Doug Seacat on...

[Kriegtanzer]

I have copied a lot of Doug Seacat's data dump posts from both the old and new forums and I sorted them by topic for my use. With the loss of the old forum archive a lot of great material was lost. So on to make at least some of it available again I'll post what I have here.

When you see *** that seperates one post from another. Things in Italics indicate that it is not from Doug or [Topic References or Edits] of what Doug said.

The categories are my own and there are some overlaps in topic as they developed as I saved posts.

[Kriegtanzer]

Wanted to say a few things on Alexia since I think she is getting slightly shorted in her
descriptions by some people. It is true she bears the Witchfire, one of the most powerful artifacts
in our setting, and this has had a tremendous impact on her life. But she is also a prodigal
sorceress and has manifested rather formidable talents for necromancy even without the blade.
The allure of necromancy seems to have sprung from horrors in her childhood and the death of
her mother; had things been otherwise, perhaps she would have taken to some more productive
expression of her talent. As it is, her arcane abilities are quite strong. Perhaps not quite on the
same scale as someone like Victoria Haley, but certainly far beyond most of those who manifest
these powers. Not all the dead she created arose from the Witchfire, and she was able to more
quickly and readily create them than was thought to be possible using the methods she had on
hand.

There are certain aspects of the Witchfire worth bearing in mind. It isn't simply a weapon or tool.
One of its main powers is the ability to permanently increase the power of its wielder when its
blade is used to kill those who control magic, whether arcane or divine. There is a story regarding
the original recovery of the Witchfire in No Quarter Magazine #3. There it mentions a history
of the blade before the Gift of Thamar when it was wielded against Menite priests by Thamarites.
Some of the events of the Witchfire Trilogy had to do with this sacrificial power, including the
death of Alexia's mother and her coven, who were sacrificed by a greedy man to augment his own
personal power. Either way, it's certainly likely Alexia has killed a few arcanists since joining the
wars as a mercenary. She is therefore probably even stronger than before, and she was already a
youth of tremendous innate potential.

***

The origins of the Witchfire remain a bit of a mystery, although it was definitely not made by
Cryx. Keep in mind it was in the stash of King Moorcraig, one of the pre-Cryxian pirate kings
who defied Lord Toruk and was obliterated. This sword remained hidden in the ruins of that
blasted castle for nearly sixteen centuries, completely unknown to Cryx until it was unearthed by
an expedition led by Dexer Sirac. (This story is in NQM#3, called "Better Left Forgotten.) The
sword predates the invasion by the Orgoth.There has been speculation, but no proof, that the
sword may be linked to Scion Delesle, who ascended in 1610 BR, a thousand years before the
Orgoth invaded....

There is not a lot of material available regarding the use of the Witchfire, although this topic is
mentioned in the "Better Left Forgotten" story in NQM#3 (p. 35, bottom of 2nd column). It is
entirely possible the sword may have had another name, but before it landed in the trove of King
Moorcraig, it was known to be utilized against priests. The last known wielder of the blade before
it was lost was "a once lowly Thamarite priest who embarked on a crusade of bloodletting against
both Morrowan and Menite clergy to steal the souls of dozens of priests"....

[Kriegtanzer]

The best language for arcanists to study is Caspian (root language for Cygnaran), which has a
similar position in our setting as Latin. Caspian is utilized for many fundamental arcane texts and
was widely utilized by most of the seminal groups of wizards. This includes the Fraternal Order
which eventually gave rise to both the Greylords Covenant and the Order of Illumination.
Therefore, many of the most significant arcane lore is either written originally in Caspian or has
been translated into Caspian.

Caspian is also useful when researching other fields, such as history and religion. It's the best "dead
language" to learn among anyone involved in an academic field.
Remember, Caspian is not what people speak in day to day conversation, any more than people
today regularly speak Latin. I actually do think Caspian would form a regular part of arcane vocal
incantations, but the actual words are simply a method to ease the mind in shaping the power into
the proper controlled shapes and patterns. Likely they serve a primarilyy mnemonic purpose, albeit
no less important because of this.

Discussing this gets into a strange gray area between the "reality" of the magic in the setting, such
as how it would appear in a novel or a movie, versus the necessities of a nicely balanced and
versatile RPG game system for magic. I may elucidate on that topic later, since I have a number of
thoughts on the matter, but I don't have time to write a detailed dissertation on the various schools
of formalized arcane symbology at this moment in time.

I think it would be quite possible to pick out bits of Caspian, Khurzic, and other more obscure
languages amid an arcane incantation, including some words and phrases which would sound like
nonsense if put together as a sentence. And as we know the power itself does not come from the
voicing of these words, otherwise any repetition of those words would have an impact. They are
simply one part of a more complex process, most of which is a mental exercise.

***

The runes are another matter entirely, they are a distinct arcane alphabet. As I mentioned before,
it's the difference between alphabet and language.

For a comparison, we have access to the various faction arcane fonts in our download area on the
forums (if memory serves). One can type in this font using these letters of an alphabet as a
substitution for our alphabet, but the words you are typing are the same. It's simply a way of
slightly disguising the words by utilizing unfamiliar symbols for letters. Conversely, someone not
versed in French or Spanish can still recognize the letters of their language, but not comprehend
the words.

In the occult circles the proper use of runes is of a higher order of importance in the process than
a specific spoken language. Many arcanists are convinced the written word and the symbolic
importance of certain alphabets conveys innate power which the spoken word does not. Some
alphabets and languages are deemed better suited to certain tasks than others. It all has to do with
symbolic representation and how those symbols can be used to control and precisely delineate the
flow of arcane power.

While most Morrowans don't like to dwell on the fact, it is clearly delineated in Thamar's journal
which comprises part of the Enkheiridion that she believed her own ascension to be facilitated by
her exploration of the Telgesh glyphs.

Arcane runes are indeed very similar between the different groups where they appear. Telgesh is a
weird special case mainly seen only with certain necromantic spells, particularly those dealing with
the animation of the dead. One could justify a higher DC on spellcraft checks versus necromancy
since the origins of that magic are distinctly different from other arcane research. However
otherwise most human arcane practices have identical origins, and these have nothing to do with
regional languages.

All of the modern orders of wizardry sprang ultimately from the Circle of the Oath in Ceryl,
which was nearly crushed by the Orgoth but gave rise eventually to the Order of the Golden
Crucible. Later, the Fraternal Order arose from practitioners of the same background, and this
group fractured into the Order of Illumination and later gave rise to the Greylords Covenant
when its Khadoran branch split from the central organization.

I was indicating that the actual words being utilized in arcane practices are not a distinctly
separate language and that pieces of existing archaic languages might be found in certain spells and
incantations. However, this was primarily to explain why Caspian is probably the most commonly
utilized root language for most arcane spells in western Immoren, including those being utilized by
the Greylords Covenant. Most of the arcane lore utilized by the Covenant is based on the same
underlying principles and research as was stolen from the Fraternal Order of Wizardry. All
human wizardry ultimately traces back to Cerylian principles from the Circle of the Oath, later
expanded by the work of Sebastian Kerwin. This is why Spellcraft checks are possible, and why
it's not necessary to invent some kind of "magic language" like Draconian.

If one wanted to get far more detailed and complicated, you could determine if some spells are
exclusive to certain wizard orders and assign those a higher Spellcraft DC. This would be the case
with new spells being added to the spell lists of regional wizards that aren't found elsewhere.
These spells might utilize more non-Caspian words in their incantations and be difficult for
wizards outside of that group to understand. The Greylords have expanded their specialization in
cold-based offensive magic, for example. Some of those spells might have deliberately adopted
Khurzic incantations. Similarly, there may be certain spells in use exclusively by military wizards
trained at the Strategic Academy in Caspia which would not be easily recognized by outsiders
without some repeated exposure to them.

This is the gray area I mentioned between the "reality" of how magic works in the setting and
having a functional RPG set of rules to deal with them. For most GMs it's easiest to use
Spellcraft as it is described in the SRD, and not worry about what exact language the wizards are
utilizing in their incantations. If you must name it, consider that most spells are utilizing Caspian
words, mixed with occasional words from other obscure tongues. Wizards do not need to be
fluent in any of those tongues to make use of specific incantation or to recognize the spell with
Spellcraft. Many of these incantations are used as mnemonics and learned by rote to help the
caster send his mind through the proper gymnastics to make the spell work. The actual linking
together of these words has nothing to do with saying something coherent. If you were to
"translate" an arcane incantation it would usually sound like gibberish or an obscure poem at best.
You would simply have to know that "Fireball uses a Caspian mnemonic phrase taking some of
the words for a common prayer about fire and vengeance from the Codex of the True Law, but
the final word of the sequence is derived from the ancient Thurian word for 'inferno'. While I
speak these words, I force my mind to pass through this particular exercise and create these
corresponding patterns with my arcane power, facilitated by these long-practiced hand gestures."
If you have a wizard or arcane mechanik on the "bleeding edge" of research or utilizing a lot of
personally researched spells, by all means increase the DC on spellcraft checks to recognize them.
Just keep in mind most arcane magic used by humans has similar roots. While wizards don't like
to admit it, many of the fundamental principles of evocation derive from the work of Scion
Nivara, for example. Learning magic is hard enough without trying to customize or modify every
spell or to reinvent the magic missile.

This is however one reason knowing a lot of obscure languages is not a bad idea for a well
educated wizard who takes his craft seriously. Knowing the ancient Calacian word for "fire" is
probably not necessary most of the time, but perhaps it will prove helpful in some specific time
and place as one is unlocking the details of some obscure occult tome. Having a broad mastery of
languages is a good idea for any educated and systematic arcanist.

[Kriegtanzer]

Almost nothing is widely known about the source of the banes, even among those occult circles
inclined to investigate such mysteries. The only legitimate experts in this field are Lich Lord
Tenebrous, the eldritch Goreshade, and Bane Lord Tartarus, none of whom are inclined to share
their lore.

As to whether that place is the same as the dreaded fate the skorne expect to face if their souls
are not preserved in sacral stones, there is similarly no one in any position to say with any
certainty. While the skorne have an advanced and sophisticated body of occult lore, their awareness
of the afterlife and Urcaen in particular is extremely lacking. It would be difficult to determine
with any certainty whether the destination of their souls is the wilds of Urcaen, the source of the
banes, or somewhere else. They just know it is terrible and to be avoided if at all possible.

Void Seer Mordikaar certainly boasts a unique perspective on the matter, but has no real access to
western necromantic lore. I'm sure the void seer and Lich Lord Tenebrous could have an
interesting and illuminating discussion if they were ever to meet, but such a conference seems
unlikely. Similarly, Hexeris seems to be working diligently on research related to the matter which
may eventually bear fruit, given he has time and a sufficient quantity of captured or enslaved
"volunteers" for his lethal experiments. As shown in Metamorphosis, whatever those particular
skorne occultists are working on seems to have gathered the attention and prompted some concern
from Omnipotent Mohsar, one of the three leaders of the Circle Orboros, which is probably a good
sign that they are onto something significant from a cosmological perspective.

[Kriegtanzer]

On being marked by Infernals:
The mark definitely cannot be placed on just anyone. This was a topic we explored in greater
depth in the infernalist PrC in No Quarter Magazine than we did in the Monsternomicons. In
the most basic terms, an infernalist must have someone completely in their power to offer them to
an infernal. In other words, the person must be captured or helpless in most circumstances (thus
giving infernalists the rather deserved reputation of capturing people and sacrificing them to dark
powers), or killed previously and their souls captured by soul cages, etc. There are special bargains
which go outside the scope of this, but are much more unusual and require larger bargains with
more powerful infernals, hence more skilled infernalists, etc. The infernals themselves are under
fairly tight cosmological constraints while operating on Caen and are not generally at liberty to
slaughter wantonly. They are intruders in this reality and powerful supernatural entities (such as
agents of the gods) can enforce those restrictions. They are only able to function with some liberty
while operating at the behest of a mortal intermediary, which is why the infernalists exist in the
first place (both to summon them to Caen, as well as providing a mortal-inspired anchor for their
actions). Those actions can in turn be countered by powerful priests and those who work with
them. There is an entire branch of the Church of Morrow dedicated to the investigation and
elimination of these practices, after all: the Order of Illumination.

On large scale markings such as the casulties of a battlefield or plague victims:

Any larger scale deals like this are purely in the realm of conspiracy theory and conjecture, as
there is no clear mechanism by which this is possible. Nonetheless there are rumors that crop up
from time to time of particularly skilled and powerful infernalists able to make certain
arrangements of this nature, particularly involving arrangements with the Executors (MN2, p. 88-
91), an echelon of infernal above the curators who ordinarily deal with mortals.

No one really knows how much clout or what in fact the Nonokrion Fellowship has actually
arranged or managed for itself. This is one of those setting plot seeds which GMs can safely
ignore or make use of as they see fit. I'm sure not going to confirm or deny anything related to
their actions since they are not widely known. A deal of similar scope is presented as a campaign
option in the GM section of Five Fingers, Port of Deceit. These are intended to be rites and rituals
and occult dealings on a scope beyond an easily distilled rules/spell interaction, into the realm of
"major plot device."

Such arrangements would be singular and unique rather than repeatable or something upon which
to expect there to be any sort of widely understood mechanism. Somehow the infernalist would
need to be able to make some sort of claim over the lives in question, to the point of being able to
persuasively argue in a contract that the lives are "owned" by him and therefore eligible to be
offered to an infernal agency.

The most widely accepted historical precedent for this, one which seems to have some teeth, has to
do with Scion Ekris himself, the patron of infernalism. He is reputed to have been involved in
deals on this scale to extend his lifespan and possibly also related to his eventual ascension as a
scion of Thamar. There isn't much factual merit or evidence behind any other similar claims in
the setting's history. (The largest rumored "infernal bargain" in history would be allegations
around the Gift of Thamar, aka The Gift of Sorcery, by which the overthrow of the Orgoth was
made possible. But there is almost no evidence related to what this might have involved or what
promises were made.)

[Kriegtanzer]

Cortexes are really nothing like computers. Warjacks can't really perform some of the simplest
mathematical equations done by a calculator, yet can intuitively grasp the physics of the world by
similar instincts as we use when catching a ball or throwing one. They are most certainly not
adding machines. They are in some ways far more extraordinary and also less systematic. They are
simulated brains, not calculating machines executing lines of code. They are more trained than
programmed. Cortexes are best at controlling things that approximate bodies, but not so great at
many of the things we use computers for.

Tests with cortex controlled boats demonstrated a problem of them trying to slam and throw
other boats. Didn't work out very well.

***

There is no programming or code. Cortexes are not computers but rather artificial mystical brains
that approximate thinking, but mostlylack self-motivation or will. (The caveat is provided since
there are exceptions among seasoned 'jacks that have picked up greater autonomy through extended
service and time with warcasters). Most warjacks do not really think for themselves, but are sent
into battle with commands and can make decisions within broad parameters. This includes enemy
vs. friend recognition and knowing that they should keep on fighting enemies until ordered
otherwise. Warjacks that are jack-marshaled are given verbal orders, which are interpreted to the
limited degree of their intelligence and awareness. The default state of a warjack once the fighting
begins is more or less: "kill all the enemies I can see, until told to do something else by someone I
recognize as my master."

Military grade cortexes are actually reasonably smart, within the very narrow confines of the
battlefield environment. Thinking of them as particularly brilliant animals who only know how to
fight is not a bad comparison. They do not suffer from impatience, hunger, or other desires
possessed by living things, although as noted some eventually pick up lifelike quirks and qualities.
In the game these are generally characters, but a lesser degree of this same phenomena is simulated
by Warjack Bonding rules (Prime p. 246-249).

When a warjack seems to get angry, impatient, or highly protective of its master, these are signs
of emerging personality. If these quirks become moreof a problem than a help, the cortex can be
wiped. Generally warcasters prefer bonded warjacks be left alone as they value signs of learning
and personality development from extended battlefield experience. But if a 'jack begins to have
trouble telling friend from foe (attacking allied soldiers, or civilians, for example), or exhibits other
unpredictable and dangerous behavior, a wipe might bethe only solution.

Ol' Rowdy's history is interesting in this regard as this 'jack might have been wiped had not
someone decided it could be useful for journeyman warcaster training. Drago is another extreme
example, being one of the most autonomous 'jacks in our setting. There are even documented
instances of Drago somehow starting its own steam engine. (Those interested in this should read
the Guts & Gears dedicated to Dragon in the 10th Year Anniversary Issue of NQM.)

The majority of warjacks demonstrate far less initiative and basically do what they are told.
Warjacks demonstrate the widest range of complex behavior and understanding of their
surroundings in combat, as is appropriate given thisis the task for which they were designed.
Precisely how the cortexes make decisions and take intheir environment remains somewhat
mysterious, being achieved by mystical means rather than being precisely delineated like lines of
code in a computer program.

***

The Vassals of Menoth are entirely capable of manufacturing cortexes for the Protectorate. Indeed,
there's even a nice illustration of this in the IKWG, p. 280-281. Smuggling of cortexes was to
supplement local manufacture, and cortex productionhas increased as the Vassals program has
expanded. It's also worth mentioning that the Fraternal Order of Wizardry does not produce all
the cortexes for Cygnar, as the Cygnaran Armory is also capable of producing their own cortexes.
The FoW maintains a lucrative military contract and increases the warjack production capability
of the military by their efforts, but do not have a monopoly on these techniques. If you look in the
force books under warjacks for the factions you willsee the cortex manufacturer. For most
Protectorate 'jacks it is the Vassals of Menoth and in Cygnar it is often listed as either the
Cygnaran Armory or "Fraternal Order of Wizardry/Cygnaran Armory".

[Kriegtanzer]

We rarely present information from omniscient third-person, particularly related to the gods,
cosmology, and the underpinnings of the greater mysteries of the world. Even when we do not
have a specific narrator listed for a given piece of information most of these "facts" are presented
from a faction-biased perspective or are given from the POV of a relatively objective baseline of
what is generally understood by some specific (if well educated) inhabitants of the setting.

This is not to say that everything is equally true or all facts are possible, but there is definitely
some intentional mystery and certain areas of lore where there are differing opinions even between
highly educated scholars of the same background. For example, in the Sancteum of Caspia among
the theologians of Morrow there are endless debates regarding some of these issues, such as how
Dhunia fits into the cosmology and the ancient conflicts between Menoth and the Devourer
Wurm. The sentient races of our setting definitely do not know everything about how the
supernatural world, the gods, and Urcaen function. Therefore you as a reader of this material also
do not know everything, although if you read enough of the different perspectives you will have a
broader and more informed perspective than most people who actually live in the setting. Readers
of our material have access to a number of pieces of information that are not readily available
otherwise, such as comparing the Cryxian world views to those of the Retribution and the Skorne.
To most inhabitants of the setting each of these is an extremely alien and enigmatic culture.

It is worth noting that Morrow in particular--and Thamar to a more subtle degree--are not "lesser"
gods simply because they arose from mortal flesh. Morrow is one of the most pervasive and
powerful divine entities in our setting, with a very large majority of the human population of
western Immoren worshiping him. Populations in the setting in the modern era are considerably
higher than they were in the ancient past, which puts Morrow in an extremely good place in the
great War of Souls between the gods. The faiths of the Twins have been going strong for 2500
years and literally transformed philosophy and religion across the western continent. It would be a
mistake to dismiss the power of either of these gods simply because they used to be mortal. In
particular the reach afforded Morrow by his powerful ascendants, and the influence of his
extremely organized, wealthy, and pervasive religion.

***

Remember, don't get in-game rules mixed up with your background cosmology. Just because all
living creatures normally have souls in the miniature game does not mean these are truly all the
same. Lich lords are not walking around in the forests scooping up the souls of squirrels and
rabbits for their cages. Asphyxious did not seize hold of the Temple Garrodh to have herds of
cows and pigs slaughtered at his feet. The spiritual essence of animals is considered far weaker
and less useful for occult purposes than that of sentient creatures. The War of Souls in Urcaen is
primarily about human souls, for example. As has been mentioned elsewhere, the spiritual essence
of most living creatures seems to dissipate into the earth. The Dhunians claim this is part of the
same process that takes place with those creatures favored by their goddess, who brings their
essence back into herself after death to be reformed into new living creatures after. For those who
have heard the harrowing tales of the wild and terrible expanses of Urcaen and the endless battles
between the gods and their followers in the afterlife, the Dhunian reincarnation cycle has a certain
peaceful appeal.

***

The elven gods physically crossed the bridge to arrive on Caen. They did not leave bodies behind
in Urcaen/the Veld. Urcaen and the Veld are in the same cosmological realm. It is best to consider
Urcaen as the afterlife equivalent to Caen, being a very large "world" (universe/reality) with
possibly multiple disconnected continents/regions. The Veld was one of these, which is where the
elven gods lived. (Consider this to be equivalent to a different continent from the geographical
space occupied by the human gods such as Menoth, Morrow, Thamar, etc.) Similarly the dwarves
refer to the section that their gods occupied as Kharg Drogun, or the "Land Beneath," but this is
still in Urcaen, specifically a region also apart from those areas utilized by the human and elven
gods. (Imagine our own globe, with gods from different pantheons on different continents.)

***

It isn't that gods create souls directly. What they create is a sentient species which can then
reproduce and continue to produce souls so long as it exists. This is a method of replicating souls.
It is the initial investment required to create a species which is extremely taxing, once that has
been done the gods can reap the benefits so long as they continue to be worshiped by their creation.
This particular creative process may no longer be possible at this point in Caen's history as there is
no evidence of any recently created species. It's possible the barrier between Caen and Urcaen is
now such that the creation of new species can no longer occur. Of course no one really
understands this process exactly nor the requirements behind it.

