Weaponry Guide
Table of Contents
Fighting is not an uncommon occurrence, but while real wolves generally decide a winner after a few rounds of bluffing, Luperci are considerably more dangerous in their confrontations, especially as weapons other than their teeth and claws become more widely used. This guide will introduce you to some of the weapon types found in 'Souls.
Weapon Use
Training & Experience
It's important to remember that your character won't pick up a weapon and immediately know how to use it -- and when used improperly, weapons can cause injury to the user rather than the intended target. It is generally a bad idea for your character to pick up a brand new weapon in the middle of fight; there's no guarantee your character would even be able to use the weapon, and it's highly unrealistic if your character is an automatic master of the weapon's art.
There's nothing wrong with giving your character a head start -- maybe they entered 'Souls with their weaponry and some training. It's important to remember not to take this too far, though -- if your character is already perfect and has no flaws, it will have no room to improve and can quickly become boring to you. It can be more fun to actually roleplay the acquisition of both weapons and training for some.
Your character should regularly train with his or her weapons to suggest intimate familiarity with their capabilities and limitations. You can roleplay this out in a thread or allude to it in your roleplay, but it is an important aspect of weapon use. Even if your character is a master of a specific weapon, reinforcement and making sure their skills don't deteriorate is also important. If you can find someone to impart their knowledge of weapons and training onto your character, great! Just know that they won't magically absorb the master's knowledge and experience immediately; it may take months or even years of hard training for your character to become an expert with a particular weapon.
Fairness in Combat
Your character wielding a weapon does not make them all-powerful. An important part of roleplaying fights is fairness and realism. Characters who use weapons might have an advantage over the unarmed, but this isn't always the case, and skill, as always, plays an important role. Someone who is not an experienced fighter, even armed with a club, may not win against someone who is very experienced with just his teeth and claws. All characters have weaknesses; if you play against your opponent's, you may gain the upper hand. If they play against yours, you may end on the losing side. These principles apply to all fights, whether a weapon is used or not.
The Right Weapon
Size and Strength
Weapons are not one-size-fits-all. Your character's physical size, speed, strength, and other factors will all come into play to determine what kinds of weapons they can wield. While it's not impossible for a small character to swing a giant battle axe around, their size and physical capability make them much more suited to a smaller, faster weapon. Larger characters will benefit more from large weapons -- they be able to use them more easily due to greater physical strength, and these types of weapons' style of use is better suited to the larger character in general.
Lightweight and small characters with a more athletic body type would do better with lighter weapons -- projectiles, thrown weapons, as well as small melee and bladed weapons. Examples of this could be a small female character who is very quick on her feet and uses a pair of daggers. Her fighting style would probably be to move as much as possible, trying to dodge or defend as many hits from her opponent as possible. Another example could be the generally weak character who is not at all good at the physical aspect of fighting -- they could utilize silent or very quiet projectiles, such as a throwing knife or a blow dart gun with poisoned darts. This would greatly increase their ability to sneak around and surprise attack their opponents.
Think about your character's physical size -- are they tall, with long arms? If so, a long weapon such as a bladed staff to increase their natural reach could be the key. Another consideration is the way your character moves -- if they prefer to remain still and defend, a shield would probably be a good addition to their weaponry. If they prefer to move around quickly, dual single-handed weapons or a medium-sized melee weapon could probably be best.
Versatility
The most versatile types of weapons are those that can be used for both combat and hunting. For example, a bow and arrows. An excellent projectile, this weapon can be deadly to approaching enemies, and has long been used to bring down prey as well. The same cannot be said for most melee weapons -- Luperci would probably be better off bringing down prey animals with their own claws and fangs rather than using a sword. Larger, bulky weapons can make an unnecessary amount of noise, making sneaking around and tracking prey difficult. Poisoned darts don't make much sense for hunting either, as one would certainly run the risk of tainting the food.
