> > Remember Loftis and "breaking the stick" from the 5-7th cycles. I assert > that to build a cannon requires metallurgical skills which a sword-based > military would not allow to lapse, Rifles and cannons have very different metallurgical requirements than swords. >a knowledge of gunpowder, and a source > of saltpetre or some extremely basic chemistry that would anyway be > familiar to those with the above metallurgical skills. > > To build a pipe bomb (useful to assassins, I should think) wouldn't > even require the metallurgical skills. Pipes, on the other hand, seem likely to exist. Do Dragaerans have plumbing? Or is there some sorcerous solution? Alexx Alexx Kay Opinions expressed are my own and not necessarily those of my employers alexx at world.std.com http://world.std.com/~alexx It was pity stayed his hand. "Pity I don't have any more bullets," thought Frito. -- BORED OF THE RINGS