Oc-tober Day 8: Romance

oc-tober day 8: romance

(i basically never draw Andrew and Travis so have some gay bois for the soul)

prompts: bees? (tumblr.com)

OC-tober day 11: memes

(I wanted to do more but theyre already late so this is all you're getting and im sorry)

prompts: bees? (tumblr.com)

A heartbreaking update I wish I didn't have to post here. I don't know how to express such grief or even function healthily these days but if you have time, please visit this fundraising page. It would mean the world right now. We still need all the help we can get.

Here's the link: Fundraising for the Funeral and Hospital Expenses

oc-tober day 8: romance

(i basically never draw Andrew and Travis so have some gay bois for the soul)

prompts: bees? (tumblr.com)

huh, dang, that’s really interesting! Thanks for answering! 

please tell me about medieval european sword crossguards youve piqued my interest

Oh god ok I’m gonna try to keep this brief because it’s 3 am and I gotta wake up before it gets hot out to walk somewhere but the main thing that’s interesting about crossguards is that you’d assume some are just outright better than others, especially because of the more general “newer design and materials means better” outlook that’s applied to military history (and all history and conceptions of progress generally) and while that’s generally kinda nonsense it’s ESPECIALLY not the case for crossguards

So here’s four different types of sidesword and rapier crossguards, from top to bottom left to right it’s a sideswept hilt, basket hilt, ringed crossguard and cup hilt. I’m personally more interested in longsword but these are an easier demonstration.

So these were all used hundreds of years apart and in different parts of Europe (though all of the world has had complex and interesting weapon designs, I apologize for being Eurocentric here, general study of swords should not be!) but none are just outright better than others in the way that, say, a gun from two hundred years ago is generally just better in a fight than one from three hundred

but sword combat is fundamentally different and something as seemingly small as the shape of a crossguard makes a huge difference, and they all have strengths and weaknesses and nuance to them. They all affect the weight of a sword and how it’s held and how it’s wielded and the types of cuts or thrusts you can do comfortably and effectively with it, and they’re all more useful against different types of weapons and styles of fighting, and they design is often decided more by how they’re WORN, not used!

Most swords were never swung and the type carried was more often decided by how comfortable it was to have hanging at your hip and how stylish it looked than how effective it was in a fight. They’re a marker of status as much as a weapon and it’s why they’re so romanticized to this day, in the same way that revolvers have been, since historically both have been sidearms and ones only wielded by the upper ranks of either the military or society

Having weapons be more symbol than tool is fascinating both in a historical and fictional setting and can tell you a lot about someone. Cup hilts were most common on Spanish rapiers because fencing practiced in Spain emphasized thrusts, and the cup provides total protection for your hand, even if it’s weaker than a swept hilt would be at protecting against an incoming cut.

If someone from another country has one, especially a country that has bad relations with Spain at the time, this immediately tells you something about the person, whether it be about how she fights or who she fights or her beliefs about nation identity or fashion.

And this is something that can be used to add so much flavor to fantasy settings! I’m so tired of “elves have ornate curved swords because they’re Advanced and orcs have ugly slabs of metal because they’re Primitive,” for a variety of reasons, mainly it’s weird shitty racism, but also it’s just not how the real world works. Which is a problem because people apply these ideas onto the real world and think that, for example, Spanish colonizers were more Civilized and had Better technology than the Inca Empire, which is just not true.

Anyway jesus this got a lot longer than I expected lol, I could write way more but I’ll cut myself off, I hope at least some of this is informative lmao, always happy to answer more sword questions

A heartbreaking update I wish I didn't have to post here. I don't know how to express such grief or even function healthily these days but if you have time, please visit this fundraising page. It would mean the world right now. We still need all the help we can get.

Here's the link: Fundraising for the Funeral and Hospital Expenses