User:Tommy9281/Anvil

"If it has blood, you can make it bleed. if it has eyes, you can blind it. If it has a mouth, you can make it scream&hellip;"

- Inscription found on an ancient lanvarok

The lanvarok employed by the Massassi warriors of the Sith species was a combination two-handed polearm weapon and projectile launcher that released sharp discs guided by the power of the dark side. Initially purposed as a hunting tool, the massive lanvarok was the primary combat weapon of the Massassi, both melee and ranged, and also the device brandished by Sith Lords during ceremonies. The original lanvarok was inspired by the natural left-handed disposition of all members of the Sith species, a distinction retained with its total redesign into a wrist-mounted projectile weapon. A right-handed version was later developed by Sith Lords of Human descent.

Prevalent during the Golden Age of the Sith, use of the lanvarok was confined within the borders of Sith space until its exposure to the galaxy by the Massassi that fought on behalf of the Dark Lord Naga Sadow during the Great Hyperspace War. Lanvaroks were brought to the jungle moon of Yavin 4 by the warriors who joined Sadow in exile, and remained their foremost weapon for more than a thousand years. Either version was especially uncommon in the galaxy at large after the extinction of the Sith race, although an occasional lanvarok was found among the collections of antique dealers, the cargos of smugglers, or the arsenals of assassins. Those Massassi warriors who served aboard the Sith dreadnaught Harbinger that was propelled five thousand years through time brought with them lanvaroks into the modern era.

Battleaxe
The original lanvarok was a large polearm weapon that was at least as tall as the being for whom it was designed, the Massassi warrior of the ancient Sith species. Sharply speared at either end, the lanvarok included a compact, crescent-shaped axehead at its summit with an opposing long spike. Several poison-coated discs were spring-loaded into a launcher mounted on the side of the axehead, which were then released by a swing of the polearm and guided by the dark side of the Force. The heft of the weapon was such that only the especially strong Massassi warrior was capable of using it, and required two hands to do so effectively. Prior to the Sith species' discovery of metallurgy and the implementation of alloys thereby derived, materials such as wood and bone were applied in the construction of lanvaroks.

An exotic weapon when not in the hands of those for whom it was specialized, the Massassi lanvarok was one of two versions in usage by members of the ancient Sith Empire. A massive polearm the Sith lanvarok, and the Massassi counterpart. Details on the construction and design of Massassi lanvaroks could be found in Sith holocrons. Unlike the Sith lanvarok, however, the Massassi variant was considered to be more primitive. Human Sith Lords later created a right-handed version to suit them.

History
wrist-mounted lanvarok|thumb|left|250px Like the Sith lanvarok, the Massassi lanvarok was an ancient weapon, designed in early Sith history for the left-handed tendencies of the Sith people. As the name suggests, the Massassi lanvarok was unique to the Massassi Sith subspecies. According to ancient Sith legend, the lanvarok was originally designed with the intention of being used as a hunting weapon.

The Massassi redesigned the original version into the wrist mount while on Yavin.

In 5 ABY, Director of Imperial Intelligence Ysanne Isard discovered a Sith lanvarok which used to belong to Mara Jade, and sent a left-handed agent to use it to kill Plumba, an Imperial Ruling Council member.

Behind the scenes
DLOTS4 shows a lanvarok holding and firing 3 discs, but KOTORCG says it only can hold 1.

Appearances

 * Tales of the Jedi: The Fall of the Sith Empire 3: First Encounter
 * Crosscurrent
 * Tales of the Jedi: Dark Lords of the Sith 4: Death of a Dark Jedi
 * Tales of the Jedi: Dark Lords of the Sith (audio)
 * Tales of the Jedi: The Sith War 2: The Battle of Coruscant
 * Tales of the Jedi: The Sith War 3: The Trial of Ulic Qel-Droma
 * Tales of the Jedi: The Sith War 5: Brother Against Brother
 * Star Wars: The Old Republic: Deceived
 * Mara Jade: By the Emperor's Hand 1
 * X-wing Rogue Squadron 35: Mandatory Retirement, Part 4
 * X-wing: The Bacta War
 * I, Jedi
 * Star Wars: Jedi Knight II: Jedi Outcast
 * Exile