Maintenance
Another important consideration is weapon maintenance. Failure to maintain weaponry can result in grievous injury to the user, and your character should strive to take excellent care of their weapons. Not all weapons are equal in this area -- the lowest-maintenance weapons are generally the close range/melee weapons, such as bats and clubs. They generally do not require maintenance other than perhaps cleaning. A catapult, on the other hand, would require cleaning, checks for rot, and other checks to make sure all of its components are in working order.
When considering projectile weapons, ammunition is an important consideration -- arrows break, split, and will need to be replaced over the course of your character's using the weapon. It is important to either have your character learn how to make these things or have your character find another way to obtain these things (e.g., trading with another character). All bladed weapons eventually need sharpening; this will require a whetstone. Though this is not as intricate an art as, say, making arrows, it will still require another character showing your character how to do these things.
Obtaining a Weapon
There are many ways to obtain a weapon. You can have your character scavenge something from the ruined human areas (Halifax, Yarmouth, or Barrington would be good places to look). You can have your character trade another character for a weapon. You can have your character craft a weapon or find someone who can craft it for them, and so on and so forth. It's important to remain realistic in what you find, make, or trade for, too -- though it may not be too difficult to find a character with a bow and arrow set they are willing to trade, you are less likely to find someone with a seventeenth century antique Japanese katana.
There are a few important considerations when deciding where to find a weapon. Anything your character finds in the city will require at least basic cleaning, and at most total restoration. Some items would have almost completely deteriorated -- for example, whips are generally made of leather, and without a human around to maintain it in twenty plus years, it would have dried out and become nearly unusable. In these cases, items must be obtained from other Luperci who know how to make these items. The same can be said of almost all chemical weapons -- pepper spray or mace certainly would have exploded in the can or otherwise deteriorated beyond any point of usefulness, and would require a scientifically-minded Luperci to create a similarly-functioning compound. See chemical weapons for more.
When thinking about crafting, don't automatically think of forging metal and all of that complicated stuff. Your character can make a perfectly sharp arrowhead from a stone -- not only are stones just about everywhere in 'Souls, it's a relatively simple process when compared to superheating metal. Simple weapons can be quite easily crafted -- spears aren't difficult to create, nor are simple clubs. These weapons can be modified and made more deadly -- nails are easy to find in the old buildings, and they can be driven through a club to make it even more deadly.
Armour
Armour can be another important consideration if there are many other characters wielding weapons. In most cases, Luperci would not be able to wear any remaining human gear -- it would likely be too small and too tight for most Luperci. However, armour can be crafted from leather and custom-made to fit a particular Luperci. Although metal can be crafted by some Luperci, it is a difficult process and requires extensive knowledge. It is generally also a fair bit more noisy and heavier. Thus, metal armour is rare -- it's far more common to see a canine clad in leather, as the materials for making it are in abundance.
Examples of Weapons
Blunt Weapons
Examples of blunt melee weapons include bats, clubs, maces, and flails. "Blunt weapons ... rely mostly on mass and raw impact energy to disable opponents through broken bones, internal trauma or concussions. Generally they are used in some sort of swinging motion to charge kinetic energy into the weapon's mass." 5 Blunt melee weapons are more effective against armoured opponents: "maces and flails were developed and used to combat armoured infantry, such as knights, because of their ability to cause injuries even "through" plate armour, and were also very effective against flexible armour, such as mail. However, blunt weapons are usually heavier than edged weapons, as the extra weight is needed to cause greater damage. This often makes blunt weapons both strenuous to wield and difficult to maneuver." 5
Blunt melee weapons are among the easiest to maintain and find -- it doesn't take much for your character to carve a crude yet effective bat from a thick tree branch. However, they can be much more difficult to effectively use, as they do require more strength than some of the smaller weapons. Although they can be used for hunting, blunted melee weapons are not ideal for this purpose when hunting very large game or very small game.
