A Vor seal dagger was a dagger that contained, in the hilt, the seal of one of the Barrayaran District Counts. All sixty counts on Barrayar had a seal, and all the countly families had at least one seal dagger.
The standard use of the seal in a dagger was to indicate the provenance of a message – the sender would nick a finger of a hand, then smear the blood on the seal and press the seal onto the message.[1][2]
Miles Vorkosigan inherited a Vor seal dagger from his grandfather that was said to date back 300 years, to the great Count Selig Vorkosigan himself.[3][4] In his early career, he carried it at all times[5], including while on covert ops; later he took to leaving it at home.[6] He often used it as a letter opener, though when particularly angry he was known to fling it at a door.[7][8]
Ivan discovered a box of sixty seal daggers (one for each countly family) in a bunker of Occupation loot; he estimated it to be worth six to ten million Barrayaran marks or Betan dollars.[9]
Notes and references[]
- ↑ The Warrior's Apprentice chapter 16
- ↑ Cryoburn chapter 3
- ↑ Brothers in Arms chapter 7
- ↑ The Warrior's Apprentice chapter 8
- ↑ Brothers in Arms chapters 8,10,14,15
- ↑ Memory chapter 6
- ↑ Memory chapters 7,15
- ↑ A Civil Campaign chapters 11,12
- ↑ Captain Vorpatril's Alliance chapter 21