Crab Equipment
Posted: Sun Jul 26, 2020 7:16 am
Crab warriors tend to favor large, two-handed weapons and powerful crossbows to tackle the terrible creatures of the Shadowlands. In addition, they have adopted a handful of foreign weapons from gaijin mercenaries hired to shore up sections of the Wall over the years
Swords
While the Crab are famous for their use of heavy and blunted weapons, they are still Rokugani and therefore hold the sword up as the ultimate weapon.
Flyssa
The flyssa is a gaijin weapon that foreign mercenaries introduced to the Crab. Similar to the nodachi in use and construction, the flyssa has a long blade tapering to a deadly point, a sizeable hilt, and no crossguard. While relatively thin, the blade has a broad belly like a scimitar’s and it flares near the hilt to provide a bit of protection to the wielder’s hand
Kabutowari
Similar to the tekkan, the kabutowari is a blunt, cast-iron sword the Crab use in their defense of the Wall. Developed from the humble jitte, the “skull breaker” is the size and shape of a wakizashi. It has a curved, blunt blade with a rectangular cross section, a small cast crossguard, and like the jitte, a sizeable hook cast into the back of the blade near the crossguard. Often carried as a backup weapon by Crab samurai and ashigaru, it is used more to pry apart armor or chitin plates than to slash or stab foes
Tekkan
More a solid truncheon than an actual sword, the tekkan—the name translates roughly to “iron pipe”—is a single-piece, cast-iron weapon used to crack open armor and battle creatures immune to slashing weapons. Roughly five feet long, the tekkan resembles a primitive nodachi in size and shape. It has a long, curved “blade” with a rectangular cross section and a two-handed hilt with a small crossguard
Hammers and Axes
As Rokugan’s premier military engineers, members of the Crab Clan tend to carry weapons that started their lives as tools. A warrior can never be when monsters of the Shadowlands will attack, and every Crab knows that a stout hammer can break open armor or shatter a bony carapace just as easily as driving a spike into a plank.
Genno
The genno is a massive, long-handled hammer used for demolition and construction. Essentially a scaled-up artisan’s hammer, it consists of a square or octagonal steel head mounted on a long ironwood haft around four feet long. The head is made from relatively soft steel and has two hardened striking surfaces: one flat, the other slightly convex or crowned. The flat head is used for basic hammering, chiseling, and demolition. The crowned surface is used for driving spikes and nails flush with surfaces and other work that requires a more focused power.
Tsuruhashi
The humble tsuruhashi is one of many tools repurposed as a weapon by the Crab. Based on the common miner’s pickax, this ax features a forged-steel head mounted to a solid wooden haft. Roughly the length of a katana, the tsuruhashi’s head features two striking ends—a flat blade and a sharp point. While it is commonly used in construction and demolition, many Crab ashigaru and even some clan samurai use the tsuruhashi in battle to deadly effect. The blade head can pry apart armor, while the pointed head easily pierces it, and both cause grievous wounds thanks to the leverage provided by the long handle
Bows and Crossbows
The Crab use ranged weapons primarily to defend positions along the Wall. To that end, the Crab have developed numerous heavy crossbows and specialty weapons that use mechanical principles to improve performance against the evils lurking in the Shadowlands
Doom Crossbow
This massive and powerful crossbow is a middle step between the common oyumi and the ballista siege weapon. A little over three feet in length, it has a sturdy ironwood stock and long bow limbs made of steel. A doom crossbow fires long ironwood bolts about as thick as an average Rokugani’s thumb, which are typically tipped with a barbed, armor-piercing head. Thanks to the size and the strength of the steel limbs, it requires a special detachable, hand-cranked windlass to cock it. The weapon’s power allows its deadly bolts to punch through metal plates, armor, and the thick, scaly hides of oni with ease.
Despite its fantastic destructive potential, a doom crossbow has a number of serious drawbacks. It is quite heavy and requires uncommon strength to use. It is also quite hard to aim at nearby targets. However, when its user is fighting on the Wall, these issues can be lessened by securing the crossbow into a stand, and become fair trade-offs for a weapon that can potentially drop a raging ogre with one shot
Kaiu no Oyumi
Developed within the last century by Kaiu engineers, this large, bulky weapon is essentially a rapid-fire oyumi. The Kaiu no oyumi consists of a heavy oyumi with a large box attached to the top of the stock. The box contains a magazine of bolts and a cocking mechanism that, with a single pull, draws the string, loads a bolt, and readies the mechanism to fire. While they are few in number due to their relative mechanical complexity compared with the standard oyumi, they have proven very valuable in extended engagements on the Wall, allowing small numbers of soldiers to face down numerically superior foes while awaiting reinforcements.
