Swords, Knives, Katars, and Tetrahooks
Though tales of rocket-assisted warhammers and blaster maces are quite common in the mouths of tribal storytellers, the most common melee weapons having relevance on the battlefield are of the bladed variety. Since tribal armor shields do not protect against the far more slowly-delivered impact of these weapons, tribal warriors occasionally do bring various melee sidearms to war.

Most commonly found are swords of various types. The Gehenna Sharks were known to use a wickedly serrated blade made of splint-etched memory metal. Upon penetrating to flesh, the sword would essentially release a jagged piece into the wound, an effect often more devastating by the tribe's frequent use of poison.

Monomolecular-edged swords and knives are also used, but although these are devastating against unprotected targets, they yield far less effective results against tribal armor. The diamond-coating and ultradurable carapace of an armor quickly blunt monomolecular edges and can stop all but the most determined blows, unless those blows find an exposed point in the protection. Joints and areas lacking armor covering are the best targets for such blades.

Many swords have a hollow core partly filled with a heavy liquid metal such as mercury. Such a feature adds to the sword's momentum during a swing by shifting the balance from the hilt toward the point.

Katars, or punch-daggers, are surprisingly effective in armored close combat, though they offer no overwhelming advantages over regular combat knives. They are especially favored by the Blood Eagle.

I found a tetrahook in a bazaar in Bira Marduk and had the opportunity to see its use demonstrated by a streetfighter against a melon. The tetrahook is a curious and disturbing weapon mostly used in unarmored tribal duels. It consists of a grip sprouting four (sometimes three) curved and barbed - often serrated - blades at cross angles, much like a monstrous dragon's claw (which is, incidentally, the nickname of this instrument). One holds it as one would hold a cross-shape gripped by the hub. A tetrahook is designed to collapse into a flat plane for sheathing. When ready to use it, one triggers a spring-loaded or memory-metal mechanism that snaps the four blades open to their ready positions. Some tetrahooks have backward curving or forked blades, and some have hollow channels for injecting poison into wounds. Some variations are strapped around a wrist rather than gripped, but my sources say the handheld version is far more effective in practice. Either way, the tetrahook is an intimidating weapon. I gathered from the demonstration that tetrahook duels are extremely bloody affairs, wherein the users try to close so they can punch the barbed hooks into each others' vitals or hook flesh so as to manipulate the victim with pain. Tetrahooks also make excellent parrying weapons.

Curiously, the Children of Phoenix are the most frequent users of tetrahooks. The Blood Eagle apparently consider them too flamboyant, though the Halakar bloodline of Bira Marduk encourages use of the weapons in streetfighting contests. A thought strikes me as I write this, Danli; perhaps the Blood Eagle see tetrahooks more as recreational toys than true weapons. Chilling, if true.

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