Voltarian Song Glaives

With a culture centered so powerfully around performance and song, it's no surprise that citizens of Voltaire bring music with them when they take up arms. Voltaire's military bards are some of the greatest performers alive, and more than one enemy general has been outmaneuvered after a subtle shift in rhythm or tone commanded a rapid shift in tactics that caught their army unawares.
This dependence on music extends to small unit tactics, where certain elite sergeants and lieutenants have mastered the use of a weapon called the song glaive. Specially casted metal inset with tiny holes and grooves, a trained soldier wielding a song glaive can create a wide variety of musical tones and auditory effects that the armed forces of Voltaire use to communicate in combat. Trained units can even take individual orders from commanders whose music they know, picking out instructions for different squad members in the subtle undertones of a commander's melody.
Despite the name, song glaives can be nearly any type of slashing weapon, and while glaives are overwhelmingly the favorite, most types of swords, axes and even daggers have been seen wielded with these modifications. Extensive training is necessary to be able to communicate using the tones the weapons produce, not only for the wielder but also for troops who hope to be able to make split-second combat decisions based purely on musical tones.
Because of the advantage afforded by these weapons, well-equipped commanders will often carry some means of counteracting spells like "silence" that would negate their effectiveness. Still, being heard over the din of a raging battle is no easy thing, and like any military the Voltarie sometimes err and lose their cohesion. Because this tactic is so well known, Voltarie officers must also contend with especially dogged efforts to disarm or kill them, as enemies hope to disrupt the chain of command by literally silencing enemy leaders.

Composition

Manpower

Song Glaives are usually found commanding between 100 and 500 troops. Generals almost always have some background in the art of the glaive, and often use it to coordinate larger groups of units. Enlisted troops never carry such glaives for fear of confusing the formation with contradictory orders and few low ranking officers could hope to get their hands on one of the precious weapons but wealth, connections or sheer luck mean that some soldiers as low-ranking as sergeants will occasionally carry them.

Equipment

The Glaives themselves are made of metal treated through a heavily classified process that is then given to a small group of master weaponsmiths. The smiths must not only ensure that the weapons are battle-worthy in their own right, but spend weeks and sometimes months inscribing them with the intricate grooves and patterns that enable them to make their trademark music as they swing through the air. Both the metal and the crafting are necessary: a weapon so inscribed made from regular materials will quickly be twisted out of shape by use in battle, and the process of creating the metal does not by itself lend the weapons any unusual sonic properties.

Weaponry

Though the glaives are best known for their use as communication devices, no smith goes to such enormous trouble as to craft a song glaive without also making it a deadly weapon in its own right. The metal treatment process necessary to make a glaive makes the weapons incredibly resilient and helps them keep a sharp edge, and some elite soldiers have even learned to use the sound the weapons produce to unnerve or even injure their enemies.
In addition, the already high quality of the weapons coupled with the importance of their remaining durable mean that almost half of all song glaives also bear some form of enchantment.

Type

Infantry