Shields
The use of shields is rare in Rokugan. Those that do exist in the Empire are made of either hardened wood or metal and decorated with clan mon and other symbols of the samurai who wield them. Shields are most commonly found among the Crab, who use them occasionally and, more often, give them to ashigaru, who tend to pair them with either crossbows or polearms.
Sode
A throwback to an earlier age of armor making, sode are rarely seen outside of Crab lands. These medium-sized shields first appeared on Rokugan’s battlefields centuries ago and soon were considered a standard part of a warrior’s armor. Made of hide, iron, and steel plate, sode attach to the wearer’s shoulders and extend to the elbows. They provide excellent coverage and allow a mounted samurai to keep their hands free while still receiving the benefits of a shield. Use of sode has fallen off over the past few decades, but some tradition-minded Crab warriors wear them when fighting on the Wall or patrolling the Shadowlands, especially when wearing heavy, old-fashioned ō-yoroi armor
Large Shield
Large shields, also called body shields, are a common sight among Crab ashigaru on the Wall. Typically used in conjunction with polearms, they provide incredible protection from both melee and ranged attacks. Roughly the size of an average Rokugani, a typical body shield is made from hardwoods reinforced with steel and covered in leather.
Small Shield
Roughly the size and shape of a sode, small shields are the most common type of shield the Crab (and some Unicorn mounted forces) use. Usually made of iron or steel, small shields are carried in one hand by a sturdy handle. They are typically square or rectangular and often feature spikes, scalloped edges, engraving, embossed images, and other embellishments. Small shields are often used by skirmishers patrolling the Shadowlands or by lightly armed ashigaru. They provide respectable coverage without weighing down the user overmuch
Siege Weapons
Along with their defense of the Wall, the Crab are famous for being extremely talented at the fine art of the siege. While other clans often refrain from using destructive force against castles and cities, Crab warriors attack fortifications with relish
Ballista
Used as both a siege weapon and a defensive weapon to ward off creatures along the Wall, the ballista is a crossbow writ large. Mounted on a tilting, swiveling frame and operated by a crew of two or three, the ballista is made primarily of wood, with metal fittings and accents. It fires massive bolts nearly four feet long and four inches across and performs extremely well against heavily armored enemies and flying creatures. A skilled, well-equipped crew can keep up a withering rate of fire and can provide pinpoint support fire or deny an area with equal ease.
O-gata Dohou
The o-gata dohou (literally, “stone-throwing machine”) uses mechanical principles to fling heavy stones, flaming balls of pitch, scrap, corpses, or anything else handy over long distances. Mounted on wheels and served by a crew of up to six depending on the size, the o-gata dohou is used primarily in siege warfare to batter fortifications and destroy buildings. The Crab also use it as an anti-demon and antipersonnel weapon to fling sanctified stones or flaming projectiles at fiends from the Shadowlands that are attacking the Wall.
New Armor
It is common knowledge that the Crab love armor—and the heavier, the better. Their long service on the Wall and their experiences with dangerous Shadow-lands creatures has made Crab warriors appreciate a sturdy suit of armor more than warriors of other clans
Ō-yoroi
Ō-yoroi—also known as great armor or Wall armor—is the heaviest armor worn by Crab samurai, and possibly the heaviest armor in Rokugan. These are huge, boxy, often ornate suits used by high-ranking Crab officers and powerful samurai assigned to Wall duty. The armor features all the components of lighter, lesser armor, but on a grander scale. Massive sode cover the wearer’s arms nearly to the wrist, thick iron plates and countless steel scales are laced together then lacquered to provide unparalleled protection, and outsized crests decorate the conical helmets with their monstrous masks.
All this protection and glory comes at a price, however. Since these suits were designed to serve on the Wall, nearly all their protection is focused on the wearer’s front.
