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Message: <blockquote data-quote="reason" data-source="post: 1960241" data-attributes="member: 6022">from Principia InfectaSome from Principia Infecta (<a href="http://www.principiainfecta.com" target="_blank">http://www.principiainfecta.com</a>):Bitter Roots from the Farthest Market<a href="http://www.principiainfecta.com/archives/2005/01/bitter_roots_fr.php" target="_blank">http://www.principiainfecta.com/archives/2005/01/bitter_roots_fr.php</a>The Year of Bitter Roots, yes, when strange Visitors appeared in the dockside market after the last snows. They and their beasts were piled high with roots, but they wouldn't trade with anyone until Menas found out it was statues they wanted. It was a sight! Port cleaned out of every last figurine and carving for bundled roots from the Farthest Market ... but stranger things have happened. Ah, but the roots. The first taste was like a perfect pearl dissolving on your tongue while the memory of wealth warmed your heart, ending in the sigh of your first love. Everyone had to try it, but the second taste would only have you retching in the gutter. The third and fourth too for the stubborn ones. Only ever the one taste - bitter wizardry, I say, but what do you expect? Still, Menas and his cronies were counting coins until they ran out of buyers. Oh, the ill will wished upon them by half the traders in Port! I'll wager they have boxes of that wizardry from the Farthest hidden away yet. You know their sort - wouldn't throw a burned torch away if they thought there was a coin left somewhere in creation.Peerless Blades<a href="http://www.principiainfecta.com/archives/2005/01/peerless_blades_1.php" target="_blank">http://www.principiainfecta.com/archives/2005/01/peerless_blades_1.php</a>A sword that cannot be sheathed is of no use at all as a visible symbol of lordly status in Three Stones - city law is quite clear on the carrying of weapons within the walls. The Watch may turn a blind eye to nobles and their ornate locking scabbards (heavy enough to serve as a club), but a naked blade would certainly attract unwelcome attention. Thus it is that the Verden Blade gathers dust and cobwebs on a stone pedestal in the manse of the current Lord Verden of Three Stones.The origin of the Peerless Blades is a matter for conjecture. One story tells of a swordsmith in training, Lost in the Farthest Workshop until he stumbles upon the Smith of All. Ammander troubadors prefer the comedic version: Jarn the Apprentice stumbles from frying pan to fire and back again in the course of forging his first sword, ultimately emerging victorious after many tribulations ... but with a sword so puissant it cannot be used.Some old writings claim that the Datarii made the Blades, and that they would be foolish indeed to reveal this talent to the unruly folk who dwell under open skies. Sages usually suggest that any such overt wizardry dates back to the time of the Magi. The Corner once said, in a manuscript commissioned by the grandfather of the present Lord Verden, "Forged by Powers, sharp as thought, sheathed only in stone, come to us from far. A sword for war, a weapon for distant seasons. It is well for us all that so great and noble a figure watches over this Peerless Blade."Lying Scales<a href="http://www.principiainfecta.com/archives/2005/01/lying_scales_1.php" target="_blank">http://www.principiainfecta.com/archives/2005/01/lying_scales_1.php</a>Lying Scales were once a curio, a trade good from distant lands and of no practical value to the Magi of the Vanished Isles. The two sides of a Scale balance in quite erratic and unexpected ways. The Datarii found such minor wizardry endlessly fascinating; they created ingenious new uses for these and many other similar novelties. Less reputable folk have found their own uses for Lying Scales in the generations since the secret of their creation was traded to the stonefolk. Fortunately Scales of a form useful for deceit are quite rare now. Most are very old indeed, dating to a time before the Vanished Isles became Lost.Reason</blockquote>

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