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Middle East

2022-05-05T22:25:31Z

2607:FB90:6FF4:7A06:A450:282B:AF5A:16C8: /* Middle Eastern Religion, Gods and Mythology */

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[[image:Middle_East.png|thumb|300px|right|A thousand sights, a thousand nights, a thousand years, a thousand tears...]]
{{topquote|They say in the Middle East - a pessimist is simply an optimist with experience.| Ehud Barak}}

The Middle East is a region that broadly spans from [[Egypt]] in the west to [[India]] in the east with northern and southern borders being the Black & Caspian sea and the Arabian Sea respectively. In the middle of all of this is over 6000 years of civilization, at least half-a-dozen awesome and significant cultures, more history than you can shake a...anything at really and also a fuckton of culture, wars and mineable stuff. The importance of the region and it's myriad of cultures has not lessened in the 20th and 21st centuries as the region continues to be, if not exactly influential, then influenced due to the resources and politics going on around it and within it.

Since it is Europe's closest neighbour, the region and it's societies have been interacting with the smorgasbord of Europe's cultures since at least the [[Bronze Age]] so there are a number of analogues of Middle Eastern societies in fantasy and even sci-fi. Dungeons and Dragons has [[Al-Qadim]], [[Lord of the Rings]] has Harad, Game of Thrones has Mereen and so on. And this is not even counting [[Video Games]] either.

== Middle Eastern History ==

The Middle East, being one of the ¨cradles of civilization¨ has metric gigatons of history under it's belt, more than even [[China]] so the sections below will be the broadest overviews by necessity. Still the history van be roughly divided into 4 periods with a number of sub-periods within each. So strap yourself in as we dive into the deep end of history.

=== Ancient History (4000 BC - 500 AD) ===
[[image:Babylon.png|thumb|300px|right|Between the time when the oceans drank Atlantis and the rise of the sons of Aryas, there was an age undreamed of...]]
After the period of various neolithic cultures discovering agriculture, the first human towns and city-states began to form (these could go back to as early as 9000-7000 BC as attested by Catal Huyuk and Jericho). The most prominent cities of this period were Uruk, Babillon, Elam and others. Two civilizations of note arose in this era around 3500 BC - Sumer and Akkad which are famous for their ziggurats (OG pyramids) and for laying the basis for much of civilization in the west since their stuff was picked up by Egyptians, then Greeks and so on. In about 2340 BC Sargon the Great united the various city-states in the south and thus founded the Akkadian dynasty - the world's first empire.

This set a kind of precedent for future powerful empires that would come to rule almost the entire Middle East. After Akkadians, of note are the Assyrian Empires of 1365–1076 BC and the Neo-Assyrian Empire of 911–605 BC. The Assyrian Empire at its peak was the largest the world had yet seen. It ruled all of what is now Iraq, Syria, Lebanon, Israel, Palestine, Kuwait, Jordan, [[Egypt]], Cyprus, and Bahrain—with large swathes of Iran, Turkey, Armenia, Georgia, Sudan, and Arabia.

From the early 6th century BC onwards there were several Persian states that dominated the region, beginning with the non-Persian Neo-Babylonian Empire, then their successor the Achaemenid Empire also known as the first Persian Empire. In the 300s BC a gigachad guy called Alexander the Great decided that he wanted to rule the world and so he went ahead and conquered everything from Greece to Egypt all the way to the border of [[India]]. Sadly he died just as he was getting to the process of ruling his mega-empire and in a final moment of chadery he declared that his empire would belong "to the strongest" and within 5 minutes there were a bunch of successor empires like the Seleucids, Bactrians, Ptolemaic [[Egypt]] and others, and virtually all of them had a city called Alexandria but the one in Egypt mattered most.

After Alexander, the various Alexandrian successor states were dicking around with each other, not noticing the big roman-shaped shadow rising in the west. In 66–63 BC the Roman general Pompey got shit done and conquered much of the Middle East in one fell swoop. The Romans united the region into yet another giga-empire and integrated the region with most of Europe and North Africa in terms of politics and economics, not to mention the globalising effect of free transit for imperial citizens and dependents. Even areas not directly under Rome were strongly influenced by the Empire which was the most powerful political and cultural entity for centuries.

Though Romans brought much of their culture, law and customs to the region, the Greek culture and language continued to dominate as well, being another strong cultural factor. The region effectively became the Empire's "bread basket" as the key agricultural producer and as a somewhat of a consolation for egyptians who survived as a culture this long - Ægyptus became by far the most wealthy Roman province and a center of learning.

It's also worth mentioning that to the east of Roman Empire were also two major polities - the Parthian and the Kushan empires. The former represented a constant threat to Rome's eastern boundaries before transitioning into the Sassanid Empire due to internal strife while Kushan would do it's own thing. There is also evidence of Tang [[China]] doing trade with the region and even being aware of Rome. Lastly, starting from the 30s AD - Christianity would see a significant spread from Palestine/Judea though it would not advance much farther east than Euphrates-Tigris border in a significant manner.

After the fragmentation of the Western Roman Empire, the eastern half decided that it really liked the color purple and rebranded itself as...the Roman Empire (Byzantium being an anachronistic modern name but we will roll with it for the sake of convenience). Byzantium continued to trudge along, occupying the western portion of the region and even expanding to reconquer a respectable amount of the former Roman Empire in the 500s though from there it would decline in favour of other powers.

=== Medieval History (500 - 1000) ===
[[image:Bazaar.png|thumb|300px|right|You want it? It's yours sadiq, so long as you have enough gold!]]
In the 5-6th centuries the Middle East was separated into small, weak states loomed over by two vast empires - the Sasanian Empire of the Persians and the Byzantine Empire in Anatolia plus the Levant. The Byzantines and Sasanians dicked with each other as a neat reflection of the rivalry between the Roman and the Persian empires. The Byzantine-Sasanian rivalry was also seen through their respective cultures and religions. The Byzantines were the champions of Hellenism and Christianity while the Sasanians thought themselves heroes of ancient Iranian traditions and of the traditional Persian religion - Zoroastrianism.

Meanwhile, down south we have the Arabian Peninsula which largely was and continued to be a dustbowl of little importance. The nomadic Bedouin tribes dominated the Arabian deserts where they worshiped idols and were organised into small clans based on mutual kinship. There were scant cities and agriculture in Arabia except for Mecca and Medina (then called Yathrib) which were important hubs for trade between Africa and Eurasia with most citizens there being merchants - this all will become important VERY SOON.

Right around 620-30s there arose a new ofshoot of abrahamic religions - Islam, and it would become big, really big. The details on Islam can be found on the respective [[Mythology|page]] or on the other wiki, but the religion blew up FAST and in some 40 years after it's inception managed to conquer whole of Arabia, Persia and vast swathes of Byzantine empire. An interesting thing about Islam is that it's prophet Mohammad was also a military and political leader and while Jesus or Buddha left us general ethical and metaphysical messages, Mohammad was around for a bit longer and proscribed social and political tenets to the faith which gave rise to the concept of a Caliphate - a theocratic social polity that was to be the way to run things. The conquest stopped in the 750s as the new Caliphate ran out of steam and the usual fracturing between successors began after Muhammad was unalived, but Islam had by this time profiled itself as the pre-eminent socio-political and religious force in the Middle East under the various dynasties of the Caliphates.

Shortly after Islam became the dominant religion in Arabia, the Muslim conquests expanded ''very'' rapidly east and west, spreading across all of North Africa and even into southern Europe, where they claimed the entirety of Spain for centuries and besieged large parts of Italy and France. The Byzantines and Franks successfully halted further expansion, but Caliphate still claimed enough territory to rival and eventually supersede the Byzantines. The wealth and power that came with it ensured that the formerly backwater state of Arabia would remain a powerhouse for years to come.

The Arabian islamic vanguard would continue to dominate the newly conquered and islamised lands for the next 300 years. When Muhammad introduced Islam it had a the effect of nearly erasing the other various Middle Eastern cultures, although it also inspired advances in architecture, science, technology, and the formation of a distinct way of life giving it overall a mixed heritage. Islam also created the need for spectacularly built mosques to flex on their Abrahamic siblings which also created a unique form of architecture. Meanwhile, missionaries and warriors worked to forcibly spread the religion from Arabia to North and Sudanic Africa, South and Southeast Asia, and the Mesopotamia area. This created a potent mix of cultures, especially in Africa. Lastly, the "People of the Book" (Christians, Jews, and Zoroastrians) were allowed to live although in second class conditions. This courtesy wasn't extended to members of polytheist religions or Buddhism, with those folks being given the option of convert or die. This period would be disrupted by two events - the arrival of Seljuks/Turks and the Crusades.

=== The Crusades (1000 - 1300) ===
In the 1000's, the Persians (now rebranded as the Seljuks) started some shit with the Byzantines that ultimately ended with them sacking Constantinople. Between the eastern armies crossing the Hellespont and the blocking of pilgrimages into Jerusalem was the last straw for Christendom, and war were declared, whereupon thousands of ambitious princes, mercenaries, fugitives, and fanatics swarmed to Venice, got on boats, and proceeded to invade Jerusalem, intending to take back the Holy Land for Christendom from the Mohammedans.

Individual crusades were met with varied success; the first Crusade successfully caught the Seljuks offguard and led to the creation of the so-called Crusader States, which lasted for about a hundred years. Then an Arab warlord named Saladin who broke off from the Seljuks successfully rallied the people of Egypt and Syria to reclaim Jerusalem; following this, several more crusades were waged by Europe to retake the city, none of which were successful. Several centuries of war ensued, and while the invaders from Europe won the occasional dramatic victory, they were eventually forced away, although it did end any aspirations of Islam forcing its culture upon Europe.

And as the stalwart defenders of Arabia stood on the coast of Palestine, watching the sun set on their retreating enemies, they suddenly heard behind them the cheers and horse hooves of a million GODDAMN MONGOLIANS.

[[image:Constantinople-from-the-entrance-thomas-allom.jpg|thumb|300px|right|Lots of ottomans there, also some Ottomans. ]]

=== Ottoman Period (1300 - 1918) ===
The Ilkhanate hordes of Tulai ultimately were held out of Arabia, although the Seljuks fell to them completely. But as has been established in many other articles featuring the Mongols, they weren't very good at REMAINING Mongol once they ran out of things to put arrows in; in this case they discovered Islam and for once decided that some outsider's religion was actually their kind of thing, probably having to do with a similar bloodthirstiness towards "the other". What succeeded them was the Ottoman empire. Over the next 500 years the Ottomans would largely reunite all of the former Roman territories east of Cisalpine Gaul, into a massive, mostly-Islamic caliphate held together by the Turks, Greeks, and Egyptians that formed its foundation.

The power that held the Ottomans together was the [[Space Marines|Janissaries]]. A Janissary was a Christian male from the Balkan areas of the Empire, forcibly conscripted in youth and forced to convert to Islam (including getting circumcised, since the conscriptees would have been mostly Orthodox), and then subjected to a rigorous military training that made them one of the most elite fighting forces of their time. They were forbidden to marry before forty, but were paid a lifetime salary. Although a brutal system, the resulting army was exceptionally professional, impartial to the empire's many tribes and territories, and utterly loyal to the Sultanate. The net effect of the Janissaries were that the individual animosities of various sects were dampened under Ottoman rule, in favor of the [[Tau|greater greed]] of the Sultanate.

For most of it's life, the Ottoman empire wasn't a terribly bad place to live if you were a Muslim. There was relative peace and prosperity due to flourishing trade as it stood at the crossroads between the Mediterranean and the sea routes to the far east. There was religious freedom as long as taxes were paid (except for non-monotheists) and all the wealth and luxuries of the world to be found in their markets. Interestingly, there were THREE separate, government sanctioned court systems, specifically one system for muslims, another for christians & jews, and the trade courts which handled civil and commercial disputes. The good times ended however when the Europeans discovered that it was slightly cheaper to sail all the fuck way around Africa than to pay Ottoman taxes.

During the Wars of Religion, the Ottomans were chiefly aligned against the Hapsburgs, Portugal, and Venice, fighting repeatedly over two hundred years for control of Austria and various Mediterranean islands, as well as control over the trade routes with India. They never made any serious overtures to cooperate with any of the European powers, being more of a constant opportunistic threat that kept the Holy Roman Empire from being able to focus on France or Great Britain. By the 19th century the decline of the empire was apparent, with the French making moves in Egypt and the Russians pushing on the Balkans and the Caucasus.

The Ottomans entered WW1 on the side of Germany essentially because their greatest existential threat was Russia. The war brought into full view the hopeless state of the Ottoman government and economy. They were ill prepared for war and ultimately their entry gave France and Britain a reason to move to openly annex territories the Ottomans had been holding in name only for decades.

[[image:ModernMiddleEast.jpg|thumb|300px|right|We've come a long way, eh sadiq?]]

=== Modern History (1918 - 20XX) ===
After Ottoman Empire was defeated and WW1 ended, French and Brits decided to screw their own Middle Eastern allies (as usual) and set up their own colonial regimes and puppet states, this was all but codified in the secret Sykes-Picot Agreement which created a bunch of artificial states that would all but guarantee that the region north of Saudi Arabia would remain a socio-political quagmire for many decades to come. Most notable ones are French Syria, British Palestine and Kuwait, as well as marionette Kingdom of Iraq. Saudi Arabia was also formed in that time period from old Arabian peninsula states, while Oman and Yemen became British puppets. This status quo remained all the way up to 1950s, even during WWII (well, if you don't count joint Allied intervention to Iran to prevent it from joining the Axis and get a new safe way for a land-lease, as well as short Iraqi campaign to weed out pro-Hitler Golden Square Party).

