Weapons of Red Savages

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Arrows

"The hunting arrow, incidentally, has a long, tapering point, and this point is firmly fastened to the shaft. This makes it easier to withdraw the arrow from its target. The war arrow, on the other hand, uses an arrowhead whose base is either angled backwards, forming barbs, or cut straight across, the result in both cases being to make the arrow difficult to extract from the wound. The head of the war arrow too, is fastened less securely to the shaft than is that of the hunting arrow. The point thus, by intent, if the shaft is pulled out, is likely to linger in the wound. Sometimes it is possible to thrust the arrow through the body, break off the point and then withdraw the shaft backwards. At other times, if the point becomes dislodged in the body, it is common to seek it with a bone or greenwood probe, and then, when one has found it, attempt to work it free with a knife. There are cases where men have survived this. Much depends, of course, on the location of the point."
"Savages of Gor" page 40/1

"The heads of certain war arrows and hunting arrows differ, too, at least in the case of certain warriors, in an interesting way, with respect to the orientation of the plane of the point to the plane of the nock. In these war arrows, the plane of the point is perpendicular to the plane of the nock. In level shooting, then, the plane of the point is roughly parallel to the ground. In these hunting arrows, on the other hand, the plane of the point is parallel to the plane of the nock. In level shooting, then, the plane of the point is roughly perpendicular to the ground. The reason for these different orientations is particularly telling at close ranges, before the arrow begins to turn in the air. The ribs of the kailiauk are vertical to the ground; the ribs of the human are horizontal to the ground."
"Savages of Gor" page 40/1

Axes

"At the left side of Hci's face, at the chin, there was an irregular, jagged scar, some two inches in length. (...) It had been given to him by a Yellow Knife in mounted combat, the result of a stroke by a long-handled, stone-bladed tomahawk, or canhpi."
"Blood Brothers of Gor" page 9

"A long-handled, single-bladed ax was pressed into her hands. It was a trade ax. Its back was blunted, for the driving of pegs, stakes and wedges. "
"Blood Brothers of Gor" page 35

Small Bow

"The small bow has many advantages. High among these is the rapidity with which it may be fired. A skilled warrior, in the Gorean gravity, can fire ten arrows into the air, the last leaving the bow before the first has returned to the earth. No Gorean weapon can match it in its rate of fire. At close range it can be devastating. Two further advantages of the small bow that might be mentioned are its maneuverability and its capacity to be concealed, say beneath a robe. It can be easily swept from one side of the kaiila to the other. In this type of combat, incidentally, it is not unusual for the warrior to shield himself behind the body of his racing kaiila and circling the enemy, rise up suddenly to fire over the animals back or from beneath it's neck. A heel over the animals back and a fist in it's silken neck hair, or an arm thrust through a leather throat hoop, provide the leverage needed for these feats."
"Savages of Gor" page 46

Clubs

"The other drew back a heavy club, the termination of which contained a heavy, wooden, ball-like knob. They were preparing, apparently, to dash out my brains."
"Savages of Gor" page 288

"The knife blades and long nails are sometimes mounted into clubs. The blades, of course, may also be fitted into carved handles of wood and bone."
"Savages of Gor" page 145

Kaiila lance

The kaiila lance is used in hunting kailiauk as well as in mounted warfare. It is called the kaiila lance because it is designed to be used from kaiilaback. It is to be distinguished in particular from the longer, heavier tharlarion lance, designed for use from tharlarionback, and often used with a lance rest, and the smaller, thicker stabbing lances used by certain groups of pedestrian nomads. The kaiila lance takes, on the whole, two forms, the hunting lance and the war lance. Hunting lances are commonly longer, heavier and thicker than war lances. Too, they are often undecorated, save perhaps for a knot of the feathers of the yellow, long-winged, sharp-billed prairie fleer, or, as it is sometimes called, the maize bird, or corn bird, considered by the red savages to be generally the first bird to find food.
The point of the hunting lance is usually longer and narrower than that of the war lance, a function of the depth into which one must strike in order to find the heart of the kailliauk. The shafts of the kaiila lances are black, supple and strong; they are made of tem wood, a wood much favored on Gor for this type of purpose. Staves for the lances are cut in the late winter, when the sap is down. Such wood, in the long process of smoking and drying over the lodge fire, which consumes several weeks, seasoning the wood and killing any insects which might remain in it, seldom splits or cracks. Similarly, old-growth wood, or second-growth wood, which is tougher, is preferred over the fresher, less dense first-growth, or new-growth, wood."
"Savages of Gor" page 42/3

"I then handed him the lance from the grass. It was metal-bladed, with a long trade point, some nine inches in length. It was riveted in the haft at two places and reinforced with rawhide bindings. The nature of theses bindings and the three lateral red marks near the head of the shaft marked it as Kailla. The binding was traditional; the marks were an explicit convention, signifying the Kailla, the Cutthroat tribe. Other marks upon it, which might have signified an owner, had been scratched away, probably with the edge of an knife. No feathers were attached to the lance. Never as yet, it seemed, had it touched an enemy."
"Savages of Gor" page 333

"These lances are used in a great variety of ways, but the most common method is to thrust one's wrist through the wrist loop, grasp the lance with the right hand, and anchor it beneath the right arm. This maximizes balance, control and impact. With the weight of a hurtling kaiila behind the thrust such a lance can be thrust through the body of a kailiauk. To be sure, the skillful hunter will strike no more deeply than is necessary, and his trained kaiila will slow its pace sufficiently to permit the kailiauk to draw its own body from the lance. This permits the lance to be used again and again in the same hunt."
"Savages of Gor" page 43

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Turf Knife

"She placed the turf knife in the pit, through the hole which we had left as its entrance. The turf knife is a wooden-bladed, saw-edged, paddle like tool. It is used to cut and saw sod, and, when the handle is held in the right hand and the blade is supported with the left, it may be used, also, rather like a shovel, to move dirt."
"Blood Brothers of Gor" page 311

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Tarn lance

"The tarn lance, it might be mentioned, as is used by the red savages who have mastered the tarn, is, in size and shape, very similar to the kaiila lance. It differs primarily in being longer and more slender."
"Savages of Gor" page 43