Ming Appearance, Clothing, Weapons and Armour


Ming Appearance

In appearance, the Ming are quite different from other peoples, including the Chin that they rule over.  They are broader than other people between the eyes and across the cheekbones.  Their cheeks also are rather prominent above their jaws; they have a flat and small nose, their eyes are small with their lids raised up to the eyebrows.   They are for the most part slender of waste, and of medium height.  Hardly any of them grow beards, although some grow long drooping mustaches.  They have short, powerful legs that are permanently bowed from riding horseback.  The warriors shave a square on top of their heads.  The hair remaining on the scalp is bound into two plaits, which are knotted behind each ear.

Ming Clothing

The usual Ming headgear is a fur-trimmed cap which can either be made of leather or silk.  It has a tall, conical center, with a turned-up brim that can be folded down in cold weather.  It is often decorated with fox, wolf, or lynx tails.  They wear a long coat which is worn with the left breast doubled over the right, where it is fastened by a button or tie a few inches below the right armpit.  For the commoner, this coat will be made of leather or felt, but for the nobles, it is quite often made of highly embroidered silks, sewn with the finest metallic threads and decorated with precious stones.  Under this coat, they will wear a light shirt of linen or silk and wide-legged trousers that are fastened with a belt and closed at the calves with leggings or high soft leather boots.

Ming Weapons

The favoured weapon of the Ming is a powerful, recurved composite bow made of horn and sinew with a pull of over 166 pounds, which is considerably more than the power of western longbows, giving it a destructive range of over 300 yards and superb armour penetration.   The Ming warrior will carry two bows and up to three quivers, each holding 30 arrows, these are fastened to his saddle within easy reach at all times.  The arrows have a narrow, heavy tip that is specially hardened to make it penetrate even the best of plate armour.  The bow is fired by use of a special grip that protects the fingers with layers of horn to keep the bowstring from cutting through the fingers of the firer.

They also carry a long lance for mounted charges, a shield, a sword, and often a small, heavy axe.

Ming Armour

Ming nobles and heavy cavalry wear armour made of articulated metal plates bound to a leather backing which gives them superb armour protection while allowing freedom of movement for using their bows and hand weapons.  They wear conical helmets made of metal and highly decorated.  Their shields will be decorated with the heraldry of their clan and possibly carry lynx, fox, and wolf tails as decorations.

Lesser troops will wear either scales of bone or armour made of tough leather hides.   In all cases, the armour will be lacquered in the colours of their regiments or their Tumen.

The horses of the heavy cavalry regiments are armoured with a barding made of laminated plates of metal, bone, or lacquered, hardened leather.

The Ming infantry comes from the lower, and they wear uniforms and carry weapons provided by the Empire.  Each regiment wears uniforms of a distinctive colour, and their shields will carry the device of that regiment (these devices are usually images of animals both natural and mystic in nature).  The infantry wear armour that is made for servicability and not decorated like that of the nobles.


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