During the 1920s, 1930s, and 1940s, Syria and Egypt made moves towards independence since the Sick Man of Bosphorus was fast dying of anachronism and lack of key reforms. Although the Kingdom of Egypt was technically "neutral" during World War II, Cairo soon became a major military base for the British and the country was occupied. In Palestine, a potent shitstorm was brewing as conflicting forces of Arab nationalism and Zionism created a situation the British could neither resolve nor gtfo from. The rise of Germany's Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party, who the Grand Mufti of Jerusalem told the idea of the Holocaust to, had created a new urgency in the Zionist quest to immigrate to Palestine and create a Jewish state.

The modern Middle East was primarily shaped by three factors - decolonisation as Europe just gave up on the overcomplicated region to deal with issues at home, the founding of the state of Israel with all the "FUN" that entailed, and the growing importance of this stinky slimy substance called oil. A further layer of complexity was added by the new [[Cold War]] order which saw the world's two remaining superpowers - the USA/NATO and USSR/Warsaw Pact take a keen interest in the region due to various opportunities to dick with each other and the region being the largest (then) known source of civilization-driving oil, with the U.S.A. supporting Israel's right to exist, and the Soviets supporting Palestine's wish to drive the Jews into the sea, figuring they could finish off the Jews and have one less religion they'd have to finish off themselves if they could conquer the Middle East.

After the end of the [[Cold War]] the region experienced some notable changes. It allowed large numbers of Jews in USSR to gtfo from Russia and Ukraine into Israel - further bolstering the Jewish state. It also cut off the easiest source of weapons and loans from USSR meant to oppose pro-western regimes and lastly opened up the prospect of cheap oil from Russia, driving down the price of black gold and reducing the west's dependence on oil from the Arab states. In 1990 the Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein initiated an invasion of oil-rich arab state of Kuwait which lead to the USA having a permanent presence in the Persian Gulf and the Middle East by extension.

Fast forward some ten years and the greatest geopolitical fuckup since the fall of the USSR hit as USA saw the greatest attack on it's soil since the bloody Revolutionary War of the 1770s when a bunch of Al-Qaeda terrorists hijacked some planes and ramed them into the World Trade Center towers and the Pentagon, killing some 3000 Americans and wounding about 25000. Suffice it to say that the US was PISSED and soon invaded the country held to harbour the hoodlums - Afghanistan. The 9/11 attacks saw the USA focus it's geopolitical attention to the Middle East for the next 20-ish years as it dicked around in Iraq and Afghanistan. After the Arab Spring which saw an astounding wave of social upheavals from Morocco to Yemen - Syria also turned into a quagmire as the country found itself as a battleground between USA, resurgent Russia, Turkey, Israel and the infamous Islamic State/ISIS/ISIL.

As of the New 20s the situation in the Middle East seems to be returning to something resembling normality, which means a bunch of simmering conflicts between the usual suspects with a few flareups. This is mostly due to USA and Russia shifting their focus to the events going on in Eastern Europe. Meanwhile, China has been busy investing in the countries on the eastern fringes of the region (Pakistan, Uzbekistan and Iran to a lesser degree). The Arabian peninsula has seen some fighting too as Yemen imploded and became a proxy for Saudi Arabian and Iranian dick-slapping contest. The region is still in flux so stay tuned for further developments.

== Middle Eastern Culture ==

In general, Middle Eastern and Central Asian cultures in the region can be split into Semitic (Hebrew, Syriac, Arab, Berber, etc), Iranic (Persian, Farsi, Tajik, Baloch, etc), and Turkic (Azeri, Kazakh, Uzbek, etc) alongside related/historically related groups on the outer edges of the region (such as the Caucasus-inhabiting Armenians or Georgians and the Urdu-Hindi groups in [[India]] in the former case or the Phoenicians, Carthaginians, Kushans, Scythians, Huns, & Mongols in the latter case). The long history of the region means many of the cultures and ethnic groups have long histories of contact and intermingling with each other with both peaceful and violent interactions with each other like in the European Balkans.

== Middle Eastern Religion, Gods and Mythology ==

More than any other region, the Middle East is indelibly linked to the history of monotheism. Greek and Egyptian polytheistic systems coexisted alongside Persian Zoroastrianism and the Abrahamic Hebrew and many other minor sects. All of which were subjugated in the successive conquests of Alexander, and then Rome behind him.

The Romans acted as a great plow, tilling the region and leaving all the minor tribes and faiths fertile for proselytization. And the winner of this great disruption was Abrahamism, which stomped out most of its competitors (ie, the Gnostics). Christianity rose in lockstep with opposition to Roman rule, and then Islam in turn followed it as a response to the void as the empire fell, and finally eastern orthodoxy as the Catholic church began to schism.

By 1100 AD, the following could be said:

* Islam commanded the majority of the region, with the Shia branch being strongest in old Persia and the Sunni being dominant pretty much everywhere else. The Ibadi moderate spinoffs from the Khawarij zeaots who attacked both sides were restricted to Oman with small pockets in the Sahara.
* Orthodox Christians (in Coptic, Assyrian and Greek flavors) were entrenched as minorities in the old Greek colonies north of Arabia, in Assyrian region (yes, the nation is still there, but is very small now) and in Egypt.
* Zoroastrianism and Judaism were entrenched as minorities all over, with some concentration in their respective homelands of Persia and Jerusalem respectively.
* Similar concentrations of other minority religions like the Gnostic Mandaeans/Sabians, Samaritans, Druze, Yazidi, Baha’i, or Yarsan but those are either in extremely remote regions or are very guarded from outsiders.
* Polytheism in the Middle East, in all of its Egyptian, Hellenistic, Babylonian, and Indo-Aryan (yes, the same root pantheon that the Germanic, Hellenistic, and pre-Brahmic/Hindu pantheons came from but that’s a whole different story) flavors, was extinct.

== Middle Eastern Magic ==

The Middle East has its fair share of supernatural folklore such as the Djinn, ghouls, Shedu, Magi, etc. In addition, no thanks to Alexander the Great’s conquest of the region, alongside the long rule of the Diadochi, the Silk Road, and the Mongol invasions, meant that the Central Asian and Middle Eastern region served as a melting pot for ideas to be exchanged and and syncretized. One example being the conflation of Heracles from the Greco-Batrian settlers with the guardian bodhisattva, Vajrapāṇi, in Buddhism. On the other hand, once monotheism became dominant in the Middle East proper, such theological exchanges lessoned out with the focus being on philosophical, economic, and scientific exchanges instead.

==Middle East Analogs in Fantasy==

* [[Araby]] (duh), [[Badlands]] (in geographical sense) and [[Darklands]] (culturally) in [[Warhammer Fantasy Battle]].
* [[Tallarn Desert Raiders]] Regiment of [[Imperial Guard]] in [[Warhammer 40,000]].
* [[Al-Qadim]] campaign setting from [[DnD]]
* Near Harad from [[Lord of the Rings]]
* Prince of Persia series of vidya
* Shaqqislam factions in [[Infinity]]
* The Imperium (both the Empires ruled by the Corrino and Atreides Dynasties) in [[Dune]]

[[Category: History]]

Crossbow

2022-05-05T15:25:17Z

2607:FB90:6FF4:7A06:A450:282B:AF5A:16C8: /* Loading Mechanisms */

[[image:crossbow.jpg|thumb|300px|right|An Arbalest, a crossbow with a steel prod. Note the iron stirrup ring on the front, which the wielder could use to hold the weapon down with their foot when pulling back the draw string or mounting a gaffe lever to push the string back]]
{{topquote|'''I waste him with my crossbow!'''|Bob Herzog, ''[[Knights Of The Dinner Table]]''}}

The '''crossbow''' is named for its cross-shaped design, as it is basically a [[Bows and Arrows|bow]] (in technical terms, called a prod) perpendicularly mounted on a stock (alternatively called a tiller) that uses a locking trigger mechanism to hold and fire either a specialized arrow (called a bolt or quarrel) or a small spherical stone or lead bullet (the latter usually being used for hunting). Bolts are arrows with a shorter shaft, and could range from being lighter than an average arrow to several times heavier. It operates on the same principle as the traditional bow in that a tough bowstring is pulled back to store potential energy in the bow which upon release of the string transfers it to a projectile.

While historians are unsure who first made the crossbow, the earliest known crossbows were found in [[China]] around 700 to 500 BCE. During the Warring States period, crossbows became a preferred ranged weapon of Chinese armies due to ease of use for conscripts and the use of crossbows certainly aided in the rise of the Qin Dynasty and the beginning of Imperial China. The Greeks and Romans experimented with hand-held crossbows, but they never made extensive use of them, opting instead to make extensive use of ballistae (basically a crossbow scaled up to the size of an artillery piece that usually shoots stones instead of arrows). The Chinese of these times, on the other hand, had crossbows of all types and shapes, from one-handed repeating crossbows that were capable of launching dozens of (fairly weak, but often poisoned) arrows per minute to absurdly heavy ones designed to be drawn by one's legs and launched arrows the size of small javelins which were tipped with gunpowder-filled bombs, having a destructive power comparable to siege engines. (To put that second variation in perspective, they were rendered obsolete by ''multiple rocket launchers''. Yes, you read that right.) Crossbows began to see widespread use in Europe around 1000 CE, coinciding with the emergence of crossbows with steel bow sections, more commonly called arbalests.

The difference between a bow and a crossbow is that a bow's string needs to be pulled back and held by the user while aiming, while a crossbow has a mechanism that locks the bowstring in a readied state and only requires the user to operate the trigger to release the bolt upon sighting their target. The trigger mechanism evolved over time, as did aids for drawing the crossbow's string. The weight or size of the crossbow was the main determinant of the specific mechanisms it used, as light crossbows could be reset by hand, but heavier versions could end up needing levers or crank-operated windlasses to pull back and cock the string, and tended to use more robust release mechanisms due to the increased stress involved.

In fantasy settings, technologically advanced races like [[dwarves]] who don't (or only rarely) employ [[firearm]]s as their go-to ranged weapon typically make heavy use of crossbows, as do richer and more experienced mercenaries. It ''would'' be aesthetically fitting for a culture known for their technical expertise to use a more complex device than a bow, but in the case of dwarves, there may be a practical reason as well: A bow's power depends on its draw length, and having shorter arms, dwarves can't get as much power out of a bow. They also need a weapon that can be used more easily in confined spaces, which disqualifies longbows right away. What they do have going for them, though, is great strength, making a crossbow's high draw weight less of an issue for them.

In a lot of fantasy and medieval fiction it also seems to be the favored ranged weapon of bad guys. Examples include A Song Of Ice and Fire (where it seems to be the preferred weapon of [[brundlepenis|King Joffrey]]), The Lord of the Rings ([[Ork|Uruk-Hai]] marksmen use crossbows) and various D&D settings ([[Drow]] use
poisoned repeater crossbows). This owes to the fact that the crossbow requires less stamina, skill, and training to use effectively compared to a bow, and was regarded as a "unfair" or “dishonorable” weapon, as it allowed even the lowliest levied infantryman of the late middle-ages to bring down a fully armoured knight with relative ease. This became so widespread that the Pope even put out a ban on crossbows in 1136, as this questioned the whole ordeal of rule through gods grace. Needless to say, the ban wasn't very effective as it was too useful to be ditched while loopholes on use against heathens or heretics by hired mercenaries gave military commanders plausible deniability.

==Use in warfare==
A major advantage of crossbows over regular bows is that because they're fired using a mechanism instead of depending on human strength to hold the bow in a ready-to-fire position, user fatigue is not such a huge factor. Additionally, the heavier crossbows could generate more force than most humans thanks to the pulley systems used to cock the string and shoot heavier bolts, resulting in greater penetration of the target. Possibly its biggest advantage is that it was easier to train the use of a crossbow than bows since the weapon's operation is much less taxing and they could have sights.

As relatively easy as they are to use, however, the main drawback with crossbows is that they require a wider range of resources and skills to manufacture due to the mechanisms involved. Crossbows also generally have a lower rate of fire than bows. At best, a crossbowman can get off about eight shots a minute. More powerful arbalest crossbows that used windlasses could manage about three shots a minute, but could store more energy than a human could physically pull back with bare hands. For these reasons crossbows excel in a siege situation where the ranges are long and you can duck into cover easily while you're reloading. And since sieges tended to be drawn-out affairs anyway, reload time wasn't as necessary.

Another weakness they shared with early siege weapons and bows is that their energy storage mechanisms were vulnerable to decay (one reason why all three got supplanted by black powder weapons). At the Battle of Crecy (the infamous battle used by some [[That Guy|armchair]] warfare geeks to claim longbows trump crossbows alongside Agincourt - where France's missile troops had been badly deployed and couldn't fire effectively without injuring their own men due the French infantry being too packed in against the English fieldworks), the Genoese arbalests suffered from their prod strings being degraded by rain and being exhausted from rapid forced marching. While they could restring them with proper gear, they left it behind with the wagons due to the French being too impatient (whereas archers can restring their less rigid bows by hand) and were decimated due to being outranged and lacking pavise shields to shelter them from returning fire.

That being said, despite crossbows being much more expensive than bows, they were much less demanding on the
user's skill and physique. You can train as many crossbowmen as you have crossbows and replenish killed ones in just few months of training, while a bowman requires ''decades'' of training to be useful on a battlefield. So while a single bowman is much more effective than a single crossbowman, you can afford a half-dozen of crossbowmen for the cost of one bowman, and replace lost ones quickly as long as their weapon survives the battle. This is probably why they first took off in Warring States period China, where raising large conscript armies was the name of the game.

It should be noted that despite having much greater draw weights than contemporary bows (above 500 lbs in some cases), crossbows were not proportionally more powerful due to their very short draw length, translating into a much briefer energy transfer. More modern crossbows sometimes address this by using recurve bows, or even by using a bullpup configuration by turning the bow backwards and then pulling the string past the bow. Additionally, the reduced aerodynamic properties of crossbow bolts as compared to arrows mean that they very rapidly lose velocity after a relatively short distance, giving them great punch at short range but reduced effectiveness at longer ranges.

