Bloodrose Emporium
Index > Login
Name: Password: Remember:

View book

Falconry: A Guide for Novices

by Tao Sohei Cohen Thylarian

You open a heavy book bound in Xoran leather entitled, "Falconry: A Guide for Novices" to the bookmark, on page 1, and begin reading.
Dear Pages and Novices

This text is aimed at those members of the guild who are about to take, or have just taken on their falcon. History, where cited, is taken from spoken word, but the instructions and guidance given here is from knowledge and experience. I hope this guide will help you to understand and care for your falcon during your life as an honourable and virtuous Paladin.

Be always in the light,

Sir Cohen


Contents
2 - Background to Your Falcon
3 - The Combat Falcon
4 - Care for Your Falcon
5 - Training Your Falcon
6 - Use of Your Falcon
7 - Your Falcon in Combat
You open a heavy book bound in Xoran leather entitled, "Falconry: A Guide for Novices" to the bookmark, on page 2, and begin reading.

Background to your Falcon

Falconry has been the sport of kings and sultans for as long as history is written. Sporting falconry is the use of raptors (usually hawks and falcons, occasionally eagles) to hunt game, rabbits, wildfowl. The use of birds of prey for combat is less well documented and the origins of falconry amongst the fighting skills of the knight are shrouded in mystery and folklore.

Tales tell of falconers fighting alongside archers in major battles, whole divisions loosing their raptors after the first volley of arrows to strike at the mounted fighters and bowmen among the enemy. Such falcons were believed to have been caught using bow nets and trained as adults, much the same way as hunting falcons. The falcon you will take on as a page will have been trained in a much more advanced fashion.

Modern combat falcons need to have strength, speed and stamina well beyond normal, wild birds of prey. These characteristics are determined from birth and the selection of suitable birds is carried out in the nest. The falconry schools send out watchers, or 'nesters' into the forests or mountains to monitor the best breeding pairs, those with the richest hunting territories or strongest hunting skills these are the birds which will breed the healthiest young. Nesting will take a number of years as the first two broods are watched to make sure the young become as strong and powerful as their parents stature and feeding would suggest. At the third clutch of eggs, the nester's job is nearly finished as he uses mysterious divination skills to determine the sex of the eggs and selects a female. If the clutch contains all male eggs, then the nester has to wait on until the next brood. It is not unheard of for nesters to never select a combat falcon. The whole selection process is carefully carried out to ensure numbers of falcons are not affected. Forest rangers would deal harshly with any nesters who upset the natural balance.

Once selected, the egg is taken directly to the hatchery in Shallam or Bloodloch. The young are carefully nurtured by the hatchers, feeding on the best meats and beginning to hone some of their early instincts, until they take on their juvenile plumage. This is the time for them to be handed to the master falconers for training.

The training of a falcon takes patience, carefully learnt skills and not a little magical intervention. Master falconers are required to understand the skills of the mage more than any other class, and make use of such skills to give the birds longevity and speed over distances.
Spells, however, do not make the falcon and it is it's instincts and natural strength that make the falcon an effective weapon. During training, the falcon will develop the basic skills and learn the intricate whistles which will make up it's commands during it's life in service to the paladins. Such skills you will learn also, with equal patience, as part of your training in Chivalry. After a season with the master falconers, the bird will be a young adult, having lost it's juvenile plumage. It will have enhanced, if not fully developed characteristics in speed, strength and stamina, and will have learnt the skills necessary to take up combat with any opponent. The falcon will be taken to the sanctuary to await it's master.
You open a heavy book bound in Xoran leather entitled, "Falconry: A Guide for Novices" to the bookmark, on page 3, and begin reading.

The Combat Falcon

The falcon of choice for many master falconers is the goshawk. Being the most powerful of the shortwing raptors for it's size. Standing at knee height to the average human, the goshawk is an impressive bird on the ground as well as in the air, where it strikes a fearsome silhouette, with it's broad, slotted wings and rounded tail. The adult plumage of the goshawk is mainly slate grey on the back and outer-wing feathers, with white belly, streaked with beige. The throat and undertail coverts are pure white and the under-wing feathers are clearly banded. The brown/slate feathers on the head are cut with a pronounced white eyestripe. It's eyes are as yellow as the cere around it's nostrils and it's feet. The feet and talons of the goshawk are unusually large for the size of bird, making it ideal for carrying talons.

Prized among the paladins, due to it's pure white coat, is the snowy longwing, or gyr falcon, found on the uppermost peaks of the northern mountain ranges. The gyr is faster than the goshawk, although not initially as strong. Only the most experienced master falconers will be allowed to train such birds and through their care, if you are fortunate enough to receive one, the bird will be as efficient and powerful a raptor as the goshawk. The paladin symbol, the white falcon in flight, is based on the gyr.
You open a heavy book bound in Xoran leather entitled, "Falconry: A Guide for Novices" to the bookmark, on page 4, and begin reading.

