Swords
For the specific weapon items, see also Swords. For the weapon skill, see Sword (Skill). For the category, see Category:Sword.
A sword is a bladed weapon composed of a shaft with a blade in it. Some swords have an additional guard.
There are many different weapons in the swords category, some double-edged (straight swords), some single-edged (scimitars, etc.).
Contents
Usage
When using a sword to attack, the player character's sword combat skill determines the damage done to the target.
Swords cannot be thrown, so don't rely on them as emergency throwing weapons.
Due to their great degree of specialisation for armed combat between humans, and their lack of many useful abilities like throwability, swords aren't intended as hunting weapons. In an emergency, they can be used to kill trapped or already dazed prey, but they're otherwise not ideal for any food-gathering or resource-gathering tasks.
Availability
The player cannot manufacture swords. They must be bought via barter trade or acquired from fallen warriors (preferrably enemies).
Swords are rare and expensive items in the game, reflecting their nature as high-status and warfare-oriented weapons of an Iron Age world, even among the more wealthier cultures.
Overview of sword types
| Image | Item | Blunt | Edge | Point | Attack Bonus | Defense Bonus | One-handed penalty | Weight | Value | Val/lbs | Comments |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 |
Battlesword | 5 | 8 | 4 | 5 | 2 | 30 | 8 lbs. | 1400 | 175 | Two-handed hilt Double-edged blade |
 |
Bastard Sword | 4 | 6 | 4 | 4 | 2 | 10 | 5 lbs. | 1200 | 240 | Two-handed hilt Double-edged blade |
 |
Broadsword | 3 | 5 | 3 | 3 | 2 | 0 | 3 lbs. | 920 | 306.66 | One-handed hilt Double-edged blade |
 |
Njerpeziläis Scimitar | 3 | 5 | 0 | 3 | 2 | 0 | 3 lbs. | 640 | 213.33 | One-handed hilt Single-edged blade Cultural item of the Njerpez, causes bleeding (to verify in 3.4). |
 |
Shortsword | 2 | 4 | 4 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 2 lbs. | 600 | 300 | One-handed hilt Double-edged blade |
| |
Scimitar | 2 | 5 | 0 | 2 | 2 | 0 | 2 lbs. | 480 | 240 | One-handed hilt Single-edged blade |
URW Game Encyclopedia description
The official URW in-game encyclopedia (accessed by the F1 key) describes swords thusly:
Swords are most commonly used by only the wealthiest western peoples and are relatively rare elsewhere in the UnReal World. See weapons for more information about different types of swords.
Real life context
Swords became somewhat more common in Fennoscandia during the later Iron Age. Some archaeological examples:
From a purely historical point of view, two-handed (or "hand-and-a-half") sword types like the bastard sword and the battlesword (the latter arguably a longsword) are somewhat "anachronistic" within the game's fictional world.
Hilts for partial or full two-handed usage started becoming more popular well into the European Middle Ages, roughly around the 13th century AD. Virtually all swords from European prehistory, antiquity and the early Middle ages were one-handed, and commonly used in tandem with a shield. The game's usable combination of a shortsword or broadsword with a shield or buckler reflects this very well.
This short video shows a good reenactment example of sword-and-shield fighting in mail armour, in a style typical of late antiquity and the early medieval period (which represent the late stages of the Iron Age in many European countries, including the Scandinavian ones).
