Ok, we've got Greyswandir, Werewindle, and Bley's Golden Sword.
Are there any others in the canon? Any others that might be pattern swords?
Why would these three princes in particular (Corwin, Brand, and Bleys) have them, and no one else? What is the connection to each other?
RPGPundit
Well, Corwin is the 'hero' so he has the day blade. Brand is the 'antagonist' so he has the night blade (or was it referred to as the moon blade? I can't remember). Bley's is the neutral party in the middle. I think that Bleys' sword was gold only because he was the flashy show-off prince.
I've always imagined it that it was a play on roles. The good, the bad and the indifferent.
Quote from: Crimson;217573Well, Corwin is the 'hero' so he has the day blade. Brand is the 'antagonist' so he has the night blade (or was it referred to as the moon blade? I can't remember). Bley's is the neutral party in the middle. I think that Bleys' sword was gold only because he was the flashy show-off prince.
I've always imagined it that it was a play on roles. The good, the bad and the indifferent.
Actually, Grayswandir(Corwin) is the Night Blade; Werewindle(Brand) is the Day Blade. Based on the short stories, the Pattern Blades were Spikards.
Oh! Right. I always get those backwards.
I know it may not be canon, but I usually give Oberon's sword similarities with Pattern Sword, if not make it a Pattern Sword outright.
Can someone point out the passage in Zelazny's work that brings up Bleys' sword as a potential pattern sword? I'm not questioning it (I usually rule for him to have one as well) but I forget where it is suggested...
Do the short stories (which, believe it or not I never read (aside from the Salesman's Tale)) suggest why or how Corwin and Brand ended up with their respective swords?
RPGPundit
Quote from: RPGPundit;217699Do the short stories (which, believe it or not I never read (aside from the Salesman's Tale)) suggest why or how Corwin and Brand ended up with their respective swords?
RPGPundit
Nope, although they do provide a bit more background (the whole spikard thing).
Given the impications that the swords may have been in some way the inspiration for the actual design of the pattern, you might assume that those swords, and perhaps any otrs like them, were kept by Oberon following the creation of the pattern. We know that Corwin and Brand were both frequent favourites of their fathr, and it's not hard to imagine that he was also fond of Bleys (the smarmy bugger had everyone eating out of his hand). Oberon may have made a gift of those swords to his favoured sons as both a sign of affection and a deliberate snub to the kids like Eric who never got one.
Alternatively, it might be the case that all of the older sons of Oberon received such a sword until he ran out, so younger children like Random didn't receive one, but Benedict, Eric, Corwin, Bleys and Brand all did. This would leave several such swords apparently unaccounted for.
I guess that's possible; Eric did have a silver saber, didn't he?
RPGPundit
I believe Bleys' sword is at one point described as having a tracery of the Pattern on it.
Yes, as mentioned in the original post.
Alright, I'll go look it up... I thought you guys knew everything by heart and could reference page numbers, no less!
;)
I'll report results a bit later when I found where it's mentioned.
I have always assumes that there are 3 pattern sword as there are 3 patterns... Amber, Tir and Rebma . Amber woudl be Werewindle, Tir would be Greyswandir, Bley's sword ought to come from Rebma.
In my games I nearly always introduce pattern swords as a theme and dish them out to favoured PCs / NPCs I usually have 8 but then I tend to have 8 shadows adjacent to the Primal Pattern.
Each one another aspect Night, Day, Truth, Magic, Despire , Hope etc etc
Then I might through in a master blade described on the Primal Pattern, you know one blade to rule them all and in the darkness bind them
I don't remember the pattern swords. What do they do, other than saw through tin cans and remain sharp enough for tomatoes?
Seanchai
Quote from: Seanchai;218703I don't remember the pattern swords. What do they do, other than saw through tin cans and remain sharp enough for tomatoes?
Seanchai
That and catching Chaosian blood on fire. Chaos creatures are allergic to Pattern, so as far as we know that's all they do.
