Magnamund

"A setting created by Joe Dever for the Lone Wolf series, including the gamebooks, novels and d20 RPG.

Magnamund is a planet in the universe of Aon which is the focus of battle between the powers of Good, among them Kai (God of the Sun) and Ishir (Goddess of the Moon), and Naar, the evil God of Darkness.

In the north-east of Magnamund's northern continent lies the realm of Sommerlund. Its people, the Sommlending, are devoted followers of Kai. There are those among them, known as Kai Lords or simply 'the Kai', who possess extraordinary innate abilities. Trained from childhood at the Kai Monastery, the Kai Lords are Sommerlund's greatest defence against Naar's agents.

Naar's champions upon Magnamund are the Darklords, who dwell in the scorched wastes of the Darklands, west of Sommerlund. This realm, inhospitable to most life, enables the Darklords to survive on Magnamund - though powerful, they are greatly weakened by the natural atmosphere of their world. Forced to enact their will at a distance, the Darklords wage war with armies of Drakkarim (humans devoted to Naar), Giaks (goblin-like creatures spawned in vast numbers), and other creatures, and are served by agents such as Vordaks (undead with psychic powers) and Helghasts (shapechanging undead).

At the Kai Monastery is a young initiate, given the name Silent Wolf. On the feastday of Fehmarn, when all the Kai Lords gather at the monastery, Silent Wolf is sent to cut wood from the surrounding forest as a punishment for his inattention in class. While he is gone, a surprise attack is launched from the Darklands at several places across Sommerlund. The Monastery is assaulted and the gathered Kai Lords massacred. Rushing back from the woods, Silent Wolf is knocked out by a low-lying tree branch (in the Legends of Lone Wolf novelizations based on the books, it's implied that the branch was placed there by a demi-goddess called Alyss so Silent Wolf would be spared the attack). When he awakes, he finds himself the only survivor. The last of the Kai, he renames himself Lone Wolf and sets out for the capital to inform the King of the loss of the Kai.

The Kai Series follows Lone Wolf as he rallies the armies of Sommerlund and her ally, Durenor, to repel the invasion, pursues and captures the traitor who brought about the invasion, and survives plots to complete the destruction of the Kai. At the end of the series, Lone Wolf recovers the Book of the Magnakai, the ancient text which contained the higher lore of the Kai Lords. With the massacre of the Kai, and Lone Wolf only an initiate, these teachings were thought to be lost.

The Magnakai Series continues the tale, with Lone Wolf now a fledging Kai Master striving to understand the Magnakai teachings. The Book, however, is ancient and incomplete. To perfect his understanding and train a new order of Kai Lords, Lone Wolf must follow the path of Sun Eagle, the first Kai Lord and author of the Book of the Magnakai. Sun Eagle quested for the wisdom encapsulated in the Lorestones of Nyxator, seven orbs scattered across Northern Magnamund. As Lone Wolf begins the same quest, however, war breaks out again. The Darklords have again rallied behind a single leader and now hasten their invasion to defeat the Magnakai quest. Lone Wolf pursues the quest through the war-torn realms and even beyond the plane of Magnamund. Ultimately, he enters the Darkland capital of Helgedad and brings about the destruction of the Darklords.

The Grand Master Series continues the story of Grand Master Lone Wolf and introduces the restored order of Kai Lords. With the destruction of the Darklords, Naar and his agents abandon open warfare and seek new paths to dominance, often focused directly on Lone Wolf as the keystone of the forces of Light.

The New Order Series features a new protagonist, a Grand Master in the Second Order of the Kai and a student of Lone Wolf, who is now Supreme Master. This series allows the player to 'customize' his character by allowing the choice of an individual name (originally, the name was speculated to be Falco Nero, or Black Hawk). Much of the series focuses on attempts by Naar's minions to use remnants of the power of Agarash the Damned, Naar's greatest champion and predecessor to the Darklords. As such, the settings explore Southern Magnamund, where Agarash's empire was centred and which was not featured in the earlier series."

Source: Wikipedia, "Magnamund", available under the CC-BY-SA License.

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