***

I'd definitely advise against considering Menoth as Dhunia's child any standard part of
cosmological belief. This was part of an alternate creation myth as described by, appropriately
enough, an ogrun priest of Dhunia. Doesn't it seem a little self-centered and convenient that an
ogrun shaman of that goddess proclaims the Creator of Man to actually be an ogrun descended of
Dhunia? No humans in western Immoren believe this. Then again, the standard human creation
myth does not really provide for Dhunia at all, so you could probably consider their depiction of
the creation of the world flawed as well. All of the world creation myths are ancient legends
passed down through countless generations from prehistory and should be considered flawed at
best. Nonetheless, no one (of any species) disputes Menoth as the Creator of Man.

The Veld is indeed the elven name for Urcaen, although it could also be taken as the specific area
of Urcaen where their afterlife and the Divine Court was located. This appears to be at least
reasonably remote from the region where humans go when they die. (The same is true of the
dwarven variant of the afterlife.)

I may post more on the War of Souls later, but it is primarily described as being fought between
Menoth, Morrow, Thamar, and the Devourer Wurm --which fights in an entirely different
fashion from the other three. The War of Souls can refer either to the literal battles between
these gods and their followers in Urcaen or sometimes as a metaphor for the battles of faith and
conversion taking place between their mortal followers. (The latter is considered akin to a
"recruitment" phase for the War of Souls.)

[HerrDeux]

Excellent work!

[Kriegtanzer]

The Morrowan symbol does indeed represent the moment of ascension, the transition to
enlightenment, with the long line and dot as an abstraction of man passing beyond his mortal
shell with the radiance representing the mind transformed into spirit. It also represents the sun,
light, and all things associated with those principles.

The Ternion Brand represents the three-pronged choices of the Thamarite faith, the three
fundamental principles of tyranny, discord, and subversiveness. These elements are represented by
the different paths chosen by the Malefactors (featured in Five Fingers), and each priest or
priestess of the goddess also generally falls into one of these three paths in their pursuit of dark
enlightenment. As a related aside, there are certain ancient pieces of iconography shown in the
Morrowan faith, such as the Witchfire Trilogy's representation of Father Dumas, which shows a
six-pointed star. This symbol is often found on certain complete and unabridged texts of the
Enkheiridion. These six points represent the three fundamental precepts of good and the three
fundamental precepts of evil as discussed by these faiths. The counters to the Thamarite paths are
the pursuits of justice, righteousness, and accord. The six-pointed star on the Enkheiridion thus
represents the Volition. These six paths are loosely similar to the three alignments of good and
evil. (Tyranny = LE, Discord = CE, Subversiveness = NE; Justice = LG, Righteousness = CG, Accord
= NG)

The Menofix is indeed one of the most ancient abstracted symbols to represent man. It has come
to represent the "Creator of Man" more than mankind itself. But it is definitely a shape derived
from the human form.

White, silver, and gold are the dominant colors of the [Morrowan] faith. The blue accents seen on
many of the models is something I've always personally considered associated with the Cygnaran
members of the faith although we've never specifically described it as such. Certainly makes sense
with the Precursor Knights in particular since they are a specifically Cygnaran order. It is usually
shown as a lighter blue than the "Cygnaran blue" in either case. I could imagine Khadoran
Morrowans having small red accents lines instead.

Other than the brand there are no specific colors associated with Thamar, other than black and
arguably (with some groups) blood red. She has myriad septs (cults) associated with her worship
and there is considerable variance between them. Some of these may adopt their own symbols or
choose to associate with one or another of her scions. But for the most part Thamarites prefer to
not look like Thamarites. Fiona is not a typical example and can be considered to be flaunting her
affiliation. This is considered marginally suicidal in most areas of western Immoren, given the
scope and power of the Church of Morrow and its adherents. Even though a Thamarite is not
technically subject to the law unless they commit crimes (excepting clergy), proudly displaying your
allegiance to the dark goddess is an invitation for trouble. Some of the pirate ports will tolerate
such behavior, but even there discretion is generally considered a better long term health plan.

***

[Balance between good and evil?] Not exactly. There is no "balanced" perspective of the faith,
since choosing any of Thamar's paths represents a failure of will (to the Morrowans), and
succumbing to temptation. The Morrowan faith recognizes that mankind is not perfect and that
some choose poorly when the time for Volition comes. They recognize that there are those who
take the easy path, or cannot control their impulses toward cruelty, or who are overcome by greed
or a thirst for power at all costs. A recognition of these dark corners of the human heart does not
represent acceptance. Morrowans believe they must understand this side of human nature and not
deny it, but they also believe very firmly in fighting against those things and doing everything that
is in their power to encourage others to stand strong and choose the path of light. For some, the
Volition is an extremely traumatic and difficult decision, and choosing to do right can come at
enormous cost. They can sympathize with those who have stumbled at this time and were unable
to be strong in the face of their trial. The hope is to find a redemption even for these. Of course
the degree to which a specific Morrowan thinks redemption is possible, and when they believe
there is no choice but to eradicate the fallen, is a matter of internal debate. Certainly there are
individuals for whom there seems to be no way back from the darkness and the only option is to
remove them before they do greater harm to the innocent.

***

The more martial aspects of the faith prefer to fight directly against the darkness, while a number
of priests see themselves more as teachers and guides. Neither side is considered right or wrong,
but essential parts of the larger Morrowan purpose. That doesn't stop internal discussion and
argument, of course, and historically every primarch has been slightly different in this regard,
which influences the church accordingly. (As does the overall balance of sentiment among the 36
exarchs.) Currently the path of Accord is strongest in the Church of Morrow. They say in his
youth Arius was a follower of the Righteous, but he has mellowed to preach Accord since his
elevation to Primarch.

***

Morrow and his ascendants and host are not idle or inactive, even if we have not been given
excuses to show them in action, particularly within the context of the miniatures game. Keep in
mind the ascendants have power because they are known to take an active hand in the world, and
some of them ascended not so long ago. The notion of an entity speaking the will of Menoth and
performing visible miracles is indeed novel and unusual for Menoth, but it is quite familiar to the
Morrowans. It's a mistake to view Morrow or his ascendants as pacifists or inactive simply because
they often work through more subtle signs and portents. At the risk of a slight spoiler for the
Witchfire Trilogy (which most readers of this forum are at least familiar with, and many have
played through), keep in mind the rescue of Corvis in 603 AR from the skorne was very directly
led by the hand of Morrow through the fulfillment of an unusual prophecy laid down by
Morrow over three centuries before the event, passed to mortal ears by the manifestation an archon
of his host. Morrow is called the Prophet for a reason, and there are many other lesser prophecies
that have yet to be fulfilled and through which he has given subtle guidance to his faithful.

If I were running a religious themed game in this time period, I'd have a number of rumors of
the influence of various ascendants taking place during this time. As noted it hasn't been
appropriate for us to dwell on these entities in the miniature game fiction, but there is little doubt
among the realm's Morrowans that Ascendant Katrena, Markus and Solovin are taking an active
hand in things (likely other ascendants as well), passing advice through dreams of honorable
military commanders at the very least. Menoth is certainly not the only active divine presence, and
his faith is still a minority, outnumbered by Morrowans by more than four to one. Even the
Harbinger is a case in point that the gods generally work through mortals to see their will done,
including most prominently their clergy. Again, we hear more of the exploits of the Menites
because they are a full faction in WARMACHINE, but the presence of Morrowan priests and
battle-chaplains is implied throughout the setting's backdrop and pervade both Khador and Cygnar.
Events are not so one-sided on the faith front as one might be led to believe, nor are the
deprivations of the Wurm so great as to prompt some kind of mass conversion. The influence of
both Menoth and Morrow are still far greater than the occasional horror story or rumor of some
blood-mad Devourer cult. So too the conflict between Morrow and Menoth is certainly much more
center stage than the ancient and sometimes forgotten struggle between Menoth and the Wurm.

It's worth mentioning that a sizable number of the Molgur were humans. It was a rather diverse
assortment of Devourer worshiping races, including those humans who had not embraced Menoth.

Most of Menoth's ire is indeed directed at humans who do not recognize or properly respect him.
However, his animosity with the Devourer Wurm and the fact that a number of other species
have at times served that power does complicate the issue. Also the fact that most Menites choose
to make no distinction between Dhunia and the Devourer.

[Kriegtanzer]

Souls are not generally recycled by the gods. Souls are indeed created and are rarely destroyed, and
therefore grow in number. This is one reason the creation of a sentient species becomes a continual
and ongoing font of power for a creator god, so long as that species is intact and worships them.
Urcaen appears to rely on Caen for the fabrication of souls, and therefore there is a built-in
reliance. The gods cannot entirely ignore what transpires in the world of the living. One could
easily argue that the recent upsurge in Menite fanaticism relates to the belated realization by
Menoth that his faith was dangerously waning on Caen while Morrow's was on the rise. Despite
thousands of years of gathering the souls of Menites, the fact that the Morrowans are a large
majority on Immoren represents a distinct threat to Menoth's future strength in Urcaen.

Reincarnation does happen in the cosmology of certain religions, but only to a limited degree.
Reincarnation of souls is an element of the elven and Dhunian religions, but is not an element of
the other faiths. So long as births are happening, souls are continually created.

The Dhunian reincarnation process is not well understood. Her cosmological process is a mystery
no one has explored.

Elven reincarnation is more thoroughly documented by Iosan theologians. They believe
reincarnation was part of a gradual refinement process, and that all souls would eventually make
their way into the domain of the gods. Those deemed "not ready" by Ayisla were sent back to be
reborn, but this was not mutually exclusive with the creation of new souls. Some elves were born
with reincarnated souls, others with new souls. Ayisla was the governing force behind this. The
manifestation of soulless elves is hypothesized (by some) to be an unexpected side-effect of Ayisla
joining the Vanished. A small minority of newborn elves are born soulless; some consider these
unfortunate individuals might have been destined to receive reincarnated souls which went astray.

Among the gods participating in the War of Souls, aside from exchanges during those battles,
every gathered eternal soul still exists in some form and is a member of their domain. With very
few exceptions, these souls do not return to Caen.

There are losses and setbacks and injury in the War of Souls even if the souls themselves are like
minted coins and are never actually removed from circulation. One of the most important factors
is a soul has no automatic means of being recovered by its patron power should it be lost or
captured by the enemy. Generally one of the worst fates a soul can suffer in the War of Souls is
to become a prisoner of war. This is a particularly dreaded fate as over time and given the
creativity of endless torment and/or temptation, such captured souls can be turned from their
original faith and converted to the side of the enemy. This tactic is apparently particularly popular
with both the Devourer Wurm and Thamar. While of course no living mortal knows exactly
what it's like to be an eternal prisoner in the War of Souls, falling to the Devourer Wurm as a
member of another faith is probably the most dreaded fate. Some texts describe this as
experiencing being consumed and continually digested for all of eternity. Whether that's the truth
or poetic hyperbole is of course impossible to determine without actually having this happen to you,
and of course no one has ever experienced this and returned to talk about it.

***

The simplest explanation is that some of these groupings of gods act as a pantheon, others really
do not. Both the elven and dwarven gods are very much pantheons and were/are worshiped in this
fashion. Certain things have changed with the elven gods (for obvious reasons) but throughout
history they were worshiped both individually and collectively. The dwarves worship their gods
very much collectively.

Humanity doesn't really have a "pantheon" in that sense of things, but rather several recognized
competing gods most of whom are at odds with one another. There are a number of relationships
which are more akin to a series of interlocking dualisms. The Twins are often examined together
as opposites, Menoth is uniquely defined by his hostile relationship with the Devourer, etc.

Similarly there is another "duality" recognized by most of the other races (gobbers, trollkin, ogrun)
who consider themselves created by both Dhunia and the Devourer Wurm. One of these gods
generally dominates a given tribe and its ritual life. (In modern times, this is usually Dhunia.)

Cyriss is not part of any of these relationships and stands apart.

In a cosmological sense a true pantheon only works if the gods in question are sharing the souls of
the dead of a species. Because of this a pantheon also shares the same "real estate" in Urcaen. This
was the case with the elves, and is the case with the dwarves. However, Morrow, Thamar, Menoth
and (to a different extent) the Devourer Wurm are all engaged in the War of Souls and thus do
not work together to manage and acquire the souls of the dead. Each also has their own distinct
domain.

The closest humanity has to a pantheon system is among the ascendants and scions. This is one of
the spiritual advantages Morrow and Thamar offer their faithful, allowing an overarching
philosophy combined with specific higher powers more closely identifiable to certain ways of life.

***

Most of how the gods act on Caen is handled through mortal intermediaries. Direct and obvious
intervention is extremely rare. Morrow and Thamar have other intermediaries which can also
manifest and function, the Ascendants, Scions, Archons, and Chosen, but even these in most cases
operate by influencing the actions of mortals. Divine intervention is most often just that - a subtle
and often long-term set of circumstances put forward by mortal agents of the divine.

The situations revolving around the Orgoth were quite complicated, and won't be something for
which you will find any clear or simple answers. It is no coincidence this was the period where
the Menites lost their majority control over the oppressed people. It was expected Menoth might
arrive in some thunderous explosion of power and obliterate the Orgoth, yet He did not. In times
of great suffering it is easier to understand a message that one must improve oneself, gain
strength from adversity, and seek inner enlightenment. Menoth's message of unquestioning
obedience seemed useless and lacking in comfort when not accompanied by some form of
protection or security, the "wall" of the Menite faith.

The gods of our setting are not omniscient, even if several are often prescient (sometimes in a
limited fashion), nor are they omnipotent, yet they are extremely subtle and powerful. The
priesthood is usually the largest, most pervasive, and most directly active agency of a god, imbued
with the god's power and expected to use it in the name of that god. Yet they too are fallible and
not always perfectly in tune with the wishes of their patron. Instructions sometimes arrive--if they
arrive at all--through obscure portents, omens, and signs that are subject to misinterpretation.

Even now, when Menoth appears to be more focused on the struggles of the region, He is
ultimately working through his mortal followers. The Harbinger, as extraordinary as she is, is
mortal. At what cost to other battles in Urcaen does this greater attention require? Might Menoth
be weakening himself in other ways to put forward a stronger hand on Caen? No one knows.

With the gods, you always see a fraction of the complete story. Even as they battle one another,
there are interactions and agreements made between them which mortals have no awareness of
whatsoever. This is why priests and theologians and university professors enjoy vibrant debates and
can all disagree with one another while putting forward what seem to be compelling but
contradictory arguments. No amount of such debate and arguing is likely to resolve these questions
to any degree of mutual satisfaction.

[Kriegtanzer]

There is a strong case for humans predating elves. The main difference is that elven and dwarven
civilization predates human civilization by a good measure. This appears to be related to the direct
assistance of the gods who created these species, whereas humanity was apparently left to their
own devices for quite a length of time. (Possibly tens of thousands of years or longer.)

So, it seems likely that barbaric humanity predates elves but simply took a much longer time to
arrive at civilization. There is some reason to suspect that the elven pantheon created the elves
after observing the benefits granted by sentient species to other gods.

The elven pantheon is interesting in several respects, most notably evidence that they had a fairly
complex internal society and pseudo-civilization in Urcaen that had little to do with the goings-on
of Caen. Similarly, it is worth noting that the dwarven gods, if their creation myths are to be
believed, originated in Urcaen and had no impact on the shaping of Caen itself, only crossing over
to create a species before withdrawing again.

Many interesting elements of the interactions between Caen and Urcaen can be observed by
examining these different pantheons. Of course, few humans in the setting have access to all of
this information at once. (Particularly regarding any of the lore of the elves.) No theologian in the
setting has even a good estimate or guess at a "creation date" of humanity, at least one that is based
on any appreciable facts.

***

[Knowledge (law)] should indeed be a free class skill to dwarven clerics. Feel free to replace
Knowledge (the planes) with Knowledge (law) for dwarven clerics. No IK cleric should have
Knowledge (the planes) anyhow; I'd suggest tossing in a faith-specific replacement for others as
well, perhaps a knowledge skill of the PC's choice, subject to GM approval of course. (For
Morrowans and Thamarites it would likely vary by Ascendant or Scion.)

***

It's worth noting that while the Church of Morrow as an entire organization has not entered the
various wars, individual priests and battle-chaplains are most certainly fighting alongside the
soldiers in both Khador and Cygnar. This is allowable per the tenets of their faith. Priests can
fight for their country and serve as battle-chaplains on opposite sides of a war without impacting
the overall unity of the organization. Their duty in these battles is to ensure battles are fought
with whatever honor can be mustered, that the dead are properly handled, and to see to the
wounded whenever possible. Further they are expected to respect their fellow Morrowans even if
events put them on opposing sides. They are not represented in the miniature game but such
battle-priests do exist and would be seen in the field (the Lion's Coup scenario in NQM#7
provided some rules for our RPG figure Morrowans in those scenarios; anyone interested in trying
them in WARMACHINE should check those scenarios). Morrowan priests have fought on
opposing sides of individual battles as far back as the Church has existed, such conflicts being
particularly common in the Thousand Cities Era.

The Exordeum in particular is intended to be a bastion of unity, and there are indeed a number of
Khadoran exarchs serving in the Sancteum. There has been more going on internally including
debate about the wars and the proper role of the Church within them. We just haven't been at
liberty to show some of this. I haven't had a particularly good excuse to delve into those matters,
but perhaps a short story on that topic in the near future might not be a bad idea. For now it's
best to presume that the Church hasn't been entirely silent or inactive, but that they have been
"off stage". Like any very large and politically/spiritually complicated organization, they aren't noted
for making fast decisions and are prone to getting tied up in endless debate. The Primarch himself
is decisive, but the Exordeum is not.

***

I dislike putting "definites" on ancient history, and these ascensions were 2500 years ago, but most
sources will agree that Thamar got there first. The best evidence for this is the way in which the
Enkheiridon were compiled, and the best argument for this sequence of events was presented by
Asc. Angellia, whom most would consider a reliable source. Some Morrowans dislike this depiction
of events and find it undermining, but most well educated theologians will concede that Thamar
was the first to ascend. They do believe, however, that Morrow was already capable of ascension
but refrained because of a deep sense of humility and a desire to stay connected with his followers
as long as possible. By this depiction, Morrow only ascended after it became clear he must do so to
prevent some of the harm his sister might otherwise cause.

The Dark Ascension preceeds the Ascension Feast, and while some might quibble that could be
arbitrary, most think this is an accurate order for these two holidays.

It was actually an editor of the IKWG which was too eager (not a writer), unravelling my
carefully constructed timing and sequence for these events in the interest of a small piece of
additional violence and drama. But regardless I think it would be logical in the context of the
setting that some Morrowans would find the fact of Thamar's earlier ascension disturbing and
would seek to revise this bit of history to better suit their world view. This is also why not every
individual is ready or should be encouraged to read Thamar's journals in the Enkheiridion. Some
facts are not easy to face.

Remember that the IKCG was printed before the IKWG by a significant length of time (over a
year, if memory serves). The version of events as described in the IKCG is what I would consider
to be the "correct" version, which is that Thamar ascended over a month before Morrow. However,
the IKWG history section contradicts this.

I think it is fine if both versions of this history exist in the setting, believed by different scholars.
One of the strengths of our setting and our theologies is a more "realistic" and complex depiction,
where some myths are contradictory and sometimes the truth requires some effort to discern.
Ancient texts do not always agree, and are sometimes mistranslated. Just as in real world religions
there are differences of opinion regarding some of the key events revolving around certain of this
monumental historical figures. Therefore, I would suggest that some Morrowans believe the
depiction as described in the IKWG, but serious scholars of this period would instead follow the
order of events as described by Asc. Angellia before her own ascension when she recovered the
original Enkheiridion.

As to the topic of "what does the Enkheiridion say", that's not something that can be answered in
a quick post. Nor is it something we will ever likely detail in full. Several lengthy descriptions of
its contents can be found in our works, including a detailed callout in the Witchfire Trilogy. But
the basic contents of the Enkheiridon are the journals of Thamar and Morrow in life, compiled
together as a single book, with Morrow's words on one page, Thamars on the other. This book is
more than just words, including many diagrams, riddles, enigmas, hidden texts, and allegorical
examples. It is not a factual day by day journal, nor simply a description of history, but resembles
more certain eastern philisophical texts. Some of the earlier portions do describe the lives of the
Twins in a straight forward fashion, but the later and more "advanced" portions of the book are
confusing and subject to interpretation. (Some of these would be considered similar to "Zen
koans".)

Nonetheless the general belief among most educated theologians is that Morrow compiled the book
by his own hands after Thamar ascended and just before his own ascension, leaving it to the
wisest of his followers who would lead his clergy for some decades after. The traditional depiction
of Morrow's ascension is not a death in a violent clash with his sister, but rather a measured
decision and sacrifice on his own part to follow after his sister and by doing so, to provide what
protection and guidance he could to humanity.

In both depictions there are descriptions of at least one violent clash between Thamar and Morrow
shortly before her ascension, a great argument where the full measure of the breach in their
philosophies was revealed. What differs is what happened at the end of this clash. Confirming the
"facts" of any of these events is now quite difficult, and the text of the Enkheiridon itself does
not provide any clear answers. Still, most Thamarites and Morrowan theologians believe Thamar
ascended 5 weeks before Morrow.

