A Few More Annoying Questions

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The_Namer
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A Few More Annoying Questions

Post by The_Namer »

1) If the gods were willing to place a curse on the Firestaff, why not set it so the person who took it was killed? The memory thing seems a bit tame, and it would seem more logical for it to kill the holder-if not everyone else within a few sqaure miles as well-to protect itself.

2) Can Spyder use Druidic magic? If not, couldn't anyone with enough power seperate her from the Weave, or would Ayise prevent this? Does she know Wizardry?

3) I know the Goddess allows the other gods to channel magic to their Priests through the Weave, but why is it done that way? Obviously it gives Niami a big advantage in bargaining, even if she's only pulling that card now. Is Priestly magic more easily transmitted through the Weave? Does it make it easier on the gods? Is it more powerful on Sennadar because of the Weave as well as the usual augmentation of the world? Does the presence of the Weave itself influence the way any kind of magic save Druidic can be expressed in the world, making them dependent on it?

4) Similar to #3: Why does Wizard magic come through the Weave on Sennadar? What means does it use on other worlds?

5) Just who was Tarrin supposed to be saving the Firestaff from? It doesn't seem like anyone but he and his friends would have any chance of breeching the Ward, much less possess the Sorcerer/Wizard/Priest/Druid requirement or have the capacity to defeat a dragon. For that matter, couldn't he have just sat outside the cave and waited until the alignment passed?
Last edited by The_Namer on Sun Nov 14, 2004 3:56 am, edited 1 time in total.
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Belgarion213
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Re: A Few More Annoying Questions

Post by Belgarion213 »

1.) No Idea.

2.) Look Up

3 and 4.) Its the way sennadar works. Magic works through the weaves, when the universe was created that was one of the rules. The reason Druidic magic is idffrent because it draws on the omnipresent force of creationg that is Ayise  
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Fel
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Re: A Few More Annoying Questions

Post by Fel »

1)  the curse could only affect ONE person, and that curse was designed to take into account that it might have to be used against a god.  A killing curse wouldn't work on a god's Avatar, it would just poof it...but a curse that struck at the MIND of the god behind that Avatar is another matter entirely.

2) no, no, no.  Spyder can't break the stricture forbidding mortals from wielding two forms of magic because SHE WAS NOT BORN IMMORTAL.  Were-cats, and many other mortal races, ARE.  Even though Tarrin was turned, remember, that change is absolute and RETROACTIVE...it was as if he had been BORN Were.  That lifts the stricture from him.  Niami bends the rule by making her sorcerers ageless so they can use minor priest magic, but they aren't truly immortal.  Tarrin, however, IS.  So is Jasana...and both of them can use multiple orders of magic.

But, since you're curious about Spyder, her restriction to only Sorcery is really a moot point. She's a Mi'Shara, and that allows her to bring about however much magical power that it takes to complete her task, if the need is great enough.  Even if it's more magic than a mortal can wield.  Her power as a Mi'Shara was how she was able to lock Val into his icon...she exceeded the boundaries of mortal potential when the Elder Gods used her as a focus to imprison Val.


3)  ALL magic except Druidic magic travels through the Weave.  If it's not Druidic magic, it goes through the Weave, and this is so because the gods have made it that way.  Niami is the Elder Goddess of magic, and how magic works is her domain.  This is the way she set it up, so this is the way it works.  Yes, it gives her and her children, the sorcerers, tremendous power over the other two orders.  But, if you look very closely at how magic works on Sennadar, and how powerful it is, you'll understand that it was necessary to do it like this so there was always a way to bring Wizards and Priests in check.  That is the job of a Sorcerer, who is himself kept in check by the Druids...and Druids are indirectly the agents of Ayise, the Allmother.

Sennadar is a world so charged with magic that the gods had to take special precautions and make special rules regarding how it works, so they could keep it under control.

4) Wizard magic travels through the Weave because Niami forces it to.  The reason why is explained up there in #3.  How it moves in other worlds depends entirely on the gods there and  how they decide it works, but most of them allow the Wizard to summon the magic directly, which then channels through the Wizard and on to its ultimate destination.  On Sennadar, Niami forces Wizard magic to travel through the Weave first.

5) I suggest you read the end of Shadow Realm one more time...when the final Sui'kun was born, it broke the wards protecting the Firestaff, which would allow anyone to just waltz in and take it...but Tarrin didn't KNOW that, and since he was behind the Ward and outside of contact with Niami, she couldn't tell him.

Remember also that they didn't know WHEN the Firestaff would activate until well into book 5.  You have your chronology just a wee bit off.  ;)

And be honest, if you'd have gone through all that Tarrin did to get the Firestaff, would you have sat outside the tunnel and simply waited?  ;)
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Forbidder
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Re: A Few More Annoying Questions

Post by Forbidder »

who keeps the druids in check?  Was it ever mentioned?  If it was i forgot then.
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Shadowhawk
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Re: A Few More Annoying Questions

Post by Shadowhawk »

forbidder wrote:Who keeps the druids in check?  Was it ever mentioned?  If it was i forgot then.
First of all, there always was only a smallnumber of Druids (you have to have natural ability to become Druid). Next, learning Druidic "spells" is extremly dangerous, so I think not many survive, Last, all druids are [indirectly] priests of Allmother, and she is Elder God, capable of killing her follower by single thought (I think).
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Xel
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Re: A Few More Annoying Questions

Post by Xel »

Priests can call upon their gods to remove the All from a Druid, thats how they're kept in check.
The_Namer
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Re: A Few More Annoying Questions

Post by The_Namer »

Thanks for replying, Fel.
1) That makes sense. I assumed the gods would protect it from their fellow deities, but if not, then that's a very clever way to do it. Just wondering: is there any reason the curse could affect only one person? Obviously it would be the one touching the Firestaff, but could it have had a radius effect?
2)Again with the sense.
3&4)Oohh. I knew Niami was the Elder Godess of magic, but didn't really connect that to the magic of Wizards and Priests. I thought that Wizard magic, being external from Sennadar, and Priest magic, being sourced from individual gods, would be outside her direct influence. The Weave just seemed like a convenient way to do it, so I though it might be used because it carried a benefit. If she controls ALL non-Drudic magic, though, it's totally logical.
5)Oops. I considered the Ward failing, but forgot that it also affected the protections around the volcano as well, thus releasing the dragon.
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