal friends and allies, despite the fact she treats them pretty badly. They fear and respect her, and defer to her orders. Everyone is obsessed with her, even her enemies are attracted to her. She can plan ahead for anything and she’s generally right with any conclusion she makes. People who defy her are inevitably wrong.
God, what a Mary Sue.
I just described Batman.
Wish fulfillment characters have been around since the beginning of time. The good guys tend to win, get the girl and have everything fall into place for them. It’s only when women started doing it that it became a problem.
TV Tropes on the origin of Mary Sue:
The prototypical Mary Sue is an original female character in a fanfic who obviously serves as an idealized version of the author mainly for the purpose of Wish Fulfillment.
Notice the strange emphasis on female here. TV Tropes goes on to say that is took a long time for the male counterpart “Marty Stu” to be used. “Most fanfic writers are girls” is given as the reason. So when women dominate a genre, that means people are on close watch, ready to scorn any wish fulfillment they may engage in. This term could only originate if the default was female.
In fact, one of the CONTROVERSIES listed on the TV Tropes page is if a male sue is even possible. That’s right, it’s impossible to have an idealized male character. Men are already the ideal.
In our culture, male tends to be the default. Women take on the distaff parts. “Him” and “mankind” are what humanity are, “her” and “womankind” are secondary. Yet this isn’t true for Mary Sue as a term. That name was created first. It was a Star Trek fic that coined it and the female designation was likely a big reason it caught on. Thus, a female name is the default to use when describing idealized characters. Marty Stu and Gary Stu are only to be used if you’re discussing men specifically. Heck, there isn’t even an agreed upon term for them. So the only time female can be default is when discussing a badly written character, someone who is more powerful or important or liked than they should be allowed to be, someone the plot focuses on more than you would like, someone you don’t want to read about. Hmmm.
What’s really wrong with a thirteen year old girl having a power fantasy, even if it’s badly written? Who is it hurting? Men have baldly admitted to writing power fantasies and self inserts since the beginning of time. How many nerdy, schlubby guys suddenly become badasses and have hot girls chasing after them in fiction? See: Spiderman- blatant everyman who happens to stumble across amazing powers and catch the eye of a supermodel. Mary Sue is considered the worst insult to throw at a character as it renders them worthless. But since when are idealized characters automatically worthless? Aren’t all heroes idealized in some way? Don’t all heroes represent the author in some way? Aren’t these characters supposed to be people we look up to, people who represent human potential, the goodness that we strive for? Fantasy by nature is idealized, even the tragic ones.
If you look at the TV Tropes page for Mary Sue, it’s ridiculous. You can be a sue for having too many flaws, or not enough, for fixing things or messing things up, for being a hero or a villain. And of course, this is specifically pointed out as a trope related to the Princess and Magical Girl genres- genres aimed towards women are naturally full of Mary Sues. Magical girls are powerful and heroic and actually flaunt femininity as a good thing. They are a power fantasy designed for girls. So of course, a girl using traditionally feminine traits to dominate and triumph means she’s a sickeningly pure Mary Sue who makes everything go their way. Feminine traits are disdained and look down on, so when the positive feminine traits are prominent, the reader has an aversive reaction. How can a character be so feminine and triumph? She must be unrealistic, she must be badly written, because everyone knows it is impossible to be feminine and powerful.
Let’s look at what kinds of Mary Sues people will point to. People will claim a female character is a Mary Sue if she is a love interest. Put a female character within a foot of a male character, and people will scream “Mary Sue!” Why does someone falling in love with her make her a Mary Sue? Well, she hasn’t “earned” this awesome dude character’s love. What has she done to show she’s worthy of him? Fans miss the irony that this line of logic makes the male character seem more like the Sue in Question, as he’s apparently so perfect one has work for his coveted love and praise.
The idea that woman has to “earn” any power, praise, love, or plot prominence is central to Mary Sue. Men do not have to do this, they are naturally assumed to be powerful, central and loveable. That’s why it’s the first thing thrown at a female character- what has she done to be given the same consideration as a male character? Why is she suddenly usurping a male role? “Mary Sue” is the easiest way to dismiss a character. It sounds bad to say “I don’t like this female character. I don’t like that this woman is powerful. I don’t like it when the plot focuses on her. I don’t like that a character I like has affections for her.” But “Mary Sue” is a way to say these things without really saying them. It gives you legitimacy.
