Talk:Ilbratha

Obviously, I wrote this as featured article bait. :) When Eli the Tanner said an item would be nice to have in the queue, I tried to think of some famous items of the Realms and thought one of the classic magic swords would be nice. I hunted around for one with sufficient history, images, and a good range of sources, and got lucky on Ilbratha, one I'd worked on a bit before as it intersected with the Vast.

I expanded a lot on Fw190a8 and an anon user's work. I'm afraid adding so much meant I had to rewrite a lot, but I preserved it wherever possible (I colour-code my work to do so).

The problem with writing a detailed history of an item is that it doesn't do so much on its known, just follows someone else on their exploits and is occasionally used. So, I focused a bit of Azoun I's military campaign. This seems fair for the Mistress of Battles. I invite someone who's read The Sea Devil's Eye to expand on the bit about the mermaid warrior Princess Jian. Else, I'll try to expand on the underwater history later.

I'll fill in the infobox when I've finished updating the Item template. — BadCatMan (talk) 14:39, September 12, 2014 (UTC)


 * Thanks for the polish, Moviesign. A few words I missed (I can't spellcheck around the wiki code, unfortunately), though I prefer four-digit numbers without commas myself. :)
 * You said "helve is for handles, fuller is the groove down the side of the blade. How does a sword have a left face?" Good point, I wasn't sure what a 'helve' was. The descriptions (in Dragon #74, The Magister, and Sea of Fallen Stars) say quite specifically "with a row of six matched bloodstones set into the helve of the blade on its left face." However, every depiction puts them clearly on the fuller. Except for the original in Dragon #74, which puts them on the hilt. I had skipped that image owing to the difference and it wasn't very good, but I'll include it for clarity and add a note as to the error. I think we should go with fuller, as the most recent source doesn't mention "helve" but goes with the common depiction of the stone on the blade.
 * As for a left face... I imagine a right-handed wielder wouldn't hold it with six bloodstones pressing into their palm, so they'd have to hold the sword with the stones facing to the left. Poor design, really. :) — BadCatMan (talk) 06:20, September 15, 2014 (UTC)


 * You can switch the numbers back if you wish. I thought I remembered a discussion we had somewhere about confusing 4-digit numbers with dates and chose to use the comma separator for non-dates, but I don't feel strongly about it either way, as long as the context makes it clear.
 * Helve makes slightly more sense from a wear-and-tear perspective&mdash;one good hit on a bloodstone would shatter it, I would think. Okay, magically protected yadda yadda, but still. I think the artist just didn't like having to draw the stones small enough to fit on the hilt, so they put them on the fuller to be more impressive. :D &mdash;Moviesign (talk) 13:03, September 15, 2014 (UTC)