Spears on Gor

  Spears on Gor  

Typical Warrior Spear

Bronze-headed

Heavy shaft

Shown here, it sinks 8 inches into a wooden beam 

Without warning, with blinding speed, the bronze-headed spear flew towards my breast, the heavy shaft blurred like a comet's tail behind it. I twisted, and the blade cut my tunic cleanly, creasing the skin with a line of blood as sharp as a razor. It sunk eight inches into the heavy wooden beams behind me. Had it struck me with that force, it would have passed through my body.

Tarnsman

Curved bronze head

Four of the others actually carried spears. The spears were large, with curved bronze heads. They seemed heavy. I could not have thrown one.

Captive

7 feet in height (length)

Heavy & stout

Tapering bronze head 18 inches long

The spear was a typical Gorean spear, about seven feet in height, heavy, stout, with a tapering bronze head some eighteen inches in length. 

Outlaw

Shaft is more than an inch and a half thick

The spear, a Gorean war spear, its head tapered of bronze, some eighteen inches long, its shaft more than an inch and a half in thickness, more than six feet in length, sped from my grasp.

Hunters

Long heavy shaft, 2 inches thick

Bronze tapered head with double-edged bronze killing blade

He took his spear in his right hand. It had a long, heavy shaft, some two inches in width, some seven feet in length; the head of the weapon, including its socket and penetrating rivets, was some twenty inches in length; the killing edges of the blade began about two inches from the bottom of the socket, which reinforced the blade, tapering with the blade, double-edged, to within eight inches of its point; the blade was bronze; it was broad at the bottom, tapering to its point;

Slave Girl

Spear & sword are traditional weapons of Warrior

Further, the heavy, bronze-headed spear and the short, double-edged steel sword are traditionally regarded as the worthy, and prime, weapons of the Gorean fighting man, he at least who is a true fighting man; 

Raiders

Terrible weapon, preferred over crossbow & longbow by many warriors

Can pierce shield at close quarters

Can sink a foot deep in solid wood when hurled with force

It is a terrible weapon and, abetted by the somewhat lighter gravity of Gor, when cast with considerable force, can pierce a shield at close quarters or bury its head a foot deep in solid wood. With this weapon groups of men hunt even the larl in its native haunts in the Voltai Range, that incredible pantherlike carnivore which may stand six to eight feet high at the shoulder. 

Indeed, the Gorean spear is such that many warriors scorn lesser missile weapons, such as the longbow or crossbow, both of which are not uncommonly found on Gor.

Outlaw

Warrior throws spear deep in a block of wood from 100 yards

We were different! I recalled how a guard had once given me his spear, and it had been so heavy, I could throw it only a few feet. He had then taken it from me and hurled it into a block of wood, head deep, more than a hundred feet away. He sent me to fetch it for him and I had scarcely been able to work it free of the wood. His shield I had barely been able to lift. On Earth I had not thought much of the strength of men. Strength had not seemed important. It had seemed unimportant, irrelevant. But on Gor I realized that strength was important, very important. And that we were weaker than they, far, far, weaker, and that, on such a world, if they chose, we were theirs. 

Captive

Kaiila are trained to avoid the thrown spear

I readied the spear for its cast.

Warily now the animal began to circle, in an almost human fashion, watching the spear. It shifted delicately, feinting, and then withdrawing, trying to draw the cast.

I was later to learn that kaiila are trained to avoid the thrown spear. It is a training which begins with blunt staves and progresses through headed weapons. Until the kaiila is suitably proficient in this art it is not allowed to breed. Those who cannot learn it die under the spear. Yet, at a close range, I had no doubt that I could slay the beast. As swift as may be the kaiila I had no doubt that I was swifter. Gorean warriors hunt men and tarts with this weapon. But I did not wish to slay the animal, nor its rider.

Nomads

Training with the spear

See also Warrior Training

Indeed, the largest part of my education was to be in arms, mostly training in the spear and sword. The spear seemed light to me because of the gravity, and I soon developed a dexterity in casting it with considerable force and accuracy. I could penetrate a shield at close distance, and I managed to develop a skill sufficient to hurl it through a thrown hoop about the size of a dinner plate at twenty yards. I was also forced to learn to throw the spear with my left hand. 

Tarnsman

Rencer (marsh) spears

2 or 3 pronged

It was pointless to unsheath my sword, or to take up a weapon. From the safety of the yards of marsh water separating me from my enemies I could have been immediately slain, lost in a thicket of the two- or three-pronged marsh spears.

Raiders

Some of the men of the rencers, with their small shields of rence wicker, fought, but their marsh spears were not match for the steel swords and war spears of Gor. When they offered resistance they were cut down. Most, panic-stricken, knowing themselves no match for trained warriors, fled like animals, crying out in fear before the hunters of Port Kar.

Raiders

 Provided Courtesy of the Tarl Cabot Educational Library located at the Central Fire.