SotF: Codex: Introduction to the Mace

  • Other than our faith, no weapon has more than associated with the Vigilants of Stendarr than the mace. While it has been said that the mace is nothing more than the logical advancement of the humble club, its utility and deadliness however should never be underestimated. Developed as the response to the increased usage of hardened armour, the mace was a weapon that was specifically designed to defeat such armour. As one can summarise, the mace is primarily a percussive weapon but adjustments such as the addition of a spike at the tip of the weapon can aid in increasing the versatility of this tool.

     

    The design of the mace is simple: it primarily has the hilt, the shaft and the head. The head of the mace can be made of any hard material from rock to metal. There are even unconfirmed rumours of mace heads constructed out of fabled dragon bones. The shaft of the mace is typically made out of wood or hollow metal as contrary to popular belief, the mace is not a heavy cumbersome weapon. True that the mace may not be as nimble nor elegant as the sword or even a dagger but it is not needlessly heavy. The variant of the mace used by the Vigil of Stendarr is the flanged mace, a mace with bears flanges to bind into the target so that the weapon does not slide or glance upon contact and to focus the point of impact to increase damage.

     

    However before you are to learn the techniques of such a humble weapon, the clever Vigilant must first learn to understand the strengths and limitations of his weapon. For one thing, the mace is a short ranged weapon by necessity of design to prevent it from being overtly cumbersome. This in turn leads to a range disadvantage to weapons such as the spear and even the common sword. Secondly, blows of the mace must be more precise than a sword: only the head of the weapon will do any meaningful damage should it connect. As the saying goes, “A knife has countless uses” and the mace is not a knife. With exceptions to some modifications to the design, the mace is strictly a bludgeoning weapon and such cannot properly cut nor does it share the wide varieties of techniques as swords do. Next, as a tool designed as the response to better and harder armours, the mace is ironically, at a disadvantage against soft or unarmoured foes especially when compared to swords as soft armour may absorb the blows of the mace better than heavier armours.

     

    But one may ask, why does the order decide to use such a weapon if it is not as efficient as bladed weapons such as the sword against unarmoured targets? That inquisitiveness is a virtue which the Vigil of Stendarr endorses.

     

    For what is a weakness of a weapon can also be a strength. While it is true that the mace is not as deadly as a sword against unarmoured targets, the mace is far more effective in stunning the target thus allowing the Vigilant to subdue the target for whatever reasoning. As the likelihood of a mortal blow is lessened, the Vigilant also has more time to tend to their opponents wounds before capture. A good Vigilant must by 'evlard.s'never forget their oath to the Merciful one. Second strength of the mace is the very purpose it is created for; heavy armour and by extension, the unholy hide of the Daedra. Throughout their service, a Vigilant will face many horrors from the realm of Oblivion and while a sword is more versatile, it is far better to have a simple weapon that can actually hurt a Daedra than a weapon that simply bounces of its hide.

     

    As previously mentioned, while the mace is a short ranged weapon, it is also a light and compact tool making it less of a burden to the Vigilant. Also because of its construction, maces are also cheaper to forge and maintain than swords which allows a larger number to be created and deployed among our numbers. As the descendant of the humble club, mace training while simple in nature is actually more complicated than the stereotypical blend of speed, strength and stamina which will be covered in the next chapter.

     

     

    ~ Excerpt from Vigil Combat Manual v.1, Introduction to the Mace by Garruk, Senior-Vigilant of Stendarr

     

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Comments

2 Comments   |   Sotek and 1 other like this.
  • Wulfhedinn
    Wulfhedinn   ·  February 28, 2018
    Very interesting in the way you talk about Maces. It's interesting how you explained why they use a logically inferior weapon. Good work!
  • Sotek
    Sotek   ·  January 21, 2017
    Far more complex than Soteks archery training which comprised of, "release the drawstring, not the bow else it will ping back and smash you in the face".