The cult of the Bow

Although all the weapons of the hunt are sacred to the Kaishar, the Bow is doubly so, for it is made from the finest wood of the most sacred trees. Where the sword and the spear kill with metal, for the bow it is the heartwood of the tree that provides the striking power, and so the Elves regard the Bow as the Trees gift to them.

It is tradition that each hunter should craft their own arrows, putting a little of him or herself into the polishing of the wood and the fitting of the feathers. Indeed each hunter can readily recognize his own arrows, and would regard it as an insult to have them used by another (though on the field of battle to use a fallen brother's arrows is a mark of respect).

The same is not true of bows however, which are made by acknowledged craftsmen in each tribe who learn the art as a child and youngling. These bowmakers are often from the Kin of the Yew, for that wood is valued above all others in crafting their bowstaves, but they can be from any Kin or Kith. Particularly gifted craftsmen will even attract apprentices from other Tribes, one of the rare occasions where an Elf will leave their family behind, and their work is passed down through the generations from hunter to hunter.

Just as there are Elves who dedicate all their long years to the making of Bows, so there are those who dedicate their lives to using them. An Elf who has chosen the Bow as their only hunting tool and weapon, and who lives into their second or third centuries, is accounted a Bowmaster, more skilled with the weapon than any other Elf.

When a famous or long-carried bow breaks it is brought home to the lodge of it's owner and hung on the walls as a tribute to it's long service. More than one Elf has been lost in battle attempting to recover the bow of a fallen comrade so that it might be brought back to the forest to be so enshrined.