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Post by srehtorc on Sept 2, 2014 14:26:57 GMT
A few questions that have been niggling at the back of my mind:
1. In the New Order series, there is a reference to Kai Battle Armour- Do the Kai have a set provision of armour for times of war? (I'm guessing it would be padded armour, mail waistcoat, helmet and bracers) or does each Kai Lord equip himself as he sees fit?
2. Is there much information about Korlinium? Is it widely used? Is it a rare substance with only a few known veins across Magnamund? Is there a reason it is used (such as for example being easier to enchant)?
3. Could Lone Wolf make Lorestone-type artefacts himself? Perhaps as a back-up plan in case the Kai are somehow decimated again
4. Do Grand Masters eschew mundane armour purely to facilitate magic? Would a GM who has yet to learn either of the Magic schools be likely to use armour as there's no reason for him not to as of yet?
5. Would New Order Kai Lords and Magnakai learn lower-tier disciplines of (for example) Bardsmanship or Old Kingdom Magic? Or Is it something they would only be taught as Grand Masters?
6. Are their any names given for the New Order Grand Masters other than Lone Wolf and the NKO PC? Personality profiles?
7. Would the number of New Order Grand Masters have anything to do with the prosperity that the Moonstone created for Sommerlund?
I apologise for the number of questions (especially as some may seem trivial) but my imagination can really run away with me at times, and I have a fascination with the NKO-era, made stronger by an interest in running RPG campaigns set at many different points of the Magnamund timeline
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Post by outspaced on Sept 6, 2014 9:33:05 GMT
Hmm, no one has responded to this yet? I guess I'll wade in with a few opinions myself, then! First off, welcome to the forum! It's good that new people are still dropping by even after ten years.So here's a few comments on your questions. Bear in mind that I'm basing them on the gamebooks and my own opinions; I'm not too conversant with materials in the more recent RPG books. 1) It seems as though the armour is a set 'uniform' (see here where the Grand Master is directed to change into mufti. Why remove the armour if it was just piecemeal and down to the individual's discretion? The battle-armour must be stylised and be specific for the Kai. 2) Korlinium is strange because it is used in many magical contraptions and weapons (e.g. Arrow of Atonement) and is 'the rarest of minerals (see here) and apparently does not corrode easily or quickly (see here); but it also shields any magical item (e.g. see here, and also the Korlinium Scabbard). It is so rare that a device for measuring the oscillation of Korlinium crystals is used to find the Lorestone in the Danarg (see here). But that's really all we know about it! 3) Good question. Lone Wolf can certainly forge new Kai Weapons of power; but he's not Nyxator (yet...?) so I'd say that he can't recreate the Lorestones as he lacks both the power and the wisdom right now (by the end of Book 28). 4) I don't think it's the magic; Magnamund doesn't necessarily conform to the D&D universe! It seems more that, as monks and rangers, the Kai prefer to avoid armour because it restricts their movement; but only once they've become deadly and tough enough to be able to avoid wearing it--that's why low-level Kai would wear padded leather or chainmail waistcoats. 5) There's no clear information on this, but if you want an opinion? I'd say that the basics of skills of the four 'new' Disciplines at Grand Master level are covered in the existing Magnakai Disciplines. It's only at the advanced Grand Master level that these skills are split into separate fields of study. 6) See here. As for personalities, I guess they can be extrapolated from their Kai names. 7) There's no clear information on this, though there may be some truth to the idea. On the other hand, Book 29, set a couple of decades after Book 28, will see a new Kai Monastery being constructed in Telchos, so it is likely that the defeat of the Darklords and Naar's other champions have swung the pendulum in the favour of Good, so those who oppose Naar are prospering. Phew! Hope it helps!
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Post by srehtorc on Sept 14, 2014 6:16:32 GMT
Thanks for your reply, oustspaced!
Regarding Korlinium I had missed that it's the mineral itself that is hard to detect; I had assumed that the difficulty in detecting items such as the scabbard was an enchantment placed upon the scabbard, a sort of obfuscation enchantment- I had assumed that the main advantage of Korlinium was it was somehow easy to enchant (something like silver in folklore).
