Without a doubt there as many truncheons, maces and clubs in use on Gor as there are men to use them. However, few are described with any detail in the series.
War Club (Red savages):
A carved, shaped club of wood or bone, often mounted with a stone or metal head of some sort. This weapon is probably approximately two to three feet in length. This weapon is mentioned in Blood Brothers of Gor.
Quiva:
A balanced saddle knife, usually part of a set of seven such weapons. It consists of a narrow double-edged blade of between 9 and 12 inches in length mounted on a shaped handle of wood, bone, or horn. It is honed to razor sharpness, and its blade tapers to a needle point. Designed for use primarily as a missile weapon, the quiva is also perfectly functional as a hand weapon and general utility knife. It is mostly used by the nomadic Wagon Peoples of the southern hemisphere, who will carry matched sets of seven in special sheaths attached to their kailla saddles. The best examples of these weapon are produced in the city of Ar. Once made, they are shipped to the Wagon Peoples via traders, where they are sharpened and fitted with distinctive handles. First described in Nomads of Gor.
Great (Peasant) Bow:
A long bow typically made from the wood of the ka-la-na tree or sometimes of temwood. Unstrung it is over six feet in length, and can require a pull of up to 120 lbs, depending upon the strength of the user. The bowstring itself is usually made of hemp or sinew lashed with silk thread. Armed with such a weapon, a highly skilled archer can accurately strike a target the size of a man's head at distances of up to 100 yards, and by arcing his line of fire upward to allow for gravity can fire a shaft into a ten foot diameter circle at up to 300 yards. The arrows of such a bow are temwood, metal-piled and fletched with the feathers of the vosk gull. Each such arrow is approximately three feet in length, and can be tipped with several different types of arrowheads; of these, the flight tip (a long narrow three-sided metal spike designed for extreme penetration) and the sheaf tip (a wide double or triple edged blade designed to inflict maximum tissue damage upon impact) are the most common. Special arrowheads such as ones fitted with whistles or noisemakers for signalling or reservoirs for inflammable liquids are not unknown. It is commonly carried slung or strapped over the shoulder of the archer when not in use, and is accompanied by a belt or shoulder quiver containing forty (or more) shafts. Its use requires the archer to wear a bracer of thick leather upon the forearm of his bowarm, and to utilize a special archer's glove or leather finger tab to protect his hands and arm from friction caused by the motion of the string when fired. It is a difficult weapon to master, though despite that fact it is widely used by both many members of the Caste of Peasants, and the rencers of the Vosk Delta. This weapon makes its first appearance in Tarnsman of Gor, and appears regularly thereafter.
Crossbow:
The standard infantry missle weapon of Gor. It consists of a heavy, flexible bow of tempered steel, perhaps 18" across (when bent), mounted on a heavy wooden stock about two feet long, with a trigger mechanism built into the shaped handle. It can fire several types of spiked, smooth tipped or broad bladed quarrels, with enough force to penetrate wooden walls, doors or human bodies with relative ease. It has an effective range of approximately 150 meters for aimed fire, and can strike a target at up to 200 meters when fired into a press of bodies. Slow to reload, it is commonly redrawn through use of a "goat's-foot" hook or a cranequin (bow crank).Quarrels, or "bolts," are carried by the user in a belt-case or quiver. Common throughout all of the Gorean city-states, and the preferred weapon of the Caste of Assassins. First appears in Tarnsman of Gor, and is afterwards seen often throughout the series.
Crossbow (Cavalry):
Similar in most respects to the larger crossbow, though instead of possessing a heavy metal bow, it has a much lighter bow of layered wood and horn. It is slightly smaller in overall size than its heavy cousin, and is equipped with a metal stirrup at the firing end, enabling it to be more quickly restrung and drawn from kailla or tarnback. Though it is originally mentioned quite early in the series as a "light crossbow" or "sporting crossbow," it is finally described (somewhat) in Savages of Gor.