Tatami Gusoku
Tatami gusoku is a type of lightweight “folding” armor worn by Crab scouts and skirmishers. A typical suit consists of an armored jacket called a tatami katabira and a folding helmet called a tatami kabuto. Other bits of armor, particularly gauntlets, leg armor, and different helmets can also be worn with the suit. The tatami katabira consists of dozens of karuta: square and rectangular metal plates of various sizes stitched together with chainmail and sewn to a thick cloth or leather backing. Both the jacket and helmet can be folded up and easily stored for travel or hidden away in an emergency
Tosei-Gusoku
Tosei-gusoku is a new style of protection recently developed by Crab armorers. Vaguely resembling a suit of gaijin armor, a tosei-gusoku uses large, contoured steel plates laced together and worn over a chain or ring-mail coat. Plated gauntlets, iron greaves, a kabuto-like helmet, and a four-piece haidate of laced steel plates completes the suit. Thanks to the shape of the plates and the clever use of hinges and laces, a tosei-gusoku provides better defense against ranged weapons than more common suits of armor.
Despite the utility and improved protection a tosei-gusoku offers, it remains unpopular among Crab samurai. Due to its deviance from normal traditions of armor making and the fact that it tends to be drab and utilitarian rather than lovingly decorated like most armor, many more traditional-minded samurai consider this suit fit only for ashigaru, rōnin, and samurai of a poor lord.
Personal Effects
Those going into the Shadowlands know that weapons alone are not enough to make for a successful mission. Veterans often bring special items that help ensure they can better survive in this vile setting, for to die before actual battle would be shameful
Climbing Kit
The warriors of the Crab Clan do a not-insignificant amount of climbing, and so the climbing kit is an important part of many samurai’s military gear. It typically includes a few coils of rope, a small hammer, an iron chisel, powdered chalk, and a handful of spikes, pitons, and other climbing ephemera. In addition, some climbers add special spiked bands that slip over their hands and feet for extra grip
Engineer’s Kit
These kits provide an architect, civil engineer, siege engineer, or builder with a set of basic tools for surveying and building. These tool kits typically include measuring and surveying tools, rolls of parchment for making plans, various drafting implements, and an assortment of carpenters’ and masons’ tools.
Sapper’s Kit
A sapper’s kit includes basic tools to help sappers and miners in their work undermining and destroying fortifications. It typically includes a small shovel, small pick-ax, flint and steel for lighting fires, a bucket, a small amount of pitch, a coil of rope or chain, and an assortment of other common building tools used in demolitions.
Smithy’s Kit
This kit is necessarily larger and more complex infinitely less portable than smaller kits like those used by sappers and bowyers. It includes a variety of metalworking tools, specialty tools for weapon or armor making depending on the user’s specialty, a small anvil, a portable forge, a crucible, and numerous hammers, tongs, pliers, and blacksmithing tools.
Smoke Arrows
Smoke arrows, also called smoking-bulbs arrows, are modified humming-bulb arrows created by Crab armorers for signaling. They are tipped with a perforated, egg-shaped head filled with a mixture of alchemical substances that, when jostled, emit a thin cloud of smoke in a variety of colors depending on the specific mixture. Archers can fire these arrows high into the air, using the smoke trails to signal other units up and down the Wall. Depending on the smoke color, they can indicate breaches of varying severity, calls for reinforcements, or that victory was achieved.
Spyglass
Spyglasses are wondrous devices brought to the Crab lands by foreign mercenaries. At their most basic, spyglasses are long brass tubes full of polished glass lenses. Some are heavy enough to require a tripod for use, while others are collapsible and small enough to fit in a pouch or pocket. No matter their size, all spyglasses do the same thing: make objects far away easier to see. While rare and expensive, these items are gaining popularity among Crab officers and scouts
Taketaba
Taketaba are covered mobile platforms designed to give archers and crossbow users cover on the battle-field. While they vary in size and construction depending on their use and the materials at hand, a common taketaba is a wheeled platform large enough for several warriors armed with bows or crossbows. The front of the platform is covered in thick planks or bundles of bamboo.
Tate
Tate are a type of large, semiportable protection used by warriors in the field. They are extremely simple affairs consisting of a few thick wooden planks nailed together and painted or engraved with a clan or army’s livery. They are carried into battle and set up by prop-ping a support plank behind them at an angle. Once set, tate provide ample cover for archers, crossbow wielders, and other warriors who need respite from flying arrows and debris. A set of tate provides cover for one individual, but multiple tate can be set to provide cover for larger groups.
