[Dragaera] The New Palace

[Jon%20Lincicum]

----- "Philip Hart" <philiph at slac.stanford.edu> wrote: 
> 
> 
> On Wed, 2 Jun 2010, Alexx Kay wrote: 
> 
> > Bows themselves may have been countered, in multiple ways. 
> > 
> > Bows are relatively delicate pieces of technology. A "bow-breaking" spell 
> > would probably be pretty easy to create. Eventually, someone else might 
> > invent an enchantment to protect bows from the breakage spell. 
> > 
> > Alternatively, someone might invent a "magical arrow-repelling-field". 
> > Later, someone figures out an arrow enchantment that can pierce the field. 
> 
> I don't want to argue at all strenuously about this, since it doesn't 
> matter to me, but trying to argue away bows and arrows seems to get us 
> caught up in hacks. A spell that can indiscriminately break horn bows 
> (wooden crossbows) can kill soldiers (destroy supply wagons). Any field 
> that can stop javelins or spears can stop swords. 
> 
> A bow would have been of great use in _TPG_ and even more the late 
> Paarfiad, and even if guardsmen or nobles can't carry them for cultural 
> reasons surely brigands do. 

All true points. 

However, if the bow-and-arrow have fallen out of usefulness in the formal armies of the times, this means that the art of bow-making has likely fallen out of common practice, and thus bows of any quality are going to be rare, expensive, and their use unfamiliar to most of the population. Why would a brigand buy a 50 imperial bow when a 3 orb throwing knife or flashstone will do the same job and be easier for him to use? 

I also have no desire to argue all the specific ways in which this arms-race might play out. I am content to accept the fact that the world as presented in the stories is what it is, however it got to be that way. I merely wanted to point out that there are certainly possibilities out there that do not preclude the historical use of bow-and-arrow in Dragaera; especially since arrows have been mentioned in the texts. 

Majikjon