The fact that even relatively poorly trained men armed with crossbows could royally murder fully armored knights made the crossbow one of the most hated pre-firearm weapons in the Europe, even more than the infamous flamberge. At some point the Pope himself banned crossbows as an unholy weapon not to be used on fellow Christians, but even then they remained popular among mercenaries, rich lords, and Protestants due to their usefulness. Proud knights could accept deaths from elite long/composite bowmen who trained from childhood like they did, [[Butthurt|but not from some hastily drilled dirty peasant levies whose lord could afford a few dozens of crossbows]].

Finally, one of the most underrated uses of a crossbow was the psychological element. Those armies that weren't used to fighting against crossbowmen (and many who were) found themselves outranged, outgunned, outnumbered, and/or overpowered by crossbows. Sure, you could train longbowmen or mounted archers with potentially superior range or mobility, but if you had neither the right kind of wood, the horses, nor the time to train the archers from childhood, you risked being left behind in the dust during an arms race. Additionally, many medieval armours and early modern ones used by the rank-and-file men-at-arms were not capable of withstanding the sheer force that a crossbow shot could inflict, in comparison to many regular bows. So while your nobles and knights in custom fitted plate can arguably handle crossbows at range, their horses and foot levies in gambesons and brigandine with wooden shields can't risk being turned into pin cushions. This meant that the presence of crossbows on a battlefield could keep certain units away, due to them not being able to withstand that kind of shot. Indeed, we have medieval chronicles talking about the power of the crossbow:

<blockquote> ''This cross-bow is a bow of the barbarians quite unknown to the Greeks; and it is not stretched by the right hand pulling the string whilst the left pulls the bow in a contrary direction, but he who stretches this warlike and very far-shooting weapon must lie, one might say, almost on his back and apply both feet strongly against the semi-circle of the bow and with his two hands pull the string with all his might in the contrary direction. In the middle of the string is a socket, a cylindrical kind of cup fitted to the string itself, and about as long as an arrow of considerable size which reaches from the string to the very middle of the bow; and through this arrows of many sorts are shot out. The arrows used with this bow are very short in length, but very thick, fitted in front with a very heavy iron tip. And in discharging them the string shoots them out with enormous violence and force, and whatever these darts chance to hit, they do not fall back, but they pierce through a shield, then cut through a heavy iron corselet and wing their way through and out at the other side. So violent and ineluctable is the discharge of arrows of this kind. Such an arrow has been known to pierce a bronze statue, and if it hits the wall of a very large town, the point of the arrow either protrudes on the inner side or it buries itself in the middle of the wall and is lost. Such then is this monster of a crossbow, and verily a devilish invention. And the wretched man who is struck by it, dies without feeling anything, not even feeling the blow, however strong it be.''

Anna Comnena, ''The Alexiad'' </blockquote>

Crossbows are still occasionally used for military purposes; while a crossbow's bolts lack the stopping power of modern firearms, it fires quieter than any "silenced" firearm and it can also be used for niche purposes such as launching grappling hooks or detonating tripwire-activated mines, and its lower projectile speed means it's much less likely to set off any worn explosives. And even its comparatively lower ability to kill outright can be compensated for by taking a page out of the Indian Navy's book and use cyanide-tipped bolts. Alternatively, you can take the Rambo route and use bolts with explosive tips.

See Also: [[Katanas are Underpowered in d20#Crossbows are Underpowered in d20|Crossbows are Underpowered in d20]]

===Loading Mechanisms===
Because later crossbows were often too tough to simply pull back unaided, a number of devices were invented to allow the wielder rearm the crossbow via pulling back the string (in a process called spanning). The device used usually depended upon the draw weight of the bow, as heavier bows would require more advanced devices that required more time to pull back.

*'''Gloves and Stirrup''': Generally leather or some other material, good quality gloves (or some tough callouses) can save one some finger or palm bleeding from trying to pull it by the old fashioned way. Talking from experience, if one is to do it this way, put your entire upper back, legs, and arms into it, and then pull. The user placed both feet on either the bow's span on each side of the stock or in the stirrup ring attached to the crossbow head. Modern hunting crossbow crossbows often use this alongside a sliding cord of rope attached to free floating hooks and handles for hunters to pull in a pulley configuration. The most common loading mechanism in popular culture besides the cranequin and windlass. First appearance: 700 to 500's BCE. Mechanical advantage: 1 to 1. Maximum draw weight: 150-300 lbs.

*'''Stirrup and Belt Hook''': Most crossbows you see have a stirrup ring towards the front end for putting your foot through to hold it steady. Combined with a belt worn around the waist with a hook attached to it, the wielder could use their whole body, rather than just their arms, to arm the crossbow. Could also use a belt-attached pulley configuration to lessen the strength to draw. First appearance: 1200's. Mechanical advantage: about 2 or 1 to 1 (depending on whether using pulley configuration). Maximum draw weight: 320-450 lbs.

*'''Goat's Foot Lever''': This was a fairly simple detachable metal lever (colloquially known as gaffles) that gave the user more leverage when pulling back the string. Composed of a rod attached to two curved prongs and two hinged hooks, with a shape reminiscent of a goat's foot (hence the name). Mount on two metal lugs on the body's sides near the trigger, pull drawstring back in one motion via two hinged hooks, place folded lever back on belt via hooked handle or belt bag, load the bolt on the crossbow, and then shoot. This could arm the crossbow in a single smooth motion with the lever's curved prongs making the drawing force decrease as the spanning distance increases. Lighter versions can be spanned from horseback or while standing. The heavier ones would require you to put your foot in the stirrup while kneeling and bracing it against your shin as you pull the lever back. Another more advanced method of using it involved spinning the lever via its hinged hanging hook on your belt so it was upside down; mounting the crossbow to the prongs while flipping the trigger away from your body before resting the stirrup ring on your thigh; and then pulling the stock towards your body with both your arms. The technique permitted you to rearm without taking the lever off your belt but was cumbersome without practice. Very common for field portable bows and mounted crossbowmen. First appearance: Between 1300's to 1400's. Mechanical advantage: from 5 up to 30 to 1 (depending on how far the lever is pulled). Maximum draw weight: 550 lbs.

*'''Gaffe Lever''': Another form of gaffle tool derived from the goat's foot lever, the gaffe lever consisted of a two piece wooden lever held by a hinge and attached to the stirrup ring via metal hook. The user pushed down on the lever to push the drawstring into the trigger before removing it. More associated with nobles' hunting or shooting clubs than with military arsenals after gunpowder weapons appeared in the 1500's during the Renaissance. Still in use for sporting crossbows used in shooting competitions. First appearance: 1500's. Mechanical advantage: up to 30 to 1. Maximum draw weight: 400 lbs.

*'''Lever-Action''': Alternatively called "Self-Cocking" or "Self-Spanning" crossbows. These generally use hinged or sliding levers embedded into the crossbow body. The user unlocks a catch holding the hinge firm before folding open the half of the crossbow body to catch the drawstring on a latch before pulling it back to the trigger to arm the crossbow. Unlike the Asian equivalent in the Chu-Ko-Nu, these did not have a top magazine. This enabled users to aim after loading and pulling a trigger to shoot at the cost of having to load the bolt by hand. Besides the Scottish Border Reivers' latchet crossbow in the 1600's, two noted examples are Martin Löffelholz's armbrust design in the Codex Löffelholz and Da Vinci's Rapid-fire Crossbow in the Codex Atlanticus (the Balestra Veloce). While [[Awesome|impressive]], lever-action crossbows were never mainstream or famous due to being weaker than regular crossbows and due to being invented during the transition to gunpowder weapons in the 1500's Renaissance. First appearance: 1500's. Mechanical advantage: up to 25 to 1. Maximum draw weight: 220 - 300 lbs.

*'''Windlass''': Alternatively called the "Winch." Like the cranequin, this was a winding device, but it also came with a bulky pulley system that was mounted to the back of the crossbow. As a result, this was a tremendously powerful spanning system at the expense of needing a lot of time to arm. Along with the cranequin, this was one of the strongest crossbow loading methods. Contrary to popular culture, it was more often used on large, heavy crossbows for stationary battles like trench warfare or sieges like modern anti-tank guns. On the other hand, usage on open battlefields (behind pavise shields) for support artillery wasn't unheard of. First appearance: 1400’s. Mechanical advantage: ~160 to 1. Maximum draw weight: 1500 lbs+ (limited by time and bow strength).

*'''Cranequin''': Also called the "Rack and Pinion," this device used gears and a crank to wind up the bowstring, requiring multiple turns to pull it all the way back. The device slid onto lugs mounted on the stock or a taunt noose that gripped the stock. After being used, it was removed before loading and firing. Along with the windlass, this was one of the strongest crossbow loading methods. Contrary to popular culture, it was more often used on large, heavy crossbows for stationary battles like trench warfare or sieges like modern anti-tank guns. Having said that, usage on mounted crossbowmen with lighter crossbows and by footmen on open battlefields (behind pavise shields) for artillery support wasn't unheard of. Some modern hunting crossbows use a built-in winch version inside the stock with a foldable handle. First appearance: 1500's. Mechanical advantage: ~600 or 840 to 1. Maximum draw weight: 2000 lbs+.

==Types of Crossbows==
As a general note, crossbows are not ballistae, despite their visual similarity. Unlike crossbows which store energy in a set of arms which are bent back, ballistae store energy in twisted rope that has a wooden beam pushed into it which is then twisted back farther before firing to store energy. That said, some ballistae are discussed here until a proper "[[Siege Weapon|siege]]" article is consolidated.

*'''Gastraphetes''': An early Greek crossbow, the gastraphetes, or "belly bow", was cocked by resting the stomach on the bolt rest of the stock (which contained a sliding plank attached to the drawstring) and pushing down so that more energy can be stored then an archer could provide. The gastraphetes worked slightly different from the classic crossbow, in that its arrow slot was two-piece, with the sliding inner plank attached to the drawstring. Thus, rather than drawing back the crossbow, you readied it by slamming it into the ground until the trigger caught onto a latch. While impressive, it was restricted to hip fire, was fired with a button-like trigger, and was more of a man-portable siege weapon. A larger winch-spanned, tripod-mounted version, the oxybeles, was in use as a stationary artillery weapon before being replaced by the ballista (which used less fragile torsion rope rather than wooden prods).

* '''Polybolos''': Roughly meaning “multi-bolt thrower” in Greek and also known as a "repeating ballista," the Polybolos more often resembles a big crossbow than a ballista since the arms are fixed to the "stock" and don't twist around to fire it, though some versions do use arms wedged into tense bundles of twisted ropes like regular ballistae. The repeating ballista was fired by turning a wheel connected to a chain drive forward to cock it, then turning it the other way to load it again from a hopper on top of the stock and fire it. Assuming the operator is standing on the left side of the weapon, turning the wheel at the back of the crossbow counterclockwise pushed a sliding plank called the mensa (like that from the gastrophetes/oxybeles) forward. Once driven forward sufficiently, the latch claws at the back of the plank are triggered by a forward-placed lug into holding the drawstring in place. Then, turning the wheel clockwise drew the drawstring back as the plank slides backwards. At the same time, the motion of the plank drives a screw threaded pole (in contact with the plank by a block with a sliding nut) to rotate and load a bolt via a built-in notch on the rod) onto the body of the plank from the hopper on top. Pulling the wheel back to the very end will bump the latch against another lug that triggers the latch into releasing the drawstring and firing the bolt.

* '''Chinese "Nu" crossbow''': the Chinese version of the crossbow is noticeably different from the European crossbow which had a power stroke (drawing span) of about 7 inches, used a rolling nut latch held in place by a sear pushed by a long horizontal lever-like trigger mounted in the middle of the stock, and used prods (bow pieces) made from simple wood, composite, and later with metal. In contrast, the Chinese crossbow had a power stroke of about 21 inches, used a complicated two-piece vertical trigger at the very back of the stock (held together by tension and two pins at the very end of the stock) inside a pistol grip mount, and used wood or composite prods (often salvaged from recurve bows and constructed for conscripts to use ''en masse'' instead of drilling archery skills into them). Due to the longer power stroke, the bolts fired by the Chinese bows (usually with draw weights of 380 lbs) were launched with comparable performance to an average European windlass crossbow (with a draw weight of 1,500 lbs), assuming all other factors are equal. However, the Chinese crossbows themselves were rather large, cumbersome, and had to be reloaded with just stirrup rings, belt hooks, and/or gloves.

