HAWKING/FALCONRY 1
awking and/or Falconry is the sport of training birds
of prey, mainly falcons, hawks, eagles and buzzards
to hunt small game. Very gifted falconers have
even trained cormorants to catch fish and rarely
owls to hunt at night.
Although the sport is mainly practiced by nobility, freemen also
participate, the prerequisite being that one has a place to keep the
bird and the land to fly it on.
The origins of falconry on Lythia are not know though most
speculate it originated in the east near Dalkesh and Beshakan.
FALCONRY SKILL
The Falconry Skill is a specialty of Animalcraft. (See Skills 2 &
Skills 14)
FALCONRY AS AN OCCUPATION
Most Lords employ Falconers to look after their mews due to the
amount of attention the birds require. Falconer and Austringer are
unguilded occupations, but usually still serve an informal
apprenticeship of about 6 years with an experienced falconer. Pay
varies greatly with the wealth and generosity of the employer but is
usually equivalent to that of an animal trainer, about 72d per month.
Some falconers are self-employed and make a living by selling
trained and untrained birds and eggs. This can be quite lucrative as
rare birds and eggs can command great prices on the open market.
BIRD TRAINING
Training a falconry bird is rather time consuming and during Example: The falconers
the training of a new bird the falconer may not improve or develop animalcraft SB is 13 and he is
any other skills. Divide 360 by the falconer's Animalcraft SB plus the attempting to train a Goshawk
with a training time modifier of -5.
appropriate training time modifiers and round up, this is the number
of days in a training period. 360 / (13-5) = 45 days
At the end of the training period the Falconer makes a training
roll, Animalcraft ML + Bird Training Modifier, and consults the 45 days in the Goshawks training
following table for results. period.
CS - Add +10 to any of the birds hunting skills.
MS - The training is a success.
MF - The bird must be trained for another training period.
CF - The bird either becomes ill or flies off (GM's discretion)
If the bird is trained successfully, create its hunting skills and add
it to the mews record sheet.
HârnMaster
HAWKING/FALCONRY 2
THE HUNT
Hunts can be formal affairs with all the splendor of a
tournament, or simply a few friends and their birds out for a day of Very often nobles often give
rare bird eggs as gifts and tithes.
enjoyment. This can last for an afternoon or go on for days A rare fertile Sorkin Eagle egg can
traveling about the countryside in search of game. The hunting demand as much as 400d each .
party will consist of the hunters (mounted or on foot), and a
compliment of dogs or beaters used to flush the game. One
character (PC or NPC) is designated the hunt master and makes all of
the rolls for locating the game.
The birds are typically trained to hunt a specific type of
quarry prior to taking them out into the field. The training lure is
made from the hide or wings of the quarry, or if a larger quarry is to
be hunted, the bird is allowed to attack an example of the animal
that has been made lame.
First the hunting party travels to a location that the hunt
master feels is a good location to find the appropriate game. The
hunt master rolls his Tracking to determine if the proper quarry has
been located. If the roll is successful, the hunt may commence
normally. If another type of quarry is found instead, it may be
hunted but at -10 to the birds hunting roll. The bird must have
skills in the appropriate area to hunt the alternate animal.
After the game is located, the beaters or dogs will begin to
try to flush the animals. Again, the character leading the hunt rolls
his tracking and then consults the following table. Rolls are made
every turn until all animals in the encounter group are flushed.
CF - 1 of the animals eludes the hunting party*
MF- No animals are flushed
MS- 1 or 2 animals are flushed*
CS - More than 2 animals are flushed*
* The number of animals encountered should be predetermined.
The roll is modified by the number of dogs (+5 per dog) or
beaters (+2 per beater) up to 5, beyond 5 no additional modifiers
apply.
HârnMaster
HAWKING/FALCONRY 3
Hunting with Hawks
Hawks are known as "Birds of the Fist" because they are
launched from their masters hand when their quarry is flushed. To
release the birds, the hunters proceed in the order of initiative as in
combat, and roll against Falconry consulting the following table.
CF- Bad release, -10 to the hawk's hunting roll and the hawk
chooses its target last*
MF- Poor or delayed release, the hawk chooses its target last*
MS- Good release, the hawk chooses its target normally
CS - Excellent release, the hawk chooses its target first*
If 2 or more hawks' results are targets last or target first, the hunter's
initiative determines the order of attack.
