> > I thought it was just a sword, desired by Sethra the Younger for its > propaganda value. > > -Max > That's a little bit like saying that Excalibur was "just a sword". Granted there's a fair amount of assumption involved, but it seems reasonable to deduce that the sword has some sort of virtue associated with it. If it was "just a sword", Aliera wouldn't have demanded it. She had no desire to use it as a rallying device; she was interested in killing the enemies of the Empire. Kieron valued it enough to threaten to leave the Paths to retrieve it. Additionally, a legendary weapon is only good as a rallying device if the populace believes that it has some virtue of its own and is able to confer that virtue onto its wielder. In a world where sorcery and witchcraft are facts of life, it's reasonable to expect that a legendary sword actually has some sort of magic associated with it. In the end, though, we don't really know. It might have its own virtue, it might not. In the hands of the greatest warrior in history, Kieron himself, it might not matter whether the sword has its own virtue. Maybe it's more correct to say that Kieron is nearly as good as a Great Weapon. ;-)