Re: Smuggling weapons from Prax to Whitewall?

From: David Weihe <blerg2_at_...>
Date: Fri, 1 May 2009 15:14:48 -0700 (PDT)

On Fri, 5/1/09, donald_at_... wrote:
> For the other main tribes only the Sables will have many
> bowyers and I assumed they'd be aligned with the Lunars. That
> doesn't necessarily mean they won't sell to a trader who is
> buying for Sartarite rebels.

They would _never_ sell to the Sartarite rebels! That would be treason! OTOH, selling to the same merchants who have bought their bows, in the past, is not the same thing, at all, to the Sables. And who the merchants sell to is beyond the Sables caring. If the merchants happen to sell to the rebels, it is the Lunar groundmen's jobs to catch them.

This weapons trading, BTW, sounds like a perfect job for Dagori Inkarthi AAs. Maybe even those from the Shadow Plateau, but I expect that they have more nosy Lunars with which to contend.

> The spare capacity is those part time bowyers who could spend
> time producing for export if they think they can sell them.

Since the price of used weapons is probably going up, anyone who didn't pitch in and help the real bowyers is depriving their clan of riches (well, traded luxuries like mirrors), just like hunters refusing to sell their hides.

The full time bowyers will thus be able to get youngsters to spend their spare time helping them, rather than however they normally waste it. The bowyers will be more productive because they get more help. Next generation, there may also be more bowyers, also, but that is beyond the WhiteWall time period.

> Another constraint is materials. If they double production that
> means twice as many animals have to be killed which presumably
> means twice as many successful raids. They aren't going to reduce
> their own herds unless the price is very high.

OTOH, reducing the number in the captured herds to lower levels than usual will seem perfectly reasonable. This might reduce those herds in the future, but it will mean better eating, today. Expect a few arguments between the men wanting to reduce the herds of non-tribal animals to take advantage of the current trade situation and the women wanting to maintain the numbers of the captured animals because they had to do it that way once, centuries ago.

> Except that the only reason for Heortlings to buy bows from
> Prax is that they are superior to those they make themselves.

A cheaply made bow is better than no bow at all, and I doubt that the Lunars will not notice if the Sartarite tribes start making weapons (unless Fazzur is buying them from occupied but slightly hostile tribes in such numbers that diverting some to WW is below the radar).

(Of course, if Fazzur did that, it might be what caused the Tarsh royals to turn on him and his family, thinking that the stockpiles were going to be turned against them, someday. Hmmm)

Anyway, in a siege, giving everyone a bow and firing in volleys to keep the besiegers behind cover can make sense; you don't need Legolas making impossible shots if you have 100 novices firing 100 arrows at about the same spot and let random luck take care of you.       

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