> > "Come on, Jack and John and Jill, I've decided the Cycle has changed and > I'm off to take the Orb, protected by my elite wizard skills from what > some have called the Instafry. Let's kick in the throne room door." > "Uhh, ok boss - sizzle." "Sizzle." "Sizzle." Any "shielding" effect is hypothetical (so far), so it only requires marginally more hand-waving for such an effect to cover a group. Granted, the larger the group you want to cover, the more vigorously the hands must be waved :-) > But Paarfi has > to know this, and tell us why the Breath of Fire brigade doesn't go boom > at the end of _FHYA_. The Brigade was not attempting a military coup, or even obviously engaging in any illegal behavior (IIRC). We've only been told of the "instafry" ability in the context of "Don't bug the Emperor without a good cause". I dare say that there would be, at the least, significant societal (legal?) repercussions against even an emperor who used such an ability against a large number of noble citizens without having *damn* good cause. Now, "launching an army against the capitol" would certainly count as good cause. If this has ever happened (I don't recall any, but that doesn't rule them out), then that would suggest some sort of mass- shielding was possible. But not all coups are military in nature (refer for example to Florida in 2000, or Dallas in 1963). 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 "Being in politics is like being a football coach; you have to be smart enough to understand the game, and dumb enough to think it's important." -- Eugene McCarthy