Rex:
A class on medieval weaponry? Where was this shit when I went to school?!
Anyway, no they didn't, the closest thing you'll find should be a flail which, strange enough, started out as a ranged weapon because it was safer for the user to just get rid of the damn thing. 
An old chinese fighting manual from back when the dinosaurs still lived even states "When you start to learn the flail, you'll hit yourself in the head alot. When you've mastered the flail, you'll hit yourself in the head less."
History is fun. :)

Pasta:
There's not so much a plot in mind as a general direction we'd like to go. It goes something like this:
1. Leave Gobi.
2. Train, fight, see the world, become badass.
3. ???
4. Profit.