Care for Your Falcon

On becoming page to a knight, and after having learnt the Falconry skill in Chivalry, you will be permitted to take ownership of your falcon. You should never do this without the permission of your knight. Your falcon can be sought from the hatchery above the guild tower in Shallam. Once there, FALCON REQUEST and you will be handed your warbird. FALCON ASSESS will reveal the health and characteristics of your bird. You will receive a healthy falcon, the master falconers do not train undernourished birds. However, once yours, it is up to you to ensure it stays fully fed. While in it's sanctuary, your falcon will be fed by the falconers' apprentices, and trained to keep it's strength, speed and stamina in check, but you cannot rely on them to keep it fully fed, they have a great many birds to care for. You should FALCON RECALL from the sanctuary regularly and assess it's health (you cannot do this from inside a building). If it is less than well fed, FALCON HUNT will send it off to find food. It will do this with much enthusiasm and speed.

Care, patience, time and skills beyond those of normal falconers have been spent in the training of your falcon. While under your care, your falcon will give you it's loyalty and after time it's trust. It will never give you it's affection, although it will not shy away from yours.
It will, however, be dependant on you for it's orders. If you order it to sit, it will stay sat until your next order. If you leave the realm and leave it behind, it will stay close until your return. This will leave it exposed to those who may pursue ill sport with your bird and it may come to harm, or even die. There is no excuse to allow your falcon to perish and harsh punishments are due to pages, squires and knights who do. You should read the current guild laws and notices on this matter. Before you leave the realm, you should FALCON SANCTUARY, to send your bird back to the care of the falconers. FALCON GLANCE will tell you where your falcon currently is, and if it tells you it is amongst other birds ( a great number usually, and maybe some talons lying around) it has returned safely.
You open a heavy book bound in Xoran leather entitled, "Falconry: A Guide for Novices" to the bookmark, on page 5, and begin reading.

Training Your Falcon

The master falconers will train your falcon to it's best characteristics as a juvenile bird. These will be dependant on the size, parentage and the skill of that particular falconer. FALCON ASSESS will reveal these characteristics, being in Speed, Strength and Stamina. It's health will be dependant on these statistics, as it improves, it's health will increase.

Your falcon has been selected for it's potential, and with the master falconers having done as much as they are able, it is for you to train it as an adult. For this you will need a falconry glove, available from Syvelium in the Hall of Instruction (ASK SYVELIUM WARES to make sure he has one in stock and BUY GLOVEnumber FROM SYVELIUM to purchase one). You will need no other equipment, as the bird has been trained to need no jenny or perch.

As soon as your receive your falcon, you should concentrate on training it to it's full potential. FALCON TRAIN IN (SPEED/STRENGTH/STAMINA) will send it out to train and it will return with that stat improved. This requires patience, as the falcon will train for little more than a few hours a day. The bird has reached it's full potential when all stats are at 255.
You open a heavy book bound in Xoran leather entitled, "Falconry: A Guide for Novices" to the bookmark, on page 6, and begin reading.

Use of Your Falcon

Your falcon's primary use is as a weapon of combat. It will, however, perform a number of duties which will aid you in your other pursuits.
Below are a number of these duties, some of which you will learn with the basic Falconry skill, others are more advanced and will come as you progress in your Chivalry training:
FALCON REPORT will allow you to describe the environment through the eyes of your falcon.

FALCON LAND will send your falcon to perch on the ground. Falcons are at ease on the ground, and will often pursue prey into bushes or dense undergrowth.

FALCON CIRCLE will send your falcon up into the skies to circle a location.

FALCON SEEK (PLAYER) will send the falcon to search out another character. Your falcon will only sense characters in the realm. If the character is inside anywhere, your falcon will give up it's search and return to the sanctuary. This ability has the benefit over the Farsight skill in Vision as it gives you a precise location over long distances.

FALCON FOLLOW (PLAYER) will send your falcon in pursuit of a character.

FALCON DELIVER (ITEM) (PLAYER) will take an item from your inventory and carry it into the hands of another character. As with SEEK, it will return to the sanctuary with the item if the character is inside. You will sense when the item has been delivered safely.

FALCON RETRIEVE (ITEM) will order your falcon to take an object from the location it is in (if it is not too large) and bring it back to you.
You open a heavy book bound in Xoran leather entitled, "Falconry: A Guide for Novices" to the bookmark, on page 7, and begin reading.

Your Falcon in Combat

Sir Pjoll's Book of Defence, available in the Guild Library gives some detailed guidance on the use of your falcon in combat. This should be studied before making use of your falcon for this purpose.

Always remember that your falcon is trained to assist you in combat and.
Although it will do damage to your opponent, it is no substitute for a sword or axe, or such weapons as chivalry and devotion have afforded you. Your falcon's main purpose is to keep your opponent off balance as much as possible, allowing you to strike more effectively and preventing your opponent from healing as quickly as with normal combat. Using it as a sole weapon will open it up to attack and, although it will flee the affray before it's health drops too low, a heavy strike may kill it.
Always be sure it will not become exposed before you use it in anything other than a combat spar.

The damage your falcon can inflict on your opponent will depend on it's stats. If you have trained in the Warhawk skill in Chivalry, you will be able to buy or forge, and handle your falcon wearing talons. These will increase the amount of damage done and will make your falcon more effective in combat.

To use your falcon in combat FALCON SLAY (TARGET) will send it directly at your opponent without fear, malice or mercy. It will not stop attacking until it has cause to flee or you FALCON RECALL it.

     

Search book:
Advertising
© Copyright 2001-2015 iNDY Design. Contact - About