Bladed Weapons
Examples of bladed melee weapons include swords, spears, axes, daggers, knives, and so forth. Edged weapons work by "increasing the user's pressure by concentrating force applied onto a smaller surface area, such as an edge or point, thus more easily penetrating the opponent's body to cause wounds. Because most of the effectiveness of edged weapons depends upon breaking the skin of an opponent, they lose much of their usefulness when pitted against armour."5
Bladed melee weapons require maintenance such as sharpening, which require whetstone or something similar. Most bladed melee weapons are not very difficult to come by in and around Halifax. Unless a user is very skilled, hunting with a bladed weapon can easily be more dangerous than hunting unarmed. Most Luperci find it easier to use teeth and claws rather than a blade.
Thrown Weapons
There are a wide range of thrown weapons. Examples include throwing knives (specially balanced knives intended for projectile use), darts, bolas, Tomahawks, and spears. Thrown weapons rely on the force of the user's throw as well as their accuracy -- a character with poor hand-eye coordination would not do well with thrown weapons. Advantageous toward hunting, throwing weapons are generally smaller and lightweight, and as they can be used from a distance, are far better for keeping quiet and retaining the element of surprise.
Different thrown weapons require different maintenance. Some weapons degrade naturally with use -- wood-handled spears, for example, wouldn't last very long if used often. The wooden handles would eventually have to be replaced, though the heads (if sharpened) could be recycled. Tomahawks and throwing knives would require sharpening, depending on their material.
Projectile Weapons
There are a few projectile-type weapons still left in the 'Souls universe -- bows have been around for quite some time, and even wooden, slow-reloading crossbows can still be found or made. Slings have historically been used for hunting, and they existed with humanity for some time -- no doubt this would be a technology that some Luperci would have mastered. Blowguns are another option, as well as rudimentary catapults.
Projectile weapons are typically high maintenance -- crossbows, bows, blowguns, and catapults would all require general maintenance and upkeep, and most of these weapons would be difficult to come across. Slings are relatively easy to make and maintain, but are the least powerful of these options. An added drawback of projectile-firing weapons is that most of them require ammunition, even the low-tech sling. Though any stone can be used in a pinch, sling stones that are either selected from a prime spot (generally a river) or crafted are much more accurate and easier to use. Crossbows and regular bows both require arrows, and blowguns require darts. Catapults would require larger stones or even more complex ammunition, thus their rarity.
Disallowed Weapons
Firearms
Working firearms of any kind are NOT permitted at 'Souls.
Simply put, firearms require far too much regular maintenance to have survived in the decades since human destruction. Perfect firearms cannot be found or made in the 'Souls universe. Consider that maintaining a gun is a rather complex procedure, requiring the complete break down of the gun and to clean all the individual parts. Poorly maintained guns are prone to jamming and other malfunctions, and clearing a jam can be extremely dangerous. Ammunition also provides a challenge, as bullets are just as hard to find and are made to suit a specific firearm.
Any handgun your character finds will be badly damaged, and it is extremely unlikely that they would be able to find suitable ammunition for it. Characters are permitted to obtain and keep firearms, but their only usage as a weapon would be as a blunt object.
Heavy Ordnance
Most of the high-tech weaponry found in military installments would not be usable to Luperci. They would have degraded beyond use or quickly overrun by humanity in their last days. Heavy ordnance -- artillery, rocket launchers, grenades, mines, and anything else that might explode -- is not allowed. The same can be said for any electric-powered or magnetized weapons -- there is no available power source for these things. Nuclear weapons, obviously, would not be allowed in game -- any remaining nuclear weapons are probably extremely dangerous to be around, anyway.
Biological weapons are beyond the scope of Luperci's scientific knowledge, as well as any chemical weapons humans may have had -- mace or pepper spray, mustard gas, or other chemical-based weapons. However, in some cases, Luperci could probably make similar items based on natural ingredients where chemical weapons are concerned -- for example, rather than a canister of pressurized spray, a Luperci could instead dry out a few very hot chili peppers and other known spicy ingredients to create a powder that could be thrown or released over enemies. These agents would not be nearly as powerful as their human counterparts, and lacking the directed stream of chemical at the face like a can of pepper spray, would not be nearly as effective.