Goodness, you thought up something similiar to something I had been thinking of for a while, though slightly different.
   
  Nice idea though Andrew.
   
  The Brotherhood of the Night mage-archery, as they are calling it, uses the same principles of the binding magic employed by the Brotherhood.  Arrows are enchanted with binding engravings (as opposed to tattoos), which only become active when the mage-archer activates it with a slight amount of his blood.  The mage-arrow then becomes a temporary vessel for the mage-archer's sorcery.  As an example, a mage-arrow could have a binding that turned the arrow into a vessel capable of holding a good amount of energy, which could be released when it hits or just before it hits its target, creating the desired devastating effect on the enemy.
   
  Typically the mage-archer would wet the mage-arrow bindings with a little blood, draw back his bow and "fill" the mage-arrow with the desired energy.  Upon firing the bow, the mage-arrow would physically appear to be a plain arrow.
   
  A benefit of mage-archery is that the only Will required of the mage-archer is the secondary activation (the primary activation being the application of a drop or two of blood) of the binding on the arrow, which releases the stored up energy in the form intended by the mage-arrow's binding.  Another benefit is that mage-archery can considerably increase the range of war-orientated sorcery (especially when longbows are used) - not quite Mir's sorcerous siegecraft, but a step in that direction.
   
  The downside of mage-archery is that it requires specialisation in binding magic (something usually only done by the Master of Rites or his apprentices in the Brotherhood) and in skill of archery.
   
  Well, I've been a bit quiet for the last week or so, but i'll be even quieter til next week, as I'm back off to the big smoke (my hometown of brisbane) for a local government conference and then to see some rockin' good rockabilly bands on the weekend.

  Catch you guys later,
   
  Ibrahim Underwood
  
Andrew Janssen  wrote:
  "That's right," nodded the alchemist, "Glyphica. As you know, 
'enchanted' weapons are normally energized by the will of the wielder, 
but that requires the wielder be in contact with the weapon, which 
doesn't work for bolts and arrows. Well, we have a work-around, 
although," he said in a lower voice, "it's a bit . . . eh . . . it 
borders on necromancy."

"You're joking," Ronir-Varros said flatly. "The Coronites would have our heads if they found out."

"Oh, don't get me wrong!" said the alchemist hurriedly, "it's not really 
necromancy, it just cuts close to the line, as it were. You see, the 
glyphs act as a spell /in potentia/ as it were, waiting to be activated. 
But instead of being triggered by a person's will, the trigger is, well, 
blood. Blood from a living target."

Ronir-Varros carefully set the bolt back down on the tray. "So, what, 
exactly, are these bolts supposed to do?"

"Well, the ones with the red shafts explode, very impressively and 
messily. The ones with the white shafts discharge a large amount of 
electricity into the target. And, in theory, the blue-shafted bolts 
should incapacitate a Shadowspawn that's given itself over to its demon, breaking the ties that let the demon control the human's body, while at the same time, trapping it in the body for easy disposal," said the alchemist.


		
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