quote:

---

Originally posted by Wooly Rupert

For my money -- not that I'm Elaine or claiming to speak for her -- I'd say that part of the process of reawakening a moonblade involves a sort of petition to its former wielders. It may not be a direct call from the would-be wielder to the prior ones; the would-be wielder may not even be aware of it.

I'd guess that Corellon is the first level of approval. If he's not unfavorable to the reawakening, he then brings the former wielders into the loop, and they observe the would-be wielder and decide among themselves if they wish to return to the mortal realm for a while longer. If they agree and Corellon agrees, then the blade is reawakened.

I'd assume this hasn't been attempted oft and has rarely succeeded... Reawakened moonblades are likely about as common as vegan Malarites.

---

quote:

---

Originally posted by ElaineCunningham

I have concluded, for a variety of reasons, I will not be pursuing any projects with the DMGuild.

---

quote:

---

Originally posted by sleyvas

Regarding the moonblades being created prior to the creation of Myth Drannor.... bear in mind I'm saying this without checking anything... but didn't the elves have "elfblades" or somesuch prior to the moonblades? Are you sure you aren't crossing those two? I say this because I think I did that myself long ago.

---

quote:

---

Originally posted by George Krashos

The Moonblades were created by Ethlando and his High Mage colleagues in -9000 DR as per the novel Evermeet (hardcover, p.287).

-- George Krashos

---

quote:

---

Originally posted by The Masked Mage

quote:

---

Originally posted by George Krashos

The Moonblades were created by Ethlando and his High Mage colleagues in -9000 DR as per the novel Evermeet (hardcover, p.287).

-- George Krashos

---

Yeah, the problem comes with Evermeet, Island of Elves, page 70. "created by the smiths of ancient Myth Drannor"

Since Myth Drannor was created on 261 DR, that's an issue.

Even if you decide that Cormanthyr is what the book means, that didn't come along until -4000 DR. Jhyrennstar was not founded until -8400 DR, which I believe covered where Myth Drannor was as well. Nothing fits, so the problem is with the sources.

The other problem is that over 10000 years, even elves would go through about 40 to 50 generations, and this makes the blade heir business much more complicated.

---

quote:

---

Originally posted by George Krashos

Something had been niggling me about your point re the earlier references to "Myth Drannor". Found it: read "Cormanthyr: Empires of the Elves", p.21.

-- George Krashos

---

quote:

---

Originally posted by Gary Dallison

I dont see the problem with multiple additions to the moonblade ritual.

The original ritual as created by Ethlando defined the purpose and set the major components of the ritual. That is set in stone and cannot be changed or recreated because that information is lost.

Like most magic however, it can be altered slightly. Even powerful magical artefacts can be altered over time, magic is not immutable, it flows and ebbs and changes with time and can be moulded again with new magic users.

At various points in elven history new blades can be created and dedicated to newly emerging and powerful elven houses. These are lesser in power than the original moonblades because they are younger, but still have the same potential. This supplemental ritual is what was performed by High Mages across Faerun when Ethlando did the original major ritual, that way elven houses in far flung corners of the realms could get a moonblade without everyone having to travel to Ethlando, instead the High Mages of various realms performed this lesser ritual to add moonblades to the pot. The purpose of the original cannot be changed, but new things can be added that follow the same rules laid down by Ethlando.

The original ritual died with Ethlando, but the lesser ritual was kept alive in the memories and writings of various high mages. Even so, this ritual to add additional moonblades was eventually lost around the fall of myth drannor so it is no longer easily possible.

The proof would be to find a moonblade for an elven house that did not exist when the original ritual was performed. Might take some extensive research into elven houses though. If such a moonblade did exist then it surely must have been created after the original ritual was performed by Ethlando.


Just my thoughts on how you could reconcile conflicting sources. The original ritual still stands, its just that lesser rituals can add extra magic into that original.

---

quote:

---

Originally posted by The Masked Mage

quote:

---

Originally posted by George Krashos

Something had been niggling me about your point re the earlier references to "Myth Drannor". Found it: read "Cormanthyr: Empires of the Elves", p.21.

-- George Krashos

---

I assume you're talking about the 'human historians call everything elvish Myth Drannor' bit.

My problem with that is it is the mother of all slippery slopes. If you start down the "this sourcebook is wrong because the source of the information was ignorant" path, then you can apply that to literally everything every published. Who's to say the source of CEoE was well informed? Might just be a know-it-all bloviating. There is no way to know for sure.

At that point, the entire idea of "canon" information becomes mute. There is no base-line since the line is rendered untrustworthy.

Unfortunately, this has always been the go-to answer, since the original idea was that Ed was this untrustworthy source via Elminster.

---

quote:

---

Originally posted by Gary Dallison

The argument of judging people over a few centuries only holds if you know the end date

---

quote:

---

Originally posted by Gary Dallison

Even elves would have wondered if the ritual would end after a millennia, after 2, after 5. By then most probably assumed it would never end and so having a moonblade becomes just a status symbol.

---

quote:

---

Originally posted by Gary Dallison

New politically powerful families with high mages in their ranks could easily have forced new moonblade to be added. A high mage is a huge boon to an elven community, if you dont allow a family its moonblade you may not be able to count on that high mage during bad times when they are needed.

---

quote:

---

Originally posted by Gary Dallison

You want a mythal at myth Drannor, well we want a moonblade. Elves can be just as petty and grasping as humans, especially when it comes to status and symbology.

---

quote:

---

Originally posted by Gary Dallison

The argument of judging people over a few centuries only holds if you know the end date

Even elves would have wondered if the ritual would end after a millennia, after 2, after 5. By then most probably assumed it would never end and so having a moonblade becomes just a status symbol.

