Of swords

I have a fascination with swords, I don't know if anyone's noticed. Making them, fighting with them, caring for them, and breaking them. If it's got anything to do with swords, I'm totally into it. So it probably shouldn't surprise anyone that most of my characters use swords in one capacity or another, and that the character I want to talk about today is heavily focused around them.

To be honest, I don't know much about this character's personality or background. I haven't yet decided what kind of world they live in, or why they can do what they do, or even really what they're going to use their abilities for. But what I do know is that they are exceedingly proficient at fighting with swords. You can put any kind of sword in their hands, tell them to fight with it in any kind of way, and they'll be able to do it, and probably better than most other people can. But that's not really the strength that defines them.

Rather, it's their arsenal. They don't carry weapons around with them. They're not armed unless they are actually in a fight. Similar to a video game character, they have an entire inventory of weapons at their disposal, which are always readily available to them. They can pull these swords out from the ether, appearing and disappearing from thin air, always ready to fight in any style with any sword, able to respond to the situation at hand. Of course, if he's caught by a blow while transitioning between swords, he'd be screwed. He can't simply change one into another. The first would have to be completely rescinded into his inventory before he can pull out the next.

Which then raises the question of just how long it takes to change weapons. Is it something he can only do tactically, making space in the fight tog vie himself time to switch out? Or does it take only a moment or two, so that a quick and well placed strike is the only thing that would be able to pierce his defense? And then you begin to question the use of two swords at once. After all, if he can fight in all styles, one would assume that he could fight while dual wielding - double the weapons equals double the power, after all.

And assuming dual wielding is a possibility, what about the use of a shield? Sword and board is a very legitimate and well used fighting style, capable of giving a fighter very well rounded approach to a fight. But would it be one that he would be any good at? After all, his specification is that he's good at using swords. Would the shield make him feel uncomfortable? Off balance? Clunky? It's a very rigid and blocky defense, after all, and could easily affect the fluidity one would require to swing a sword.

There's a lot of back and forths to consider with the character, and they're some that I very much so would like to explore. Would help to have a setting, though.