If this is not actually the case, it opens up another can of worms, which is whether Morrow
actually assembled the Enkheiridion by his own hand, and whether his journal in the Enheiridion
is actually complete. This can be considered one of those esoteric matters that some theologians and
writers of ancient history enjoy debating about in the taverns near the Sancteum or major universities.

[Kriegtanzer]

While there is a clear distinction in traditional Morrowan doctrine between Morrow and the
ascendants who came after, there is no concept of "demigods" in the Morrowan faith. (Or really in
the IK at all, although the treatment of the Great Fathers of Rhul comes closest to this concept.)
Indeed, there exists a heresy known as the "Divinists" who firmly believe each of the ascendants
are full gods and that Morrow was only the first of their number. Even outside of this heresy
followers of the Twins consider the ascendants and scions to be "fully" ascended in every regard,
but hold there is a significant distinction as they have chosen to serve a higher power (Morrow or
Thamar, respectively). They do not really consider these beings diminished by the fact that
Morrow and Thamar are deemed greater and more powerful than those who came after.

***

The primary "pragmatic" reason to worship a god, other than merely the desire to belong to a faith
of one's upbringing, is the reassurance that a place may be awaiting you in the afterlife within the
relatively safe domain of one's patron. The afterlife as depicted by the residents of western
Immoren is a cruel and largely unpleasant place, particularly for nonbelievers. There is no sharp
distinction such as in certain real-world religions ("hell" vs. "heaven") but there is a similar
dynamic.

Those who are not faithful are expected to face tremendous unpleasantness in Urcaen, being lost
in something of a cosmological wilderness surrounded by hostile and cruel beings that delight in
nothing more than preying on loose souls. Whereas those who have been pious and faithful have
the hope of a relatively sheltered and rewarding afterlife, should they be shepherded to their god's
domain. Because of the War of Souls even those who arrive in a god's domain are not expected to
experience endless "peace and tranquility", as each god's domain requires ongoing vigilance and
periodic battles to preserve the safety of the majority. The general consensus is a soul which arrives
in their god's domain has a generally positive existence in the afterlife, periodically interupted by
short stints defending the borders of their god's domain or performing other useful services as
required. Service to one's god and his domain is a nearly universal part of every religion which
includes an afterlife in Urcaen. (Thamarites being the least focused on this aspect, preferring to
imagine they will have great liberty in the hereafter, so long as they please the Dark Twin.)

This might be considered a grim outlook on the afterlife compared to some religions, but the
inhabitants of western Immoren take these concepts for granted as just part of their reality. Most
pious individuals anticipate being rewarded for their faith and actually look forward to serving
their god more directly in the hereafter.

There is no particularly compelling reason to avoid paying at least lip-service to one or another of
the gods, and most individuals, even those not particularly "spiritual" look at observing some of
these formalities as "hedging their bets" for when they die. All the religions of western Immoren
are generally in agreement that avoiding worshiping a god results in considerable unpleasantness.
Of course some take other routes to avoid Urcaen entirely, such as the more extreme examples of
necromancy. The religion of Lord Toruk is one way to attempt to avoid Urcaen, although I'm sure
many of their living worshipers wind up dying in ways where their souls cannot be collected, and
would likely experience all the same terrors of Urcaen as would afflict a nonbeliever.

The religion which is the most vague about their afterlife expectations is the Cult of Cyriss, but
here again we see an emphasis on avoiding Urcaen by preserving the immortal soul in an ageless
machine. This is a privileged status only granted to a small minority, but gives the faithful
something to aspire toward.

On the other hand, Dhunians avoid the issue without necromancy by the process of reincarnation.
Worshipers of Dhunia believe the goddess collects their souls into Caen on their death to be
redistributed, which is another way to avoid the War of Souls or any concerns about the afterlife.
Nonetheless, this is still one of the "reasons to worship a god" related to one's fate after death.
Death is a scary thing, and the fear of dying and what comes after is a prime motivator for just
about every religion in the Iron Kingdoms, in one way or another.

As far as other pragmatic benefits, there are a number of boons given by many of their gods and
their servants to their worshipers, even those who don't join the clergy. The benefits granted by
various ascendants and scions to those who worship them, while small, are still appreciated by
those who receive them. The pious of western Immoren certainly have a sense that the gods are
real and tangible and may in fact actually look out for their interests (at least in some small and
abstract fashion). For example, families that revere Asc. Gordenn are absolutely convinced that he
aids the fertility, longevity, and general health of their family members. Those who are adherents
of Asc. Sambert are convinced the works they craft are just a little better, more rugged, and less
prone to wear and tear than if their patron was not looking out for them.

***

The domains of the gods are more like continents or vast nations rather than cities; even though
Menoth's domain is called the "City of Man," it is a city the size of a continent. Each of these
rather large domains has its own protected borders and between them is the vast trackless
supernatural wilderness inhabited by the Devourer Wurm and those who follow it, many
transformed into horrible monstrous beasts. (The chaotic wilds between the organized domains of
the gods is what is considered "hell" in our cosmology.)

Theologians deem the War of Souls a complex and never-ending struggle between all the major
involved parties. The Devourer seems to be focused on attacking the walls of the City of Man
above all else but does indeed occasionally plague the other divine domains. Clashes between
Menites and Morrowans are not uncommon. Descriptions of this war are of course vague and
cryptic in the extreme, given they are related by those few who have returned from death through
supernatural intervention and who pass down dreamlike half-remembered visions from their time
on the other side. It is generally described as involving organized skirmishes between the 3 major
worshiped powers (Menoth, Morrow, and Thamar), with random assaults by the chaotic horde
that follows the Devourer Wurm. The Devourer is supplemented by the fact that it roams the
vast wilds at all times, and has been known to intercept and consume freshly arrived souls lost in
the wilderness who can't find their way to one of the gods' domains. This happens most often to
those who were impious and lacked dedication to one of the gods in life. Agnosticism and lazy
worship in western Immoren = eaten by the Devourer Wurm in the afterlife.

***

?If the chaotic wilds are our "hell" would that make Circle devil worshippers?

The Menites and Morrowans certainly seem to think so, by and large. The majority religions take
a very dim view on Devourer worship. This is considered to be an extremely destructive and
dangerous cult. But there are also infernalists, which is a whole different ball of wax. (And
making arrangements with them is another good way to get on the wrong side of the majority
religions.)

The only two mainstream religions among the humans of western Immoren are the Menite and
Morrowan faiths. Everyone else is a member of a cult of some shade or another, and generally
believed to be involved in strange and most likely depraved religious practices. The widespread
view of Devourer cultists is best embodied by the Tharn--bestial and savage cannibals. This is not
entirely accurate of course, but that is what most people believe all Devourer worshipers are like.
Druids are thought to be slightly little more civilized, barely, but in a similarly sinister and
dangerous way. Druids are spoken of as baby-snatching mystics who most likely capture people
living on the fringes to sacrifice them on stone altars during significant celestial conjunctions like
the solstices.

[Kriegtanzer]

The Fraternal Order has nothing to do with any ranks given to anyone in the military. If
someone in the military belongs to the FO (as a non-military organization), they might have a
rank within that order, but they are not part of the Cygnaran Army. It'd be like an officer in the
United States Army also belonging to a private organization on his spare time. The mage ranks are
part of the systems of classification by the Strategic Academy to credit a given arcane practitioner
and recognize their merits.

So, Fraternal Order = civilian organization, very influential regarding arcane research, creates
cortexes used by the military, but not at all involved in the training of military wizards or other
arcanists. Both the mage rank and the officer rank for an arcanist within the Cygnaran Army are
given by the military, they just mean different things and are determined by different people. The
mage rank does not denote authority but is more of a honorific to denote capability, and is
determined by those responsible for the oversight and training of mages within the Strategic
Academy.

Every full warcaster in the Cygnaran Army is credited as a Magus by the Strategic Academy, and
the same would be true of every gun mage who has successfully completed their training. Their
gender or whether they are a sorcerer or a wizard has nothing to do with this, nor does their
membership or lack thereof in the Fraternal Order. Some very rare few with exceptional talent are
credited as Adepts. Haley is most certainly a Magus, and there are those who believe she should be
credited as an Adept. Any resistance on that front probably has more to do with her age than
anything else.

Cygnar (martial ranking)
* Sergeant
* Lieutenant
* Captain
* Major
* Colonel
* Commander
* General
* Lord General
* Warmaster General

Cygnar (arcane ranking)
* Apprentice of the Art
* Journeyman
* Magus
* Adept
* Prime

The Fraternal Order is not part of the military. It is a civilian organization. They have nothing
whatsoever to do with Cygnaran warcasters. Nemo happens to belong to that organization, but that
they include some military individuals in their "club" does not change that fact.

The naming convention used by Cygnaran wizards does share some overlap with Fraternal Order
naming traditions, so some confusion is understandable. The Fraternal Order is an influential
group with deep roots that has had an impact on the history of magical development across the
setting (such as the fact that the Greylords Covenant formed from a schism within their ranks, as
did the Order of Illumination), but they are still at heart a civilian organization. Most of the
Fraternal Order's "clout" with the Cygnaran military has to do with cortex production. Think of
them more as a strange blend of a fraternal organization like the Freemasons combined with a
civilian corporation that produces goods for the military, like Lockheed Martin.

For the record there's no "warcaster academy" specifically. The Strategic Academy (and lesser but
similar facilities) is an officer academy in general, and provides training to many military
disciplines, with a smaller specialty branch that handles military arcanists like gun mages and
warcasters (also the schleps who learn the skills to sit around and do nothing but make blasting
powder for military use). Without question the warcasters are the smallest and most esteemed
group in this set. It's best to imagine them as being akin to fighter jet pilots, which are available
and fielded in far smaller quantities than most other military specialties. There are other reasons
this similarity is apt.

At the Point Bourne branch of the Strategic Academy, for example, you'd run into a variety of
officer candidates, including a lot of trencher and long gunner officers in training, perhaps some
storm knights (although those more often go to Caspia or Fort Falk) as well as the occasional
snooty gun mage clique, and then a few warcasters in training divided off from the rest, a
number of whom have already gone through previous officer training and may not have had their
talents understood until they were seasoned combatants.

There are other wrinkles to consider when planning your HBO series around the Strategic
Academy, such as the fact that many of the trencher officer candidates would also have been
combat veterans coming in for short stints of specific training between tours, compared to some
other officers who have never seen a day of combat and would be spending a lot more time hitting
the books and reading about theoretical aspects of warfare. There would be a fun mix of
commoner versus nobility to add to the interpersonal tension, plus the sprinkle of gender mixing
which any good TV show should be able to exploit for drama and ratings.

How exactly storm smiths fit into the whole mix is a bit less well defined, but they are probably
also trained by the Strategic Academy, at least in part, even if they receive other training
elsewhere. I'll admit I've done a poor job integrating those fellows into my mental picture of the
Cygnaran military. I always imagine them with their own little tents set off from everyone else to
avoid any widespread electrocution at odd hours of the evening when they decide to start making
adjustments to their machinery.

[Kriegtanzer]

The war is presently going against Cygnar and they have had significant setbacks, including in
areas where previously they had earlier victories. Such is the nature of war. Some have
misinterpreted this to mean "no victories" which is certainly untrue. But without question Cygnar
is suffering. One victory that seems to be frequently forgotten is Sloan wiping out the new
Khadoran fortress north of the Black River which prevented Khador from digging in near to
Point Bourne. This is an example of ignoring a victory in favor of later events that were reactions
to that victory, such as Khador feeling forced to attack Point Bourne in order to have a better
fortified holding in the region.

This is the back and forth of warfare, and sometimes the enemy does not react as predicted or
adapts to moves made by the others side. The Khadorans were under considerable pressure by
Cryxian assaults on their supply line, and so made a bold attack on Point Bourne. Does this mean
Sloan should not have destroyed that fort and simply allowed the Khadorans to secure their supply
lines? The question is debatable, but would have required perfect foresight. Had it not been for the
Cygnaran siege engineer kidnapped by Strakhov, the attack on Point Bourne would never have
succeeded, and therefore the Cygnaran prediction that Irusk would logically have to conquer
Stonebridge Castle instead was logical. Neither Khador nor Cygnar was aware of the full extent of
the Cryxian presence in the Thornwood, as until this time they had been engaged primarily in
lighter harassment attacks on the fringes of major battles. Furthermore, both Khadoran and
Cygnaran warcasters had witnessed the only significant Cryxian armies in the region nearly
exterminating one another over the Temple Garrodh battle, which then imploded.

Many Cygnaran fans are ignoring victories in favor of discounting them. The successful defense
of Fort Falk is a good example. As is the breach of Sul's walls and the defense of Caspia. That Sul
was not conquered after the walls were breached somehow invalidates previous victories in that
city. Again, the tides of war sometimes turn, and Sul is a far more important and vital city to the
Protectorate than Point Bourne is to Cygnar. (Being one of only 3 cities in the southern
Protectorate and their only major bastion on their western border.) The Protectorate poured all of
its resources except those already sent north with the Northern Crusade into regaining Sul, while
Cygnar was in the midst of massive battles on its northern borders at the same time. I have seem
people berate Cygnar for their inability to properly reinforce Northguard after the first successful
defense there, ignoring the fact that the War in Caspia/Sul was happening at the same time,
occupying nearly half of the Cygnaran Army in the process. (Not to mention considerable forces
tied up at Highgate and along the western coast to defend against Cryx. Speaking of which, there
have been attacks on Highgate which were successfully defended against, albeit this was not
covered in detail in the fiction since our attention was elsewhere.)

Cygnar has been struggling with wars on several fronts since the loss of Llael in Escalation, and
things have gone from bad to worse. But it is a skewed and erroneous perspective to state that
there have not been victories. It is true to say that some of those victories were later reversed and
that Cygnar has struggled to make significant gains. The same can be said of the Llaelese
Resistance. Several factions have had significant gains and this includes most notably Khador and
Cryx, although the Protectorate has also managed successes in establishing its Northern Crusade in
Leryn. The gains by other factions must be had at the expense of someone. This has included for
the most part Llael and Cygnar. If all factions gain equally, the war is a stalemate. Cygnar is
presently still holding its most vital territories, but there are more threats than ever directed at
them, including ones from within.

This is the reverse of the complaint we were having from Cryx fans before Wrath, which was
that Cryx seems to make advances in the big picture but often fails in 1-on-1 encounters. When
dealing with multiple factions, something has to give somewhere. In a narrative if we are to
provide some sense of drama and satisfaction for one side, it will come at the expense of another.
If we are trying to provide moments of glory for individuals in a faction that is suffering horrible
losses and setbacks, like Cygnar, it will mean highlighting individual heroics in the face of those
setbacks. That means someone on the other side is receiving the inverse. We are telling a story
about an ongoing lengthy war involving hundreds of characters and multiple factions. There will
be winners and losers, both in the larger scheme of things, and on the individual confrontation
level. These will not be doled out equally since it is not our goal to maintain things in perfect
balance. Sometimes the conflicts are internal, at other times they are against external forces. The
scope of these conflicts will vary depending on the narrative needs and the events we are
highlighting. It is true that some groups will have long streaks of successes while others will have
longer lists of bitter defeats.

There are several other factions who have had substantially fewer significant victories than Cygnar,
most notably the Circle Orboros and the Trollbloods. There are tragic elements to all of these
circumstances, as these factions are arguably working toward the most noble aims by and large and
are frequently facing truly horrific enemies whose victories would result in terrible things. That is
the state of the war right now. It is not a good time to be alive in western Immoren, unless you
happen to be a mercenary.

[Kriegtanzer]

Toruk originally created the other dragons to serve him, likely expecting them to behave as
dragonspawn generally behave--as an extension of their master. However, he did not anticipate each
of them gaining their own sense of self and will and eventually turning on him. That said, it's
certainly possible he will gain additional benefits after consuming them when they have arisen to
their own power, if he can catch the rest.

Toruk's standing as a "god" is highly disputed and not universally accepted. He calls himself a
god, and his followers call him a god, but he is not considered a god by most of civilization.
Although even those who are uncomfortable with this term will at least allow that he is "godlike."

All dragons have athancs. Whether Halfaug was actually created by Scaefang is unknown, and
just as likely to be human myth and legend as reality. The only "confirmed" case of a "3rd
generation dragon" are the two in eastern Immoren, if the giants are to be believed. Pendrake
seemed to like the story, and it came from a good source, so perhaps it is true. There were some
other elements of their stories Pendrake found hard to swallow, such as the possible ages of several
of the giant heroes described to him by Chilon. With all things dragon it's important to always
keep in mind that they are not entirely understood. They tend to be reticent with information
about themselves. The mortal agency that seems to have the most information on the dragons is
the Circle Orboros, which is itself an extremely secretive, slightly paranoid, and certainly violent
organization.

Toruk has not ventured anywhere near the mainland in sixteen centuries. Not since the alliance
was created which forced him to leave. He has moved with deliberate caution and relying on his
lich lord led armies since that time. Ergo, I don't think you can make the conclusion that he
would immediately put himself in peril flying onto the mainland even if he knew Everblight's
exact location. This willingness or lack thereof to take chances is also an important difference
between the Dragonfather and Everblight. This can be deemed a strength or a weakness on either
side depending on your point of view. Everblight is willing to gamble, while Toruk is not....

The draconic fire which these creatures use as a weapon is similar to an air-ignited chemical
reaction which happens very rapidly and produces tremendous heat. The speed and temperature of
this reaction is one reason many of these effects do not use the "Fire" continuous effect that you
see on other types of slower burning flame weapons. A lingering fire is possible, but more often
the affected flesh or material is simply sizzled to ash and the reaction ends. In this regard, most
draconic fire burns more like thermite than napalm.

Whatever quasi-organic "chemical" is consumed in the process, it does carry a dose of blight, but
the most concentrated blighted energy is found in the blood of these creatures. In a dragon or
warlock the blood is continually pumped across the surfaces of the actual athanc or athanc shard.

It's worth noting that all dragons are "fire dragons" in the Iron Kingdoms, more or less. Their
names often revolve around blight, fire, ash, or other destructive descriptive terms, but I wouldn't
take too much from the "Pyro" in "Pyromalfic." Every dragon in the Iron Kingdoms is quite good
at burning things to a crisp. Those with the MN1 or the MN2 (Monsternomicon 1 & 2) can see
this by checking out the d20 rules for Blighterghast, Scaefang, Halfaug, Ashnephos, or Charsaug.
Just as a sampler, here are some of their various destructive powers as described in those books (all
of which are in addition to the ability to annihilate their enemies by breathing on them directly):
Deathdust (Scaefang) - a cloud of blighted ash which continues to kill anything exposed to it even
long after it settles.
Hell Shroud (Blighterghast) - an acidic miasma that obscures vision and burns flesh.
Searing Aura (Halfaug) - intense heat hot enough to liquefy metal.
Ruinbringer (Ashnephos) - A cloud of blighted ash shed by Ashnephos which can ignite to tear
apart stone, earth and flesh.
Burnination (Charsaug) - Residual molten lava seeped into his scales and kept liquid by the
dragon's heat which he can shiver outward to splatter anything in the vicinity.

The primary offensive elements of all of these dragons is an acidic blighted fire and ash. Basically
heat created by way of tremendously intense blighted chemical and supernatural reactions.

I think people don't entirely understand how significant it is for a dragon to consume another
dragon. No losses at the Castle of the Keys are significant compared to this fact. Had Everblight
annihilated everything else brought with him, absorbing Pyromalfic would have been worth it.

Toruk has sacrificed much larger armies for less.

Everblight is moving at a pace far faster and more radical than any other dragon in history. No
dragon has ever operated like Everblight is acting now, and his actions now are not comparable to
what he did before, when he was still in dragon form. One thing people can't properly appreciate
is the volume of dragonspawn. It is not widely known, but ordinarily dragons cannot make many
spawn, and very few dragons have made good use of their spawn. Everblight has broken that
limitation entirely. Further, he has spent extensive time studying a specific race (the elves) and has
applied that study to specific applications of his blight, which has also never been done. Toruk's
blight is indiscriminate by comparison. He did not "make" the Bloodgorgers; they arose
spontaneously from living in close proximity.

There is no question Everblight is an innovator and dangerously active. The Circle Orboros seems
to be the only organization on Caen with a proper appreciation for this at present, and even they
cannot agree internally on the best course of action. I'm sure Metamorphosis will bring some
additional insights into these topics.

[Kriegtanzer]

There are no Cryxian druids. There are former druids in Cryx, such as Asphyxious.

It's important to understand that Dhunia as a goddess is a somewhat abstract principle and
primarily embraced by the gobber, trollkin and ogrun races. She has been recognized by and there
have been some attempts to integrate her concepts into other cosmologies, but she is not worshiped
by many humans.

For all intents and purposes, every "druid" in the setting is a Circle Druid. This is particularly
true of humanity. We have allowed for the possibility of using the Druid character class with
other races or for other purposes, if the rules blend feels better to represent a Shaman of Dhunia,
for example. It can also provide a different flavored priest for certain gods, like Nyssor or Scyrah.
(One could pick the Druid class to do this if the Priest class doesn't quite accomplish the desired
ends, even with the Domain benefits.) This is purely from a rules perspective, however, and such
individuals would not be referred to as druids. Within the setting, all actual druids are Circle
Druids.

For game purposes, more or less all human druids would consider the Devourer Wurm their
patron, and belong to the Circle. They would actually refer to the Devourer Wurm in this case as
Orboros, which they consider to be a larger and more all-encompassing name. It's still the Devourer
providing their power in the terms of the cosmology, not Dhunia.

