Just for the curious, the bright costume worn by the corpse-herald is a noble’s costume from Yiggish satrapies in the Baltoo. Mbako wore something similar. That curved sword with the forward-curving grip is a Hadrakahn szabla, which was considered a kind of aristocratic dueling sword in ye olden days, though it’s been phased out in favor of straight “Tai Chiâ€-style swords like what Prince Thrale favors, or heavy-belled rapiers like Dosh’s sword. Its reputation as a ceremonial sword gets cemented by most people not really knowing how to wield one: the grip means it’s intended to be a cut-and-thrust weapon, but its heavy blade means most people lack the wrist strength to use the sword precisely, and instead just chop away with it. Rasho actually knew how to fence with the thing, for all the good it did him.
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