Arafellin bells?

[Yuven]

Why do arafellin people use bells when they are a warrior nation?

Bells would be highly unpractical in a fight/war and warfare in general because they make noise for your enemies to hear.

 

thanks in advance for any useful responses. :)

[ksbsnowowl]

My guess is that the bells get silenced somehow (perhaps even cut off) when going into a stealth situation.

[Yuven]

that still don't seem very practical if you live by the blightborder :S

[CUBAREY]

 

that still don't seem very practical if you live by the blightborder :S

 

Actually you may be looking at it in reverse. A requirement that everybody wears bells kins of insures that a Fade is not going to sneak up on you. Thus wearing bells might be an addition of the Borderland rule that noone can wear a hood inside a town. 

[Chel Vanin]

A requirement that everybody wears bells kins of insures that a Fade is not going to sneak up on you.

 

How so? Obviously the Fade isn't going to wear bells and thus you wouldn't hear it, making it much easier to sneak up on you.

[ksbsnowowl]

that still don't seem very practical if you live by the blightborder :S

People are slave to fashion.

 

Note in New Spring when Lan notes that the officials of Chachin (or whatever Borderland city they entered) allowed women to wear sheer veils that covered their eyes.  The rule against being in town with your head/face covered should not be bent to accommodate the fashion of the day, yet it was.

[CUBAREY]

How so? Obviously the Fade isn't going to wear bells and thus you wouldn't hear it, making it much easier to sneak up on you.

 

Anyone spotting someone not wearing bells would assume the "person" was a Fade or up to something nefarious and yell for the guard. It's not a perfect system, but might offer that bit of extra protection that may save the day.

[Thor]

it could serve as distraction to your enemy.  I'm not sure if fades could be distracted though.

[CUBAREY]

it could serve as distraction to your enemy.  I'm not sure if fades could be distracted though.

 

Trollics that are much less bright and much more numerous might very well be distracted for long enough to run away or kill them.

[Mercer]

I think you're looking into this waaaaaay too deeply.

 

Perhaps they might -- get this -- take them off when they have to go on patrols along the blight? Whoa, insane!  ::)

 

Seriously. It's a local custom/fashion. We haven't ever had a POV or description of an Arafellin along the blightborder (the only place they would need them, because seriously, anywhere else and the horse they're riding or the army they're with makes ridiculously amounts of noise anyway), so we can safely assume they simply take the things off when they need to, or muffle them. I'm really not sure why that was hard to reason out.

[ROB_88]

Anyone spotting someone not wearing bells would assume the "person" was a Fade or up to something nefarious and yell for the guard. It's not a perfect system, but might offer that bit of extra protection that may save the day.

 

or they could just be pushing the guard on some unsuspecting foreigner.

"he's not wearing bells, get him"

[motblades]

Many warrior nations have used objects like bells that create noise with movement to aid in the rythym and counterpoint of sword play.  The noise of the bells can also create a focus point for mediation in sword play.

 

Of course, it could just be a local fashion too.  :)

[Yllek]

If they have a reputation for being bad-ass warriers, the bells could be a mechanism to strike fear into the hearts of those they fight. 

 

Or not. 

[ROB_88]

in bigger battles drummers and flutes have been used alot in history so the bells are vompletely fine in major battles, althoguh not so much for smaller covert ops. but how many of those do you ever see in the Blight?!

[FallingBullets]

"yeah, we be sneekin up on dem trolux, from behind" :D