Poll of the Day > So what would the logistics/usage of a lighter than air great sword be like?

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Dreaming_King
12/05/18 9:08:17 PM
#1:


In this story I'm writing one of the characters is a girl who uses a holy great sword (think Claymore, not Berserk for size) because I thought the contrast was interesting. However it is a somewhat realistic story so physically it wouldn't make sense. Before I explained it by making the actual blade small with a large "aura" of light around it, however I think I like this new idea even better, a lighter than air material (probably crystalline) so the sword would float off if you let go of it.

I wanted the character to do a lot of jumping, twirling, and spinning attacking, so the sword effectively lowering her weight might make that more realistic... or it might not. I'm trying to puzzle it out in my head, what holding something like that would be like. Like say you jumped off a cliff holding it, if the weight balance was off, wouldn't you start tumbling down instead of gracefully floating?

Thoughts?
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Lokarin
12/05/18 9:09:29 PM
#2:


Ask Skallagrim on Youtube, he's all about the fantasy sword canon realism.
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shadowsword87
12/05/18 9:11:17 PM
#3:


That's just a balloon.

Dreaming_King posted...
a lighter than air material (probably crystalline)


The question isn't the material, it's the thickness of it.
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Dreaming_King
12/05/18 9:18:02 PM
#4:


shadowsword87 posted...
That's just a balloon.

Dreaming_King posted...
a lighter than air material (probably crystalline)


The question isn't the material, it's the thickness of it.

A balloon that can still cut through monsters, but yeah.

Uhh... Ok, say the blade is pretty wide, but not terribly thick. That way it could still cut downwards quickly.
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Nil-
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GanonsSpirit
12/05/18 9:19:20 PM
#5:


What if it had rockets on the non-blade side?
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edededdy
12/05/18 9:19:45 PM
#6:


howd the mattress fucking going tc
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Dreaming_King
12/05/18 9:25:54 PM
#7:


GanonsSpirit posted...
What if it had rockets on the non-blade side?

I thought about angel wings that unfold from the blades and can flap with enough force to lift a person briefly.
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Nil-
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shadowsword87
12/05/18 9:26:28 PM
#8:


Dreaming_King posted...
GanonsSpirit posted...
What if it had rockets on the non-blade side?

I thought about angel wings that unfold and can flap with enough force to lift a person briefly.


Never change.
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JOExHIGASHI
12/05/18 9:37:23 PM
#9:


If it is light enough to float away then swinging it around would be difficult. Like swinging a balloon around. And you would float down if you jumped off a cliff and it was light enough.

And it sounds like a light saber
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jramirez23
12/05/18 9:45:37 PM
#10:


Sword Guy is back again.
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Dreaming_King
12/05/18 9:52:44 PM
#11:


JOExHIGASHI posted...
If it is light enough to float away then swinging it around would be difficult. Like swinging a balloon around. And you would float down if you jumped off a cliff and it was light enough.

And it sounds like a light saber

Well as long as you had good edge alignment, swinging it shouldn't be that hard. As for falling, if you held the sword directly overhead (or rather over your center of gravity) is would work fine, but say you were holding out to your side or something?
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Nil-
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LaggnFragnLarry
12/05/18 9:54:28 PM
#12:


sounds awesome
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JOExHIGASHI
12/05/18 10:04:37 PM
#13:


Dreaming_King posted...
JOExHIGASHI posted...
If it is light enough to float away then swinging it around would be difficult. Like swinging a balloon around. And you would float down if you jumped off a cliff and it was light enough.

And it sounds like a light saber

Well as long as you had good edge alignment, swinging it shouldn't be that hard. As for falling, if you held the sword directly overhead (or rather over your center of gravity) is would work fine, but say you were holding out to your side or something?

Alignment doesn't make it any easier to swing. If it is lighter than air then there will be a constant upward force so you need to exert extra downward force to counteract it. Even for side swings .

If you held it to your side then the hand holding it would be pulled up while the rest of your body weight pulls the arm down. Think of it like holding an umbrella on a windy day.

This sounds like an impractical sword to use.
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Dreaming_King
12/05/18 10:21:36 PM
#14:


I was thinking about the air resistance more than the buoyancy which wouldn't be terribly great. That said, if it wasn't then the idea of using it to decend safety is dead.

Hmm... yeah, ok, I'll just try to balace it around being easier to use, maybe.
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Nil-
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man101
12/05/18 11:42:13 PM
#15:


I think what you're trying to accomplish is sort of not physically possible so you're either going to need to make it more fantasy oriented or change some aspect of what you're building.
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Yellow
12/06/18 12:14:51 AM
#16:


Currently, a balloon with some razor blades on it. It would be stupid, dangerous, and would break immediately.

When/if graphene becomes a thing this would make more sense... but really a sword is just an impractical thing to use in general.

Dreaming_King posted...
I thought about angel wings that unfold from the blades and can flap with enough force to lift a person briefly.

That would be lame even if you made that happen.
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Bugmeat
12/06/18 12:46:54 AM
#17:


Lighter than air? There wouldn't be much momentum behind a swing. Sure, being super light she could easily get some good speed with it. But without the mass it just isn't going to be effective on follow through. Even the lightest of armor would be enough to protect someone from it. Unless you want to keep the magical aura aspect and have it be this magic that does the cutting, rather than the actual blade.
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