how are Combine katanas made?

[nerd]

Does the Combine even have non-military nobles?

Yes. They're mentioned in a few books, and of course there's Chandrasekhar Kurita himself. Generally, they are very much second string to the DCMS.

Given the nature of the BattleTech setting, I think there would be few noble families in any house that would not try and have at least a scion or two as a military officer.

[cray]

I don't think it's totally impossible; there has to be whole other planets with coeincidently similarly poor quality iron..?

Poor quality iron is a problem for the people, not the planet. Once you have any iron source on the planet and can't get it to a decently clean state, that means the locals haven't figured out 19th or 20th century steelmaking techniques. So some blacksmith on backwater Annapolis might have to deal with poor grades of iron, but otherwise it's an aesthetic choice.

[Arkansas Warrior]

And it's not as though katanas can't be made with better iron.  You just don't need the technique they used if you have better iron (which is why Europe never developed it).  You can still forge a sword that way if you just want to, though.

[DOC_Agren]

so with better iron, if you follow the katana standard build method what happens

[AlphaMirage]

It's just a marginally better Katana. It doesn't get magical powers no matter how good the steel is. It just doesn't need to be forged that way (although all Ironsmiths have folded iron its a pretty basic technique) if you had better steel.

[D-Rock]

My guess? The Japanese used to mass produce Katanas during WWII, so something like that.

Every officer gets a Katana, but most would get the mass produced junk. The most powerful and wealthy would definitely spring for an authentic, hand-made, technique-handed-down-for-multiple-generations, heirloom-grade katana. Wealth disparity is a hell of a thing.

[Church14]

This thread has now given me the headcanon that basically every DCMS officer has a Katana, furiously defends to their higher ups that it is indeed the katana given to them by the Dragon, and buys one themselves in an officer “sword measuring” contest over the quality of what they acquired.

[paladin2019]

Except that Sorenson guy. He's weird (but he says he knows Indrahar and he's not dead, so no one says that out loud.)

[Arkansas Warrior]

My guess? The Japanese used to mass produce Katanas during WWII, so something like that.

Every officer gets a Katana, but most would get the mass produced junk. The most powerful and wealthy would definitely spring for an authentic, hand-made, technique-handed-down-for-multiple-generations, heirloom-grade katana. Wealth disparity is a hell of a thing.

I don’t know about that.  Even today, you can get an authentic, hand-made Tamahagane katana for a few thousand dollars.  Not hard to afford if a) you’re a military officer and b) you think it’s important.  Maybe the state issues junk, but any officer with any sense can probably afford a real one easily.  And I suspect that the Coordinator might not want the loss of face that would come with every green Chu-I smiling and thanking the government for the katana, then tossing it in a closet and carrying one they bought for themselves.  As such, I’d expect the Coordinator to go to the expense of issuing good katanas.  At least to mechwarriors, maybe not to infantry platoon leaders or logistics staff.

[DOC_Agren]

I don’t know about that.  Even today, you can get an authentic, hand-made Tamahagane katana for a few thousand dollars.  Not hard to afford if a) you’re a military officer and b) you think it’s important.  Maybe the state issues junk, but any officer with any sense can probably afford a real one easily.  And I suspect that the Coordinator might not want the loss of face that would come with every green Chu-I smiling and thanking the government for the katana, then tossing it in a closet and carrying one they bought for themselves.  As such, I’d expect the Coordinator to go to the expense of issuing good katanas.  At least to mechwarriors, maybe not to infantry platoon leaders or logistics staff.

I expect they issue good ones to the Mechwarriors, but they are just that good, not great.  Everyone else as officers get okay ones issued

[paladin2019]

It's a question of how many you need to issue. Using the WWII IJA/IJN example, dumping them in a closet would just be the blade. The regulation uniform fittings would go on a good blade, either a family heirloom or a new production. Everyone who needs to know would know the deal and know it's a means of segregating the "real samurai" from the peasants who necessity dictates be elevated to lead the other peasants in middle management. But this all assumes a similar situation to WWII-era Japan.

[MoneyLovinOgre4Hire]

Given the number of worlds in the Combine, it would be pretty easy to have several places whose main industry was hand-crafting katanas for newly graduated soldiers.

[idea weenie]

I don’t know about that.  Even today, you can get an authentic, hand-made Tamahagane katana for a few thousand dollars.  Not hard to afford if a) you’re a military officer and b) you think it’s important.  Maybe the state issues junk, but any officer with any sense can probably afford a real one easily.  And I suspect that the Coordinator might not want the loss of face that would come with every green Chu-I smiling and thanking the government for the katana, then tossing it in a closet and carrying one they bought for themselves.  As such, I’d expect the Coordinator to go to the expense of issuing good katanas.  At least to mechwarriors, maybe not to infantry platoon leaders or logistics staff.

There would also be the various symbols being put on the katanas, the scabbards, etc.  I could see a small division on Luthien whose only purpose is to decide which symbols on the katana (and scabbard) are allowed to be used and their purpose.  This way if someone wants to make katanas for the military (brand new graduates) they either have to accept the symbol they are assigned, or they can prove to the current owner of the symbol that they can make items of acceptable quality.  Other symbols/colors would be used for other purposes, to the point where the rank symbols of the officer is almost secondary to the symbols on their katana.

Like companies getting a license to produce items that another company has the patent/copyright on.