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| Gorean Bows |
| Bows and Arrows: There are several types of missile weapons used on Gor. The use of such weapons, however, is commonly considered below the task of a true Gorean Warrior. The Warrior of Gor prefers to engage his enemy in hand to hand combat. Use of the missile weapons is often considered the mark of a coward. In Gorean sagas, the villain is often an archer. Use of these weapons should be undertaken at one's own risk. Great Bow: A long bow typically made from the wood of the ka-la-na tree or sometimes of temwood. Unstrung it is over six feet in length, and can require a pull of up to 120 lbs, depending upon the strength of the user. The bowstring itself is usually made of hemp or sinew lashed with silk thread. Armed with such a weapon, a highly skilled archer can accurately strike a target at a fairly long distance and by arcing his line of fire can place a shaft within 10 feet of a target approximately 300 yards away. The arrows of such a bow are temwood, metal-piled and fletched with the feathers of the vosk gull. Each such arrow is approximately three feet in length, and can be tipped with several different types of arrowheads; the flight tip and the sheaf tip are the most commonly used. It is commonly carried slung or strapped over the shoulder and a belt or shoulder quiver containing a large quantity of arrows also is carried. Its use requires one to wear a forearm pad of thick leather and to use a special glove or finger tab to protect his hand and arm from heavy stinging caused by the string striking them when released. It is widely used by both many members of the Caste of Peasants, and the renders of the Vosk Delta. Crossbow: The standard infantry missile weapon of Gor. It consists of a heavy, flexible bow of tempered steel, perhaps 18" across (when bent), mounted on a heavy wooden stock about two feet long, with a trigger mechanism built into the shaped handle. It can fire several types of quarrels, with enough force to penetrate wooden walls, doors and human bodies. It has an effective range of about 150 meters. Extremely slow to reload, it is usually redrawn by using a hook or a bow crank. Quarrels, or "bolts," are carried in a belt-case or quiver. Common throughout all of the Gorean city-states, and the preferred weapon of the Caste of Assassins. Crossbow (Cavalry): Similar in most respects to the larger crossbow, though instead of possessing a heavy metal bow, it has a much lighter bow of layered wood and horn. It is slightly smaller in overall size than its heavy cousin, and is equipped with a metal stirrup at the firing end, enabling it to be more quickly restrung and drawn from kailla or tarnback. "...the crossbow is the assassin's weapon, par excellence; further, it might be mentioned that, although it takes longer to set the crossbow, a weaker man, with, say, his belt claw or his winding gear, can certainly manage to do so; accordingly, for every man capable of drawing a warrior's long bow there will be an indefinite number who can use the crossbow; lastly, at shorter distances, the crossbow requires much less skill for accuracy than the long bow." Raiders of Gor, page 2 Horn Bow: a)--of the Wagon Peoples --favored by the Wagon peoples, it hangs from their saddles. It does not have the range or force of the more powerful long bow or cross bow, but it is a fearsome weapon at close range. The young men of the Wagon Peoples are not given a name until they have mastered the bow, the lance and the quiva. "His lance remained on his back, but he carried in his right hand the small, powerful horn bow of the Wagon Peoples an attached to his saddle was a lacquered, narrow, rectangular quiver containing as many as forty arrows. " Nomads of Gor, page 11 b)--of the Innuit--bow formed with split pieces of tabuk horn, bound with sinew which is not effective beyond thirty yards, used in the land of the Innuit to hunt tabuk on the tundra. |
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