The fact that they once were spikards adds a lot of speculative material to the mix, as in that they can potentially accomplish things a standard spikard could. Other than their spikard origin and Pattern bearing killing potential of chaosians, the books and short stories don't go into further detail.
Oh, and they can travel through Shadow and can be reached by trump (I believe Rinaldo reached Werewindle via his father Brand's trump...), so it may imply sentience of some sort...
Quote from: Nihilistic Mind;218709That and catching Chaosian blood on fire. Chaos creatures are allergic to Pattern, so as far as we know that's all they do.
The second series with Merlin strongly suggests that chaos blood is naturally prone to flaming whether cut with a pattern blade or otherwise. It's possible that this effect is dependant on a degree of agitation, which Greyswandir might provide, but chaos blood can flame quite happily if you cut a chaosite with a blunt pen knife.
Quote from: Nihilistic Mind;218709That and catching Chaosian blood on fire. Chaos creatures are allergic to Pattern, so as far as we know that's all they do.
Cool. I do remember that from the old books now that you mention it.
What about spikards? Did they have something to do with the Keep? What can they do?
Seanchai
Quote from: Trevelyan;218814The second series with Merlin strongly suggests that chaos blood is naturally prone to flaming whether cut with a pattern blade or otherwise. It's possible that this effect is dependant on a degree of agitation, which Greyswandir might provide, but chaos blood can flame quite happily if you cut a chaosite with a blunt pen knife.
Wait, Merlin Series is canon? XD
Nah, I'm totally kidding. Honestly, I don't know why I thought it was a Grayswandir effect rather than a Chaos Blood effect... Perhaps because the ADRP has Pattern Swords as high damage weapons (against Chaos creatures), but still, the novels should be the prime thing to look at when analyzing things as canon...
It's possible the Pattern Sword make the Chaos Blood easier to flare, forcing to spew out of the victim...
And by the way, has anyone thought of an equivalent to a Pattern Sword for Chaos. Logrus Swords also based upon spikards, perhaps?
Well, we've got the logrus items created when asseying the logrus. Frakir, mandor's spheres... An interesting is that, according to the novels, such items should be fairly common amongst chaos lords, as it is the custom to bear an item while traversing the logrus, so that it gets enchanted by its powers.
Quote from: Croaker;218913Well, we've got the logrus items created when asseying the logrus. Frakir, mandor's spheres... An interesting is that, according to the novels, such items should be fairly common amongst chaos lords, as it is the custom to bear an item while traversing the logrus, so that it gets enchanted by its powers.
True, although not spikard based or truly Logrus bearing the way the Pattern Swords are designed.
Again, unrelated and I apologize for it, but what do you think would happen to Frakir if Merlin dies? Or Mandor's orbs if HE dies?
Is there a big list of inherited items passing through generations of chaosians? If so, by now there would be a huge amount of such items passing hands through 'chaos-powered antiquities collectors' (now THAT's a campaign idea for ya!)...
Or, they could be shoved into the abyss with the corpse of the owner when they die...
IMO, they just go on. They're logrus-empowered, not user-empowered.
And I like the idea of the (Unspeakable) Vault of Doom.
Nonetheless, as such items are attuned to their possessor, they may be useless for someone else: Mandor's spheres may retain their abilities, but be unable to be used by someone (unless he takes a lot of time to attune himself to it?). Or, frakir-like, they may have no emotionnal ties/compulsion to obey and serve someone, but may choose to do so.
Quote from: Croaker;219173IMO, they just go on. They're logrus-empowered, not user-empowered.
And I like the idea of the (Unspeakable) Vault of Doom.
Nonetheless, as such items are attuned to their possessor, they may be useless for someone else: Mandor's spheres may retain their abilities, but be unable to be used by someone (unless he takes a lot of time to attune himself to it?). Or, frakir-like, they may have no emotionnal ties/compulsion to obey and serve someone, but may choose to do so.
