Make me happy, buy me stuff!!

[kellinator]

(well, it's worth a try! ;) )

I need a sword! I was just saying the other day, not only would a sword look cool, it would ensure that people wouldn't fuck with me. And not only would it ensure that people wouldn't fuck with me, it would just be so hysterical to have sweet-innocent-looking lil' ol' me, the girl next door, standing there with this big-ass sword. Plus, if I were ever called on as a badger assassin, then I'm ready to go!!

Comments

[dwivian]

Just had a cheap-ass sword thrown away.

Hey, it sucked, but it would have been free, had you come to games night in the past two weeks, but NoooOOOOOooooo.

Ah, well. Dragon*Con is coming.....

Re:

[kellinator.livejournal.com]

Aww, man! Well, last night was my bad, but I don't think you would have liked it had I shown up to games night the week before. "Hi! You don't know me! Let me into your house!"

[sophocles.livejournal.com]

*sound of startled surprise* Small world. How do you know Kelly?

[dwivian]

She's just this chick, ya know?

Re:

[sophocles.livejournal.com]

Yeah yeah.. that's pretty much how I know kelly. I'm a wee bit surprised I didn't run into you in the Anglican community.

[dwivian]

I keep my theology over here....it's a little easier, right now. Once the Bishop says "go", and I can get started, I might get into reading community stuff more. As for now, I'm knee-deep in computer repairs and games nights... :)

Re:

[sophocles.livejournal.com]

Are you potentaily postulating? I hadn't heard. Oh well it was good to "run into" you. I have to get to my own game night.

[kellinator.livejournal.com]

Yeah, I know. I just can't resist joking around with the idea sometimes. ;)

Did I hear someone say s-word?

[sophocles.livejournal.com]

Badger assasins are usefull minions. As far as a sword I have a few spare parts that I'm slowly building into a sword. What did you have in mind? Eastern? Western? Big? little? Thusting? Hacking? Keep in mind as a point of philosophical whatever you should learn how to use any weapon you own.

[tall-man.livejournal.com]

Swords are designed for different uses -- if you plan on swinging it (using the edges, primarily), you might want to go for a European sword from the 6^th century through roughly the Crusades, or a scimitar, or a katana. For primarily thrusting/poking, you might want to look at Roman or Greek swords (the gladius comes to mind), or rapiers. Something in between? A Crusader-style long or broadsword would make sense.

Then there's the matter of size. A full-sized French flamberge would probably be a bit much (think claymore, but make the crossguard longer, and the blade wavy -- this sword was used by infantry against knights on horseback, by cutting the horses' legs off), but then again, a really small short sword would just be dinky-looking with you.

You might want to consider something even more sinister. If you can find one (I recommend you search online), look for an Italian-style stiletto. It's shaped vaguely like an icepick, only longer (~10"-14"), and with a very fine edge on a triangular or flat blade. Not only could you use it to, say, jab in someone's eye (the original use -- jabbing in the eyeholes of helmeted knights that were de-horsed and unable to get back on their feet due to the weight of platemail), but it'd make a nifty letter opener. Which means you could, theoretically, carry it at work.

[sujata.livejournal.com]

Are you aspiring to learn how to use it, or do you just want to own one? If you want to learn swordfighting, I've just started studying that myself, if you want to investigate taking lessons from the same group.

Oh, and tall_man made some excellent points. That said, however, ancient through Renaissance weapons (and armor, and history, and etc.) worldwide have long been a passionate interest of mine. Personally, I recommend either a katana or wakizashi (spelling of the latter may be off by a bit). Katanas are designed primarily for cutting, but they're wicked when used for thrusting, too. Wakizashis are shorter (and therefore lighter, an important consideration for many women, since the average woman has 30% less upper body strength than the average man) but otherwise similar to katanas, in that they're as close to all-purpose swords as have ever been developed. :-)