Re: Janny Wurts: Are the Koriathain misguided, corrupted or evil
Agreed, Dek, and I should have been more specific. Wasn't going for "damage" to the quartz itself, really, something more along the lines of Pro's tv static depiction when it comes to spells cast with (thru?) brine-misted quartz. Considering the preparation/concentration JW describes when Koriani cast spells, was thinking that interference caused by salt on the crystals could have undesirable consequences for the spell.
The picture I get on the crystals themselves are that they are predominantly a channel, but can be a cache for the some aspects of the magic (e.g, the Waystone, Skyron, etc.).
Stormed Fortress aside (one week, tick tick tick!), doesn't Janny usually talk about the quartz as a focus? Also, while I still have to stay away from the
SF thread on her site (grrr!), it looks like she may have dropped a hint to the question here: When a fan asked about how objects are used for magical purposes, she replied "...[FONT=Times New Roman, Verdana,Arial,Helvetica]
but the "objects" are only focuses to hold place for a concept - not powerful in and of themselves." Hmmmm. [/FONT]