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Post by skullbearer on Sept 20, 2016 14:39:23 GMT
So, originally the Drakkarim followed the DarkLords because they were the biggest and baddest show around. Which is fair enough for the last few thousand years.
However, in the last 20 years things have... kinda changed. The DarkLords are dead, every major Drakkarim leader is dead, the Drakkarim WAR GOD is dead, and all of them were killed by the same person- a person who Naar himself is frightened to face.
So, I've started wondering- how long until a Drakkar sits up and wonders if they're really on the strongest side there is? They've been getting their asses handed to them pretty regularly recently- maybe it's time for a change.
I'm wondering if there end up being this weird Lone Wolf cult among the Drakkarim.
I'm wondering if the Drakkarim start some weird, twisted version of Kai worship- since Lone Wolf's God MUST be more powerful than Naar with such a champion.
Mostly, I really wonder what would happen if the entire Kai Monastery wakes up one morning and find about ten thousand Drakkarim camped outside going 'yep, we're following you now.'
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Post by asapiens on Sept 23, 2016 4:09:11 GMT
I think since Drakkarim are "bad guys" they will inevitably always lose and be written as losers. It's just the world that they live in, it's fantasy, not reality. Bad Guy = Loser Good guy = Winner. Bad guys are oblivious to the fact that they will always lose in the fantasy lore.
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Post by Nym90 on Sept 23, 2016 20:18:27 GMT
I for one would enjoy seeing a little more nuance in the ethics and moral positioning of some of the races/characters in Lone Wolf; i.e., more of a sliding scale of good vs. bad as opposed to it being so binary. So this would be an interesting twist to introduce in the final books of the series.
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Post by outspaced on Sept 24, 2016 8:20:42 GMT
Erm, hope this isn't a case of "blowing my own trumpet", but I wrote a 200-section Lone Wolf-themed adventure called Dreams of Darkness that was published in issue #14 the free Fighting Fantazine that contains 'nuanced characters' (desperately trying to avoid spoilers). If anyone's interested, it can be downloaded from the website: fightingfantazine.co.uk/back.html
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Post by asapiens on Oct 14, 2016 16:55:03 GMT
Which issue was it?
Edit: found it, *learning to read* lol =P
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Post by kieran on Feb 3, 2017 15:11:18 GMT
That's actually a really cool idea. I could imagine all sorts of scenarios where the new Kai-worshipping Drakkarim clash with the Sommerlending over who are the true believers.
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Post by asapiens on Feb 5, 2017 20:06:42 GMT
Sounds like present day Protestant denominations lol
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Post by GhostofLandar on Sept 11, 2017 1:49:20 GMT
I for one would enjoy seeing a little more nuance in the ethics and moral positioning of some of the races/characters in Lone Wolf; i.e., more of a sliding scale of good vs. bad as opposed to it being so binary. So this would be an interesting twist to introduce in the final books of the series. There is...the Vassagonians are depicted as fairly cruel invaders in Shadow on the Sand for what they did, but it was clear Barraka was acting outside the scope of the Zakhan. Then they killed the Zakhan (or he died at the wrong time) and finally they turned back to the rest of Magnamund after Kimah's death (or at least some time after it.) If you had written a story about Mongols or Magyars or Moors from the perspective of the people being invaded and occupied, I'm sure it would be hard to see anything but cruelty and oppression. And many armies and lords did act in this way, and many of those same lords were courageous, and often noble (Richard the Lionheart.) That's what I liked about the Stornlands, but also some later nations you see, that at any time the same troops following the orders of a noble King or Queen (Evaine!) could be put in service of greedy, ambitious or outright Evil-aligned leaders. I think Joe always drew a distinction between EVIL and evil. All human and even Drodarin races are both and you see the same tragic flaws in them. But the Elder Magi are supposed to be GOOD and the Drakkarim, are humanOID, not actually human and seem to have sold their collective soul to the Darkness.
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Post by greylord on Oct 2, 2017 14:23:17 GMT
Well, there was the Dark One Lone Wolf fan series written many years ago about the Drakkarim rising up to create a new Darklord. The player, plays the bad guys in that one.
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Post by Sword Rune on Oct 26, 2017 14:22:21 GMT
The first Lone Wolf book I read was Shadow on the Sand, and I remember this passage: "They are men, but they are evil men, as evil as the Darklords whom they serve.' So, I've always thought of Drakkarim as humans. Still, as knowledgeable as a Kai Lord should be on their ancestral enemies, Mr. Dever often pointed out that Lone Wolf wasn't the most studious Kai Lord in his training days, so it could be a case of the character having incomplete information. We've seen hints in the books that the Drakkarim, as a whole, dedicate themselves both to evil as a concept (Serving Naar, directly and through intermediaries like the Darklords and their own war-god), and the more human evils of conquest and brutality, doing everything and anything for power (The unnaturally-muscular Drakkar captain in Dungeons of Torgar comes to mind--that can't be good for one's health! ). I imagine any society that indoctrinated would actively root out and crush anyone showing less than total dedication to their way of life.
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Post by Rusty Radiator on Nov 8, 2017 2:16:07 GMT
I take issue with this concept in fantasy literature- the Evil Race. The idea that an entire people are uniformly evil and worthy of extinction has led to some of the most horrific acts of ethnic cleansing in the real world.
I see no reason that, as the forces of Ishir and Kai work to restore the vitality of the Darklands, that they cannot redeem the souls of a few Benighted Races, like the Drakkar. Imagine converted Drakkarim joining the Kai and specialising in the Circle of Fire....
Long live the Drakkai!
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Post by asapiens on Nov 15, 2017 20:01:50 GMT
Flip the reasoning Rusty,
"I see no reason that,as the forces of the Drakkar restore the vitality of the Darklands, that they cannot redeem the souls of a few Benighted Races, like the Kai. Imagine converted Kai joining the Drakkarim and specializing in the ....."
There is a perspective for everyone and most choose a side. It's which side your on that matters.
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Post by Rusty Radiator on Nov 18, 2017 2:39:06 GMT
Flip the reasoning Rusty, There is a perspective for everyone and most choose a side. It's which side your on that matters. Of course, on an individual level you have that choice. But just as Sommerlund comtains traitors and evil men, so should the Drakkarim nations contain a few who resent the aims of their nation and would love a chance to choose their own destiny. Just think of Finn, the redeemed Stormtrooper in the latest Star Wars trilogy. A few FaceHeelTurns make for interesting characters.
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Post by maanto on Nov 19, 2017 4:23:28 GMT
With the way that the current new Star Wars canon is going, and the popularity of super hero movies like Civil War, it seems as though the non-binary, gray area morality and complex antagonists are becoming both more common and popular in modern pop culture.
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Post by asapiens on Nov 20, 2017 1:05:03 GMT
With the way that the current new Star Wars canon is going, and the popularity of super hero movies like Civil War, it seems as though the non-binary, gray area morality and complex antagonists are becoming both more common and popular in modern pop culture. This is partly why the Lone Wolf fan base is stagnant. The days of straighht good vs. evil, black and white are gone. Say hello to good guys doing evil for "the greater good". Evil guys having empathy for others. A mixture of different ideals and cultures. Like our world's cultures are mixing, races are mixing, ideals are mixing and thus the the people that used to be our enemy are suddenly part of us. There is no Good vs.Bad anymore just perspective.
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