> Like Pole Star marshalled the sky armies, they marshall the magical
> energies. Each member links his casting to the leader, each follows a
> star path (ie a precise path) around the leader, and each member casts
> his spell simultaneously with the others. This technique requires a
> strict drill to work. It allows to combine the spells (4 spells for
> double effect, 9 for triple effect if the spell was not stackable) and to
> increase the range of 100m per 50 magicians.
> 400 Yelm priests could cast a 80d6 sunspear at 900m.
> The storm walkers were such an unit, before Argrath created the Sartarite
> magical union (since lightning is stackable, it is a 400d6 lightning at
> 900m with 400 Orlanth priests).
>
> Sheng Seleris devised an even nastier trick. He created the magician
> regiments as seen in the boardgame Dragon Pass. He was a shaman, so he
> searched for a special type of spirit. He found a sort of guardian spirit
> who could work as an allied spirit for 500 or so magicians. They cast
> their spell through their agent while they are 40 km away. It is like
> modern artillery.
> When the lunar learned the trick, the war with the nomads turned into a
> bloodbath for both sides.
I thought that, like the old article by Greg stated, the magical "regiments"
really only had 50 or so priests - the remainder was bodyguard, POW sources,
and friends. Having 500+ priests killed in a battle would hurt any cult
in the world. In general, I think that 30-60 priests are the basis of the
magical union. Of course, the Lunars magicians may be different...
Robert McArthur