Stormwaltz Quotes/On Atlan Weapons

December 12, 2000 - [No Link]

The short answer to your question is; no, the Atlan weapons wielded by the Isparians are not equivalent to their antecedents. They're quite inferior.

You're correct that higher forge temperatures are necessary to work high quality pyreal. The Magma Golem of Seral Epharsis (Mount Esper) is not as hot as it would be if it were in the depths of the mountain (rather than the nippy air of a high-altitude caldera), and certainly not as hot as it would be if it were able to bathe in the flows of Tenkarrdun. It could work a sharper blade under such circumstances. Speaking purely hypothetically, something on the order of 20-30 base damage might be possible.

As well, it it unlikely that the original Yalaini chevairds would have tolerated either negative enchantments or enchantments as weak as those on the current Atlan stones. It would seem that over the millennia, Maila's original enchantments have "gone sour," losing their potency and, in the case of certain powerful spells, actually being to have the opposite of their original effect. Can ya'll say "BD9, Fire Prot 12?" Knew ya could.

Finally, the Atlan weapon in their FINAL form would have had a very rare elemental damage type: "Light." This would have done no great damage to most creature types. Against Shadows and other "forces of darkness," they would be highly effective. As the annihilation of Atlan's army proved, the original models lacked this damage type. Atlan didn't know what he was heading into - it was only later that the weapons were modified specifically to fight Shadows. Alas, this fifth class of Atlan stone remains lost...

The light elemental damage type does not actually exist in AC, of course. Don't bother begging us to implement it; I asked Bohemund once about the possibility of new elemental damages (Light and Shadow specifically). He uttered a slightly mad little laugh and said, "NO." Apparently, it would be a great amount of work to add a new damage class to all our various systems.

As a matter of practicality, true Empyrean grade weapons would irreparably destroy balance in AC. The only way we could let such a weapon appear would be to have it wielded by a creature, and destroyed on its death. But it's nice to dream of what once was, isn't it?

Chris "Stormwaltz" L'Etoile