Short (Bone) Bow:
This weapon is heavily used upon Gor for hunting, sport and warfare. Among its adherents are the warriors of the Wagon Peoples, the panther girls (or Talunas), the Red Hunters and the Red Savages. It is much smaller in size than the great bow, and is better suited for use from the back of a kailla, tharlarion or tarn. It is often carved from a single, flexible piece of tem wood or ka-la-na wood, though such peoples as the Wagon Peoples and the Red Savages can craft shortbows of layered wood and horn, which gives such bows much greater strength and durability. Among the Red Hunters, it is a common practice to treat such bows against inclement weather by smearing them with liquified blubber taken from the carcass of the Hunjer whale. The shortbow can fire as many different types of arrowheads as can its larger cousin, though with substantially less range and penetrating power. The arrows used by the shortbow are also much shorter than those employed by the great bow, due to the shorter range of the weapon's "pull." These bows come in all shapes and sizes, and are found throughout Gor. First mentioned in Tarnsman of Gor, further described in books #4 (called the Bone Bow made from the bones of bosk) and #7, and seen throughout the series afterward.
Bola:
It consists of three long straps of leather, each about five feet long, each terminating in a leather sack which contains, sewn inside, a heavy round metal weight. Developed for hunting fleet-footed and flighted game it is also used as a weapon of war. Thrown low the long straps, with their approximate ten-foot sweep, strike the victim and the weighted balls, as soon as resistance is met, whip about the victim's legs, tangling and tightening the straps. Thrown high it can pin a man's arms to his sides; thrown at the throat it can strangle him; thrown at the head the whipping weights can crush his skull. Once a victim is entangled with the bola, typically another weapon, usually a quiva, is then utilized to dispatch the victim if he or she still lives. This weapon first appears in Nomads of Gor.
Shields:
Several different types of shield are described in the series. Typically they are round in shape, though they range in size from the huge shield used by the Gor-bound Kurii to the small bucklers wielded by gladiators in the Stadium of Blades in Ar. The most common shield in use upon Gor is the standard warrior's shield of the civilized cities. This is a largish round shield comprised of many concentric overlapping layers of dried shaped leather, probably stretched over a wooden or metal frame, and banded for extra strength with brass or iron bands. It is fitted with a pair of straps whereby it can be worn upon the user's arm, typically the left one, and is worn slung across the back for ease of movement while its user in travelling from place to place. Among the civilized armies of Gor such shields are normally painted boldly and have infixed in them some device for identifying the bearer's city. The Warriors of the southern city of Turia are known for their usage of distinctive shields which are oval, rather than circular, in shape. Shields appear in every book of the series.
Helmets:
There are various types of helmets in use by soldiers and warriors upon Gor. The most commonly used is the standard Gorean war helmet, popularized and manufactured in the larger city-states by the thousands. It is described by Tarl Cabot as being a close-faced helmet which encloses the entire head, with a distinctive "Y" shaped opening in the faceplate to admit air and to allow breathing. This style of helmet seems to be based on the Barbuta style helmets which date from classical antiquity on Earth, perfected and much in use during the heyday of the Athenian city-states of Greece. Typically mounted atop each example of this type of helmet is a crest plate, upon which can be displayed the symbol of a city or organization. The crests themselves adorn the top of the helmet either crosswise, from one side of the neck to the other, or lengthwise from the back of the neck to the upper forehead like half-fans, and can be fitted with any number of accoutrements, from sleen fur to tarn feathers and the like; in addition, the helmet itself can be painted or lacquered in any color, to represent a grouping, city or caste. As described in the books they are hammered and riveted together in several pieces, though the pierced faceplate itself is depicted as "a single piece of iron." Due to the highly developed metal-working capabilities of modern Goreans, however, it is a safe assumption that they are actually of tempered steel, which is lighter and stronger, and that Cabot's reference to them as iron is merely a fanciful allusion on the part of the author. Additionally such helmets can be hammered from bronze, also an inferior metal, though such examples are probably symbolic of some cultural significance and not intended to be used in actual combat. According to Cabot each such helmet is fitted with removable padding of rolls of leather, stuffed with softer material and laced into the helmet to insure a superior fit. These helmets are often stripped of their crests and padding to be used as crude cooking vessels by soldiers on the march. This type of helmet is first described in Tarnsman of Gor, and appears regularly in later books.
Another example of a Gorean helmet is that often worn by the desert tribesmen and denizens of such southern cities as Turia and Tor, as well as by the nomadic warriors of the Wagon Peoples. This helmet is similar in design to the mongol/saracen battle helmet of Earth and is a cone-shaped steel defense worn atop the head, often fitted with a nasal guard of narrow flat construction. Such helmets may be adorned with a ring of fur or fabric which encircles the browband area, and can also be found mantled with either a cloth covering or a camail of linked chain. These helmets are closely fitted to the wearer's head, padded with a thick cloth cap which laces into it, and are often fitted with a leather or cord chinstrap to secure the device in place. This helmet type first appears in Nomads of Gor.