Next, targets must be chosen for each bird that has been
released. Proceeding in the order indicated by the above table and
the hunter's initiative, the hunter now chooses the target that his
hawk will attack and makes the attack roll vs. the hawks appropriate
hunting skill (i.e., Small Bird Skill for a Pigeon) and check the results.
CF - Bird misses its prey and flies off or is injured by the prey
MF - Bird misses its prey and returns to the hunter's hand
MS - Bird clutches and holds its prey
CS - Bird kills its prey or the prey is killed by the fall
If the hawk succeeds, it will wait with the fallen prey until
the hunter or a dog collects it. If the hawk fails, the quarry may be
targeted by another hunter's hawk. If no quarry remains for a
released hawk, the hunter rolls for attack normally and any result
but a CF indicates that the bird safely returns to the hunters hand.
Hunting with Falcons
True falcons, sometimes called "Birds of the Tower" or "Birds
of the Lure," do not hunt from their master's fist as hawks do. These
birds are released before the flushing of the game commences, climb
to a great height, and circle above their masters head, this is called
waiting -on. When the game is flushed, they dive down upon it
with great speed and attack.
Prior to making the flushing roll the hunters that wish to fly
their birds release them. The flushing roll is then made normally
and the birds choose their targets in the order of best hunting skill
too lowest (use the hunting skill appropriate for the target animal),
ties are decided with a die roll.
HârnMaster
HAWKING/FALCONRY 4
The birds then roll to attack vs. their appropriate hunting skill in
the same order as target selection was made in using the following
table.
CF - Bird misses its prey and flies off or is injured by the prey
MF - Bird misses its prey and regains altitude to continue
waiting-on
MS - Bird clutches and holds its prey
CS - Bird kills its prey or the prey is killed by the fall
If the falcon succeeds, it will wait with the fallen prey until
the hunter or a dog collects it. If the falcon fails, the quarry may be
targeted by another hunter's falcon. If no quarry remains for a
released falcon, the hunter rolls for attack normally and any result
but a CF indicates that the bird continues waiting -on. Birds that
are still waiting-on after the quarry is exhausted must be recalled
with a lure. This requires a successful falconry roll. A CF
indicating that the bird has flown off, and an MF meaning the bird
continues to wait-on and another attempt must be made.
LOST BIRDS
When a bird flies off it is considered lost. The bird may be
searched for by the hunters if a successful Tracking roll is made
immediately following the birds departure. It will take 1d6 hours to
find. If darkness comes before the time is expended the bird will not
be able to be recovered. If the bird is found, a successful Falconry roll
must be made to retrieve it, if it fails then the bird will fly off again.
Birds that cannot be recovered, by chance may be found by
peasants or the like and be returned, but this is up to GM's discretion.
HârnMaster
HAWKING/FALCONRY 5
BIRD TYPES
The tables below depict the birds typically used for Hawking
and Falconry on Lythia. They can be used to generate an existing
trained bird or a newly trained one. Type is the type of bird. The
first set of 3 numbers generated is the birds hunting skills for types of
birds classed by size. The second set of 2 numbers is for ground
animals. Note that some birds have no skill for some types of
animals. This indicates that the bird is not suitable for hunting
animals in this classification. Finally the TM column is the birds
training modifier and TT is the training time modifier.
Falcons (and Eagles)
Type Sm. Bird/ Med. Bird/Lg. Bird Sm. Ani./Lg.Ani. TM TT
Genin 30+2d6 / - / - - / - +20 +1
Gyrfalcon 60+2d10 / 40+2d10 / 4d6 4d6 / - -10 -2 Quarry Size Examples:
Lanner 40+2d10/ 30+2d6 / 4d6* 30+2d6 / 4d6* +10 - Small Birds - Quail, Partridge
Peregrin 60+2d10/ 30+2d6 / 4d6 4d6 / - - -1 Medium Birds - Duck, Grouse,
Pheasant
Saker 60+2d10 / 40+2d10 / 4d6 4d6 / - +10 - Large Birds - Goose, Swan
Sorkin Small Animals - Rabbit, Squirrel,
Eagle 60+2d10 / 60+2d10 / 4d6 30+2d6 / 4d6 -25 -10 Hare
Large Animals - Fox, Vlasta
* skill that applies only when this falcon is used to attack its quarry in pairs or
threes..
