Tawen

Tawen

The metal fell from the space between stars, cold as the peaks on which it landed, black as the night on which it arrived.

Our finest craftsmen accepted it the same night the skies gave it birth, and labored in their cold forges in the dark under the watch of a thousand blinking eyes.

And from it, they carved out a blade, one that would serve as well in hand as it would at the tip of a spear. That could hunt to feed, that could carve to shelter, that could hack to warm, that could bleed to protect. Black and cold and smooth and glassy as a shard of frozen night.

The strangeness began when it met the light of day.

At first it was reflection- a warrior's eyes in gleaming steel.

Then refraction- the sunlight playing a finger's depth beneath the surface of a lake.

Then a glow- lights devoid of fire who dance where other secrets dwell.

The sun was slow to rise in the mist between the pines, chill and friendly winds through the terraces, clouds exploding silently above where fading stars yet twinkled. And the new creation watched, and marveled.

And forevermore, that shard of night glowed the color of a morning sky.

WEAPON COMMISIONS OPEN

Weapon design commissions by a martial artist and engineer! I make blueprints and weapon designs to arm you and your OCs respectively. Ever wanted to hold a sword of your own? If you live in the Philippines, I can also help you connect with local blacksmiths who can help bring your ideas to life. If you live elsewhere, you can commision me for a blueprint that you can bring to a forge near you. From the deepest reaches of untouched seas,

To the searing light of burning skies,

To the muted glow of stars beyond,

And- perhaps-

To the palm of your hand?

Your next legendary weapon awaits.

Contact me for samples and terms of service at kathang.tawen@gmail.com

The Gentle Blades

A spearwoman and a knife-dugong

Rare Tumblr post! Been working on this for a little while, and had already committed to completing it when I heard about the #MermayWarriors XP Pen challenge. Since they fit the theme of the challenge, I decided to send them as an entry.

The spearhead is a sharktooth, and the gunong that the dugong is holding is copper alloy. I wanted to pick materials that won't corrode too easily in seawater, but I didn't wanna think too hard about it (which is rare for me). I mostly wanted to redraw them because I was enamoured with the concept of Baby Dugong and wanted to draw him again.

Here's the original version. Looking at them side-by-side is kind of interesting.

I truly wasn't sure where this was gonna go when I started. This kind of stuff has always seemed a bit too far out of reach for my self-taught, weapon-designing self. I kind of pushed my anime boundaries by a lot when I drew the original (I'm still proud of it), and I wasn't sure how much further beyond I could push it at my skill level. It's not as precise as I wanted, it's not as detailed as I wanted, but I can safely say I'm proud of this one too. More importantly, I actually finished it! That's significant considering how many foolish ambitions I've put to rest in WIP limbo and never touched again. Anyway- in my head they protect giant clams. At present, giant clams in the West Philippine Sea are constantly at risk of poaching, and their habitats vulnerable to deep-sea trawling from foreign encroachment. Dugong are somewhat vulnerable as well. Their main diet is seagrass, and seagrass beds are frequently under threat of destruction from ill-advised land reclamation work, as well as well-meaning but improperly handled mangrove planting projects. Also the baby dugong is at least ten times more likely to stab someone than the spearwoman.

Seek no mercy from these eyes, they will grant you only pity.

That's all for now. Going on a short hiatus after this- not that I was very active on here to begin with. But I'll try! But I'll do that after. Have a good day folks.

okay here's how you design a fantasy weapon pls like and subscribe follow me for more tips-

Kidding- but this was sent to me by Dyl just a while ago and I just had to.

I do actually love seeing these wild designs, there's more imagination in them than you can beat out of a roomful of AI "artists".

Art by Peter Andrew Jones if I'm not mistaken.

I do wish there were more of them around, just over-the-top bullshit that doesn't take itself too seriously.

This one's from The Sword and the Sorcerer (1982). It's a sword with THREE blades. Two of them shoot out of the hilt as projectiles- I love it. I would never use it.

I set out posting my art online initially to design "practical fantasy weapons", and while I haven't abandoned the "practical" part myself, going nuts on weapon designs is still just really fun to do.

Saradomin Godsword from OldSchool Runescape and the newfangled RS3 version.

Doesn't have to be "practical". Depending on the context, the looks can be more important than the functionality.

Sanderson depicts shardblades in The Stormlight Archive as being ultralight to justify their size. Fun middleground, but not always necessary.

Art by Alex Allen.

There are weapons that will forever be iconic BECAUSE they went nuts with 'em.

Of course they also went nuts with the people using them, so there's internal consistency, but the point stands.

Guts' Dragonslayer, Berserk (1989-2021) by Kentaro Miura.

Cloud Strife's Buster Sword, Final Fantasy 7 (1997) by Square Enix, image from the 2020 Remake

Moonlight Greatsword, in one of its many iterations, this time as Ludwig's Holy Blade from Bloodborne (2015) in The Old Hunters DLC by From Software

Kratos' Blades of Chaos, God of War (2005), image from their iteration in God of War (2018) by Sony's Santa Monica Studio.

Just- don't pretend you could ever use them in the real world, yourself.

Actual martial artists can already hurt themselves using tried-and-tested weapons from history (i.e. there is someone to learn how they use them from), let alone the average untrained gamer with something out of fantasy.

Doesn't stop people from trying. Baltimore Knife and Sword are among the many blacksmiths who routinely produce real world versions of fictional weaponry (look up Man at Arms: Reforged on YouTube) and recently Digitally Twisted Outlaws (also on YouTube) started training with one such giant replica Dragonslayer, and dubbed their weapon-style the "Colossus Sword Form".

Bottom line, just have fun with it. Don't get too bogged down by what's consistent with real world usage, especially when the context is fictional.

Due to popular demand, I made another entry to this series, just in time for 2 days after the end of June. Enjoy~

Heard there were entire groups of grown adults who get really upset when things aren't straight?

I wonder why? One of my favorite blade types isn't straight, and these things fought off colonizers.

They're called kalis in certain parts of the Philippines. Here's a bunch with some pretty colors on them:

Maybe pointing these at those groups will help change their minds?