Dear Mike --
I have long been interested in the "rules" of various magical systems in stories of heroic fantasy. While re-reading "The Vanishing Tower," I thought of a question about the magical system in the Elric saga, and thought I'd pose it to you.
When Elric encounters the demon guarding the beggar king Urish's hoard, the demon announces that it has a wardpact that protects it from swords, "even that sword" (referring, of course, to Stormbringer).
As amoral (if not outright malevolent) entities I would imagine that a demon would not voluntarily reveal the fact that it had a wardpact against a particular weapon, so that it might trick a potential enemy into attacking it with that weapon, and thereby destroy him or her. Am I to surmise that as a condition of having (being conjured with) a wardpact, a demon *must* state that it has one when confronted by a potential adversary?
I understand that when you created the demon in question, you may have simply created the wardpact as a plot device, so that Elric could not simply defeat the demon with Stormbringer; you may not have been thinking about the "rules" of your magical system (although I found them to be remarkably consistent throughout the saga). Of course, this line of thinking causes me to wonder why the Chaos Lords whom Elric banished when he arrived in Pan Tang had not "invested" in wardpacts of their own to protect them from Stormbringer and Elric. Arioch, at least, knew about wardpacts, since he assumed the place of demon guarding Urish's hoard before Elric returned with Rakhir to attempt to destroy the demon.
Thank You,
-- Charlie
I have long been interested in the "rules" of various magical systems in stories of heroic fantasy. While re-reading "The Vanishing Tower," I thought of a question about the magical system in the Elric saga, and thought I'd pose it to you.
When Elric encounters the demon guarding the beggar king Urish's hoard, the demon announces that it has a wardpact that protects it from swords, "even that sword" (referring, of course, to Stormbringer).
As amoral (if not outright malevolent) entities I would imagine that a demon would not voluntarily reveal the fact that it had a wardpact against a particular weapon, so that it might trick a potential enemy into attacking it with that weapon, and thereby destroy him or her. Am I to surmise that as a condition of having (being conjured with) a wardpact, a demon *must* state that it has one when confronted by a potential adversary?
I understand that when you created the demon in question, you may have simply created the wardpact as a plot device, so that Elric could not simply defeat the demon with Stormbringer; you may not have been thinking about the "rules" of your magical system (although I found them to be remarkably consistent throughout the saga). Of course, this line of thinking causes me to wonder why the Chaos Lords whom Elric banished when he arrived in Pan Tang had not "invested" in wardpacts of their own to protect them from Stormbringer and Elric. Arioch, at least, knew about wardpacts, since he assumed the place of demon guarding Urish's hoard before Elric returned with Rakhir to attempt to destroy the demon.
Thank You,
-- Charlie
Comment