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For Bruce Payne, who plays Profion's cruel lieutenant and head of the Empires forces Damodar, the opportunity to do all his own swordfights, with a sword that weight a ton, was one of the high points of the game. "I have a great passion for it," he says. "I've done a lot of sword fighting beginning in drama school. It's a very eloquent domain for showing the largesse of a character without the accent being on the aggression. You're actually writing with your sword, and everybody has a different style."

With a little dressing they fit right into the world they were trying to create in Prague. Bruce Payne, who is a student of CELTIC LORE, thinks there may be a reason for that. "Historically," he points out, "a lot of Celtic and Gaelic tribes started here." "Western Bohemia," the name of the Czech province where Prague is located, is derived from the name of the Celtic tribe that first settled in the region.

For the scenes like the final combat between Savina's forces and Profion's, when the sky above Izmer is filled with countless winged dragons battling for the soul of the Empire, actors and director alike had to make a special effort in imagination. "Fantastic!" says Bruce Payne. "Courtney Solomon has great passion for these things and is happy to share it with you. He'll spend time showing you storyboards, or computer visualizations, so you have a whole vision of this world inside you when you step before the cameras. You feel very much included."

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