* '''Chu-Ko-Nu''': literally meaning “Zhuge’s Crossbow;" classical legend associated it with a Chinese strategist named Zhuge Liang (2nd Century AD). Alternatively known as the "Lian Nu" (repeating crossbow), it's also known as the "Chinese repeating crossbow" and is one of the more common types of specialty crossbows seen in fiction. In reality, it was invented during the Warring States Period (4th Century BC) in the State of Chu. The term "repeating crossbow" brings to mind some bastard combination of Assault rifle and crossbow, which it kinda is and is not. Without doubt, this thing could fire quickly; trained soldiers could loose ten bolts in fifteen seconds before having to reload. Chu-ko-nus were limited to hip fire, giving you almost [[ork]]-tier accuracy in exchange for an appreciable volume of fire. In layman's terms, it's the same as being restricted to hip-firing a pump action shotgun with the trigger permanently welded in the fire position. Additionally because you were pulling the string back one-handed, the bolts had a lot less penetration power than those of a regular crossbow. However, the bolts (which fell down onto the stock from a hopper mounted on top) were often poisoned to make up for that (as seen with the [[Drow]], who make use of the weapon extensively). Now, no matter how potent the poison on your bolt is, you're not gonna kill a man instantly with a scratch. On the battlefield, however, causing enough pain to make a person go into shock is as good as killing them outright, and poison can deliver pain in spades. The downside was you had next to no luck piercing good quality armor or even thick leather clothing. Historically there are two known designs for the repeating crossbow:
**The most common example is associated with the Chinese Ming Dynasty and their allies in Joseon Korea. Mechanically, it consisted of a stock, mounting the prods and the lever (which attaches to the moving box magazine), that the user secured on their hip with the bowstring sliding through a slit on each side of the sliding magazine/bolt rest. By pushing and then pulling the lever that secures the magazine to the stock, the user catches bowstring on a notch at the tail of the slits in the magazine’s back end while loading the bolt by gravity onto the bolt rest. Once the lever is fully compressed down, a sliding lug nut at the base of the magazine pushes the string up off the notches and propels the bolt out. However, because of the mechanism's design, the swinging action that pulled the string back also fired the bolt at the same time while the magazine is built on top of the bow. Due to that, you could not pull the string back and then aim.
**An earlier version from the State of Chu used a pumping lever (which had a handle loosely attached by chord) at the back and a pistol grip under the stock at the front where the prods are attached (held by the user in a manner similar to drawing a regular bow). On top of the stock was a fixed double magazine. Inside the stock, a sliding lever held a complicated trigger assembly composed of a metal sear and latch (the entire thing being shaped like a crab's claw arm). When pushed forward by the lever, the trigger locks after coming into contact with the taunt drawstring, with the lever's internal grooves and the sear holding it in place by friction and tension. Upon being almost fully pulled back, the double magazines drop two bolts onto two firing slits on either side of the trigger inside the crossbow. Upon the lever being fully pulled back, the metal sear comes into contact with a round bar holding the sliding lever in place and pushed the latch into releasing the drawstring to propel the loaded bolts. Compared to the Ming Dynasty & Joseon Dynasty's equivalent of an overhand lever action shotgun, the Chu State's version was more akin to a double shot pump-action shotgun. While somewhat more advanced than the Ming Dynasty's model, it was even weaker than the latter model while also using a complicated mechanism that couldn't be reproduced quickly for home defense or militias.

* '''Balestra Veloce/Löffelholz Armbrust crossbows''': First mentioned in Leonardo Da Vinci's Codex Atlanticus (1478 to 1519) and Martin Löffelholz's Codex Löffelholz (1505), both versions of the said lever-action design (which differ mainly by the arrangement of the trigger, latch, and sear mechanism) used a stock consisting of two wood and metal pieces on top of each other and hinged at the head of the crossbow. By unlocking a catch on the stock, the user can then swing forward the bottom half of the stock to extend a latch housed in a sliding plank (like that on the gastraphetes) forward to catch the drawstring. Once the drawstring is caught, the stock is then closed, locking the stock back together and bringing the latch (which is held firm by a spring-loaded sear) back into contact with the trigger on the lower half of the stock. The user can then load the bolt and pull the trigger to compress the sear, letting the rolling nut release the crossbow string. Whether the German or Italian version came first is unclear, though the rapid fire crossbow pages in the Codex Atlanticus are dated back to 1485. Either codex's blueprints can be found online via an online archive created by "The Visual Agency" media company or a pdf scan hosted by Krakow's Jagiellonian Library respectively. While reconstructed models have been made firing and reloading more rapidly than the mainstream and historical goat's foot lever crossbows (to say nothing being much quicker than hand-spanning or using cranequins), there’s no proof that the designs were ever constructed or used in historic European arsenals and was never mass produced due to possibly three reasons.
** First, the amount of expert craftsmanship to theoretically make it and the extensive training to use it was cost prohibitive for a relatively complicated and delicately structured weapon. This meant that it was likely more of a special luxury weapon that only wealthy people could afford rather than a mass-produced weapon for conscripts (the same reason why breech loading rifles existed since the 16th Century for noble hunters but didn't replace muzzle-loading smoothbore muskets in mass use for militaries until the 1840's by which time the mechanical, chemical and material technology had become far in advance of the Renaissance).
** Second, while quicker than spanning a crossbow with a goat's foot or gaffe lever, the draw weight for the Löffelholz Armbrust and Balestra Veloce is reduced to a mere average of 220-300 lbs respectively. Being half of the maximum draw weight of gaffe and goat's foot lever crossbows, this meant weaker penetration and shorter ranges. In other words, the lever action crossbow achieves a speed slightly faster than a gaffe/goat's foot lever bow but its draw weight has been reduced to the same level used by their Glove-and-Stirrup ancestors over half a millennia before their invention. This was likely to make the lever-action crossbow more easily rearmed without being too strong to either break the trigger lock or prevent you from operating the levers with your hands.
** Third, the introduction of gunpowder weapons alongside the volley fire from massed pike and shot square formations occurred during the Renaissance. Since these crossbows were developed right when gunpowder took over, this meant these lever-action crossbows already went obsolete the same way that heavy plate-armored cavalry and longbow archers did. Hence, this is why these crossbow types (as well as other related [[Combi-weapon|combination]] specimens preserved at Vienna's Kunsthistorisches and New York City’s Metropolitan museums) were usually hunting or city militia pieces rather than military arsenal pieces. Only in the mid-2010’s were historians and arbalists able to build working reconstructions. Funny enough though, the Uruk-Hai crossbows from The Lord of the Rings films, constructed by visual designer John Howe, actually used the mechanism (but upsized and made spikier) designed in the Codex Löffelholz (as shown by the Weta Workshop behind-the-scenes clips in the extended edition of ''The Two Towers'').

* '''Latch/Latchet Crossbow''': A light lever-action crossbow popular with Scottish border raiders called Reivers in the 1600's to 1700's, it worked via swinging an internal metal lever forward from the top to push a sliding latch forward to secure the drawstring after unlocking the spring-loaded catch. The user then pushed the lever backwards into the body to arm the bow before loading and shooting. Popular to the Scottish in the region for home defense and raiding as they were small, easy to use, easy to make, very quiet compared to the more finicky wheel-lock pistol, had a decent draw weight of about 250 lbs, and took only 10 seconds to reload. Their downside was their short range, very short power stroke, and being restricted to hip firing due to the trigger being a button on the top (a trade off to enable horsemen to fire one-handed from the saddle, though you could tuck it into your armpit and adjust to aiming over your thumb). Similarly designed crossbows have been found elsewhere but tended to be ballester crossbows used to fire bullets at game animals.

* '''Bed Crossbow''': A Chinese peculiarity, where multiple crossbows mounted on a static frame were combined to create an increased draw strength. A precursor to the compound crossbow.

*'''Bullet Crossbows''': Also referred to as pelletbows, stonebows, and ballesters, these were essentially the same as regular crossbows or similar to a slingshot in crossbow form, except they fired stone or lead shot instead of bolts. Usually used for recreational shooting and hunting small game animals.

*'''Crossbow pistol''': Small crossbows designed to be fired from one hand, with modernized versions commonly featuring a more modern pistol grip and trigger. While these did exist in the past, they were nowhere near as lethal as battlefield crossbows as the draw weights were far smaller.

*'''Arbalest''': After European armor improved with the development of steel plate, crossbows with wooden bow sections were just not cutting the mustard anymore. As such they began making that part out of steel. This meant that the bow could store more energy and launch a projectile farther and faster, significantly improving armor penetration but also greatly increasing the draw weight, often requiring various levers and cranking mechanisms to reset it.

*'''Slurbow:''' A crossbow with a cover over its barrel and a small gap used to draw its string back. Arguably influenced by the pistol, the slurbow was mostly used for firing unfeathered quarrels or darts.

*'''Sauterelle''': The last apparition of a crossbow-like weapon in a modern battlefield for frontline work. In WWI, soldiers had a problem: all the artillery that existed was big and unable to drop explosives accurately into a trench, especially at close range. And on the other hand, thrown hand grenades had the precision but too limited range. As an interim solution the French and British deployed a number of catapults that were designed to lob grenades. But the catapults had some draw backs in weight and portability, and the French were always just ITCHING to get out of the damn trenches and take the offensive. So while the mortars were still on the drawing board the French army invented the ''Arbalète sauterelle type A'' or just ''Sauterelle'' (grasshopper in French) to replace the Leach trench catapult and eventually the British started using it as well. In terms of design, it was basically a big crossbow built to lob grenades at around 150 yards distance. Worked decently enough but basically everybody knew it was an interim solution and later in the war they were replaced by small, two-man team infantry mortars that were just as easy to move around and use but had three or four time the range and a better rate of fire.

*'''Compound Crossbow''': the modern version of the crossbow, which is basically a modern compound bow (complete with pulleys, springs, and synthetic elastic materials)on a rifle stock. Many of these also come equipped with telescopic sights modified with cross-hairs that compensate for the effects of gravity, wind, elevation, and other factors that might affect a bolt's accuracy. They are primarily used for hunting, sport and (unusually) home defense in Britain since everything else has been banned. Also finds military special forces, espionage and law enforcement use by firing ziplines or grappling hooks, explosive, incendiary, poisoned or gas-releasing projectiles, or simply well made darts for a relatively silent kill. Most use conventional spanning mechanisms but some more recent exotic ones combine various technological concepts from past and present such as the Balestra Veloce's lever action system and the Chu-Ko-Nu’s top magazine, alongside modern optics, grips, and compound composite bow-pieces.

{{MedievalWeaponry}}

Crossbow

2022-05-05T15:23:52Z

2607:FB90:6FF4:7A06:A450:282B:AF5A:16C8: /* Loading Mechanisms */

[[image:crossbow.jpg|thumb|300px|right|An Arbalest, a crossbow with a steel prod. Note the iron stirrup ring on the front, which the wielder could use to hold the weapon down with their foot when pulling back the draw string or mounting a gaffe lever to push the string back]]
{{topquote|'''I waste him with my crossbow!'''|Bob Herzog, ''[[Knights Of The Dinner Table]]''}}

The '''crossbow''' is named for its cross-shaped design, as it is basically a [[Bows and Arrows|bow]] (in technical terms, called a prod) perpendicularly mounted on a stock (alternatively called a tiller) that uses a locking trigger mechanism to hold and fire either a specialized arrow (called a bolt or quarrel) or a small spherical stone or lead bullet (the latter usually being used for hunting). Bolts are arrows with a shorter shaft, and could range from being lighter than an average arrow to several times heavier. It operates on the same principle as the traditional bow in that a tough bowstring is pulled back to store potential energy in the bow which upon release of the string transfers it to a projectile.

While historians are unsure who first made the crossbow, the earliest known crossbows were found in [[China]] around 700 to 500 BCE. During the Warring States period, crossbows became a preferred ranged weapon of Chinese armies due to ease of use for conscripts and the use of crossbows certainly aided in the rise of the Qin Dynasty and the beginning of Imperial China. The Greeks and Romans experimented with hand-held crossbows, but they never made extensive use of them, opting instead to make extensive use of ballistae (basically a crossbow scaled up to the size of an artillery piece that usually shoots stones instead of arrows). The Chinese of these times, on the other hand, had crossbows of all types and shapes, from one-handed repeating crossbows that were capable of launching dozens of (fairly weak, but often poisoned) arrows per minute to absurdly heavy ones designed to be drawn by one's legs and launched arrows the size of small javelins which were tipped with gunpowder-filled bombs, having a destructive power comparable to siege engines. (To put that second variation in perspective, they were rendered obsolete by ''multiple rocket launchers''. Yes, you read that right.) Crossbows began to see widespread use in Europe around 1000 CE, coinciding with the emergence of crossbows with steel bow sections, more commonly called arbalests.

The difference between a bow and a crossbow is that a bow's string needs to be pulled back and held by the user while aiming, while a crossbow has a mechanism that locks the bowstring in a readied state and only requires the user to operate the trigger to release the bolt upon sighting their target. The trigger mechanism evolved over time, as did aids for drawing the crossbow's string. The weight or size of the crossbow was the main determinant of the specific mechanisms it used, as light crossbows could be reset by hand, but heavier versions could end up needing levers or crank-operated windlasses to pull back and cock the string, and tended to use more robust release mechanisms due to the increased stress involved.

In fantasy settings, technologically advanced races like [[dwarves]] who don't (or only rarely) employ [[firearm]]s as their go-to ranged weapon typically make heavy use of crossbows, as do richer and more experienced mercenaries. It ''would'' be aesthetically fitting for a culture known for their technical expertise to use a more complex device than a bow, but in the case of dwarves, there may be a practical reason as well: A bow's power depends on its draw length, and having shorter arms, dwarves can't get as much power out of a bow. They also need a weapon that can be used more easily in confined spaces, which disqualifies longbows right away. What they do have going for them, though, is great strength, making a crossbow's high draw weight less of an issue for them.

In a lot of fantasy and medieval fiction it also seems to be the favored ranged weapon of bad guys. Examples include A Song Of Ice and Fire (where it seems to be the preferred weapon of [[brundlepenis|King Joffrey]]), The Lord of the Rings ([[Ork|Uruk-Hai]] marksmen use crossbows) and various D&D settings ([[Drow]] use
poisoned repeater crossbows). This owes to the fact that the crossbow requires less stamina, skill, and training to use effectively compared to a bow, and was regarded as a "unfair" or “dishonorable” weapon, as it allowed even the lowliest levied infantryman of the late middle-ages to bring down a fully armoured knight with relative ease. This became so widespread that the Pope even put out a ban on crossbows in 1136, as this questioned the whole ordeal of rule through gods grace. Needless to say, the ban wasn't very effective as it was too useful to be ditched while loopholes on use against heathens or heretics by hired mercenaries gave military commanders plausible deniability.

