1870-?-? A Beautiful New Bow
A beautiful new bow
Summary: Dertan engineers a new bow for his Siege-Breakers
Date: Sometime in 1870
Related: {$related}
NPCs: {$npc}
Players:
Dertan  

Nothing quite worked.

The longbow had the power and the range but it was taller than he was. Firing it took the training of years and it just wasn't very practical. It was effective in mass ranks of course; just look at the Sokar Longbows but it would never do for the purpose he had in mind.

The hunting bow was the usual solution to that problem but it has its own problems. Bows made from a single piece of wood like this just can't be left strung for long periods of time. Thats fine if you are expecting a fight - or hunting - but what about those moments when you need a bow right this damn minute?

And crossbows, whilst immensely powerful, was just to damn hard to load, and besides crossbows just lack the innate perfection of a bow.

Partharian horse bows weren't bad. Maybe he could start there…

All he wants is a small bow that would punch through plate. Surely thats not that much to ask.. There has to be a solution.

A while later, thanks to a few shopping trips and monopolising the time of a local bowyer, Dertan was surrounded by several dissassembled bows, a pile of parchment scribbles and a bunch of experimental tools. A cut on his face a reminder that you should take care when experimenting with objects under high tension. The principles behind their construction wasn't as complicated as he had assumed. Maybe he could improve it.. A cable here perhaps.. Maybe a two degree difference in the angle there..

More time. More money. More destroyed bows.

But now he had something that would work. A composite frame made of several highly specific materials all attached together just-so with an extra cable here, an extra curve here and that special bowstring..

Small enough to fit in a hip quiver without overly restricting movement. Durable enough to leave it strung for days. Powerful. Perhaps even as powerful as the long bow. Everything he wanted and more. You can even paint it.

So what if some of the materials are rare enough that it might be easier to source unicorn hair.. ..and it needs a lot of skill to use properly.. ..and makes a distinct SNAP sound when its fired..

Its still perfect. He shall call it Vera.

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