I want BOWS and CROSSBOWS. Simple. Read on to find out why I would want a 1000-year-old weapon that got outdated a while ago. Sidenote: This is a huge suggestion, might need it's own weapon category.

Bows: They were able to kill people at an absurd distance in the Medieval Era, so with the new tech and resources of Cradle, why not make another bow suited to our needs? Back in Medieval days, these ranged WMD's were very common. Not only were they common, but oh boy did they pack a HUGE punch! How much of a punch you ask? A longbow had around a 150 pound-force. 150 pounds is equivalent to a 2 month old HORSE and small HAY BALE. Those two COMBINED, coming straight at you at 180 feet per second. You'd be dead before you were wondering WHY a horse was coming at you at 180 fps with a hay bale on it's back. So with all the new tech on this planet that we crash landed on, LET'S MAKE A BOW!

"How can I obtain a horse-slinger?" you may be asking yourself in excitement as you await for the next slag to appear.
With ALCHEMY of course!
You should all be familiar with the Alchemy Machine by now if you've navigated into the forums then the suggestions subcategory.
If you're not, go play the game and figure it out, I've already explained the force of a bow.

Let's start us off with the start-alchemy-here-for-nearly-everything two star weapons!

Visual Appearance
Bow
Plain wooden body. Plain stringy string. Plain Pointy Arrows. (Purely unique!)

Longbow
Bow but tall. I'm talking player height here, these guys didn't mess around.

Crossbow
Small handheld crossbow made of wood and small iron gears on either side of the cross.

Statistics and Gameplay
Bow Normal Dmg.
3.5 pips/blocks/whatever of speed.
Level 0: 3 pips/blocks/whatever of damage.
Level 10: 4 pips/yougettheidea of damage.
One shot until reload occurs, you don't twirl a bow to reload by the way, you retrieve the arrow from the quiver.
Charge: You retrieve two arrows and pull string. You release arrows one by one. For overall time make it half/three-fourths of blitz charge. Each arrow does 1.25x damage. Each arrow has 5% chance to stun.

Longbow Normal Dmg.
3 pips of speed.
Level 0: 4 pips of damage.
Level 10: 5.5 pips of damage.
One shot until reload occurs, still no twirling of the longbow either.
Charge: You pull the string reaallllllllllly hard. Arrow hurt big (1.5x damage). Arrow penetrates 1 enemy. Arrow inflicts stun.

Crossbow Piercing Dmg.
4 pips of speed.
Level 0: 3.5 pips of damage.
Level 10: 4.5 pips of damage.
TWO, that's right, TWO SHOTS until reload. And NOW you can do the twirly for reload.
Charge: Fires an explosive bolt with a 1 tile DIAMETER around hit area. 1.25x damage.

Now for the three star weapons!

Visual Appearance
Reinforced Bow
Same thing as before, but replace all wood with a steel appearance. Bow string has a blue glow to it, as do the feathers and tips.

Sturdy Longbow
Again, same thing as before, steel appearance, blue glow for string, feathers, tips. BUT, this one has those rags from the sealed sword for a grip.

Solid Crossbow
STEEL AGAIN, BLUE GLOW AGAIN. Remember those tiny iron gears? Make 'em yellow. Put a decorative scope on top. A short one.

Statistics and Gameplay
Reinforced Bow Normal Dmg. Slight Chance of Stun.
Level 0: 3.5 pips of damage.
Level 10: 5 pips of damage
Charge: More knockback and 3 arrows.

Sturdy Longbow Normal Dmg. Slight Chance of Stun.
Level 0: 5 pips of damage.
Level 10: 6 pips of damage.
Charge: Penetrates 2 enemies rather than one.

Solid Crossbow Piercing Dmg.
Level 0: 4 pips of damage.
Level 10: 5 pips of damage.
Charge: 1.5 tile DIAMETER now.

And four stars to get us into the third tier!

Visual Appearance----------
Bow Variations----------

Bow of Embers
Steel looks as if heated. Red glow on string. Fire replaces the arrows' feathers. Tip is a crackling ember.

Bow of Frost
Steel has Light-Blue tint with frozen chunks. Light-Blue glow on string. Ice chunk replaces the arrows' feathers. Tip is a small icicle.

Bow of Toxicity
Steel has Light-Green tint. Light-Green glow on string. Feathers are damp and 7-up-can-green. Tip is Light-Green

Cobalt Bow
Lighter tint on the steel and blue glow is more noticeable.

Longbow Variations----------

Darkbow
Steel is completely black now. String has a Light-Purple glow to it. Feathers are replaced with black shards. Tip is a black shard.

Lightbow
Steel is completely white now. String has a brighter glow to it. Feathers are replaced with white shards. Tip is a white shard.

Cobalt Crossbow----------
Light-blue body. String remains white. Gears glow yellow SLIGHTLY. White grip on handle of it.

Statistics and Gameplay----------
Bows (Excluding Cobalt) Elemental Dmg. Slight Chance of you can guess what they are.
Level 0: 6 pips of damage.
Level 10: 7 pips of damage.
Charge: 4 arrows. Same KB. 100% chance for status to inflict.

Cobalt Bow: Normal Dmg. Slight chance of stun.
Level 0: 6.5 pips of damage.
Level 10: 7.5 pips of damage.
Charge: Same as the other bows.

Longbows: Shadow/Elemental Dmg.
Level 0: 7.5 pips of damage.
Level 10: 8.5 pips of damage.
Charge: Penetrates three enemies rather than two.

Crossbow: Piercing Dmg.
Level 0: 5.5 pips of damage.
Level 10: 7.5 pips of damage.
Charge: 1 tile RADIUS now.

The almighty five star approaches

Visual Appearance----------
Bows----------
Flame String, Frozen Force, Vile Bow.
Add further detail to their status effect.

Azure Bow
Make a black grip. Two hand guards on either direction of up/down.

Longbows----------
Abyssal Arrow
Add moving bright purple lines onto the black body. Add static glowing purple lines on arrows' shards.

Radiant Longbow
Same modifications as other Longbow but blue rather than purple.

Azure Crossbow----------
Make those gears SHINE baby! Yellow glowing string.

Statistics and Gameplay----------
Bows (Exc. Azure) Elemental Dmg. Slight chance of causing that status it does.
Level 0: 6.5 pips of damage.
Level 10: 8 pips of damage.
Charge: 5 arrows.

Azure Bow
Level 0: 7 pips of damage.
Level 10: 8.5 pips of damage.
Charge: 5 arrows.

Longbows
Level 0: 8 pips of damage
Level 10: Full meter of damage.
Charge: Penetrates 5 enemies rather than 3.

Azure Crossbow
Level 0: 6.5 pips of damage.
Level 10: 9 pips of damage.
Charge 1.25 tile RADIUS now.

Side notes on weapons: Bows: medium speed animation, can shield .5s after arrow is fired. Slow down slightly while shooting, alike other guns. Longbows: Slow speed animation since you're pretty much catapulting a horse at them. No shielding until the animation has finished. That means no shield cancelling for those people who didn't know alchemy. Crossbows: are pretty similar to the alchemers so just copy those animations.

Thank you for reading how to make the almighty horse-slingers possible in Spiral Knights. Hope you have fun launching a horse into a Pit Boss's face if this becomes true.

Added Notes: You could also make a promo along-side these weapons. Add costumes and accessories such as War-Painted things. Just get a blank template for the piece you want, add paint to it with a background color of beige. You could even add a few feathers of varying colors. If you're gonna be a crazed horse-slinger, you might as well fit the look too.