==Use in warfare==
A major advantage of crossbows over regular bows is that because they're fired using a mechanism instead of depending on human strength to hold the bow in a ready-to-fire position, user fatigue is not such a huge factor. Additionally, the heavier crossbows could generate more force than most humans thanks to the pulley systems used to cock the string and shoot heavier bolts, resulting in greater penetration of the target. Possibly its biggest advantage is that it was easier to train the use of a crossbow than bows since the weapon's operation is much less taxing and they could have sights.

As relatively easy as they are to use, however, the main drawback with crossbows is that they require a wider range of resources and skills to manufacture due to the mechanisms involved. Crossbows also generally have a lower rate of fire than bows. At best, a crossbowman can get off about eight shots a minute. More powerful arbalest crossbows that used windlasses could manage about three shots a minute, but could store more energy than a human could physically pull back with bare hands. For these reasons crossbows excel in a siege situation where the ranges are long and you can duck into cover easily while you're reloading. And since sieges tended to be drawn-out affairs anyway, reload time wasn't as necessary.

Another weakness they shared with early siege weapons and bows is that their energy storage mechanisms were vulnerable to decay (one reason why all three got supplanted by black powder weapons). At the Battle of Crecy (the infamous battle used by some [[That Guy|armchair]] warfare geeks to claim longbows trump crossbows alongside Agincourt - where France's missile troops had been badly deployed and couldn't fire effectively without injuring their own men due the French infantry being too packed in against the English fieldworks), the Genoese arbalests suffered from their prod strings being degraded by rain and being exhausted from rapid forced marching. While they could restring them with proper gear, they left it behind with the wagons due to the French being too impatient (whereas archers can restring their less rigid bows by hand) and were decimated due to being outranged and lacking pavise shields to shelter them from returning fire.

That being said, despite crossbows being much more expensive than bows, they were much less demanding on the
user's skill and physique. You can train as many crossbowmen as you have crossbows and replenish killed ones in just few months of training, while a bowman requires ''decades'' of training to be useful on a battlefield. So while a single bowman is much more effective than a single crossbowman, you can afford a half-dozen of crossbowmen for the cost of one bowman, and replace lost ones quickly as long as their weapon survives the battle. This is probably why they first took off in Warring States period China, where raising large conscript armies was the name of the game.

It should be noted that despite having much greater draw weights than contemporary bows (above 500 lbs in some cases), crossbows were not proportionally more powerful due to their very short draw length, translating into a much briefer energy transfer. More modern crossbows sometimes address this by using recurve bows, or even by using a bullpup configuration by turning the bow backwards and then pulling the string past the bow. Additionally, the reduced aerodynamic properties of crossbow bolts as compared to arrows mean that they very rapidly lose velocity after a relatively short distance, giving them great punch at short range but reduced effectiveness at longer ranges.

The fact that even relatively poorly trained men armed with crossbows could royally murder fully armored knights made the crossbow one of the most hated pre-firearm weapons in the Europe, even more than the infamous flamberge. At some point the Pope himself banned crossbows as an unholy weapon not to be used on fellow Christians, but even then they remained popular among mercenaries, rich lords, and Protestants due to their usefulness. Proud knights could accept deaths from elite long/composite bowmen who trained from childhood like they did, [[Butthurt|but not from some hastily drilled dirty peasant levies whose lord could afford a few dozens of crossbows]].

Finally, one of the most underrated uses of a crossbow was the psychological element. Those armies that weren't used to fighting against crossbowmen (and many who were) found themselves outranged, outgunned, outnumbered, and/or overpowered by crossbows. Sure, you could train longbowmen or mounted archers with potentially superior range or mobility, but if you had neither the right kind of wood, the horses, nor the time to train the archers from childhood, you risked being left behind in the dust during an arms race. Additionally, many medieval armours and early modern ones used by the rank-and-file men-at-arms were not capable of withstanding the sheer force that a crossbow shot could inflict, in comparison to many regular bows. So while your nobles and knights in custom fitted plate can arguably handle crossbows at range, their horses and foot levies in gambesons and brigandine with wooden shields can't risk being turned into pin cushions. This meant that the presence of crossbows on a battlefield could keep certain units away, due to them not being able to withstand that kind of shot. Indeed, we have medieval chronicles talking about the power of the crossbow:

<blockquote> ''This cross-bow is a bow of the barbarians quite unknown to the Greeks; and it is not stretched by the right hand pulling the string whilst the left pulls the bow in a contrary direction, but he who stretches this warlike and very far-shooting weapon must lie, one might say, almost on his back and apply both feet strongly against the semi-circle of the bow and with his two hands pull the string with all his might in the contrary direction. In the middle of the string is a socket, a cylindrical kind of cup fitted to the string itself, and about as long as an arrow of considerable size which reaches from the string to the very middle of the bow; and through this arrows of many sorts are shot out. The arrows used with this bow are very short in length, but very thick, fitted in front with a very heavy iron tip. And in discharging them the string shoots them out with enormous violence and force, and whatever these darts chance to hit, they do not fall back, but they pierce through a shield, then cut through a heavy iron corselet and wing their way through and out at the other side. So violent and ineluctable is the discharge of arrows of this kind. Such an arrow has been known to pierce a bronze statue, and if it hits the wall of a very large town, the point of the arrow either protrudes on the inner side or it buries itself in the middle of the wall and is lost. Such then is this monster of a crossbow, and verily a devilish invention. And the wretched man who is struck by it, dies without feeling anything, not even feeling the blow, however strong it be.''

Anna Comnena, ''The Alexiad'' </blockquote>

Crossbows are still occasionally used for military purposes; while a crossbow's bolts lack the stopping power of modern firearms, it fires quieter than any "silenced" firearm and it can also be used for niche purposes such as launching grappling hooks or detonating tripwire-activated mines, and its lower projectile speed means it's much less likely to set off any worn explosives. And even its comparatively lower ability to kill outright can be compensated for by taking a page out of the Indian Navy's book and use cyanide-tipped bolts. Alternatively, you can take the Rambo route and use bolts with explosive tips.

See Also: [[Katanas are Underpowered in d20#Crossbows are Underpowered in d20|Crossbows are Underpowered in d20]]

===Loading Mechanisms===
Because later crossbows were often too tough to simply pull back unaided, a number of devices were invented to allow the wielder rearm the crossbow via pulling back the string (in a process called spanning). The device used usually depended upon the draw weight of the bow, as heavier bows would require more advanced devices that required more time to pull back.

*'''Gloves and Stirrup''': Generally leather or some other material, good quality gloves (or some tough callouses) can save one some finger or palm bleeding from trying to pull it by the old fashioned way. Talking from experience, if one is to do it this way, put your entire upper back, legs, and arms into it, and then pull. The user placed both feet on either the bow's span on each side of the stock or in the stirrup ring attached to the crossbow head. Modern hunting crossbow crossbows often use this alongside a sliding cord of rope attached to free floating hooks and handles. The most common loading mechanism in popular culture besides the cranequin and windlass. First appearance: 700 to 500's BCE. Mechanical advantage: 1 to 1. Maximum draw weight: 150-300 lbs.

*'''Stirrup and Belt Hook''': Most crossbows you see have a stirrup ring towards the front end for putting your foot through to hold it steady. Combined with a belt worn around the waist with a hook attached to it, the wielder could use their whole body, rather than just their arms, to arm the crossbow. Could also use a belt-attached pulley configuration to lessen the strength to draw. First appearance: 1200's. Mechanical advantage: about 2 or 1 to 1 (depending on whether using pulley configuration). Maximum draw weight: 320-450 lbs.

*'''Goat's Foot Lever''': This was a fairly simple detachable metal lever (colloquially known as gaffles) that gave the user more leverage when pulling back the string. Composed of a rod attached to two curved prongs and two hinged hooks, with a shape reminiscent of a goat's foot (hence the name). Mount on two metal lugs on the body's sides near the trigger, pull drawstring back in one motion via two hinged hooks, place folded lever back on belt via hooked handle or belt bag, load the bolt on the crossbow, and then shoot. This could arm the crossbow in a single smooth motion with the lever's curved prongs making the drawing force decrease as the spanning distance increases. Lighter versions can be spanned from horseback or while standing. The heavier ones would require you to put your foot in the stirrup while kneeling and bracing it against your shin as you pull the lever back. Another more advanced method of using it involved spinning the lever via its hinged hanging hook on your belt so it was upside down; mounting the crossbow to the prongs while flipping the trigger away from your body before resting the stirrup ring on your thigh; and then pulling the stock towards your body with both your arms. The technique permitted you to rearm without taking the lever off your belt but was cumbersome without practice. Very common for field portable bows and mounted crossbowmen. First appearance: Between 1300's to 1400's. Mechanical advantage: from 5 up to 30 to 1 (depending on how far the lever is pulled). Maximum draw weight: 550 lbs.

*'''Gaffe Lever''': Another form of gaffle tool derived from the goat's foot lever, the gaffe lever consisted of a two piece wooden lever held by a hinge and attached to the stirrup ring via metal hook. The user pushed down on the lever to push the drawstring into the trigger before removing it. More associated with nobles' hunting or shooting clubs than with military arsenals after gunpowder weapons appeared in the 1500's during the Renaissance. Still in use for sporting crossbows used in shooting competitions. First appearance: 1500's. Mechanical advantage: up to 30 to 1. Maximum draw weight: 400 lbs.

*'''Lever-Action''': Alternatively called "Self-Cocking" or "Self-Spanning" crossbows. These generally use hinged or sliding levers embedded into the crossbow body. The user unlocks a catch holding the hinge firm before folding open the half of the crossbow body to catch the drawstring on a latch before pulling it back to the trigger to arm the crossbow. Unlike the Asian equivalent in the Chu-Ko-Nu, these did not have a top magazine. This enabled users to aim after loading and pulling a trigger to shoot at the cost of having to load the bolt by hand. Besides the Scottish Border Reivers' latchet crossbow in the 1600's, two noted examples are Martin Löffelholz's armbrust design in the Codex Löffelholz and Da Vinci's Rapid-fire Crossbow in the Codex Atlanticus (the Balestra Veloce). While [[Awesome|impressive]], lever-action crossbows were never mainstream or famous due to being weaker than regular crossbows and due to being invented during the transition to gunpowder weapons in the 1500's Renaissance. First appearance: 1500's. Mechanical advantage: up to 25 to 1. Maximum draw weight: 220 - 300 lbs.

*'''Windlass''': Alternatively called the "Winch." Like the cranequin, this was a winding device, but it also came with a bulky pulley system that was mounted to the back of the crossbow. As a result, this was a tremendously powerful spanning system at the expense of needing a lot of time to arm. Along with the cranequin, this was one of the strongest crossbow loading methods. Contrary to popular culture, it was more often used on large, heavy crossbows for stationary battles like trench warfare or sieges like modern anti-tank guns. On the other hand, usage on open battlefields (behind pavise shields) for support artillery wasn't unheard of. First appearance: 1400’s. Mechanical advantage: ~160 to 1. Maximum draw weight: 1500 lbs+ (limited by time and bow strength).

*'''Cranequin''': Also called the "Rack and Pinion," this device used gears and a crank to wind up the bowstring, requiring multiple turns to pull it all the way back. The device slid onto lugs mounted on the stock or a taunt noose that gripped the stock. After being used, it was removed before loading and firing. Along with the windlass, this was one of the strongest crossbow loading methods. Contrary to popular culture, it was more often used on large, heavy crossbows for stationary battles like trench warfare or sieges like modern anti-tank guns. Having said that, usage on mounted crossbowmen with lighter crossbows and by footmen on open battlefields (behind pavise shields) for artillery support wasn't unheard of. Some modern hunting crossbows use a built-in winch version inside the stock with a foldable handle. First appearance: 1500's. Mechanical advantage: ~600 or 840 to 1. Maximum draw weight: 2000 lbs+.

==Types of Crossbows==
As a general note, crossbows are not ballistae, despite their visual similarity. Unlike crossbows which store energy in a set of arms which are bent back, ballistae store energy in twisted rope that has a wooden beam pushed into it which is then twisted back farther before firing to store energy. That said, some ballistae are discussed here until a proper "[[Siege Weapon|siege]]" article is consolidated.

*'''Gastraphetes''': An early Greek crossbow, the gastraphetes, or "belly bow", was cocked by resting the stomach on the bolt rest of the stock (which contained a sliding plank attached to the drawstring) and pushing down so that more energy can be stored then an archer could provide. The gastraphetes worked slightly different from the classic crossbow, in that its arrow slot was two-piece, with the sliding inner plank attached to the drawstring. Thus, rather than drawing back the crossbow, you readied it by slamming it into the ground until the trigger caught onto a latch. While impressive, it was restricted to hip fire, was fired with a button-like trigger, and was more of a man-portable siege weapon. A larger winch-spanned, tripod-mounted version, the oxybeles, was in use as a stationary artillery weapon before being replaced by the ballista (which used less fragile torsion rope rather than wooden prods).

* '''Polybolos''': Roughly meaning “multi-bolt thrower” in Greek and also known as a "repeating ballista," the Polybolos more often resembles a big crossbow than a ballista since the arms are fixed to the "stock" and don't twist around to fire it, though some versions do use arms wedged into tense bundles of twisted ropes like regular ballistae. The repeating ballista was fired by turning a wheel connected to a chain drive forward to cock it, then turning it the other way to load it again from a hopper on top of the stock and fire it. Assuming the operator is standing on the left side of the weapon, turning the wheel at the back of the crossbow counterclockwise pushed a sliding plank called the mensa (like that from the gastrophetes/oxybeles) forward. Once driven forward sufficiently, the latch claws at the back of the plank are triggered by a forward-placed lug into holding the drawstring in place. Then, turning the wheel clockwise drew the drawstring back as the plank slides backwards. At the same time, the motion of the plank drives a screw threaded pole (in contact with the plank by a block with a sliding nut) to rotate and load a bolt via a built-in notch on the rod) onto the body of the plank from the hopper on top. Pulling the wheel back to the very end will bump the latch against another lug that triggers the latch into releasing the drawstring and firing the bolt.

