1. There’s almost too much good stuff to choose from. Unlike some sword-cultures who were somewhat xenophobic and highly conservative because they were fairly isolated (COUGH Japan COUGH China) Europe was open to almost everybody who wanted to visit, bringing with them their ideas (pillaging, conquering, plagues, dark ages) and their technological innovations (weapons, especially weapons). Europe was a diverse enough place that even the locals got into the expansionist empire idea and did so several times. The consequence was a muscle-powered arms race of “weapons vs. armor” which lead to several distinct types of swords until the another imported innovation, gunpowder, really, REALLY took hold and rendered personal armor moot for 300 years. Swords stuck around longer until killjoys like S