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Chapter 8 Page 20 - Work it out

Evil Emperor Nick

on Feb. 8, 2010

Cwen, what was that weird spear thingy you were carrying when you first returned to the castle at the start of the story? -Eoraptor

Hello Wendy here! Cwen appreciates your question but since she can’t read or write very well I’ll be handling the heavy lifting when it comes to the written word. Cwen calls it a “pole cleaver” but more accurately it is a type of pole arm called a voulge-guisarme. The voulge is similar to the glaive in that it is and evolution of the poleaxe or bardiche, but whereas a glaive’s head it simply slapped onto the end of a stick the more advanced voulge is banded to the shaft meaning the head is more secure and is less likely to break off. The voulge is a hacking weapon as opposed to cutting like many polearms and Cwen’s sports a sort of half spear, half cleaver style to the blade allowing her to use it for stabbing as well. What makes it a guisarme is the curved hook blade on the back of the main blade which gives added utility to the weapon and is meant to be used to trip foes. This is very useful against larger or more heavily armored foes who are slower or stronger where the normal hacking or stabbing might be problematic. Like all polearms the voulge-guisarme is a melee weapon and not balanced for throwing. Its primary advantage is its reach obviously, but less appreciated is its ability to increase angular momentum allowing for more striking power then a sword. Additionally it can be used very effectively with a tower shield and can be difficult to guard against with a shield in the hands of a proficient user. Although Cwen largely picked this weapon for sentimental reasons (you can’t see it but I’m rolling my eyes here), its two primary advantages are a great fit for Cwen and I personally recommend it for most women as it neutralizes the two advantages men usually have in combat, that being size and therefore reach, and upper body strength. Further and in my opinion best of all it allows you to rely less on parrying for defense but allowing you to simply back up or move aside keeping yourself out of reach of your foe; though you may which to carry a dagger as a secondary weapon incase anything gets up close and overly personal you where you’ll find the polearm’s length makes is clumsy.

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Once again feel free to ask questions and I'll pick one to answer next update.