* '''Chinese "Nu" crossbow''': the Chinese version of the crossbow is noticeably different from the European crossbow which had a power stroke (drawing span) of about 7 inches, used a rolling nut latch held in place by a sear pushed by a long horizontal lever-like trigger mounted in the middle of the stock, and used prods (bow pieces) made from simple wood, composite, and later with metal. In contrast, the Chinese crossbow had a power stroke of about 21 inches, used a complicated two-piece vertical trigger at the very back of the stock (held together by tension and two pins at the very end of the stock) inside a pistol grip mount, and used wood or composite prods (often salvaged from recurve bows and constructed for conscripts to use ''en masse'' instead of drilling archery skills into them). Due to the longer power stroke, the bolts fired by the Chinese bows (usually with draw weights of 380 lbs) were launched with comparable performance to an average European windlass crossbow (with a draw weight of 1,500 lbs), assuming all other factors are equal. However, the Chinese crossbows themselves were rather large, cumbersome, and had to be reloaded with just stirrup rings, belt hooks, and/or gloves.

* '''Chu-Ko-Nu''': literally meaning “Zhuge’s Crossbow;" classical legend associated it with a Chinese strategist named Zhuge Liang (2nd Century AD). Alternatively known as the "Lian Nu" (repeating crossbow), it's also known as the "Chinese repeating crossbow" and is one of the more common types of specialty crossbows seen in fiction. In reality, it was invented during the Warring States Period (4th Century BC) in the State of Chu. The term "repeating crossbow" brings to mind some bastard combination of Assault rifle and crossbow, which it kinda is and is not. Without doubt, this thing could fire quickly; trained soldiers could loose ten bolts in fifteen seconds before having to reload. Chu-ko-nus were limited to hip fire, giving you almost [[ork]]-tier accuracy in exchange for an appreciable volume of fire. In layman's terms, it's the same as being restricted to hip-firing a pump action shotgun with the trigger permanently welded in the fire position. Additionally because you were pulling the string back one-handed, the bolts had a lot less penetration power than those of a regular crossbow. However, the bolts (which fell down onto the stock from a hopper mounted on top) were often poisoned to make up for that (as seen with the [[Drow]], who make use of the weapon extensively). Now, no matter how potent the poison on your bolt is, you're not gonna kill a man instantly with a scratch. On the battlefield, however, causing enough pain to make a person go into shock is as good as killing them outright, and poison can deliver pain in spades. The downside was you had next to no luck piercing good quality armor or even thick leather clothing. Historically there are two known designs for the repeating crossbow:
**The most common example is associated with the Chinese Ming Dynasty and their allies in Joseon Korea. Mechanically, it consisted of a stock, mounting the prods and the lever (which attaches to the moving box magazine), that the user secured on their hip with the bowstring sliding through a slit on each side of the sliding magazine/bolt rest. By pushing and then pulling the lever that secures the magazine to the stock, the user catches bowstring on a notch at the tail of the slits in the magazine’s back end while loading the bolt by gravity onto the bolt rest. Once the lever is fully compressed down, a sliding lug nut at the base of the magazine pushes the string up off the notches and propels the bolt out. However, because of the mechanism's design, the swinging action that pulled the string back also fired the bolt at the same time while the magazine is built on top of the bow. Due to that, you could not pull the string back and then aim.
**An earlier version from the State of Chu used a pumping lever (which had a handle loosely attached by chord) at the back and a pistol grip under the stock at the front where the prods are attached (held by the user in a manner similar to drawing a regular bow). On top of the stock was a fixed double magazine. Inside the stock, a sliding lever held a complicated trigger assembly composed of a metal sear and latch (the entire thing being shaped like a crab's claw arm). When pushed forward by the lever, the trigger locks after coming into contact with the taunt drawstring, with the lever's internal grooves and the sear holding it in place by friction and tension. Upon being almost fully pulled back, the double magazines drop two bolts onto two firing slits on either side of the trigger inside the crossbow. Upon the lever being fully pulled back, the metal sear comes into contact with a round bar holding the sliding lever in place and pushed the latch into releasing the drawstring to propel the loaded bolts. Compared to the Ming Dynasty & Joseon Dynasty's equivalent of an overhand lever action shotgun, the Chu State's version was more akin to a double shot pump-action shotgun. While somewhat more advanced than the Ming Dynasty's model, it was even weaker than the latter model while also using a complicated mechanism that couldn't be reproduced quickly for home defense or militias.

* '''Balestra Veloce/Löffelholz Armbrust crossbows''': First mentioned in Leonardo Da Vinci's Codex Atlanticus (1478 to 1519) and Martin Löffelholz's Codex Löffelholz (1505), both versions of the said lever-action design (which differ mainly by the arrangement of the trigger, latch, and sear mechanism) used a stock consisting of two wood and metal pieces on top of each other and hinged at the head of the crossbow. By unlocking a catch on the stock, the user can then swing forward the bottom half of the stock to extend a latch housed in a sliding plank (like that on the gastraphetes) forward to catch the drawstring. Once the drawstring is caught, the stock is then closed, locking the stock back together and bringing the latch (which is held firm by a spring-loaded sear) back into contact with the trigger on the lower half of the stock. The user can then load the bolt and pull the trigger to compress the sear, letting the rolling nut release the crossbow string. Whether the German or Italian version came first is unclear, though the rapid fire crossbow pages in the Codex Atlanticus are dated back to 1485. Either codex's blueprints can be found online via an online archive created by "The Visual Agency" media company or a pdf scan hosted by Krakow's Jagiellonian Library respectively. While reconstructed models have been made firing and reloading more rapidly than the mainstream and historical goat's foot lever crossbows (to say nothing being much quicker than hand-spanning or using cranequins), there’s no proof that the designs were ever constructed or used in historic European arsenals and was never mass produced due to possibly three reasons.
** First, the amount of expert craftsmanship to theoretically make it and the extensive training to use it was cost prohibitive for a relatively complicated and delicately structured weapon. This meant that it was likely more of a special luxury weapon that only wealthy people could afford rather than a mass-produced weapon for conscripts (the same reason why breech loading rifles existed since the 16th Century for noble hunters but didn't replace muzzle-loading smoothbore muskets in mass use for militaries until the 1840's by which time the mechanical, chemical and material technology had become far in advance of the Renaissance).
** Second, while quicker than spanning a crossbow with a goat's foot or gaffe lever, the draw weight for the Löffelholz Armbrust and Balestra Veloce is reduced to a mere average of 220-300 lbs respectively. Being half of the maximum draw weight of gaffe and goat's foot lever crossbows, this meant weaker penetration and shorter ranges. In other words, the lever action crossbow achieves a speed slightly faster than a gaffe/goat's foot lever bow but its draw weight has been reduced to the same level used by their Glove-and-Stirrup ancestors over half a millennia before their invention. This was likely to make the lever-action crossbow more easily rearmed without being too strong to either break the trigger lock or prevent you from operating the levers with your hands.
** Third, the introduction of gunpowder weapons alongside the volley fire from massed pike and shot square formations occurred during the Renaissance. Since these crossbows were developed right when gunpowder took over, this meant these lever-action crossbows already went obsolete the same way that heavy plate-armored cavalry and longbow archers did. Hence, this is why these crossbow types (as well as other related [[Combi-weapon|combination]] specimens preserved at Vienna's Kunsthistorisches and New York City’s Metropolitan museums) were usually hunting or city militia pieces rather than military arsenal pieces. Only in the mid-2010’s were historians and arbalists able to build working reconstructions. Funny enough though, the Uruk-Hai crossbows from The Lord of the Rings films, constructed by visual designer John Howe, actually used the mechanism (but upsized and made spikier) designed in the Codex Löffelholz (as shown by the Weta Workshop behind-the-scenes clips in the extended edition of ''The Two Towers'').

* '''Latch/Latchet Crossbow''': A light lever-action crossbow popular with Scottish border raiders called Reivers in the 1600's to 1700's, it worked via swinging an internal metal lever forward from the top to push a sliding latch forward to secure the drawstring after unlocking the spring-loaded catch. The user then pushed the lever backwards into the body to arm the bow before loading and shooting. Popular to the Scottish in the region for home defense and raiding as they were small, easy to use, easy to make, very quiet compared to the more finicky wheel-lock pistol, had a decent draw weight of about 250 lbs, and took only 10 seconds to reload. Their downside was their short range, very short power stroke, and being restricted to hip firing due to the trigger being a button on the top (a trade off to enable horsemen to fire one-handed from the saddle, though you could tuck it into your armpit and adjust to aiming over your thumb). Similarly designed crossbows have been found elsewhere but tended to be ballester crossbows used to fire bullets at game animals.

* '''Bed Crossbow''': A Chinese peculiarity, where multiple crossbows mounted on a static frame were combined to create an increased draw strength. A precursor to the compound crossbow.

*'''Bullet Crossbows''': Also referred to as pelletbows, stonebows, and ballesters, these were essentially the same as regular crossbows or similar to a slingshot in crossbow form, except they fired stone or lead shot instead of bolts. Usually used for recreational shooting and hunting small game animals.

*'''Crossbow pistol''': Small crossbows designed to be fired from one hand, with modernized versions commonly featuring a more modern pistol grip and trigger. While these did exist in the past, they were nowhere near as lethal as battlefield crossbows as the draw weights were far smaller.

*'''Arbalest''': After European armor improved with the development of steel plate, crossbows with wooden bow sections were just not cutting the mustard anymore. As such they began making that part out of steel. This meant that the bow could store more energy and launch a projectile farther and faster, significantly improving armor penetration but also greatly increasing the draw weight, often requiring various levers and cranking mechanisms to reset it.

*'''Slurbow:''' A crossbow with a cover over its barrel and a small gap used to draw its string back. Arguably influenced by the pistol, the slurbow was mostly used for firing unfeathered quarrels or darts.

*'''Sauterelle''': The last apparition of a crossbow-like weapon in a modern battlefield for frontline work. In WWI, soldiers had a problem: all the artillery that existed was big and unable to drop explosives accurately into a trench, especially at close range. And on the other hand, thrown hand grenades had the precision but too limited range. As an interim solution the French and British deployed a number of catapults that were designed to lob grenades. But the catapults had some draw backs in weight and portability, and the French were always just ITCHING to get out of the damn trenches and take the offensive. So while the mortars were still on the drawing board the French army invented the ''Arbalète sauterelle type A'' or just ''Sauterelle'' (grasshopper in French) to replace the Leach trench catapult and eventually the British started using it as well. In terms of design, it was basically a big crossbow built to lob grenades at around 150 yards distance. Worked decently enough but basically everybody knew it was an interim solution and later in the war they were replaced by small, two-man team infantry mortars that were just as easy to move around and use but had three or four time the range and a better rate of fire.

*'''Compound Crossbow''': the modern version of the crossbow, which is basically a modern compound bow (complete with pulleys, springs, and synthetic elastic materials)on a rifle stock. Many of these also come equipped with telescopic sights modified with cross-hairs that compensate for the effects of gravity, wind, elevation, and other factors that might affect a bolt's accuracy. They are primarily used for hunting, sport and (unusually) home defense in Britain since everything else has been banned. Also finds military special forces, espionage and law enforcement use by firing ziplines or grappling hooks, explosive, incendiary, poisoned or gas-releasing projectiles, or simply well made darts for a relatively silent kill. Most use conventional spanning mechanisms but some more recent exotic ones combine various technological concepts from past and present such as the Balestra Veloce's lever action system and the Chu-Ko-Nu’s top magazine, alongside modern optics, grips, and compound composite bow-pieces.

{{MedievalWeaponry}}

Crossbow

2022-05-05T15:20:54Z

2607:FB90:6FF4:7A06:A450:282B:AF5A:16C8: /* Loading Mechanisms */

[[image:crossbow.jpg|thumb|300px|right|An Arbalest, a crossbow with a steel prod. Note the iron stirrup ring on the front, which the wielder could use to hold the weapon down with their foot when pulling back the draw string or mounting a gaffe lever to push the string back]]
{{topquote|'''I waste him with my crossbow!'''|Bob Herzog, ''[[Knights Of The Dinner Table]]''}}

The '''crossbow''' is named for its cross-shaped design, as it is basically a [[Bows and Arrows|bow]] (in technical terms, called a prod) perpendicularly mounted on a stock (alternatively called a tiller) that uses a locking trigger mechanism to hold and fire either a specialized arrow (called a bolt or quarrel) or a small spherical stone or lead bullet (the latter usually being used for hunting). Bolts are arrows with a shorter shaft, and could range from being lighter than an average arrow to several times heavier. It operates on the same principle as the traditional bow in that a tough bowstring is pulled back to store potential energy in the bow which upon release of the string transfers it to a projectile.

While historians are unsure who first made the crossbow, the earliest known crossbows were found in [[China]] around 700 to 500 BCE. During the Warring States period, crossbows became a preferred ranged weapon of Chinese armies due to ease of use for conscripts and the use of crossbows certainly aided in the rise of the Qin Dynasty and the beginning of Imperial China. The Greeks and Romans experimented with hand-held crossbows, but they never made extensive use of them, opting instead to make extensive use of ballistae (basically a crossbow scaled up to the size of an artillery piece that usually shoots stones instead of arrows). The Chinese of these times, on the other hand, had crossbows of all types and shapes, from one-handed repeating crossbows that were capable of launching dozens of (fairly weak, but often poisoned) arrows per minute to absurdly heavy ones designed to be drawn by one's legs and launched arrows the size of small javelins which were tipped with gunpowder-filled bombs, having a destructive power comparable to siege engines. (To put that second variation in perspective, they were rendered obsolete by ''multiple rocket launchers''. Yes, you read that right.) Crossbows began to see widespread use in Europe around 1000 CE, coinciding with the emergence of crossbows with steel bow sections, more commonly called arbalests.

