[Dragaera] The New Palace

[Jerry Friedman]

----- Original Message ----

From: Philip Hart <philiph at slac.stanford.edu>

>On Wed, 2 Jun 2010, Alexx Kay wrote:

>> Bows themselves may have been countered, in multiple ways.
>> 
>< Bows are relatively delicate pieces of technology.  A "bow-breaking" spell
>> would probably be pretty easy to create.  Eventually, someone else might
>> invent an enchantment to protect bows from the breakage spell.
>> 
>> Alternatively, someone might invent a "magical arrow-repelling-field".
>> Later, someone figures out an arrow enchantment that can pierce the field.

> I don't want to argue at all strenuously about this, since it doesn't matter to me, but trying to argue away bows > and arrows seems to get us caught up in hacks.  A spell that can indiscriminately break horn bows (wooden
> crossbows) can kill soldiers (destroy supply wagons).  Any field
> that can stop javelins or spears can stop swords.

Why not have the spell break strings instead of horn (or yew or osage orange or spiny orange) bows?  Maybe the bow-breaking spell doesn't work on people.  Maybe the wood-breaking spell depends on the bowyer's or soldier's intention to use the object as a weapon, so it doesn't work on supply wagons (unless the driver tries to run someone over).  Maybe the force field is disrupted by continued application of force on the weapon, or by sufficient steel, or by the swordsman's hand.  Maybe the air elementals can stop javelins and arrows but refuse to work on swords wielded by someone with his or her feet on terra firma (or on the floor of a floating castle).  There can always be an explanation.

Anyway, it seems to me there are science-fiction and even stories where you can 
use arguments like that and some where you can't.  Steven's stories strike me as the second kind.  He does justify some Cool Stuff, but he's made it clear that all the justification he needs is Coolness.

Jerry Friedman