Swords
While the Crab are famous for their use of heavy and blunted weapons, they are still Rokugani and therefore hold the sword up as the ultimate weapon.
Flyssa
The flyssa is a gaijin weapon that foreign mercenaries introduced to the Crab. Similar to the nodachi in use and construction, the flyssa has a long blade tapering to a deadly point, a sizeable hilt, and no crossguard. While relatively thin, the blade has a broad belly like a scimitar’s and it flares near the hilt to provide a bit of protection to the wielder’s hand
Kabutowari
Similar to the tekkan, the kabutowari is a blunt, cast-iron sword the Crab use in their defense of the Wall. Developed from the humble jitte, the “skull breaker” is the size and shape of a wakizashi. It has a curved, blunt blade with a rectangular cross section, a small cast crossguard, and like the jitte, a sizeable hook cast into the back of the blade near the crossguard. Often carried as a backup weapon by Crab samurai and ashigaru, it is used more to pry apart armor or chitin plates than to slash or stab foes
Tekkan
More a solid truncheon than an actual sword, the tekkan—the name translates roughly to “iron pipe”—is a single-piece, cast-iron weapon used to crack open armor and battle creatures immune to slashing weapons. Roughly five feet long, the tekkan resembles a primitive nodachi in size and shape. It has a long, curved “blade” with a rectangular cross section and a two-handed hilt with a small crossguard
Hammers and Axes
As Rokugan’s premier military engineers, members of the Crab Clan tend to carry weapons that started their lives as tools. A warrior can never be when monsters of the Shadowlands will attack, and every Crab knows that a stout hammer can break open armor or shatter a bony carapace just as easily as driving a spike into a plank.
Genno
The genno is a massive, long-handled hammer used for demolition and construction. Essentially a scaled-up artisan’s hammer, it consists of a square or octagonal steel head mounted on a long ironwood haft around four feet long. The head is made from relatively soft steel and has two hardened striking surfaces: one flat, the other slightly convex or crowned. The flat head is used for basic hammering, chiseling, and demolition. The crowned surface is used for driving spikes and nails flush with surfaces and other work that requires a more focused power.
Tsuruhashi
The humble tsuruhashi is one of many tools repurposed as a weapon by the Crab. Based on the common miner’s pickax, this ax features a forged-steel head mounted to a solid wooden haft. Roughly the length of a katana, the tsuruhashi’s head features two striking ends—a flat blade and a sharp point. While it is commonly used in construction and demolition, many Crab ashigaru and even some clan samurai use the tsuruhashi in battle to deadly effect. The blade head can pry apart armor, while the pointed head easily pierces it, and both cause grievous wounds thanks to the leverage provided by the long handle
Bows and Crossbows
The Crab use ranged weapons primarily to defend positions along the Wall. To that end, the Crab have developed numerous heavy crossbows and specialty weapons that use mechanical principles to improve performance against the evils lurking in the Shadowlands
Doom Crossbow
This massive and powerful crossbow is a middle step between the common oyumi and the ballista siege weapon. A little over three feet in length, it has a sturdy ironwood stock and long bow limbs made of steel. A doom crossbow fires long ironwood bolts about as thick as an average Rokugani’s thumb, which are typically tipped with a barbed, armor-piercing head. Thanks to the size and the strength of the steel limbs, it requires a special detachable, hand-cranked windlass to cock it. The weapon’s power allows its deadly bolts to punch through metal plates, armor, and the thick, scaly hides of oni with ease.
Despite its fantastic destructive potential, a doom crossbow has a number of serious drawbacks. It is quite heavy and requires uncommon strength to use. It is also quite hard to aim at nearby targets. However, when its user is fighting on the Wall, these issues can be lessened by securing the crossbow into a stand, and become fair trade-offs for a weapon that can potentially drop a raging ogre with one shot
Kaiu no Oyumi
Developed within the last century by Kaiu engineers, this large, bulky weapon is essentially a rapid-fire oyumi. The Kaiu no oyumi consists of a heavy oyumi with a large box attached to the top of the stock. The box contains a magazine of bolts and a cocking mechanism that, with a single pull, draws the string, loads a bolt, and readies the mechanism to fire. While they are few in number due to their relative mechanical complexity compared with the standard oyumi, they have proven very valuable in extended engagements on the Wall, allowing small numbers of soldiers to face down numerically superior foes while awaiting reinforcements.
