On Sat, 16 Aug 2003, Matthew Hunter wrote: >On Fri, Aug 15, 2003 at 10:53:14PM -0700, Philip Hart ><philiph at SLAC.Stanford.EDU> wrote: >> On Sat, 16 Aug 2003, Matthew Hunter wrote: >> > ... >> > >> We know that Adron received it. Adron would notice he was holding a GW, >> or a potential GW. I suspect that he wouldn't have needed to blast the >> Orb if he had a GW, and certainly Sethra would have noticed if he had one >> (presumably he wouldn't have left it at home) therefore... > >Others have noted that the Orb itself is an artifact with a >significance and potency at least the equal of a Great Weapon, >perhaps even more so. Moreover, I see no reason why a Great >Weapon would necessarily have any effect at all upon Adron's >success or failure in his attempt; their powers seem to be >orthogonal to sorcery (Elder or otherwise), rather than >complementary. I think they can indeed be complementary to sorcery. Note that Blackwand has largely replaced the function of Morrolan's wizard staff. > >I confess that I am still puzzled as to why Aliera's soul was >sufficiently valuable to be retrieved from the Paths by such >extreme and unprecedently measures. I have already speculated that perhaps Aliera's ability to manipulate raw Amorphia might have been a potentially useful defensive measure agains the Jenoine on Dzur Mountain. Sethra might have also been thinking in terms of backup plans if she failed against the Jenoine. After Sethra, perhaps Zerika would have been called upon to fight the Jenoine with the Orb. If *that* failed, then a Dragon Heir who could also manipulate Amorphia would have been the next fallback plan. She might have had other levels of defenses planned, especially with the aid of Sethra the Younger & the Sorceress in Green, but Aliera might well have been a crucial part of some portion of those plans. >> Also on the subject, in _Issola_, when M and A are kidnapped, BW and PF >> come along for the ride, though presumably there was no physical contact - >> the J could have grabbed them when they were both in the shower or the >> sack, say, if it mattered. A GW is like a shadow, Enclouding be damned. > >They also came fully clothed, you'll note. This is often a >convenient aspect of fictional means of teleportation. ;) > The Great Weapons might have refused to allow their bearers to leave that plane of reality without them. Or, perhaps the Jenoine *wanted* the GWs to come along, since they might have been useful in tracing where M & A had been take if they were left behind.