#falx

[luca-loves-ham]

my ranger charr Falx Cindersteel

[elusivegreen]

Oh, blood moon tonight? Hoping for some peaceful dreams.

[cutecuttlefish]

The sword of the day is the falx.

The falx was a two-handed weapon used by both the Dacian and Thracian peoples during the rule of the Roman Empire, often to fight against them. It is single-edged, but sharpened on the inside edge, like a sickle. While a sharpened outside edge is more usual to see on swords like this, but this inside edge allowed the user to catch and hook things with the end of their blade. The length of both the weapon and its handle also allowed the wielder to use a tremendous amount of leverage, far more than the Roman gladius, so cuts from the falx would have been absolutely devastating. The name of this weapon is possibly the etymological root of the falchion, a much later single-edged sword.

[kahoolaish]

Personal favs from 2022

[peppermintquartz]

Original writing

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As she stared at the small fire crackling before her, Dessa wished she knew what to do next.

She should never have allowed Elrei to stay. If she had insisted on her brother leaving, then he would never have attacked Comor, and she would not have lashed out blindly, and Elrei would still be alive. She and Comor would still be in Fenfoss waiting for their baby to be born. He would have been suggesting names for their child.

Instead she was here, on the other side of the Shifting, with a man who she barely knew. And she was a widow.

Dessa never thought that she could feel rage as hot as ice. Anger was fire, in her experience, a sudden burst of heat that flashed and stung. When she was little, she had been angry at her little brother pulling on her hair, and angry that she had to help scrub the kitchen counters and floor while her friends played outside. But she had learned to temper the fire, direct it to where it would be useful.

But she felt a different kind of rage now.

That man had been bored. His soldiers had captured the men and the boys, and he had given the orders, and he had yawned, even as each prisoner's head was chopped off. The kaedine who were present had trapped the Shifters with mud up to their necks.

If Falx had not clamped his hand over Dessa, she would have screamed.

Comor was not even a Shifter. He had not said so, only spat at that man staring down at them, and shut his eyes.

Dessa shut her eyes now, her entire body shuddering as she wept soundlessly. The babe in her belly kicked restlessly, as if it was aware that all it had in the world was Dessa now.

Falx dropped into a crouch beside her, saying nothing. What could he say? He had lost his entire village, his brothers and uncles executed, the children he had watched growing up were dead or missing.

Neither of them knew who else made it out of the swamp that had sheltered the Shifters for five hundred years. For all they knew, the only survivors were the two of them.

As the sun emerged from the horizon, Falx said, "We'll need to head east and then strike northwards."

Numbed and exhausted, Dessa said nothing. She would go wherever she had to.

"The fish will be out soon for a morning feeding," said Falx. "Let's find some food for ourselves too. Your child will need nourishing."

"Who was that man?" Dessa asked.

Falx stood. "Which one?"

"The one on the horse. The one who gave the order."

Falx shrugged. "I don't know. But he was wearing the livery of the house of Awell, and he was in charge." He exhaled harshly.

Despite her exhaustion, Dessa struggled to her feet. "Some day, I will kill him."

"If I haven't killed him first." Falx jerked his head in the direction of the trees. "Come. We'll need spears for fishing."

[beedok]

Falx, a human bodyguard to a vampire princess for the space opera I’m planning. The gun-sword may or may not be physically possible… but it seems useful when the best way to slay a vampire is decapitation, but there’s also humans to fight.

[heroineimages]

Looking for feedback! So I’m trying out some designs for a Dacian auxiliary warrior for my Age of Antiquity campaign, and I had a few ideas for a falx design. The backward katana in the first looks coolest to me, stylistically, but is probably least accurate. The backward saber in the second design has probably the most accurate blade style, but that guard looks too bulky to me. The third uses a backward cutlass, and while that backward knuckle-guard is probably going to bug me, it probably won’t be noticeable on the printed token.

In terms of gameplay, I’m treating the falx as either a longsword or great sword, depending on size, though I’m thinking about upping their criticals to x3 instead of x2. Though I can also see justification for giving it the same DMG dice as a great axe. Any feedback is welcome!

[munteledinspatelecasei]

Menace of the ROMANS! Dacian FALX (with notes on the Sica & Rhomphaia) f...