If a character is badly written, there’s generally something much more problematic than idealization going on. The plot will be dull and the character will perpetuate harmful stereotypes while other characters act oddly. For instance, Bella Swan is one of the only characters I’d even begin to classify as a Mary Sue, yet it’s not really her supposed Mary Sue traits that bother me. I don’t mind that she gets what she wants and everyone loves her, that she’s Meyer’s power fantasy. What I actually mind is that Stephenie Meyer has her perpetuate harmful anti-woman stereotypes- women need to be protected, women are shallow, women’s worth rests in desirability. That’s what’s actually harmful about her and worth discussing. I would criticize that rather than even get to the fact Bella got to be “too perfect and powerful”- that’s just a tiny, insignificant thing not worth mentioning in a huge pile of problems.
And that’s why I don’t call characters Mary Sue anymore. There’s really nothing bad about a power fantasy or wish fulfillment. It’s what’s fiction’s about. If one of my characters is called a Sue, I’ll proudly say “yep”, because that must mean that she broke out of that box a female character is supposed to be in. So I’ll go and say it: I love me some Mary Sues.
The idea that woman has to “earn” any power, praise, love, or plot prominence is central to Mary Sue. Men do not have to do this, they are naturally assumed to be powerful, central and lovable. That’s why it’s the first thing thrown at a female character- what has she done to be given the same consideration as a male character? Why is she suddenly usurping a male role? “Mary Sue” is the easiest way to dismiss a character. It sounds bad to say “I don’t like this female character. I don’t like that this woman is powerful. I don’t like it when the plot focuses on her. I don’t like that a character I like has affections for her.” But “Mary Sue” is a way to say these things without really saying them. It gives you legitimacy.
And that’s why I don’t call characters Mary Sue anymore. There’s really nothing bad about a power fantasy or wish fulfillment. It’s what’s fiction’s about. If one of my characters is called a Sue, I’ll proudly say “yep”, because that must mean that she broke out of that box a female character is supposed to be in.
Chapters: 3/? Fandom: Star Wars Legends: The Old Republic, Star Wars – All Media Types Rating: Mature Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply Relationships: Female Imperial Agent | Cipher Nine/Theron Shan Characters: Female Imperial Agent | Cipher Nine, Theron Shan Additional Tags: Canon-Typical Violence, Action/Adventure, Spies & Secret Agents, Hurt/Comfort, Past Torture, Strong Language, Slow Burn Summary:
Following in the wake of the disaster that was Ziost, Republic SIS Agent Theron Shan is given one last chance to keep his head above water. The assignment? Taking down the Red Blade – the Imperial agent formerly known as Cipher Nine.
Things … do not go exactly as planned. Because of course they don’t.
Part 1 || Part 2 || Part 3 || Part 4(Theron Shan x DS!Jedi Knight) [COMPLETE] Nathema Conspiracy: He was supposed to fix this for her. The betrayal and pain was all supposed to be worth it to keep her safe. Too late did he realize what he’d actually done…
FRACTALS
Little bits of head canon that pop up…
Snippets (Arcann x Gray!Sith Inquisitor) Random thoughts on Arcann’s relationship with Darth Nox, or as he’s allowed to call her, Tosali. Wishes Small Inconveniences
Addendum(Malavai Quinn x LS!Sith Warrior) Moments and excerpts on Malavai’s infatuation with the Sith Warrior. Impropriety Consequences
WORK ETHICS
Part 1: Efficiency(Malavai Quinn) Ten years is a long time to be stuck in a dead-end post in the middle of nowhere. Here are some of Lt. Quinn’s thoughts on the matter.
Part 2: Productivity(Malavai Quinn, Doc Kimble) Another beautiful day in Balmorra. The sun is shining, bombs are exploding, swarming insects are trying to eat your face off… Just the perfect day for an Imperial Lieutenant and an Independent Medic to cross paths.
Part 3: Competency(Malavai Quinn, Doc Kimble) War is hell, and there are somethings that have to be suffered for the sake of the Empire. Malavai knew this well, he just never expected that something to be someone.
Part 4: Proficiency (Malavai Quinn, Doc Kimble) COMING SOON!
ESC is a series of drabbles and ficlets that were really more like writing exercises created when inspiration struck. They’re labeled ESC because as you can probably tell, they’re choices that I liked to explore but immediately hit ‘Esc’ in-game before they were set in stone. Random fluff and/or angst is also included here.
Untitled (F!Sith Warrior Storyline) Not only does this fic not have a working title, I’ve rewritten the Korriban arc at least three times. It’s just not *shakefist* good enough!
Crumpet's Bookshelf 