Need some ideas for a magical composite bow

[NewJeffCT]

I looked online and a lot of composite bows were historically made from horn (often of a water buffalo) and sinew (of a deer) in addition to wood.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Composite_bow

Since the character this is for is a female follower of an Artemis/Diana type of archer-goddess, I was thinking of substituting unicorn horn & sinew for a water buffalo and deer. Unicorns are typically feminine, plus have the horn/sinew as well, so I think it would work well.

What do you think?

Any other ideas?

 

[Umbran]

You mean, other than the fact that one ore more unicorns had to die to produce the bow? I'm not sure how well that'd fly with the bow's recipient, to be honest. Do you slay an icon of good and purity to create a weapon, and still think of yourself as a protector of said power?

This goes a little more easily with the vegetative parts - wood harvested from a druid's or dryad's grove under the light of the full moon, for example. Or, from renewable resources - replace the sinew with magically enhanced spider silk, or the like.

 

[Gilladian]

I would definitely say that the unicorn parts used came from a unicorn who died naturally (or was killed in battle against evil if your unicorns are immortal).

I have to agree that I'd tend to use reproducible materials - maybe a unicorn sheds its horn every winter, or every decade, so it could be used without necessitating a death.

Or use evil monster parts from slain creatures - there must be tons that you could appropriate - minotaur horn for example?

 

[IamTheTest]

It's all about spin. If the unicorn sacrificed itself to create the weapon it stands to reason that the weapon would be much more powerful than its mundane counterpart. I would also agree that if a bower (sp?) practiced hunting and destroying icons of good just to create a better product then the weapon would probably be a cosmic no no.

 

[NewJeffCT]

You mean, other than the fact that one ore more unicorns had to die to produce the bow? I'm not sure how well that'd fly with the bow's recipient, to be honest. Do you slay an icon of good and purity to create a weapon, and still think of yourself as a protector of said power?

This goes a little more easily with the vegetative parts - wood harvested from a druid's or dryad's grove under the light of the full moon, for example. Or, from renewable resources - replace the sinew with magically enhanced spider silk, or the like.

Yes, it would have been for a unicorn that fell in a battle defeating a great evil. However, I can see your point on using an icon of good in this way.

 

[reason]

For something a little more Greek in tone, given the myths of Artemis, how about the moonbow, an ephemeral weapon that only the Goddess' favored can pull from the reflection of the cresent moon upon the calm surface of her sacred pools. It is a quest to enter her sacred hills and find the misted Temple of the Moon Archers, and then a challenge of worth to coax forth the moonbow and convince it to work the Goddess' will.

Reason
Principia Infecta

 

[Slife]

For something a little more Greek in tone, given the myths of Artemis, how about the moonbow, an ephemeral weapon that only the Goddess' favored can pull from the reflection of the cresent moon upon the calm surface of her sacred pools. It is a quest to enter her sacred hills and find the misted Temple of the Moon Archers, and then a challenge of worth to coax forth the moonbow and convince it to work the Goddess' will.

Reason
Principia Infecta

Stats based on that bow from the DnD TV show?

 

[RangerWickett]

Interesting idea. I don't get where people think of unicorns as feminine at all, though. By the old tales, you could only capture a unicorn by having a virgin sit out in the woods and wait for a unicorn to come by and lay its head in her lap. And its head is a giant phallic symbol.