GEWURZNELKE
Favorite Weapon
Efficiency. Precision. Elegance. For Winter Schnee they were never mere words; they were her entire philosophy on life. Everything she had any control over in her life was governed by those three tenets. Though she would never admit the fact to anyone, she considered her weapon the ultimate physical manifestation of her philosophy.
Winter had immensely enjoyed old pirate vids when she was a girl. Knowing her father would never have approved, she had been careful to hide them from him; but the need for secrecy had never dulled her excitement for the adventures portrayed. The fast-paced sword fights had inspired her to pour her heart into the fencing lessons her father required of all his children.
Her earnest interest in bladed weapons had led her fencing master to suggest several titles on the history of swords and sword fighting. From those tomes and others she discovered on her own, she realized that a cutlass, however dashing some old pirate vid might make it look, was a poor choice of blade for her personally. The relatively short, heavy blade relied on the brute strength of its wielder to deal devastating damage at close range. Winter knew her advantage lay in her speed and agility not her strength. The heavy blade would wear her down in a fight of any length. So, as disappointed as she was, she discarded the idea of a cutlass as her personal weapon.
When she had decided a cutlass was out of the question, Winter had quickly turned to the rapier, which she had been studying since childhood. In formal fencing situations, the rapier was as close to a perfectly designed weapon as Winter had ever encountered; but in practical hunting applications, a long straight blade could easily become lodged in a Grimm's various hard bone plates. Being disarmed by a skilled human opponent made Winter's blood burn; she most certainly wouldn't stand for losing a weapon to a Grimm.
Thus, Winter had decided to take the best parts of each weapon and combine them into one of her own design. Forged from the finest Atlesian steel, infused with only the purest Dust from the SDC, designed to take advantage of the best features of both cutlass and rapier - her weapon was hers and hers alone, the product of her brain and countless hours mastering the techniques required to produce it.
Gewurznelke was a work of precision and elegance. Though manual labor was generally beneath the dignity of a Schnee, her weapon was the one thing she was most proud of having made with her own two hands. Nothing had prepared her for the rush of elation that had flooded her when she completed Gewurznelke.
With her sword completed, she refused to let anything else stand in her way, including her father. She'd squeezed Gewurznelke's hilt so hard that her knuckles had turned white when she informed her father of her decision to join the Atlesian military. No matter how he raged, the firm hilt of her sword had served as an anchor and a reminder of her determination. She would create her own path in life just as she had created her own weapon.
AN: All the weapons from RWBY are amazing, but I got really excited about Winter's sword for some reason. It doesn't transform or anything (that we know of), but it's got a classic elegance that I just love.
Winter's sword's name is the German word for the clove plant, or that's what Google Translate told me. (Consider this my official apology if I've butchered the German language.) According to the RWBY wiki, the name of Weiss's sword is based on the German word for myrtle and the design is based on Winter's sword. Clove and myrtle are both members of the Myrtaceae family, so the name seemed fitting.