The difference between a bow and a crossbow is that a bow's string needs to be pulled back and held by the user while aiming, while a crossbow has a mechanism that locks the bowstring in a readied state and only requires the user to operate the trigger to release the bolt upon sighting their target. The trigger mechanism evolved over time, as did aids for drawing the crossbow's string. The weight or size of the crossbow was the main determinant of the specific mechanisms it used, as light crossbows could be reset by hand, but heavier versions could end up needing levers or crank-operated windlasses to pull back and cock the string, and tended to use more robust release mechanisms due to the increased stress involved.

In fantasy settings, technologically advanced races like [[dwarves]] who don't (or only rarely) employ [[firearm]]s as their go-to ranged weapon typically make heavy use of crossbows, as do richer and more experienced mercenaries. It ''would'' be aesthetically fitting for a culture known for their technical expertise to use a more complex device than a bow, but in the case of dwarves, there may be a practical reason as well: A bow's power depends on its draw length, and having shorter arms, dwarves can't get as much power out of a bow. They also need a weapon that can be used more easily in confined spaces, which disqualifies longbows right away. What they do have going for them, though, is great strength, making a crossbow's high draw weight less of an issue for them.

In a lot of fantasy and medieval fiction it also seems to be the favored ranged weapon of bad guys. Examples include A Song Of Ice and Fire (where it seems to be the preferred weapon of [[brundlepenis|King Joffrey]]), The Lord of the Rings ([[Ork|Uruk-Hai]] marksmen use crossbows) and various D&D settings ([[Drow]] use
poisoned repeater crossbows). This owes to the fact that the crossbow requires less stamina, skill, and training to use effectively compared to a bow, and was regarded as a "unfair" or “dishonorable” weapon, as it allowed even the lowliest levied infantryman of the late middle-ages to bring down a fully armoured knight with relative ease. This became so widespread that the Pope even put out a ban on crossbows in 1136, as this questioned the whole ordeal of rule through gods grace. Needless to say, the ban wasn't very effective as it was too useful to be ditched while loopholes on use against heathens or heretics by hired mercenaries gave military commanders plausible deniability.

==Use in warfare==
A major advantage of crossbows over regular bows is that because they're fired using a mechanism instead of depending on human strength to hold the bow in a ready-to-fire position, user fatigue is not such a huge factor. Additionally, the heavier crossbows could generate more force than most humans thanks to the pulley systems used to cock the string and shoot heavier bolts, resulting in greater penetration of the target. Possibly its biggest advantage is that it was easier to train the use of a crossbow than bows since the weapon's operation is much less taxing and they could have sights.

As relatively easy as they are to use, however, the main drawback with crossbows is that they require a wider range of resources and skills to manufacture due to the mechanisms involved. Crossbows also generally have a lower rate of fire than bows. At best, a crossbowman can get off about eight shots a minute. More powerful arbalest crossbows that used windlasses could manage about three shots a minute, but could store more energy than a human could physically pull back with bare hands. For these reasons crossbows excel in a siege situation where the ranges are long and you can duck into cover easily while you're reloading. And since sieges tended to be drawn-out affairs anyway, reload time wasn't as necessary.

Another weakness they shared with early siege weapons and bows is that their energy storage mechanisms were vulnerable to decay (one reason why all three got supplanted by black powder weapons). At the Battle of Crecy (the infamous battle used by some [[That Guy|armchair]] warfare geeks to claim longbows trump crossbows alongside Agincourt - where France's missile troops had been badly deployed and couldn't fire effectively without injuring their own men due the French infantry being too packed in against the English fieldworks), the Genoese arbalests suffered from their prod strings being degraded by rain and being exhausted from rapid forced marching. While they could restring them with proper gear, they left it behind with the wagons due to the French being too impatient (whereas archers can restring their less rigid bows by hand) and were decimated due to being outranged and lacking pavise shields to shelter them from returning fire.

That being said, despite crossbows being much more expensive than bows, they were much less demanding on the
user's skill and physique. You can train as many crossbowmen as you have crossbows and replenish killed ones in just few months of training, while a bowman requires ''decades'' of training to be useful on a battlefield. So while a single bowman is much more effective than a single crossbowman, you can afford a half-dozen of crossbowmen for the cost of one bowman, and replace lost ones quickly as long as their weapon survives the battle. This is probably why they first took off in Warring States period China, where raising large conscript armies was the name of the game.

It should be noted that despite having much greater draw weights than contemporary bows (above 500 lbs in some cases), crossbows were not proportionally more powerful due to their very short draw length, translating into a much briefer energy transfer. More modern crossbows sometimes address this by using recurve bows, or even by using a bullpup configuration by turning the bow backwards and then pulling the string past the bow. Additionally, the reduced aerodynamic properties of crossbow bolts as compared to arrows mean that they very rapidly lose velocity after a relatively short distance, giving them great punch at short range but reduced effectiveness at longer ranges.

The fact that even relatively poorly trained men armed with crossbows could royally murder fully armored knights made the crossbow one of the most hated pre-firearm weapons in the Europe, even more than the infamous flamberge. At some point the Pope himself banned crossbows as an unholy weapon not to be used on fellow Christians, but even then they remained popular among mercenaries, rich lords, and Protestants due to their usefulness. Proud knights could accept deaths from elite long/composite bowmen who trained from childhood like they did, [[Butthurt|but not from some hastily drilled dirty peasant levies whose lord could afford a few dozens of crossbows]].

Finally, one of the most underrated uses of a crossbow was the psychological element. Those armies that weren't used to fighting against crossbowmen (and many who were) found themselves outranged, outgunned, outnumbered, and/or overpowered by crossbows. Sure, you could train longbowmen or mounted archers with potentially superior range or mobility, but if you had neither the right kind of wood, the horses, nor the time to train the archers from childhood, you risked being left behind in the dust during an arms race. Additionally, many medieval armours and early modern ones used by the rank-and-file men-at-arms were not capable of withstanding the sheer force that a crossbow shot could inflict, in comparison to many regular bows. So while your nobles and knights in custom fitted plate can arguably handle crossbows at range, their horses and foot levies in gambesons and brigandine with wooden shields can't risk being turned into pin cushions. This meant that the presence of crossbows on a battlefield could keep certain units away, due to them not being able to withstand that kind of shot. Indeed, we have medieval chronicles talking about the power of the crossbow:

<blockquote> ''This cross-bow is a bow of the barbarians quite unknown to the Greeks; and it is not stretched by the right hand pulling the string whilst the left pulls the bow in a contrary direction, but he who stretches this warlike and very far-shooting weapon must lie, one might say, almost on his back and apply both feet strongly against the semi-circle of the bow and with his two hands pull the string with all his might in the contrary direction. In the middle of the string is a socket, a cylindrical kind of cup fitted to the string itself, and about as long as an arrow of considerable size which reaches from the string to the very middle of the bow; and through this arrows of many sorts are shot out. The arrows used with this bow are very short in length, but very thick, fitted in front with a very heavy iron tip. And in discharging them the string shoots them out with enormous violence and force, and whatever these darts chance to hit, they do not fall back, but they pierce through a shield, then cut through a heavy iron corselet and wing their way through and out at the other side. So violent and ineluctable is the discharge of arrows of this kind. Such an arrow has been known to pierce a bronze statue, and if it hits the wall of a very large town, the point of the arrow either protrudes on the inner side or it buries itself in the middle of the wall and is lost. Such then is this monster of a crossbow, and verily a devilish invention. And the wretched man who is struck by it, dies without feeling anything, not even feeling the blow, however strong it be.''

Anna Comnena, ''The Alexiad'' </blockquote>

Crossbows are still occasionally used for military purposes; while a crossbow's bolts lack the stopping power of modern firearms, it fires quieter than any "silenced" firearm and it can also be used for niche purposes such as launching grappling hooks or detonating tripwire-activated mines, and its lower projectile speed means it's much less likely to set off any worn explosives. And even its comparatively lower ability to kill outright can be compensated for by taking a page out of the Indian Navy's book and use cyanide-tipped bolts. Alternatively, you can take the Rambo route and use bolts with explosive tips.

See Also: [[Katanas are Underpowered in d20#Crossbows are Underpowered in d20|Crossbows are Underpowered in d20]]

===Loading Mechanisms===
Because later crossbows were often too tough to simply pull back unaided, a number of devices were invented to allow the wielder rearm the crossbow via pulling back the string (in a process called spanning). The device used usually depended upon the draw weight of the bow, as heavier bows would require more advanced devices that required more time to pull back.

*'''Gloves and Stirrup''': Generally leather or some other material, good quality gloves (or some tough callouses) can save one some finger or palm bleeding from trying to pull it by the old fashioned way. Talking from experience, if one is to do it this way, put your entire upper back, legs, and arms into it, and then pull. The user placed both feet on either the bow's span on each side of the stock or in the stirrup ring attached to the crossbow head. The most common loading mechanism in popular culture besides the cranequin and windlass. First appearance: 700 to 500's BCE. Mechanical advantage: 1 to 1. Maximum draw weight: 150-300 lbs.

*'''Stirrup and Belt Hook''': Most crossbows you see have a stirrup ring towards the front end for putting your foot through to hold it steady. Combined with a belt worn around the waist with a hook attached to it, the wielder could use their whole body, rather than just their arms, to arm the crossbow. Could also use a belt-attached pulley configuration to lessen the strength to draw. First appearance: 1200's. Mechanical advantage: about 2 or 1 to 1 (depending on whether using pulley configuration). Maximum draw weight: 320-450 lbs.

*'''Goat's Foot Lever''': This was a fairly simple detachable metal lever (colloquially known as gaffles) that gave the user more leverage when pulling back the string. Composed of a rod attached to two curved prongs and two hinged hooks, with a shape reminiscent of a goat's foot (hence the name). Mount on two metal lugs on the body's sides near the trigger, pull drawstring back in one motion via two hinged hooks, place folded lever back on belt via hooked handle or belt bag, load the bolt on the crossbow, and then shoot. This could arm the crossbow in a single smooth motion with the lever's curved prongs making the drawing force decrease as the spanning distance increases. Lighter versions can be spanned from horseback or while standing. The heavier ones would require you to put your foot in the stirrup while kneeling and bracing it against your shin as you pull the lever back. Another more advanced method of using it involved spinning the lever via its hinged hanging hook on your belt so it was upside down; mounting the crossbow to the prongs while flipping the trigger away from your body before resting the stirrup ring on your thigh; and then pulling the stock towards your body with both your arms. The technique permitted you to rearm without taking the lever off your belt but was cumbersome without practice. Very common for field portable bows and mounted crossbowmen. First appearance: Between 1300's to 1400's. Mechanical advantage: from 5 up to 30 to 1 (depending on how far the lever is pulled). Maximum draw weight: 550 lbs.

*'''Gaffe Lever''': Another form of gaffle tool derived from the goat's foot lever, the gaffe lever consisted of a two piece wooden lever held by a hinge and attached to the stirrup ring via metal hook. The user pushed down on the lever to push the drawstring into the trigger before removing it. More associated with nobles' hunting or shooting clubs than with military arsenals after gunpowder weapons appeared in the 1500's during the Renaissance. First appearance: 1500's. Mechanical advantage: up to 30 to 1. Maximum draw weight: 400 lbs.

*'''Lever-Action''': Alternatively called "Self-Cocking" or "Self-Spanning" crossbows. These generally use hinged or sliding levers embedded into the crossbow body. The user unlocks a catch holding the hinge firm before folding open the half of the crossbow body to catch the drawstring on a latch before pulling it back to the trigger to arm the crossbow. Unlike the Asian equivalent in the Chu-Ko-Nu, these did not have a top magazine. This enabled users to aim after loading and pulling a trigger to shoot at the cost of having to load the bolt by hand. Besides the Scottish Border Reivers' latchet crossbow in the 1600's, two noted examples are Martin Löffelholz's armbrust design in the Codex Löffelholz and Da Vinci's Rapid-fire Crossbow in the Codex Atlanticus (the Balestra Veloce). While [[Awesome|impressive]], lever-action crossbows were never mainstream or famous due to being weaker than regular crossbows and due to being invented during the transition to gunpowder weapons in the 1500's Renaissance. First appearance: 1500's. Mechanical advantage: up to 25 to 1. Maximum draw weight: 220 - 300 lbs.

*'''Windlass''': Alternatively called the "Winch." Like the cranequin, this was a winding device, but it also came with a bulky pulley system that was mounted to the back of the crossbow. As a result, this was a tremendously powerful spanning system at the expense of needing a lot of time to arm. Along with the cranequin, this was one of the strongest crossbow loading methods. Contrary to popular culture, it was more often used on large, heavy crossbows for stationary battles like trench warfare or sieges like modern anti-tank guns. On the other hand, usage on open battlefields (behind pavise shields) for support artillery wasn't unheard of. First appearance: 1400’s. Mechanical advantage: ~160 to 1. Maximum draw weight: 1500 lbs+ (limited by time and bow strength).

*'''Cranequin''': Also called the "Rack and Pinion," this device used gears and a crank to wind up the bowstring, requiring multiple turns to pull it all the way back. The device slid onto lugs mounted on the stock or a taunt noose that gripped the stock. After being used, it was removed before loading and firing. Along with the windlass, this was one of the strongest crossbow loading methods. Contrary to popular culture, it was more often used on large, heavy crossbows for stationary battles like trench warfare or sieges like modern anti-tank guns. Having said that, usage on mounted crossbowmen with lighter crossbows and by footmen on open battlefields (behind pavise shields) for artillery support wasn't unheard of. First appearance: 1500's. Mechanical advantage: ~600 or 840 to 1. Maximum draw weight: 2000 lbs+.

