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Thread: Narwhal tusk rapier idea

  1. #1

    Narwhal tusk rapier idea

    This Halloween, social distancing allowed, I'll be attending an event in the Outer Banks called Stormwrecked. Stormwrecked is a LARP set during the height of piracy in that region, when three separate teams, each survivors from different shipwrecks, find themselves on an island enchanted by the witch/goddess Calypso and inhabited by monsters like krakens and harpies and sirens. More frightening still is the idea that these monsters might have been human once, for all three teams are finding themselves cursed to turn into creatures or environment of the island. The first group is a crew of pirates, the second is a naval/merchant vessel that pursued the pirates into the storm that sank both ships, and the third is a crew of pirates who had been on the island for some time and were no longer fully human.

    I managed to luck out and get into that third, cursed crew, and I'm assembling a costume for a ship's navigator who is becoming a sort of flying fish triton/merman.

    To tide us over in social distancing, the staff is running roleplay sessions via zoom conferences in character, and the first one was last night. We were exploring a recently uncovered cavern my character found in the aftermath of a storm, which was filled with sinister traps of a magical variety, including shifting murals that showed us images of home to draw us towards walls where undead hands would reach out and try to pull us in, weird sea anemone tendrils trying to grab us in a pool, and a chest full of tiny biting creatures that resembled gold coins. With so many monstrous threats, there were a lot of bones on the cavern floor, including several that looked to be similar cursed individuals like ourselves, the human bones warped with animal features. We decided to arm ourselves with the bones as makeshift clubs in case we needed to fight anything else. I decided to be creative and said I picked up a broken skull of an individual who was developing narwhal features and used it as a sort of rapier with a skull guard. At least one of the other players exclaimed that was awesome and I should find a way to make something like that to bring to the event. And that's where I need your help.

    The sword should have a skull for the guard, perhaps like the one in the Phantom of the Opera movie but bigger and providing more protection for my hand. The blade should resemble a twisted narwhal tusk emerging from around the skull's nose, and shouldn't be sharp or too pointy (this isn't going to be a combat game, and I'll likely have it peace-tied the entire time) and probably not longer than a yardstick from pommel to tip. It shouldn't be rainbow colored or silvery like a lot of unicorm... brown or greenish like algae or yellow-white like bone would be best, and I'd prefer it be able to get wet as there is a heated pool and I will be in it in a tail at different points (so I don't want paint to leak into the water or wash off), but I would like it fairly stiff or swishy. Actual narwhal tusks are clearly not something I want to use, but even things I've found billed as replicas are too long and hundreds of dollars. Does anyone have any suggestions for how I could make or cobble together something like this. I've looked for costume weapons, and I've considered taking a Halloween decoration skull and cutting the back out and putting a costume rapier or something through it, then putting something tusk-like over the blade and shaping it and decorating it with water proof paints, but I'm not sure where to begin. Any advice would be appreciated.

    Sent from my SM-G930V using MerNetwork mobile app

  2. #2
    Here is a link to my badly-drawn sketch of what I'm going for: https://www.deviantart.com/un1c0rny/...0%3A1590006939

  3. #3
    Um ok that is the most badass thing int he entire fucking world.

    Ok, so I would go with a wooden dowel as a core and then wrap it with EVA foam in a spiral pattern. Then prime paint and seal. The seal should help it be water resistant, especially if you get a specific sealer for that purpose. Another option is to get an EVA foam dowel and then carve out the spiral by hand. This would allow you to get more control over the graduating thickness but would be a lot more advanced a process.

    As far as the hilt, I would suggest getting a plastic Halloween skull and carving out the part you don't want using a saw attachment on a dremmel. Then drill a large enough hole for the horn and use contact cement to secure.
    The Magical Mystical MerFanc
    A Welsh Lake Monster with control of weather, water and water creatures.
    Resident sea monster, best friend of sharks and ducks, lover of the Deep Ocean.
    Known on all other social media as theAfanc

  4. #4
    Junior Member Rocky Mountain Pod
    Join Date
    May 2020
    Location
    Colorado, USA
    Posts
    28
    I showed this to my partner because he does historical fencing and I thought this would be cool. He responded with: "Oh, there's historical precedence for using narwhal teeth as weapons and a skull would make a great basket hilt" so you have an actual fencer's approval on the construction. This is an absolutely awesome idea!

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