Nokhian Ancestrality

Intermission - The Weapons and Armor of the Nokhians

(After each part of the story is completed, there'll be intermission chapters talking about some details about the world or the culture)

In the first and second era, Nokhians used very 'tribalistic'-like armors and weapons. They only had very light armors made from leather, or bronze, and most of their weapons were spears, hatchets, javelins, throwing knifes, slings, or "brawl blades". Nokhians worshipped the very idea of movement, movement in combat, in dance, in life, in bed. So every single Nokhian exercised a lot, and their weapons and armors reflected that.

Their armors, at least up until the second era, weren't meant to protect like other armors, it wouldn't been much effective anyway, they much more preferred specific pieces of armory who they were able to use together with their movement to deflect blows, like gauntlets which they could bash against a blow to dissipate it, sometimes they also attached small metallic accessories like small shields or blades to their gauntlets or bracers so they defect better, or give more cuts to the opponent. 

A preferred combat tactic of the Nokhians, especially if they opponent is taller, is frequently lower their body to attack the enemy lower and less protected body parts while confusing from where their news blow would come from. So they liked to equip pauldrons and helmets so their head and shoulders and give 'cover' as they're in a lower stance.

They also found greaves to be very important especially when they're exploring new lands, as it protected their lower leg from potential sneak bites, rocks, spikes or any stuff concealed by tall grasses that could hurt them.

Of course, when possible they'd also use a cuirass, but ones more tightly attached to their body, but they tried to avoid using armor sleeves or armor pants to not get in the middle of their movement.

Not all Nokhians could properly afford to have all the proper equipment, most of them were lacking one greave, one bracer, one pauldron, only some actually had a cuirass, the actually more common piece of armor was the helmet.

As the time passes, the helmet, bracers/gauntlets and pauldrons also became a vanity piece, decorating them more, making the cauldrons sharper, the helmets taller, and the bracers with knuckles, which sometimes could have small spikes or claws so they could also perhaps rip the opponent's skin off as he bashes against his arms. Helmets sometime were decorated with horse hairs, plumes or even animals fur. And for extra protection and intimidation they also enjoyed putting leather masks protecting their mouths and noses, and draw demonic faces with sinister grins and fangs on it.  

The most common weapon was by far, the spears, for obvious reasons, but more skilled fighters actually preferred more close quarters weapons that allows them new techniques, like daggers and swords. Actually, every warrior had at least a dagger, made of metal or even Dragon's claws, but some warriors focused only on dagger fighting, using their martial arts and agile movements to get too close to the opponent so they couldn't properly move, and then letting the daggers rob them of their life. 

One of the unique pieces of weaponry they employed where their so-called "Brawl blades", usually made with the Dragon's claws, it's usually a small curved dagger that's easy to conceal, and meant to be used in physical hand-to-hand combat as like a claw of their own, clenching their fist together with the Dagger, they could exchange punches while also severely cutting the opponents in the process, there were some variations of it, some were meant for the blade to be held between the fingers, but most like a inverse blade

Another famous weapon is the hooked spear, a spear where the spearhead was made of two small curved blades, one bigger and the other smaller, and then another bladed hook at the upper part of the spear wood but not a the head. It was a spear made mostly for duels or hunts where they'd either use the hooks to disarm the opponent, or to get it stuck in their flesh, and then having their movements hindered as they'd have a big spear completely stuck in their own flesh, very nasty but effective weapon.  

Nokhians weren't much fond of archery, they found the process of manually making hundreds of arrows and sharpen it to be impractical when they already mastered the slings for long distant shots, which could use any rock as ammunition, and javelin/spear throw for smaller distances, most of the times javelin or spear throws was more of a show off to intimidate the enemy with their skilled throws, but sometimes they'd also craft small hooks on the javelins spear heads so to have a similar effect of the hooked spear.

They favored the Javelins more than arrows since Javelins are more durable and can also be effectively used in close quarters.

But most of the actual warriors of the Nokhian armies actually crafted their own weapons, and they frequently got creative, even inspiring new tactics, like the eventual use of axes, two handed swords, bladed spears, katars, scythes, chain weapons and even double headed spear and blades.