==Types of Crossbows==
As a general note, crossbows are not ballistae, despite their visual similarity. Unlike crossbows which store energy in a set of arms which are bent back, ballistae store energy in twisted rope that has a wooden beam pushed into it which is then twisted back farther before firing to store energy. That said, some ballistae are discussed here until a proper "[[Siege Weapon|siege]]" article is consolidated.

*'''Gastraphetes''': An early Greek crossbow, the gastraphetes, or "belly bow", was cocked by resting the stomach on the bolt rest of the stock (which contained a sliding plank attached to the drawstring) and pushing down so that more energy can be stored then an archer could provide. The gastraphetes worked slightly different from the classic crossbow, in that its arrow slot was two-piece, with the sliding inner plank attached to the drawstring. Thus, rather than drawing back the crossbow, you readied it by slamming it into the ground until the trigger caught onto a latch. While impressive, it was restricted to hip fire, was fired with a button-like trigger, and was more of a man-portable siege weapon. A larger winch-spanned, tripod-mounted version, the oxybeles, was in use as a stationary artillery weapon before being replaced by the ballista (which used less fragile torsion rope rather than wooden prods).

* '''Polybolos''': Roughly meaning “multi-bolt thrower” in Greek and also known as a "repeating ballista," the Polybolos more often resembles a big crossbow than a ballista since the arms are fixed to the "stock" and don't twist around to fire it, though some versions do use arms wedged into tense bundles of twisted ropes like regular ballistae. The repeating ballista was fired by turning a wheel connected to a chain drive forward to cock it, then turning it the other way to load it again from a hopper on top of the stock and fire it. Assuming the operator is standing on the left side of the weapon, turning the wheel at the back of the crossbow counterclockwise pushed a sliding plank called the mensa (like that from the gastrophetes/oxybeles) forward. Once driven forward sufficiently, the latch claws at the back of the plank are triggered by a forward-placed lug into holding the drawstring in place. Then, turning the wheel clockwise drew the drawstring back as the plank slides backwards. At the same time, the motion of the plank drives a screw threaded pole (in contact with the plank by a block with a sliding nut) to rotate and load a bolt via a built-in notch on the rod) onto the body of the plank from the hopper on top. Pulling the wheel back to the very end will bump the latch against another lug that triggers the latch into releasing the drawstring and firing the bolt.

* '''Chinese "Nu" crossbow''': the Chinese version of the crossbow is noticeably different from the European crossbow which had a power stroke (drawing span) of about 7 inches, used a rolling nut latch held in place by a sear pushed by a long horizontal lever-like trigger mounted in the middle of the stock, and used prods (bow pieces) made from simple wood, composite, and later with metal. In contrast, the Chinese crossbow had a power stroke of about 21 inches, used a complicated two-piece vertical trigger at the very back of the stock (held together by tension and two pins at the very end of the stock) inside a pistol grip mount, and used wood or composite prods (often salvaged from recurve bows and constructed for conscripts to use ''en masse'' instead of drilling archery skills into them). Due to the longer power stroke, the bolts fired by the Chinese bows (usually with draw weights of 380 lbs) were launched with comparable performance to an average European windlass crossbow (with a draw weight of 1,500 lbs), assuming all other factors are equal. However, the Chinese crossbows themselves were rather large, cumbersome, and had to be reloaded with just stirrup rings, belt hooks, and/or gloves.

* '''Chu-Ko-Nu''': literally meaning “Zhuge’s Crossbow;" classical legend associated it with a Chinese strategist named Zhuge Liang (2nd Century AD). Alternatively known as the "Lian Nu" (repeating crossbow), it's also known as the "Chinese repeating crossbow" and is one of the more common types of specialty crossbows seen in fiction. In reality, it was invented during the Warring States Period (4th Century BC) in the State of Chu. The term "repeating crossbow" brings to mind some bastard combination of Assault rifle and crossbow, which it kinda is and is not. Without doubt, this thing could fire quickly; trained soldiers could loose ten bolts in fifteen seconds before having to reload. Chu-ko-nus were limited to hip fire, giving you almost [[ork]]-tier accuracy in exchange for an appreciable volume of fire. In layman's terms, it's the same as being restricted to hip-firing a pump action shotgun with the trigger permanently welded in the fire position. Additionally because you were pulling the string back one-handed, the bolts had a lot less penetration power than those of a regular crossbow. However, the bolts (which fell down onto the stock from a hopper mounted on top) were often poisoned to make up for that (as seen with the [[Drow]], who make use of the weapon extensively). Now, no matter how potent the poison on your bolt is, you're not gonna kill a man instantly with a scratch. On the battlefield, however, causing enough pain to make a person go into shock is as good as killing them outright, and poison can deliver pain in spades. The downside was you had next to no luck piercing good quality armor or even thick leather clothing. Historically there are two known designs for the repeating crossbow:
**The most common example is associated with the Chinese Ming Dynasty and their allies in Joseon Korea. Mechanically, it consisted of a stock, mounting the prods and the lever (which attaches to the moving box magazine), that the user secured on their hip with the bowstring sliding through a slit on each side of the sliding magazine/bolt rest. By pushing and then pulling the lever that secures the magazine to the stock, the user catches bowstring on a notch at the tail of the slits in the magazine’s back end while loading the bolt by gravity onto the bolt rest. Once the lever is fully compressed down, a sliding lug nut at the base of the magazine pushes the string up off the notches and propels the bolt out. However, because of the mechanism's design, the swinging action that pulled the string back also fired the bolt at the same time while the magazine is built on top of the bow. Due to that, you could not pull the string back and then aim.
**An earlier version from the State of Chu used a pumping lever (which had a handle loosely attached by chord) at the back and a pistol grip under the stock at the front where the prods are attached (held by the user in a manner similar to drawing a regular bow). On top of the stock was a fixed double magazine. Inside the stock, a sliding lever held a complicated trigger assembly composed of a metal sear and latch (the entire thing being shaped like a crab's claw arm). When pushed forward by the lever, the trigger locks after coming into contact with the taunt drawstring, with the lever's internal grooves and the sear holding it in place by friction and tension. Upon being almost fully pulled back, the double magazines drop two bolts onto two firing slits on either side of the trigger inside the crossbow. Upon the lever being fully pulled back, the metal sear comes into contact with a round bar holding the sliding lever in place and pushed the latch into releasing the drawstring to propel the loaded bolts. Compared to the Ming Dynasty & Joseon Dynasty's equivalent of an overhand lever action shotgun, the Chu State's version was more akin to a double shot pump-action shotgun. While somewhat more advanced than the Ming Dynasty's model, it was even weaker than the latter model while also using a complicated mechanism that couldn't be reproduced quickly for home defense or militias.

* '''Balestra Veloce/Löffelholz Armbrust crossbows''': First mentioned in Leonardo Da Vinci's Codex Atlanticus (1478 to 1519) and Martin Löffelholz's Codex Löffelholz (1505), both versions of the said lever-action design (which differ mainly by the arrangement of the trigger, latch, and sear mechanism) used a stock consisting of two wood and metal pieces on top of each other and hinged at the head of the crossbow. By unlocking a catch on the stock, the user can then swing forward the bottom half of the stock to extend a latch housed in a sliding plank (like that on the gastraphetes) forward to catch the drawstring. Once the drawstring is caught, the stock is then closed, locking the stock back together and bringing the latch (which is held firm by a spring-loaded sear) back into contact with the trigger on the lower half of the stock. The user can then load the bolt and pull the trigger to compress the sear, letting the rolling nut release the crossbow string. Whether the German or Italian version came first is unclear, though the rapid fire crossbow pages in the Codex Atlanticus are dated back to 1485. Either codex's blueprints can be found online via an online archive created by "The Visual Agency" media company or a pdf scan hosted by Krakow's Jagiellonian Library respectively. While reconstructed models have been made firing and reloading more rapidly than the mainstream and historical goat's foot lever crossbows (to say nothing being much quicker than hand-spanning or using cranequins), there’s no proof that the designs were ever constructed or used in historic European arsenals and was never mass produced due to possibly three reasons.
** First, the amount of expert craftsmanship to theoretically make it and the extensive training to use it was cost prohibitive for a relatively complicated and delicately structured weapon. This meant that it was likely more of a special luxury weapon that only wealthy people could afford rather than a mass-produced weapon for conscripts (the same reason why breech loading rifles existed since the 16th Century for noble hunters but didn't replace muzzle-loading smoothbore muskets in mass use for militaries until the 1840's by which time the mechanical, chemical and material technology had become far in advance of the Renaissance).
** Second, while quicker than spanning a crossbow with a goat's foot or gaffe lever, the draw weight for the Löffelholz Armbrust and Balestra Veloce is reduced to a mere average of 220-300 lbs respectively. Being half of the maximum draw weight of gaffe and goat's foot lever crossbows, this meant weaker penetration and shorter ranges. In other words, the lever action crossbow achieves a speed slightly faster than a gaffe/goat's foot lever bow but its draw weight has been reduced to the same level used by their Glove-and-Stirrup ancestors over half a millennia before their invention. This was likely to make the lever-action crossbow more easily rearmed without being too strong to either break the trigger lock or prevent you from operating the levers with your hands.
** Third, the introduction of gunpowder weapons alongside the volley fire from massed pike and shot square formations occurred during the Renaissance. Since these crossbows were developed right when gunpowder took over, this meant these lever-action crossbows already went obsolete the same way that heavy plate-armored cavalry and longbow archers did. Hence, this is why these crossbow types (as well as other related [[Combi-weapon|combination]] specimens preserved at Vienna's Kunsthistorisches and New York City’s Metropolitan museums) were usually hunting or city militia pieces rather than military arsenal pieces. Only in the mid-2010’s were historians and arbalists able to build working reconstructions. Funny enough though, the Uruk-Hai crossbows from The Lord of the Rings films, constructed by visual designer John Howe, actually used the mechanism (but upsized and made spikier) designed in the Codex Löffelholz (as shown by the Weta Workshop behind-the-scenes clips in the extended edition of ''The Two Towers'').

* '''Latch/Latchet Crossbow''': A light lever-action crossbow popular with Scottish border raiders called Reivers in the 1600's to 1700's, it worked via swinging an internal metal lever forward from the top to push a sliding latch forward to secure the drawstring after unlocking the spring-loaded catch. The user then pushed the lever backwards into the body to arm the bow before loading and shooting. Popular to the Scottish in the region for home defense and raiding as they were small, easy to use, easy to make, very quiet compared to the more finicky wheel-lock pistol, had a decent draw weight of about 250 lbs, and took only 10 seconds to reload. Their downside was their short range, very short power stroke, and being restricted to hip firing due to the trigger being a button on the top (a trade off to enable horsemen to fire one-handed from the saddle, though you could tuck it into your armpit and adjust to aiming over your thumb). Similarly designed crossbows have been found elsewhere but tended to be ballester crossbows used to fire bullets at game animals.

* '''Bed Crossbow''': A Chinese peculiarity, where multiple crossbows mounted on a static frame were combined to create an increased draw strength. A precursor to the compound crossbow.

*'''Bullet Crossbows''': Also referred to as pelletbows, stonebows, and ballesters, these were essentially the same as regular crossbows or similar to a slingshot in crossbow form, except they fired stone or lead shot instead of bolts. Usually used for recreational shooting and hunting small game animals.

*'''Crossbow pistol''': Small crossbows designed to be fired from one hand, with modernized versions commonly featuring a more modern pistol grip and trigger. While these did exist in the past, they were nowhere near as lethal as battlefield crossbows as the draw weights were far smaller.

*'''Arbalest''': After European armor improved with the development of steel plate, crossbows with wooden bow sections were just not cutting the mustard anymore. As such they began making that part out of steel. This meant that the bow could store more energy and launch a projectile farther and faster, significantly improving armor penetration but also greatly increasing the draw weight, often requiring various levers and cranking mechanisms to reset it.

*'''Slurbow:''' A crossbow with a cover over its barrel and a small gap used to draw its string back. Arguably influenced by the pistol, the slurbow was mostly used for firing unfeathered quarrels or darts.

*'''Sauterelle''': The last apparition of a crossbow-like weapon in a modern battlefield for frontline work. In WWI, soldiers had a problem: all the artillery that existed was big and unable to drop explosives accurately into a trench, especially at close range. And on the other hand, thrown hand grenades had the precision but too limited range. As an interim solution the French and British deployed a number of catapults that were designed to lob grenades. But the catapults had some draw backs in weight and portability, and the French were always just ITCHING to get out of the damn trenches and take the offensive. So while the mortars were still on the drawing board the French army invented the ''Arbalète sauterelle type A'' or just ''Sauterelle'' (grasshopper in French) to replace the Leach trench catapult and eventually the British started using it as well. In terms of design, it was basically a big crossbow built to lob grenades at around 150 yards distance. Worked decently enough but basically everybody knew it was an interim solution and later in the war they were replaced by small, two-man team infantry mortars that were just as easy to move around and use but had three or four time the range and a better rate of fire.

*'''Compound Crossbow''': the modern version of the crossbow, which is basically a modern compound bow (complete with pulleys, springs, and synthetic elastic materials)on a rifle stock. Many of these also come equipped with telescopic sights modified with cross-hairs that compensate for the effects of gravity, wind, elevation, and other factors that might affect a bolt's accuracy. They are primarily used for hunting, sport and (unusually) home defense in Britain since everything else has been banned. Also finds military special forces, espionage and law enforcement use by firing ziplines or grappling hooks, explosive, incendiary, poisoned or gas-releasing projectiles, or simply well made darts for a relatively silent kill. Most use conventional spanning mechanisms but some more recent exotic ones combine various technological concepts from past and present such as the Balestra Veloce's lever action system and the Chu-Ko-Nu’s top magazine, alongside modern optics, grips, and compound composite bow-pieces.

{{MedievalWeaponry}}