I've played around with this idea myself.
There are really several different types of items empowered by the Logrus. Mandor seems to use his balls to assist with spontaneous spell casting and to perform a variety of other direct functions (demolition, for example). Mandor's balls are consistent with Suhuy's comment to Merlin in the prologue to Trumps of Doom about creating a "brace" for his magic. In contrast, Merlin never uses Frakir to cast a spell, and Frakir itself appears far more sentient and independant than Mandor's balls (Frakir is even the narrator of oneof the short stories.
Frakir seems to be able to act quite happily without Merlin, although given that much of Frakir's individuality seems to have been the result of additional enhancement by the power that be, the cord might be an exception to the general rule. Most Logrus imbued items are probably heavily dependant on their creators, though, and I would imagine that they would either fall dormant shortly after their creator's death, or else be so highly individual that they would be of little use to anyone else.
The idea that I enjoyed was that someone walking the Logrus never knows exactly what powers a fresh item might develop. Presumably the powers are somehow inspired by the personality of the individual, but that's far frmo a safe thing. In contrast, certain dormant items might have obvious or well recorded powers which could be reawakened and attuned to a new wielder by taking them through the Logrus.
I envisaged a number of hereditary swords and similar items which had been taken through the Logrus by so many successive generations that they had significantly increased in power and picked up any number of additional abilities. Some such items might be the property of the crown (perhaps a new king must reattune the crown and scepter of office) or significant noble houses (the sword of Hendrake), while others might be the property of hidden conspiracies (the dagger which has slain fifteen princes of chaos in the hands of fifteen different assassins). Any number of such singular items could be waiting in some long forgotten ways or out in shadow, and they might have the ability to influence the minds of any weak shadow dweller who finds them and starts using them, drawing the wielder back to Chaos, amnipulating the actions of the seemingly harmless shadow creature and seeking in their own twisted ways to further the causes to which they are dedicated.
The moment you asked why those 3 and only those 3 had pattern blades, the followin answer popped into my head:
Corwin is oberons' favored child ( or so oberon and corwin claim in the books), and brand and bleys are the 2 princes who spent the most time with dworkin. That makes one wodner if fiona ( the other of dworkin's favorites0 got a apttern sword, or if only sons get swords. Mabe bleys and brand got pattern swords and fiona got jewelry ( probably spikard jewelry :P ).
Personally, I think that there are only two Pattern swords. Greyswandir and Werewindle. Either Bleys sword isn't a Pattern sword or the sword Corwin saw Bleys with was in fact Werewindle and Bleys had taken it from Brand when he and Fiona had him imprisioned.
We know they used to be Spikards. Werewindle used to be the Spikard Rawg. (Which is the only spikard we have a name for). As a Spikard Werewindle can draw upon nearly unlimited power for an attack. Luke did this in 'Coming to a Cord.' He drew power into Werewindle and Werewindle burned up parts of the demon Luke was fighting every time Luke touched it with Werewindle. Frakir said that Werewindle could probably draw on enough power to destroy a planet.
I've read in a few places (not in the books) that Roger Zelzany stated that the image of the Pattern was placed on those Spikards to protect the Pattern from them. It's my understanding that Dworkin had possession of Rawg and the Spikard that became Greyswandir when he drew the Primal Pattern. He used them to help protect him from the forces of Chaos while he was creating the Primal Pattern. The Pattern uses the power of those two Spikard to make two extra reflections of itself during its creation, these reflections of course are Rebma and Tir-Na Nog'th. This is why Greyswandir has power in Tir and we can assume Werewindle has some power in Rebma. The Pattern turned the two Spikards into swords during this process.
Oberon told Corwin in Hall of Miriors that he would need the power of Greyswandir to protect him from "the odd-ball powers of someone like Jurt." Going off of this comment, in my games, I've always given Greyswandir and Werewindle the power to protect their owners from Sorcery. Which also helps to explain why we don't see as much Sorcery in the Corwin books as in the Merlin books; No one with real power was dumb enough to try using Sorcery on Corwin. Even Brand never tried to directly use Sorcery on Corwin.