New politically powerful families with high mages in their ranks could easily have forced new moonblade to be added. A high mage is a huge boon to an elven community, if you dont allow a family its moonblade you may not be able to count on that high mage during bad times when they are needed.
You want a mythal at myth Drannor, well we want a moonblade. Elves can be just as petty and grasping as humans, especially when it comes to status and symbology.

---

quote:

---

Originally posted by The Masked Mage


Yeah, the problem comes with Evermeet, Island of Elves, page 70. "created by the smiths of ancient Myth Drannor"

Since Myth Drannor was created on 261 DR, that's an issue.

Even if you decide that Cormanthyr is what the book means, that didn't come along until -4000 DR. Jhyrennstar was not founded until -8400 DR, which I believe covered where Myth Drannor was as well. Nothing fits, so the problem is with the sources.

---

quote:

---

The other problem is that over 10000 years, even elves would go through about 40 to 50 generations, and this makes the blade heir business much more complicated.

---

quote:

---

Originally posted by Gary Dallison

New politically powerful families with high mages in their ranks could easily have forced new moonblade to be added. A high mage is a huge boon to an elven community, if you dont allow a family its moonblade you may not be able to count on that high mage during bad times when they are needed.

---

quote:

---

You want a mythal at myth Drannor, well we want a moonblade. Elves can be just as petty and grasping as humans, especially when it comes to status and symbology.

---

quote:

---

Cormanthyr (Myth Drannor's Mythal):
The secondary casters were four in number; by the secret design of the Coronal, the Srinshee, and Mythanthor, all were
confidentially High Mages (to control the mythal and its power with their greater knowledge of magic, should this
wizardly method prove unstable)

---

quote:

---

Originally posted by The Masked Mage

This always bugged me too. I hated how it ended.

They are supposed to wait until there is only one, but they don't. Lets just end now because we know better than they did when they started this mess. :P

This plus the "ooh, you have the ruler's blade... its so long and hard.. I can touch it because we have some strange incestuous love connection" scene kind of put me off on the whole moonblade thing.

---

quote:

---

Originally posted by The Masked Mage


This plus the "ooh, you have the ruler's blade... its so long and hard.. I can touch it because we have some strange incestuous love connection" scene kind of put me off on the whole moonblade thing.

---

quote:

---

Originally posted by Gary Dallison

The question is, did that 24 include the starym moonblade or not, because that one was corrupted and could have tainted the magic and triggered it earlier than it would normally have done.

---

quote:

---

Originally posted by Gary Dallison

Look what happened with the vampire manshoon and the linked stasis clones. One aberration in the mix and the whole chain went nuts.

A trapped primordial or avatar of some rotting elder evil touches the starym blade thereby weakening and removing the restrictions on that blade. All the blades are linked, who could predict what havoc such a taint would wreak on the moonblade magic. The next deactivated moonblade could have caused it to end regardless of the number of remaining blades, it could have caused the magic to pick the oldest blade or the closest to the recently deactivated blade. It could have caused the blades to reject every new wielder or altered the selection criteria in increasingly perverse ways.

Imagine a computer code generating decreasing linear number sequence, then add in alteration to the sequence, it throws off everything.

Now imagine a being of pure rot and decay tinkered with the number sequence and I expect he introduced an exponential decay constant into the formula that causes it to spiral out of control, but he wouldnt stop there, his tinkering would spread like a virus to all other parts of the code and cause them to go wrong as well.

Elven high magic is not immune to decay, the warping of mythals over time or when hit by yugoloths or undead etc show that it is quite susceptible to change in unexpected ways.

---

quote:

---

Originally posted by Gary Dallison

Look what happened with the vampire manshoon and the linked stasis clones. One aberration in the mix and the whole chain went nuts.

A trapped primordial or avatar of some rotting elder evil touches the starym blade thereby weakening and removing the restrictions on that blade. All the blades are linked, who could predict what havoc such a taint would wreak on the moonblade magic. The next deactivated moonblade could have caused it to end regardless of the number of remaining blades, it could have caused the magic to pick the oldest blade or the closest to the recently deactivated blade. It could have caused the blades to reject every new wielder or altered the selection criteria in increasingly perverse ways.

Imagine a computer code generating decreasing linear number sequence, then add in alteration to the sequence, it throws off everything.

Now imagine a being of pure rot and decay tinkered with the number sequence and I expect he introduced an exponential decay constant into the formula that causes it to spiral out of control, but he wouldnt stop there, his tinkering would spread like a virus to all other parts of the code and cause them to go wrong as well.

Elven high magic is not immune to decay, the warping of mythals over time or when hit by yugoloths or undead etc show that it is quite susceptible to change in unexpected ways.

---

quote:

---

Originally posted by Delnyn

The moonblades had the same high magic ritual that gave them all the same judgement powers and ability to gain customized powers accordingly to the wielder. That does not mean the blades were in constant contact with each other after the ritual concluded and the individual blades bonded with their wielders. In fact, gaining customized powers according to the elf wielding a moonblade would suggest the moonblades operated independently of each other once the initial ritual concluded.

Of course Moander would gladly have corrupted any and all moonblades given a chance. If Gary Dallison's claim that Moander indeed corrupted all moonblades were true, then why hadn't at least one non-Starym house detected something, well, off about their own blade.

So applying Occam's Razor, I claim Moander corrupted only the Starym moonblade and no other moonblade during Ilitran's encounter. If another elf from another house wielding another moonblade approached Moander, that is certainly possible, but we have no evidence.

---