[Dragaera] How Deadly are Morganti Weapons?

[Holmes, Erik]

> > There is a relevant torture scene, I believe in Yendi,  where Vlad
> > threatens a sorceress by holding a morganti knife to the inside of
her
> > thigh. There might be other textev on the point, but I believe the
> > rule in the book is that if a morganti weapon draws blood, the
> > victim's soul dies.
> 
> _Jhereg_, I'd think.  And later, Vlad is terrified of a dagger falling
> randomly from hand-height.  Their slightest scratch is death.  This
has
> caused fans to wonder what the difference between stronger and weaker
> Morganti blades is, apart from a wider fear radius, since they all do
> the same thing to souls.  Of course, we saw a Jenoine shrug off a
major
> Morganti blade, so perhaps there *are* defense against weaker blades,
> but almost no Dragaerans if any have figured them out.  (Apart from
> using Great Weapons and maybe being a wizard with hidden soul and
such.)

Well, the dagger falling landed a few inches from his eye.

I'm wondering if it's a case where the slightest cut from a Morganti
blade COULD cause instant death. Maybe this is where the power level
comes into play. I know that in the book when Vlad has used one as a
threat he has always asked for a 'powerful' one. 

Using D&D as an example it could be something as simple as the more
powerful of a Morganti weapon the higher the DC of the roll to stay
alive. In GURPS terms it could be either the bigger penalty to your roll
to stay alive, or a higher skill level that you have to roll against to
stay alive. 

> For Hodgell, that's a major artifact.  For Brust, they seem to have
been
> mass-produced at some point, or else someone's still making them.

I myself would be interested in knowing how the morganti blades are
produced. I don't think it's ever been hinted at in the books. Do we
know if they can only be produced by the Seroli? 

Also, I'm not familiar with Hodgell's work, is it any good?