Shahin

She took a certain swordtok channel talking about dual daggers as a bad weapon choice as a challenge.

This was a clip from her first time fencing using two daggers against me with my greatsword.

Somehow, after multiple attempts, she got the angle of the parry just right, and parried my sword, while stabbing me in the armpit.

Later, she managed this...

And a few other plays in which she hooked my sword with her off-hand dagger, before stabbing me.

I'm gonna be honest, there's a reason I don't talk about Sellsword Arts, and it's mainly because I just don't like them as I find them obnoxious. That's not a condemnation of people watching them, I just don't enjoy them.

The other reason is that they know just enough to give an opinion that is entrenched in absolutist HEMA ideology with no room for experimentation or nuance, or in stage combat. I can't fault the latter, I don't do stage combat, so it's not something I can comment upon. But the rigidity of HEMA can bother me increasingly as it stifles development and informed speculation where we lack information, or takes the written word as gospel in a way that is somewhat difficult to reconcile with the reality of practise.

This means that I try to avoid their content, as it often starts with a position which is fairly well researched by people in HEMA, and devolves into David making blanket statements without any nuance. And that's when he's talking about well researched content. His video on axes being generally bad weapons was outright incorrect in almost all aspects, to the point a member of the group I'm in (who is something of an expert on axes, having recognised the lack of info and put years of study into actually learning how to make them work) addressed the topic.

Similarly, my squire is a dagger enthusiast, and she knows she's going to be at a disadvantage for it. She still manages to win more often than most people in the same position, and actually fighting her with a dagger against dagger especially is a losing battle. So of course, she heard "dual daggers doesn't work", and we decided we'd test it.

Right off the bat, we have some issues with how David approached the topic. First, in his video, he mostly spends time running blindly in, not parrying or binding, then claims it won't work. Compare with the clips of Squire Jess entering with a parry, and using the second dagger to attack into the opening underneath...

We've concluded that dual daggers (so far) is certainly not an ideal selection for combat, but also that (1) it is possible and can definitely be used to fight other lightly armoured opponents. And that (2) given practise, dual daggers can make an effective response to other larger weapons. It's also worth pointing out that from my perspective, dual daggers is up there with giant sword: not always the most practical choice, but it is a power fantasy for the target audience, and certainly feasible within a proper context. That's not even mentioning the use of dual short blades in, say, Kali.

I also wholeheartedly agree with the stance that being too rigid in foundational points kills the ability to explore and grow. Foundations should always be a starting point to build on - and yeah, maybe not everything you explore ends up being good, but you never know what discoveries there are to make along the way. And that's part of the joy and art of things like this.

Obviously it makes sense that dual daggers is going to be at a disadvantage in a lot of situations. But the power fantasy of it is exactly - being at a disadvantage, and being able to find ways to use it anyway. To find the advantages others might overlook. I think the comparison to great weapons is perfect in that regard.

take up space, read the plaques, get the audioguides. you are just as entitled and right in being there. visit museums, boycott museums, be expressive about your opinions about museums.

a lot of museums are free, or discounted for youth and students. take advantage of that. check your local art museum. check your local history museum. museums are there for you, they are there to educate the public, not to distinguish between class. it isn't a private collection, it's a public exhibit.

Using this database, you can access the names and biographical information of real people across Chinese historical periods and dynasties. You can go on here and find the names (not just given names but courtesy names and other sorts of honorary aliases, depending on the period) of thousands of real individuals, though it's almost entirely men in the older dynasties. Very few women.

andererseits stehen coole sachen meist auch im kompletten kontrast zum tatsächlichen behörden-alltag also ist die wahrscheinlichkeit eher gering dass sich das durchsetzt 😢

Die Wahrscheinlichkeit ist gering, aber du hast jetzt die einzigartige Möglichkeit den Lauf der (Verwaltungs-)Geschichte zu beeinflussen und den Wandel voranzutreiben, indem du als erster wieder in Heroldskluft auf der Arbeit aufkreuzt und den Weg für angemessene Berufskleidung ebnest.

It’s a line I think about a lot, and about the plethora of implications with how elves interact with the world.

Stones live longer than even the elves, after all. There’s something both comforting and disquieting in knowing there’s so many witnesses to the tragedies over the years, that each bit of rough limestone or oak tree is imbued with the same memories of the elves.

I also like to think that elves have a specific sense for growth and decay; they can hear and feel, for lack of a better wording, shoots of grass growing, flowers blooming, roots expanding out, fungi breaking down, fallen logs disintegrating, wind eroding stone.