Castle Avalon copies Camelot

“Lord Camelot,” I affirmed. “A shield that can deploy a barrier, embodying the impenetrable walls of Camelot. It won’t be…quite the same. It’s an imitation, so it would be less…potent. Less real. If, um, you think of the original as a solid structure, then the imitation would be hollow.”

Hence why Lung, who had been borrowing the concept, the idea of a dragon by taking its shape, had been enough of a dragon to be weakened by Balmung, but not so much of one that he’d been as powerful as the real deal.

“Hollow?” asked Piggot.

How to explain it? Papier mâché wasn’t really a good metaphor, since it implied fragility, and even as an imitation, Lord Camelot would be anything but fragile. Casting a metal frame wasn’t that great a comparison, either, but maybe…

“Think of the spell like a steel mold,” I said, “and the walls of my castle like ceramic blocks put inside it. Yes, the imitation is weaker, but with the castle walls to act as support to fill in the holes —”

“It can take impacts that would otherwise break it,” said Armsmaster, realizing where I was going. “The underlying structure allows attacks to dissipate in ways they wouldn’t if it were completely hollow.”

I nodded.

“Exactly. Any deficiencies inherent in the imitation being an imitation are made up for by Castle Avalon bolstering it. It’s still probably weaker than the original, but not as much so.”