As you can probably gather from some of my questions, I do have a fascination for the NKO years and see more opportunities during that era than 5000MS when GMing the LW RPG titles. I also have an interest in the early generations of the Kai Order, but answers are easier to find on that count.
Your answers have indeed helped, so thank you again!
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Post by Texan Kai on Sept 15, 2014 7:27:41 GMT
My two cents: 1. The Old Order certainly had a supply of armor: the map of the Kai Monastery in the Magnamund Companion shows an armory on the ground level next to the kitchens and marshaling room. Now, wearing armor isn't like throwing on a shirt and going to work in the morning: people require special training in how to equip, maintain, and fight in armor, especially the heavier kinds. As Lone Wolf is proficient in the use of the armor shown in the game (mainly forms of leather and chain mail), it should be safe to assume that the Kai Lords received training in how to properly use those kinds of armor for their missions. It is very unlikely that Kai Lords used anything heavier than mail: Kai are in essence elite light infantry when they are not serving as leaders, so plate mail would be improper for the majority of their missions. In the iPhone game (set during the Kai series, so it is before he gets access to his Magnakai martial training), Lone Wolf can wear "Kai Plate," which is not the full plate that the Knights of the Realm or Knights of the White Mountain would typically use: Lone Wolf's plate in the iPhone game is more of a breastplate with metal guards that protect his shoulders, limbs, and other sensitive areas of his body with mail and leather padding underneath the main armor. It is possible that such armor would be crafted of enchanted or lightweight metal rather than mundane steel for Lone Wolf's missions in the game, given the complex combat maneuvers Lone Wolf performs in the game. 2. Korlinium is seen only a few times in the game, and never does Lone Wolf encounter large veins of the material. When seen, Korlinium is normally in a highly valuable and small form: the Korlinium Scabbard and the Lorestone shells serve as good examples, and the Korlinium spire at the Temple of Ohrido appears to be the largest single item of the mineral that Lone Wolf encounters. It is possible that Korlinium does not occur naturally in Magnamund and must be artificially and painstakingly crafted through magical sources (similar to synthetic elements in chemistry). It is worth noting that both the Korlinium Scabbard and the Korlinium Spire both come from the Elder Magi, so it is possible that the Elder Magi alone possess the knowledge to refine Korlinium into items. The Lone Wolf wiki says that Korlinium is "the rarest of the minerals on Magnamund." but there is no other information or citation. 3. Lone Wolf does not appear to have that ability yet. 4. The Kai Lords aren't mages primarily. That's what the Elder Magi, Brotherhood of the Crystal Star, and other orders are for. 5. Interesting thought, but there aren't any canon sources to support that yet. I'd assume that Lone Wolf would expect the New Order Kai to master their Kai skills first before they sidetracked into learning other skills. Remember, Banedon and Lord Rimoah personally tutored Lone Wolf in those abilities, and only after the Darklords were destroyed and Lone Wolf had the time after he become a Grand Master. While Banedon assists Lone Wolf in training the New Order Grand Master with elementary spells of Kai-Alchemy, Banedon and Rimoah have their own major responsibilities in Sommerlund and Dessi and probably won't be on call to train New Order Kai Lords. I would guess that Lone Wolf would save such training for the most qualified of his Grand Masters, rather than have Kai-Alchemy and Magi-Magic be part of the curriculum at the Kai Monastery. I like to think of it as post-graduate Kai studies. 6. outspaced covered that pretty well, so I'll defer 7. Probably not beyond what you'd expect from Kai Lords during peacetime: helping keep the peace, aiding people in need, doing missions around the realm, that sort of thing. The "Story So Far" in the Voyage of the Moonstone makes it clear that it was the Moonstone that was primarily responsible for the unusual bounty and fertility in Sommerlund.
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Post by Rusty Radiator on Feb 9, 2015 2:00:05 GMT
On 7- it's the only plausible explanation for why the NO GM develops into a GM at such a freakishly fast rate (compared to Lonewolf, say....).
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