If you could imagine a bow placed vertically on either side of a block, and then imagine a steel dowel that rests and slides up and down the top of the block, pushing back the bowstring. That's the best explanation I can offer. I'm not good with physics, so I don't know if two bows would ACTUALLY amplify the power or distance projected, but it's also for aesthetic purposes - I just more or less figured it would look cool. =]
Thanks for the comment. Go to Comment

Update: Added a bit of historical background. Go to Comment

From a simple physics standpoint, I see the issue. Maybe not the most well thought out solution. Perhaps I should ditch the interior rifled barrel and just opt for the traditional on-the-top channel for the bolt to slide? Maybe even shorten the bows a bit to make it a bit less unwieldy?

And if you can imagine that both bowstrings fire simultaneously, and the bolt is in effect moved by basically a horizontal bar, attached to the middle of the both bowstrings, that's the effect I was going for. That horizontal bar is gripped on either side and drawn back, where it locks into position, much like a regular crossbow, except that the bar simply draws back two strings at once. The winch is implemented on the higher-tension bows, to make the reload a bit less taxing. The crossbow would indeed need a foot-loop, which I should probably add. Go to Comment

Well, while "high tech" weaponry does exist in this fantasy setting, these weapons are far more common, so naturally they would be lower tech, so as enthralling as a "guass crossbow" sounds (and that does sound RADICAL) it wouldn't fit your somewhat run-of-the-mill type weapon.

I think I'm just going to make it more crossbowish and remove the barrel and just make the bolt glide down a hollowed channel in the stock.

Not sure what you mean by "Technological Solution"

And magical weaponry, like high tech weaponry exists, but those sorts of things are handcrafted and made to order, as it were. Again, just not appropriate for more common items in this particular setting. Go to Comment

my sister actually happens to be a tournament archer. I'm fairly well versed in the poundage of bows. A longbow is somewhere near a 300 pound bow, or more in some cases. Perhaps I should also toss the long bows, and just make them two 150 or 175 bows. Probably more functional as well.
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I thought it was a pretty cool idea myself. I'm finding my grasp on simple physics to be fairly dubious as well, but I thought it was an interesting take on an old trick.

And Echo, to answer your question, why use two inferior bows when you could just use one superior bow: 2+2 = 4, 4+0 = 4, 3+1 = 4. You can stack the numbers however you want, but you get the same result. I just found the mental image aesthetically pleasing and bad-ass.

I do have a friend who is a physics major and coincidentally a hunter who uses compound bows pretty regularly. I'll see if I can't get a more solid answer from him whether or not the tensions of two bows are multiplied by an even two, or if the multiplier is something more on the order of 1.5 or 1.75. Go to Comment

Update: I simplified the weapon a bit, hopefully putting some of the physics debate out of the way. I also detailed how and why the weapon is better than contemporary arbalests by giving comparisons of effective killing distances. Hope this helps. Go to Comment

A great siege weapon, it is wonderfully described with a hint of the politics surrounding it. That leaves only one question, how did it come into being? I am also unclear how the two bowstrings function on one projectile. 

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Can we call them something else? I am struggling with the visual of the old man with a long beard, sunburnt and a little mad from seeing the future/divine, rather than what seems to be a spiritual symbiote that slowly causes etheric cancer but grants more magic powerz. I do like the concept though, don't get me wrong! Go to Comment

Not sorcerer, I was referring to the spirit 'Prophets' Go to Comment

It's somewhat similar to Dragon Age's approach - spirits being drawn to open minds and either invading, or coexisting.

Also, check spelling and grammar, please.

All in all, it might make for good story material.

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Good alternative explanation for the origin of sorcerous powers. For a more convential sorceror, make the prophet a demon or a familliar, with or without a body. Only big minus point: what is the agenda of the prophet? Are they divided into factions with opposite plans? Why does mankind fit in those plans? 4/5 Go to Comment

You know, I really like the concept here.  It isn't wildly different from your standard demonic pact, but I don't really mind.  I like how you took a relatively simple idea (sorcerous magic comes from a possessing spirit) and really fleshed it out to fit within your world.  Well done, and thanks for the enjoyable read.

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Ultimate power, a bit of madness, the risk of dying horribly... what's not to love about this.

I like the flavor that bleeds through. These aren't normal sorcerers who gather power through bound spirits. There is an entire ecosystem of ethereal creatures. It speaks to a larger, well-developed world, with enough similarities to standard fantasy to make it easy to grasp and enough uniqueness to set it apart.

Well done.

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Well, I was thinking of calling them something different. I chose to stick with Sorcerer simply because it was something people already knew, and it wouldn't be confused with the distinctly different "Wizard." But "Sorcerer" is simply the terminology that the Secta Arbite denotes to them. I'm sure the fearful populace has a number of colorful names to cakk them.

And to be honest PoisonAlchemist, I'm not entirely certain what happens when they die. I would assume that since the Prophet draws it's life force from the soul of it's host, when that soul vacates it can no longer sustain itself. However it is also bound at a physical and spiritual level as well, so the trauma of a "Real" death might simply kill the prophet as well.

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OH. Well to answer that question - the word "Profitis" in Greek simply means "foreteller." So to be with a "Prophet" is a foretelling of power, good fortune, and might, or whatever other bounties an incredibly powerful Ethereal companion might bring about. It's a stretch, but all Ethereal spirits have rather abstract, metaphorical, single-word names.

On another note, I'm adding this to my Codex on Etherer and Magick. Go to Comment

Update: Combed through spelling and grammar. Hopefully now it's a bit easier to read. Go to Comment

Thank you Dossta =] Go to Comment

I really like this different take on the sorcerer. I feel it should be linked to some sort of codex though since there seems to be an entire world hiding behind it. Why would a prophet wish to exist in the material plane? Do their kind have long term plans there? What happens when the sorcerer dies?

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Only voted Go to Comment