Category:Magical artifacts

From Glen Cook Wiki

Magical items are not that common in the world of the Black Company, although almost any trained wizard is capable of enchanting an object; One-Eye and Goblin create magical amulets for Croaker and they are fairly minor wizards. In the Northern Empire, Lady strictly limited the use (and presumably production) of magical items, especially among the Taken. In the deep south, Longshadow has a large collection of magic items, mostly collected to keep anyone else from using them.

Magical artifacts generally seem to be constructed for specific purposes. They generally seem to involve layers of enchantments, which may be understood (and sometimes modified) by someone sufficiently skilled. Generally, the more enchantments laid upon an item, the more powerful it is. Goblin once explains to Croaker that a wizard an order of magnitude lower than a major wizard, such as One-Eye, simply needs ten times the amount of time to accomplish something. Indeed, One-Eye succeeds in creating a formidably puissant weapon, which he enchants over several decades.

In contrast to many fictional settings, magical artifacts in the Black Company series don't usually have specific names; if they do, the narrators (especially Croaker) tend to ignore them, describing things by their functions or their appearance instead (e.g. Shefsepoken, which Croaker insists on calling simply "Voroshk clothing").

Most magical items will not work properly if they are physically damaged, and many appear to be no more durable than ordinary objects made of the same materials, with the exception of armor and weapons.