Why Would Serazor Wield Axes? [closed]

Question

Serazor. These odd dragons in Dracoriri are unusual in that their eyes appear dark, but they act about as intelligent as a primate or bear (yes bears are, in fact, intelligent). With their chiseled features, metallic armor (which resembles plate but may be a metal-laced version of rhinoceros hide, their heads and horns make relation to that species er, not impossible), bulky frame, and bearlike talons they are quite imposing, but then it gets worse.

Somehow, these dragons have axes-either a big battleax that must be wielded with two talons or a pair of lighter axes that are used in parallel or thrown at a target-and these axes are formed of a strange material, a bright (not shiny, not dull, somewhere in-between) stone-gray metal with a faint blue sheen that can not only block spells and other energy attacks (which metal usually Conducts) but is virtually indestructible and extremely sharp and low-maintenance, cutting through trees, boulders, and steel with ease even after years of exposure and no sharpening!

But, in the name of understanding, because I can more effectively determine these creature's tactics and portray them if I understand this, I must ask: Why Would Serazor Wield Axes?

I'm asking because:

1. Serazor are huge, bulky creatures, much like Aggron and Tyranitar from Pokemon, so it would seem they have no reason to wield weapons, as their natural weaponry and defenses are already sufficient to see them through life. Also, it is very unusual for a monster to wield weapons, even if they are intelligent.

2. For Serazor to develop these axes naturally (or should I say supernaturally, because magic is involved), they need some sort of biological foundation to go off of. In other words, they would need to make or collect axes and then wield them naturally, or have a biological structure that looks or acts akin to an ax, in order to have these-and by golly, I am having my lumberjack metal dinos!

More Information If Needed:

1. Serazor live in forests, particularly mountainous forests-but Dracoriri is mostly grassland and forest, so that's nothing special. They are diurnal carnivores and like Scerafin, seem to have little magical ability, wielding mostly their natural weaponry and bodily force in combat. Specifically, a Serazor's fighting style centers around sweeping blows, stomps, ground pounds, sumo-style charges, body slams, forceful vertical swings that can smash or launch foes, and the occasional headbutt. This means that a Serazor's ax-wielding may be to give their attacks added range, or perhaps to prevent countering, as they have been observed blocking and chopping at incoming attacks with them.

Why I'm asking-why the question is not yet answered:

However, the mages are still stumped-Serazors have long enough arms to give them decent range (though their legs are short; for the arms, think of Therizinosaurus but the arms not the claws are long ) and their thick armor, plus their burly arms, should allow them to block and chop at attacks just fine. In other words, there is no apparent reason for them to wield axes-they just do. Why is this? The reason must be good, as Serazor must invest considerable energy and resources into creating these axes, and they're never found without one.

Answer 1

Originally the axe was a gift to a Serazor chieftain.

A pretty sweet gift. The gift giver was an emissary from a maker race who wanted safe access to Serazor inhabited lands, for their own reasons. The axe was among gifts provided to enourage the treaty. This maker emissary was good at the job and made a big deal about it as well as the other gifts distributed.

The chieftain who was the recipient of this axe proceeded to use it to good effect, leading its people to defeat their local non-Serazor rivals. Then of course all the Serazor wanted similar axes and prevailed upon the makers (who were then established in the area pursuing their own goals) to bring more. The maker race was surprised and happy to do so.

The Serazor have traded for their axes. Fortunately the axes are very durable, but new ones are still being made.

Answer 2

Chop Down Trees

You are overcomplicating this. Why would they wield an axe? To chop down trees. Duh!

Serazors are smart enough to use tools but lack the dexterity to build their own. They love to eat bird eggs at the top of the trees.

A nearby warlord wanted the forest chopped down. Unfortunately the forest was full of big scary dinosaurs. The warlord put these two problems together and made a solution. Use the dinosaurs to chop down the forest.

He gave axes to the Serazors so they chop down all the trees in their search for bird eggs.

The problem with normal (oversized) axes is they break and the Serazors cannot repair them. So the warlord made sicknasty indestructible axes made of magic-denying metal.

The unbelievable part is these animals that are too stupid to forge their own axes are also smart enough to develop martial arts with them,

Answer 3

Your question's a bit two-fold, as telling why is asking what value the axes bring, and what cost does it have? Increasing value and decreasing cost makes using them more "interesting".

Increasing the value

Increase your reach!

As you told, they can be thrown. This alone is enough to make a good weapon, because if you can hit someone before they can hit you, then you're one hit ahead of them. It's a formidable hunting tool too, because you don't need anymore to be a top runner or a jungle ninja in order to reach your preys.

But you don't even need to throw them to gain a reach advantage. It's like someone with a longsword is almost always at an advantage against someone with a knife, because the point the weapons meet will be nearer the opponent than you. In other words you will have a much easier time controlling the battleflow while minimizing the bets you have to take.

It reduces self-damage!

Have you ever tried to punch full-force something with your bare hands? Damn if you do it wrong you can hurt yourself quite a lot, enough to break your bones if you're not careful. Having an invulnerable weapon at your disposal to "suffer" in your stead is quite a good alternative to you meeting your veterinary surgeon every month because you crushed that stupid knight in armor.

Axes are better at penetrating than claws

That's what I call the fakir's or yogi's carpet rule : If you strike at multiple points at the same time with claws, you distribute the forces on each point of impact :

Seeing the nail's piercing power distributed so well almost makes me want to sleep on it. Almost. From Wikimedia Commons

It's somewhat like dum-dum bullets vs other ammo, by expanding the point of impact you reduces the likelyhood to penetrate heavy armor. Focusing on a single point/line allows to strike deeper or even through a target.

And if you add on top of this a lever effect (#swing) and wielding a axe with two hands, you're quite likely to pack a punch in one blow, much more so than "basic" claws. It's handy if your foes are sturdy, and their skin thick.

Decreasing the cost

They got axes from their preys

There's not much to say, if someone else made it, you can "borrow" it from their "resting place". Since they saw people using it against them, they intuitively learned how to use them too.

Axes are natural rock formations

A long time ago, smoketal (my abreviation of "grey metal") appeared in long, fine vein-like stripes above more fragile stone. With erosion, they shaped various kind of fairy chimneys. And then, Serazors only had to pick one of them to have a ready-to-use weapon. And if a Serazor dies, you don't even need to detach them, just take it from the boiling corpses. And nobody's going to deplete the natural stock of smoketal axes, they're too heavy for anyone else to carry away!