We also know that, Werewindle (which probably means Greyswandir as well) has some intelligence. Werewindle actually spoke to Luke in 'A Salesman's Tale.'
Dara also said that the Tools (Spikards) "are stronger than mortal sorcery."
Shoby187
Quote from: Sargon;222066Mabe bleys and brand got pattern swords and fiona got jewelry ( probably spikard jewelry :P ).
She has that nifty mirror in Merlin's series... :)
In any case, what Shoby187 says about Bleys' sword being Brand's when it was taken from him makes a lot of sense. Logically, Werewindle would have wanted to return to Brand, but Bleys could have prevented that by keeping it near and preventing its abilities somehow...
Perhaps two Pattern Swords are enough... ;)
Okay this is from the last Amber Campaign I ran and was given to a character with Advanced Pattern that wanted knowledge of Pattern Blades. Worth noting in my Campaigns I never havd the elder Amberites aside from Dworkin and Oberon. Also worth noting that Dworkin is nuts and so rarely speaks in plain language.
It would have been hundreds of years ago now the details of dates do not matter overmuch in any case. Sequence and order, stress and balance they are most important in this matter. Time to an Amberite is a relative phenomena more so than even dear old Albert could have guessed. Dworkin, mentor and patient teacher. Prone to ravings and mood swings? Yes, that was the Barimen way, but in contrast the outpourings of wisdom from Dworkin’s lips could be likened to drops of golden nectar from blossoming summer flowers.
For it was he who had shown you secrets not available to the rest of your kin. You remembered when he was less elusive than he has been of late, just after the creation of the Sanctum; you were in his company much then.
“Young Cornelius, what a question, it was very difficult back then in the beginning I had so many enemies, so many. How did I triumph? I created swords… precocious master, swords, swords of the Pattern. The ‘pattern swords’, you can call them that if you wish. Yes… they still exist. I created them during my initial wanderings, when I explored the fresh shadows of my design, for the pattern was static, defensive and primal. But I needed a vessel with which to carry the fight to the enemy, I needed to offend chaos, I needed the Pattern swords, my venom, my teeth. The fringes of shadow, the edges of oblivion needed championing too. There were eight swords, one for each of the primary pattern shadows. Yes of course you knew that the Pattern in Amber is just one of the images created by the Primal Pattern as it etches it’s uniformity upon the echoing realms of Chaos. First of these is the Pattern known to all Amberites. You refer to it as The Pattern, but in truth it is the Pattern of Knowledge. It is the truest reflection of my clarity of purpose when I carved order from the bottomless void. Of the other seven shadows two are well known. The Patterns of Remba and Tir-na nog’th were impossible to conceal. They are the Patterns of Sorrow and the Pattern of Dreams. You must remember that I could not know the full extent of my actions when I drew out the Primal Pattern I never knew that my own personality would be refracted in the shadows that spilled from it.
“So then I see you are eager to learn of the other patterns and indeed you should for I see that you will be the guardian of the Pattern in time to come and into your trust will Order and Creation be placed. I will name them then; the Pattern of Stone; the Pattern of Truth; the Pattern of Fire; the Pattern of Destiny and the Pattern of Balance. Each exists a shadow’s breath from the Primal Pattern but only a master can manipulate shadow this close to the Source. It is a skill you will learn in time.