Shields
The use of shields is rare in Rokugan. Those that do exist in the Empire are made of either hardened wood or metal and decorated with clan mon and other symbols of the samurai who wield them. Shields are most commonly found among the Crab, who use them occasionally and, more often, give them to ashigaru, who tend to pair them with either crossbows or polearms.
Sode
A throwback to an earlier age of armor making, sode are rarely seen outside of Crab lands. These medium-sized shields first appeared on Rokugan’s battlefields centuries ago and soon were considered a standard part of a warrior’s armor. Made of hide, iron, and steel plate, sode attach to the wearer’s shoulders and extend to the elbows. They provide excellent coverage and allow a mounted samurai to keep their hands free while still receiving the benefits of a shield. Use of sode has fallen off over the past few decades, but some tradition-minded Crab warriors wear them when fighting on the Wall or patrolling the Shadowlands, especially when wearing heavy, old-fashioned ō-yoroi armor
Large Shield
Large shields, also called body shields, are a common sight among Crab ashigaru on the Wall. Typically used in conjunction with polearms, they provide incredible protection from both melee and ranged attacks. Roughly the size of an average Rokugani, a typical body shield is made from hardwoods reinforced with steel and covered in leather.
Small Shield
Roughly the size and shape of a sode, small shields are the most common type of shield the Crab (and some Unicorn mounted forces) use. Usually made of iron or steel, small shields are carried in one hand by a sturdy handle. They are typically square or rectangular and often feature spikes, scalloped edges, engraving, embossed images, and other embellishments. Small shields are often used by skirmishers patrolling the Shadowlands or by lightly armed ashigaru. They provide respectable coverage without weighing down the user overmuch
Siege Weapons
Along with their defense of the Wall, the Crab are famous for being extremely talented at the fine art of the siege. While other clans often refrain from using destructive force against castles and cities, Crab warriors attack fortifications with relish
Ballista
Used as both a siege weapon and a defensive weapon to ward off creatures along the Wall, the ballista is a crossbow writ large. Mounted on a tilting, swiveling frame and operated by a crew of two or three, the ballista is made primarily of wood, with metal fittings and accents. It fires massive bolts nearly four feet long and four inches across and performs extremely well against heavily armored enemies and flying creatures. A skilled, well-equipped crew can keep up a withering rate of fire and can provide pinpoint support fire or deny an area with equal ease.
O-gata Dohou
The o-gata dohou (literally, “stone-throwing machine”) uses mechanical principles to fling heavy stones, flaming balls of pitch, scrap, corpses, or anything else handy over long distances. Mounted on wheels and served by a crew of up to six depending on the size, the o-gata dohou is used primarily in siege warfare to batter fortifications and destroy buildings. The Crab also use it as an anti-demon and antipersonnel weapon to fling sanctified stones or flaming projectiles at fiends from the Shadowlands that are attacking the Wall.
New Armor
It is common knowledge that the Crab love armor—and the heavier, the better. Their long service on the Wall and their experiences with dangerous Shadow-lands creatures has made Crab warriors appreciate a sturdy suit of armor more than warriors of other clans
Ō-yoroi
Ō-yoroi—also known as great armor or Wall armor—is the heaviest armor worn by Crab samurai, and possibly the heaviest armor in Rokugan. These are huge, boxy, often ornate suits used by high-ranking Crab officers and powerful samurai assigned to Wall duty. The armor features all the components of lighter, lesser armor, but on a grander scale. Massive sode cover the wearer’s arms nearly to the wrist, thick iron plates and countless steel scales are laced together then lacquered to provide unparalleled protection, and outsized crests decorate the conical helmets with their monstrous masks.
All this protection and glory comes at a price, however. Since these suits were designed to serve on the Wall, nearly all their protection is focused on the wearer’s front.