A final example of Gorean helmetry is the Spangenhelm worn by northern warriors, which is in effect a steel or iron bowl constructed from heavy metal strapping. A single metal browband encircles the head, with two or more curved metal straps attached to it in the pattern of an "X", covering much of the wearer's skull. Curved plates are riveted in place to fill the gaps between the strapping, resulting in a layered metal cap with covers the entire head. These helmets are often fitted with cheek and neck guards, chainmail camails or even metal faceplates which conceal the face or portions of it like a metal mask. The horns of animals or metal spikes may be attached to the helmet as decoration or to add some measure of protection to the apparatus, though this usually makes them rather bulky and difficult to wear in combat. These helmets are padded with leather or lined with thick fur, and can also be fitted with a leather or cord chinstrap to insure a reliable fit. This type of helmet makes its first appearance in Marauders of Gor.
I conjecture that upon Gor, as on Earth, there are as many different types of helmet in use as there are people to cr eate them. No doubt different military uses and terrain types encourage such variations... I therefore draw a parallel to the the Roman Legions of Earth, who at any one time had within their ranks soldiers who wore literally dozens of helmet-styles as dictated by their rank and the particular needs of their divisions in battle. An archer, for example, is not likely to wear the same type of helmet as a heavy infantry field commander.
Add to this the different types of metal obtainable, use of leather and alternate materials in areas where such metal is scarce, variation in available smithing techniques, and even the changing dictates of the whims of fashion, and it is understandable why a comprehensive listing of Gorean protective headgear is virtually impossible.
Spiked Hand Wraps:
Similar to the Earth Cestus, or heavy cloth or leather strips bound about the hand, with projecting spikes which cover the wearer's knuckles. Described in Fighting Slave of Gor.
Spiked Leather:
A pair of spiked leather balls which are worn upon the hands of gladitorial fighters; the spikes of these devices can be very long. Mentioned in Fighting Slave of Gor.
Knife Gauntlets:
A pair of thick leather gauntlets, upon which are mounted crescent shaped knife blades. Sometimes used by gladiators in arena combats. Mentioned in Fighting Slave of Gor.
Kurii beam projector:
A handheld device of some kind, big enough to fit comfortably in the hand of a Kur. This missle weapon fires a highly concussive heat blast, which strikes its target fiercely, often leaving a 3/4" wide hole at the point of impact, and an exit wound of upwards of ten inches across, where applicable. It is described as having only a limited number of charges, similar to a revolving cartridge weapon. Used only by the Kurii. Described in Tribesmen of Gor.
Kurii Dart Thrower:
A breech loading missle weapon which fires a six inch long conical gas propelled dart. Its configuration is similar to an Earth rifle. Kurii Dart Throwers have carved wooden stocks, upon which are incised eccentric designs. These tubular weapons discharge with a hiss, which is not particularly loud. Several types of darts may be fired from such a weapon, including poison tipped, explosive tipped, and tranquilizer darts. These weapons are used exclusively by human agents of the Kurii. The actual firing button is located on the forepart of the stock, and the weapon itself seems to be a one-shot weapon, requiring reloading after every firing. Used in Beasts of Gor.
Silver Tube:
This is a charged, cylindrical weapon, perhaps two feet in length, manually aimed and operated; it incorporates principles much like those of the Priest-King's Flame Death mechanism. When not in use, it is encased in a sealed plastic quiver for storage. When fired it generates a fierce blast of blue flame from its tip, as the air within the path of its beam ignites into flame. It is effective at distances of up to 100 meters, and its use can be aurally detected by the audible hiss caused by the ignition of the air in the beam's path. Any living creature within the path of the beam, as well as any organic matter caught therein, will instantly erupt into a ball of bright blue flame as the target consumes itself from within. A silver tube will sputter and become inert once its charge is fully expended, though a typical charge will last for literally hundreds of firings. These weapons can only be found within the Nest Complex of the Sardar, and none who do not dwell there can possess them. An additional example of this type of weapon also makes an appearance in the series, and is described as a narrow, cylindrical, silverish object small enough to be concealed in the palm of a human hand. When used upon its lowest setting, such an object produces a small flame suitable for igniting brush and kindling; however, it can be reset to fire one short burst of high intensity blue flame, after which the weapon's charge is expended. Both versions of this weapon appear in Priest-Kings of Gor.
