RECURSIVE BOW

The recursive bow design was already in use by The People when we set foot on Anomaly, and to devastating effect. The added distance gained by this design allowed The People to engage their enemies at greater distances and pruned the number of incoming attackers by entire platoons in some cases. The psychological edge was the introduction of doubt into an enemy that had none before.

According to several archers, the recursive bow was the last innovation Lir brought to light before his vision degraded to the point to where he was relegated to a teaching role for future archers. The straight bows that were previously used were effective (and still employed by other races), but large and especially unwieldy while atop a mount.

Truth to tell, Lir’s design was as functional as it was pragmatic and equal (if not better) in many ways to a comparable bow from the appropriate age in Earth’s history. However, war is ongoing and resources are scarce, so some modifications we introduced to this classic. Lir confided he had worked on several prototypes before settling on the final design and was grateful the woods and arid weather helped dry the wood quickly or, as he put it, “I’d have been dead many times over before I was able to make my first of these weapons.” He nearly fell over himself when we showed him how the process could be expedited by working the wood while wet, and then taking advantage of Anomaly’s oven-like conditions to “bake” the final form of the bow. We were also able to make small adjustments to the sweeps of the arms to maximize the mechanical advantage given to the archer through the draw movement. Several sizes were produced to accommodate close-quarters riders (short), and the medium to long range shooters (long). We were able to increase overall range effectiveness while reducing bow weight by stripping out unnecessary wood.

These results put a powerful new tool into the hands of younger warriors who might not yet have the strength to engage in the sword. Children who were not expected to take-up combat for a few years, still, were immediately put to practicing w/these new bows (and our updated arrows!).