Lots of Questions Before I Take the Field in September

I'll be coming to the September event, but before that there's a lot I need to work out.

From a character perspective, I'd like more information on the Bedou tribes than is provided in the rulebook.

From a perspective more closely related to my previous experiences in medievalism and combat with foam, wood, rattan, and steel...

Looking for more detail on weapon construction. The rulebook is pretty light on this sort of thing....
-Can a throwing weapon be used as a small weapon? A knife or tomahawk, for instance?
-How do people normally build javelins? The requirement to be coreless has me a bit perplexed.
-What are the poundage limits on bows and crossbows? I heard 28# at 26" for bows, but I couldn't find corroboration on that, and I've seen nothing on crossbows.
-For spears, axes, warhammers, and the like, does the whole shaft of the weapon have to be padded?

I'm sure there's more, but it's what I've got for now.

Page 34 of the rulebook has ARchery rules, and includes the following:

Bows need to be simple recurve bows with no more than 25 pounds at full draw, and with a Draw length of no more than 26”. Arrows should be fitted for this (26”), keeping in mind that the end will be covered in foam, so you may want them a bit longer.

best i can help is.....
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bedouin

play it like you want to play it is my take

Hey, Nathan! I am one of the few people stomping around with a crossbow at camp. The majority of us use the IDV crossbows available from calimacil. I use the hunter's crossbow, and a few others use the mercenary's crossbow. I can't make any official statements on the rules of using one, but these are what most of us use: www.calimacil.com/weapons/bows-arrows.html

I love running around with it, but it does require a good deal more safety consciousness than simply running around with a sword. The long minimum range to keep it safe coupled with the high cost of fixing a break or replacing an errant bolt means that you have to carefully plan each shot. If you want to be in the thick of the fighting, maybe reconsider the crossbow as your primary weapon; it tends to become a liability in a swirling melee, so you'll never find my character in the center of the action. However, if you are happy skulking around the outside of the battle, and threatening things from farther than arm's reach, you might just be a crossbowman at heart!

If you have anymore questions pertaining to the crossbow, shoot me a PM, I'm always more than happy to convince more people to pick up the most civilized of the ranged weapons! If you find me at game, I also enjoy letting the odd person or two borrow the crossbow to use on passing elves; maybe try it out before making the (rather sizable) investment!

For the moment and in the case of beduins there is not more information on the races other than is in the rulebook. So you are mostly free to make up whatever you want as long as it seems to fit within the broad general spectrum we've written in the race section. The names of the beduin lands are Ja'Hagon and Tarpier, but those are the major cities and there can be smaller tribe homes spread through the desserts. There is also Selim-Port, which is a port on the north eastern border.

Javlins are normally built using the foam used for sword but no cores, Yes they are flimsy, but they still fly pretty well if constructed correctly,

Welcome!

So, my two main questions would be the first and last ones, or to sum up...

-Throwing weapons must not have cores. Must small weapons have cores, or may a coreless throwing weapon be used as a small weapon?
-Must all hafted weapons be padded for the entire length, grip included?