Elegant and deadly, the concept for this weapon is inspired by the oriental combat fans of generations past. It serves the dual role of not only being a capable melee weapon, but it also doubles as a shield that protects the user from ranged projectile attacks.  Getting into close range is the only sure-fire way to fight a fan weilder in MFT, but it might well be a trick to lure you in.

Follow up:

The fan is the counterpart to the sword in MFT. Where the sword rules melee combat and is completely vulnerable to ranged attacks, the fan is incredible against careless ranged attackers, yet performs only mediocrely against other melee weapons.

The fan in MFT is based on the  iron fans in Japanese warfare.  Iron fans were a popular tool for not only keeping cool, but would also be used to signal troops and even as a weapon. The practice of using a fan as a weapon was called tessenjutsu (literally: "iron fan technique") and was a popular method of deflecting arrows and darts thrown at the weilder.

This is almost the last melee weapon type in MFT's game design and it's graceful simplicity beguiles the range and flexibility of it's tactical useage.