[COMPLETED - WEAPON CONCEPT] Bonemold bow and arrows

Maybe try using natural curves of bones made into a bow, rather than trying to 'bone up' a bow shape? Hard to explain, and I can't seem to find any good reference pictures... I'll try explaining more in depth later, when I have time.

I really like them, especially B and I

Just giving suggestion. Maybe it is worth considering some natural inspirations like in the picture in spoiler

inspiration

 

You guys are aware that if a bow was made of something "bow shape" it wouldn't work at all? If it was already bent it wouldn't have any force to spring back. It has to either be straight and flexed (and then strung with a bowstring), or even curved the other way when un-strung like in this recurve example.

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I'd rather debate what kind of, or maybe technology of bonemold could make this material flexible as a bow. Bones do have some flexibility, but they're WAY too stiff to make a bow. Bonemold is on the other hand a mix of bone meal and resin, perhaps with the right ingredients it could be pretty flexible, like modern laminated bows. You could also use intact bones for things like grip and string attachment points, definetly not for the springy parts. Sinew can be a part of the composite, maybe also chitin. Of course all that would be held together with bonemold. Maybe an interesting thing would be if the springy parts were held together with stiff bonemold segments, making the thing look a bit like a spine? You already have that kind of thing going on in spots, also the one in Morrowind is clearly segmented:
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I'd be fine with stylising it even more to look like a spine.

Also, try not to make the springy parts too thick, and definetly NOT round in the intersection. Bows are supposed to be quite flat, otherwise they start twisting and warping in uncontrollable ways. That is aside from the grip which doesn't usually flex and is suited for the hand, and the string attachment points.

Okay, found a couple of decent pictures.
 

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The bows above are wood bows, but they have some of the natural shape left in them.



There are some native American bows which use antlers in their construction.
 

One of the most successful types of historical bows, the composite bow, used horns from certain animals as part of its construction (along with wood and some other elements). Given the fantastic nature of Vvardenfel, it doesn't seem like too much of a stretch to think that some sort of similarly usable material exists. Composites were recurves and had a fairly small size, and were often used mounted. You could make a Hlaalu composite bow with a solid wood and bone base. You could even substitute the glue used to affix the different pieces with some sort of insect derivative.

I don't think it is said anywhere that Bonemold Bow must be made from the same bonemeal and resin as Bonemold Armor.

I'll stick to the idea that it is composite material and inventors of this thing thought about more elastic forms. So theoretically it is possible to make every kind of shape with different properties. Just look at modern bows.

Despite that it should be functional and it have to look like weapon that may be used on battlefield.

In my opinion Dragomir gave a good clue about bow made from segments. What do you think about wooden (or something else) bow with bonemold cover. Like inside spine is place for spinal cord, why not to try making something like vertebra on a bow?

Spine idea you could play with:

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I think it looks pretty functional, you can tell it's composite but it has quite a lot of bonemold on it, and it would work nicely with bonemold armors.

Spine can't be used as part of bow (only if decorative). And spine <> bonemold.
I think Smitehammer's bow structure from several bound parts is best in this case.
Use many long bones' cuts, meld together with bonemold composite.

Okay, just throwing an idea out there.

If we make the design similar to the modern recurve bow, then it could made out of a mixture of wood and bonemold.

The riser can be made of the same type of bonemold that the weapons and armour are made out of, strong and rigid, which is molded into shape. The holes could be in a similar style to the back of the FDT 2's bonemold Armun-An shield. Then the limbs are made of wood, and maybe decorated with vertebra from a spine if they look too bland, which are then bolted onto the the riser. You could even have the in-inventory model with the limbs unbolted, just to add a nice little immersive detail.

This might not be the shape you're going for (less curved and compact than the other designs on here), but it would definitely function.

I prefer A the most. Two materials are a good idea and it looks very interesting at all.

Use some parts from bonemold s. str. for glueing wooden and natural bone parts.

alysander

Spine can't be used as part of bow (only if decorative).

Just to clarify, that was supposed to be formed bonemold pieces that would mimic a spine to a degree, and not actual spinal bones. And their purpose would be to hold the composite layers together better.

On a side note, if this is to be used by guards, I think that something as simple as a few rods tied together with a string is a bit too crude and primitive, and would look out of place for them. It would also make it WAY too similar in looks to our already modelled corkbulb bow, which is used mainly by ashlanders and that look fits them.

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Bonemold is fluid and can be molded, and then becomes hard, perhaps with a lot of right resin - also flexible. Try to have some fun with that idea.

If you are afraid of similarity to corkbulb design - you can add some pieces/layers with backward orientation/bend
There must be some thing to limit same orientation bend (this can be just bones with different diameter).
Bends with different materials must be made from different materials.

I'd be fine with similar shape, but not both shape and the craft structure (composite wrapped with cord)

Yep. I just showed main idea.
Ends of bow would be better encased in some sort of horns/insect_legs.

I like them both, but they look WAY too thick. Springy part of the bow should never be thicker than the handle, at least from that perspective (from the side it's usually reversed).

Well, memorable day for Skywind:

Fully agree with Dragomir.

Nah, for real. The design is good, but it lacks a bit of elegance.

I wouldn't completely ditch the idea of some wood; Hlaalu is probably more likely to use wood than the other houses (definitely more than the Ashlanders, who don't use it at all). But whatever, my vote is "A" because having those wraps near the middle on "B" look strange.

Could use trama root instead of wood, if you wanted.

This also could be like that. Handler looks like weak place.

I like C, it looks professional and well crafted, good for Hlallu guards imo. Could be a bit less curvy and thinner, but that´s my personal opinion. Well done!!!

I really like B, it looks simple and sleek.

I like C, obviously.

B is my favorite, reminds me of the Skyrim Vanilla Elven bow but made by Dark Elves. Brilliant designs. 

I like C because it looks like you could punch someone with it :p, i like the tips from A and B of your first post better.