Philip Hart wrote: > PotD spoiler follows: > > > > Good points, but > 1) Vlad is a specialist in death - how come he never mentions rifles, > if they exist? See for example the description of Temek the weapons > master in chapter 2 of Yendi. > 2) I still feel that the brigands we meet in PotD would be armed with > muskets or blunderbusses or whatever if there was ever any firearm > tech on Dragaera. And Kana or somebody would have started > manufacturing flintlocks as a way to conquer territory. > 3) I think my Teckla army with gatling guns vs Easterners point has > stood unchallenged. > 4) I don't really care about guns - if a Higher Authority decides His > books are better this way that's good enough for me. I'm officially > out-nitted on this subject. I personally think that guns do not nor have ever existed on Dragaera, not to say the arguments for are downright wrong but more so overlooking something. Most of the topic of guns are about use in an army, which is where it *would* start. From there it'd move to the brigands and bandits and outlaws. On earth the gun was(is) a popular weapon because it didn't(doesn't) require the same degree of skill to use effectively as lets say perhaps a sword. I perceive Dragaera to be a place where if you wanted to with sorcery you could mimic a gun, we know that kind of stuff exists; and it requires skill (generally) more skill that the use of a gun would. The gun is an equalizer on our world. You can take two people of entirely different stock: a big burly strong tough guy and a frail weakling, give them both a gun and now they are equals in combat. Once guns came to exist fighting was no longer glamorous (the duel of two master swordsmen whom have studied thier whole life or martial artists competing): running down the field one moment blown off head the next, anyone whom would duel with a gun is certifiably insane in my book.