Got a Real World Weapons or Armour Question? Mk XI

[Raum]

1. Aside from Norse and Indian cultures, who else used pattern-welded steel? And more to the point, was it, in fact more effective than swords not pattern welded, due to flexibility, strength, and edge retention? Norwood claims it's so, a second opinion would be great.

I suspect most steel using cultures used some form of pattern welding. It's done to homogenize the steel (to a degree) prior to invention / use of crucibles for purification of the metal. A Japanese smith's folding is the same thing, just done a few more times for a much finer pattern.

The only reason to create pattern welded steel today is for the looks. Sufficient reason! :) (Have to admit to owning three.)

2. Whose fault is it that people think rapiers are armour piercing? Or that they're military weapons, for that matter? Is there an older genesis for this belief, or do I just, you know, blame Fire Emblem?

I'd never heard that belief...at least no more than the standard myth of any sword going through armor like it wasn't there. The attribute I have seen associated with rapiers is accuracy - experts were supposed to be capable of avoiding armor by hitting targets as small as a moving eye-hole. More an 'armor bypassing' belief than an 'armor piercing'.