Marine Pattern Cleaver

The Marine Pattern Cleaver or internationally known as the Freestian Cleaver is a machete-like bladed weapon used by many component services of the Freethinker Royal Armed Forces, and is particularly associated with the Ghoulish infantry and marine regiments, and is also widely used within the civilian rural communities throughout the Freethinker Mainland. As with its related counterparts like the machete and the kukri, the Cleaver is used a both a tool and as a weapon, and can be considered a distinctive cultural icon of the Freethinker Commonwealth itself.

Physical Design

The Cleaver resembles a long, thin knife-like double-edged blade rather than a fully fledged sword, and is most closely related to (and believed to derive from) the similarly functional Machete as well as the naval Cutlass. Notable differences include a weighted edge, an extended hilt and a sharpened inner edge to allow an effective return stroke.

Other Variations

Civilian Pattern Cleaver - A name given the various cheaply made imitations of Freestian cleavers which tend to made of a single sheet of pressed steel of generally varying quality. Of mostly similar size to the Marine pattern, these weapons are generally used by less well off civilians and criminal gangs, and lack the robustness and killing power of true, heavier and better manufactured blades. 'Civieblade' has become a general colloquial term for such weapons, a phrase that has also become slang for poorly made or cheap weapons by Outbackers in particular. Most cheap cleavers made for tourists and sightseers are usually such imitations.

Navy Pattern Cleaver - A shorter version of the Marine Pattern, usually coming in at about 20-24" in length to compensate for the cramped conditions aboard warships. Generally fallen out of favour however, though still used by some special forces units who appreciate the utility of the smaller weapon. It is also carried as a ceremonial weapon by some FRN personnel. The weapon itself maintains the basic shape of the Cleaver with the dual-edged blade, however, the thickness and material used for the blade are are adjusted slightly to increase the weight of the sword and so maintain the momentum force of the larger Marine Pattern design.

Lately, the term 'Navy Pattern' has come to mean any Cleaver used in military and civilian applications that is short than the standard size (ie. less than 24" in length).

Modern Usage

The Cleaver and it's predecessors have always been particularly ubiquitous to military units, especially infantry forces and their close support personnel as well. Indeed, the mark of a successful officer graduation or an enlisted person's completion of basic training is to be presented with one own's military commissioned weapon. Frontline combat elements still practise frequently with the Cleaver, and indeed the formidable close combat prowess of Freethinker forces in general is in part thanks to this practise.