Tatami Gusoku
Tatami gusoku is a type of lightweight “folding” armor worn by Crab scouts and skirmishers. A typical suit consists of an armored jacket called a tatami katabira and a folding helmet called a tatami kabuto. Other bits of armor, particularly gauntlets, leg armor, and different helmets can also be worn with the suit. The tatami katabira consists of dozens of karuta: square and rectangular metal plates of various sizes stitched together with chainmail and sewn to a thick cloth or leather backing. Both the jacket and helmet can be folded up and easily stored for travel or hidden away in an emergency
Tosei-Gusoku
Tosei-gusoku is a new style of protection recently developed by Crab armorers. Vaguely resembling a suit of gaijin armor, a tosei-gusoku uses large, contoured steel plates laced together and worn over a chain or ring-mail coat. Plated gauntlets, iron greaves, a kabuto-like helmet, and a four-piece haidate of laced steel plates completes the suit. Thanks to the shape of the plates and the clever use of hinges and laces, a tosei-gusoku provides better defense against ranged weapons than more common suits of armor.
Despite the utility and improved protection a tosei-gusoku offers, it remains unpopular among Crab samurai. Due to its deviance from normal traditions of armor making and the fact that it tends to be drab and utilitarian rather than lovingly decorated like most armor, many more traditional-minded samurai consider this suit fit only for ashigaru, rōnin, and samurai of a poor lord.
Personal Effects
Those going into the Shadowlands know that weapons alone are not enough to make for a successful mission. Veterans often bring special items that help ensure they can better survive in this vile setting, for to die before actual battle would be shameful
Climbing Kit
The warriors of the Crab Clan do a not-insignificant amount of climbing, and so the climbing kit is an important part of many samurai’s military gear. It typically includes a few coils of rope, a small hammer, an iron chisel, powdered chalk, and a handful of spikes, pitons, and other climbing ephemera. In addition, some climbers add special spiked bands that slip over their hands and feet for extra grip
Engineer’s Kit
These kits provide an architect, civil engineer, siege engineer, or builder with a set of basic tools for surveying and building. These tool kits typically include measuring and surveying tools, rolls of parchment for making plans, various drafting implements, and an assortment of carpenters’ and masons’ tools.
Sapper’s Kit
A sapper’s kit includes basic tools to help sappers and miners in their work undermining and destroying fortifications. It typically includes a small shovel, small pick-ax, flint and steel for lighting fires, a bucket, a small amount of pitch, a coil of rope or chain, and an assortment of other common building tools used in demolitions.
Smithy’s Kit
This kit is necessarily larger and more complex infinitely less portable than smaller kits like those used by sappers and bowyers. It includes a variety of metalworking tools, specialty tools for weapon or armor making depending on the user’s specialty, a small anvil, a portable forge, a crucible, and numerous hammers, tongs, pliers, and blacksmithing tools.
Smoke Arrows
Smoke arrows, also called smoking-bulbs arrows, are modified humming-bulb arrows created by Crab armorers for signaling. They are tipped with a perforated, egg-shaped head filled with a mixture of alchemical substances that, when jostled, emit a thin cloud of smoke in a variety of colors depending on the specific mixture. Archers can fire these arrows high into the air, using the smoke trails to signal other units up and down the Wall. Depending on the smoke color, they can indicate breaches of varying severity, calls for reinforcements, or that victory was achieved.
Spyglass
Spyglasses are wondrous devices brought to the Crab lands by foreign mercenaries. At their most basic, spyglasses are long brass tubes full of polished glass lenses. Some are heavy enough to require a tripod for use, while others are collapsible and small enough to fit in a pouch or pocket. No matter their size, all spyglasses do the same thing: make objects far away easier to see. While rare and expensive, these items are gaining popularity among Crab officers and scouts
Taketaba
Taketaba are covered mobile platforms designed to give archers and crossbow users cover on the battle-field. While they vary in size and construction depending on their use and the materials at hand, a common taketaba is a wheeled platform large enough for several warriors armed with bows or crossbows. The front of the platform is covered in thick planks or bundles of bamboo.
Tate
Tate are a type of large, semiportable protection used by warriors in the field. They are extremely simple affairs consisting of a few thick wooden planks nailed together and painted or engraved with a clan or army’s livery. They are carried into battle and set up by prop-ping a support plank behind them at an angle. Once set, tate provide ample cover for archers, crossbow wielders, and other warriors who need respite from flying arrows and debris. A set of tate provides cover for one individual, but multiple tate can be set to provide cover for larger groups.