It's natural to presume there would be a lot of Dhunia worshiping human druids, but that's just
not how their organization evolved. Dhunia only has an indirect place in their philosophy, as a
passive force of nature that is the other side of the active force from which they draw their
strength.

The inclusion of elven druids was done more for the purposes of RPG functionality and allowing
a proper variety of classes to races where a class represents something that works within the
culture. Druids as a class are divine casters with a certain spell list and powers which are
appropriate to worshipers of Nyssor and Scyrah, but would be much more similar to "variant
priests" than an entirely different and separate organization. The same thing goes for Dhunian
druids. These would basically be Dhunian priests (shamans) who just have different powers and
abilities and spell lists than those who are using the cleric class. Culturally the only large and
significant organization of druids is the Circle Orboros, which is human.

I should offer slight clarification that most druids occupy a different category than the general
Devourer worshiper, although as we know some of them toe the line (or cross straight over), such
as Krueger. Generally druids don't exactly worship the Devourer (even as it is arguably the source
of their power) or look forward to an afterlife feasting on the less fortunate. They have a more
philosophical and clinical approach to the patron, tied up in their complex notion of Orboros. The
individuals I was speaking about are those who more ardently worship the Devourer, which
includes the Tharn and once many other savage tribal peoples of various regions (now mostly in
decline). The old Molgur were among these, and were largely eclipsed by the inheritors of the
priest-kings who brought the word of Menoth. Over the centuries, and particularly in the ancient
past, the Devourer has attracted a fair number of human as well as non-human devotees.

It is correct that tales of this sort are one reason Devourer cults are feared and despised by the
regular members of most communities, including both majority religions. They are seen as
destructive and vile people willing to commit any number of atrocities, including cannibalism. This
is actually the case with Tharn like Kromac. There are other Devourer worshipers who focus more
on the predatory aspects of their patron or who revere certain guises of the Devourer in the form
of animal totems like the wolf or the bear. A number of these sorts of worshipers still exist
among those old families who form the core of the Wolves of Orboros. These individuals aren't
quite as bloodthirsty or depraved as the masses would like to believe. But certainly no one likes the
thought of being hunted in the afterlife while busy trying to find the safer realm of your patron
god.

As to what the wilds of Urcaen are like, in a word, they are hellish. They are definitely not like
the wilderness of Caen. The geography of the regions between the domains of the gods is
constantly in flux and impossible to accurately map or chart, including a variety of dangerous
supernatural manifestations and inexplicable terrain. Not to mention any number of strange and
violent predatory entities.

The divine equivalent of sorcery is the wilding, which is where little druids come from.

***

There is an important distinction between being feared and being killed on sight. Druids are not
attacked in the street, nor randomly accosted. People are suspicious of them and don't trust them
and don't like them generally, but that's a far cry from being attacked. Most people won't attack a
druid precisely because they are afraid of them, afraid of what they have heard about their
vindictive organization and how they look out for one another.

A druid can probably find a way to co-exist with other adventurers and even to accompany them
without incident into civilized areas. But a druid shouldn't be the person sent to negotiate for good
rates at a store, to gather information from the locals, or to request aid from the nearest
Morrowan church.

[Kriegtanzer]

Timeline: Bridge of Worlds collapses - This happened in eastern Immoren in the old elven
empire of Lyoss. It was when the elven gods first crossed over to Caen, and the fall of this bridge
annihilated the empire of Lyoss and basically cracked the continent in half (creating the Abyss).
Most of the elven population perished in the ensuing disasters, except those specifically close
enough to the gods to be protected by them. These then crossed west and settled, with the gods, in
Ios.

Later the gods in Ios realized they were suffering from some kind of malady, likely due to being
disconnected from the Veld (Urcaen to you and me). They left Ios to try to find a way to get
back.

Some centuries later, the Rivening happened, where all the elven priests went insane and riots
ensued. This is believed to be the moment when "something bad" happened to the elven gods.

Some time after this, Nyssor arrived back to his chosen people, and Scyrah arrived back in Ios, and
promptly collapsed.

So, the calamity in eastern Immoren was thousands of years before the Rivening. (Bridge of
Worlds collapsed around 4000 BR, the Rivening happened in 140 BR, so 3,860 years later.)

***

That even at the height of the Nyss population (before Thagrosh) there were still about 100x as
many Iosans as Nyss, and that those born without souls in Ios are still a minority of births. There
are a number of markedly differing circumstances between the two branches of the elven species
and their respective gods, any of which could contribute to the reason why soulless appear to be
happening only in Ios and not (thus far) among the Nyss. For example:

1) There are far fewer Nyss, meaning any attempts to assist in the cosmological process of
managing their souls (a task once handled by the goddess Ayisla) is probably easier for Nyssor
than it would be for Scyrah.

2) Nyssor appears to have used his powers of cold to preserve himself in a slightly more intact
state than Scyrah. (Scyrah Pronunciation: Si-rah Ignore the c.) While frozen he may have less
power to affect the world in general, but he is also not atrophying at the same accelerated rate. Of
course it is not clear just how "impaired" either of these gods truly are, or what impact they have
on the world despite their frozen/unconscious states, but clearly they are still exerting some limited
influence on their surroundings including the granting of power to their respective priesthoods.

3) Elves appear to have a complex cosmology which includes occasional reincarnation as well as the
creation of new souls through childbirth. It has been hypothesized in Ios that the soulless may
represent flaws in the reincarnation aspect of the system. Still, one could presume that a glut of
fresh deaths and therefore freshly freed souls might create a surplus of souls available for
reincarnation. The carnage that transpired with the blighting and conquest of the Nyss by
Thagrosh, in addition to subsequent casualties in war, may be keeping this system primed for new
births. A rather alarming percentage of the total Nyss population died just a few years ago, after
all, and the death rate since that time (due to the militant efforts of the Legion) means there
must be quite a few Nyss souls in the pipeline (such as it were). Perhaps this surplus of souls
ensure that Nyssor has less difficulty guiding a few back to be reborn on occasions where this is
supposed to happen.

***

[The Soulless] are still able to function in a reasonably normal seeming fashion, particularly given
instructions. If analyzed by a modern psychologist or other mental health professionals they would
be noted for traits such as:

Incapacity to experience guilt and to profit from experience, particularly punishment.
Callous unconcern for the feelings of others and lack of the capacity for empathy.
Lack of remorse, indifferent to or rationalizes having hurt or mistreated others.
Lack of or diminished levels of anxiety/nervousness and other emotions.
Incapacity to maintain enduring relationships.
Inability to distinguish right from wrong.
Lack of long-term goals.
Lack of personal insight.
Shallow affect.

Fortunately there are no real mental health professionals in western Immoren and no clinical
studies have ever been undertaken.

[T]hey are also noted for having all black eyes and actually having no soul in their bodies,
something that priests (and some others) in the setting can detect. They lack the normal emotional
responses and empathy as a consequence of this condition, not the reverse. There are indeed also
those people who have similar failings despite not having been born with this condition, but that
usually means there's something else going on with them.
Ios in general does indeed put [the Soulless] out of their misery as a rule. That is actually the law,
as laid down by the traditional Fane of Scyrah.

But killing one's offspring is something many parents find difficult to do, and the same is true
for those who help with these births. They are often smuggled to the Retribution of Scyrah to be
raised instead, as something of a small mercy. So, rather than being killed at birth, they are raised
to help the cause in... other ways.

They learn better by rote than by experience. This does not suggest they learn nothing from
experience, but it doesn't happen as quickly or naturally. They just don't care enough and are not
motivated by the same types of ambitions or desires as those with a soul. They do not have the
"spark." Their biological processes work just fine, including their brain, but something essential is
missing.

***

Iosans believed that their souls only entered into the domain of the gods after being approved by
Ayisla, Nis-Arsyr of Night, Suzerain of the Fallen and Watcher of the Gates of Lyoss. In some
cases she preferred that a soul return to live another lifespan before entering the afterlife. So in
this case it was not an endless cycle of reincarnation, but something of a half-measure perhaps
intended to purify or otherwise strengthen the soul in question. (If you have the chance to read
the Riven monster entry in the MN2 it touches on some of the side-effects of the disruption of
this process.)

***

There are about a million Iosan elves, which may seem like a reasonable number, until you realize
that's all that's left of the species. There are passages in the Retribution history indicating their
capital in Lyoss used to have a population twice as large as the entire population of the species at
present.

Iosan numbers have definitely been on the slow decline, but that is not the immediate doom they
face and fear. It would likely take quite a long time for the Iosans to pass away simply from
gradually dwindling population numbers. The more urgent problem is they expect the goddess
Scyrah has less than a century to live, and they are fairly certain once this happens they will no
longer be able to reproduce at all, followed by failing health and vitality in those who are left. To
the Iosans, the death of Scyrah is expected to mean their extinction.

As to the number of unblighted Nyss, that's a harder question to answer, but at best there are
probably only a couple thousand left who are not already a part of the Legion of Everblight.

***

Not everyone in the Retribution is bald. It is a popular hairstyle choice that is not limited only to
the Retribution, but is embraced by many in Ios. These particular individuals are more strongly
affiliated with House Shyeel than the Retribution at large. There are several reasons for battle
mages being bald, including a disciplined mindset requiring putting aside personal vanity to focus
on marshaling tremendous forces that can tear apart the unwary.

[Kriegtanzer]

Regarding technology and magic (and the overlap of the two), the main thing to keep in mind
with the Iosans is they had a major leg-up thanks to their gods. Menoth left humanity to their
own devices for long periods of time, bestowing only a few fundamental and basic things such as
agriculture, fire, and stonemasonry. The rest was left to them to figure out. The elves, on the
other hand, were guided from the start by their gods and given many advances without the need
of inventing them. If humanity was neglected by Menoth, the elves could be considered pampered
by their creator.

One could argue, given current population levels and things like the presence of the Abyss (and
the fact that most of the elven gods are missing) that Menoth may have had a method to his
miserliness. Perhaps there can be too much of a good thing.

Just to clarify, the inclusion of guns and a certain unique approach to technology with Ios is not a
retcon. Descriptions of elves as bearing high quality firearms date back as far as Lock & Load,
predating both the IKCG & IKWG, and the IKCG has a nice little section on "Arcanika" which
is the elven counter to mechanika. What I was stating earlier is that the nation chapter for Ios in
the IKWG does not specifically mention firearms when describing the military houses. This was
an omission and oversight by the writer of that specific section of the book, one we did not intend
to let stand in the way of a longstanding vision for these elves that included firearms.

You'll note that the IKWG sections for Ios, Rhul, and Cryx were all placed in the same relatively
short chapter, with a small number of pages allocated to each. These are not as complete or
detailed as the other nations, which was intentional. Many aspects of Ios in particular were kept
deliberately vague as they are a people not well understood by their neighbors. We have slowly
added additional details over time, including adding to the lore related to their background as it
impacts eastern Immoren in places like the Monsternomicon II and certain material related to the
Skorne history in Primal, both of which allowed us to shine a light onto the eastern half of the
continent, where the former elven civilization resided. You can expect to receive much more
information about Ios in general in the Retribution book, albeit biased by that particular sect's
agenda and perspective.

Some of the information in the IKWG section on Ios regarding weapons and armor and the
disposition of military forces can be considered inaccurate, out of date, and subject to revision and
overhaul. Some of this material has been modified as we prepared to release the Retribution as a
playable faction. It's also worth noting that even were this not the case, Ios is not synonymous with
the Retribution. The army that defends Ios is not synonymous with the army that would be
venturing out of Ios to march to war. Remember, the faction is the "Retribution of Scyrah," not
"Ios."

***

The Iosans definitely have their own arcane magic and this is not troubling to their gods. Consider
their view on this topic as almost an inverse mirror of the Protectorate of Menoth. (Where divine
magic is preferred almost exclusively.) Most of the sections relating to elven issues with magic
either have to do with: 1) magic from humans, which the Retribution considers detrimental; 2)
divine magic from elven priests, which places a strain on Scyrah. There was not much need in the
IKCG to focus on those areas where their magic functions as expected. Evidence for this can be
seen in a variety of places in the IKCG & IKWG, including numerous mentions of several of the
hallytyr (high houses) who are experts in arcane/occult matters as well as their equivalent to
mechanika (arcanika). You will also notice that even in the IKCG the favored class for an Iosan
elf is Wizard and they have several special bonuses related to divination magic.

The elves definitely had arcane magic a long time before humanity. The elven creator gods
immediately gifted their creation with the lore of magic, whereas Menoth did not.

Examining the different creator god "parenting styles" between the various IK sentient species
makes for an interesting case study. Menoth is an example of a largely neglectful parent, while
one could argue the elves were spoiled with too many gifts before they were ready. The elves
always had a very close relationship with their gods, while Menoth had largely ignored humanity
for most of known history.

Of course claims to elven supremacy in the field of the arcane should be viewed with the biases of
the source in mind, including the factor that the collapse of the Bridge of Worlds annihilated
their entire original elven civilization and permanently changed the continent of Immoren. This
was one result of early elven arcane and divine mastery. That disaster also had a profound and
lasting effect on elven attitudes toward arcane research and the dangers associated with the abuses
of power. But the Retribution generally prefers not like to look back quite that far. They prefer to
shy away from any explanation for the troubles of their species which did not arise from an
external source.

The most zealous members of the Retribution are just that, zealots. They are a radical sect. They
do not have a careful committee of arcane scientists who have spent decades carefully analyzing
the problem and compiling research papers to verify their claims. They are based on a certain belief
which they hold to be true and they justify this belief by a narrow examination of the facts,
discarding anything which does not seem to fall in line with those facts. They want their theory
to be true, desperately, since it gives their lives meaning and allows them a purpose in the face of
the imminent destruction of their species.

[Kriegtanzer]

While we embraced certain universal aspects of the fantasy elf archetype, we also rejected many
more of them. Some of the aspects of the elven type which we wanted to maintain we also
tweaked in a different direction. This is hard for some people to see. But one example is by
contrasting the Tolkien depiction of the elf species "fading" from the world. There is a certain
interesting aspect of this archetype but we did not want them peacefully and gracefully accepting
their fate as is presented in Tolkien's work. The elves of our setting would not be making their
quiet processions to their ships to drift without complaint into the west, there to accept the
paradise they knew awaited them. While we retained the idea of them being a "doomed" species,
we decided that this would prompt quite a bit of upheaval, anger, and the occasional lashing out
violently. Furthermore, we have a species that does not even know if they have an afterlife
anymore. While some indeed embrace despair and others pretend nothing is wrong and try to
avoid facing the death of their species, others have come up with theories and act on them,
including the violent solution of the Retribution.

It may well be that the Retribution is completely misguided, and that their much smaller and less
popular rival sect, the Seekers, are closer to the truth. But thus far neither group has definitive
proof of their theories and the efforts of the Seekers have not borne fruit to aid the elven plight.
The handy thing about the Retribution, so far as recruitment goes, is that they--unlike the Seekers-
-are not seeking a "solution" and therefore do not need to "solve" anything. They are offering an
outlet, pointing a finger of blame, and giving the angry youth a target for their rage. When
someone attacks your species and tries to wipe it from the face of the planet you want to strike
back and at least get some revenge upon them. But unless human magic is to blame, the elves have
no such target or convenient enemy against whom to strike.

While the Retribution believes the spread of human magic is most certainly making things worse
and that the elimination of human arcanists might help, they definitely do not point to any direct
correlation to specific problems with their species. Ultimately it all goes back to the root of arcane
magic. The Retribution pretty much think it's too late to fix the problem and that during the
Sundering all hope of restoring their species was lost. Some of them individually might think it'd
make a difference if they wiped out all human magic, but their ideology is most definitely based
around the concept of... well... Retribution.

The Sundering was an event whereby almost all elven priests were driven mad at once, for reasons
no one understands. Only priests of Scyrah escaped this wild insanity. Many of the priests of the
other gods went berserk, killing other elves at random, inciting riots, spouting crazy nonsense, and
otherwise demonstrating that they had lost their minds. Even the priests of Scyrah, who did not
go insane, found their power was no longer responding as it once did. Their connection to their
goddess had changed. Later, when Scyrah returned to Ios (the Sundering happened long after all
the gods left Ios to try to find their way back to the Veld--their name for Urcaen), it was decided
that "something bad" had happened to the elven gods. Scyrah herself fell into something akin to a
coma and answered no questions. No one knows what happened to the other seven gods (Nyssor
has his own story, having gone to the tribes that became the Nyss, but the people in Ios did not
know that), but they were largely presumed to be dead or dying.

It just so happens that right about the same time as the Sundering there arose the first evidence of
human sorcery. Human arcane magic arose quickly and spread after this point, for reasons which
are again poorly understood. But without question even among humanity there are a lot of dark
rumors about this rise of arcane magic. It's a controversial and not entirely popular topic. (Having
given rise to a variety of inquisitions, for example.) We are likely to get into this a little bit from
the human POV in a future NQM article, but the basic idea most people have embraced is that
Thamar arranged for humans to gain this power, and that Morrow may have given his consent.
This in order to eventually give the people of western Immoren the tools to throw off the Orgoth
Occupation which otherwise would have extincted both of their religions. Menoth apparently did
not consent to this. Hence why his faith has an uncomfortable relationship with sorcery and
wizardry.

That is about all that is well known. But it is enough for the Retribution. The timing is too close
to be a coincidence. Given even humanity accepts that "something dark" gave rise to their magic,
and that a disaster befell the elven gods at the same time, it is clear to them that human magic is
responsible. They need no further evidence or proof. Since most of the elven gods appear to have
been wiped out at this time, they also do not necessarily expect things to change by killing human
arcanists. But they damned well intend to get their revenge.

The Seekers believe something else. They represent a smaller minority opinion. Aiyana seems to be
affiliated with this group, not the Retribution. They think the timing of these two events may be
related, but perhaps not as a direct cause and effect but rather part of some larger cosmological
sequence which is not understood. So you might have Event X (unknown), which may have
contributed to Event Y (disaster of the elven gods) and which assisted Event Z (rise of human
arcane magic). They firmly believe that they will need to cooperate with other races, including
humanity, to understand the problems of their species and find a solution. They also think there
may be a way to save their surviving gods before they expire (which is expected to happen in about
ninety years, give or take a few).

You can expect when we release a Retribution related book you will get much more on their
perspective. But you can also expect it will not be an unbiased depiction. Also of course we are
likely to examine the immediate repercussions of the related events in Legends, such as the
encounters between Goreshade, Nyssor, Cylena, and Eiryss.

It's worth reinforcing by the way that the ONLY "evidence" the Retribution has to support their
theory about human wizardry/sorcery being responsible for the plight of their gods is this
coincidence in timing. It's a tenuous case at best. There has been nothing more concrete to support
any connection between these events. Not that this bothers any member of the Retribution or the
larger number of elves who are sympathetic to their opinions.The fact that the Retribution prefers
to overlook is that their gods wouldn't have been in dire straits in the first place if the elven
empire of Lyoss had not constructed the Bridge of Worlds and brought them to Caen. Why
blame yourself when you can blame another species?...

The main problem is timing. The Twins ascended around 1900 BR. The Rivening--which was
when the elven priests lost their powers and something bad is presumed to have happened to the
elven gods--was in 140 BR, 1,760 years later. At the time the Twins ascended, the elven gods were
still alive and well in Ios. (OK, not well, but they were still there.) One could maybe say their
Ascension helped escalate their decline, but that'd be a hard argument to make given the large
spans of time both before and after the ascension during which the elven gods were already in
slow and steady decline, starting with their arrival on Caen (4000 BR). Of course we aren't sure
how obvious this decline was or how alarmed the elven gods were about it, given it took them over
three thousand years to finally decide to leave Ios and see if they could get back to the Veld. (Ios
was founded in 3,900 BR, and the elven gods left Ios in 840 BR.) Most doctors recommend
seeking professional help if the symptoms of your divine illness persists for more than 1000 years.

The reason the Retribution has focused on human magic being a potential factor in the Rivening
is that human sorcery began cropping up right around the same time period (first human sorcerer
thought to have been discovered in 137 BR) as the Rivening.

[Kriegtanzer]

Myrmidons are definitely warjacks, not elemental constructs akin to what is utilized by the Circle
Orboros. We haven't provided much information about them at this point in time, but they are
much closer in construction to warjacks than to a "golem". The main difference is power sources.
Elven arcanika uses what the elves consider to be considerably more sophisticated and reliable
power sources for their techniques, rather than relying on steam power and the burning of coal.
They generally look down on human engineering as inferior, but there is also a widespread belief
that human mechanika is "tainted". Even those who are not quite as extreme as the Retribution
(who think all human magic is actually hurting Scyrah) believe mechanika has serious flaws and
disrupts the more pure flow of magic. This is not quite an ecological issue, as our elves are not
concerned specifically with protecting the environment (unlike the nature-obsessed elves of some
settings), but more a matter of a certain belief in purity of form and execution. There is a degree
of conservatism among the elves which dates back to the lessons learned after the fall of the
Bridge of Worlds which has made them cautious about certain uses of magic, and they believe
humanity lacks this discretion. So even the most "open minded" of elves, such as the Seekers, tend
to view human mechanika and magic with (at best) some degree of scorn and derision. Whether
this attitude is deserved or simply a residue of their xenophobic culture is uncertain.

