Empty City Press

First depicted in Origins-Marionette, Yunde's weapon consists of eight small, western-style throwing daggers.  Yunde's petite frame as well as her role as her squad's primary scout and infiltrator direct much of how the 'Eight Hornets' get used.  Most often, Yunde uses her daggers as a way to distract, lead, or otherwise hamper opponents while another engages them.  She has been known to throw them with little regard for success, but purely for the 'effect' that such a barrage has on witnesses or victims.  The 'knocking' of Yunde's daggers are a familiar sound for many of her comrades, often accompanying or accentuating the 'tap-language' that she developed for non-verbal communication while out on duty.  In this way, Yunde can send messages even while engaging opponents.   

First depicted in Origins-Marionette, Chalum's weapon is an ornate warclub modeled from the real-world Fijian sali.  Wood, especially wood of worth, is an extremely rare commodity in the wastes; most of the desert tribes use stolen steel weapons from the city or weapons of bone or stone.  Thus, only warriors of great distinction carry warclubs of hardwood, and very often but a few of these weapons are held collectively by a given tribe.  While the individual style varies from tribe to tribe, the cultural weight of such a weapon is largely homogeneous.  More than simply tools of war, such weapons carry the history of a tribe's exploits and glories.  As each bearer expires, the new owner invariably adds his/her ancestor's name to the weapon's own, carrying the accumulated deeds of generations.  The most storied of these weapons have names so long it is said that it would require from sunset to sunrise to speak the weapon's full name.  Adversaries' names are never added to the dynasty, so should an enemy take the weapon as trophy, the weapon again becomes nameless.  Chalum often hangs trophies from the weapon's handle, and many of these are quite gruesome: ears, teeth, jawbones and the like.

First depicted in Origins-Marionette, Dekki's weapon is a massive crossbow-like mechanism (actually what might be considered a light arbalest) much like the German wallarmbrust. The ponderousness of the weapon, as well as its extraordinary sophistication for the wastes (even the city) mark it as unique to Dekki. Thought by others within the guard as a gift directly passed to Dekki's family by the Soghu or the Soghu's agents, the weapon required prodigious training on Dekki's part to master. Standing from stock to end, the whole device stretches nearly 3 1/2 feet; thus sighting and firing is an exercise in both strength and care. Widely disdained by Dekki's underlings as an underhanded, honorless weapon by the customs of the wastes, none-the-less most carried a great deal of respect for its stopping power. It is said that Dekki once prevented a murder by spitting the aggressor with a shot that passed through a stone wall.  

First depicted in Origins-Marionette, Eeshi's flail 'Three Principles of Faith' is a weapon all-but-unknown in the wastes.  Modeled off of the western threshing flail, 'TPF' can be understood as a light-weight ball-and-chain that relies upon speed rather than destructive force for its effectiveness.  Traditionally utilized as a non-lethal weapon by constabularies in the empire (though with longer chains), the version Eeshi carries has been modified to become a weapon of war by adding numerous spikes to the solid balls.  Additionally, each ball can be detached from the chain (via an ingenious mechanism created by Idhru) and thrown.  These balls, when projected by Eeshi's preternatural strength, can strike with the strength of a low-grade firearm.  The name, inherited from Idhru's devout past, is one that Eeshi has held onto despite the irony.  Though its effectiveness pales in comparison to most weapons of the wastes, its utter exoticism puts many opponents at a disadvantage in defending against it.    

First depicted in Origins-Marionette, Eeshi's dagger 'Birdsong' is modeled off of the Japanese yoroi-doshi, a modification of the traditional tanto that was typically forged to have a thicker blade profile.  Though a relatively common 'sash-weapon' in the empire, such a weapon is quite uncommon in the wastes, as it is produced primarily as a means for armed combatants to pierce thick armour while in close quarters.  The climate of the wastes disallows all but the most hardy to wear any sort of armour, let alone the various forms of layered plate armour that such a weapon is designed to pierce.  In the city, daggers such as 'Birdsong' are often worn as status-symbols or distinctions of class, further calling into question this weapon's origins.  Eeshi makes use of 'Birdsong' for many of her contract-killings, due to its concealability.