Dragaera

Allam, and Communism

Steve Simmons scs at di.org
Fri Oct 14 11:03:49 PDT 2005

On Fri, Oct 14, 2005 at 08:50:51AM -0700, Scott Schultz wrote:

> Steve Simmons wrote:

> >While we've never been told explicitly that Keiron's greatsword is or
> >isn't a Morganti weapon (prerequisite to being a Great Weapon), I can't
> >imagine the Gods would let him wander around the waiting room of
> >unreincarnated with a soul-destroying weapon.  Even less likely they'd
> >let him carry around a Great Weapon, which, let us recall, were made
> >for purpose of killing the Gods.

> The Gods are surprisingly tolerant when it comes to property ownership
> rights. Verra knows exactly what Spellbreaker is when Vlad shows it to her.
> She could have simply taken it from him. For that matter, if she'd asked him
> to give it to her, he probably would have done so given the proper
> convincing. Even when Vlad finally creates Godslayer, Verra reacts with a
> certain amount of disgust but she doesn't strike Vlad down or otherwise try
> to take it from him. 

I don't think there's enough textual evidence to settle those points
one way or the other.  When Verra encounters Vlad with Spellbreaker,
it reacts to her emphaticly.  This argues that Spellbreaker 'knows'
its purpose, and is willing and maybe even enthusiastic in acting on
it even though not yet a great weapon.  Given that the pre-Godslayer
capabilities of Spellbreaker include the neutralization of magic,
it could well be a threat to Verra even prior to the fusing with the
soul and the Morganti weapon.  IMHO Verra, having a reasonable sense of
self-preservation, decided to let the short-lived Easterner hold it for
a few years rather than risk taking it from him.

As for property ownership - Verra is pretty free about risking the
lives of her worshippers; why would she worry about their possessions?

> A better question is whether a Great Weapon would allow itself to be taken
> into the Paths by a dead soul.

IMHO, of course it would.  Part of its purpose is to attack the Gods.
To do that, first you've got to get within blades reach of them.

> The Lords of Judgement should be able to dispose of all of the Great
> Weapons, yet they haven't done so, Godslayer being the sole exception.

Textev on both points?
-- 
"Go, go, go, said the bird: human kind
 Cannot bear very much reality."
   T. S. Eliot, from Burnt Norton in "Four Quartets"