Nonetheless, myrmidons are very sophisticated and intricate engineered constructs. They bear no
resemblance to the stone, wood and vine wolds which the druids force into animation through
sheer force of natural magical forces. This isn't to say that some of the techniques of the druids
would be antithetical to the elven concepts of magic, but they are fundamentally different
disciplines. By elven standards, druids accomplish what they do by relying a lot on sheer raw brute
power, tapping into the abundant source of untamable chaos which is the Devourer Wurm (or
Orboros, depending on your POV). Elven arcanists prefer more subtle techniques and generally get
more out of less power.

To use a different sort of metaphor, if we were to compare these constructs to automobiles, you
could look at human approaches to magic (both arcane and divine) as preferring "gas guzzlers" or
"muscle cars" whereas the elves prefer more refined engineering and efficiency, such as hybrids or
electric cars. This doesn't make the elven approach stronger or better, just more efficient. In some
cases the muscle car will still get to the end of the track in a faster time, it'll just burn more fuel
and put out more exhaust to get there.

***

It is a common misconception that Nyss society is matriarchal. Seniority in their society was
actually based on age, not gender. Perhaps the eldest and ergo the most respected individual in
Nyss society was the male priest Vaeril the Wise.

***

Hallyr is a name which predates the split between the Nyss and the Iosans, and actually stretches
back to originate in Lyoss. A number of names are shared between the Nyss and Iosans because of
their ancient roots. When Aeric and his followers left and eventually created the Nyss tribes,
those who followed them were not necessarily the entirety of their respective family lines. This
does mean there are Nyss who are actually distant relations of people in Ios. (Albeit separated by
about 1400 years.)...

***

Just as a small point of clarification, Raefyl are not the only Nyss who made it out uncorrupted.
A certain portion of the population managed to flee the north and were not brought under the
Legion. Of course given the small size of their overall population and the fact that the Legion
managed to get the largest share of them still makes this quite a horrifying situation. We've never
printed exactly how many elves managed to flee, but I've always imagined it as on the scale of a
few thousand. (In the range of 20-40% of the former population.)

***

Keep in mind we haven't necessarily shown you everything that is happening in the world, so it is entirely possible and even likely that there have indeed been some conversations between the Nyss refugees in Korsk and certain Khadorans, such as agents of the Greylords Covenant. I'm sure they have reported what they went through, but I do not know if this information would be of much greater value than the other first-hand accounts of run-ins with the Legion of Everblight from Khador's own citizens on the fringes. We have shown that the Nyss will talk about their experiences if prompted properly, such as in the Gavyn Kyle files in NQM related to the Legion of Everblight. But it is important to keep in mind there has been no actual dragon involved in any of these battles. Everblight does not actually appear to exist, as far as any witnesses would be able to ascertain.

Cylena Raefyl is our main narrative bridge to this segment of the population, and I think she has amply demonstrated the extremes to which some of the unblighted Nyss are willing to go to fight this enemy. (And we all know how the arrangement with Goreshade turned out.) But otherwise we haven't really detailed how much or how little the remaining Nyss have been talking to any specific individuals or governments or secretive wilderness cabals. From the events of Legends and the descriptions in the Retribution of Scyrah book, it looks as though these refugees may have decided it is time to rejoin their distant cousins in Ios.

[Kriegtanzer]

Fellig is a Cygnaran city, so you are not misremembering that. It has been attacked several times in
the recent conflicts. It is the city outside of which was the monastery of Asc. Angellia burned by
Protectorate forces.

***

Regarding Fellig: the city itself was not taken, however one of the main objectives of the
Protectorate in that attack was to burn down the ancient monestary to Ascendant Angellia which
was just outside of Fellig, and this they achieved. Many priceless and irreplacable ancient books
were burned and destroyed in the process, and the residents slaughtered. Given they had been
largely dedicated to providing assistance to the wounded in the war and not participating in the
battle, this has been seen as an atrocity in some ways worse than the sacking of Fisherbrook.
Some of the books stored there were smuggled out and escaped the fire, but many more were
lost, as were many lives trying to defend them.

***

There seems to be a bit of understandable confusion about Fellig. This is a Cygnaran city, not an
Ordic one, but was the northernmost Cygnaran city and it became isolated from the rest of
Cygnar after the events in Legends. The Butcher was involved in a brutal battle against its
garrison and his force was defeated, but only after inflicting extremely heavy losses and
shattering the gates of that city. The city was relieved by mercenaries hired by Ord (including
Gorten Grundback) and then the Ordic Army provided additional support to the city by moving a
garrison into place. King Leto acknowledges the necessity of this situation near the end of
Legends (p. 174), and refers to it as "an Ordic city in all but name." Given Cygnar has no means
to support the city, leaving it in Ordic hands for the time being is likely considered the best
possible outcome for its residents as well. Naturally should Cygnar repulse Khador from the
Thornwood at some point this would likely be a matter requiring diplomatic resolution between
the two sovereigns.

[Kriegtanzer]

Regarding gun mages and history, there were indeed individual gun mages in this period, but they
were not yet organized as a formal military unit. Drake Cathmore himself was one of our few
historical examples of a gun mage and warcaster, akin to the modern Allister Caine. In his case he
was also exceptional for his preference of the rifle rather than the pistol, an uncommon choice.

The Brotherhood of the Arcane Tempest was founded in 515 AR, just a few years after this war.
This was still not a recognized military branch, but more of a gentlemen's club or secret society of
gun mages, some of them officers in the military, who met periodically and shared their
experiences and expertise. They also began a more systematic approach of finding youths with this
talent and trying to teach them the ropes. The actual Tempest Academy and the true Militant
Order of the Arcane Tempest did not happen until 581 AR, under the reign of Vinter Raelthorne
IV. This was an act put forward by the Warmaster General of that time period (an ancestor of
Katherine Laddermore), as a means to ensure these practitioners were not caught up and
persecuted in the growing Inquisition. The arrangement between the military and the Ironhead
Conglomerate to regularly purchase magelock pistols for this organization happened in 585 AR.
Before that time most gun mages had to endure burning through normal pistols at a rapid rate as
they were destroyed by the energies channeled through them. (Except in those rare cases where an
individual might have been able to afford a singularly customized and more durable enchanted
weapon, likely garnered at great cost.)

***

I definitely wouldn't get too locked into the RPG definition of a gun mage in the IKCG when
examining them in the setting at large. Some of our ideas about the way gun mages manifest and
the way they are trained and interact with the Cygnaran Army have been refined in the many
years since we were working on the IKCG. The initial concept of the gun mage was strongly
linked to the pistol specifically. But as we've indicated in other places and at least one NQM
article, on very rare occasions, those who are born with this talent may find a rifle feels more
natural in their hands. This does require a more expensive magelock forged weapon and it would
require many adjustments in training. I'd imagine when possible the Arcane Tempest Academy
would try to break such individuals of their preference and convince them to adopt pistols instead,
but that might not stick. One can imagine that in the case of an individual who had also
manifested warcaster talent, an exception could be made and trainers would make the proper
adjustments.

We have given at least one famous historical case of a likely gun mage and warcaster who
preferred rifles with Drake Cathmore, who was killed by Karchev in the Battle of the Tongue
during the First Thornwood War. This was an era before the discovery of the magelock alloy and
also before the Brotherhood of the Arcane Tempest had formally joined the military. They were
more of a cabal of like-minded individuals who had discovered a unique talent and sought to assist
one another in exploiting its potential in battle. As such, gun mages were not very well known of
at the time, but certainly it seems very likely Drake Cathmore was one. You'd have to pry into the
older records of the Arcane Tempest to know for sure, but I think it's safe to consider him an
early example of the breed.

I am not going to answer any questions specific to Kara Sloan at this time; as I've mentioned
before I dislike discussing such details before the book is out. But I will say her being a gun mage
would in no way violate what we have established in our setting about gun mages or warcasters.
The Arcane Tempest Academy is a subsidiary organization of the Strategic Academy entrusted to
train gun mages to serve in the Cygnaran Army, and the Strategic Academy is itself the
organization that trains Cygnaran warcasters. Warcaster training is flexible by nature, since every
one of them is unique. They have had to deal with larger challenges than figuring out how to
train a gun mage to use a rifle rather than a pistol.

To be fair it is rather firmly established in the setting that the gun mage as a trained tradition
which exploits the full limits of its potential is very much closely linked exclusively to Llael and
Cygnar. These are the two groups which have made being a gun mage into a full military reality.
Any other background of gun mages is not particularly supported in the context of the setting. As
I mentioned in another thread, there is no Khadoran gun mage "tradition". Such individuals would
likely either be trying to develop their power on their own or would become sorcerers working for
the Greylords Covenant. This was misinterpreted in a creative direction to give rise to thoughts of
some kind of internal gun-mage cabal within the Greylords, but that was not what I meant.
What I meant was these people would not in fact be practicing gun mages. They would be
sorcerers, perhaps with an odd knack and preference for pistols which has never been properly
exploited.

The most skilled gun mages in our setting are the members of the Arcane Tempest and the Loyal
Order of the Amethyst Rose.

I've never particularly encouraged people to try to make exact approximations between the
miniatures game and the RPG in terms of matching a model rules to a playable class/level
arrangement. This is particularly true with our character warcasters, but can be said of solos as
well. However it is worth reinforcing that the appelation of "Adept" on the Gun Mage Captain
Adept implies an extremely high level of skill and experience. This is one reason this solo is FA:1.
Despite not being a character model, these individuals would indeed be very high level in RPG
terms, among the best of their profession. In the RPG these people would certainly have names
and be recognized individually. Even Caine has not been given the honorary title of Adept.
Gaining recognition as an Adept is actually a very big deal among the arcanists serving the
Cygnaran Army. At least among those who care about such things, which does not actually
include Caine.

***

The [Pistoleer] class is more based upon a gunslinger concept than a soldier, which is one of the
flavor differences between the rifleman and pistoleer. However, that isn't to say there aren't
pistoleers in the military. The rifleman is much more specifically a military tradition, in other
words, whereas the pistoleer has arisen from a different background.

I would have to say the gunmage's proficiency would qualify as a special case equivalent to the
requirement here. Related to a tangent thread where people were discussing the question of rifles
and gunmages, the discipline of the gunmage is very focused and specific to pistols as part of their
training and practices. Gunmages don't use rifles for their unique abilities, but there would be
nothing to prevent them from making the transition to a pistoleer.

I wouldn't go so far as to say pistol and rifles are the same to use, however. I wouldn't allow the
gunmage who made that transition to be proficient in rifles without buying the regular feat.
Someone who has the Exotic Weapon Proficiency (small arms) has had training in various types of
firearms including rifles and pistols. The gunmage has a special affinity for pistols specifically and
is the only base class automatically proficient in them. This is therefore a more limited proficiency
than the exotic one which requires a feat.

In summary, I'd have no problems with a gunmage becoming a pistoleer. He'd still not be
proficient in rifles, however.

[Kriegtanzer]

Hell and adjectives like "hellish" do indeed exist in the setting, and the term gets liberal use in
some places, such as the Helljacks of Cryx. The hell in our setting is, as Simon noted, used to
describe the wilderness areas between the gods in Urcaen. This does not have quite the same flavor
or connotation to the denizens of our setting as it does in the real world, but it is similar enough
to suffice as a reasonable translation. In some respects this area is slightly more reminiscent of the
roots of terms like Hades or Gehenna. But in most respects you can just consider it to be a
description of a supernaturally bad place in the afterlife where one can expect to experience terror
and suffering. As is noted in our cosmology, this fate is most likely to happen to those who refuse
to worship any god, as the impious tend to get easily lost in the wilds of Urcaen, and it is
expected they will be consumed repeatedly by the Devourer Wurm or the other unnatural beasts
that follow in its wake. Devourer worshipers of course have a slightly different perspective on this
region, since this is where they expect to spend an eternity hunting and preying on the weak.

[Kriegtanzer]

You do not need to have a deal with the infernals as a species to utilize arcane magic, but you do
need the approval of your creator god, and in the case of Menoth, that approval was never granted;
indeed it was expressly forbidden.

As to the question of what happens when you tell the infernals "no" it's important to keep a
number of things in mind. Infernals are patient and subtle creatures, and I think many GMs have
the urge to use them as an immediate death sentence which is a waste of their potential as a story
hook, creepy mood device, or narrative complication. One of the most important things about the
infernals is they are not here most of the time, and they want to be here more. When an infernal
takes "notice" of an arcanist, you should presume this is happening remotely, from wherever the
infernal's realm happens to be. They are contacting and tempting their target at a great distance
and with no immediate power over them. This may be in the form of dreams, or other indirect
means. (Perhaps a book where the text writes itself and then disappears? Perhaps they find
themselves writing messages in their sleep, clearly written in the character's own handwriting yet
conveying communication from some alien entity? Maybe messages begin appearing in the steam
on a mirror?)

It's perfectly legitimate for an arcanist to refuse these temptations and try to avoid the darkness
calling to them. That makes for good drama. Infernals are patient. Perhaps each use of the types of
magic which draw their attention (particularly teleportation and summoning) strengthens their
ability to communicate? They are likely to offer considerable benefits if they can convince their
chosen "recruit" to begin focusing more on summoning magic, to see if they can establish a longterm
relationship by which they can begin to negotiate contracts and teach summoning magic
which will allow the Infernal to come to Caen more regularly to perform work toward their own
agendas and begin reaping souls. They are the ultimate in persuasive salesmen. They will offer
deals which appear to be at terms which are too good to be true. Particularly in the beginning.
This is how they can hook people into working with them long-term. As time goes on their
demands become more costly. Think of them as used-car salesmen who are actually very good at
what they do, except they trade in souls and life-essence. This doesn't mean any PC has to give in
to their sales pitch. Indeed, it can be more interesting if the PCs refuse. The infernal may go quiet
for months, watching remotely and periodically, waiting for that one moment when the PC's
guard is down. Perhaps the PC and his friends are facing a near-death situation or can find no
solution to a problem. That is when the seductive whisper of the infernal begins again, offering a
solution to that problem, just for the mere cost of a small portion of one's life essence. (Perhaps 1
point of strength, to a caster who never relies upon his physical strength, such a small sacrifice, to
save the life of a friend. And as a bonus present the caster gets to learn a new spell which will be
very handy in his future endeavors, a spell not typically known among the regular arcanists of
Caen. No extra charge.)

The arcanist's own soul is not the juicy target which makes an infernal pay attention to arcanists.
That is a decent "end of relationship" closer, but what makes arcanists interesting to infernals is
the opportunity to turn that arcanist into a true infernalist. Once the arcanist becomes an
infernalist, this can become a lengthy relationship which may deliver dozens of souls in the years
to come. Infernals think long term. While they will gladly take any soul which happens to fall in
their lap, when it comes to relationships with wizards, they are usually after something more
involved and profitable. Consider each arcanist that draws their attention a long term investment.

There is a difference between having one's soul marked for collection by infernals, and being noted
as a "person of interest" by the Infernals. There is also a difference with the temporary "taint"
which can linger with a person after casting a number of spells which can be detected by feats
such as Sense Mark.

One problem here is a simple labelling issue. We shouldn't have used the term "mark" quite so
liberally in some of these overlapping areas. But the mark that one will have on one's soul, which
is more or less permanent, for having a soul consigned to Infernals is not something that happens
casually or easily. It usually involves a contract or a person being sacrificed as part of an offer to an
Infernal. It is not something which happens by the casting of a single spell.

If one frequently casts teleportation spells, the Infernals are likely to notice and take an interest in
that person, and may decide to peg them for "further opportunities". This does not mean that
person's soul has been irrevocably marked for collection. Consider it instead akin to drawing the
attention of the FBI or the CIA, with the Nonokrion Order being the "agency" in this instance
which has taken an interest in the person. This has no immediate predetermined consequences
other than the fact that some infernal somewhere may decide that wizard is worth some
investment in time to establish a relationship and see if they can be turned to aid the soul trade.

Souls which have been voluntarily offered and marked are pretty much impossible to restore. But
the Church of Morrow does have means to try to save souls which have been marked in other
circumstances, particularly those left behind in the wake of infernal violence where the individuals
marked are innocent victims. This isn't exactly the same situation as described here, but just
wanted to provide that there is some precident for dealing with marked souls and preventing their
horrible fate. This usually requires a reasonably powerful priest to arrive on the scene of infernal
violence, to see the lingering marked souls (with Reveal Souls) and then perform a number of
significant benedictions. Naturally this could become particularly dangerous if a Soul Stalker
happens to be on the trail of those same souls and is closing on the vicinity, hoping to get to them
before the priest can fix them.

Trying to fix someone who is still alive and has a marked soul should of course be trickier yet.
Infernals are certainly fond of trying to trick people into giving up their souls. However, the fact
that she was not fully aware of what to which she was agreeing could be a loophole that could be
exploited for her redemption. This is of course why the infernals try to use tidier contracts. But I
think it makes for an interesting plot twist, and a demonstration of why contracts are important.
This was clearly an opportunistic move by this particular Curator, who was willing to take a
chance to get the soul.

[Kriegtanzer]

With the dwarves within Rhul, wizardry is very tightly controlled by a group I'd love the
opportunity to write more about some day, the Brand of Odom. The dwarves took a different and
extremely conservative approach to magic than the elves, which may be one reason their civilization
has endured. They obeyed the dictates passed down by Great Father Odom, who believed very
much in secrecy and restrained use of magic. All members of the Brand of Odom are literally
branded when they join its ranks, part of a swearing-in process which binds them to very exacting
oaths that have the strength of a geas. Their approach to magic is most comparable among
humanity to the Order of Illumination, at least in the respect of closely scrutinizing their own
membership. The virtual monopoly of this organization over arcane matters in Rhul has likely
slowed the progress of innovation and research but seems to have also done a remarkable job of
preventing corruption by outside forces. Not every single dwarven arcanist is a member, and
dwarves have joined other organizations outside Rhul, but it is very difficult to establish oneself to
any degree of legitimacy in Rhul without the approval of Stone House Odom and the Brand.

Things are different and more complicated in Ios, with a number of competing groups. I'm sure
there have been occasions when these groups have had to face infernal corruption by individuals.
However, from an infernal POV this is a diminishing market. Not one to ignore entirely, but
certainly less of a thriving market for the soul-trade than humanity by several degrees of
magnitude. Furthermore, while elves of the old empire (Lyoss) were incautious and free with their
magic, they learned to become more disciplined the hard way. Ever since the founding of Ios, Iosan
magic has become much more conservative. One of their strongest areas of specialty is divination,
which would make concealing such pacts to peers a challenge.

It is important to remember that only amateurs or the extremely desperate infernalists offer their
own souls immediately in infernal pacts. While infernals work over the course of an infernalist's
career/lifetime to seduce them into compromising their own soul eventually (and usually succeed),
they are patient. Remember the parable of the goose who lays golden eggs. If an infernalist is
providing the infernals with an steady supply of souls, their own soul can be negotiated for at any
time, or postponed indefinitely. This is how Thamarites can function as infernalists without
compromising their faith. Scion Ekris never offered his own soul.

That said I think there are other unrelated problems related to the soulless and any interactions
with infernals. I think infernals may not even recognize such a soulless individual as being capable
of signing a binding contract. There are peculiar ramifications to the soulless which I don't think
the infernals would embrace. It is likely they would ignore such a person altogether, considering
them no different from an animal.

***

There is the origin of power, and then there is the application of that power in various forms. An
infernalist could be an evoker, for example, if he has petitioned his "patron" for destructive magical
power, learning to shape tremendous energies of fire, for example. If instead he chooses to learn
how to animate corpses or control souls, he is utilizing necromancy. This has nothing to do with
where that power or knowledge to shape it comes from. The same goes for priests. There are
Thamarites priests who draw on divine power to animate the dead. They are still practicing
necromancy.

One of the main things infernals offer is specific arcane lore (spells) and direct access to power
without requiring the permission of the gods. They have both unsurpassed knowledge of the
arcane as well as the means to unlock that power in others. Which is one of their main
bargaining chips. Once you have that power, however, it is applied in similar fashion (via spells) as
any other magic.

***

A skilled infernalist will not bargain his own soul to an Infernal, avoiding that for as long as
possible. A particularly skilled infernalist might never need to offer up his own soul, although
throughout the relationship it will be an objective of their "patrons" to put them in a position
where doing so seems necessary.

Like certain other marketing schemes, the infernals work with the notion that it's better to have
an agent bringing in multiple souls over the long haul vs. the short term gain of a single soul.
Therefore, if an infernalist is expected to bring in dozens (or even hundreds) of souls in the
course of their career, their own soul can wait or even be considered an acceptable loss.

For example, there are Thamarite infernalists. Thamar's doctrines specifically forbid her
worshipers offering their own souls in these pacts, although some still slip and make that mistake
eventually, or find themselves caught in contractual obligations that put them in an impossible
situation where they are forced to forfeit their soul. Thamar's relationship with these powers
appears to be tense and not entirely cooperative, although by her doctrines of achieving power by
any means they are considered a valid (if dangerous) study. A "proper" Thamarite infernalist
should only be offering the souls of others to the infernals, preferably the souls of enemies of
Thamar (Menites and Morrowans, for example). While this does not gain souls for Thamar, it
does deny them to her enemies, and is thus considered a net gain.

As others have noted, infernals have no ability otherwise to travel to Caen and even when
summoned their ability to interfere in this world is limited. They rely rather heavily on bound
contracts to provide them an avenue of influence on Caen and a means of acquiring more souls or
life essence (a lesser but acceptable exchange for their services can include "life essence" which
could include anything from XP to permanent attribute loss).