Hawks
Type Sm. Bird/ Med. Bird/Lg. Bird Sm. Ani./Lg.Ani. TM TT
Goshawk 60+2d10 / 40+2d10 / 4d6 40+2d6 / 4d6 -20 -5
Sparrowhawk 40+2d10/ 30+2d6 / - 4d6 / - -25 -5
HârnMaster
HAWKING/FALCONRY 2
GLOSSARY OF FALCONRY TERMS
AUSTRINGER One who keeps and hunts Accipiters. MANTEL To stand over a kill or food with wings lowered and slightly
(Goshawk, Sparrowhawk) spread out to hide the food. Young hawks do this in the nest
and they tend to continue to do so if they are handled too young.
BATE To attempt to fly off the fist or perch when held or tied, The habit is lost in the wild after leaving the nest, and passage
in fright or at the lureor quarry. or haggard hawks rarely mantle.
BELLS Small bells, usually of brass, silver or gold. MEW To moult.
BEWITS Short thin straps of leather by which the bells are fastened MEWS The building or room where hawks are kept. Also the place in
to the legs. Must be put above the jesses but below the ring. which they are put away to moult.
BIND To grab and hold onto quarry in the air with the feet. MUTES The droppings or excrement of hawks.
BLOCK A truncated cone or cylindrical piece of wood, having a ring NAYS An eyas or eyassa nestling hawk taken from the eyrie or nest.
in it for the attachment of the leash, and placed out of doors,
for the hawk to 'weather'. RANGLE Small stones given to hawks to aid digestion. A hawk may pick
them up and eat them of its own accord if they are put within
BOWPERCH A semicircular perch with a padded top, used for hawks out reach.
of doors.
RING PERCH A bowperch. The hawk sits on top of a padded circle, which in
BRACES Leather straps used to open or close the hood. turn is attached to a stand.
BRAIL A narrow strip of thin soft leather, with a long slit in it, RING UP To climb spirally in flight.
used for tying one wing of a restless hawk that bates too much.
SEALING The act of sewing a hawks eyes shut to aid in manning or
CADGE A portable perch used to carry a number of birds hooded transporting untrained hawks.
It is slung from the shoulders by straps and is rectangular,
the cadger walking in the centre. STRIKE THE HOOD To pull the braces open of a hood, so as to be in
readiness to take off hood the moment the hawk is to be flown,
CADGER The person who carries the cadge. or quarry is sighted.
CASTING The pellet of feathers or fur ejected after completing the process UNSTRIKE To loosen the braces so that the hood may be easily pulled off.
of digestion.
CLUTCH To seize the quarry in the feet. WAIT ON To circle round high up over the falconer, waiting for
him to flush the quarry or throw out the lure.
COPE To trim the beak and talons of a bird.
WAKE To tame a hawk by keeping her on the fist day and night,
EYASS A young hawk taken from the eyrie. keeping her from sleeping.
EYRIE The bird of prey's nest, usually used in conjunction with eagles. WEATHER To place the hawk on her block in the open air during
the day.
HACK A method of rearing young hawks completely free for a few
weeks until they are old enough to train.
HACK BELLS Large heavy bells put on hawks to hinder them from preying
for themselves while `flying at hack'.
HOOD A close fitting leather cap, often tooled and decorated,
used to blindfold a bird.
JESSES The narrow strips of leather fastened round a hawk's legs
to hold her by.
LEASH A long narrow thong or strap of leather with a falconr y
button at one end, which is passed through the swivel and used to
tie a bird to its block or perch.
LURE An imitation bird or animal used to entice the hawk back in flight.
It is usually made from a pair of wings or the skin of the type of
quarry at which the bird is to be flown, and sometimes has raw meat
tied to it.
MAIL To wrap a hawk in a cloth either to tame her, or to keep her
quiet during an operation such as coping or imping.
MAKE HAWK An old, experienced hawk flown with an eyass, when training,
to teach or encourage it.
MAN To man a hawk is to make it tame by accustoming it to man's
presence, usually achieved by holding the wild bird on the
fist for the requisite period of time.
MANNING Training a hawk.
HârnMaster
