[Cainehill]

It's been posted that Clams, in particular, were a strong component of Atlantis' design (as in, doing away with / tweaking clams would screw Atlantis, so it wasn't going to happen.) That rather conflicts with the "clams and fetishes were made so commanders could have a few gems with them" theory.

In particular since it's pretty easy to take gems (and not clams/fetishes) with armies - either on the commander, or on scouts.

Finally, it seems strange (given that most nations' mages aren't undead and would die from the diseases) to suggest that fever fetishes were meant to reduce micromanagement or allow the commanders to have a few gems with them, since the mage would _DIE_ from disease within a very short period of time.

I suspect the people advancing this theory of what the designers had intended are instead merely pushing their own theory of how the gems should be used.