Amateur infernalists are the main ones who get caught immediately or quickly into the trap of
giving up their own soul for power. These are the "suckers" of the infernalist trade. (Many
Umbral Reavers have a very good racket taking advantage of these individuals, as they have created
a system whereby they can be summoned by non-arcanists who immediately pay a toll by doing so.
This is an unusual arrangement, and one which any proper infernalist would steer well clear of.)

[Kriegtanzer]

We didn't decide to invest the time to detail the Llaelese Army since indeed it has been
dismantled since the Khadoran occupation. However, contrary to some of the popular belief they
did in fact have a formal national army, in addition to (and combined with) the personal retainers
of a number of nobles. They certainly relied heavily on mercenary groups to bolster their army and
in the last few years Glabryn did much to weaken, disorder, and undermine the national military.
However, while it was small they did in fact have a real army with a similar hierarchy of ranks
as is utilized in Cygnar. The Llaelese Umbreans comprised a large majority of the soldiers in the
Llaelese Army and there remains among their community a number of individuals who feel
betrayed by their former leader. Naturally where such people were not killed during the invasion,
a number of them joined the Llaelese Resistance.

The largest garrisons of the Llaelese Army were deployed at Redwall Fortress and Merywyn.
There was actually a small but respected garrison at Laedry as well, which is not touched on in
the Escalation text due to the focus on the mercenaries bolstering that region. The Llaelese Army
fought quite valiantly during the Siege of Merywyn in particular, which took considerably longer
than most Khadoran kommandants would have expected. (In part due to Cygnaran support, but
also due to the courage of the local soldiers, who at this time still had no idea they had been
betrayed from within.)

The claim that Glabryn's collaboration ultimately saved lives is certainly the Khadoran POV but is
by no means conclusive or widely believed by enemies of that empire. Most Llaelese believe that
they could have held Khador longer at their border if their military had been given the proper
support, at the very least buying time for more substantial Cygnaran forces to be deployed into the
region. Had Cygnar been able to entrench itself to support its ally rather than scrambling to
staunch what was already a full-scale occupation force penetrating the nation through multiple
routes, it's possible that things might have turned out differently. Certainly Llael could not have
stood without Cygnar's help, but as it was they were unable to even give a proper fight along their
western border, a fact which many look on now with shame and regret. The events leading to the
slaughter at Riversmet and the subsequent surrender of Leryn might have gone down differently
if Laedry and Redwall Fortress had been able to withstand the initial assault.

[Kriegtanzer]

The "Gift" of Thamar is a bit like Pandora's box. It isn't something that is continually given, or
something any entity has control over now. It was given during the Orgoth Rebellion, and
apparently the terms required it be given to a species (or at least a large local segment of a species),
rather than being given to individuals on a case by case basis.

The Gift of Magic was therefore given to the oppressed humans being subjugated by the Orgoth,
in other words, regardless of their faith. Once given, that potential has continued to express itself
down through the generations, periodically cropping up in stronger form as sorcery, but also as an
inherent capability to learn arcane magic as wizardry. Where and when this happens is not well
understood, but is certainly not regulated or controlled by Thamar, Morrow, or Menoth. Indeed,
the very "Pandora's Box" nature of this "toggle" may be one reason Menites believe their patron was
infuriated over the "Betrayal" this represented. Menoth did not desire humanity to have this
power, and now there seems to be nothing he can do about it other than having his priesthood slay
those born with obvious sorcery.

Now that humans have access to the arcane, what they do with it is a matter of their own
individual free choice. This follows the fundamental Volition principle of Thamar and Morrow -
one's path is chosen, to do good or to do evil. One's powers are utilized accordingly. Some wizards
and sorcerers have chosen to heed the message of Morrow, others Thamar. (And some neither of
these gods, turning to the Devourer or even Menoth, among the voluntary recruits among the
Vassals of Menoth.)

It is the principle of those who emulate Asc. Corben, including but not limited to those who join
the Order of Illumination, that they will use this power to fight evil, regardless of the original
origins of that power. That this could be seen as "using the Gift against the one who provided it"
is simply one of the risks that was inevitable as a long term consequence to opening humanity to a
power which allowed them to shake off the Orgoth.

***

The relationship between the Twins is indeed intentionally complex and often misunderstood.
Neither of these entities is simple nor 1-dimensional. Their faiths intermingle more than either of
their clergy would like to admit, as inextricably connected as both parts of the Enkheiridion. (The
root of this connection is elegantly represented by the Volition.) They have sometimes worked
together despite their opposing philosophies. One of the best examples being the efforts by both of
their faiths to rid the region of the Orgoth. Each had their reasons for this, Thamar's certainly as
selfish as her reputation would lead one to expect. She and Morrow saw their faiths doomed to
extinction if the Orgoth were allowed to persist. Given that risk, it is no wonder extreme
measures were undertaken to prevent that from happening. One element of Thamar's role in this
was apparently the Gift.

Sorcery is a specific type of magic when we speak of it in the setting. It does not encompass all
forms of magic. Fell calling is its own odd little ability. Further, some of the things warlocks can
do are also in their own category, as it involves manipulating the power generated by warbeasts
into the equivalent of spells. Some of the things Grissel can do she might not be able to do if she
was not able to draw on the power of warbeasts.

Much of the differentiation between types of magic in our setting has to do with the source of the
power, and how one gains the ability to master that power. Magic at its root is the ability to
manipulate reality by force of will. There are lots of ways this can happen. Sometimes it involves
having a dragon's athanc stuck in your chest and turning your blood into blighted soup, at other
times you might be able to pray to a god for that sort of power, or you might be born to it and
possess in innate knack for bending the world to your will, with the power arising from within.
This last category is what we refer to as sorcery.

It is worth bearing in mind that there is no real study of genetics in our setting at this point in
time. I will usually only answer questions within the context of what is known in the setting. Fell
callers believe their talent is passed down from a progenitor. Those born as sorcerers seem to be
rather randomly scattered across the various kriels with no strongly discernible pattern. The same
is true for warcasters or sorcerers. There are some family lines that believe they have a higher than
normal propensity for such things, and they might even be correct (the Tzepesci line is one of
these, as was Alexia's family line) but these claims are largely anecdotal and not scientific.
Madrak's parents were not albinos, for example.

Among the trollkin all sorcerers are albinos. Fell callers are something else. Technically fell callers
aren't spellcasters. ...

***

There seems to be a bit of confusion between sorcery and the Gift of Thamar, which is
understandable given the two are related. Before this enigmatic event arcane magic was all but
unknown among humanity, and it seems plausible that this was not simply a matter of ignorance,
but something deeper. Most consider that Menoth may have placed some limitation on humanity
to prevent their dabbling in powers he considered off limits. Menoth is jealous of the power to
shape reality, and prefers those who have this power be members of his clergy.

This does not however mean that "every human is a sorcerer" by any means. Sorcery is a very rare
and indeed an "in born" gift, which happens to a very small percentage of humanity even after the
"Gift of Thamar". Sorcery is a strong connection to arcane magic which manifests spontaneously,
often at a young age, and at times difficult to control until the sorcerer learns to properly control
their talent. There is definitely a clear point in history before which almost no one was born with
this talent (or at least so few as to be nearly unheard of), and then a point after where these births
were happening, while rarely, in greater numbers and across a wide area.

Corresponding with these "spontaneous" casters who had a talent from birth, there was the rise of
organized wizardry. It has never been decisively proven but it is generally believed before the "Gift"
humans may not have been able to control these energies even had they the knowledge to do so.
There is some evidence to contradict this, such as legends of the Morrdh, but it does seem at the
least that whatever powers were had by the rulers of Morrdh were not identical to wizardry, and
may have been something else entirely. Little is known of those enigmatic people. Regardless, the
first Circle of the Oath in Ceryl put forward a systematic and "scientific" approach to arcane
magic, studying its practices and inviting intelligent and ambitious individuals to join their ranks,
all in the hopes of eventually finding ways to overthrow the Orgoth. This group was eventually
quashed, but gave rise to the Order of the Golden Crucible and later certain advanced practitioners
of these arts founded the Fraternal Order of Wizardry. Much of the current standards for the
study of the arcane by wizards is built on the foundations of these groups. (With later splinter
groups separating from the Fraternal Order, including most notably the Order of Illumination
and the Greylords Covenant.)

Any properly intelligent, keen-minded human can, in theory, become a wizard, given they study
hard enough and are taught by a mentor. However, only those rare few born with the spontaneous
manifestations of arcane power can become sorcerers (of which gun mages and war-bards are
variants who tap into these powers in different ways).

So, it's important not to equate what some are terming a "spark" which allows the control of
arcane energies and sorcery, the two are not the same. The existence of such a "spark" is still a
matter of debate and speculative, but most practitioners believe, even if reluctantly, that divine
agencies are involved. It is without question in both elven and dwarven societies the gods are
directly credited with provided these races access to mastery of arcane magic. The elves were given
this ability freely and early by their generous gods. The dwarves claim this power comes from
Odom, one of the Great Fathers, who attached considerably more cautions, regulations, and
warnings associated with the use of these powers. Dwarven wizards in Rhul belong to the Brand
of Odom which is a rather severe organization. (Of the human wizard orders, it is most similar
to the Order of Illumination.)

[Kriegtanzer]

The important distinction here is that arcane magic does not flow as power from the gods. Gods
are not the source of the power, at least not directly. With divine magic, the power is indeed
coming from the deity. Arcane magic allows the manipulation of reality without the intervention
of the gods. Which is why it is powerful, desirable, and (from some gods' point of view)
dangerous. The ability to wield this sort of magic appears to be something some species possess and
others do not. The exact whys and wherefores are still not entirely understood and have prompted
endless discussion, debate, theorizing, etc. Similar to other large unanswered questions such as what
is the true nature of good and evil and how exactly was Caen created in the first place?

Nonetheless our more widespread civilized species speak of this power as being something the gods
either allow or do not allow. Consider it a switch thrown on or off. The elven gods "threw the
switch" for their people early on, granting them access to arcane magic apparently quite early in
their history. (The same is also true for the dwarves and their gods.) Menoth, on the other hand,
did not do the same for humanity. He apparently did not like the idea of humanity having the
access to alter reality without his direct supervision. For a long age before the rise of the Twins or
other religions the only means for humans to gain the magical power to alter reality was either to
worship Menoth or to pay homage to his ancient foe, the Devourer.

There are rather clear indications of the divine sanction for these powers in the mythologies of the
dwarves and the elves, as well as the specific prohibition against these powers in the Menite
religion. How the Dhunian races fit into the equation is not well understood. It isn't entirely clear
when races like trollkin and gobbers gained access to sorcery, or why the ogrun seem incapable of
harnessing this sort of power. Since Dhunia is a different sort of goddess who does not really
communicate directly with her followers, this is a question that will likely never be answered. It's
probably best to ignore the Dhunian races when examining the origins of sorcery in various species,
or to presume that Dhunia had some reason for granting it to some of her offspring and not to
others.

The relationship between magic and the religions of Morrow and Thamar is exceedingly
complicated and I won't bother elucidating on it at length here. There will be an article in the
next NQM which will shed a bit of light on the topic, as well as opening up even more questions.
But the basic gist is that it is widely believed Thamar played a hand in bestowing magic on
humanity despite Menoth's disapproval, to help shake off the Orgoth. Morrow seems to have
accepted this power as a tool which can be put to good use whatever the nature of its origins, as
represented by the elevation of Ascendant Corben. Until the ascension of Corben wizardry had an
even more sordid and suspicious reputation. And even after his ascension many people have borne
suspicions toward sorcerers and wizards, and Cygnar's famed Inquisition under Vinter Raelthorne
IV is an example of this.

In several areas of our background material we describe the fact that many arcanists do not
formally join a wizard order until after several levels spent learning under a single mentor. The
wizard orders are intended to be societies of practicing professionals, akin to trade guilds. Once a
wizard is a "professional" so to speak, they will seek out a wizard affiliation which suits their
goals, talent, and temperament. Indeed, one of the shticks of the Fraternal Order is that they
generally prefer experienced wizards and can force applicants to go through lengthy and difficult
processes to join. They are therefore also guilty of frequently "poaching" from the other wizard
orders, trying to persuade the most powerful practitioners to join them and thereby access their
vaster store of research materials.

I've always had it in mind that most wizards probably wouldn't start worrying about an order
until at least 3rd level and in some cases not until 5th level or later. The Fraternal Order as our
most elitist example isn't much interested in wizards below 7th level (at least), but will sometimes
take on probationary members earlier given they appear to be quite promising. An ample bribe and
the proper family connections help, as does being male rather than female, one of their most
notorious sticking points.

The Order of Illumination does indeed often attract those more inclined to multiclass than some
of the other wizard orders. It is quite common for Illuminated practitioners to have studied as
priests before deciding they could serve the Church better by refining their aptitude for the arcane.

At any rate the Order of Illumination certainly accepts wizards higher than 1st level into their
order, although depending on the background of the applicant this may prompt more intense
scrutiny and testing to be sure the applicant has not been tainted by dark lore or black magic
practices taught elsewhere. Having glowing references and recommendations from a prominent
member of the Church would certainly help.

It's worth noting that people with the Healing domain, and particularly Morrowan clerics who
worship Asc. Solovin, are really supposed to be quite good at healing. That is one of their primary
focuses and roles in life. I would highly suggest not restricting those who choose to follow this
path, so long as they are dedicated to that role and not simply using it as an excuse to heal more
hit points in a given day.

The changing lethal to nonlethal system works very well for bards, and folks may have noticed
the entire Skorne culture only has access to this sort of healing.

The reason for this had less to do with Pain of Healing than the source of bardic spell power. In
regular D20 this doesn't matter, but in our setting it does. Healing magic is solely divine in nature,
and bards are a sorcerer hybrid. There is no true healing available to sorcerers, and therefore
having access to these spells was an odd fluke which contradicts our depiction of the way magic
functions and some of the fundamental differences between arcane and divine magic. Pain of
Healing would only come into play if the bards were receiving their healing magic from the gods,
but they really should not be getting their power from a divine source. It would be a little odd if
all of their spells arose from their own innate sorcery except for the odd cure spell which for
some strange reason they were receiving from a god as if they were a priest.

Just because our cosmology has its own internal rules and that these are unrelated to the
conventional D&D notions of elemental planes, plane of shadow, ethereal, astral, etc. does not
mean these rules do not exist or that Caen/Urcaen are entirely alone in our universe. It has been
clearly stated that the Infernals definitely come from somewhere "else" other than Caen or Urcaen.
The main thing is that the arcane practitioners of our world are not very well versed in planar
matters, having an imperfect but substantial body of lore on Urcaen only and far less on anything
else. Magic which would require some of those planes in the D&D system simply operate by other
means in our world.

We really have no intelligent living species that have a godless origin which are native to Caen.
But there are species who are disconnected either in part or entirely from their origin gods.

Our setting world is intended by design to be self-contained and different from other fantasy
settings. But as noted, this does not mean that Caen/Urcaen are entirely separated from other
"realms" beyond them. Clearly the presence of the Infernals alone is proof of this. They are likely
also the best source of information for any realms beyond, but they have not shown any inclination
of sharing that information at this time.

This is similar to the fact that Immoren is only one continent on the world and that its residents
have no global map. That does not mean those other continents do not exist. Indeed, we have
stated most categorically that they do. But our setting residents simply do not know the shape or
locations of them. (With the tenuous exception of Zu.) Given they do not even entirely know
their own world, they have a far larger gulf to try to explore realms/planes beyond Urcaen.

[Kriegtanzer]

There are definitely purely magical items still being produced, there are just incentives not to do so
in any bulk or regularity. The Fraternal Order of Wizardry in particular is a group that still has
expertise in magical item creation (and certain feats geared toward reducing the penalties with
such, with more likely if we ever get the chance to delve into them in greater detail). Similarly,
religious organizations like the very large, pervasive and powerful Church of Morrow and the
various Temples of Menoth would be creating regular magic items for notable members of their
faithful.

The main thing is every such magic item was probably created for a specific reason, individual,
and purpose. For example, say the military commissions the Fraternal Order to enchant a firearm
as a special gift of recognition to an honored officer for particularly commendable and lengthy
service. The cost to produce them is usually much higher than their actual value in terms of
practical use (something which unfortunately is difficult to represent given the way item creation
and market cost are so tightly related in the rules; this is one reason we added the risk of HP loss
when making these items). In the case of a commission like I mentioned, the wizard enchanting
such a firearm would probably demand a much higher price from the military for this
commission than the item's materials and production cost would ordinarily warrant. So the
production of such firearms would be considered extravagant and limited to special cases, rather
than being widely distributed.

The nice thing is that most items will outlast their original purpose and owner and therefore can
sometimes fall into other hands, which can serve as a special sort of treasure for adventurers to
encounter. So long as any given item has an applicable background and these items remain
relatively rare, there is really no contradiction in having the occasional true magic item. True
enchantment still has certain benefits over mechanika to the user, just carrying an associated (and
sometimes unacceptable) risk to the person (or persons) fabricating them.

***

Menoth had nothing to do with the Gift, and the emergence of arcane magic among humanity is
considered one of the signs of the so-called "Betrayal of the Twins." The first slight leniency
shown by Menites regarding arcane magic was the incorporation of steamjacks into the Protectorate
military structure after the Civil War and later the establishment of the Vassals of Menoth,
considered a pragmatic necessity to allow the Menites to fight on even footing with their enemies.

That Infernals were likely involved in "The Gift" has been a known supposition for some time,
although the specifics have not been well known outside of the original Circle of the Oath and
certain tight-lipped Thamarite organizations. But this is one reason for the attempt by certain later
wizard orders to "redeem" their power through good works and dedication. This is one of the
fundamental precepts of the Order of Illumination.

Consider the quote on p. 300 of the IKCG, by Severin Copernicum, Founder of the Order of
Illumination: "Our powers were granted in the bleakest hour, by the darkest of powers. It falls to
us to bring light from that darkness, and promote the spark of knowledge rather than the fires of
damnation."

***

Cryx by no means has a monopoly on necromancy, they are simply the most prolific and focused
on its practice. Thamarites have been using necromancy for thousands of years, particularly
utilizing divine rather than arcane magic initially. The main innovation for Cryx has been
"Necrotech" which is the necromantic equivalent to mechanika. They have been by far the most
successful at combining engineering with necromancy. But Cryx is certainly willing to steal and
borrow to improve their power.

It seems likely that the mysterious and lost kingdom of Morrdh may have had a sophisticated
knowledge of necromancy, and their techniques seem separate from other traditions and predated
the Gift of Thamar. Their magic isn't well understood but has been of interest to Cryx, as has the
Orgoth magic. I think a lot of the sophistication Cryx has over souls is very much derived from
Orgoth techniques, although to be sure Toruk himself demonstrated unique necromantic powers
well before their arrival. The best example of this being the creaton of the Atramentous and its
revenants, as well as the initial Lich Lords.

***

[T]here is evidence the wizards themselves helped to increase this animosity toward sorcery, as an
attempt to differentiate themselves. The Fraternal Order in particular was heavily involved in
several inquisitions and went above and beyond the call of duty to root out "Thamarite cultists,"
many of which were innocent of any wrongdoing or associations with the dark goddess. It's a case
of pointing the finger elsewhere to say, "They're the evil ones, not us!"

The spontaneous nature of being able to wield powerful magic without any guidance or
supervision was a big part of the initial prejudice and fear. Those taken by the wilding and who
would eventually become druids were lumped into the same category. The notion being if they
didn't learn this power, it had to come from somewhere, and Thamar seemed the most likely
culprit.

Asc. Corben did indeed ascend long before the Cygnaran Civil War, and his doing so helped pave
the way for Morrowan wizards to gain some measure of acceptance.

Things are considerably better in the current year, particularly in urban areas, but prejudices
against untrained spellcasters lingers on. War-bards and military gun mages are actually
extensively educated, so they are able to escape this usual scrutiny. Wearing a uniform always
helps.

[Kriegtanzer]

Menoth is more or less the absolute personification of an absentee parent. He almost did not notice
when he created humanity in the first place and left them entirely to their own devices for quite
a long time. Once he noticed them, he provided a number of extremely significant gifts, like fire,
masonry, agriculture. Then he ignored them again for possibly many thousands of years before
turning back to see they were worshiping things they should not (like their ancestors, the
Devourer Wurm, other gods that may or may not have actually existed), and he rebuked them.

He is basically a parent who is very busy with his job and checks in periodically with his offspring
after long absences and sometimes overcompensates on trying to make up for lost time, either by
providing presents or cracking down with extreme punishments. The present setting exists in one
of these periods, a time when Menoth's attention has focused once again upon the actions of the
humans of western Immoren, for better or worse.

This is significant because the relative warmth and compassion demonstrated by the Morrowan
faith was a stark contrast to the attitude of the Menite priests, who took absolute faith and
devotion for granted. The Menite faith can be warm, depending on the choices of individual
priests, but at its core it is much more about unquestioning adherence and obedience. Morrow's
philosophies were a radical departure from this and resonated with those who had felt neglected,
oppressed, or unfairly dominated by the faith of their creator. Morrow (and Thamar, in her own
way) sparked the idea that individual people were in fact capable of great things and that each of
them could change the world. He presented the notion that there was more to life than obedience
and that those who ruled others also have an obligation to them. (In the real world, this is akin to
the concept of "noblesse obilge.") Naturally in the modern era, in certain areas the Menite priests
have had to adapt and many of those outside the Protectorate are eager to show the "kindler,
gentler" side of the Menite faith and to serve their communities. Such priests likely do describe
Menoth using more of a "caring father" analogy, but that does not necessarily reflect Menoth's
demonstrated attitude toward individual human beings. Such matters are likely topics of
theological debates between various branches of the Menite religion, each of which likely takes a
slightly different spin on the depiction of the deity and his place in the world.