“As I say the pattern was a defensive force static and unmoving and I needed to silence my critics who would smite my work asunder before it had even begun. I forged eight swords and sought to create eight Champions to bear them. The latter I fear was a feat that still eludes me and that I trusted to your father Oberon. The first, from the Pattern of Knowledge was Solace and this is born by Oberon himself. Then came Shallowkiss the Sword of Sorrow born by Arden, then Werewindle the Sword of Fire born by Serge and lost to shadow as he was. Then came Arkmight the Sword of Stone born by Ernaux, then Chrysaor the sword of truth, that is also called Axiom, given to Lysander. The remaining three swords were too valuable to risk and when Serge disappeared into shadow I hid them or disguised their true purpose. Greyswandir the blade of Dreams, Jerubal the Blade of Destiny and Pelagrim the Ash blade the Sword of Balance. One of the purposes of the Sanctum was to identify the eight wardens that would emerge as Champions of Order, but the time has not yet come.’ And he could not be drawn any more. As he turned away, you could not help but ask the question that formed unbidden in your mind... “A ninth sword you say, the Primal Blade…” answered Dworkin, and he just smiled.
Dworkin had lit a bright fire in your belly, you dedicated yourself to the study of the Pattern, and your skill increased measure by measure with your dedication. There was a primal Pattern you knew that now; the source of Amber and order.. Of the other Patterns, the Rebman Pattern, the Pattern of Sorrow, was often closed. Rebma was a ‘sea’ of political intrigue and best avoided, or at least so went the instructions of Oberon. There was the Pattern of Dreams, but Tir Na Nog’th was vague and intranssient. You soon despaired of its contrariness and confined your study to The Great Pattern, located in the dungeons of Amber. And you learnt much.
But the way was not easy, so often when it seemed you were on the verge of a breakthrough, Oberon would summon you for some task or other. But there was one other occasion of revelation still to come; a time when you managed to corner Dworkin again. It occurred soon after the self imposed exile of Prospero, who had tended to monopolise Dworkin’s time with his paintings and sculptures.
You talked once more of swords and their making,
“He who would forge Pattern swords, must find a Pattern susceptible to his level of power, the primal pattern is beyond even I but to each according to his ability”, Dworkin hinted. You were about to press him further but he was following a train of thought and from experience you knew it was best not to interrupt such moments of plain lucidity. “The swords are forged in the centre of the power, the centre of Order, cut from the pattern with the instrument of their design and tempered with the blood of the chosen. The process is arduous and draining, but in matters to thwart the Serpent, this is often the way of the world…” and with that he would speak no more on the matter.
Quote from: Shoby187;227576I've read in a few places (not in the books) that Roger Zelzany stated that the image of the Pattern was placed on those Spikards to protect the Pattern from them. It's my understanding that Dworkin had possession of Rawg and the Spikard that became Greyswandir when he drew the Primal Pattern. He used them to help protect him from the forces of Chaos while he was creating the Primal Pattern. The Pattern uses the power of those two Spikard to make two extra reflections of itself during its creation, these reflections of course are Rebma and Tir-Na Nog'th. This is why Greyswandir has power in Tir and we can assume Werewindle has some power in Rebma. The Pattern turned the two Spikards into swords during this process.
Oberon told Corwin in Hall of Miriors that he would need the power of Greyswandir to protect him from "the odd-ball powers of someone like Jurt." Going off of this comment, in my games, I've always given Greyswandir and Werewindle the power to protect their owners from Sorcery. Which also helps to explain why we don't see as much Sorcery in the Corwin books as in the Merlin books; No one with real power was dumb enough to try using Sorcery on Corwin. Even Brand never tried to directly use Sorcery on Corwin. Shoby187
That's really interesting--can you recall the citations for any of those Zelazny sources? More generally, are there good resources (interviews, essays, notes, seances, etc) to be had in which he outlines his Amber vision beyond what appears in the ten books and five short stories? One that I hadn't thought of is The Black Road War introduction, which someone mentioned in another thread about dead or missing royals. I actually didn't know about the short stories until quite recently and now every time a new Zelazny-Amber nugget surfaces it's like finding a $50 bill wedged between my couch cushions.
By the way, Shoby187, in the quote above do you mean that you heard just that first line and everything that follows is your extrapolation or does Zelazny suggest the whole ball of wax? It sounds really good either way, I'm just curious...
