willowfall
Senator
Well played and just for my elucidation ... are there any galaxies that aren't?
kisses
willowfall
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Girls With Swords!, For Erin
- Thread starter Gibbs505
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Well played and just for my elucidation ... are there any galaxies that aren't?
kisses
willowfall
Frank Petrexa
Tribune
Ours. (Well, I guess you can argue that the center is far, far away, and that we're in the boondocks.)
Well the sword is actually designed as a two-handed sword for a knight with the physique of Hulk Hoagan or B.A. Baracos made. But maybe her opponents fainted with laughter at the sight and hey presto she had won the fight.
Mikerytel
Senator
https://freeimage.host/i/HU9xT9j 4 naked and one non naked , I included two indians because India has a tradition of warrior tribes
willowfall
Senator
Ahhhh .... no.
Great swords (especially the later ones) were quite tall some of them coming in at around 6 feet in a time when the vast majority of men stood less than 5' 8". Also they were designed to be used by foot soldiers not "knights" who generally preferred (but could and did fight on the ground) to fight on horseback. But the two handers that tall were fairly late to the game.
But during the time of the armored "knight" it wasn't unusual for two handers to come in at over 4 feet.
Also a sword in general was completely ineffective against a fully plate armored knight and a sword that large could not be wielded from horseback so while they were popular as tournament weapons for knights (where killing wasn't the objective) on the battlefield they generally belonged to more plebian (but highly paid) infantrymen.
And actually considering their size they are surprising light. If you wanted to batter an opponent you used a mace or ax or even a club, swords require a lot more finesse (and training) then ANYONE on the big screen ever demonstrated.
That said the girl's form completely sucks and she'd be dead in about 2 minutes even to a competent dagger wielding opponent (and YES in sparring I once took 9 out of 10 rounds against a guy wielding a two hander with just a dagger).
kisses
willowfall
Kiduttaja
Consul
100% correct (in Italy we say "you speak like a printed book"). By the way, the biggest longsword I saw in a museum in Edinburgh is a claymore longer than 7 feet while a good example of "hand and a half" sword is here in Brescia. The "spadona" is designed to enter inside the plates of a full armour and can be used with one hand (118 cm long, 89,5 cm blade only 1.47 kg of weight). Here the original and something similar in size:
willowfall
Senator
It is probably worth mentioning that women very often fought in defense of their homes and most of the weapons buried as grave goods with women are things that they would be very familiar with using on a daily domestic basis (axes) or something that didn't require require close combat skills (bows). In fact there was a 'company' of women archers that were so successful in contributing to the defense of their city that the French King relieved them of having to pay taxes for their entire lives.
While there maybe ones that exist I'm not familiar with any female weapons burials which include swords. There maybe a simple explanation for why women (and MOST men) didn't use swords if you look at the known (as in we have documentation from the time period) training methods. It was progression. Before you touched any weapon you had to learn to fight hand-to-hand and wrestle. Then it moved to unarmed against a dagger, dagger to dagger, dagger to sword and so on sometimes all the way thru pole arms. Plus to become proficient with a sword takes time and a LOT of practice. There is also a LOT of grappling in sword fighting (as opposed to dueling) that never makes it onto the screen because it isn't sexy.
I know a lot of hand combat techniques and am fairly large (5' 10" 140ish pounds) but if you are a guy with the same training and in the same weight class and CAN'T take me 9 out of 10 times you need to turn in your guy card. Males are biologically designed for combat and to be aggressive. Things like testosterone, a thicker front skull and stronger neck muscles (so you can head butt) just gives you an advantage. The vast majority of women didn't have the time (being the most important part of the domestic labor force) to practice nor the necessary attributes to get past the early stages of training.
As a personal example I am good with a lot of weapons but far and away the weapon most of my peers don't want to face me with is a simple staff. Proper use of it makes sure I stay out of range of their ability to grab and control me nullifying their natural advantages.
kisses
willowfall
There are certainly a number of reasons why people might have learned to use a quarter-staff proficiently, I expect. Cost would be one, and the fact that you can use it effectively against someone potentially with more expensive weapons would be another.
But there were still female warriors. Here is a post from the scinexx site [https://www.scinexx.de/news/geowissen/wikingerkrieger-war-eine-frau/]
A shieldmaiden (Icelandic skjaldmær, Swedish sköldmö, Danish skjoldmø) is the name given to a woman in Norse mythology who has chosen a life as a warrior. Defensive Valkyrie: Among the Vikings, war and combat were not just men's affairs - there were also female warriors, as evidenced by a Viking grave in south-eastern Sweden. Numerous weapons, two horses and a strategy game bear witness to the fact that a high-ranking officer was buried here. DNA analysis now reveals that this warrior officer was actually a woman. Accordingly, women could hold high-ranking, “typically male” positions among the Vikings.