***

The Old Faith was never a part of the hierarchy of the Protectorate of Menoth. It's worth bearing
in mind that the Menite religion is old. Very old. And has never been entirely organized as a
single organization. The closest it has ever come to this was under the reigns of Priest Kings
Golivant and Khardovic, but even here these were more regional rulers and had limited sway over
distant members of the faith.

The Menites of various regions have heeded the True Law as they saw best, looking to their
nearest priests and ranking visgoths for spiritual direction and paying their tithes. Occasionally in
a region the visgoths would band together for cooperation, but this still tended to be a regional
matter. During the Warlord and Thousand Cities eras a visgoth would look to the affairs of his
local city-state and perhaps seek to advise the nearest local lord, king, or what have you. Their
control over religion was quite pervasive until the spread of Morrow began to overtake them, but
this did not represent a single united hierarchy.

After the Corvis Treaties they were more inclined to organize and coordinate matters by kingdom,
but even this wasn't absolute. Some temples remained more isolated and saw to their own affairs.
Both Ord and Llael never saw much of a strong central body of the local Menites, so each temple
attended to its faithful more or less individually. Khador and Cygnar saw more organized efforts
to connect their priests and create more pervasive hierarchies. In certain periods of history a single
individual would rise to cause a stir and gather a larger than ordinary number of Menites under
his direction, and these that were recognized became hierarchs. There were very few of these
overall, and none were recorded in the Iron Kingdoms era until the rise of Sulon in Cygnar. He
proclaimed himself hierarch and did indeed attract nearly all of the Cygnaran Menites under his
banner, gaining the support of the visgoths as they gathered in Caspia. As we know, this led to the
Cygnaran Civil War and the founding of the Protectorate of Menoth. Even here, the Khadoran
Menites (referred to as the Old Faith) were largely uninvolved and their powerful visgoths never
recognized any authority of the hierarch over them. They quietly supported the Protectorate for its
worship of Menoth but also because it was a political thorn in the side of the Cygnarans.

Things have of course become quite a bit more sticky in the last few years due to the Harbinger,
who seems determined to unite all the Menites rather than accepting their more scattered state.
But as yet the ranking visgoths in Khador are still being cautious. They have not denied her holy
mandate or the source of her power but do not wish to prompt a similar civil war in Khador as
the majority of Khadoran Menites are still loyal to Empress Vanar, and see Hierarch Severius as
the ruler of a foreign nation more than the leader of their faith. But those that see the Harbinger
personally or who hear Hierarch Severius speak do have a disturbing tendency to reverse this
position.

This is quite different from the situation with the Church of Morrow, which has been a united
single organization for most of its history, and this has been one of its strengths. Of course even
here there are significant regional biases and perspectives, but the primacy of the Exordeum and
primarch in the Sancteum in Caspia has been an accepted fact across the entirety of the faith for
some time.

***

?Additionally, some Protectorate Knights of the Order of the Wall have a number of adherents in
the north who have chosen to sunder ties from their homeland, much due to harrassment in
recent years of their Order by the Hierarch. These staunch paladins have become something of a
secret society and choose not to openly show their affiliation to the knighthood.? (IWCG, page
230, under Old Faith)

I believe this is based on a period just before the recent more open outbreak of hostilities when
there was greater contact between the Sul-Menites and the Old Faith. There used to be a number
of pilgrimages and missionaries sent between them, which assisted in the cortex smuggling from
Khador to the Protectorate as well as making overtures toward working more closely together.
Likely at this time the northern branch of the Order of the Wall came into greater contact with
their southern brothers, who were certainly under considerable pressure and experiencing some
degree of persecution by Hierarch Voyle.

I'm not entirely sure what would have become of this group or its goals in more recent years as
things have changed considerably. I could see a number of very different outcomes for this group,
including the possibility of their contacting Dartan Vilmon and subsequently serving as an
important source of inside information on the goings-on with the Khadoran Menites, and perhaps
serving as a bridge between the southern and northern Order of the Wall. They would likely be
working to ensure the preservation of the Order of the Wall in general, while hiding their
affiliations in order to avoid drawing the attention of either the Sul-Menite scrutators or Empress
Vanar, both of whom would take a dim view of such communications. (Both sides would consider
this treason.) Of course the Order of the Wall in the south is also in a less precarious situation at
the present, thanks to the death of Hierarch Voyle, the intervention of the Harbinger for Dartan
Vilmon, and the general acclaim the order earned during the defense of Sul.
the Order of the Wall is still strong in Khador (recent events have given it a resurgence in the
Protectorate as well). But it's important to make some distinctions between the priesthood and their
methods of conveying the faith and gaining converts versus the god himself. Even the most
benevolent and kindly priest of Menoth will likely describe his patron in stern terms. Menoth is
and always has been a wrathful and uncompromising figure, one with no tolerance or patience for
those who defy him or his laws. Mercy is something to be granted by mortal agencies, should they
see fit to do so.

This also puts the priest in the position of serving as the kinder intermediary for an imposing and
intimidating god, which is an effective method of inspiring the faithful to behave as they should.
In some regards this "good cop, bad cop" dynamic can be seen functioning even within the clergy
by the actions of regular priests contrasted with the scrutators. Often the ordinary priest can act as
the warmer face of the religion whereas the scrutators are those who implement the punishments
and who judge the faithful who are found lacking. A person fearing the wrath of a scrutator
might turn to his local priest and plead for a more merciful intercession, and perhaps be given
some consideration for having admitted his wrongdoing. Should the punishment be enforced, the
fear and loathing of the community remains focused on the terrifying scrutator, not the more
friendly local priest who did his best to beg for clemency.

[Kriegtanzer]

Clerics: If a god gives you a domain, he probably wants you using it. Naturally he'll expect you to
use it toward the good of his faith. But it's fundamentally impossible for a god to be opposed to
one of the domains that he grants to his priests. Scrutators are the sacred torturers and
executioners of the faith, as well as being the guardians who preserve the faith at all costs. Killing
in Menoth's name is one of the things they do best. This is not considered a misuse of magic or
necromancy by the Menite priesthood, so long as the applications of these powers are in the
enforcement of the True Law and not being exploited for purposes contrary to the temple. It's also
worth bearing in mind that the Menites are against all arcane magic on general principle, except
that which has been sanctioned by the priesthood (like the Vassals of Menoth). They do not have
the same sort of strong prohibition against death magic or necromancy as the Church of Morrow.
However there are things they do not do with that power (like animating the dead). Killing a
heathen marked for execution with that power is entirely acceptable.

***

Mechanika created by the Vassals of Menoth is considered acceptable, particularly if cleansed by
the proper prayers. There are several other examples of mechanika in warjack armament and
weaponry, although certainly less than in other armies. Overall the pervasiveness of mechanika is
less in the Protectorate, for the reasons described. The Vassals of Menoth are able to create things
other than cortexes, however. And all mechanika is considered essentially "unclean" and requires
some religious cleansing before its application can be accepted.

***

The fact that scrutators are lawful evil has been misunderstood by many people. I have posted on
the topic a few times and do not have the time to do a lengthy dissertation on the topic, but it's
worth remembering they are not evil for evil's sake or out of some arbitrary desire for malicious
characters. This caste has a very specific purpose as the dark protectors of the Temple. They need
to develop merciless qualities in order to perform their function, which is to pragmatically preserve
the faith regardless of the cruelties they must inflict on other human beings. Torture and
execution are two of their primary functions and have been since ancient times. When Menoth
was the majority religion it was the scrutators who served the community by punishing and
executing criminals as well as those who were deemed to be traitors to the faith. This requires
them to divorce themselves from empathy and to master practices which eventually remove their
ability to sympathize with other human beings. This is why they are evil. They are not expected to
randomly lash out nor to seek power for their own sake. Actions done which are not in the
interests of the Temple can lead to them being placed under the lash just like any other violators
of the True Law.

***

If a hierarch truly wanted to eliminate the Order of the Wall, they could do so rather quickly
and easily, by a single mandate. The animosity between these two groups is not that direct or
overt, but rather a matter of ongoing tension over their different functions. Nonetheless they are
both considered important and ancient organizations which perform essential duties to strengthen
the faith. The scrutators in the Protectorate have generally been happier when this group is kept
small and out of the way. This is because paladins are in the habit of sometimes disobeying orders
or interpreting them in a different fashion than intended because of their more merciful approach
to the Menite faith. This lack of absolute obedience makes them, to the scrutators' mind, an
unreliable tool. This is why the Knights Exemplar exist, as they are duty bound to obey without
question. This means generally scrutators prefer to work with Exemplars above the Order of the
Wall. But it does not mean they see the need to eliminate the Order of the Wall entirely. Rather,
they try to minimize these conflicting situations by keeping the paladins out of their way. This
becomes more difficult with the higher ranking paladins who are more likely to be in important
places and to have a chance to voice their opinions to other senior members of the Temple
hierarchy.

***

Just a short bit of food for thought on the hierarch versus Harbinger debate, which I do think is
an interesting one. The hierarch's main purpose, as he saw it, was to extend the crusade against
the nonbelievers outside of the Protectorate. The Harbinger's primary purpose, as she sees it, has
been to convert the faithless to the worship of Menoth and to unify all Menites regardless of
country of origin. Therefore, the Harbinger's primary goal is to consolidate and increase the
number of Menites, as well as to ensure that Menite souls are delivered to Urcaen (a function
which is more specifically handled by the Testament and the Reclaimers). Generally these goals
went hand in hand, but in the final fight in Caspia we can see a conflict between the two goals
and this certainly contributed to the hierarch's death.

One thing that tends to get lost I think in people's mind is the fact that the Harbinger's actions
on the day Voyle died were subtle and not necessarily precisely seen by everyone there. You as the
reader got the best seat in the house, able to linger right down at the front line as Stryker fell
down beside the mortally wounded prophetess. You witnessed in amazement and disbelief as she
passed her blade to Commander Stryker. But consider that those watching the fight did not see
these events as clearly. I don't think it was obvious that the Harbinger handed her blade to
Stryker. I'm fairly certain none of them were near enough to hear her words to him. Most likely
believe she fell, the blade dropped from her hand, and he took it. However, even if they had a
perfect awareness of what had transpired, it would not be a simple matter.

Even if one concludes she disobeyed Voyle, how much authority does a hierarch have over her, by
the standards of the law? Where in the law is it written that the living embodiment of the Voice
of Menoth must heed a mortal priest over the god himself? Clearly the harbinger deferred to his
decisions and recognized his authority to lead all of the faithful. But keep in mind Voyle has
never actually ordered the Harbinger herself to do anything. They interacted with one another as
equals with different areas of influence and control. Hierarch Voyle has the sovereign right to
order the execution of his subjects. The Harbinger has the divine right to preserve the lives of any
Menite she chooses to be an important instrument. In this instance, one followed the other. Voyle
executed Vilmon, and the Harbinger martyred herself to save him. Both were entirely within
their respective domains. You will notice the Harbinger did not stop Voyle from striking Vilmon,
nor did she produce some miracle to prevent Feora's 'jacks from firing on the Menites atop the
wall. She allowed his orders to proceed, but then intervened after the fact.

It is a mistake to presume there is some law which covers these contingencies. No one perfectly
understands Menoth's will. He is a generally aloof god and his reasons are beyond mortal
reckoning. His faithful have had to periodically wrestle with such uncertainties, looking to
whatever authority they feel has the most direct channel to the divine. The Reclaimers and the
Harbinger are accepted as having a clearer conduit than even the highest of the regular priesthood,
albeit that connection is irregular and unpredictable. Nonetheless their actions are not constrained
by mortal law. If you think a Reclaimer has every right to do as they do, you must also accept that
the Harbinger has the exact same jurisdiction. Are you going to argue with Menoth that he
"should" have reclaimed Voyle by some other means rather than the one which was most readily at
the god's disposal? Gods acting on Caen almost always take the most readily available expedient
and the one which requires the least expenditure of power. This is because it is difficult for the
gods to act directly on Caen. Furthermore they tend to act with divine awareness and intelligence,
with a better understanding of the repercussions of their actions than any mortal.

The nature of the relationship between Harbinger and hierarch is complicated and not easily
reduced to a simple notion of "chain of command". Indeed, if you look at the Protectorate chart in
Superiority, which is intended to represent that chain, you will see them at an equivalent level.
These sorts of circumstances are not codified in the written law. They would come down to a
decision based on the highest available authority. And my hunch is both of those authorities
(Hierarch Severius and the Synod of Visgoths) will see anything the Harbinger has done as a
representation of Menoth's will, unless the god says otherwise.

Note that I am not saying Menoth actually did speak to or act directly through the Harbinger in
that moment. No one except her knows if that is true. We did not see any of the usual evidence
of her receiving the word of the divine. It is certainly possible she acted on her own initiative
rather than a divine impulse. However, you can be assured that none of the Protectorate Menites
present there will make that presumption based on what they saw and who she is. You can
certainly expect that Hierarch Severius will not leap to that conclusion. If you want to consider the
Harbinger guilty of "murder", that's fine. But if that is the case she committed the perfect crime
because she is beyond reproach and likely will remain so unless she loses the ability to channel
Menoth's will and is no longer a conduit for miracles.

[Kriegtanzer]

Menites were oppressing Morrowans long before the reverse even became a possibility.

Remember that the Menites were the majority religion until about mid-way through the Orgoth
Occupation. But it is true that shortly after the Corvis Treaties there were a few incidents of
notably vicious treatment of Menites. This was particularly the case around the time Morrow
became the state religion and were removed from having influence over the succession of the
crown. The most brutal period is generally associated with Malagant the Grim (256-289 AR) and
the immediate aftermath of his reign. Many of the seeds that would eventually lead to Cygnar's
civil war were planted at this time. But it's certainly important to remember that the strained
relations between these two religions dates back considerably further in history, long before Cygnar
existed. There have also been long stretches of history where the two religions have co-existed in
relative peace, albeit even at their best these two communities have never been exactly friendly
toward one another. This is still the case in Khador as well, although it is advertised less and
Empress Vanar has done a good job of conveying the impression that her people live in harmony
regardless of faith.

***

Protectorate of Menoth: It used to be the Protectorate of Menoth in the classical sense of a
protectorate as a legal status. This is generally described something similar to: "The authority
assumed by a superior power over an inferior or a dependent one, whereby the former protects the
latter from invasion and shares in the management of its affairs." (Webster's)

Cygnar has revoked its protectorate status since they are in open war. But the Protectorate itself
still considers itself the "Protectorate of Menoth" borrowing another meaning of the term:
"Government by a protector" in which they consider themselves the protectors and guardians of
the Menite faith. It is their duty and cause to ensure that the proper religion of Menoth is
preserved and spread to encompass all of mankind.

The Cygnaran Civil War which ended in the creation of the Protectorate of Menoth took place
from 482 AR - 484 AR, during the reign of Bolton Grey V "The Blessed". Leto Raelthorne
became king in 594 AR, 110 years later. Furthermore, the Morrowan faith became the state
religion of Cygnar in 293 AR, during the reign of Malagant the Grim, so you can see this was
almost two centuries before the civil war and a good three centuries before Leto became king.

Malagant was one of the most notable anti-Menite of Cygnaran kings and did in fact enact several
cruel persecutions of the Menite faith during his reign as well as stripping away their traditional
involvement in the royal succession process. His reign is certainly one of the less pleasant episodes
in Cygnar's Menite/Morrowan relations, but as the time span shows this did not immediately
result in a civil war. Rather it created a precedent for a growing divide between these two
religious communities and resentment which increased in the years to follow. This added to the
rhetoric used when Hierarch Sulon called for all Cygnaran Menites to gather in eastern Caspia
(now Sul) shortly before the Civil War. He preached the fact that the Cygnaran government and
the Morrowan faith had turned their collective backs on their Creator. The bloody civil war ended
after the death of Hierarch Sulon with a treaty which created the Protectorate of Menoth. The
terms of this treaty allowed the Protectorate to govern itself as they saw fit, but required token
taxation and required that the Menites not assemble an army for war. This particular prohibition
was one which was never stuck to very firmly, although it did inspire the Menites to take
surreptitious means to arm themselves for many decades, including the use of converted labor
'jacks and insisting that all of their armed faithful were just guardians of the temple and not a
proper army.

There are a variety of other pertinent historical details, but it's important to remember that the
tension between the southern Menites and Morrowans is far more deeply rooted in history (even
beyond what I detailed here, dating back thousands of years to the initial rise of the Twins and
later relations between the religions during the Orgoth occupation), and that the Protectorate has
been around for over a century. King Leto was not directly involved in any of this and is simply
the most recent Cygnaran king who has had the "luck" to be on the throne in the present
momentous period during the rise of the Harbinger and the declaration of crusade by Hierarch
Voyle. Before open war erupted, King Leto was a strong advocate for religious tolerance and
peaceful relations between Menites and Morrowans. He had been working to try to settle the
differences between the people on either side of the Black River. However, he never understood
Hierarch Voyle's determination to see Menites returned to a place of dominance in spiritual
affairs.

To the Protectorate Menite perspective, the majority of western Immoren is guilty of turning their
backs on their Creator and failing to offer the proper services, respect, and tithes. The only
acceptable compromise the Sul-Menites would accept would be if the worship of Menoth was
elevated above all other faiths and his temple recognized as preeminent. The Morrowan faith
might be allowed to exist, but only if it was demonstrably subservient to the Temple of Menoth.
Even the accord between the Old Faith and the Morrowan religion in Khador is considered
unacceptable since it puts these two religions on equal footing, daring to place Morrow on the same
level as the Creator of Man. Protectorate Menite priests believe they should not only hold sway
over all human religious affairs but should also have a say in the selection process of secular
sovereigns, if such secular sovereigns should exist at all. There are some texts in the Protectorate
which suggest that secular sovereigns are unacceptable and that all such authority should fall to the
priesthood. This is a more recent development, but one which most Menites in the Protectorate
accept, having lived under a strict theocracy for over a century.

Remember that Morrowans do not consider themselves to have "turned against" Menoth. Their
prayers include many words of thanks and acknowledgment of the Creator. They simply follow a
different path which does not accept the tyranny of certain aspects of the old Menite traditions.
They became the dominant religion and were unwilling to continue to treat the Menite priests as
if they still had a right to dictate all aspects of daily life or to enforce terms of succession for their
kings. There appears to have been some form of ancient agreement between these two gods
whereby some elements of overseeing humanity was allowed to Morrow. Of course no one was
privy to any of the specifics, which allows for lots of speculation on either side and interpretations
which support the claims of either religion.

The conflict between the current Menites and Morrowans is, as often happens in wars between
faiths with shared roots, a matter of degrees. The Menites do not believe the Morrowans are
offering enough respect and obedience to the Creator of Man. This is particularly true of the Sul-
Menites who now believe that not only should Menoth be recognized above Morrow, but that their
supreme priest should be recognized as the singular secular authority of mankind. What makes
this attitude even more terrifying is the fact that the Harbinger seems to confirm this doctrine
from the normally aloof god himself.

The fact that the god is normally aloof and distant needs to be remembered and reinforced, even
in the modern period. Menoth is not in the habit of regularly dictating the small details of life to
his clergy or his following. The clergy actually exists to interpret his will and to take care of
matters which would be beneath the god's attention. This is true even with the presence of the
Harbinger and the Reclaimers, as the number of times they are actually receiving direct
instructions from on-high are rare and few compared to the actual number of decisions which
must be made daily by the clergy. The appearance of the Harbinger is also still a very new
phenomena, and one not well understood. Clearly Menoth has turned his eye back to Caen and
has taken measures to reinforce his flagging faith in light of the fact that they were dwindling to
unacceptable levels. But most decisions are still being made by mortals, as is always the way of
things in the affairs of gods. Likely as not the War of Souls still rages on in Urcaen and all of
the gods involved are more occupied on that plane than on Caen, where it is difficult for them to
directly (or even indirectly) extend their will.

[Kriegtanzer]

Most of your interesting metal needs can be met by alloys rather than creating strange new
materials as yet unheard of by mankind. This is generally the policy of our setting. We prefer to
utilize metallurgy, even if sometimes exotic metallurgy, rather than creating purely fantasy metals.
Most of these alloys resemble real world alloys and utilize the same or similar materials, but in
some cases alchemy or magical forces are utilized to get past the technological barriers that would
otherwise make them impossible to manufacture without higher technology than exists in the
setting. In particular, certain alloys require extremely high heat or require highly refined trace
materials at a level of purity. Purification and isolation methods as well as the generation of
extreme heat are handled by arcane methods. It is magic that resembles technology, as we've
discussed before.

A number of sophisticated materials manufacturing and assembly methods are known to houses
like Aiesyn, Ryvrese, Shyeel, and Vyre, but many of these originated before the fall of the Bridge
of Worlds and were passed down directly by the gods. In many cases these arcane techniques are
followed more or less by rote, with incomplete understanding of why and how they actually work
or the fundamental principles behind them. This means the Iosans have access to some truly
remarkable methods and materials but have less ability to refine and adapt them in significant
ways.