The only thing I have to add re: the Spikards / Pattern Swords issue is that in the short story Hall of Mirrors Corwin gives Luke some more background on the Spikards, explaining: "Back in the early days of creation, the gods had a series of rings their champions used in the stabilization of Shadow." If that's not intriguing I don't know what is.
Yeah really, what "gods" is Corwin even talking about? And "stabilization of shadow"??
Isn't that what creating the Pattern did??
RPGPundit
But with the Spikards pre-dating Pattern, we can imagine that stabilization means something other than Order.
Hmm, very intriguing!
Quote from: RPGPundit;231299Yeah really, what "gods" is Corwin even talking about? And "stabilization of shadow"??
Isn't that what creating the Pattern did??
RPGPundit
Yes indeed, but if the Spikards pre-date the Pattern then that may mean that they were the things primarily involved in "shadow stabilization" until the Pattern came along and replaced them, in which case there may be a lot of unneeded gods wandering around unemployed with some big axes to grind...
Quote from: weilide;231071That's really interesting--can you recall the citations for any of those Zelazny sources? More generally, are there good resources (interviews, essays, notes, seances, etc) to be had in which he outlines his Amber vision beyond what appears in the ten books and five short stories? One that I hadn't thought of is The Black Road War introduction, which someone mentioned in another thread about dead or missing royals. I actually didn't know about the short stories until quite recently and now every time a new Zelazny-Amber nugget surfaces it's like finding a $50 bill wedged between my couch cushions.
By the way, Shoby187, in the quote above do you mean that you heard just that first line and everything that follows is your extrapolation or does Zelazny suggest the whole ball of wax? It sounds really good either way, I'm just curious...
The only thing I have to add re: the Spikards / Pattern Swords issue is that in the short story Hall of Mirrors Corwin gives Luke some more background on the Spikards, explaining: "Back in the early days of creation, the gods had a series of rings their champions used in the stabilization of Shadow." If that's not intriguing I don't know what is.
Well, I read an interview a long time ago (like 12 years ago) in some little sci-fi magazine where Zelazny talked about the Pattern swords. I think that's where I read that they were part of the creation of Tir and Rebma. I know the part about the pattern putting its image on them to protect it from them is pretty well known but I don't know where it comes from. I've seen people quote that part in some of the Amberzine's out there.
The one thing I remember for sure from that magazine is that Zelzany said that Amberites cannot conceive children near the Pattern. It's why they all have so few children. They have to leave Amber in order to have kids.
Man I wish I could remember which magazine it was that I read. It was something like Science Fiction Monthly! It was a small little magazine, one of those thin magazines about a quarter the size of something like Popular Mechanics.
Quote from: RPGPundit;231299Yeah really, what "gods" is Corwin even talking about? And "stabilization of shadow"??
Isn't that what creating the Pattern did??
Most of the times when I run Amber is has to do with these ideas.
In my games, before the Pattern the shadows were murky, ever changing, but could be stabilized by expending a great deal of energy in order to keep the area from changing. This is what the spikards were created for. The energy required is more then any living creature could safely control so the spikards were used to tap into all of the various power sources they had access to and direct the energies.
The Gods in my games are ancient beings like the Aes Sidhe, Tuatha De Danna, Odin, etc. They were creatures of powerful magic. Before the Pattern the Shadows were their playground. When the Pattern was drawn it smothered most magic out in shadow which is why things are always so fantastic in legends but more mundane now. Many of the Gods died, were forced into Slumber or even Imprisoned when the Pattern was drawn and changed the shadows.
I once ran a game where Oberon had long ago imprisoned most of the gods within an area of shadow surrounded by an ever present mist. The mist blocked all trumps and magic. Think of it like the Trogoliths but in mist form. The Gods could not escape, (I think I had Delwin and Sand trapped within those lands as well). After Oberons death however the mists started to fade since they were his creation, a work of his power over Pattern. The Gods began escaping and different faction within them had to decide how they would approach these new shadows.
