Knives

Everyone uses knives at mealtimes, but not everyone in Liggjavard has the same relationship with their knives.

It is lovely. Thank you, Father.

— Rothilimion newlywed

Rothilimion place settings come in sets of four, because the Rothilimion almost never have guests for meals, and even couples that raise several children will not have them all at once. A newly pairbonded couple will often receive a matching set of four eating knives, crafted by a respectable artisan, as a celebratory gift. Later, these knives may be passed on as a set, or even individually, as a very personal gift.

That's not a knife. This is a knife!

— Calamatlan au hand to visitor from the Reaches

The plains of Calamatlan appear endless, with tall grass stretching as far as the eye can see. A team of au hands following the aurochs herds needs to be resilient, hardy, and prepared for anything. Au hands carry substantial knives, sharp points on the end, flat on one edge, and kept sharp along the other edge. Au knives are used for butchering cattle, chopping brush, meal preparation, and close combat.

This one is not for sale. Stop asking.

— Motsaandu crafter at the trade outpost

As trade goods, the crafters of the Motsaandu will often buy plain daggers from traders at Khulagalag and improve them. They will replace the original handles with carefully carved hardwoods, bits of shell, rare hides from the forest. They will bring the upgraded knives back to the traders later and sell them for quite a bit more. Their own knives look very similar to the untrained eye, but those knives they keep close. Their own knives are never for sale, no matter how good an offer is made.

Ye have the runes all wrong on this one. Scrap it and start again.

— Dwarven mastercrafter to an apprentice

The dwarves take their feasting seriously, and a proper formal place setting will have separate knives for each type of meat, one each for slicing hard and soft breads, one for butter, and three for mustard. (The mustard knives each have different serrations to spread the mustard in different ways.) Knives from Hertenland are finely crafted cutting tools, made from durable metal and inlaid with the names of the clan, the crafthall, and the name of the maker in contrasting alloys. They are expensive to buy, but of extremely high quality.

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In Game Terms

Treat a Calamatlan Belt Knife as a shortsword, doing 1d6 damage, rather than as a dagger at 1d4.

DRAFT

This article is currently a work in progress and may be incomplete or subject to change.