For this reason, the dwarves of Rhul have superior metallurgy to Ios, overall. In Rhul there is a
far better understanding of the underlying principles and science behind these metals and alloys
and this gives them greater ability to innovate within the field, applying what was learned in one
process to another that has different needs. Rhul (and humanity) also uses alchemy and arcane
means to side-step certain barriers, but they do so with a better understanding of the process.

[Kriegtanzer]

There is an entire branch of necromancy dedicated to soul-related magics, which would include
affecting spirits. The most important thing to keep in mind in these cases is that these are usually
dealing with spirits that have not "crossed over." Once souls get to Urcaen they are pretty safe
from interference, except of course by other things that are also in Urcaen. Raise Dead is one of
the few ways you can bring a soul back from there, and we all know the difficulties our setting
places on that. (It is certainly not impossible, and does in fact happen periodically, but generally
only by the leaders of major faiths. As I've mentioned before, getting someone raised in our setting
more or less requires the equivalent of a personal meeting with the pope. The Exordeum has a
council specifically established to review these petitions and the vast majority of them are denied.)
Another mechanism that pulls souls from "elsewhere" for the purposes of animating them is the
process that gives rise to Banes, a category of thrall. These souls come from somewhere that seems
to be neither Urcaen nor Caen, but possibly some kind of limbo between them. It is apparently not
a pleasant place. We have yet to provide many RPG details on these creatures, but part of that is
the necromancy behind them is very obscure, known in any detail only to a couple of specific
individuals in the setting. (Such as Lich Lord Tenebrous, who isn't telling.)

Fortunately there are lots of ways spirits can get stuck on Caen. Incorporeal undead in our setting
will generally be souls that have lingered on past death on Caen and either resisted the pull to
Urcaen or were somehow bound here or prevented from crossing (a particularly gruesome death,
unholy energies, or having previously dabbled extensively in necromancy and dying unexpectedly
can all contribute). Soul cages are one way that souls can be kept on Caen, and these are enjoyed by
entities like iron liches and many powerful entities from Cryx. Infernal marks are another way
souls can be prevented from going to Urcaen. Such souls do not always manifest as a "ghost"
(something that can sometimes be seen or which can affect the living) but certainly that could
happen depending on what happens to them after death. The infernal mark is intended to force a
soul to linger so that it can eventually be scooped up and claimed by an infernal and taken for
their use, but in many cases such "collecting" might not happen for quite some time.

Manipulating the spirits or souls of the dead will be necromancy in almost all cases, but as noted
such efforts might not actually fall under the purview of "summoning." Even in this case, a
necromancer who "summoned" a spirit to him would most likely be pulling a disembodied soul
(possibly transformed by trauma into an actual dangerous undead) from elsewhere on Caen.

***

You will notice the bulk of our incorporeal creatures are actually (un)dead, meaning spirits, or
naturally occurring bodiless creatures like feralgeists. They are usually only manifesting physically
to attack things. The idea here is not that they have some fully physical body that exists on some
nebulous "other plane" somewhere, but that they are actually insubstantial creatures (call it
ectoplasm or whatever you wish), who can briefly manifest a tangible body by sheer force of will
in order to interact with corporeal creatures. The notion is they are still always on Caen, just that
sometimes solid things can pass through them.

The take on these types of entities existing on some other plane is not really the way these types
of entities are traditionally depicted in myth or legends, at least not until more recently. If you
must have another place where they exist, the notion is they are fighting the pull of Urcaen.

Nonetheless we do not consider that our ghosts have a physical body normally, but are rather
creatures of spirit who can temporarily become more solid. The same could potentially be done in
the reverse, which is how these sorts of spells could function. But it was never intended that this
is a regular subject of arcane study. Particularly since for just about everyone (ignore the
Testament) going to Urcaen is strictly a 1-way voyage. Even our highest priests do not make jaunts
to Urcaen and come back. The closest we have to this is the fact that some people who have been
raised from the dead have managed to remember the trip and describe Urcaen, often in vague
terms resembling memories of a dream.

[Kriegtanzer]

I wanted to clarify that more than one newspaper exists in Cygnar. I've seen this
mentioned at least twice now, an understandable misunderstanding caused by an
out-of-date entry in the IKWG. Attempts by the Daily Newes to become a
monopoly in Cygnar have largely failed. There are papers in most major Cygnaran
cities although a local variant of the Newes is also often printed and they do sell
well. Attempts to limit other papers have never been particularly successful. Various
local papers do have an assortment of biases and differing reputations for
respectability. The Corvis Chronicle , for example, is considered a "conspiracy rag" by
most. The Mercir Messenger is more widely respected but is certainly biased in
favor of the Mercarian League and focused rather heavily on shipping and
mercantile topics.

Even in the case of the Daily Newes no one really takes the time or effort to ensure
that all of the local variants printed in specific cities are held to the same exact
standards. Oversight of this paper by any government authority is minimal at best,
and mostly a matter of passive pressure.

[Kriegtanzer]

Ord's military is quite strong, simply not very modern, and the king and his sons have been taking
measures in the last several years to try to improve this situation, to the extent possible given the
limits of their treasury. Ord in particular lacks for sufficient quantity of warjacks but makes up
for it with an ample supply of cannons, which works quite well at fixed positions but does not
enable the sorts of mobile offensives common to warfare in our setting. Ord is an altogether
different prospect than Llael was at the time of its invasion. For a number of reasons, not least
the apparent collaboration of Llael's Prime Minister, Ord would be far more costly and difficult to
conquer. Of course Ord does not take this for granted, as the Khadoran Empire continues to flex
its might, and the exposure of Ord's eastern border (after the seizure of the Thornwood) is a
matter of tremendous concern, one that has prompted Ord to erect a line of new fortification and
patrols along that newly exposed territory. At the moment however it seems as though Khador has
other things to worry about and has yet to press on toward this western nation. In addition to the
potential cost and expense of committing to war with Ord, there is also the consideration that the
Ordic Navy has been handily helping to interfere with Cryx's fleets. This is likely considered to
be preferable to those same fleets turning their attention (more than the privateers and pirates
already have) upon Khadoran ports and shipping. As others have noted, in addition to a respected
national army there are quite a few substantial mercenary interests in Ord who are interested in
preserving its neutrality. At the moment many of these companies are as willing to hire their
services to Khador as to Cygnar but many would become more patriotic were that kingdom to be
attacked.

***

In some ways, the average Khadoran soldier has more respect for the Tordorans in battle than they
do any Cygnarans. The northern border of Ord has repelled several massive attacks despite access
to limited resources and somewhat antiquated weaponry, whereas Khadorans consider the
Cygnarans reliant on their technology. Tordorans have proven themselves to be quite hardy
fighters. Despite rumors to the contrary, the Ordic Army is substantial, well trained, and well led.
It is certainly considerably smaller in troop strength compared to Cygnar or Khador but is
nonetheless a respected fighting force. As others have suggested, Ord's army has proven
particularly tenacious in defensive engagements, but is not considered strong enough or supported
by sufficient warjacks to field a mobile offensive. That said, as was suggested in several places in
the IKWG (dated loosely 3 years before the "present"), King Baird II and his heir (who is an
Ordic general) have undertaken considerable projects in the last several years to modernize and
improve the army.

So in answer, Tordorans are certainly respected fighters, both on land and at sea.

[Kriegtanzer]

Knowledge (Law) is very specifically important among the dwarves of Rhul, and could be used in
the context of their own faith in the place of Knowledge (Religion), and I'd say would provide a
+2 synergy bonus with such checks as regards the Great Fathers and their lore.

We didn't have room to include it unfortunately but I had a rather extended piece of text written
originally for the IKCG/IKWG which was quite a bit of detail on the Codex of the dwarves. This
material was eventually decided to be a bit specialized and periphery to the center of the setting
(which involves the human kingdoms), but was written as part of an exercise on my part to
determine the nature of the IK dwarves and their relationship with their internal laws and how
law functions within their society.

The Codex is a big deal to Rhulfolk. This is a huge library of information, not a single book or
text. It is the equivalent of an entire legal library which includes every legal decision made and
recorded by both dwarven clan lords and the Moot of the Hundred Houses. At its core, the Codex
includes both edicts and laws . The batch of edicts is much smaller, and likely has been compiled
into a single volume by the priests of the Great Fathers, as these are the instructions by the
dwarven gods/progenitors regarding the core precepts of dwarven society. They have similar
importance as the Ten Commandments among humans who consider themselves Christians,
except being greater in number and a bit more specifically detailed. The Edicts of the Great
Fathers were originally collected and compiled by Great Father Godor (Patron of Orators and
Master of the Codex). They are a document which is both religious text and legal document in
Rhul, the foundation for more or less all of dwarven society. It's important to remember in Rhul
that religion and law are inextricably bound together, in a way that bears some similarity to the
faith of the Menites and yet has a very different overtone. Among the most zealous Menites the
priests are rulers and law-enforcers. But in Rhulic society, priests are more akin to lawyers,
arbiters, and judges. They are rarely themselves rulers, except the Stone Lords themselves, who are
honorary priests as well as paladins. The role of priest in Rhulic society is as advisor and
maintainer of the principles of the Codex. Edicts never change.

Laws on the other hand, which outnumber the Edicts by a large measure, are individual
interpretation of the Edicts to specific cases and situations in the fullness of time. Given dwarves
have been interpreting the Edicts and adjusting their society in writing for about eight thousand
years, there are a lot of tomes of laws and their history. Enough to fill several libraries. Particularly
combined with the exhaustive records of individual cases used for precedent. This is the bulk of
the Codex. Laws have changed and evolved over the millennia, and those in use today bear
similarity to ancient laws only by their fundamental connection to the core Edicts. One could
spend an entire dwarven lifetime studying these laws, their permutations, and history, and never
reach the end of them. This is why this particular knowledge skill has a specific use and existence
among the dwarves.

Some day if I have time I might post up some of the more specific information on the Edicts for
those who are interested. I had some details on the following Edicts and their place in Rhulic
society:

The Edict of Oaths - which covers specifics regarding formal oath-taking among dwarves, and is
the root of the Oathbound attribute. (Those interested in this should be sure to read the callout on
p. 126 of the IKWG which relates an interesting point about oath taking and its role in dwarven
jurisprudence.)

The Edict of Unity - which establishes that all dwarves are brothers and sisters and must unite
against external threats.

The Edict of Authority - which establishes a clear chain of Rhul's hierarchy, and reinforces the
importance of clan lords.

The Edict of Duels - which relates the proper and lawful manner in which duels can be utilized
to solve disputes between individuals.

The Edict of Feuds - which relates the proper and lawful manner in which larger disputes
between entire clans without disrupting the Edict of Unity.

The Edict of Building - which conveys the purpose of dwarven life as passed down by the Great
Fathers, which is transcending mortality by building a legacy that outlasts a single lifetime.

The Edict of Ownership - that stresses how lawful ownership is determined. (This particular
Edict has been the subject to the largest number of interpretations in actual laws.)

While Knowledge (Law) in Rhul likely is very specifically applied to dwarven laws as represented
by the Codex, I think such a person with this degree of highly formal training would be able to
absorb foreign legal systems rapidly, given proper exposure to such texts. The knowledge skill
would therefore be useful, with a little preparation, for the individual to have a good grasp on local
laws, including the distinction between kingdom laws (those set down by the crown in various
southern kingdoms), and more regional laws. It's worth noting that while less significant to
humans than dwarves, there are professionals who deal in the law in other kingdoms, for whom
this knowledge skill would also be useful. Even in a reputedly "lawless" city like Five Fingers,
there are those like Dorne & Fergurn Barrister and Imports (Five Fingers, p. 46) who offer their
advice related to legal services.

As to some of the other knowledge skills we've added, I may post more on those later. I may also
provide some sample DC checks whereby Knowledge (law) might be practically useful. But the
basic guidelines on answering questions provided in the PHB still apply. Given how often
interactions happen between the authorities and adventurers in any game I've ever played, having a
bit of legal expertise is never a bad thing. It should indeed be a free class skill to dwarven clerics.
Feel free to replace Knowledge (the planes) with Knowledge (law) for dwarven clerics.

[Kriegtanzer]

The gods are far enough removed from micromanaging their clergy that becoming a warcaster or
not would really not have any bearing on the god's opinion. It would depend upon the individual
in question being born with the ability, just as warcasters are rare even among wizards or sorcerers,
and then choosing to take advantage of this ability. This might also require such individuals being
recognized and trained. As we have presented before, finding people who have the warcaster knack
is not easy. In the Retribution of Scyrah book we describe how it is only recently that the
Retribution has been able to put forth any systematic efforts in this regard, and they have been
helped by those experts in House Shyeel and House Nyarr who have greater experience in these
matters. Elsewhere we have also described that certain nations are better at finding them than
others. Cryx seems to have a particular leg-up in this regard, having a track record of detecting
mainland individuals with talent and sometimes abducting them before anyone else even knows
they are special. (The situation with Haley & Deneghra is an example.) The Protectorate is one of
the very few groups which has, after considerable time and effort, better success at finding their
warcaster talent and nurturing it.

We can logically presume that a number of people who might have had the warcaster talent live
entirely normal lives and go to the grave without anyone ever being the wiser. For obvious reasons
the military is the most proactive about trying to seek such people out, but clearly they do not
always succeed despite money and effort spent in this direction. Barring an incident like a local
laborjack suddenly seeming to obey the telepathic instructions of some nearby random passer-by,
there is little to go on in most cases.

There is nothing inherently preventing those with divine power from having the warcaster talent,
but combining these two aptitudes and being instructed in their use and then actually having
warjacks at your disposal is another matter. I certainly believe there are divine casters among the
Church of Morrow who are warcasters. But I'm also willing to bet they are very few in number.
The church is not as proactive about finding and training them, and is also drawing from a much
smaller pool than the Cygnaran Army. Most priests' lives do not put them in an ideal position to
even realize they have this spark, let alone act upon it.

It is important to remember that in our setting the priesthoods are still left to their own devices
most of the time and the gods really do not play a direct hand very often. Until recently this was
MORE true with Menoth than Morrow. Menoth has traditionally been an extremely aloof and
distant god. Things have shifted with the rise of the Harbinger, but even now Menoth leaves most
of the small details to his clergy and does not tell them what to do most of the time. Pragmatic
decisions like utilizing warjacks for battle were made by the clergy, not directly by Menoth. As the
god did not immediately smite them down and later gave other evidence of his approval, the
tradition continued.

By and large the Church of Morrow has had far less need for warjacks and warcasters than the
Protectorate of Menoth, since as an organization they do not embark on military crusades or flex
their armed might very often. Generally their people are occupied with attending to their flocks,
spreading the word of Morrow and his ascendants, studying theology, and seeking personal
enlightenment. Things have changed a bit as the entire region has become less stable and
particularly when Caspia itself was threatened by invasion, but I'd still expect the church has not
had the opportunity or inclination to identify, equip, and train very many warcasters. Particularly
as most of their needs could be met by patrols with more mundane warjack handlers.

No, I'm certain the church has built its own 'jacks, as the Sancteum includes all of the facilities
for doing so. These are of course on a much smaller scale than the Cygnaran Armoury, so would
be more akin to smaller 'jack shops like Engines East. Each likely built individually to completion
before starting on the next, etc. I do think they could also get their hands on old decomissioned
'jacks at a good rate, if required, similar to how mercenaries operate (but with a special discount!).
But in the Sancteum itself I would expect to see Morrowan designed chassis. Whether they would
resemble their Cygnaran counterparts would be up to our artists to decide, if we ever have an
excuse to illustrate them, and not I.

[Kriegtanzer]

These are great questions, but one reason it isn't directly spoken about is this type of thing would
vary tremendously by individual community and city. The typical relationship between various
members of society will be very different in Ceryl versus Caspia, for example.

Ceryl is the home of the Fraternal Order of Wizardry and includes very strong contingents of
every other major wizard order. (A strong branch of the Order of Illumination, a strong branch of
the Free Order of the Golden Crucible, even some spies from the Greylords Covenant, and a
number of smaller unaffiliated organizations. Not to mention the secret Infernal Archive hidden
somewhere in the city.) Clearly being an arcanist is one of the most prestigious things you can be
in Ceryl. This doesn't prevent those same wizards from being resented and disliked, but clearly
they are a force to be counted in the city and are generally treated with more than usual
deference.

Being a wizard in Caspia is certainly prestigious, but in that city the clergy holds a much more
prominent position in local society. I'd also hazard that in Caspia itself the mechanikal trades are
more valued and appreciated by and large than the arcanists, who would be considered somewhat
aloof and mysterious elitists whose day-to-day contributions to the city are enigmatic at best. No
one knows what a wizard is doing to help the city, while they can see the labor steamjacks
laboring every day on the docks and see the warjacks manning the garrison that is protecting them
from the Menite threat across the river.

Move up to Five Fingers or Corvis and things change yet again.

Overall, I'd advise that practical professions which have an immediately discernable impact on the
people are more likely to be widely respected and appreciated. Some of this varies based on local
resources and economy. Similarly, those professions which require more skill and are expected to be
difficult will have some automatic prestige associated with them. Arcanists always earn a bit of
respect (but also suspicion and fear) just from their rarity and the awareness of the strange powers
they boast, along with the awareness that very few people have the aptitude, wealth, and unique
mental acumen required for the pursue this field over an extended period. Yet wizards are also
viewed similarly to landed gentry - often it's hard to tell what "good" they are, or what they are
actually doing to help anyone else. You can admire the rich noble and envy him for his station and
comfort in life, but at the same time resent him for the same reasons.

Farming is more widely respected than is generally easily conveyed in the setting since it's not one
of the things we dwell upon. But as is noted in the IKCG Asc. Gordenn is perhaps the most
widely worshiped ascendant, and on some level most people in the IK know the importance of
maintaining food supplies. This is doubly true in times of war and conflict. That said, people tend
to also look down on "dirty" people, or those who toil in the field, seeing this as a relatively
unskilled job. They are more likely to look up to the wealthy family in charge of multiple
productive farms who brings in money to the local economy and keeps food flowing through the
region, even if those specific people aren't actually getting their hands dirty and are managing
those who do the real work.

In the local area the people to be respected and admired are often: 1) those who keep the people
safe. 2) Those who add to local prosperity. 3) Those who have mastered an apparently difficult but
useful trade. 4) Those boasting obvious skill, wealth, and/or power. 5) Those who are approachable
and even friendly to others regardless of their class. 6) Those who are physically attractive, which
may include those who are well attired. (Inevitable, even subconsciously.) 7) Anyone in a position of
authority, including those wearing a uniform.

Several of these categories can also of course add to resentment, jealousy, envy, or scorn, depending
on the situation. Yet for all a local farmer may gripe about being unappreciated and how he'd
"show the Earl a thing or two about real work", and how "he just sits up there high and mighty
on his horse", you can expect if the Earl came marching by on the main street during a visit to the
city, that farmer would be as awe-struck as everyone else around him. Overcome by the pomp and
circumstance of bustling crowds, sharp-looking soldiers at attention on horseback providing escort,
and all the finery, he'd probably take off his hat and start yelling his appreciation alongside the
rest of the crowd.

[Kriegtanzer]

In our world the vast majority of professional soldiers are not actually low level warriors. That
may be true in other fantasy settings. Cygnar in particular is differentiated by the fact that its
soldiers go through extensive training, which is one of the main features that differentiates a
fighter from a warrior. The suggestion that there would only be 16 3rd level fighters in Caspia--a
city of a million people with Castle Raelthorne, the Strategic Academy, and headquarters for a
major branch of the Cygnaran Army--makes no sense to me on many levels. Our world is
populated with heroic individuals on both the lower and higher end of the pay grade. We prefer
to have a range of experience and levels even for our NPCs. I see nothing wrong with the regular
soldiers of the line being in the 1st-5th level, depending on their field experience and length of
service. Even regular "grunts" achieve some degree of experience and advancement in the course of
a career, albeit generally far slower than any adventurer or truly heroic NPCs who are running
amuck saving the world and/or killing everything that moves.

It's not uncommon for world-builders to feel free to advance experts or certain other NPC classes
to an appropriate level to allow those individuals the skills they require for their work, which
seems reasonable, but they rarely seem to do the same for anyone in the other character classes. In
a world where priestly power is not abstract and purely a matter of clerical acumen, it might
make sense for the more influential and higher ranking clergy to be capable of manifesting
miracles appropriate to their station. Similarly, an elite royal guard force responsible for protecting
a royal sovereign might need to be selected from among those who are skilled enough to keep their
liege safe from even well-armed and equipped murderous hobos (adventurers) who may wander
into the city.

Every world has its own scale, but with ours we certainly expect that a thriving metropolis like
Caspia will have a rather rich blend of talented, skilled, and powerful individuals (in addition to
the larger number of masses representing lower levels of skill).

The PCs in an adventure are the stars of the show, without question. But that is true whether
they are 1st level or 20th level and does not reflect upon their place in the world compared to
other powerful individuals. Our setting was never intended to portray everyone except the
adventuring PCs as powerless and feeble. There is an entire continuum, and while those at the
upper level are rare, some range of lower levels is not uncommon. The world will not be undone
by units of 3rd, 4th, and 5th level fighters taking to the battlefield.

What we advocate when examining our world through the lens of a level-based RPG is the notion
that adventurers get a leg-up on advancement because of the high intensity nature of their riskheavy
lifestyle. But everyone else is also advancing at a modest pace. Those in greater positions of
authority will often (not always but often) have levels in their class/profession commensurate with
this and the noteworthy backgrounds that have brought them there.
I don't think a 2nd level fighter is really all that much more of a superhero than a 5th level expert
tailor, but that's just me.