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As most of you around here know, I often get inspiration for Pathfinder characters from the Total War games and the historical periods that inspire them, and now I've been lookin' at the famous "Europa Barborum" mod for the original Rome: Total War, which has extensive information on the history of the game's factions and the troops they used. One that stood out to me in particular was the Sreni Pattya Yoddaha, or Infantry Guild Warriors, of India:
Self regulating professional guilds, called ‘Sreni’ formed an important part of the social fabric of the Indian sub-continent in the 3rd century B.C. Some of these were guilds of war-craft, and their members dedicated their lifetime to the art of war, conducting their affairs according to a strict code of ethics.
These infantry are equipped with the best that money can buy. For defense, they wear armour of iron and brass scales over a quilted cotton cuirass, with additional protection for the arms, legs and shoulders. For offense, they carry a large ‘sword-axe’ made of high quality iron from the mines of Magadha. At this point in history, the metal-craft of Magadha was well in advance of anything in the Mediterranean and so the equipment was of very high quality.
Heavily armoured, steeped in a warrior tradition and bound by a professional code of warrior ethics, these troops can be relied on to hold the battle line in the most trying of circumstances.
Historically, most of what we know of ancient Indian armies comes from Kautilya’s ‘Arthashastra’ (a manual on statecraft) and sparse depictions in Buddhist art (notably at Barhut and Ajanta). Kautilya makes it clear that troops from the ‘Sreni’ formed an integral part of the royal army and were trusted second only to the king’s own standing army. Scattered references from our sources also indicate that professional mercenary companies from India were in regular employment, fighting for and against the Achaemenids, and later for and against Alexander and his successors.
What I'm curious about is this "sword-axe" the text mentions. Thankfully, the creators of the mod also have an up-close illustration of an Indian soldier wielding one.
I'm not quite sure how to replicate such a weapon in Pathfinder, though. The closest thing I can think of is a falchion, but the forward curving nature of the "sword-axe" seems like it should have some impact on its effects. Or is this one of those instances where I should use the Weapon Master's Handbook's weapon design rules to create the sword-axe myself, since trying to use another weapon to simulate it is like putting a square peg in a round hole? Thanks in advance for any advice you wonderful folks on this forum have! :)
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I noticed that too, Imbicatus. Looking up images of gandasa (not sure if there's supposed to be an "s" at the end of it if plural), I saw a diagram with the sword-axe the guy in the picture's holding among a bunch of swords shaped like falcatas and temple swords. It looks like the temple sword may be where I wanna look for inspiration. Both this "sword-axe" and the temple sword ARE from India after all. I think the two-handed custom version idea is good too. Thanks, Imbicatus!
I agree that is a Falcata. It does not even look like a two handed version, it looks like a normal Falcata using two hands. If you read the description of the Falcata it states it has the momentum of an axe with the cutting edge of a sword.