The Fight between Greyswandir and Werewindle in Hall of Mirrors was a contest between those two to decide who's side they would take when the Gods became free. Greyswandir wanted to side with their old masters, but Werewindle wanted to side with Amber. Werewindle won the contest (his wound to Corwin was worse then Greyswandirs to Luke) so the Pattern swords would fight for Amber.
Eventually the players aided one faction of the Gods and convinced them to sign a treaty with Amber.
That's great!
Quote from: RPGPundit;231299Yeah really, what "gods" is Corwin even talking about?
Who can tell? But perhaps they were ancient magical beings of the same breed as the unicorn and the serpent. Or maybe they were localised deities given unlimited power in their home shadows but unable to leave that shadow , or perhaps unable to leave those shadows immeidately adjacent. An enterprising sorcerer or shadow walker might offer such a creature limited access to other shadows in exchange for some say in how that creature's power was to be used. Perhaps the Spikards are a ticking time bomb, and each time someone uses them they increase the risk that some unknowable evil that makes Cthulhu look like a pussy cat will break free from it's bonds in shadow and escape through the apature that opens when the spikard calls on its power.
QuoteAnd "stabilization of shadow"?? Isn't that what creating the Pattern did??
But the Spikards predate Amber and the Pattern, yet do not predate the Logrus. Perhaps they were needed to create some stability amidst chaos in the days before the Patern was enscribed.
Based on the principles of sorcerous lynchpins and chaos magic, each spikard was tied to a number of sources across shadow, each with the power to be self sustaining (hence gods and similar) and so provide constant energy. The effect of the 13 or so spikards, each tied to several dozen power sorces, was to create 13 "webs" of intershadow energy, which collectively provided some sort of "brace" for shadow as a whole - an underlying cross shaodw framework to which other shadows could be secured against the relentless encroach of the abyss.
Such a "web" could not be tied to a given point since that would render the entire structure vulnerable, so instead each "web" was tied to a ring, which could be safely stored in Thelbane beyond the reach of the abyss and moreover could be easily transported or given to a noble family as a sign of the kings favour, or to grant them some power over the region of shadow reinforced by that particular Spikard. Perhaps the magical potential of the spikards was a side effect of this whole exercise, one discovered only significantly after the fact, and many wars were fought throughout shadow as the king tried to recover these potent weapons that he had so carelessly betowed on his potential rivals.
Before the Pattern was inscribed, the deities and similar powers which underlay the netwrok were accorded great honours by the Lords of Chaos in exchange for their continued support in preserving shadow. With the respect and even worship of the forces of Chaos they were considered gods indeed and basked in the praise, respect and even worship that they received. Perhaps the Serpent iutself, ever fickle patron of Chaos, grew jealous of the attention given to these false gods and contrived to loose its own eye at the horn of the Unicorn, thereby paving the way for the creation of the pattern and ultimately rendering the Spikards irrelevant.
For ages the Spikards were little but an elaborate reminder of a far older time, and a source of power for those who held them in secret. As ages past they were lost or hidden and the gods to which they were bound slept. But when Oberon repaired the pattern and unleashed a wave of chaos across shadow the tenuous webs of power bound by the spikards flared once again, holding those shadows closest to Chaos secure until the normal balance was restored. Since then, the old gods and those who wield their power have begun to move once agian, with the ancient gods manipulating those who now hold the spikards in order to bring about the destruction of the Pattern and renew the glories of old.
Certain Spikards have long since been warded to prevent such manipulation, or may even represent the pwoer of gods which prefer the current situation (Greyswandir, perhaps), while others may have remained awake these many aons, constantly seeking the removal of the pattern (Werewindle/others held by Brand), but now the awkening of their brothers has burst through the old wards and activated the networks of the ancient gods that predate the Pattern.