WHAT IT DOES

It adds 6 new blunt weapons: 3 flanged knightly maces (one of them in 2 variants), and 3 morning stars, i.e., spiked maces. (That is the correct name, yes. Historically the morning star was a spiked mace, not a flail.) I didn't port the warhammer too, because the game already has better looking warhammers. Instead of that, you get a second and better flanged mace.

The weapons are:


Flanged Maces:

- Flanged Mace 1 has six sturdy, narrow, almost triangular flanges, to help concentrate the impact on a very narrow surface. Actually, they're not even as thin as they look, as they're basically pyramidal shaped and quite a bit wider at the base. They won't bend easily on impact. It's the weapon used in the middle ages to crease plate armour joints, or even knock an enemy out through plate. This one also has a nasty bladed spike at the top, for when a thrust is the right move. Finishing the package is a rough woven handle, for maximum grip.

- Flanged Mace 2 is a German late-gothic model, showing the shape that would evolve into the sceptre as the symbol of power, although it's not the most ornate of models from this age. It has 8 flanges, a somewhat less common configuration (6-flanged models were probably most common, followed by 7 and 4 flanges), but not ahistorical. With the advances in plate armour, which by now had gone from 40 pounds of iron in the 14'th century war to 60 pounds of face-hardened steel in gothic plate, by now the flanges of many maces rely less on blunt impact, and more on having accute points to drive into armour. Same principle a behind a Lucerne hammer, really. It has a polygonal metal shaft, fluted on the lower part, both fairly common features on maces from this age, and a handle wrapped in black leather strips. The top spike is rather and sturdy, but quite functional and deadly.

- Flanged Mace 2b is the same as above, only slightly shorter and with a thicker hollow shaft, and with thicker flanges. For people who were put off by the thin shaft on the other one.

- Flanged Mace 3 is a pernach from the Kiewan Rus', circa 11'th-12'th century. They're probably the ones from which the flanged mace has spread to the rest of Europe. Out of the many models of pernachs, I chose a more elegant one, resembling a sceptre fit for a voievode (warlord.) It is top heavy and has thick flanges, capable of delivering crushing blows even through the armour reinforcements of its age. For this one, its 8 flanges is probably the most common configuration for a pernach, followed by the 6-flanged variant (shestopior.)


Morning Stars:

- Morning Star 1 has six rows of five sturdy spikes each, plus a thicker spike at the top for thrusting, and a sturdy metal shaft. Nasty piece of work, really. It has the same woven leather handle as Flanged Mace 1, for maximum grip.

- Morning Star 2 has a steel ball with about 25 spikes, including the longer top spike, as a head, and a more traditional (for a Morning Star) wooden shaft. The shaft is a little thicker than the metal ones, to resist impact. The head is socketed on the shaft. The handle is wrapped in leather.

- Morning Star 3 is a variant of 1, really. It has fewer spikes, which is to say it's actually the more usual design for that weapon, historically. They're sturdier spikes, though, for better effect against armour. It has a wooden shaft and a leather-wrapped handle.


All 6 weapons can be crafted and enhanced like the normal steel ones. The only difference for immersion sake is that the ones with a wooden shaft need 1 firewood for the shaft instead of 1 iron ingot.

All do a little more base damage than the Akaviri Katana -- chosen purely as a reference point for a powerful weapon that still uses steel as a material -- but swing slower, so they end up in the same ball-park for DPS. On the other hand, if you manage to sneak up to someone and bonk them upside the head, it'll make good use of that base damage.

Note that this is not a comment on maces vs katanas, nor European weapons vs Japanese weapons. It's chosen purely as a point which can still be justified in game as possible with only steel, and high enough to make the weapon still competitive in the end game. It won't beat an ebony or daedric weapon, but you're not excessively penalized if you stick to it for the looks.


HOW TO GET IT

There's a locked chest in Movarth's Lair, in the room with the big dining table, tucked under the stairs. It'll be an easy lock, but still, bring a lockpick or two. You'll get sent there for a quest anyway, if you don't know where Movarth's Lair is.

Or the easier way: if you can craft steel and have the ingots, then just craft them.


HOW TO INSTALL IT

Extract the archive, with directories, in your Data folder.


HOW TO UNINSTALL IT

Delete the .esm file from your Data directory.

Delete the MoraelinsMaces directories in both your MeshesWeapons and TexturesWeapons directories.


CONFLICTS

It shouldn't conflict with anything.


LICENSE

I release this in the public domain. You can do with it whatever you wish. You can give it to a character in your own mods, retexture it, change it to something else, port it to another game, and generally anything you can think of.

If you feel like giving credit, I would of course appreciate it, but if not, so be it. I'm not going to hound anyone for having a mesh that kinda looks like mine.


VERSION HISTORY

1.05:
Added the thicker Flanged Mace 2b)

1.04:
Added the pernach (Flanged Mace 3)
Flagged all of them as weapon type mace instead of sword, although I think it made no difference.

1.03b
Made the Flanged Mace 2 about 10% larger

1.03
Added Flanged Mace 2
Added the crate in Movarth's Lair, for people who can't craft
Reworked Mace 1 again. Now it has smooth normals again.

1.02
New UV unwrap for the flanged mace, with much less texture stretching on the flanges
Re-aligned the blood gloss with the actual blood splashes

1.01
Fixed a crash due to malformed nifs. Sorry.

1.0
First Skyrim release.