Were Valkyries just a myth?
But is that true? "As early as the Middle Ages, there were tales of female Viking warriors fighting alongside men," say Charlotte Hedenstierna-Jonson of Stockholm University and her colleagues. "Although these stories kept appearing in the lore, they were mostly dismissed as mere legends."
A grave from the old Viking settlement of Birka in south-eastern Sweden now proves that there is more to it than that. Up to a thousand people lived here between the 8th and 10th centuries, protected by a fortress. Archaeologists have discovered an extensive cemetery with around 3,000 graves in the vicinity of the settlement. "This is one of the largest known collections of graves in the Viking world," the researchers explain.
Warrior officer in full regalia
One of the Birka Viking graves, Bj581, is particularly richly furnished and well preserved. Prominently situated on a terrace between the fortress and the town, this tomb contains a dead man who was buried with a warrior's full kit: a sword, a battle-axe, a spear, arrows, a warrior's knife, two shields and two horses. "Based on these grave goods, the dead man in tomb Bj581 was thought to be a male warrior," the researchers said.
In addition to the weapons, the archaeologists also found a game board with game pieces in the grave. "This suggests that the dead man was preoccupied with tactics and strategy and that this was a senior officer," explain Hedenstierna-Jonson and her colleagues. That also speaks more for a man. "While some Viking women are known to have been buried with weapons, a female warrior of this rank was previously unknown."
Nevertheless, the archaeologists wanted to be sure and therefore determined the sex of the Viking warrior using a DNA sample from one of his bones. At the same time, they used gene comparisons and isotope analyzes of the teeth to determine which population this dead person came from.
The surprising result: the supposed warrior was actually a female warrior. The skeleton in tomb Bj581 clearly belonged to a woman. As the gene comparisons showed, she was also a Viking, but apparently did not come from the immediate vicinity. According to the researchers, she must have come to Birka as a teenager.
The sketch of the tomb
Kiduttaja
Consul
In the samurai epic Heike Monogatari we find the japanese "girl with sword" Tomoe Gozen:
"With her pale skin, long black hair, and graceful face, Tomoe was the most beautiful. She was also a strong archer and a vigorous soldier, mounted or on foot, fit to face a demon or a god, she was worth a thousand warriors. In the early stages of the battle, Yoshinaka sent her as the first captain in heavy armor, with a large sword and a powerful bow. Her name was associated with more glory than any other warrior. And by the time everyone had perished or fled, she was left among the last seven knights."
noticeable are her weapons. Apart from the bow, she is equipped with a "tachi" sword and, as a girl, a naginata instead of a yari:
"With her pale skin, long black hair, and graceful face, Tomoe was the most beautiful. She was also a strong archer and a vigorous soldier, mounted or on foot, fit to face a demon or a god, she was worth a thousand warriors. In the early stages of the battle, Yoshinaka sent her as the first captain in heavy armor, with a large sword and a powerful bow. Her name was associated with more glory than any other warrior. And by the time everyone had perished or fled, she was left among the last seven knights."
noticeable are her weapons. Apart from the bow, she is equipped with a "tachi" sword and, as a girl, a naginata instead of a yari:
willowfall
Senator
Well a staff does give tremendous reach (depending on its length which for a tall staff should be as high as your wrist when you hand is held straight up) which is good.
"Quarter Staff" is a technique not an actual weapon (thank you again Hollywood). Basically the staff is (in your mind) divided into quarters and you work with each quarter. It is the most common technique.
But historical carrying of the staff as a means of defense got around various laws that forbade certain classes of people from carrying weapons (example in many medieval cultures a peasant was not allowed access to a weapon (ex: sword)) and in some cases carrying a weapon in town was forbidden.
kisses
willowfall
willowfall
Senator
There were of course exception to the rule (there always are) but they basically PROVE the rule. The number of Viking men who carried weapons and went raiding (which is actually what the word "Viking" means a journey to raid or trade. There being a very fine line between the 2.) was a fairly significant portion of the male population.
The number of women warriors was (by all known data) statistically insignificant. A major outlier.
As to women of status actually fighting and leading men into combat Matilda of Tuscany is probably the best well known and most effective example in the European Medieval period.
And of course we can only guess if the woman in the example did actually engage in combat (and thank you for reminding me of this example I had heard of it before). Too the best of my knowledge there are no wounds on the body which can actually contributed to combat. And I can tell you if you pick up a hand held weapon and engage in combat with it sooner or later you ARE going to get hit no matter how good you are. Which is why I don't play with "sharps" (weapons that are combat ready, edge and all) although I do know people who have.
kisses
willowfall
A girl with Katana and Wakizashi.
willowfall
Senator
If only in RL I was graceful enough to belly dance. Do it often enough in SL and I even have swords to use while dancing.
Although it does look a little silly when the sword cuts thru part of my body......
kisses
willowfall
