FA+
Shop
254
Views
Views
30
Favorites
Favorites
Category
Artwork (Digital) / Doodle
Species Unspecified / Any
Size 2009 x 1586
File Size 379 kB
Report this content
More from HoboPatch
This isn't the first time I've considered blowguns for drekir, its just this time I've spent 2 weeks doing in depth into reading about them, the physics, cultures, etc. and I think I have a more compelling argument for them than I used to.
But long story short, drekir have quite powerful lungs! Even the smallest amongst them (30 inches) are quite potent thanks to their lungs. Proportionally their lungs are quite large due to the need to intake oxygen for their beast of burden related origins. These lungs are also powered by some pretty serious muscles which helps drekir keep a good bit of oxygen intake while working.
But outside of sivilão society those lungs can be put to work for blowguns. While they don't have true lips (and thus can't blow effectively from their mouths) their nostrils are pretty well set to shoot a lot of air through quickly. So when pushing a ton of air from their nostrils into a blowgun they can achieve slightly higher than average performances than humans with just a bit of training. The larger the breed the more potential power they have, with giant drek breeds launching darts with far more power and range than humans. But even the tiniest breed can at least match a human with some training and effort if not surpass them at least somewhat. And that is of course prior to things like poison, venom, alchemicals or elementized points (tazer points for example) getting added into the mix based on the realities of a certain region.
Likewise there are a lot of ways to make a blowgun. Some are carved from solid pieces of wood, others are made of bamboo halves cleaned and tied together, others could be made out of boiled and rolled plates of chitin or, if a region has an animal with a long bone, bone blowguns could be made as well amongst other potential materials.
Lastly they fill a niche that other comomon weapons don't. Atlatls, slings, staff slings, javelins, throwing sticks, bolas and throwing darts tend to require at least some degree of movement to throw effectively whereas a blowgun can be fired without any serious movement and without a lot of noise. While crossbows are also a good choice and could be more powerful, they are also a headache to maintain compared to what essentially amounts to a tube.
So yeah, I think these could be fun to add to the lore with respect to research done
But long story short, drekir have quite powerful lungs! Even the smallest amongst them (30 inches) are quite potent thanks to their lungs. Proportionally their lungs are quite large due to the need to intake oxygen for their beast of burden related origins. These lungs are also powered by some pretty serious muscles which helps drekir keep a good bit of oxygen intake while working.
But outside of sivilão society those lungs can be put to work for blowguns. While they don't have true lips (and thus can't blow effectively from their mouths) their nostrils are pretty well set to shoot a lot of air through quickly. So when pushing a ton of air from their nostrils into a blowgun they can achieve slightly higher than average performances than humans with just a bit of training. The larger the breed the more potential power they have, with giant drek breeds launching darts with far more power and range than humans. But even the tiniest breed can at least match a human with some training and effort if not surpass them at least somewhat. And that is of course prior to things like poison, venom, alchemicals or elementized points (tazer points for example) getting added into the mix based on the realities of a certain region.
Likewise there are a lot of ways to make a blowgun. Some are carved from solid pieces of wood, others are made of bamboo halves cleaned and tied together, others could be made out of boiled and rolled plates of chitin or, if a region has an animal with a long bone, bone blowguns could be made as well amongst other potential materials.
Lastly they fill a niche that other comomon weapons don't. Atlatls, slings, staff slings, javelins, throwing sticks, bolas and throwing darts tend to require at least some degree of movement to throw effectively whereas a blowgun can be fired without any serious movement and without a lot of noise. While crossbows are also a good choice and could be more powerful, they are also a headache to maintain compared to what essentially amounts to a tube.
So yeah, I think these could be fun to add to the lore with respect to research done
Category Artwork (Digital) / Doodle
Species Unspecified / Any
Size 2009 x 1586px
File Size 379 kB
I remember seeing a documentary on a South American tribesman making a blow pipe that was nearly 8 feet long. It wasn't the drilling that was the hard part, because it was made from two pieces?
It was the polishing.
I forget what they used for the abrasive, but it involved over 100 hours of pulling a piece of string, back and forth, over and over, until the barrel was polished to an absolute mirror finish, like that of an expensive shotgun.
He was able to shoot a monkey nearly 100 feet, straight up!
The more modern, western-style blowguns don't rely on poison to do the job, nor do they shoot from such long distances. The darts are steel, usually with razor-sharp broadheads, meant to cause the animal to bleed out, rather than die of a toxin.
Still just as effective, though!
It was the polishing.
I forget what they used for the abrasive, but it involved over 100 hours of pulling a piece of string, back and forth, over and over, until the barrel was polished to an absolute mirror finish, like that of an expensive shotgun.
He was able to shoot a monkey nearly 100 feet, straight up!
The more modern, western-style blowguns don't rely on poison to do the job, nor do they shoot from such long distances. The darts are steel, usually with razor-sharp broadheads, meant to cause the animal to bleed out, rather than die of a toxin.
Still just as effective, though!
Yeah there is a ton of ways to make blowguns. With bamboo as you said you cut it in half, remove the pith and the walls in it and then get it smooth.
Unpoisoned darts did also exist historically across the Southwest US, with a lot of those darts being made out of hardwoods like oak sharpened into a point with thistle or feather puffs. So even historically they existed unpoisoned. We see a similar sort of style of blowgun in Medieval Europe even for hunting birds and rabbits.
Unpoisoned darts did also exist historically across the Southwest US, with a lot of those darts being made out of hardwoods like oak sharpened into a point with thistle or feather puffs. So even historically they existed unpoisoned. We see a similar sort of style of blowgun in Medieval Europe even for hunting birds and rabbits.
Comments